Posted on 04/04/2006 8:45:02 PM PDT by Swordmaker
Yesterday, Apple Computer Inc. turned 30 years old. But an equally significant anniversary occurred two Fridays ago: March 24 marked Mac OS X's fifth birthday.
Four major updates later, that operating system ranks as one of Apple's greatest successes. First, it broke the company's long streak of unfinished operating-system projects. Second, OS X has shown that it's possible to fix three of the worst parts of computing: adding programs, removing them and keeping everything in good working order...
...Mac OS X lives by three basic principles, which together make it easier to live with than any competitor.
The system is separate from everything else. (more)...
Each user's files are separate from everybody else's. (more) ...
Each application acts as one, indivisible file. (more)...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Thanks for the heads-up.
Backups are a good idea.
Lots of ways to backup your hard drive to an external device. I'd recommend a firewire drive, just because when it comes time to ever restore your drive, you'll be happy with the extra speed.
If you don't feel like, or don't want to write your own backup scripts using the UNIX shell and command line utilities included with the Mac OS, you can go to these guys at:
http://www.qdea.com/
What program do you still have to run in classic?
I can try... but I may not be able to test your problem on my G5 as I have Tiger (OS X.4.6) and it may not replicate what you are experiencing on X.3.9. Give me a description of what is happening.
The only Mac OS release I ever had a real headache with was 10.3.9
In fact, I couldn't stop the deluge of strange problems and finally was forced to Tiger because that release was SO bad.
One solution if the above doesn't work is to go to Apple's website and download the 10.3.9 patch and reinstall it. If I recall correctly this solved some of the hassles I had, but only temporarily. If you have an OS X install disk, say 10.1 or 10.2, it might be worth going back to install one of those and then use the Apple site to find and install the subsequent updates
This discussion may be of some interest to you in that a failing drive is suspected. A desktop rebuild, permissions repair or a reinstall of the 10.3.9 upgrade ought to fix you, I think.
Also, a google search of relevant keywords from a given problem (OS X 10.3.9 InterfaceLib) has always given me plenty to work with, provided I used the right keywords.
Let me know if that doesn't work, I'll check back in the morning.
As to the Quicktime issue... I updated quicktime from within OS9 (run Classic Quicktime and select the update choice under the HELP menu (make sure the rainbow Apple is showing). That made that problem go away on my system.
If your printer is Postscript compatible (I don't think it is), use LaserWriter 8. If not download the OS9 drivers here and install it.
Of course the ultimate solution is the upgrade path solution... you can upgrade your OS 9 copy of Photoshop for only $169.00. The Illustrator upgrade is also $169.00.
The only reason I keep Classic active is one program that blows Quark, PageMaker, and InDesign out of the water ... Pagestream4.1... a desktop publishing package that came out of the Atari and Amiga markets. I can do things with that that cannot be done on any of those others.
I see.
1) Have you tried rebooting your Mac in OS 9? If so, does your computer print when booted from Mac OS 9 when booted in that mode?
2) If your computer cannot boot from Mac OS 9, if your machine is too new, have you done the usual removal of the print drivers and reinstallation of those print drivers from a fresh copy downloaded from the manufacturer's web site?
3) If you've tried number 2, with no additional success, find the various printer preferences, including the Chooser preferences in your Classic OS System folder and move them to a folder on your desktop. You shouldn't have to reboot the Classic system after doing this, but to be safe go ahead and reboot the Classic environment.
There are a lot of other things to try, but the more information given, the more likely your problem can be pin pointed. Be aware that when you're reinstalling your printer drivers that most driver installers only replace missing files and don't do integrity checks on the files that are already there. If you have a corrupted preference or driver, just reinstalling might not work. You should search your system folder for all the files relevant to your printer(s) and move them to a folder on your desktop before installing fresh copies. These files include any .ppd or printer description files for your printer that you may have.
I am going to assume that printing from Mac OS X is unaffected and works fine.
You said -- "Need a link that explains how to copy the iMac hard drive (OS 10.4.2) onto an external hard drive."
The program "SuperDuper" is the absolute best way to go. It operates flawlessly, you get a bootable external drive (as long as it's Firewire), and it's too, too simple to believe.
