From: (Tony Lindsey) xxltony@cts.com Subject: Mac*Chat#113/20-Jun-96 Mac*Chat#113/20-Jun-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. Any [comments in brackets] are by Tony Lindsey. Highlights Of This Issue ------------------------ I ask for humorous stories and jokes, QuickTime VR sites, and hard-disk-recovery techs, readers recommend tools of use to Mac techs, we wind up discussion of inexpensive color printers, Tara Merrigan asks for a way to exchange long-filename documents with Windows 95, we hear about many more utilities and what they're good for, Maarten Hazewinkel tells us how to maintain aliases from one drive to another, the discussion of online Chat programs continues, and we learn a bit more about Apple's Cyberdog software. Topics: Highlights Of This Issue Send Me Your Best Online Humor Where Are Some Good QuickTime VR Treats? Who Does Hardware Recovery From Dead Hard Drives? Tools For Technicians Color Printers Pc Exchange For Windows 95? Favorite Utilities, Continued Technical Section Starts... Here Alias Tips Chatting Programs Cyberdog Legalisms Free Subscriptions To This Newsletter Send Me Your Best Online Humor ------------------------------ By Tony Lindsey For some reason, I've been craving humorous snippets in my e-mail. Please pick out your favorite jokes and send 'em along to me. They don't have to be about computers in specific, but I want 'em laugh-out-loud funny. I'll salt the next few issues with tasty nuggets for everybody to enjoy. ------ [Here's a copy of something I received the other day from my husband Dennis... We swap stuff from work all of the time:] True story from a Novell NetWare SysOp: Caller: "Hello, is this Tech Support?" Tech Rep: "Yes, it is. How may I help you?" Caller: "The cup holder on my PC is broken and I am within my warranty period. How do I go about getting that fixed?" Tech Rep: "I'm sorry, but did you say a cup holder?" Caller: "Yes, it's attached to the front of my computer." Tech Rep: "Please excuse me if I seem a bit stumped, it's because I am. Did you receive this as part of a promotional, at a trade show? How did you get this cup holder? Does it have any trademark on it?" Caller: "It came with my computer, I don't know anything about a promotional. It just has '4X' on it." At this point the Tech Rep had to mute the caller, because he could not stand it. The caller had been using the load drawer of the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder, and snapped it off the drive. ------ By: Joseph Schaller For a good laugh, call... The best collection of tag lines (signatures) I've seen. Where Are Some Good QuickTime VR Treats? ---------------------------------------- By Tony Lindsey I have a few cool Quicktime VR (Virtual Reality) movies that I got from somewhere a while ago. If you haven't seen 'em, they are ultimately cool. Using your mouse, you can see twirl around in a 360-degree view of a desert, building or car interiors, and other stuff like that. If you use the Control and Option keys, you can zoom in and out. It's eerily exciting on a PowerMac. Every time I show them to cynical anti-Mac Bigots, their pupils dilate and they start stammering. I would love to point-out some cool places to download more VR (and regular) movies and an appropriate player, but I can't remember where I got mine. Anybody want to help out? I want the GOOD stuff. I tried the BMW Z3 site, but the images were corrupted (a month or so back). Who Does Hardware Recovery From Dead Hard Drives? ------------------------------------------------- By Tony Lindsey I've been asked recently to find a company that will do whatever it takes to recover recent data from a seriously croaked hard drive (yes, they are buying a tape drive now). I lost whatever contact-information I used to have, so now I'm asking my wisest Faithful Readers for recommendations. Tools For Technicians --------------------- [In issue #112, I asked for a good place to find a Torx T-8 screwdriver. I had wasted a lot of time and energy trying to track one down for my Powerbook. When I went to Sears, the teenaged salesperson assured me that there was NO Torx screwdriver smaller than a T-10...] ------ By: George If you look in the screwdriver section, the smallest they have at Sears is a Torx-10. But there is a different section of smaller tools. Fine Tools. Something like that. I got mine there. It is a small wall display unit with Torx 6 through 10. Black plastic handles. ------ By: Dave Reiser Get a Craftsman part # 41681 for your Torx T8 needs. It's less than 5 inches long, the duty end is 1.6 inches long (and it sure beats those 1/4 inch hex drive bits for access to recessed screws). It costs less than $2. ----- By Bruce O'Neel Two easy solutions. 