Subject: Info-Mac Digest V17 #183 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="Info-Mac-Digest" --Info-Mac-Digest Info-Mac Digest Tue, 21 Nov 00 Volume 17 : Issue 183 Today's Topics: [*] TidBITS#556/20-Nov-00 (A) Ethertalk-for Nick Pappas (Q) Microtek V6usl setup [*] Palm Synch-n-Quit 2.0 [*] QIF Categories 1.4 - Adding Categories to QIF Files Based on Description [Q] 56K PCI modems? [Q] 56K PCI modems? [Q] Router recommendation help: iMac black screen at startup Outlook Express & HTML Printing from Netscape 4.73 to Epson 740 printer Re(R): [Q] Router recommendation router for cable modem Web page builders The Info-Mac Network is a volunteer organization that publishes the Info-Mac Digest and operates the Info-Mac Archive, a large network of FTP sites containing gigabytes of freely distributable Macintosh software. 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Info-Mac volunteers include Adam C. Engst, Demitri Muna, Hugh Lewis, Tom Coradeschi, Shawn Bunn, Christopher Li, Patrik Montgomery, Ed Chambers, and Chris Pepper. America Online donated the main Info-Mac machine . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- --Info-Mac-Digest Content-Type: multipart/digest; boundary="----------------------------" Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Info-Mac Digest V17 #183" ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 21:00:00 -0800 From: TidBITS Editors To: digest@info-mac.org, Mac-L@clio.lyris.net, evangelist@macevangelist.com Subject: [*] TidBITS#556/20-Nov-00 TidBITS#556/20-Nov-00 The Internet is great for watching the U.S. election fuss, but how does it fare at 3 AM when trying to lull a newborn to sleep? Tonya Engst returns to TidBITS with an article about not only finding parenting information on the Net, but also using it as a broader resource for raising children. Also, we note the releases of Netscape 6 and Palm OS 3.5, look at the demise of several Internet grocers, and welcome Blue World Communications as a TidBITS sponsor! Topics: MailBITS/20-Nov-00 Parenting with a Net [Archived as /info-mac/per/tb/tidbits-556.etx; 31K] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 05:07:55 -0500 From: "Chas." To: digest@info-mac.org Subject: (A) Ethertalk-for Nick Pappas I did a little research. It appears that the IIcx came with EtherTalk not AppleTalk. Apparently you have to open the Network Control Panel and choose EtherTalk there. -- Chas. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 20:42:55 -0500 From: "abrody@smart.net" To: digest@info-mac.org Subject: (Q) Microtek V6usl setup Dear Digest readers, Thank you all for your Final cut and LDAP replies. Now a new question. A friend of mine just get a Microtek V6usl, the USB & SCSI scanner with slide adapter. When we mounted it to her Radius 8100 (PowerMac 8100/110 clone), strange things began happening. 1. The green light in the front would go out after a period of use, and all of a sudden a call to the scanner would make the computer freeze. As far as I can tell, the green light means the scanner is on. But there seems to be no on switch on the scanner itself, and I can only turn it on by plugging it in. Obviously I don't want the scanner to turn off its power in the middle of a session, since it is best to leave SCSI devices on while your computer is on. Is there a switch somewhere on this scanner to leave it on? 2. I attempted connecting it to an APS 1 GB hard drive through the second SCSI port, and giving the scanner an ID of 5, and the hard drive an ID of 6 on their SCSI interfaces. But lo and behold, even after turning on termination on the hard drive (while the computer was still off, and everything else was off), and then starting up the Mac, my SCSI Probe detected the scanner on SCSI bus 1, and the hard drive on bus zero. The question I have here, is there any way to convince the scanner it is on bus zero on a Radius 8100 so that it loads on the SCSI chain in such a way it would be terminated by the hard drive? I even tried vice versa, making the scanner ID 6 and the hard drive ID 5, and that didn't work at all (even though active termination was off on the hard drive, and the second SCSI port on the scanner was empty). It appears that the Powerdomain software supplied with the scanner doesn't work with Nubus Macs. Is there an active termination software for Nubus Macs? How do I get both the hard drive and the scanner on at the same time? 3. I found out the hard way I can't connect the slide scanner until after the computer is