From: Tony Lindsey, xxltony@cts.com Subject: Mac*Chat#107/21-Mar-96 Mac*Chat#107/21-Mar-96 ====================== Welcome to Mac*Chat, the weekly electronic newsletter for everyone interested in using a Macintosh computer professionally, no matter what their situation or profession. See the end of this file for further information, including how to get a free subscription. How to contribute financial donations to Mac*Chat: Donations are gratefully accepted, to help defray the costs of putting-out one of the fastest-growing newsletters on earth. Checks may be mailed to Tony Lindsey, 3401-A55 Adams Ave, San Diego, CA 92116-2429, or for info on electronic funds-transfers, send e-mail to and put the word "Donations" into the Subject line. Any [comments in brackets] are by Tony Lindsey. Highlights Of This Issue ------------------------ I talk a bit about my philosophy concerning the recent anti-Mac hysteria, ask questions about AVI movie-players and the new writeable CD's, I throw my first version of answers to Frequently-Asked Questions out to my readers for feedback, mention a few Mac-related Web-sites, talk about AOL's problems and solutions, we get information on fixing bugs in Norton Disk Doctor, we hear from several folks who know how to speed up industrial-strength printing jobs, and we find out where to get drive-formatting/partitioning software. Topics: Highlights Of This Issue Editor's Notes Tony's Questions Frequently-Asked Questions - I Need Your Feedback! Interesting Web Sites Games, Revisited AOL Has A New Way To Deal With Graphics Common Problems With AOL 2.6 Technical Section Starts... Here Norton Disk Doctor And Powermacs Printing Big Jobs Faster Further Info On Runshare Partitioning And Formatting The New IDE Drives Legalisms Free Subscriptions To This Newsletter Editor's Notes -------------- By Tony Lindsey I've been keeping discreetly quiet during the recent anti-Mac media blitz. Rather than add to the noise-level, I have preferred to provide a solid example of what WORKS in the Mac community - Our courtesy and willingness to help each other. Rude people can say what they want about the Mac, but I notice the negative vibes are simply causing us to gather our wagons in a circle. If I were to join in the nose-to-nose shouting matches, it wouldn't really accomplish much that's useful. I don't need the ulcers. I prefer a philosophy of peaceful revolution... Sharing what I've learned with people that I like. Anti-Apple negative hype comes from outside of our community, trying to change things by aggressive force and sheer volume, but people who know the difference are continuing to do their daily work and tell their best friends what they have learned from their experiences. That's a slower revolution, but it's the philosophy that will keep the Mac platform growing and improving. There are big changes coming, and I expect to be right here, telling you about them as they mature. For my part, Mac*Chat will continue to be an oasis of peace, quiet and common cause. Tony's Questions ---------------- By Tony Lindsey What's a good AVI movie player? I've had difficulty finding a good way to read and play the majority of the AVI-format movies I'm finding all over the Internet. These were created by, and for, Windows-based computers, and the elderly translator I got several years ago simply can't deal with more than maybe twenty percent of them. Any suggestions? ----- What about those Panasonic writeable CD's? I'm semi-tantalized by these drives - I saw them demonstrated at the last MacWorld Expo, and the price and ease-of-use SEEMED okay, but I don't want to recommend them to my clients until I've heard from folks who actually live with them. They can be used as a regular CD-ROM-player, they are supposed to be cheap (around $500?) and they allow you to make permanent archived copies of your data, freeing-up space on your other drives. I'd like to hear all about their good and bad features. Frequently-Asked Questions - I Need Your Feedback! -------------------------------------------------- By Tony Lindsey I'm working on a list of answers to the most-frequently-asked questions. I'm getting pretty sick of the project, since I've been over it so many times I can't even see it any more - I'd deeply appreciate questions, tips or other good feedback. Thanks! WHAT IS MAC*CHAT? ----------------- Mac*Chat is a free, weekly electronic newsletter for everyone interested in using a Macintosh computer professionally, no matter what their situation or profession. Mac*Chat is currently read in 68 countries on earth, by around 77,000 Mac fans. It is one of the most-popular electronic newsletters on Earth. Each issue are crammed full of tips, editorials, gossip and hearsay about Macs. If you want to know about the best Mac goodies that will make your life easier, you'll find that information here! Mac*Chat's tone is friendly and gossipy, and there is no attempt made to be a cut-throat source of the latest-breaking news. It doesn't compete against MacWeek, TidBITs or MacUser. It only covers what **works**, right now. It's a good source of purely-subjective opinions. A typical issue may contain good tips on: - The best fax-software that doesn't crash your Mac - Where to find excellent Web sites that are worth your time - Warnings about upgrades that would cause you harm WHO CREATES AND DISTRIBUTES MAC*CHAT? ------------------------------------- This newsletter started-out as a one-person endeavor, but it has grown to be a cooperative effort by volunteers. Tony Lindsey is the editor, Shrimmy Sriram is the mailing-list manager, Claude Errera and Tim Tuck make Mac*Chat available on the World Wide Web, and each issue contains contributions by knowledgeable people from all over the planet. WHO IS TONY LINDSEY? -------------------- I'm the editor and primary "filter" for every issue of Mac*Chat. As of February 1996, I have been a full-time computer consultant for fifteen years. I've got a real problem with hype and flackery, since I have had quite enough of it for a whole lifetime. You have my personal word of honor that every word of Mac*Chat is exactly what it appears to be - There are no hidden agendas. I get up to a thousand e-mail messages a week from folks who share my philosophy of sharing wisdom with courtesy. I only return a small number of those messages, since I'm only one person, doing the newsletter in my spare time. Please be assured that I read every word sent to me, and I'm very grateful for what you share. The letters that make it into the newsletter are the ones that I judge to be the most-informative, well-written and widely-useful. If you aren't clear on the concept, just read the back-issues. They're very consistent. WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO CONTACT TONY? ------------------------------------ Please send your tips and feedback to Tony Lindsey at TLindsey@cts.com and I'll respond if I can. MAC*CHAT GOODIES AND WHERE TO GET THEM -------------------------------------- Everybody's been wondering where to find Mac*Chat in its many forms. For the first time, here are ALL of the sources in one place: GETTING A FREE SUBSCRIPTION, STEP ONE: -------------------------------------- This will cause Mac*Chat to be e-mailed to you automatically, every week (unless I'm on vacation or just too darned busy): FIRST, turn off your e-mail program's "automatic signature" feature, if it has one. Extra e-mail addresses in the end of your message can create a "Subscription From Hell," with unpredictable, hard-to-fix problems. ----- THEN, send an e-mail message to the following address: listserv@vm.temple.edu The Subject line on this message is ignored, so it can say anything. In the body of the message, include the following line: SUBSCRIBE MACCHAT Your full name As an example: SUBSCRIBE MACCHAT Juliana Tarlton. GETTING A FREE SUBSCRIPTION, STEP TWO: -------------------------------------- In order to protect people from being unwillingly subscribed to Mac*Chat, a message will arrive in your e-mail, asking for a one-word response to verify that you DO want to subscribe. Here's the response you should send: OK Notice that it's all-capitals, and nothing but those two characters. If you follow these instructions, you will receive a nice long message explaining acceptance of your subscription, how to end it (if desired) and general mailing-list info. KEEP THAT MESSAGE! It'll tell you how to un-subscribe when that day comes. WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU HAVE SUBSCRIPTION PROBLEMS? ------------------------------------------------- Please contact Shrimmy, who handles such things for me. His e-mail address is shrim@thunder.ocis.temple.edu TO FIND MAC*CHAT ON THE USENET NEWSGROUPS ----------------------------------------- Check out the following newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.digests I post Mac*Chat there the instant I complete each issue. SOFTWARE I USE FOR NEWSGROUPS ----------------------------- I personally access newsgroups on my commercial Internet connection using the great program called "Newswatcher." It's free, and it's available from ftp://ftp.acns.nwu.edu/pub/newswatcher Newswatcher works very well for me. Ask the tech-support people, who help you with your direct Internet connection, how to set up Newswatcher's preferences. NEWSGROUPS FOR AMERICA ONLINE SUBSCRIBERS ----------------------------------------- So, newsgroups are all very nice for those of us who have the direct Internet connections, but I'll bet a lot of AOL subscribers didn't know they could do the same thing. AOL has its own discussion groups, called Message Boards, but only AOL folks hang out there. If you want to widen your scope of contacts to include the entire Internet, here's how: America Online members can subscribe to the comp.sys.mac.digests newsgroup (it only needs to be done ONCE) in the following fashion: - Pull down the "Go To" menu and choose "Keyword" - Type the word "internet" and click "OK" - Click on the "Newsgroups" button. - Click on the "Expert Add" button. Type in the phrase "comp.sys.mac.digests" without the quotes and click "OK" After a few moments, click the "OK" button. From then on, just go to the Internet section, click "Newsgroups" and then click on "Read My Newsgroups." HOW TO FIND MAC*CHAT ON AMERICA ONLINE -------------------------------------- I store all of my back-issues and newest issues on America Online. To get 'em, sign