Tiger Feedback and Tips, IRC Channel for Low End Macs, Big Problems with SilverKeeper, and More

• IRC Channel to Discuss Low End Macs?
• My Tiger Experiences
• Spotlight Workaround
• Disk Warrior Before and After Updates
• 10.4.1 Update Special Report
• "Take-a-part" Manual for Power Mac 9500
• Big Problems with SilverKeeper
• WordPerfect for Mac Download Update

IRC Channel to Discuss Low End Macs?

From Seth

Do you know of any good IRC channel to discuss Low End Macs? If not I am interested in starting one on the Freenode network.

Seth

Hi Seth,

None that I'm aware of, but I'm not an IRC user.

Sounds like a good idea.

Charles

Re: IRC Channel to Discuss Low End Macs?

From Seth

I set one up at irc.freenode.net #lowendmac

If you could possibly post info of this in your Misc. Rambling article, I would be very grateful.

If you do, be sure to include "This channel not affiliated with lowendmac.com" and the channel can be used to discuss Mac OSs, Mac *nix , Mac software, and Mac hardware of all ages.

Seth

Glad to.

Charles

My Tiger Experiences

Hello, Charles

I just want to tell you about my Tiger experiences. I have it installed on my home Power Mac G4 "Digital Audio" and my titanium PowerBook 1 GHz. In both cases the install was flawless, and the OS runs perfectly. I installed the 10.4.1 update with no problems, and things continue to flow. I like Spotlight. I like Dashboard. I like the built-in dictionary. I like the RSS stuff.

I run lean and clean machines - next to no third party hardware (just an Epson Printer, an old Agfa scanner, an MS and a Logitech mouse). I was also very careful in how I did the install: complete backups, check HD, fix permissions, say the magic chant, etc.

I just wanted to let you know this to offer some balance for some of the nightmare stories that abound and that get more attention than my unexciting adventures with Tiger.

Thanks for all your work.

Barrie

Hi Barrie,

In the context of system upgrades, unexciting is good. Thanks for the report.

Incidentally, have you tried the modem for dialup in the TiBook? There is reportedly an issue.

Charles

Editor's note: I've installed Tiger on one eMac and my PowerBook G4/400. My oldest son has it on his eMac 700 as well. (If you have 2-5 Macs, the $199 Family Pack is a steal.) Unexciting is a good description - it just works, but except for Spotlight, I haven't found anything yet to get excited about. dk

Re: My Tiger Experiences

From Barrie Barrington

Charles

No, I have not tried the modem; I have never had the opportunity to do so.

Thanks for your reply.

BB

Spotlight Workaround

From David Meyer

It's all true . . . Spotlight starts searching as soon as you start typing. This can slow the process up in a number of ways, if only because it's distracting.

So, don't type!

Copy/Paste your text in place. This may require a little extra effort in some cases, but it works. Just searched on "Paste" on my 10.4.0 system with no problems.

By the way, I have not had Problem #1 with Tiger . . . but I'm not pressing it or quibbling about tenths of seconds.

Hi David,

Sounds like a useful technique. Still, I wish there was a way to disable the live typing feature and go with a return key toggle once you had the info fully typed.

Charles

Disk Warrior Before and After Updates

From Gordon Garrison

Charles,

You recommend in your article to run Disk Warrior before and after updates. It might be prudent to point out that Alsoft is recommending that you use version 3.0.3 or later with Tiger.

Gordon Garrison

Hi Gordon,

I noted in the article "Before proceeding with the update, I my recommendation is rebuild your hard drive or OS X partition directory using Disk Warrior, but if you already have Tiger installed, make sure you have the latest Disk Warrior Tiger-compatible update. Earlier versions may have problems with the OS 10.4 file structure changes.

Older versions of DW will be fine for cleaning things up before installing Tiger, but not after, alas.

Charles

10.4.1 Update Special Report

From Darren Varner

If you look at MacInTouch often, you will also note that there are oodles of issues with all flavors of Panther. It's a good place to gripe. Very rarely do we know the setup of the troubled machine. And the issue may be rare. Sometimes not.

Not an apologist.

All I know is I have installed Tiger on an iMac G5, a 12 inch rev A PowerBook, and an iMac DV SE 400. All went swimmingly well. The OS is much more responsive on every one of them.

Of course, like always, people with complaints complain. People doing well usually just keep busy. Sometimes it would be nice if a few more of us with good experiences took more time to write in.

Hi Darren,

And I'm glad you did!

Thanks for the positive report.

Charles

"Take-a-part" Manual for Power Mac 9500

From MDevalera

I need to do an upgrade for memory, HD, and video card and been trying to locate a tech manual.

Thanks,
MarcD

Hi Marc,

There appear to be downloadable ones here:

http://www.whoopis.com/computer_repair/

and here:

http://fileshare.eshop.bg/most_popular/list_13600.html

Charles

Big Problems with SilverKeeper

From jamiekg

Hi Charles.

After your recent recommendation of LaCie's SilverKeeper (SK) backup utility on Low End Mac, I thought I'd give it a try. If you take a look at the message I sent to SK tech support, you'll see I'm not too impressed with SK.

Which leads me to ask: Have you encountered any of these troubles I came across? SK is essential useless to me as it stands now, unless I want to backup manually every time - which I certainly do not.

I'm quite disappointed. I don't suppose you're aware of any other decent free or low cost backup software for HDs? Cause I'm not holding my breath about LaCie rushing to help just little old me.

Anyway, I just thought I'd let you know my experience with SK, since you wrote such a nice article on it. It's great that it works so well for you, and obviously many others. But it's been a total flop for me. I can't figure it out. It seems pretty basic stuff to me that's failing. I mean - no help??? Background apps crashing??? Did LaCie do any testing? It doesn't seem likely it's something unique about my setup. I ran Disk Utility, repaired HDs, repaired permissions, and ran DiskWarrior (probably overkill, but I like to make sure everything's 100% okay before backups) before installing SK.

Oh well, keep up the great Mac journalism! I enjoy every article you write :-)

Regards,

Jamie Kahn Genet

Hi Jamie,

Sorry to hear of the problems you had with SilverKeeper. I encountered no issues with it when I tested it.

However, if you want automated backups, you might want to try check out ChronoSync, Dobry Backuper, or Impression (albeit none of them are free).

You can read my reviews:

• Charles Moore Reviews ChronoSync 3.0.1 File and Folder Synchronization and Backup Software
• Charles Moore Reviews Dobry Backuper 1.1 Backup Software
• Charles Moore Checks Out Two Backup/Synchronization Utilities

Another free backup utility is iBackup, but I haven't tested it.

And thanks for reading!

Charles

Editor's note: You might also want to give SuperDuper a try (see SuperDuper: Quick, Easy, Efficient Backup for $20). You can do a full backup for free, but you have to register the $20 shareware program to do incremental backups. I use it on all my Macs. dk

WordPerfect for Mac Download Update

From: John Rethorst

Hi Charles,

On the page <http://lowendmac.com/misc/03/1208.html#3> a James Spears says that WPMac is a free download from <http://www.deakin.edu.au/software/applications.php>, but that a student password is required.

I found that this site does not ask for a password before initiating the download.

There's also a new site listing download sites, updaters, and over a hundred links and files about WPMac, as well as a discussion forum providing free tech support. It's at <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wordperfectmac/>.

Thanks,
John Rethorst

Hi John,

That article is from 2003, so it's not surprising that it's out of date.

Thanks for the update and link.

Best,
Charles

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