1
2006 / What CPU do you have in your mac?
« on: December 07, 2006, 10:48:09 PM »
Mine's not listed -- 2.66 GHz Xeon (x2).
AA
AA
The friendly Mac forum.
News:
SMF - Just Installed!
Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
2
2006 / Is MS Word neccesary with OS 10.2.8?
« on: December 01, 2006, 10:30:17 AM »
I would agree with those suggesting that you try the freebies. I work on long documents and find that Mellel is a great little program. However, I do academic work with it, switching between different style sets, using ancient Greek fonts, etc. and it sounds as though you don't need something like that. If that's the case, Mellel is overkill, just like Word (though Mellel is not nearly as bloated as Word and is much faster/cleaner). The free programs are nice and powerful, really. They should do everything you need provided you don't need specialized sorts of things. Why pay for overkill and/or bloated software? 
AA
AA
3
2006 / OT: Big Ten Football Week #9
« on: October 24, 2006, 08:02:50 PM »
With the latest BCS standings, our usual November showdown is looking bigger and bigger. I must admit, my Wolverines are doing far better than I had anticipated. The offense needs Super Mario back, but our defense awes me sometimes. They are so fierce -- a far cry from last season. No matter who wins -- OSU or U-M -- I don't think fans on either side could complain about this year!
AA
AA
4
2006 / Countdown to London
« on: October 04, 2006, 08:51:13 PM »
MB,
I must say I have really enjoyed checking in on this thread to read of your adventures. I am glad to hear that things seem to be working out so well for you thus far. I wish you continued success on your journey, and by all means keep us posted on what's happening.
AA
I must say I have really enjoyed checking in on this thread to read of your adventures. I am glad to hear that things seem to be working out so well for you thus far. I wish you continued success on your journey, and by all means keep us posted on what's happening.
AA
5
2006 / Connection Speed: Airport vs. Direct Ethernet
« on: August 22, 2006, 05:24:53 PM »
This thread got me thinking...
I too use Comcast, and have been generally pleased with the service. It always seems to come up a bit slower than they say it should, but I thought that was normal. I have a Netgear router, with my MDD connected via ethernet and my PowerBook via wireless. The wireless is always slower, and I expected that, but Pendragon gave me an idea -- how about bypassing the router and going straight from the modem to the MDD. My speed went from 5.8 MBs to 7.0 MBs. Is this normal? Would the router slow things down, even though it is connected via the ethernet port?
AA
I too use Comcast, and have been generally pleased with the service. It always seems to come up a bit slower than they say it should, but I thought that was normal. I have a Netgear router, with my MDD connected via ethernet and my PowerBook via wireless. The wireless is always slower, and I expected that, but Pendragon gave me an idea -- how about bypassing the router and going straight from the modem to the MDD. My speed went from 5.8 MBs to 7.0 MBs. Is this normal? Would the router slow things down, even though it is connected via the ethernet port?
AA
6
2006 / OT: Good car for Wisconsin in the Winter?
« on: August 02, 2006, 09:03:44 AM »
Gregg (and others),
The Toyota Yaris is a small car based on one of Toyota's 'world cars' -- it is offered in various forms in many different markets. This is common for automakers, for instance the Honda Fit is known as the Honda Jazz in many other markets. There are a few new entries into this lower end, less expensive category. My wife is going to be getting a car in the next few months, and she is going after a Honda Civic or a Honda Fit. The Fit is a competitor of the Yaris, so that might make it of interest here. For a useful comparison of some of the entries in this segment, check out the following link.
Car and Driver
The Toyota Yaris is a small car based on one of Toyota's 'world cars' -- it is offered in various forms in many different markets. This is common for automakers, for instance the Honda Fit is known as the Honda Jazz in many other markets. There are a few new entries into this lower end, less expensive category. My wife is going to be getting a car in the next few months, and she is going after a Honda Civic or a Honda Fit. The Fit is a competitor of the Yaris, so that might make it of interest here. For a useful comparison of some of the entries in this segment, check out the following link.
Car and Driver
7
2006 / OT: Good car for Wisconsin in the Winter?
