Date: Tue, 11 Feb 97 06:28:47 PST From: The Info-Mac Moderators Reply-To: Info-Mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu Subject: Info-Mac Digest V15 #34 To: info-mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="Info-Mac-Digest" --Info-Mac-Digest Info-Mac Digest Tue, 11 Feb 97 Volume 15 : Issue 34 Today's Topics: [!] Mirror list updates... [*] TidBITS#365/10-Feb-97 (Q) FUJITSU DynaMO 230 experience? 2.5GB IDE Drive in a Performa 630? 2.5GB IDE Drive in a Performa 630? (maybe not!) [Q] Anyone have a "threefold" template for ClarisWorks? [Q] IIsi battery replacement? Are PowerBook 5300 really glitchy? Clarisworks updater Error message good outlining app? IIsi Hard Drive Info-Mac Digest V15 #33 - PowerComputing? Macmall problem Muted Sound PDS slot pin configuration? Powerbook 5300 v. 190 printing problem with acrobat Proxy for MacOS Q: Hypercard to FMPro3.0 conversion removing resource forks Removing Resource from files Sound problem on my 7500/100 Speed Disk Issues summary of Upgrade path for 9500/120 The NeXT Apple Mistake The Info-Mac Network operates by the volunteer efforts of: Gordon Watts, Adam C. Engst, Demitri Muna, Mike O'Bryan, Matt Bauer, Brian Wessels, Liam Breck The Info-Mac Archive is available at 50 public and private sites around the world. For the site list, request it by mail (address below), or try: Also accessible by ftp. Help files and indexes are also in info-mac/help/. Administrative queries & info: Articles for digest publication: Files for inclusion: To submit a file greater than 800K, or to avoid submitting by (and segmenting for) email, send email describing the file to and upload it to: -- username/password macgifts/macgifts at info-mac.org As with emailed submissions, non-text files must be binhexed. See our new WWW site: , where you can find all of this info and more! The Info-Mac digest is sponsored in part by StarNine Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Quarterdeck corporation. StarNine develops Internet server software for the Macintosh, including World Wide Web and e-mail publishing systems. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- --Info-Mac-Digest Content-Type: multipart/digest; boundary="----------------------------" Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Info-Mac Digest V15 #34" ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 97 19:51:18 PST From: The Moderators Subject: [!] Mirror list updates... Hi all, Well, I'm finally getting the mirror stuff back up and running. I'm afraid that since Liam has left, we've really been neglecting it. - RICE is gone. :( Once the big listserv that served us all, it is now dead dead deadsky. This means that the reic ftp site and emailer is also dead. - The Swiss Academic & Research Network mirror has moved - The ftp.info.au mirror's path has changed slightly. - The ftp email service at an itialian and a japanese mirror has been terminated. - The mirror at University of Naples seems to have dropped off the face of the earth! email bounces and I can't ping it (ftp.unina.it). If someone knows its status, please email me. For now it is gone from the list. New Mirrors: - ShadowMac (http://www.ShadowMAC.org/pub/mirrors/info-mac/) located in the twin cities. - University of Wisconsin (on campus access *only*) (http://shelf.doit.wisc.edu/Mac/info-mac) I've had requests for more than that of new mirrors, but it was during the months (!) that I wasn't up on how to run the mirror list. I'm learning now, so new mirrors should actually get responses when they send us mail! Cheers, Gordon (info-mac moderator) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 19:29:34 -0800 From: TidBITS Editors Subject: [*] TidBITS#365/10-Feb-97 TidBITS#365/10-Feb-97 Is OpenDoc an Apple technology following in the footsteps of PowerTalk? Component computing seems to be taking off, and Adam looks at some real-world OpenDoc products, plus Charles Wheeler profiles a family known for its "spokesblob." We also review Bare Bones Software's powerful, multi-purpose text editor BBEdit 4.0.2, note Heidi Roizen's departure from Apple, reassure Newton users, and note a Get Rich Quick scheme for serious hackers and crackers. Topics: MailBITS/10-Feb-97 OpenDoc Open for Business More About Rapid-I BBEdit 4.0.2: Speaks Softly but Carries a Big Stick [Archived as /info-mac/per/tb/tidbits-365.etx; 30K] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 97 16:05:23 +0100 From: Thomas Peitzmann Subject: (Q) FUJITSU DynaMO 230 experience? Dear Netters, does somebody have experience with the FUJITSU DynaMO 230 internal magnetooptical drive for the 5300 series Powerbooks? I do use a 230MO drive at my desktop Mac, and it would be nice to be able to use these disks in my Powerbook, too. Somebody knows where to buy it in Europe (Germany would be great)? Please reply to me