1. Buy a memory upgrade. I just bought a 32meg one for $350 or so for my 520. It came from Newer Tech and they include the necessary screwdrivers. Newer Technology, Wichita, Kansas <800-678-3726/316-685-4904/FAX 316-685-9368> 2. Buy the toolkit for memory upgrades: MacWarehouse, 1720 Oak Street, PO Box 3013 Lakewood, NJ 08701-9917 <800-255-6227/908-370-4779/800-325-3166 Canada> has item #ACC1535 Power User Powerbook Toolkit for $4.95, which gives you a wrist strap and Torx screwdriver with T-8 on one end and T-10 on the other for opening your PB and installing modems and RAM and stuff. ------ By Daniel W. Collison Buy the best tools you can afford; they'll last at least one human lifetime and are a pleasure to use. Craftsman tools, sold at Sears, are nearly the best and there's always a Sears around the corner if you need help or replacement. Craftsman screw driver sets go on sale every 3-4 months. It's a great set, has a lifetime warranty, and includes 2 Torx screwdrivers (which are also helpful when changing auto headlamps). If you can't afford screwdrivers, sometimes a set of Allen wrenches will work in Torx slots; I remember getting long Allen wrenches (for opening compact Mac cases) as part of SIMM upgrade kits in the past; they worked fine. ------ By Lee A. Joramo, Colorado You are looking for Jensen Tools Inc. [Catalogs are free] <800-426-1194/602-968-6231/fax 602-438-1690> 7815 S. 46th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85044-5399 In fact, I first learned about Jensen in my quest for a Torx T-8 last December. Their 240 page Master Catalog has every imaginable tool a computer consultant could want. (Aside from a 15 pound sledge hammer ;-) [Back when I was a Navy Radar Tech, we used sledgehammers for "impact tuning." :->] While they do sell all of the tools individually, I think you are best off to start with one of their hundred odd Kits. Their kits contain from 10 to over 100 tools and are tailored to a wide variety of purposes such as PC Repair, Networking, Telephony and Medical equipment. If Jensen does not have a prefab kit to meet your needs, or you already have some tools in a kit, they will create a custom kit for you at no extra charge. I recently purchased Jensen's "JTK-5 Network and PC Maintenance Kit". It contained 48 tools for $340. While that _is_ a lot of money, I have no doubt that is was worth every penny. All of the tools are of the highest quality and will last a lifetime. The rugged Cordura nylon case is well designed so that every tool has a secure place. There is plenty of room for additional tools, test equipment and even a laptop. ------ By: Mark Hodges, Beaverton, Oregon I've been whacking Macs professionally (or getting paid for it) for 10 years, and have a short list of tools: Torx screwdrivers: T 8,9,10 (why make it easy?). Can find at a good hardware store, tool store, or auto parts store. Static mat: 3M makes a very nice portable one. AC line tester: one of those cubes you plug into the wall, LED's tell you if the AC is hooked up OK. Use it before you ground yourself to the AC. I once found 80 volts on a so-called ground, so best to be careful. Jeweler's screwdrivers: the large set from Radio Shack is a good deal. #2 Phillips screwdriver. If you buy one of those "PC Tool Kit" jobs you end up with a lot of tools that you will never use, and will have to buy other stuff anyway. Color Printers -------------- [See issues 110-112 for further discussion of this topic. The following message is the only dissenting message I've received about the StyleWriter 2500.] ---- By: Michael Kimura, El Segundo, CA I had a Stylewriter I which I sold with my Mac SE/30. I bought a Stylewriter 1200 to go along with my Duo 230; but have yet to open the box and I'm considering in exchanging it for an color inkjet printer. I had decided on the Stylewriter 2500 until I read: The Stylewriter 2500 got a very poor review. Based on this review I'm ready to get the HP DeskJet 855Cse or Epson Stylus Pro. Just thought you might like to reference a conflicting viewpoint. ------ By Roland Denning I've been reading a lot of complaints about the Epson Stylus II printer in MacChat. May I add a comment and some help - The output is great and the software certainly is flakey. But there is a workaround that helps avoid crashes - When you go to print select Options in the Epson print dialogue box - In options under Color/Halftoning setting - METHOD select AUTOMATIC. This seems to cure most of the stability problems. Pc Exchange For Windows 