turned on. But strange as it may seem, when I plugged in the slide scanner to the port on the flatbed, my scanning software didn't recognize it. Even when I went to scan a type of Film Positive. I tried the calibration software and it froze. How do I launch the Scanmaker software without having it do an autoscan, and give myself the chance to setup the software first to use the film positive process, and properly get the slide scanner to work? We have here a Radius 8100/110 with 80MB of RAM, and MacOS 8.6. And yes I have RTFM, obviously not deep enough. Since it is the friends scanner I can't work with the documentation in front of me all the time. Thank you again. Sincerely, abrody@smart.net -- Come visit an internet index of 14 topics and over 800 links at: http://www.index-site.com/ All links verified monthly. ------------------------------ Date: 21 Nov 2000 From: "Joseph C. Slater" To: Subject: [*] Palm Synch-n-Quit 2.0 This script runs the Palm Serial Port Monitor (SPM), then quits it after a the Conduit Manager quits so you don't have to remember to quit it and get the nasty crash on wake problem. If you follow the instructions, you can then just hit an F-key, hit synch on your Palm, and not worry about remembering to quit or having to go to a menu to select a script that quits it. This script is set for a 15 second delay, meaning you have 15 seconds once you have the SPM running to get the Palm in position and tell it to synch. [Archived as /info-mac/dev/osa/palm-synch-n-quit-20.hqx; 36 K] ------------------------------ Date: 21 Nov 2000 From: John Woodward To: Subject: [*] QIF Categories 1.4 - Adding Categories to QIF Files Based on Description QIF Categories converts Quicken Interchange Format (QIF) banking or credit card transaction files, adding Quicken categories based on the description of each transaction. It is useful for converting QIF downloaded from online banking or credit card web sites before importing them into Quicken. To convert a QIF file, just drop it onto QIF Categories. You can configure QIF Categories as a browser helper application for files of type application/qif to have it invoked automatically on downloaded QIF files. QIF Categories converts each transaction in the QIF file dropped on it by: 1) Deleting any existing category; 2) Adding a category associated with the transaction's description, or getting the category from the user if none is associated; 3) removing the plus sign from transaction amounts (because not all versions of Quicken allow plus signs); 4) optionally adding an indication that the transaction has cleared; 5) optionally extracting a check number from the description (unless the transaction already has a check number); 6) optionally changing the description and category to values associated with the combination of the original description and the amount; and 7) transferring all other parts of each transaction to the output file. You can convert the input file in place or choose a different output filename. System requirements: * System 7 through 8.6; not tested with MacOS 9 * Macintosh with at least 4 MB of RAM For more information, please read the documentation enclosed, or visit the QIF Categories Web page: http://jplw.homepage.com/QIFCategories1.4.html Thanks, John Woodward http://jplw.homepage.com/sw.html [Archived as /info-mac/app/bus/qif-categories-14.hqx; 384 K] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 10:30:01 -0600 From: "Chaz Larson [mailing lists]" To: Brian Wessels , digest@info-mac.org Subject: [Q] 56K PCI modems? At 1:59 PM -0800 11/15/00, Brian Wessels wrote: >I'm looking for an internal PCI modem for my 9500, and getting >frustrated. Zoom >and Diamond Multimedia both have PCI models, but only support Windows. Has >anyone successfully used these "unsupported?" Not likely. Every PCI modem I've ever seen has been a Winmodem. These things are like the old Apple GeoPort Telecom Adapters, in that they rely on the CPU to perform a great deal of the work that would ordinarily be done by the modem itself. Generally, this is a Bad Idea. Modems are cheap and very good at what they do. There's no compelling reason to tie up your computer's CPU doing something that a single chip can do much faster and better inside the modem. To get a Winmodem to work with a Mac, a guy would basically have to implement the equivalent of Apple's Telecom software. In all likelihood, the Winmodem manufacturers aren't going to reveal any technical details to this guy, so he's going to have to