Mac*Chat#104/29-Feb-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. Topics: Highlights Of This Issue Editor's Notes Good Cables Can Fix What Active Termination Can't Tony's Getting An Agent Review Of Guy's Book How I Made Color T-Shirts With My Mac Technical Section Starts... Here Tony's Questions Backups And Tape Drives Powerbook Information Part Three Legalisms Free Subscriptions To This Newsletter Highlights Of This Issue ------------------------ I point out the value of good-quality SCSI cables, give a thumb's-up to Guy Kawasaki's new book, give the full step-by-step procedure for making color t-shirts with a black-and-white laser printer, ask questions about Open Transport and other topics, we hear from some very knowledgable people on the topic of backing-up many people onto tape drives, and we wind the PowerBook discussion to a close. Editor's Notes -------------- By Tony Lindsey If you care about your local schools, please consider volunteering for NetDay '96: It's a project to get schools wired for the Internet. I'm planning to help Adams Elementary, which is just around the corner from me in San Diego. ---- I recently added a new image of myself to one of my Web pages - It's a cleverly-drawn caricature, created by a professional artist named Zach Trenholm. I included all sorts of details about Zach and his work, so please stop by and check it out! ----- I'd like to welcome all of the new Mac*Chat readers who have joined us recently - After a flat period of growth, Mac*Chat's readership is on the rise again, with 77,000 readers in 68 countries! I'd like to particularly welcome all of my readers in Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Lithuania, Monaco, Mozambique, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Saint Lucia, Slovakia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the Dominican Republic. Check out back-issue #86 for the larger list of countries that are part of Mac*ChatLand! Good Cables Can Fix What Active Termination Can't ------------------------------------------------- By Tony Lindsey I have a client that has five external CD-ROM drives connected to a Mac for the rest of the network to use as references volumes. She had horrible problems with sudden freezes and bad copies to her backups, so I advised that she buy an Active Terminator (see issues #56 and 58). This didn't work as well as usual, so I replaced one cable that looked a little puny and slender. Bingo! All of her problems went away. This is common knowledge, but I always like to point-out that the free cables that come with scanners and external drives aren't always the best quality. Choose cables that are as short as possible, and as thick as possible. Personally, I'm biased toward the cables from APS Technologies <800-677-3294/816-920-4109> Tony's Getting An Agent ----------------------- By Tony Lindsey As always, I have to balance my Mac*Chat chores with making a living and having a life, but now I have something even newer to add to the mix and take-up my time: I'm in negotiations with an agent who will be helping me to merchandise my talents, such as in making educational videotapes and the like. I have a talent for taking horribly complex concepts and re-phrasing them in a way that makes sense to non-technical people. Mac*Chat's rapid growth and wide readership have proven that very sufficiently. However, I find myself frustrated because I lack good self-promotional skills. I'm in daily communication with people who are just as well-known as I am, but I'm the only one in the group who's in such a financial mess. This really works my nerves, because I can see how well-placed I am to do well in the new age of mass-communications. I'm not greedy, I'd just love to be able to retire some day. It's time to let the experts take over. I'm swapping e-mail with my contract-lawyer, CPA and agent-candidate nearly every day, hammering-out an agreement that works for all sides. I'll keep you posted on how it goes... Review Of Guy's Book -------------------- By Tony Lindsey I was reluctant to buy Guy Kawasaki's new book - I'm a big fan of his writing style and his enthusiasm for the Mac, but I was a bit put-off by the title of his newest work: "How To Drive Your Competition Crazy" It sounded like a collection of "dirty tricks." (I found out it's not). I was offered a review copy of the book (ISBN 0-7868-6124-X), and read it on the way to the MacWorld Expo. It's a very fine book. It's a collection of tips on improving your business. I didn't think it would apply to my own business, but it certainly did. I found myself stopping many times in the midst of my reading and pondering the way his words affected my own situation. If you are running your own business, and are looking for useful tips on improving your business, it's worth buying. OFFICIAL SALES BLURB, copied from elsewhere: Buy a copy of How to Drive Your Competition Crazy ($22.95) and get a free copy of Selling the Dream ($20.00), Guy's previous