Subject: Info-Mac Digest V17 #154 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="Info-Mac-Digest" --Info-Mac-Digest Info-Mac Digest Mon, 02 Oct 00 Volume 17 : Issue 154 Today's Topics: [*] Abstract for JanusNode-110.hqx (Automatic text-generation tools; [*] account-buddy-10.hqx [*] Activity Tracker [*] Alchemy 1.0 - can turn LEAD into GOLD, literally! [*] BBTidy v1.0b7: BBEdit plugin checks and corrects HTML and XML [*] CalCountNote 1.7.1 (68k) [*] CalCountNote 1.7.1 (PPC) [*] CESLab3.0b0.sit.hqx: 3-D cardiac electrophysiological simulator [*] Export Icon Plug-in 1.5b19 - export icons from Photoshop! [*] Factoid [*] FTP: intellinews_30_installer.hqx [*] Gene 4.3.1 genealogy database [*] GeoMetriX 1.5 - A Setting Sun Fader [*] Gerry's Attraction 3.0 (View Lorenz and Rossler Attractors in 3D) [*] Graphin' Stuph Again [*] HandyMan208.hqx [*] HTML Optimizer 3.1 [*] HTML OptimizerPro 1.8 [*] New Utility: KML Color Icons 1.022 A weird folder inside System =?iso-8859-1?Q?=9F?= Formflow Freezes Power Mcintosh 7200-75 French Mac OS 8.1 on PowerMac 7200 w/G3 Card iMac Crashes and Freezes Toast v4.1.1 Deluxe Updater 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. Working with the Info-Mac Digest: * To submit articles to the digest, email . * To subscribe, send email to with the words subscribe info-mac in the message. * To unsubscribe, send email to with the words unsubscribe info-mac in the message. * To change your address, unsubscribe from the old address, then subscribe from the new address. * Please send administrative queries to . Downloading and Submitting Files from the Info-Mac Archive: * A full list of Info-Mac mirror sites is available at: * Search the archive via the MIT HyperArchive at: . * To submit files for the archive, email the binhexed file with a description to . Submissions must be made by the author or with permission of the author. It may take up to a week to process; check mirror sites for the status of new uploads. * To submit files larger than 2 MB, email a description to and then use an FTP client to upload the binhexed file to info-mac.org, using the userid "macgifts" and the password "macgifts". Or, click . 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 #154" ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: Chris Westbury To: Subject: [*] Abstract for JanusNode-110.hqx (Automatic text-generation tools; This file replaces the file 'text/janus-node-108.hqx' A JanusNode is a software robot (descended from an earlier, simpler application called 'McPoet') that is designed for text generation and text morphing: that is, for writing computer-generated and computer-assisted poetry and prose. JanusNodes use their own simple language to allow the text-generation rules (called 'TextDNA') to be completely user-configurable. It is easy for users to write their own TextDNA even if they know nothing about programming the Mac. Users can also use the large set of built-in rules, including rule-sets for blues lyrics (styled on the works of Robert Johnson), haiku, and much more. Built-in automatic TextDNA-generating functions can turn ordinary text into TextDNA. The text morphing features include an automatic version of Tristan Tzara's original Dadaist formula for creating poetry from text (and many variations on it), an eecummingsfication feature for imitating the style of the great poet ee cummings, multiple forms of Markov chaining and much more. JanusNodes are highly user-configurable, and can be greatly expanded by the end-user. Version 1.10 improves the search and replace functions, adds some functionality to make TextDNA-editing easier, improves the automatic affixing and Text-DNA-generating functions, and adds new rule sets. JanusNodes are uncopyrighted and free. They may be freely redistributed. They require at least 15 megabytes of free disk space, at least 5 megabytes of available RAM, and a PowerPC processor. [Archived as /info-mac/text/janus-node-110.hqx; 2744 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: LFO Works To: Subject: [*] account-buddy-10.hqx Filename: account-buddy-10.hqx Application name: Account Buddy Version: 1.0 Category: Internet, Data Manager/Organizer Description: Account Buddy is a manager/organizer for all your accounts. It is a tool that remembers all your logins, passwords, and much more. If you are working at office or at home, if you are active internet user or just occasional one, it happens that you register for some services, you get various personal logins, passwords, ids, codes, and many additional information. You may have many web-based e-mail accounts, web pages, internet harddisks, accesses to various services which