Messages

1

2009 / A quick DSL question?

« on: May 10, 2009, 05:57:41 AM »

QUOTE(Reiddm @ May 9 2009, 08:30 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm now running full speed again, but I would love to hear if their regular modem without the wireless built-in lasts longer??

My Westell Wirespeed 2100 (wired only), provided by Verizon, has been up and running 24 hrs/day for the past 5+ years with zero problems.  You can occasionally pick one of these up for less than $20 on the LEM Swap List .... if you ever think you might need a back-up plan.  However, as with all things, YMMV.  Also, keep in mind ..... Westell 2100 is just a modem ..... the Actiontech is a modem/router.

2

2009 / Cocktail updated

« on: March 19, 2009, 01:09:13 PM »

There is an update to Cocktail posted on MacUpdate.  If you use or are considering using Cocktail, please note that the developer has placed an operating system poll on MacUpdate.  Currently, the developer is maintaining two active versions (one for 10.5 and one for 10.4) and one older version for 10.3.  The appearance of the poll might suggest that the developer may be considering abandoning maintenance of versions supporting older iterations of OS X.  If you use Cocktail and, like I, have no immediate plans/need to upgrade to Leopard or the upcoming Snow Leopard .... you may want to add your current operating system to the developer poll.

3

2008 / Firefox 3 Issues

« on: June 22, 2008, 12:15:25 PM »

QUOTE(gunug @ Jun 21 2008, 08:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

.... then I upgraded to FF3 and it retained two places in the history that I had cleared. . .is this possible?  I think so; I don't know where it got the place I didn't think I went to on the one MAC!

Since FF3 and FF2 use different types of databases/files for certain functions, it might be possible that some of that data you thought you cleared got picked up by FF3 when first launched and started to create its version specific profile files/databases.  Some of the files you have in your profile folder are certainly not needed with FF3 (unless, of course you plan to downgrade to FF2 at some point and didn't keep an archived copy of the profile folder prior to upgrading).  If anyone is interested in seeing which files are used by FF3 and prior versions, you can compare them HERE (listed by function type) or HERE (listed alphabetically).

4

2008 / Firefox 3 Issues

« on: June 20, 2008, 07:44:40 PM »

Update:

Looks like a fix for this issue is in the works.  According to an answer to my post on the 1Password board:

"This is a quirk caused by how the Restore Form menu is implemented in Firefox. Chad is actually in the middle of coding a replacement for this and I think you will enjoy what he has in store."

5

2008 / Firefox 3 Issues

« on: June 19, 2008, 06:23:16 PM »

Speaking of issues .....  Didn't play around with any of the FF3 betas, since I was quite happy with FF2.  A couple of things bugged me about FF3 which made me give serious thought to abandoning it as my primary browser.  First, FF3 seemed to spike CPU use quite high and nibble away at my hard drive (pretty regular read/write cycles) with the browser launched but no windows active.  From what I read, this was most likely due to the urlclassifier sqlite files being examined/updated.  I found this pretty annoying on my fairly quite G5 iMac.  Deleting the urlclassifier files and unchecking the "Tell me if  the site I am visiting is a suspected attack site / forgery" options in the security preference tab has seemed to fix this.  The other issue deals with 1Password.  I am currently waiting to see if this is addressed on the 1Password board .... but, at least for me, there seems to be an annoying toolbar behavior with FF3/1Password 2.6.4(6814).  Since upgrading to FF3, anytime I go to restore password, wallet or identity information the entire browser toolbar area (navigation/bookmarks/1Password) flashes (as in disappears/reappears), apparently while 1Password obtains/refreshes restore items for the particular web page displayed. This behavior was not present in FF2, nor is it present in any of the other 1Password enabled browsers.  This happens regardless of whether I call 1Password via the button, toolbar, or contextual menu.  While, this might not make me want to abandon FF3, it is quite annoying.

6

2007 / Keyboard Comments please

« on: October 13, 2007, 05:42:09 AM »

While starting to drift a little from the original question.....