book. The total cost of this bundle is $22.95 plus $4.00 shipping and handling for U.S. addresses. Quantities of "Selling the Dream" are limited. Schwartz Business Books, 209 East Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53202 <800-236-7323/414-274-6406/FAX 800-231-7323> How I Made Color T-Shirts With My Mac ------------------------------------- By Tony Lindsey In Mac*Chat issues 98 through 100, we discussed printing designs directly from your Mac onto special paper and then ironing the design onto t-shirts. I promised a few of my readers that I'd give a step-by-step explanation of how I finally created the color t-shirts using my black-and-white laser printer to make spot-color separations. In the next issue, we'll discuss full-color separations (such as photographs). ---- I went to an office-supply store and got acetate (clear plastic) sheets designed for a copy-machine or a laser-printer. DON'T get any kind that can't take high temperatures, since the melted plastic is awfully hard to remove from your laser printer! I used Adobe Illustrator 5.5, though any version will do (and Freehand works nicely, too, but with a different set of steps). Before I created my artwork, I opened the Color Systems folder that came with Illustrator and clicked once on the "PANTONE Colors (coated paper)" file. I pulled down the File menu and chose "Make Alias" and re-named the resulting file "Illustrator w. Pantones". I dropped that file inside the Apple Menu Items folder, inside the System folder. I then pulled down the Apple menu, chose "Illustrator w. Pantones" and created my Buick Logo artwork: When designating the two colors (red and blue) I pulled down the Object menu and chose "Paint Style..." I clicked on the green square at the top (symbolizing Pantone colors) and chose 1805 for red objects I created and 2755 for blue items. These are standard, highly-predictable colors, and I knew I could trust them to look right on the t-shirts. When I was done with the artwork, I saved it with a Format of EPS, for an 8-bit Macintosh. This means I will be able to see the colorful image in the next step. I quit from Illustrator 5.5, opened the "Separator & Utilities" folder and fired-up Adobe Separator 5.0.1. Most of my clients have never figured this little goodie out, even though it's quite simple to use. Separator asked me for the file I wanted to use (my Buick design) so I opened it, and then I was asked what kind of printer I was using (my old LaserWriter IIntx). I then saw my artwork with many choices on the side. Instead of a Negative Image, I chose Positive. I clicked on "Separations" and saw a small window listing various colors. I clicked on the choices until I saw "Print: Yes" and "Convert to Process - No" next to each of my Pantone colors. I ran a test by using regular, cheap paper in my printer - I pulled down the File menu and chose "Print Selected Separations". I held the two white pieces of paper with black objects up to the light and saw how nicely they lined up with each other. Since I was satisfied, I printed the selected seps again, using the acetate. I handed the acetates over to the t-shirt shop in a large envelope, and they knew exactly what to do with them. They saw that my acetates had tiny lettering saying which Pantone colors to apply, courtesy of Separator. They laid the acetates on silkscreens that had been coated with a rubbery surface. This gunk is hardened by a particular type of light. They flashed the light, and the parts sheltered by the black portion of the printout were washed away, leaving just the screen. They laid these screens on top of the shirts and rolled Pantone-certified color paint on top. After the layer would dry, the other screen was applied with the other paint-color. After drying, the shirts were done. Technical Section Starts... Here -------------------------------- Tony's Questions ---------------- By Tony Lindsey I've been busy little bunny these days, helping many new clients. In the process of helping them, they've asked me questions that I can't answer as well as I'd like, so I'll pass 'em along here. That's the magical part of having my own newsletter! Quicker Print-Spooling: One of my clients has a shop that does a huge amount of printing. He hates to have everybody click on their "Print" button and then wait and wait while monstrous jobs are sent to the hard disk for spooling to the printer. Another client of mine has been using Adobe Print Central 4.0, which allows print-jobs to be handled on a separate Mac, but he warns me that the software is hideously expensive (over $10,000?). What other choices do we have? Speeding-up 4th Dimension on a 7500 That same client has a Pentium-based PC Clone in his office, next to three PowerMac 7500's, and he has found that the Pentium-based computer is around three times faster at hard-disk-intensive database work. This has been widely blamed on Apple's programmers, who have not completely cleaned-up various parts of the