on, pull down your "Go To" menu, type "MHW" (without the quotes) and press the Return key. This brings you to the "Macintosh Hardware Forum." Click on "Software Libraries" and then on "Online Publications." That's a "Miscellaneous" dumping-bin for the minor-league Mac electronic newsletters, which bugs me a bit. I'm hoping that enough people go download Mac*Chat back-issues so that Mac*Chat will be given its own, separate section like Info-Mac Digest, TidBITs and Information Alley. Also, don't forget to check the "New Files and Free Uploading" section, since the last few issues are usually stored there. FINDING BACK-ISSUES STORED ON THE INTERNET ------------------------------------------ They're stored within any of several gazillion Info-Mac ftp archives. As an example, here's my favorite site, because it's rarely overloaded: ftp://mirror.aol.com/pub/info-mac/per/chat/ TO BROWSE THROUGH BACK-ISSUES ON THE WEB ---------------------------------------- This is the "Webified" version of Mac*Chat and its back-issues: http://www.ese.ogi.edu/macchat/ This is a really, really nice way to read through the issues. If you read about an upgrade you want, or a nice source of online help, you just click on it and obtain instant gratification! If you're in Australia, I suggest you access the following mirror-site instead: http://wais.sensei.com.au/macarc/macchat HOW TO FIND MY MAC*CHAT MAIN HOME PAGE ON THE WEB ------------------------------------------------- This is the main page that lads to everything else: http://www.cts.com/macchat/ You'll find all sorts of cool stuff. Snoop around! ARTICLES OF INTEREST TO CONSULTANTS ----------------------------------- We've covered the topics of "working for yourself" and "How to be an effective consultant" a whole bunch of times, in varying depths: Check out issue #63, 64, 65, 75, 79, 84, 85, 86, 89 (sort of), 90, 92, 93, 94, 95, 98, 99, 101, 102, and 103. I mention these because they have been VERY popular articles. Interesting Web Sites --------------------- [I haven't had time to evaluate any of these sites - I'd appreciate some reviews from readers...] ------ By Kathy E. Gill When ya'll have time, please drop by MacFacts at This site is focused on showcasing how Macs are used in real life (with "I didn't know Macs could do that!" being the exclamation of choice among non-Mac folks). It is devoted to helping forestall all of those "Mac is going down the tubes" stories. This is NOT another "Mac links" to software etc. sites, although there are a few of my favorite links there. ------ By Rick Piester Web Animation WITHOUT Java As I'll bet a lot of Mac users are, I'm frustrated that I can't yet see some of the neat animations which I've heard are available using a Java-capable browser because Netscape 2.0 Mac doesn't support Java. But I recently came across several sites which had animated graphics and learned about the GIF89a specification which is supported in Netscape Navigator 2.0 for Mac. GIF89a allows multiple images to be compiled within a single GIF file. This "stream" of images can be used like frames in an animation sequence. Here is an excellent site which explains the whole thing and has lots of interesting links and applications of animated GIF graphics. -------- By: David Josephson MacinStuff has added an additional feature - "The Online MacinStuff Times", a free daily rag (newspaper) with up to the minute Mac news, complete with hyperlinks. "The Times" is updated often, as news becomes available (usually a few times per day). If you are tired of searching the net for Macintosh news and stories, search no more. The "Times" is a compendium of information, culled from news sources such as the AP, Reuters, CNN, MacWeek, The New York Times, Guy Kawasaki's MacWay and direct releases sent to MacinStuff. We urge you as readers, manufacturers, press and all Mac insiders to notify MacinStuff of news, events, product releases, and anything pertinent to Apple Computer. Games, Revisited ---------------- By: Louise Bremner, from grimy Tokyo In Issue #105, Rick Holzgrafe shamelessly plugged: >I'd like to put forward my own shareware "Solitaire Till Dawn." - Obviously, solitaire is non-violent. Then how come I get violent when I suddenly wake up and discover I've wasted most of the day playing those blasted solitaire games? I consider that the name of the package adds insult to injury! AOL Has A New Way To Deal With Graphics --------------------------------------- By Tony Lindsey I'm a big fan of all good-quality science-fiction, and I've been tempted to stop by America Online's massive section dedicated to the Babylon 5 television series (go to keyword B5). I spent a couple of hours evaluating it yesterday, and I also got some exposure to the newest way AOL is dealing with customer complaints. I'm not necessarily recommending it, but I'm reporting it. Most of my clients who use AOL have beseeched me for ways to get around the endless wasted time spent waiting for un-asked-for graphics to download. I've heard that version 3.0 is supposed to get around this in a new way (any beta-testers want to send me some gossip? Anonymity is guaranteed!). I've also seen an extension somebody created to fool AOL called "ArtValve," but