« on: July 17, 2006, 08:45:36 AM »
There is a lot of good information here, but I will add a few things to consider (or not). Regarding the drive wheels -- I agree that all wheel drive (AWD) is the way to go in general, but it isn't the only thing to consider. The general driving dynamics of the car play a large role in how the car handles in snow. A well balanced rear wheel drive car will handle better in the snow than a poorly balanced front driver. The advantage with AWD is two fold -- they have all four wheels available to bail you out of tough conditions, and because of the way the drive train is set up they are more likely to be fairly well balanced. My wife had an Audi A4 Quattro that was incredible in the snow. We traded it in on a Honda Accord, and to be honest, the Accord is more refined, handles very well in comparison to the Audi (which is quite a performer in sport trim), and with the traction control does well in snow here in Michigan. Honda's are well known for their balance and handling, and this reputation is well founded. Having driven (and raced) many different makes, Hondas have been in my driveway for years (my wife and I have had 5 Hondas now). With this commercial in mind (I swear, Honda doesn't pay me a dime!) I would throw in a vote for the CR-V.
As for snow tires, I would highly recommend them. They make a huge difference and would be money very well spent. Blizzaks are especially good, though other makes are good as well. The following article at Car and Driver might be worth a read. This magazine is considered one of the premier in the auto world, and I generally agree with their opinions (when I am able to drive the cars that they review -- my access to Ferraris and Porsches and such is limited!).
http://www.caranddriver.com/columns/3467/t...ing-column.html
Hope this helps,
AA
As for snow tires, I would highly recommend them. They make a huge difference and would be money very well spent. Blizzaks are especially good, though other makes are good as well. The following article at Car and Driver might be worth a read. This magazine is considered one of the premier in the auto world, and I generally agree with their opinions (when I am able to drive the cars that they review -- my access to Ferraris and Porsches and such is limited!).
http://www.caranddriver.com/columns/3467/t...ing-column.html
Hope this helps,
AA
8
2006 / OT: From the Bookshelf
« on: May 11, 2006, 08:12:00 AM »
It is refreshing to read about everyone's adventures in reading. My own reading tends to take me away from fiction, though I do find my way back once in a while. I have found the Harry Potter series surprisingly entertaining -- a nice break from the rather heavy reading that I do professionally.
As for that latter category, I read a lot of philosophy -- a consequence of being a philosopher. The summer reading list consists mostly of Greek philosophy. I will be concentrating on Plato and Aristotle, both of which I have read in the past. For those with an interest in philosophy, but without a lot of training in the field, I would highly recommend Plato's Republic. One need not worry too much about the heavy duty metaphysical and epistemological aspects to really enjoy this masterpiece. Plato, in my opinion, is the best philosophical writer in history. I taught bits of the Republic to undergrads this past term, and it never fails to really inspire at least a few of them. Other Platonic dialogues would be great to read as well, and I would be happy to provide a few humble recommendations if anyone is interested.
Another passion of mine, tied loosely to my professional activity, is theoretical physics and cosmology. If anyone here is interested in Stephen Hawking style cosmological writing, check out The Five Ages of the Universe: Inside the Physics of Eternity by Fred Adams and Greg Laughlin.
I am also a reader of biographies. On the slate now are Kant, a biography of the philosopher Immanuel Kant by Manfred Kuehn, and Einstein: The Life and Times by Ronald Clark. I'll report back on both, if anyone is interested.
Back to work -- happy reading!
AA
As for that latter category, I read a lot of philosophy -- a consequence of being a philosopher.
The summer reading list consists mostly of Greek philosophy. I will be concentrating on Plato and Aristotle, both of which I have read in the past. For those with an interest in philosophy, but without a lot of training in the field, I would highly recommend Plato's Republic. One need not worry too much about the heavy duty metaphysical and epistemological aspects to really enjoy this masterpiece. Plato, in my opinion, is the best philosophical writer in history. I taught bits of the Republic to undergrads this past term, and it never fails to really inspire at least a few of them. Other Platonic dialogues would be great to read as well, and I would be happy to provide a few humble recommendations if anyone is interested.Another passion of mine, tied loosely to my professional activity, is theoretical physics and cosmology. If anyone here is interested in Stephen Hawking style cosmological writing, check out The Five Ages of the Universe: Inside the Physics of Eternity by Fred Adams and Greg Laughlin.
I am also a reader of biographies. On the slate now are Kant, a biography of the philosopher Immanuel Kant by Manfred Kuehn, and Einstein: The Life and Times by Ronald Clark. I'll report back on both, if anyone is interested.
Back to work -- happy reading!
AA
9
2003 / Olympus C-50 Digital Camera
« on: December 20, 2003, 06:34:42 AM »
While I have not used this specific camera, I can say that I have used a number of different camera makes and models with iPhoto on my 'Mirror Door' (running 10.2.6) and have yet to have a single problem. My camera is an Olympus C-4040Z and I have used it a fair amount (2000+ photos) without a hitch. I love my Olympus. Don't know if this helps or not...