operating system. When is this expected to be fixed, and how? Open Transport - What Good Is It? I've had a devil of a time getting the new PCI PowerMacs to work well with networking and the like, and I blame it on Open Transport. What a stinker. I was all hot to download the newest beta version of Open Transport, and when I did, I noticed that the documentation gave a LONG list of bug-fix programs that I was going to have to hunt-down separately elsewhere. That ended my enthusiasm. I'm still advising people to move it out of the way (see issue #95 for details on how). Here's my first question: What the heck is going on here? Once Open Transport is fixed, what good is it? Is it going to make my client's life easier, or is just going to give us consultants a big pain? Is it a boondoggle like QuickDraw GX, which has caused no end of aggravation for no discernible value? I hate to sound so negative, but I've observed at least a dozen interim releases of Open Transport since the first 9500 came out, and everybody's still mighty irritated. Making it work is still a Nerd Fiesta. I don't have the patience! Where's System 7.5.3? I've heard various rumors of a version of the operating system that fixes all kinds of bugs in System 7.5. I haven't yet found where to actually get it yet - Any clues? What hardware will it work on? Backups And Tape Drives ----------------------- [In issue #103, I reviewed Retrospect 3.0 and asked: >>I've heard about the Quantum DLT-format drives, for instance. What's the street price for one of the 10, 15 or 20-gigabyte DLT tape drives? ----- By Gregory Johnson You would not want to use a DLT device unless you had a very fast network with fast computers. DLT stands for Digital Linear Tape. The way these mechanisms work is they start the tape moving and record the data as it comes in. If the network is slow and data is not coming in as fast as the DLT drive can write it, there will be a lot of wasted space on the tape. One 8 or 16 Gb hammerDAT with an autoloader would be the best solution for a good size network. DATs write data to the tape as it comes in without wasting tape. ------ By Claude Errera Unless things have changed dramatically in the last two months, DLT drives are *not* for network backup. They're capable of 100 megs/min, a speed no (current) network can realistically maintain. They are designed for direct, single-machine backup. APS sells a few models: 30 gig............$4500 40 gig............$6000 200 gig (loader) $10000 280 gig (loader) $11500 You can get the spec sheet (in PDF format) at http://www.lynqs.com/aps/APS_Adobe_PDF/009.pdf -------- [The following letter is from an employee at Dantz - the company that makes Retrospect 3.0] By Craig Isaacs Thanks for the review. I'm glad you like Retrospect Remote. I, of course, have an opinion about your concerns. ;-) 1. Although many of the new computers have large hard disks, much of the data on the hard disks is redundant; that is, the files on one hard disk are also found on others. Retrospect is smart enough to only copy unique files. So, if it copies the fonts from my folder and then goes to back up your computer and you have the EXACT* same font files, Retrospect will simply use the files backed up from my computer during the restore (just as though they were originally copied from your computer). Depending on the site, between 20% and 80% of the data on any given hard disk is redundant; average is probably in the 30-40% range. (* Retrospect uses name, creation date & time, modify date & time, size, creator, and more to determine if the files are EXACT. So they are. :-) 2. That being said, there is still not enough capacity on a DDS or DDS-DC drive for many networks. Some people get around that by going ahead and filling up the first tape and then inserting a second tape for the backup set. (Very often they'll select "Documents Only" for the first backup, just to make sure the most important files get backed up first, and then "All Files" for the subsequent backups.) Some people have 5, 6, 7 tapes or more for a single backup set. 3. Even better is to get devices with large capacities. DLT drives are available for between $4000 and $6000. I would recommend them if either of these conditions is true: A) Large, large files on a single machine (such as a video server) that can also back up other Macs across the LAN; or B) Very fast backup required, such as a corporate database that you really don't want down for more than xx minutes. Lots of people will get them just because they're fast and use them across the LAN, which is slow. That's OK, but probably not the most effective use of $$. Many of our largest customers (and now, not so large customers) are using tape loaders (a.k.a. autoloaders, libraries, stackers) with either 4mm (DAT) or 8mm ("Exabyte") tapes. These mechanisms generally have 1 or 2 tape drives built into a mechanism that will switch tapes. Retrospect works great with these: just tell Retrospect to go and it