directly, I'll summarize. Thomas ------------------------ Dr. Thomas Peitzmann Institut fuer Kernphysik University of Muenster Germany Phone: +49-251-8334965 (attention: new numbers!) FAX: +49-251-8334962 email: peitzmann@ikp.uni-muenster.de ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 09:32:19 -0700 From: Dan Hofferth Subject: 2.5GB IDE Drive in a Performa 630? (Hi folks. I was once a regular here, but now visit infrequently... If you can help me with the question below, could you please send directly to "ho4th@worldnet.att.net"? I'll summarize. Thanks!) Just bought a 2.5GB IDE drive for my Performa 630CD (w/PPC upgrade). Checked that the jumper was in the "one drive" position, popped the original drive out and the new one in. Booted from an external SCSI drive and partitioned the new beast with two 1GB partitions, and one 350?MB partition. Reinstalled all SW, and rebooted. The smiley Mac appeared, the MacOS screen appeared, and before any extension icons began marching across the screen... I got a message that said something like "A Bus Error has occurred: Restart with the shift key held down to disable extensions" (this dialog box included a "Restart" button). This seemed like dubious advice, since it didn't appear that extensions had even started to load yet, but I tried it, and it booted fine with extensions off. Repeated this again (with and without shift key), and got the same results. My 13 year old son(!) suggested zapping the PRAM. This seemed to do the trick... at first... it booted fine with extensions about four times after that. Then another bus error on a restart, just like above. Possibly related: In one session, my son loaded Mech Warriors 2, and when he launched it, it told him the CD-ROM wasn't attached. He had just installed it from the CD-ROM... Subsequent launches of MW2 have been fine. The drive packaging claims compatability with Win/Win95/Unix... nothing about Macs... but I'm used to ignoring that. I've got a window of a couple of days in which I can return the drive for a full refund... 30 days for trade. Have I bought a drive I should not have expected to work properly? Any suggestions on what might be wrong? What to try? TIA! Dan [Performa 630CD, 36MB RAM, PPC Upgrade (601/66), System 7.5.5. The new IDE drive is from Western Digital... "Caviar" is the name on the drive label.] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 14:47:08 -0700 From: Dan Hofferth Subject: 2.5GB IDE Drive in a Performa 630? (maybe not!) Following up on my own question (mailed earlier today) re: putting a 2.5GB Western Digital "Caviar" EIDE drive in my Performa 630: Went to Apple's TIL to read up on what 3rd party drives will work, and then went out to the Internet to find specs on the drive I bought. Found what looks like a fatal discrepency, and wanted to see if you guys can confirm or discount my theory. According to Apple... amongst other things, the drive must work at least at PIO mode 2 performance level (whatever that means... transfer rate?). And the 630 family, 580's, and the 5200, 5300, 6200, and 6300 PowerMacs are capable of supporting up to PIO mode 3. The specs for the drive I bought say it works at PIO mode 4. Apple's paper says PIO mode 4 is OK for 5400 and 6400 PM's. I've got a PPC upgraded 630 (that's a 601/66)... don't know if that affects the PIO mode I can use or not? If anything, this might put me in the category of a 6300 (which is still PIO mode 3). Have I bought a drive that moves too fast for my Mac? This would seem to explain the "bus errors" I'm getting when the OS is loading. But not why holding down the shift key to disable extensions would work...? And not why the problem is intermittent? And, so far, only while booting? Help? Dan ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 09:55:29 -0500 From: gmason@jmjm.HQ.Ileaf.COM (Gary Mason) Subject: [Q] Anyone have a "threefold" template for ClarisWorks? I have to put together a brochure. It is to be of the "threefold" type for letter size page (or legal), folded twice to yield three panels on each side. It should (but not MUST) flow text between the panels. Other suggestions? Thanks...Gary -- ** Gary Mason - Interleaf, Inc., Waltham, MA USA 617/768-1553 ** ** gmason@interleaf.com www.interleaf.com FAX 617/290-4960 ** ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 97 07:25:40 -0800 From: Ken Laskey Subject: [Q] IIsi battery replacement? Recently, my IIsi began randomly losing settings like the desktop pattern and the 32-bit memory addressing. Most things are fine, but it seems like every day for the past few, something is amiss when I boot up. Is this just the battery getting ready to go or does anyone know of someting more dire? If it is the battery, is there a way to save all your settings so you can easily reset things. On a PC, someone once recommended changing that battery with the system on. Sounds risky; any opinions? Ken Laskey kenneth.j.laskey@cpmx.saic.