95? --------------------------- By Tara Merrigan This one is for anyone who exchanges files with Windows 95 users. Does anyone know of a W95-friendly equivalent of PC Exchange? The solution I've used until now has been MacInDos, which despite the ugly & clumsy interface, accepted Mac disks & files without too much hassle. Ideally I'm looking for some kind of extension, rather than application, but an application will do if that's all I can find. MacInDos is effectively useless with W95 & it never supported long filenames anyhow. Any ideas people? Favorite Utilities, Continued ----------------------------- [Back in issue #108, I asked for people's favorite utilities. I've got quite a few more for the next issue or so.] ------ By: Marc Zeedar Tony, I'm afraid I don't subscribe to your extension-phobia; my system has almost three rows of icons on a 21" screen. [Eeek! Sorry, couldn't help myself.] On average, my machine crashes 2-3 times a week, which is acceptable to me. On your best Utilities question, I'd also have to recommend Now Utilities as the best overall value. I refuse to use a Mac without Now installed. I love Super Boomerang placing my most recently used files and applications at my fingertips for easy grabbing (for example the TIFF I just edited in Photoshop is right there off Pagemaker's "Place" command submenu ready to be inserted in my layout), and I couldn't live without being able to redefine my menu's command-key shortcuts. ------ By chris jones One of my favorite utilities is DoubleScroll: All it does is put a pair of arrow boxes (whatever they're properly called) at each end of the scroll bars. Now if you happen to be near the bottom of your screen and want to move up, you can slide over to what used to be just the down arrow and go up -- much less mousing around. Sounds goofy, I know, but I found I adjusted very quickly, so now I'm constantly catching myself going for them at work, where we don't have it installed. ------ By Stan Hadley, Oak Ridge, Tennessee ApplWindows is freeware from Hiro Yamamoto of Zeta Soft. Not only does it allow you to switch between windows of an open application with a modifier key + the up and down arrows, it allows you to switch between applications with the modifier key + the left and right arrows, similar to the alt-tab in windows. It also adds a hierarchical menu to the applications window in the top right so you can pick which window to open when switching to a new app. It also allows you to make the entire outside edge of the screen a hot spot to pop up the application window (with the heirarchical submenus). It slices! dices! peels! and Boy! does it catch fish! Honestly, this utility works great. I've never had a conflict with other utilities, although I've been too cheap to load up a lot of other utilities. ------ By: ApplWindows puts your application menu wherever the cursor is with a definable hot-key plus a mouse click (no more trips to the upper right hand corner), allows you to use the arrow keys plus a definable hot-key to cycle through 1.) open apps (L & R arrows) and 2.) all the windows open in a particular app (up & down arrows). You can 1.) hide all the other apps, or 2.) choose certain apps/DAs that do not hide others, so for instance, you can open Quicken and your calculator at the same time, or your internet browser and "Signature File" (Rick Holzgraf - very useful). I do a lot of editing of documents found on the internet, and this is a timesaver for me. Fave Utility #2 - Now Utilities - I use Now Menus to assign hot keys to frequent apps/files. Can you tell - I'm not a big fan of the mouse, since it aggravates my RSI problems from my profession, playing the clarinet. I use Now Folder Menus to navigate through my chaotic filing system. It also helps me transfer my Mac*Chat issues from the download site to the EasyView folder (actually, to the proper Mac*Chat folder *inside* the EV folder). [See Issue #73 for the best possible way to read Mac*Chat using Easy View.] Startup Manager saved my bacon with a couple of my daughter's CD's - I have pared down startup sets for them, because they need at least 8 MB to run in addition to my bloated system (too many toys, or is that *utilities*!) Now Save is a pain, but I use it to force me to remember to save, and I'm glad for the few times it has mattered. I also use Now Scrapbook, because it is there, and I've already got it. Don't need ScrapIt, or some other substitute. ------ By Bob Meyer, North suburban Chicago I nominate Now Utilities. I bought 5.0 in 1/95 and recently installed 6.0. I don't use every function, but I am very pleased with NowMenus, Now