require your authorization. For all of these you have to remember your usernames, access passwords, and so on. After a time you may notice, that you can hardly remember all those logins and passwords and who knows what else. Account Buddy will manage all your accounts and you will never forger a password anymore. You can have all your accounts in one safe place, sorted and organized in categories. Web page: http://www.lfo.sk E-mail: lfo@kagi.com, lfo@pobox.sk [Archived as /info-mac/comm/inet/account-buddy.hqx; 2233 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: Garth Catterall-Heart To: Subject: [*] Activity Tracker New Time Tracking Software for Small Businesses Released Redwood Valley, CA 09/09/2000 -- Today, SpiritWorks Software Development released Activity Tracker, their new project, activity and expense tracking system. This new productivity software allows self-employed professionals, or small businesses, to keep track of time and expenses spent on any number of projects. Now writers, programmers or any consultant can easily record the amount of time they spend on specific activities and make notes on tasks and expenses. They can then quickly generate invoices and reports that can be printed or exported to word processing or spreadsheet programs. Activity Tracker works well for small businesses or work groups too. Each person keeps track of their own time and expenses, exports the data and sends it to an administrator, who imports them all, and then generates invoices, and time and expense reports. Students, teachers, athletes and hobbyists can use Activity tracker to keep track of time spent on their projects too. Volunteers will find the program useful for keeping track of time and expenses for tax purposes as well. Users can try out the software free for 30 days, before registering it for only $35. Activity Tracker runs on most computers including, Windows 95/98/2000/NT, Macintosh and many UNIX operating systems. For more information, go to http://about-the-web.com/activitytracker/?mac on the World Wide Web or e-mail at-info@about-the-web.com. ##### Regards, Garth Catterall-Heart SpiritWorks Software Development PO Box 216 Redwood Valley, CA 95470 707-485-5444 garth@about-the-web.com Do you need to keep track of your time and expenses? Get your Free 30 day trial copy of this great new personal productivity software today! http://www.about-the-web.com/activityTracker/ - Time Management System http://www.about-the-web.com/web/ - SpiritWorks Software Development [Archived as /info-mac/app/bus/activity-tracker.hqx; 1907 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: Andrew Trevorrow To: Subject: [*] Alchemy 1.0 - can turn LEAD into GOLD, literally! Alchemy is a nifty little program for finding word ladders. A word ladder is a sequence of words made by changing one letter at a time; eg. LEAD LOAD GOAD GOLD. Given any two words, Alchemy will find the shortest ladder between them, or beep if none found. It can also find random ladders and longest ladders. Alchemy is a fat app that runs on all Macs using System 7 or later. The shareware fee is $10. For more details see: http://www.trevorrow.com/alchemy/ Andrew Trevorrow (andrew@trevorrow.com) [Archived as /info-mac/app/alchemy-10.hqx; 322 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: Terry Teague To: Subject: [*] BBTidy v1.0b7: BBEdit plugin checks and corrects HTML and XML When editing HTML it's easy to make mistakes. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a simple way to fix these mistakes automatically and tidy up sloppy editing into nicely laid out markup? Well now there is! BBTidy is a BBEdit (and BBEdit Lite) plugin for Mac OS designed for doing just that. BBTidy checks and corrects HTML and XML to make it compliant with the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) HTML standards. BBTidy also works great on the atrociously hard to read markup generated by specialized HTML editors and conversion tools, and can help you identify where you need to pay further attention on making your pages more accessible to people with disabilities. BBTidy is able to fix up a wide range of problems and to bring to your attention things that you need to work on yourself. Each item found is listed with the line number and column so that you can see where the problem lies in your markup. BBTidy won't generate a cleaned up version when there are problems that it can't be sure of how to handle. These are logged as "errors" rather than "warnings". BBTidy corrects the markup in a way that matches where possible the observed rendering in popular browsers from Netscape and Microsoft. BBTidy is based on the freely available "Tidy" program by Dave Raggett. BBTidy performs in a compatible way to "Tidy", but has a graphical user interface (GUI), and takes full advantage of BBEdit's features. Balloon Help is available for the configuration dialog. For more information on Dave Raggett's "Tidy", browse the enclosed HTML file "overview.html", visit the author's web site at , or EMail . For more information on BBEdit, visit Bare Bones Software's web site at , or EMail . The current version of BBTidy and other products based on "Tidy" for Mac OS can be found at . System Requirements : Any Macintosh (except Macintosh 128K, Macintosh 512Ke, Macintosh Plus, Macintosh Portable, PowerBook 100, Macintosh Classic) running System 7.0 or later. Disk space required is less than 1 MB; available free memory required is approximately 2 MB minimum, more memory is recommended. Also requires BBEdit or BBEdit Lite. ********** ABSTRACT CROPPED ********** [Archived as /info-mac/text/bbe/bbtidy-10b7.hqx; 891 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: brilor@mail.doitnow.com To: Subject: [*] CalCountNote 1.7.1 (68k) CalCountNote (CCN) has five integrated components: * Calendar - a monthly calendar with a digital clock and an hourly chime.. * Countdown - a realtime Days, Hours, Minutes and Seconds countdown to the date of your choice. Similar to my Freeware program, Y2KCD, but with the important flexibility to choose the date. * Notes - a general notepad for collecting To Dos and other important ideas you want to save. * Day Notes (notes associated with a date) are just one click away. Version 1.6.0 adds a Daynotes Weekly View * Timer - provides a repeatable timer to remind you to take breaks or do something else. All five components emphasize small desktop size and easy click-to-use philosophy. Best....Brian Stevens 1.7.1 fixes a nasty bug that shuts down CCN. [Archived as /info-mac/app/time/cal-count-note-171-68k.hqx; 316 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: brilor@mail.doitnow.com To: Subject: [*] CalCountNote 1.7.1 (PPC) CalCountNote (CCN) has five integrated components: * Calendar - a monthly calendar with a digital clock and an hourly chime.. * Countdown - a realtime Days, Hours, Minutes and Seconds countdown to the date of your choice. Similar to my Freeware program, Y2KCD, but with the important flexibility to choose the date. * Notes - a general notepad for collecting To Dos and other important ideas you want to save. * Day Notes (notes associated with a date) are just one click away. Version 1.6.0 adds a Daynotes Weekly View * Timer - provides a repeatable timer to remind you to take breaks or do something else. All five components emphasize small desktop size and easy click-to-use philosophy. Best....Brian Stevens 1.7.1 fixes a nasty bug that shuts down CCN. [Archived as /info-mac/app/time/cal-count-note-171-ppc.hqx; 279 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: Mark Stevans To: Subject: [*] CESLab3.0b0.sit.hqx: 3-D cardiac electrophysiological simulator CESLab 3.0b0 is a comprehensive, high-performance freeware cardiac electrophysiological simulation package for the Power Mac, oriented towards educational users and researchers. It is capable of rapidly simulating complete cardiac cycles in high or low resolution 3-D models, displaying the cardiac activation and recovery processes in color animation. CESLab is highly configurable, allowing the user to edit the geometry and electrophysiological characteristics of the heart model, as well as the torso model in which it is embedded. Simulated ECG and VCG can be displayed, as well as animated BSPM (body surface potential maps). Requires at least 50MB free memory to run. Please send bug reports, questions, or comments to mailto:support@cesinst.com. [Archived as /info-mac/sci/ces-lab-30b0.hqx; 10415 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: Sherman Uitzetter To: Subject: [*] Export Icon Plug-in 1.5b19 - export icons from Photoshop! This is a public beta release of Kinetic Creations' Export Icon Plug-in version 1.5! Export Icon is an Adobe Photoshop plug-in which exports a Photoshop image directly from Adobe Photoshop to a custom icon file. The plug-in uses the Photoshop image's pixel data to create 4, 8, and 32 bit icons. It uses the image's transparency data to create the icon's 1 and 8 bit masks. Changes in version 1.5b19 from 1.1.2: * Added support for "Huge" (48x48 pixel) and "Thumbnail" (128x128 pixel) icon creation * Fixed other minor and not so minor bugs * No currently known issues with beta 1.5b19 System requirements: * Any Apple MacOS capable computer with at least a 68020 processor * Adobe Photoshop * System 7.5 or higher (tested