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 13:54:48 +0100 From: pertus@mbox.vol.it (Ferdinando Pertusio) Subject: Are PowerBook 5300 really glitchy? Hello all, I have found a very good offer for a Powerbook 5300 , and would like to know if all the rumours about the quality slips on these machines are justified-the only fact I have found so far are that some of the machines had defective batteries. Are there other types of hardware or software glitches? I have looked for data on the Web (including a search of the InfoMac site) but very little concrete evidence has emerged. Can anybody who owns such a machine shed any light on the issue? Thanking in advance for any help you are able to provide, Ferdy Ferdinando Pertusio Milano, Italy email:pertus@mbox.vol.it http://192.216.191.90/CollegePark/Quad/2971/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 10:05:39 -0800 From: Chuck Garrett Subject: Clarisworks updater At 8:30 AM -0800 2/10/97, Info-Mac wrote: * PS: I downloaded two different copies of the Updater from two different * Mirror Sites at two different times and tried installing each both ways * (custom & easy-install) a couple of times--I think the problem may be with * the Updater, rather than with what I'm doing...No? It is just possible that the problem lies with the Clarisworks installation rather than the updater. I had no problem with the updater. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 16:30:08 -0500 From: Bill Doss Subject: Error message Greetings, This is a request for information concerning an error message I get when sending a print request. The screen displays a Dialog Box with Error#39. I have checked cables, all switches/buttons on the printer (all GREEN lit) I checked the paper feed. The printer is an Image Writer and when I checked on the status of the 'designated' printer it seemed to be the correct one, but when I 'clicked' on it to get a response from the indicator box I was informed that I "couldn't use the Image Writer" . I have been using it before...though it did set idle for some weeks. I checked all available documents, but no 'error message' explanations. Any help would be most appreciated, Thanks in advance.. Bill ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 14:56:11 -0800 From: Matt Neuburg Subject: good outlining app? On Sat, 8 Feb 1997 21:54:12 -0500 (EST), Greg Madey said: > >Chao Ye Min asked: > >>Can anyone recommend a good outlining application that will work with >>the current system? I know that Symantec's "More" was supposed to be >>pretty good but I understand they've discontinued it? Advice appreciated. > >Take a look at Inspiration I use MORE every day under 7.5.3, it still works great. Hmmm, if Symantec stops selling it, does this give owners the right to give copies away...? :-) m. P.S. For my TidBITS reviews of MORE and Inspiration, see my home page, listed below... matt neuburg, phd = matt@tidbits.com, http://www.tidbits.com/matt ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 97 13:11:28 -0000 From: Rodney Schmidt Subject: IIsi Hard Drive Several days ago I posted an inquiry about a replacement hard drive for the IIsi. I received many responses and am very grateful to all who took the time from busy schedules to respond to me. To summarize the responses, all agreed that ANY 1/3 or 1/2 height drive would fit the existing internal bracket and also fit the power requirements of the IIsi. A number of vendors were suggested, with La Cie being mentioned several times along with MacWarehouse. Surprise was expressed at the initial reaction I received from APS, since evidently many have had positive experiences with that company. Thanks again to everyone who responded. I am ordering a Quantum 1.2 1/2 height drive. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 17:46:02 -0500 From: ellis@champlaincollege.qc.ca (Pat Ellis) Subject: Info-Mac Digest V15 #33 - PowerComputing? > Date: Fri, 7 Feb 1997 15:32:24 -0500 > From: dwest@tvdata.com (Douglas N. West) > Subject: [A] New Mac purchase: should I consider PowerComputing? > > >I'm in the middle of buying a new Mac to replace my LCIII. I'm really > >interested in the Power Computing PowerCenter 150. However, I've read > >mostly negative comments in the comp.sys.mac.