will automatically go to a blank piece of media when the first fills up. Retrospect will also automatically rotate between sets, so you could have a Monday-Wednesday-Friday set and a Tuesday-Thursday set in the same loader. These are very cool and prices start around $3000 for a mechanism that holds 6 DDS-2 tapes (about 30GB of capacity). Powerbook Information Part Three -------------------------------- [This is a continuation of the huge amount of information I've received concerning PowerBooks ever since I got my own 520 Blackbird (see issues 101, 102 and 103). This will be the last major PowerBook discussion for a while.] -------- By Elaine Powerbook Tips For Travelers I have a Powerbook duo 280c, which I use to produce my zine called PUPS ZINE. When I travel with my Powerbook, I usually just bring the power supply cord, as everything I need is already on the Powerbook. Sometimes I bring the external floppy drive. I bought my case from APS Technologies, because they were very informative in their catalog about Powerbooks. I also bought a wonderful book for Powerbook owners: "Powerbook Companion" by Richard Wolfson, and Sharon Zardetto Aker. Although it hasn't been updated since 1993, I found it to be informative for Powerbook users. ------ What to bring with your Powerbook By Hank LeMieux I frequently use a PB165 and have the following suggestions. 1) ALWAYS bring along a disk tools diskette. Test the disk out first to make sure you have it configured with the correct system, finder and system enabler versions. 2) Bring along a second diskette with critical extensions, control panels and apple menu items. MOST IMPORTANT AMONG THESE: Anything required to get your modem working. If you can get it up and running, you can pretty much grab any other software you may need off the internet. 3) Finally, if you are on the road, stuck without a friend and need a disk tools disk, try borrowing one from the local Kinko's. ------- By Patrick Douglas Crispen If you upgrade your Powerbook 500-series Powerbook to a PowerPC, the internal Mercury modem will no longer work. Global Village is working on a fix, but that won't be out until March (probably late March). ------ By Michael Rohde Powerbook Desktop Patterns I have recently completed 15 desktop patterns (in System 7.5 'clipping' format) that are specifically designed for the Powerbook, in PB grey. [I have them installed on my own PB 520 - I am very fond of the Apple and Mongo Bumps patterns.] You can also find them on AOL in the Computing section, under Operating Systems/Software Libraries/Mike's PB Desktop Patterns.sit Hardware: Any Macintosh running System 7.5 or later Needs: Desktop Patterns Control Panel, Apple Drag and Drop I've included 15 different patterns for you to choose from, all designed in Powerbook grey-- to compliment and enhance your favorite portable Mac. --- Installation Instructions: I've saved all of these desktop patterns as System 7.5 Drag and Drop 'clippings', so installation is easy: 1. Open the 'Mike's PB Desktop Patterns' folder and the 'Desktop Patterns' control panel, in the Control Panels folder, 2. Open the Dragging the desired clipping(s) into the pattern field of the Desktop Patterns Control panel, 3. Click the 'Set Desktop Pattern' button located at the bottom of the Desktop Patterns control panel's window or double-click the pattern itself in the control panel window. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- *Note* Here's a little tip-- if you hold the 'Option' key in this control panel, the 'Set Desktop Pattern' button will change to 'Set Utilities Pattern' so that you can put your favorite pattern in the calculator and find file windows. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- If you find that you *really* like these patterns, all I ask is that you send an e-mail to and let me know what you think of them! --------- [In issue #97, I mentioned that I was idly thinking of buying a used PowerBook 100 as a plain editing device. I got plenty of pro-100 and anti-100/pro-Duo messages. Here are a representative sample:] ------- By Adam Haus I've called Apple Care (800-247-5545) and there are full warranties (all parts and labor, short of abuse damage) for sale. I was quoted $144 for 1 year on the PB 150, which might be worth it, especially for a refurbished item. However, I don't know too many people with broken PBs. ------- By John Haywood I can carry my 100 all day (with a LocalTalk cable, SCSI connector/Dock plug, and a power supply) in my fully-packed briefcase, and still have both arms of the same length at the end of the day (unlike some of my 5xxx-series friends ). As far as the speed is concerned-load the editor/works program of your choice onto a RAM disk, plus your System, and everything works at a fine clip. If you wanted to do 3-D rendering you would've bought a SUN laptop, right? To do this effectively, bump the RAM up to its max 8meg. Check out APS for drives, trackballs and that neat SCSI/Dock