up through system 9.0.4) License: This is a fully-working, 10 free trials version which is converted to the full version (with a key) after purchase. For more information, please read the enclosed READ ME file. [Archived as /info-mac/gst/grf/pshp/export-icon.hqx; 453 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: Daniel Lewis To: Subject: [*] Factoid Factoid is a fun shareware lets a user have many options as well as learn many of the important facts in life, for example what octave a fly hums at? Factoid gives a new fact a day. Email author about CD distribution. Requirements: System 7.5 or later [Archived as /info-mac/app/factoid.hqx; 1085 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: Aladdin Systems Public Relations To: Subject: [*] FTP: intellinews_30_installer.hqx Upload Title: intellinews_30_installer.hqx IntelliNews 3.0 Installer License: TrialWare - 20 uses Price: $20 Description: IntelliNews is a specialized web browser that brings headlines from dozens of the Internet's most trusted news sources directly to your desktop. With updates occurring as often as every fifteen seconds, you can follow the breaking news as it happens. All the information you need to follow is now available in a single location; IntelliNews lets you watch your stocks or watch the weather, you can follow the latest developments in the Macintosh world, or keep up-to-date with instant scores from all the top games. From the latest Dow numbers to the weather in Miami Beach, IntelliNews has the answer. Gathering information online has never been easier or more effective! (BinHex, 2,027 KB). Min Requirements: PowerPC Processor or better, MacOS 8.1 or better, including MacOS 9, 5 MB of available application RAM Virex 6.0 shows no viruses in this file. Keywords: News, Weather, Sports, Stocks, desktop, online, browser, internet [Archived as /info-mac/comm/inet/intellinews-30.hqx; 1945 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: David Eppstein To: Subject: [*] Gene 4.3.1 genealogy database This is Gene 4.3.1, the latest release of the Gene program for maintaining genealogical databases and drawing family trees. New features in Gene 4.3 include a new "Name Change" card type, source fields on many card types, better control of GEDCOM export for event cards, the ability to export subsets of the database, and a new command for finding stray cards. Version 4.3.1 corrects an old bug in Gene's GEDCOM export code that was exposed by other changes in Gene 4.3. [Archived as /info-mac/sci/gene-43.hqx; 1080 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: David Garcea To: Subject: [*] GeoMetriX 1.5 - A Setting Sun Fader GeoMetrix is a plugin to a terrific program called Setting Sun. Each Setting Sun plugin, which are called Faders, are screen savers. More information as well as screen shots of GeoMetriX can be found here http://www.geocities.com/dreamflask/GeoMetriX/. Requirements: Setting Sun 1.4 available at http://www.webthing.net/settingsun/ A PowerPC processor running at least MacOS 8.1 GeoMetriX may be included on the commercially available CD-ROM of the archives. [Archived as /info-mac/app/ss/geometrix-15.hqx; 52 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: gbeggs@Mac.com (Gerry) To: Subject: [*] Gerry's Attraction 3.0 (View Lorenz and Rossler Attractors in 3D) This is an update to an earlier version of Gerry's Attraction in your archives. I notice that my earlier version of Gerry's Attraction is placed in the "Games" directory. It doesn't belong there. It belings in "Science & Math" Gerry's Attraction is a program for viewing the Lorenz Attractor and Rossler Attractor in real-time 3D. Most programs which display these attractors usually give a static 2D view of these 3D objects which makes it very difficult to see what they truely look like and how they behave. Gerry's Attractor allows you to watch points become "attracted" to the attractors over time. Gerry's Attraction allows you to "fly" around and through either attractor with total freedom viewing it from any vantage point. (Similar to how you move around in the game Descent) Version 3.0 has many improvements over the earlier versions including a totally re-written 3D engine. Hardware Requirements: Any PowerMac running MacOS 7.5 or later with Appearance Manager installed. (MacOS 8.0 or later comes with the Appearance Manager built-in) Gerry's Attraction may be included on the CD-ROM of the archives. [Archived as /info-mac/sci/gerrys-attraction.hqx; 167 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: jonrelay@napanet.net (Jon Bettencourt) To: Subject: [*] Graphin' Stuph Again Graphin' Stuph Again is a new version of a previous