* groups. Now, with Apple's > >price reduction, I'm really torn between the Mac 7600/132 and the > >PowerCenter 150. Yes, the PowerCenter is a little faster and comes with > >mucho software, but the Mac is an Apple! I already have most of the > >software that's included (or wouldn't really need it) so the software > >bundle isn't the deal maker. However, MacUser's ratings seems to bump > >the PowerCenter well above the Mac 7600... Even a PowerComputing Powerbase 603e 180MHz outperformed the 7600/132... at least according to a past MacWeek review. Not by much, by it did win out. The only concern I see would be service should something go wrong. You would have nothing to lose by checking out their web page at http://www.powercc.com. They have apparently reduced prices on some of their higher end clones (not sure if the PowerCenters are included) as well as expanded their new QuickShip program. Of course, one could also wait to see what Apple's new, soon to be released line will look like. > >What do people think of the PowerCC computers? how are the keyboards (a > >biggie for me)? I've heard complaints about noisyness-- how bad are > >they? The only real complaint I've heard about noise concerns Motorola clones (fans). The keyboards - I can't say. Of course, PowerComputing (and other clones) expand your keyboard options by allowing the use of an ADB or PS/2 keyboard. Personally, I'd be very happy with a PowerTower 180e. Pat Ellis [I just (today) got a Motorola system (4000 tower series). The fan is as noisy as the Micron pentium box it sits next to: not very. The keyboard is miles better than the keyboard I got with my windoz machine, but not quite as good as the keyboard I got from apple 7 years ago. I'm pretty sure the motorola starmax system does accept PS/2 keyboards: it talks about using them in the setup instructions; I've not tried, however. The thing is fast, too. :-) -Gordon] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 10:05:23 -0800 From: Chuck Garrett Subject: Macmall problem At 8:30 AM -0800 2/10/97, Info-Mac wrote: * We don't know if we will still have to pay for the monitor or not even * though we have never seen it. But MacMall's handling of this problem gave * us a very bad perception and we thought that other Mac users may experience * similar problems with them in the future, so we send this letter to these * newsgroups to warn all people who want to purchase from MacMall: I would call my credit card company immediately and contest the charge for the Monitor. They will put the claim in suspension and eventually you will win. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 97 16:25:20 CST From: Mike Sisson Subject: Muted Sound I have a friend with a 7500 that likes to play Audio CDs while she works. However, every time she restarts the computer the sound output is muted in the Sounds and Monitors control panel. Does anyone know what causes this annoying behavior and the remedy? TIA Mike Sisson sisson_md@vought.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 11:49:09 +0800 (U) From: DrBlood Subject: PDS slot pin configuration? OK here's a hairbrained idea for you all: I am going to upgrade my PowerBook 520c to a PowerPC. This means I will have a leftover 64040 processor board. I also have a Color Classic, which is horribly slow but ok for word processing and such. So here's the idea: since the Color Classic has a processor direct slot (PDS) and I am seeing processor upgrades for this computer advertised in the Mac mags, I wondered if I could adapt my 64040 board to work in the PDS. I guess I would have to have pin-outs for both the 040 board and the PDS to know if this might work. Question 1: does this have any chance of working? Question 2: if yes, where can I get the pin-out diagrams? The Color Classic is much like an LCII, in that it has a 16 bit data bus. This really limits how much you can increase the speed. While Apple put out the LCIII with much better speed due (in part) to a 32-bit bus, the equivalent model of the Color Classic series was only released in Japan. Question 3: Does anybody know if these computers share logic boards? So is there a chance of swapping my logic board for one out of an LCIII? The best possibility would be to do both the board swap and the 040 upgrade, that is, if I could find a board for next to nothing. I know it would be better to just buy a new computer, which I am also doing. But I like to tinker and it would be nice to tinker the Color Classic up to speed as a second home computer. I could probably find an LCIII logic board for a few hundred bucks. TIA for your imput Jerry Spangrude ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 97 17:21:35 -0000 From: "Paul E. Mullen" Subject: Powerbook 5300 v. 190 It seems I'll be purchasing a Powerbook in the next few days, and I find myself with the dilemna of choosing between the 190cs and the 5300cs. The machine's primary purpose will be to give Web demonstrations to potential clients, and will function as my Mac away from home secondarily (my home system is a Performa 630). I know that I can get by just fine with the 190cs (seeing as how its almost identical to my 630 in terms of processing power), but I've got the money to afford a 5300cs. What is the current status of the 5300 in terms of reliability? I'm aware of the "Repair Extension Program" Apple put together after all the problems the 5300 had. Are the newer ones "fixed" straight from the factory? I can afford the PowerPC, but I _can't_ afford a flaky laptop. TIA... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 07:38:48 -0500 From: Thomas Mokwa Subject: printing problem with acrobat Hello, When I try to print any documents from Adobe Acrobat I get a PostScript error and the file will not print. I am using a LaserWriter 4/600PS, a PowerMac 7100/80 and Laserwriter 8.4 driver. Any help would be appreciated. Thomas mokwa@flinet.com http://www.flinet.com/~mokwa ------------------------------ Date: 11 Feb 1997 20:10:25 GMT From: finn@style.khabarovsk.su (Sergey Tkachuk) Subject: Proxy for MacOS Hi! I have few Macs connected together via LocalTalk. One of them connected to ISP (dial-up PPP with dynamic addressing). How can i access Internet from any of those machines? Can MacTCP work with LocalTalk and PPP at one time? Where can i find free/shareware MacOS-based proxy-server like WinGate for Win 3.1 or MS Catapult for Win NT? Sergey Tkachuk --- Style, Ltd. Apple Authorized Reseller Phone: +7 (4212) 372-608, +7 (4212) 372-283 Fax/BBS: +7 (4212) 376-248 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 11:16:26 -0600 (CST) From: Jon D Benson Subject: Q: Hypercard to FMPro3.0 conversion Hi, I have a user who is switching from a Mac to a PC. she has been using a Hypercard address list for the past seven years and now we need to move it to a FMPro database. Are there any utilities or other means by which I could convert her files? Re-entering the data is not a option since there are over a thousand entries. thanks for the help Jon Benson Univ. of MN, Dept of Sugery bens0054@tc.umn.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 15:00:21 -0800 From: Matt Neuburg Subject: removing resource forks On Wed, 5 Feb 1997 20:47:45 +1000, Andrew Martin said: >Is there any program to remove the resource fork from files? For some of my >Graphicconverter documents, the resource fork takes up more space than the >actual file itself!! I would prefer it if the program didnt remove the >type/creator part though (is that possible on a mac?). There's no need for this: it's only happening because you're telling Graphic Converter to include a preview. Check your Preferences:Save options...! :-) matt neuburg, phd = matt@tidbits.com, http://www.tidbits.com/matt ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 16:27:08 +0100 From: Roberto Panetta Subject: Removing Resource from files >Hi everyone! I just have one question: >Is there any program to remove the resource fork from files? For some of my >Graphicconverter documents, the resource fork takes up more space than the >actual file itself!! I would prefer it if the program didnt remove the >type/creator part though (is that possible on a mac?). >Please email replies to me as well as to the digest. >thanks in advance... >Andrew I think Resource Remover is the program you are looking for. Resource Remover is available for download from febrary 11, 1997 from these web pages: It will be available also on info-mac soon. http://www.kagi.com/panetta (USA) http://www.mclink.it/personal/MC5230 (Europe) It's a drag-and-drop application, simply drag files over Resource Remover to remove the resource fork and save lot of space. Type/creator of 'processed' files are not modified. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 21:00:44 -0800 From: jonyo@wenet.net (Jon Froines) Subject: Sound problem on my 7500/100 Well, this has been happening for a long time, all the way back to when I bought this computer about a year ago. I probably should have done something about this long before now, but owell. Now, as I'm starting to set up my system for hard-disk digital audio recording, the problem has become much more relevent to the use of my system. The problem is intermitent sound. I have a PowerMac 7500/100 48M of RAM, System 7.5.5. I use Ram Doubler 2 and Speed Doubler 2, but the problem has occurred with them inactive just as much as with them loaded. Here's what happens on about 30% of my start-ups: I start up, and there's no sound when I double click a snd file, or get a normal system beep or whatever other way I can think of to get a sound. Nothing. No error message, mind you, just no sound. I check my sound level in the control panels, and it says it's up, and not muted. I restart the machine, and bang, I have sound again. all the sound configs lok the same. I can find no reason for this problem so far. Sorta maddening, really, since there are no nice big obvious error messages or X-ed out extensions in the startup or anything like that. Anyone have any ideas about this? - JonYo (jonyo@wenet.net) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 10:41:17 -0700 From: Gordon Moynes Subject: Speed Disk Issues Some issues back there was a fair bit of discussion regarding the use of Speed Disk & related problems as well as lack of real value from the use of Speed Disk due to the current HD speeds. I have opened my mouth about this and now have to back it up with some further info that I no longer have due to some system failures I've been suffering through (Performa 5200 series). Any info can be sent directly to me so as not to bore info-maccers with repetition. If it's a "new" posting then by all means put it out there for all. Thanks, Gord "If you need nothing you have everything" ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 21:08:39 -0500 From: ljr Subject: summary of Upgrade path for 9500/120 Hey all. Thanks to everyone who responded. I've not even read the digest my post was in or subsequent, a big thanks goes out to those who responded that I didn't even see, I may eventually do so. In summary: All respondents who emailed me said that dropping another processor card in (daughtercard) was easily done, and would work. Bus speed is not an issue, it's regulated by the card. The card can only be up to a certain speed, and I quote: kalar@brainerd.net (Morethanone Kalar) >Actually it depends on the MAXIMUM bus speed of the machine, and the >number of clock multiples the CPU is capable of. .. >below. For example, suppose the 9500 has a max bus speed of 50MHz. Then, >if I remember right, the 604 runs 3x (your limit 150MHz) and the 604e >runs 5x (your limit 250MHz). Jonathan Oei recommended Newer Technology's cards, I'll check them out. One reader tried to convince me I needed more RAM instead of a processor card, but with 112MB, that was not really advice I needed. ;) (in good fun, if you read this, respondent) Others offered general advice, and I thank everyone for it. --- Lyman C. Green, Jr. Type Eleven Support, Inc. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 01:06:38 -0600 From: "Wayne C. Morris" Subject: The NeXT Apple Mistake Diamond wrote: >Let me start off by saying I'm a loyal Macintosh user for about 10 years >and debate its infinitely greater OS and computers against Windoze >users. But after Apple opted to buy NeXT I feel betrayed.... [snip] >The NextStep OS does not run Motorola processors, but rather Intel, >meaning we will have to wait for it to be ported to our PowerPC chips. >NextStep does not support QuickDraw, or Quicktime. Meaning an extensive >amount of time being spent on just recreating that. [snip] >Apple had a prospect of buying Be. Which they should have done if they >had the intentions of grouping with a company to build the new OS. Be >already runs on PowerPC processors and supports QuickDraw and even the >current Mac ROMs. All this would mean the immediate incorporation of >the two OSs. "Immediate"? Only in your dreams. Turning the BeOS into a new-and-improved MacOS is NOT an overnight task. I think you've fallen victim to the Be hype. The BeOS has been aggressively promoted as a state-of-the-art operating system -- but it's also very new and relatively untested. It hasn't been around long enough for anyone to be certain that there aren't any nasty bugs or serious design flaws. And as far as I've been able to find out, current Mac applications & games do NOT run on the BeOS. It'd take time to turn the BeOS into a MacOS. In contrast, the NeXT OS has been around for a number of years, and uses proven technology. Much more stable than the BeOS, much less chance of hidden problems that might surface later. The NeXT OS doesn't run Mac apps, so in that regard it's no better or worse than the BeOS. It doesn't matter what kind of processors the NeXT OS currently runs on. In fact, it started off on 680x0-based hardware, just like the MacOS! The source code just has to be copied over to a PowerPC machine and recompiled. They'll have to replace, rewrite, or modify parts of it to make it work, but it's far from a total rewrite. The kernel in particular will need to be replaced, but Apple can just take an existing kernel that already works on the PowerPC, possibly even the Copland kernel that they've been working on for the past few years. As for stuff like QuickDraw and QuickTime, they don't have to "recreate" those from scratch. The existing MacOS 7.x code can be used, with appropriate changes to interface it with the OpenStep code. Finally, I'd like to point out that the press has grossly exagerated the need for a new MacOS. Everybody has been bitching that it's been too long since the last major upgrade, and that MacOS 7.x doesn't have pre-emptive multitasking, protected memory, etc. I say, so what? The MacOS works and is pretty damned stable on my Mac-- especially compared to the Windoze 95 machine I use at work. -------------------------------- --Info-Mac-Digest-- End of Info-Mac Digest ******************************