WYSIWYG and Startup Manager. Now Menus allows the creation of multiple pull-downs in the Finder. I have 5, in addition to the Apple Menu, for Internet apps, CD-ROM masters, my wife's school work, frequently-used utilities and control panels and my personal files and folders which I use on an ongoing basis. Every menu can have items which themselves are directories, i.e. you can include a folder and then its contents are accessible. System 7.5 does something similar for the Apple Menu, but when I loaded it I disabled it and had no problems. WYSIWYG allowed me to take my huge collection of fonts and organize them into families. It's those families which appear in all applications. For example, I have REGULAR, CAPS, ART DECO, SCRIPT, GRAPHICS, MATH, etc. You can see the actual font in the menu if you wish. I have done that will all families except GRAPHICS, since it can get confusing. I rely on my TypeBook lists to show me the graphic characters. Startup Manager outperforms Extensions Manager, in that it is more graphic and gives you more immediate information about each extension and control panel item. They can be re-ordered, if necessary. If your system crashes at startup when something loads, Startup Manager automatically restarts and then tells you which item caused the crash, and that it has been turned off for the time being. Multiple sets can also be created. No, I don't work for Now Software - I just love this product. ------- By: Drew VanKrevelen, Minnesota The one util that I simply can't do without has got to be QuicKeys [a commercial product from CE Software]. Whenever I use someone else's Mac I realize just how much I depend on QuicKeys. I have a key that drags down the right side of the screen selecting all mounted disks and temporary documents, then grabs the top one and drags them all to the trash. I have another for changing monitor depths, another for adjusting the speaker volume, another to remind me when it's time to run a backup, etc., etc... My favorite new QuicKey types all the information into the form on the Publisher's Clearing House website so I can enter their $10,000,000 drawing every day. All I have to do is hit a keystroke to start it up. ------ By Robert C. Perkins I vote for Stuffit Deluxe. The new 4.0 version continues Aladdin's tradition of excellence. I don't use SpaceSaver because I like choosing when and where I do compressions. I've used Stuffit for years to save space and to collect multiple files into single files. I have plenty of space (1 gig HD) but archiving stuff makes disk management simpler. ------ By: Stefano Stefani, Los Angeles California My absolute best and essential, a must have for every Mac owner (especially the net one) utility, is Stuffit Deluxe (period). [This is a commercial product, available from all mail-order shops] In my daily netsurfing I've to handle many kind of file (.hqx, .sit, .cpt, ecc) and I can do it with the Stuffit products (especially Stuffit Expander) I'm also a sysop of a FirstClass BBS and all the file in my BBS are compressed with Stuffit. (DropStuff). You can simply drag & drop a file or a folder on one of the stuff's products, and all the work is done. [Here's where you get the extremely useful (but less powerful) versions:] ------- By Robert I have been using CopyPaste for about a year now, and it makes cut and paste of several items a breeze. It also has several other little features that are real handy. I have a system stuffed with all kinds of utilities, but I really think this is my favorite. ------ By: Gordon Charlton, UK Custom Menus is a control panel that adds the ability to tear off most menu bar items and leave them floating on the desktop. The $12 shareware fee is worth it for Eudora alone - filing messages into mailboxes is sooo much easier with it! One can also build customised menus and change the names of menu items - my news-reader now has a special drop-down menu entitled "Spam" - it only has one item in it, Delete Message, which I renamed as "f--- off and die!" If I could incorporate some suitably gruesome sound effect at that point my delight would be complete. ------ By: Toby NetStripper removes the junk that makes e-mail attachments so difficult to read for Mac users. For convenience, I keep an alias of NetStripper on my desktop (beside Stuffit & Tex-Edit Plus). I use it daily for the many attachments I receive--including Mac*Chat. After dragging the attachments (yes, plural; my maximum is dragging 34 at a time--thus far) onto the NetStripper alias & letting it do its thing, I open Mac*Chat--or the file of my choice--by dragging it onto the T-E + alias. Neat! ------ By: Two of my favorites are Escapade, which lets you select buttons by typing their first letter in any dialog box that doesn't have a TextEdit field, and, StickyClick, which lets you click once on a menu and it stays down until you click again. I've never experienced a crash with either of them. Technical Section Starts... Here -------------------------------- Alias Tips ---------- By Maarten M Hazewinkel, Netherlands I do have a few tips for retaining/restoring aliases across hard-disk reformatting sessions. Some of it won't help you anymore, since you have already reformatted, but some of it will, and there's always the next time. I figured out this method when someone told me that aliases use the creation date on a volume to find the correct volume to try. I use the shareware utility "File Buddy" to do most of this. The first step is to drop your volume icons on File Buddy, and make a note of the Creation dates. Backup your alias files and folders. Reformat your hard disk(s). Reinstall your software, and make sure that the folder structure is the same (same names for folders, etc). Again, drop your volume icons on File Buddy, and this time, Set the Creation dates to the same ones that you wrote down earlier. Restore your alias files and folders. Your aliases should now work fine. However, you might want to take an extra step. This last step can also help if you didn't follow the previous procedure. Open File Buddy itself by double-clicking. From the "Cleaning" menu, choose "Check Aliases...". This will let you check all your aliases, and update their information, so that they will work faster when you use them again. Also, you now should be able to move the target files around in the folder structure, and rearrange that folder structure without losing the target for your alias. This will also let you reattach unattached aliases to whatever files you wish, which can be helpful if you didn't follow the first procedure. Chatting Programs ----------------- [This is a follow-up for the last few issues' discussion of online Chat programs.] ----- By: Eric Taylor Best IRC program (No, really!) Actually, I have tried and disliked both Ircle and Homer--Ircle because it didn't seem particularly Mac-like in interface and Homer because it crashes rather frequently. Chris Bergman out of Australia is in the process of writing a shareware program called MacIRC. It is much better, IMHO, even in its unfinished state. The current version can be downloaded from So far, MacIRC hasn't crashed on me, and it provides nice Mac-like windows listing everything from current users in a group to current groups you can subscribe to. The only thing I really miss from Ircle is the giant list of servers that the author embedded in the connection dialog. ------ By Kathy Northrop I think that Homer is a great program if you like to chat. One of the best channels is the Macintosh channel. There also some areas where there are local groups meeting. In my experience it puts services like AOL chats to shame. Although, as with any "chat areas" you enter at your own risk, but I've received some excellent help and advice on Macs and just some general entertainment:) The drawback can be that at times it's difficult to sign on to one of the numerous servers, but the number is growing. For example, the "undernet". Overall, it's a great way to "chat" in real time. Cyberdog -------- [In issue #112, I asked for the status on Apple's Cyberdog, which allows use of the Internet in a whole new way. Unfortunately, I can't install it on my Mac until I upgrade to a PowerMac. ------ By: Daniel Jarecki I've been using Cyberdog for awhile. All you have to do is pull the URL from the web page to a notebook or from email to a notebook. No copy paste and no lost urls because the Mac froze up before pasting. ------ By Jon Kreisler, Bethpage, New York Apple has a web site, just for Cyberdog You can access the download from there. Right now, v1.0 is Power Mac only, requires OpenDoc 1.0.4, MacPPP 2.5, Internet Config 1.2, QuickTime 2.1, System 7.5+, 8 MB RAM with Virtual Memory turned on or 16 MB RAM with VM off, MacTCP or OpenTransport with TCP/IP. PlainTalk is optional. (For a simple add-on, this is getting quite complex.) 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 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. 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 ============== ____ ====================================================== Tony Lindsey \ _/__ Free, weekly e-mailed Mac-oriented newsletter Mac*Chat Editor \X / ================= \/ =====================================================