product called Graphin' Stuph. Graphin' Stuph Again is a HyperCard stack used for making graphs of mathematical formulas. It can be expanded with more kinds of graphs. Already included are rectangular graphs and polar graphs. Graphin' Stuph Again was created by KES Software (http://kreativeentertainment.cjb.net) and is freeware. It may be included on any Info-Mac CD-ROM. [Archived as /info-mac/sci/graphin-stuph-again.hqx; 27 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: Bert Wynants To: Subject: [*] HandyMan208.hqx I give permission for my program to be included on the Info-Mac CD-ROM. Version 2.0.8 of HandyMan was released today. HandyMan is a complete and easily configurable application dock and launcher that sits in the Control Strip It is designed to allow quick and easy access to applications, Control Panels, Desk Accessories, Folders and other documents stored on your Macintosh, without having to navigate through several Finder Windows or through a multi-layered, hierarchical Apple menu. It works by clicking on icons installed in the Control Strip window, or dropping documents onto them. This approach is much handier than aliases that are on the desktop because the Control Strip window that contain the icons can never be covered by other windows. HandyMan also requires a lot less desktop space than the same number of icons on the desktop. For more info or downloads: 2.0.8 changes: * Fixed a crash bug with some icons (Internet Explorer 5.5 beta) * Up-to-date with Extensions Strip 2.0b3 headers and libraries * sdevMiniModulesFriendlytells bit for Extensions Strip * Re-enabled Desktop Strip (some people still use it...) * Update of Danish Version Rest Regards, Bert [Archived as /info-mac/disk/handyman-208.hqx; 407 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: Ton Brand To: Subject: [*] HTML Optimizer 3.1 HTML Optimizer 3.1 What it is: Tool to check and optimize your web pages Author: Ton Brand Company: Ton's Software License: shareware US$5 Computer: Any Mac with HyperCard Player Abstract: HTML Optimizer's main function is to save space on your web pages by removing unnecessary characters and tags, making parsing the page by a browser more efficient. Three other useful functions of HTML Optimizer are: (1) Checking the so called tagged pairs, i.e. the tags that always have to appear together with their end tags. Further, IMG tags are checked for WIDTH, HEIGHT and ALT attributes. (2) Marking dangling tags and missing attributes to find them quickly. (3) Converting special characters to the &....; notation. New in this update is more reliable optimizing, checking tags and converting special characters, by revising the whole code. HTML Optimizer requires Mac OS 7.5 or later and HyperCard Player 2.3 or later. [Archived as /info-mac/text/html/html-optimizer-31.hqx; 234 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: Ton Brand To: Subject: [*] HTML OptimizerPro 1.8 HTML OptimizerPro 1.8 What it is: Professional tool to check and optimize your web pages Author: Ton Brand Company: Ton's Software License: shareware US$8 Computer: PowerPC or iMac Abstract: HTML OptimizerPro's main function is to save space on your web pages by removing unnecessary characters and tags, making parsing the page by a browser more efficient. Four other useful functions of HTML OptimizerPro are: (1) Checking the so called tagged pairs, i.e. the tags that always have to appear together with their end tags. Further, IMG tags are checked for WIDTH, HEIGHT and ALT attributes. ALT attributes can be added if missing, with or without string. (2) Checking the validity of the internal links. (3) Marking dangling tags and missing attributes to find them quickly. (4) Converting special characters to the &....; notation. New in this update is more reliable optimizing, checking tags and converting special characters, by revising the whole code. HTML OptimizerPro is a PPC application and requires MacOS 7.5 or later. [Archived as /info-mac/text/html/html-optimizer-pro-18.hqx; 1081 K] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Sep 2000 From: Erik Richard Srensen To: Subject: [*] New Utility: KML Color Icons 1.022 Author: Erik Richard Soerensen (kml.ers@mail1.stofanet.dk) Type of submission: New Utility Operating System: ppc/68k Suggested Category: Utilities / Icons Application name: KML Color Icons Application location: --- Version Number: 1.011 Release Date: 09/02/2000 Cost: US$10.00 File size: 386,973kb Evaluation period: 30 days (beta version) License type: Shareware Comments: Colorful icons for the Mac - Especially suitable for visual impaired and others that want real colorful icons on the Macintosh computers. The icons are based on the classic icons, but the colors have been made, so that they can be seen of all - hopefully also the colorblind people. Have a look and enjoy! Features: 1) Helpful 2) Colorful 3) Usable Key Words: Icons [Archived as /info-mac/gui/icon/kml-icons.hqx; 500 K] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2000 16:38:08 +0200 (MET DST) From: jmblanco@uma.es (Jose =?iso-8859-1?Q?M=AA?