reverse-engineer the workings of each PCI modem he decides to support. Maybe he'll do an adequate job at this. Then he's going to have to test, debug, optimize, etc. Such an undertaking would be non-trivial, and I can't imagine it would be worth anyone's time [no matter how geeky that someone] to do it in order to save $40 or $50 on a modem. Let's say, though, for sake of discussion, that someone *has* built this software, and he's built it for the particular Winmodem you want to buy. He's probably not giving it away. Let's say that he's charging $30 for it, which seems like a reasonable price. Going by Outpost's pricing, you can buy a PCI 56K modem for around $40. Add the $30 for the supporting software and you've now spent $70 on a non-standard modem which probably doesn't perform as well as an external modem, which can't be used with a clean OS install, which is supported only by this one guy who reverse-engineered support for this particular revision of this particular PCI modem card, and which may well be broken by any OS update or third-party extension conflict. Oh, and you've given up a PCI slot for this privilege. Where's the win in that? For $10 more [again from Outpost] you can buy an external Supra 56K modem that supports FAX and voicemail and doesn't impact the performance of your system and doesn't require any special software to work. If you've got a USB card in your powertower, you can get an external USB Global Village modem, also with FAX and so forth, for $43. For the $70 you're likely to spend on the PCI FrankenModem, you could buy both the PCI USB card and the USB modem and have something much more valuable in that PCI slot. Just my two cents. -- Someday Mother will die and I'll get the money. Mom leans down and says, "My sentiments exactly, you son of a bitch." - They Might Be Giants, I Palindrome I Chaz Larson - chaz at spamcop dot net - http://www.visi.com/~chaz ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 07:19:26 -0700 From: "BILLMAN,JEFF (HP-USA,ex1)" To: "'Brian Wessels'" , digest@info-mac.org Subject: [Q] 56K PCI modems? Brian, If the modems you are looking at are labeled Winmodems you are S.O.L. (slap outta luck) These modems require software running in an Intel based PC that provide the functionality of the hardware chips in an external modem or a Mac approved modem. that I have seen noone makes Winmodem replacement drivers for Macs. This is not all bad since all of the Winmodems I have used are lousy on performance. Cheers, Jeff Billman Hewlett-Packard Product Competency Center Database Management and Languages Team -----Original Message----- From: Brian Wessels [mailto:brian_wessels@yahoo.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2000 16:59 To: digest@info-mac.org Subject: [Q] 56K PCI modems? I'm looking for an internal PCI modem for my 9500, and getting frustrated. Zoom and Diamond Multimedia both have PCI models, but only support Windows. Has anyone successfully used these "unsupported?" (My 28K modem was a Zoom...) Is there anyone who will sell such a thing for a Mac? Thanks in advance for your help. Brian Wessels __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Calendar - Get organized for the holidays! http://calendar.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 07:25:17 -0700 From: "BILLMAN,JEFF (HP-USA,ex1)" To: "'Warren Wiley'" , digest@info-mac.org Subject: [Q] Router recommendation Howdy, Linksys and Netgear make router/firewalls with built in hubs and or switches. I was looking at getting a four port Linksys 10/100 router/firewall combination for around $150. There were rebates from Linksys but they may have expired. Check some of the deal web sites for the best prices. Jeff Billman Hewlett-Packard Product Competency Center Database Management and Languages Team -----Original Message----- From: Warren Wiley [mailto:wwiley@sd47.bc.ca] Sent: Sunday, November 19, 2000 19:47 To: digest@info-mac.org Subject: [Q] Router recommendation I need to connect a Mac system & a Windows system to a cable modem, and would prefer to use a router rather than a hub. Would appreciate product recommendations & any advice re potential problems. W. Wiley Powell River On BC's Sunshine Coast ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 09:25:25 -0800 From: Bill Rausch To: digest@info-mac.org Subject: help: iMac black screen at startup My sister asks: >We have an iMac that stays at a black screen when >starting up. Does that mean we need a new battery? I had to answer "I don't know - I don't know anyone who's had that happen on an iMac". I did suggest she reset PRAM but haven't heard back from her. Any other suggestions? Bill ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 08:24:41 -0800 From: "Chris McVay/Karen McVay" To: digest@info-mac.org Subject: Outlook Express & HTML I've looked everywhere and cannot figure out how to make Outlook Express display HTML email. Can someone help me with that? Chris/Karen McVay fractured555@earthlink.net ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 10:53:17 -0500 From: "A.W. Neef" To: digest@info-mac.org Subject: Printing from Netscape 4.73 to Epson 740 printer Printing from Netscape 4.73 to Epson 740 printer When I print a web page, I first PREVIEW the page. It shows as a postage stamp sized replica of the page, and prints the same. So ... rather than printing at that time, I PREVIEW a second time. That SECOND preview displays full size, and prints just fine ... EXCEPT that Netscape very frequently (but not always) crashes before the printing begins!! Hardware/Software: iMac-DV-SE (OS 9.0.4) Should I look for a conflict? (with ConflictCatcher, a lengthy process) Or might there be some other more obvious solution? Maybe update to Netscape 4.74? Bill Neef Grass Lake, MI, USA ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 09:02:25 -0500 From: Scott Horton To: "Warren Wiley" Subject: Re(R): [Q] Router recommendation >I need to connect a Mac system & a Windows system to a cable modem, and >would prefer to use a router rather than a hub. >Would appreciate product recommendations & any advice re potential >problems. > >W. Wiley >Powell River > >On BC's Sunshine Coast I highly recommend the XRouter Pro (model MIH 130). ( http://www.macsense.com) For me it has worked exactly as advertised and they periodically update the firmware which adds features. I paid $169 and it includes a 4 port 10/100T hub (switch really, full duplex) that autonegotiates the speed. One port can be configured as an uplink (crossover) to connect to any existing hubs. It has built in NAT security so it is a great firewall as well. If your ISP provides dynamic IP numbers to your cable modem, the default configuration will work just fine right out of the box. It also supports static IP, PPPoE and just about any other. For the Mac, just go to the TCP/IP control panel and set it to ethernet and DHCP, under options make Open Transport active all the time (not load only when needed). I have 4 macs on this unit, and uplink to an old 10T hub that has the oldest Mac and an ethernet printer on it and it has been flawless. The firmware (accessible by any web browser) allows one to open ports to your LAN for game hosting, web, mail, and ftp serving; streaming video, etc.; Timbuktu, or any other ports that you might want open. I have nothing to do with the company, but I do like this product very much and highly recommend it. (BTW - it supports Mac, Windows, Unix) Good luck, Scott ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 08:24:07 -0500 From: Phil McIntosh To: digest@info-mac.org Subject: router for cable modem I use an old P75 machine I picked up for less than $100, running Linux. You will need 2 NICs which support Linux and just follow the instructions in the ipchains HOW-TO for ip masquerading and firewall setup. >I need to connect a Mac system & a Windows system to a cable modem, and >would prefer to use a router rather than a hub. Phil McIntosh ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 20:16:26 -0500 From: Patty and Art Werschulz To: digest@info-mac.org Subject: Web page builders Hi. I am getting psyched up to do a serious redesign of a website, and I think I'm ready to move from typing in html codes with Alpha to using a web page builder. So far, I have looked at evaluation versions of Adobe GoLive and SoftPress Systems' Freeway, going through the tutorials provided with each. Before plunking down any money, I'd like to know about peoples' experiences with these products. I'd especially like to hear from people who have used both of these, to help me make a decision. BTW, I'm certainly willing to look at other products, so if anybody has suggestions other Mac web page builders that they're either wildly crazy about *or* that they hate with a passion, please let me know. Thanks. -- Art Werschulz http://members.home.net/agw/ 207 Stoughton Avenue Cranford NJ 07016 (908) 272-1146 -------------------------------- --Info-Mac-Digest-- End of Info-Mac Digest ******************************