adaptor. I DO NOT RECOMMEND Better Technologies batteries, I have one and can only get 30mins out of it when fully-charged. A horde of others have had the same experience. I have been told to use Apple reconditioned instead. You could always ask Lind technology if they have any of their batteries still in stock-they may also have a cigarette-lighter adaptor. Internal modems are available for the 1xx-series from the usual places-Global Village, Supra etc. Just check to see whether they support the original 100. Cases are readily available from just about every computer or stationery store. Now, my own experience. I was given a semi-dead pb100 by a client. The machine would boot and run from an AC adaptor, but not from the battery. Sometimes it wouldn't even recognise the existence of a battery in the slot. I thought I'd test my skills by having a crack at repairing it, and so I set to with a screwdriver and popped the case. I found that there is a small microswitch at the back of the battery port. This part is activated by the battery pushing a metal lever on insertion. This lever had bent flat over the years. Pliers (delicately) to the rescue!! ------ By: Lt Michael Dahlstrom I can't recommend the PB100 enough. Truly one of Apple's better machines. I had one for a year and a half as my primary machine & loved it. I had to sell it to finance a desktop mac for some speed, and I have regretted it ever since. Good battery life, Small, light, etc...I wish Apple would re-introduce this one! ------ By: RHoweHMD@aol.com I had a PB100, and if you keep the extensions down, they are actually decently responsive. One of the biggest slowdown-causer is "SuperClock"...I imagine having to check the time and constantly update the menubar takes quite a toll on the processor. If you really want to make things snappy, and don't mind taking a step backwards, the PB100 can run system 6.0.5! (or any version of system 6 after that) with only slight quirks. A memory hog to avoid is the truetype extension, and again, don't load SuperClock. However, after running system 7.x for so long, system 6 is a real shock. Apple is once again making replacement batteries for the PB100. You have to get them from a dealer, as they are listed as a 'service part'. Be sure that the battery is a newly-made one, as the lead-acid battery doesn't have a long shelf life (so, for example, any batteries still around from 1992 are no good anymore!). I recommend that you get only the Apple battery as 3rd party batteries don't have the same amp-hour rating...they may cost less than the Apple battery, but what's the point if they don't last as long!? (Apple's battery rating is 2.3 amp-hr; most others are 1.8) As another option you can get one of the flat external batteries available that will power the 100 for 5+ hours. RAM upgrades are now inexpensive: I've seen an ad in MacWeek for the 6-meg chip (brings the 100 to 8 megs; the limit for the 100) for $150. If you replace the original PB 20 or 40-meg drive with a newer, bigger, and faster drive, you'll really notice a speed difference. A friend of mine bought a 120 meg drive on sale from LaCie for $99 last year, and it really sped up the 100's response time...quite amazing. (LaCie advertises in the usual Mac publications.) You can find PB100s from used computer dealers...try Sun Remarketing: <800-SUN-0999/ or Mac sale international: <800-729-7031> (Their ad showed a used Powerbook 100 4/40 listed for $499--reflecting a 2% cash discount. Doesn't say if it includes the external floppy drive.) Try to get a 90-day warranty as the PBs are getting old, and a repair bill will cost more than what you will pay for the PB! Add the extra RAM and a bigger drive for about $300 and you will be set. That is, until you get the desire for a Duo, as they too are small and light, and have -color-, and are really fast! Use the standard precaution: buy using a credit card so you have some leverage in case of problems. And if you get the 100, you need either the external floppy or a PB100 SCSI docking cable (and whatever terminators necessary). Oh, I mentioned Duos: the 210 is, I believe, upgradable to a PowerPC. And it's much faster than a PB100, and can use virtual memory. You'd wind up spending about $700 for a used 4/80 210, another $300 for a used dock (to get the floppy drive and the usual connections), and either swap your current monitor/keyboard for the times you put the duo in the dock or get duplicates for another couple of hundred bucks... The primary disadvantage to the Duo is that it needs a dock or minidoc with external drive if it crashes so badly that you need to boot from a floppy. (If you know of someone with a dock, you can skip getting one of your own, so long as you have reasonable access to the dock!) For normal everyday file transfers, just use a serial cable and AppleTalk the file over. 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 / ================= \/ =================================================