= Blanco) To: digest@info-mac.org Subject: A weird folder inside System =?iso-8859-1?Q?=9F?= When arranging folders and files I was surprised to see a weird folder inside System Folder: this folder had no name, was empty when I opened it, was impossible to name it, delete or move to desktop. When I got info (command-I) the finder told me that there are a lot of items inside. After some turns, I realized that its size and number of items were exactly the same than the System Folder. If I put a new item inside System folder, this weird folder increased it size an number of item, although nothing appeared when opened. I reconstructed the desktop, but it was still there. Even with ResEdit, I couldn't get info or named or nothing! It seems to be a "empty mirror" of the system folder. For the moment, it is innofensive, but I would like to remove it. Any help? Many thanks Jose M +----------------------------------------------------+ | Jose M Blanco Martin jmblanco@uma.es | | Dep. Ecologa http://www.uma.es/girtpm | | Fac. Ciencias Universidad de Mlaga. Spain | +----------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 17:17:09 -0400 From: "Coradeschi, Tom [AMSTA-AR-FSP-G]" To: "'infomac'" Subject: Formflow Does anyone know if there is a MacOS solution for Formflow? From their website it looks like Formflow Filler is a wintel-only app. Tom Coradeschi tcora@pica.army.mil ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 20:21:31 +0000 From: Tom Murphy To: digest@info-mac.org Subject: Freezes Power Mcintosh 7200-75 Thanks to all who advised me recently. about the above and other matters.Tom's Powermac cost me nothing except I installed system 8.1 and all seemed well A friend offered me the use of a zip drive and I loaded some software . Whether this is relevant or not , the machine is crashing at an alarming rate..Any ideas or do I just give up Tom Murphy Kilkenny Ireland ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2000 10:27:42 -0500 From: Doug Eaton To: Subject: French Mac OS 8.1 on PowerMac 7200 w/G3 Card How's that for a specific configuration. We have a freind in France who is trying to decide if the Sonnet G3 card due out in ~60 days will pose any compatablity problems when used with French Mac OS 8.1. Doug Eaton Douglas Technologies, Inc. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 14:59:10 -0300 From: "Marshall, Scott" To: "Dan O'Donnell" Subject: iMac Crashes and Freezes She may also want to check "about this computer" under the Apple menu and see what version of the OS she has. If she has version 9.0 or 9.0.2 she should go to the Apple website and download the latest update, 9.0.4. If she has OS 8.x (ie., any version of 8) she might want to look on the Apple site and download something called the iMac firmware update. When she runs it the updater will install only if it is needed. I have noticed a lot of freezing (related to USB, I think) in recent iMacs and G4s. If her computer locks up on startup but works after switching the port which the keyboard is plugged into, there may be some kind of USB conflict. If she is one of the many people who got 3rd party mice rather than use the puck mouse, she might need a driver or to install InputSprockets to get the mouse working properly. It's always a good idea to go to the Extensions Manager control panel and turn off unnecessary extensions and control panels. If she is not using FireWire or AirPort, for example, turn them off. Web sharing, speech recognition and the location manager are also not very commonly used. As a regular matter of maintenance, she should "zap the PRAM" once a month or so (restart the computer while holding down Apple-Option-P-R and wait for the second chime, then let go of the keys). This will clear up some bad pointers and preferences which may accumulate over time. She should also rebuild the desktop (restart while holding down Apple-Option, wait for the "are you sure?" dialog to appear and say yes). A common problem causing freezes or locks is simply memory management. Unlike PCs, Apple computers do not automatically reallocate memory as file sizes get larger. You allocate it in advance. You do this by finding the icon of a program, highlighting it (don't open the program, just select the icon) and