10
2003 / dial-up modem freezes mirror door G4
« on: October 07, 2003, 07:54:44 PM »
OK friends, here is another update. This problem came up again today -- as I tried to get online earlier the "dialing" message on the menu bar froze and so did the computer. After a few choice words I started to play with it for a while. I noticed that the processors were still working, according to CPU monitor, so I checked some things. It turns out that I can regain the use of the mouse if I unplug it from the USB hub and plug it back into the keyboard. I then tried to force quit internet connect, but that didn't help. At this point I could do anything on the computer that did not involve internet connect or anything in the upper right hand corner of the screen (on the menu bar). The clock, phone icon, volume... all frozen solid. It seems that re-starting more often and using a different method for connection doesn't help much, if at all.
I logged off and then back on to see if that would help, only to discover that now there was nothing on the menu bar in the upper right portion of the screen!
The volume, clock, phone icon for modem status and ichat icon were all gone. I tried to connect to the internet and internet connect locked, needing to be forced to quit. Oddly enough, when I hit apple-option-escape no force-quit menu would come up -- I had to do it via the dock icon.
Feeling more than a little upset I called applecare. They did a check on the disk and the repaired the permissions, all things that I knew how to do and do so regularly (at least the permissions part). After all of this, they had me set up a new location to see if that would help. I haven't experienced any problems yet, but it's only been a couple of hours. They said that I would probably have to do an 'Archive Install'(?). That sounds a little spooky, reminds me of my Windows days when I had to format and reinstall every six months to keep things running right.
What does everyone think now? It sounds to me like there is more than a modem issue at hand. What about this archive install they want me to do? What precautions should I take? Will I lose things on the drive? This sounds pretty drastic, but is it? Would it be better to just wait for Panther? I would really appreciate peoples thoughts and advice on this one, as things seem to be escalating a bit. I love my mac to death and would never go back to a PC, but this worries me a little since I depend on the net so much for email and research...
Amaizen_Aristotle
I logged off and then back on to see if that would help, only to discover that now there was nothing on the menu bar in the upper right portion of the screen!
The volume, clock, phone icon for modem status and ichat icon were all gone. I tried to connect to the internet and internet connect locked, needing to be forced to quit. Oddly enough, when I hit apple-option-escape no force-quit menu would come up -- I had to do it via the dock icon. Feeling more than a little upset I called applecare. They did a check on the disk and the repaired the permissions, all things that I knew how to do and do so regularly (at least the permissions part). After all of this, they had me set up a new location to see if that would help. I haven't experienced any problems yet, but it's only been a couple of hours. They said that I would probably have to do an 'Archive Install'(?). That sounds a little spooky, reminds me of my Windows days when I had to format and reinstall every six months to keep things running right.
What does everyone think now? It sounds to me like there is more than a modem issue at hand. What about this archive install they want me to do? What precautions should I take? Will I lose things on the drive? This sounds pretty drastic, but is it? Would it be better to just wait for Panther? I would really appreciate peoples thoughts and advice on this one, as things seem to be escalating a bit. I love my mac to death and would never go back to a PC, but this worries me a little since I depend on the net so much for email and research...
Amaizen_Aristotle
11
2003 / dial-up modem freezes mirror door G4
« on: October 04, 2003, 06:54:32 PM »
Well, here is a quick update:
-I have checked the crash log, and I don't see anything but the list of 'Word' crashes (totalling 3) and one each for iTunes, iPhoto, Safari and the Finder. Note: This computer has been running almost continuously for a year now, so I don't if this amount of crashes is uncommon.
-I checked the modem via Techtool and it came out fine.
-The ISP says everything is fine, as far as they can tell...
-I don't know anything about OS 9, so I don't generally go into it unless absolutely necessary.
-I am now using 'internet connect' to connect to the web, via an alias in the Dock and have had no issues thus far. I will try this method exclusively for a while. But, as this is an intermittent problem I don't know when/if it will recur so that I can continue to troubleshoot in order to find the real problem.
-I read somewhere that when a Mac in OS X is restarted the modem is reset also, so I am wondering if the fact that I don't regularly shut down the Mac is part of the issue.
-I am reading all of the info I can find on Mac OS X and Macs in general, in an attempt to gain the precious background knowledge I may need for future troubleshooting and general use. Speaking of which, does anyone have any experience with the Applecare training that Apple sells on their site (for $299)? I was considering doing this, if it was worth the time and money to do so.