Also, I use raw hard drives for my backups (having a stack of them) by using Wiebetech Combodock. This is a very small hardware device that I simply plug into a raw hard drive and I can boot up and use it. I can switch hard drives as fast as I can unplug and plug. I can have a stack of cheaper raw hard drives for backups. It's a lot easier that way for large amounts of storage. You can then carry your raw hard drives to other sites if you want off-site safety.
Regards,
Star Traveler
You said -- "I prefer Carbon Copy Cloner as it's fast and easy. Make sure you get the latest version."
Have you checked out SuperDuper? It's a pretty slick way to do it.
Regards,
Star Traveler
You said -- "It's probably a good idea to go to Disk Utility and repair permissions after installing 10.4.6."
There is also a warning about completing all your "synching" with your Macs *before* updating on this one. Apple says to complete it *all* -- first -- and then do the update.
Since I'm not with *all* my machines at the present time (but will be in another week) -- I've held off this update, until I finishe the complete "sync" with all my Macs.
It's a good warning for any others out there.
Regards,
Star Traveler
You said -- "Life is good."
Yes, life is good on a Macintosh!!
Regards,
Star Traveler
You said -- "Love, love, love my MAC. Will never own anything else."
Others, who have never owned them and used them extensively will simply never understand how a computer can be *so good to you* -- as a Macintosh can. It's closer to what a computer should be than anything else out there on the market.
Of course (as with anything in life) there is always room to get better. And the nice thing about it -- is that I have confidence that the Macintosh *will* get better -- even if it's the best right now.
AND -- now it's gotten better, by allowing for those people who *need* to run some arcane or off-the-wall Windows program to have their Macintosh and comply with whatever unusual requirements that they may have.
It almost can't get better -- but -- it will.
Regards,
Star Traveler
You said -- "... we marvel on how far ahead of the times we were."
And here we are -- still *far ahead of the times* with the Macintosh.
Look at what Apple has done! Booting Windows XP (for those who may need to) and having *both* the Mac OS X and XP on one machine -- and -- *supporting* it, too. You'll have both Microsoft and Apple support for doing that.
Apple is still far ahead of the times. I think they always will be.
Regards,
Star Traveler
You said -- "Happy Birthday OS X ping"
And "Happy Birthday Macintosh!"
It's been 30 years.
I can't count how many times it's been said that Apple is going out of business. And here they are, still far ahead of the times in the computer business.
What a record for any company (very few in that category) being around for over 30 years.
Bravo! for Apple.
Regards,
Star Traveler
You said -- "Anybody want to help me fix a problem I'm having with Classic App's on OSX 10.3.9 on my G5?"
Well, you've apparently got a recent machine with a fairly recent OS X -- so -- the best answer is to get the company to give you the *Tech Support* that comes with the product.
If they are still making the Classic Version for their program they are obviously *still supporting it*.
That's your best answer. Get the support from the company that you got the program from. You *are* entitled to that support.
Regards,
Star Traveler
You said -- "I want to back up my entire iMac hard drive onto an external hard disk (model: Fenton Drives) in case the iMac hard drive explodes or something. I'm using USB, not firewire. I've also read that you can make a bootable back-up copy of your hard disk."
Yes, you can make a bootable back-up. It will boot if it's a Firewire drive. However, regardless of that -- you can still put it on a USB hard drive. Later, you could transfer that to a Firewire for booting purposes if you wanted.
The program to use is "SuperDuper". That's the absolute simplest and most flawless one to use. You can't believe how simple it is, while making *perfect* bootable backups.
And also you said -- "Once in a while I get that little beachball spinning and spinning. I've read it could be an indication of a bad hard drive and I don't want to lose all my data."
Get "SMARTReporter" for your Mac, and keep track of the condition of your hard drive. Your hard drive will have internal diagnostics that warn of impending failure (but you should still keep backups, regardless). And so, this will allow you to see if there are parameters (in your hard drive) which are indicating a failure is imminent.
Regards,
Star Traveler
Thanks everyone for your replies. I'll feel better once I have everything backed up.
No, not really. The computer is almost four years old, and I did not purchase an extended tech support package. The printer is also out of the free tech support period. Illustrator 9 is even older, and no longer supported by Adobe. I don't think even OSX10.3 is supported by Apple, since version 10.4 is out.
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