I trashed it immediately, since it caused amazing and frequent crashes. For the moment, graphics-intensive sections such as Babylon 5 Online force you to specifically consent to download the graphics or just stay away. If you agree, the time spent loading the graphics is free. Sounds good, BUT... It took my modem twelve full minutes to download the graphics at an indicated 28,800 bps. As it happened, I could also see the "Megabytes Used" part of my Finder window as it ticked upward every few seconds. After spending my time noodling around the B5 section and then signing-off, my AOL 2.6 folder was bulging with 10.6 megs (not counting the Online Mail and Online Downloads folders). I liked the graphics, but I could have lived without them. All I wanted was text-based information. Common Problems With AOL 2.6 ---------------------------- By Tony Lindsey I have heard from scads of clients, complaining that their AOL software has gone bad on them again. They always call me first, and I tell them to call the AOL tech-support folks. The techs tell 'em to install an additional copy of AOL from the diskette and then Update the new copy from the old, damaged one. I would also recommend that you prepare for emergencies by making a backup of your entire AOL folder if it's currently working well - Holding down the Option key while dragging the AOL 2.6 folder onto the desktop should do the trick if you don't have a Zip drive or other such backup device. Yes, it wastes disk space, but it may save you some aggravation later on --------. This won't fix your problem if you are being told that "AOL can't find the Browser." This is a really dopey error-message, but it's easily fixed - Quit from AOL, open your System Folder, open the Preferences folder, throw away anything inside it that starts with "AOL" or "America Online", and then empty the Trash. The Web-Browser should work fine. Technical Section Starts... Here -------------------------------- Norton Disk Doctor And Powermacs -------------------------------- By: Thomas Callahan, Mr. Graphic Design Several people I know who have PowerMacs and use Norton 3.1 have reported hard drive crashes of the worst kind while scanning the drive with Norton Disk Doctor. It has happened to me twice, so I no longer use Norton at all. [He sent this to me later:] I found out that the problem is due to extraneous data on the drive, and there is a utility to check for and fix the problem. Evidently, once you fix it once, OR perform a low-level format of the drive, the problem will be gone forever. However, the first time it happened, I formatted it using Hard Disk ToolKit (which performed a low-level format) but still it crashed again. Symantec's page was no help - I had to go to a searchable TidBits index at to find an issue of TidBits that mentioned it (a Sept. 1995 issue - search for "norton and utilities and 3.12"). The utility is called Norton Disk Spot Check: There is also a way to recover the data after such a crash - DON'T DO ANYTHING and call Symantec before you add or delete any files from the drive. They'll talk you through it. Symantec: <800-441-7234/503-334-054/BBS 503-484-6669> Printing Big Jobs Faster ------------------------ [In issue #104, I asked for a way to print quicker when doing industrial-strength print-jobs on a network. In issue #105, I received some excellent suggestions, and now I'm passing-along a few others.] ---- By Glenn Kowalski A better approach is to educate the user in how to create efficient files for printing. MOST people scan at much too high of a resolution or use image file formats that result in slower spooling and printing. Knowing when to scan at what resolution is a major factor. An example of the image format issue is that QuarkXpress will print much faster if you use TIFF images because it throws away any extra data beyond 2 times the line screen your printing at. This makes a big difference when printing to your laser printer, but looks the same. Another good format to use is EPS DCS files, which automatically print low resolution versions when printing a composite, but full resolution when printing separations in any application that supports this format. EPS DCS files can be created from Photoshop when saving as an EPS. You'll see some options, one of which is the EPS DCS format. This saves your CMYK file into 5 pieces; a preview file (72dpi), and 1 file for each color (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black). It's a little messy, but you just make a folder for each image. When printing composite, the preview file will print; when printing separations, the CMYK files will print. DCS is a format invented by Quark. The initials stand for Desktop Color Separations. Another advantage to this format is that the file is pre-separated, meaning faster imaging on final output. Service bureaus love this format for printing large files because the application doing the spooling doesn't have to try to separate the image--it's already done. ------ By: Judy Springsteen After I first read Mac chat issue 104, your question about quicker print-spooling stuck in my head. I had heard of a network accelerator for just this purpose but couldn't remember the name! Since then I have