Re: the Matias Tactile Pro.  As far as I am concerned, there is no better keyboard.  Of course, I was able to get my version 1 for $99 on sale.  However, be advised that there is a big flaw (design flaw, that is) in the v2  keyboard.  The newest Tactile Pro was designed to have  USB 2  so you could connect various USB 2 devices to the keyboard .... to free up a port on your computer.  Unfortunately, they changed the way the keyboard itself connects to your computer.  The first version (which had usb 1.1 ports) had the keyboard cable (which is hardwired) coming from the back of the keyboard.  USB 1.1 ports were located on the left and right corners of the keyboard.  Like most people, I assume, I connect my mouse (actually a trackball) to one of these ports, leaving the other to temporarily connect whatever USB device I may need to connect.  The new version 2 design places the connection cable on the left corner of the keyboard .... essentially giving the device only 1 USB port to which a device can be connected.  Well, if you normally connect your mouse via the keyboard .... you are left with no USB port available on the keyboard.  I wrote Matias quite some time ago about this and it was confirmed.  They advised me to wait for the next iteration ... version 3, which will again place 2 USB ports (both USB 2) on the keyboard.  Anyway, it is still an expensive KB ..... but  ..... it is very solid, reliable, and .... if you loved the old Apple Extended and its Alps key switches, you will love the Tactile Pro.

7

2007 / Please help me understand this source code

« on: September 26, 2007, 04:34:58 AM »

QUOTE(kimmer @ Sep 25 2007, 09:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Web site in question

Okay, I have some friends who are crazy nuts over this actor.    They are frustrated because they can't get this latest edition of his web page to load. Some can see the image, some can't, some can see the image the first time but not on subsequent vists. They asked me for help.

I can get the background to load in FF, but not the graphic.
I can get the entire page to load in Safari.
I can't "save image" to get them the graphic (don't ask me, they have scrapbooks of his stuff on their HD's - go figure).

Kimmer -

There is not a day that goes by that I am not sending an email to the contact persons of Web site to "beg" that they make their site(s) universally accessible.  That's besides the point ....!   If it is just the graphic you want for your friend's scrapbook, you can always load (so to speak) the page in Firefox and then, right (ctl) click and, instead of choosing "view page source," choose "view page info."  When this window loads, go to the media tab and you will find the direct link to the graphic you seek (image003.gif).  Select it, then you can use the "save as" button to download it to your computer.  Or, you can just go directly to the graphic in your browser window using THIS LINK.

8

2007 / iCal printing

« on: September 22, 2007, 05:17:59 PM »

I have been waiting for someone to give a definitive answer here, but ....

Not sure what xABD's problem is.  I can print just fine in any of the predefined paper sizes listed (A4, US Letter, US Legal, 8x10, etc).  It could be, however, this is because I am using one of those newer printers to which xABD referred.  While I can't offer an answer .... I might be able to offer a relatively easy solution to the problem.  Just print the calendar to a .pdf file.  Then, printing the .pdf file from preview will give you the option to scale the output to better match your printer capabilities.  While it's one extra step .... it beats getting another calendar program.

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2007 / Is there any danger...?

« on: August 06, 2007, 06:23:15 AM »

QUOTE(Francine Eisner @ Aug 6 2007, 02:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, thanks...I had just noticed that myself. I just wondered WHY it happened...

Francine,

It is probably because you had Onyx set to rebuild launch services.  Frankly, I have abandoned the practice of using maintenance utilities as a preventive measure, as was often necessary pre-OS X.  The exceptions to this are making sure the periodic maintenance scripts are run, repairing permissions prior to and after an Apple update, and running DiskWarrior once every couple months.  While opinions vary .... I just don't think it is needed or worth it.  In many cases, as you have seen, running the full compliment of routines available in some of these maintenance apps can actually slow (temporarily) your computer down while it rebuilds caches and you set the desired applications to work the way you want them to.  While I keep TechTool Pro, Cocktail, MainMenu, DiskWarrior, Applejack and IceClean on hand ..... the only ones I really make use of (in addition to Disk Utility) are MainMenu (for running maintenance scripts if they get behind) and DiskWarrior.  The others are for when something goes wrong that needs a helping hand ..... and that rarely happens.