So, that is the status of the situation. I would greatly appreciate further input if someone thinks of something that might help. I must say that it is comforting to have people responding to my problem and trying to help, the Mac community is every bit as supportive as it is reputed to be. Hopefully I can return the favor at some point.
Thanks,
Amaizen_Aristotle
-I have checked the crash log, and I don't see anything but the list of 'Word' crashes (totalling 3) and one each for iTunes, iPhoto, Safari and the Finder. Note: This computer has been running almost continuously for a year now, so I don't if this amount of crashes is uncommon.
-I checked the modem via Techtool and it came out fine.
-The ISP says everything is fine, as far as they can tell...
-I don't know anything about OS 9, so I don't generally go into it unless absolutely necessary.
-I am now using 'internet connect' to connect to the web, via an alias in the Dock and have had no issues thus far. I will try this method exclusively for a while. But, as this is an intermittent problem I don't know when/if it will recur so that I can continue to troubleshoot in order to find the real problem.
-I read somewhere that when a Mac in OS X is restarted the modem is reset also, so I am wondering if the fact that I don't regularly shut down the Mac is part of the issue.
-I am reading all of the info I can find on Mac OS X and Macs in general, in an attempt to gain the precious background knowledge I may need for future troubleshooting and general use. Speaking of which, does anyone have any experience with the Applecare training that Apple sells on their site (for $299)? I was considering doing this, if it was worth the time and money to do so.
So, that is the status of the situation. I would greatly appreciate further input if someone thinks of something that might help. I must say that it is comforting to have people responding to my problem and trying to help, the Mac community is every bit as supportive as it is reputed to be. Hopefully I can return the favor at some point.
Thanks,
Amaizen_Aristotle
12
2003 / dial-up modem freezes mirror door G4
« on: October 02, 2003, 03:16:22 PM »
Sorry for the omission. The OS is 10.2.6. I guess I could configure it to connect when an application needs it to, would this help in some way? Would I run into problems with other apps (besides Mail and Safari, which are the primary apps for which I use the net connection) wanting to connect when I don't really need them to? I usually connect using the phone icon in the corner of the screen, and occasionally do so using 'internet connect'. The problem seems to happen most when connecting via the 'drop down' menu from the phone icon. Is it possible that different means of connecting will circumvent this problem? Even so, it appears to me that something is either wrong with my OS or something is causing my modem to freak out. Of course I am still new to the platform, so I am speaking largely from ignorance. The rest of the OS seems to working well. Any further thoughts?
Thanks everyone,
Amaizen_Aristotle
Thanks everyone,
Amaizen_Aristotle
13
2003 / dial-up modem freezes mirror door G4
« on: October 02, 2003, 12:20:11 PM »
Thanks a lot George, I appreciate the warm wishes. Based on what I have seen in other threads in Techsurvivors I do anticipate some good advice in the near future. Being new to the Mac community and lacking a local network of fellow Mac users I can use all the help that the kind people of this forum can supply.
Thanks again for the kind thoughts.
Amaizen_Aristotle
Thanks again for the kind thoughts.
Amaizen_Aristotle
14
2003 / dial-up modem freezes mirror door G4
« on: October 02, 2003, 07:32:55 AM »
Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is my first posting and I wish it could be on better terms. I am having issues with the modem in my dual 1ghz Mirror Door. When I click the 'phone' icon in the upper right hand corner of the screen to open the modem pull down menu and select 'connect' the computer starts to scroll 'dialing'. The problem is that now, on an increasingly regular basis, before 'dialing' can scroll more than two times the whole computer freezes solid. The only thing I have that I can do to get it running again is to hold the power button until the mac shuts down and then restart. It appears that it happens after a brief pause in the scrolling of 'dialing'. Usually the pause occurs, then the scrolling continues until 'connecting' starts to scroll then I am good to go. I have called Applecare and they had me trash my internet connect preference list. That hasn't helped. Diskwarrior hasn't helped either. Changing the modem from V.90 to V. 92 helped once the connection is made (i.e. the connection is more stable) but hasn't helped with this issue. My mac runs continuously, so the maintenance scripts are getting run and permissions are repaired regualrly via maintenance that I impose. My service provider is a local university, to whom I remotely connect via servers in my town. They suggested that it could be line noise and there may not be much I can do about it. That doesn't help me, and I need this connection as I depend heavily on email and internet research yet cannot afford broadband. I could REALLY use some help here, as I have been using macs for only a year now (yes, yet another 'switcher') and have yet to build a large enough network of friends that can help trouble shoot issues. Does anyone out there have a solution, or potential solution?