seen two articles about it. It is called Runshare GSA 2.0. It is used for small ethernet workgroups without a dedicated print server. It is manufactured by: The review articles are in HOW's Tenth Anniversary Issue, February 1996 and Digital Imaging, March/April 1996 issue. The Digital Imaging review talks about RunShare's acceleration at up to 5 times the speed of print spooling without Runshare installed. It also has a relatively low cost when compared to other options. HOW is a bimonthly graphic design publication. I have a subscription but I used to buy them at Borders Books. The contact for reprints is Rachel Johnson at <513-531-2690 ext.328>. The editorial office can be reached at same number exts. 344 or 420; or email Further Info On Runshare ------------------------ By Tony Lindsey Yes, this is the third time I've allowed information about RunShare in this newsletter (see also issue #102 and 103). This is because I have heard quite a bit about it from around seventy people, and all of it has been positive. I called them and got the following suggested retail prices in US funds: Software: Two-user-pack $399 Five user $749 Twenty-five users: $2499 From what I was told, the hardware EAB (client) board doubles the speed, retailing at $999, and the GSA (Graphics Server Accelerator, otherwise known as the Server Board) is $1799. The GSA can be bundled with the five-user pack for $2299, which works fine with just the software on each Mac for most shops' purposes. ------ Official Blurb, copied from elsewhere: RunShare will enable "over the network" printing to be accelerated by up to 400%. Simply install RunShare on the workstation and on the networked Mac RIP or Mac print server and all print data will be sped over the network super fast. Works with LaserWriter 8.x drivers, AppleShare and Adobe print spoolers, and any Mac based RIP with a "hot folder" capability. RUN, Inc. 900 Corporate Drive Mahwah, NJ 07430 USA Voice <800-478-6929/201-529-4600/Fax 201-529-2090> Email Partitioning And Formatting The New IDE Drives ---------------------------------------------- By Joy Tinch [In issue #106, Andrew Kim asked if anyone knew of a drive utility program for IDE drives, such as in the newest Macs.] Drive 7 from Casa Blanca Works *does* partition IDE drives. [This is sold for $49.95 by MacConnection at <800-800-1111/603-446-3383/Fax 603-446-5766> and it is also available free with various external hard drives from Apple and other manufacturers in some locations.] ------ By Daniel Robinson Disk Manager Mac v4.02c from OnTrack Computer Systems, Inc. works fine on my IDE-equipped Quadra 630 and Performa 631. The only hitch to the above technique is that the smallest partition size was 60 megs. I have no way of knowing if this is a limitation of Disk Manager Mac or the hard drive. It was included with the IDE 1.2 gig drive from DTP Direct: <800-723-0471/612-832-5406/fax 612-832-5709> (Web-site still in beta-testing) Tech support there was also knowledgeable. Legalisms and Information ------------------------- Copyright 1989-1996 Tony Lindsey. The contents of Mac*Chat may not be republished, either in whole or in part, without the express permission of the editor. Small excerpts of Mac*Chat may be reproduced for personal use, or by nonprofit groups (such as Mac User Groups) if full credit is given, including this notice, how to subscribe, and how to make donations. Please contact the editor for any publication requests. This newsletter is intended purely as entertainment and free information. No profit has been made in return for publication of any of these opinions. Time passes, so accuracy may diminish. Publication, product, and company names may be registered trademarks of their companies. ----- This file is formatted as setext, which can be read on any text reader. I'd enjoy hearing your feedback and suggestions. Unfortunately, due to the massive numbers of messages I get every day, I can't guarantee a personal reply. Send all such messages to: Tony Lindsey 3401-A55 Adams Avenue San Diego, CA 92116-2429 Tips from readers are gratefully accepted. Please write them in a user-friendly way, and if you are mentioning an Internet site, please include a paragraph explaining why others should visit it. Mac*Chat back-issues may be found within any Info-Mac ftp archive at /info-mac/per/chat - For example: and read with any Web browser at Current issues may be found on the comp.sys.mac.digests newsgroup. Free E-Mailed Subscriptions To This Newsletter ------------------------------------- You may subscribe to Mac*Chat by sending e-mail to: The Subject line is ignored, so it can say anything. In the body of the message include the following line: SUBSCRIBE MACCHAT Your full name As an example: SUBSCRIBE MACCHAT Juliana Tarlton You will receive a nice long message explaining acceptance of your subscription, how to end it (if desired) and general listserv info. You will then automatically receive Mac*Chat in your e-mail box, for free, every week. ============== ____ ================================================== Tony Lindsey \ _/__ Free, weekly e-mailed Mac-oriented newsletter Mac*Chat Editor \X / ================= \/ =================================================