10

2007 / A little font problem

« on: July 29, 2007, 08:43:01 PM »

Kimmer,

That particular font is not part of the OS X installation.  I believe it is part of the iLife package ..... iWeb or iDVD.  So, unless you installed iLife (06), you probably don't have it.

11

2007 / A little font problem

« on: July 29, 2007, 07:36:49 AM »

QUOTE(bellbram @ Jul 29 2007, 07:53 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here's a weird one.  Can anyone out there solve the problem?  I recently sent a correspondent a letter written in the 'Handwriting - Dakota' font that comes with Font Book.  He wanted to know the name of the font, so I sent him an e-mail (using Eudora) written in that font.  The only way I could do that was by first writing the mail in Mariner Write, then copy/pasting into Eudora.

The original copied perfectly, except that at every period preceding a line shift, a small upright rectangle appeared.  I could not delete it.  If I tried, the period was deleted.  I've tried to copy/paste something created in Handwriting Dakota into this post, but that doesn't work.

I am surprised that you can't just type the msg in Eudora by using the Edit Menu -> Text -> Font -> Handwriting-Dakota.   This works fine for me, though I tend to send all my mail in plain text.  
No problems selecting that or any font for styling text.

The line break symbols you are seeing are specifically related to the font Handwriting-Dakota.  They will appear even if you type the msg in that font directly within Eudora.  You will not see them with any other font (or any other font that I tested).  No way to eliminate them ..... however, the recipient will NOT see the line breaks. (send the msg to yourself and you will see that the line break symbols do not appear)  That said, much like web pages, the recipient will not even see the msg in the H-D font if that font is not installed on his computer!

12

2007 / Location of FireFox bookmarks and preferences

« on: July 29, 2007, 04:39:18 AM »

Home Directory -> Library -> Application Support -> Firefox -> Profiles

13

2007 / Syncing Eudora mailboxes on two different computers

« on: June 16, 2007, 05:51:55 PM »

QUOTE(MamaMoose @ Jun 16 2007, 06:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

From NW PA. I was born and raised in Erie! How about you, Fairview?

A little further southeast.  Circumstances brought me to Corry when I retired 12 years ago.  Looking to rectify that situation within the next year.  The Kane area in McKean County looks perfect for me.

14

2007 / Syncing Eudora mailboxes on two different computers

« on: June 16, 2007, 10:02:55 AM »

Of course.  All of your mailboxes are in the Mail Folder [user directory -> Documents -> Eudora Folder -> Mail Folder] (the exception would be if you also check IMAP accounts, like AOL, with Eudora ... in which case, they would be in the IMAP folder).  You can just copy the entire folder from one computer to the other, or just individual mailboxes. I use a back-up program (MimMac) to do this.  You can't however, sync individual msgs ... just complete mailboxes.

15

2007 / E-Cammm

« on: April 15, 2007, 06:39:47 PM »

QUOTE(macdoug @ Apr 15 2007, 06:18 PM) [snapback]124543[/snapback]

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with E-Cammm and how it worked with iChat, and if so what they thought of it?

Doug -

My daughter uses it with her G-5 ALS iMac .... however, unless you have a USB 2 card in your DA,  you probably won't be able to use it.  I think your DA is USB 1, isn't it?  The iMage requires usb 2.

Anyway:

Pros:  Inexpensive, small, very responsive company (emails me every time their software is updated), works with skype, ichat, quicktime (pro), photobooth, and just about every other web cam application you could think of.  

Cons:  Quality isn't as good as the iSights built into the newer iMacs and laptops (only comparison I can make), no built-in mic ..... so you will need a headset or mic for audio.

Overall, seems to be an okay web cam for the price .... though I got it when it was first announced and got free shipping.