hit Apple-I to "Get Info" on the program. This tells how large the file is, where it is located etc. There will be a pull down menu giving the options for Sharing and Memory. Select memory. You will see a recommended (minimum) memory amount, say 5000 K, and then 2 boxes where you can enter a minimum allocation and a preferred allocation. Here's where you have to do some figuring. Let's say you have 64 MB of RAM in the computer. If you check "about this computer" you will see how much RAM is being used by the OS and how much is being used by applications. OS9 usually takes about 24 to 32MB to run. Let's say 32. That leaves 32 for the rest of the applications. If she opens a few programs at once, each of which uses 5 to 8 MB, she will find herself out of memory unless virtual memory is turned on. Virtual memory is basically hard drive space borrowed for processing calculations. You can change the amount of VM in use with the Memory control panel. Just turn VM on and increase the total amount of memory which you want the computer to have; the minimum will be 1 MB above the amount of RAM installed. So if she has 64 MB of RAM, the VM will start at 65 (1 MB of VM plus the physical RAM). In such a case I would increase the VM to a total of 128 MB or even 200 MB. It will decrease the available hard drive space a little but since the DV has something like a 6 GB drive I doubt she will notice a difference. This will give a lot more breathing room for applications to run. She can increase their allocated memory depending on what kind of app it is; I have something like 24 MB reserved for Photoshop and another 24 for Illustrator, and 8 or 10 MB for something like MS Office. Finally, she can use the built-in help feature to read up on the proper care & feeding of her computer. Mac users tend to be their own troubleshooters after a brief period of realizing that they can do themselves. She can also search for solutions at a web site called macfixit.com, or at Apple's web site in the support section, or on the phone with them if you have a support package. She might also want to check out MacAddict magazine, which I find a handy and entertaining resource. Hope that helps. -------------------------------------------------------------- Scott Marshall * Kent Web Developer * (506) 632-4104 300 Union Street * Saint John, NB * E2L 4G7 marshall.scott@kent.ca * www.kent.ca > -----Original Message----- > From: Dan O'Donnell [SMTP:dano45@spamcop.net] > Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2000 3:28 AM > To: digest@info-mac.org > Subject: iMac Crashes and Freezes > > I recently (6 months ago) installed a new HP ink jet printer (USB, > don't remember the model, MacOS 8.1 or better required) and its > driver software. Those idiots at HP had the installer app install > ObjectSupportLibrary! This is known to cause problems, and there is > even a TIL for it (though I don't have the URL currently "you could > look it up"). > > So if she got an HP ink jet, tell her to check in the [System Folder > | Extensions Folder] and if ObjectSupportLib is there then throw it > away and restart. > > > >Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2000 09:05:00 -0700 > > >From: "Fanning, Alan W. (PS, NE)" > >>Subject: iMac Crashes and Freezes > >> > >> > >>I recently purchased a floor model of last year's iMac DV for my > daughter, a > >>college freshman. We only had it for a week before we hauled her off to > >>college, and did not have time to load all the software. Once at > school, > >>she has had intermittent problems with bombs and freezes in loading and > >>using various software. This is quite exasperating for me, as she is > 350 > >>miles away and I am hard pressed to even understand the problem let > alone > >>fix it remotely. > >> > >>Can someone suggest any web resources which might help us diagnose and > fix > >>these problems? It seems particularly important to determine whether > we're > >>dealing with a software or a hardware problem. > >> > >>Thanks, > >> Alan Fanning > >> San Jose, CA > >> > >> ------------------------------ Date: 28 Sep 2000 13:11:53 -0400 From: Bill Waits To: "Info-Mac" Subject: Toast v4.1.1 Deluxe Updater Has anyone gotten the Toast v4.1.1 Deluxe Updater? I have been trying to get it, but I can not get connected to their site most of the time. Other times, I go to the site and directory directly (from the URL of where the updaters are supposed to be), and it is empty. No files. If anyone has gotten it, could they please forward it to me? I would greatly appreciate it. TIA... Bill -------------------------------- --Info-Mac-Digest-- End of Info-Mac Digest ******************************