Eudora 8 Beta, Bible Study Software, One Reason to Choose an Apple Display, and More

• Installing Eudora 8 Safely
• Latest Eudora Beta Not Quite Ready for Prime Time
• Mac Bible Study Software
• A Case for Apple Displays
• Plantronics Voyager Question
• Very Happy with Cheap USB 2.0 CardBus

Installing Eudora 8 Safely

From Jim:

Charlie,

I just read your review of the new Eudora (Eudora 8 Beta 6 Ready for Everyday Use). I have been using Eudora since I first got my Mac online (mid 90s) and have been using 6.2.4 since it came out. I am experiencing some difficulties running it in Mac OS X 10.4 "Snow Leopard", what with mysterious restarts of my mini and slowness in doing various other things. I have downloaded the most recent beta version (0b7) and would like to install it, but, being very careful (and very old), I am leery of telling it to go ahead and replace the 6.2.4 version. What do I do to get it running, but still keep this version around if something falls apart?

Thanks.

Jim

Hi Jim,

You can experiment to your heart's content with Eudora 8 without removing or otherwise disturbing your Eudora 6.2.4 installation and archives.

Eudora 8 can import your 6.2.4 archives and contact info, but they will not be compromised for continued use with the older program. I have both versions on my hard drive, although, as you've discovered, classic Eudora is not a happy camper in Leopard.

Eudora 8.x is a Thunderbird clone and uses the Thunderbird support folder in your Home Library or will create one if none presently exists. You can actually switch between Eudora 8 .x and Thunderbird at random, but both can't be running at the same time.

Hope this helps.

Charles

Charles,

That is cool, but when I go to activate the 8.x, it asks if I want to replace 6.2.4. with it. I will save off the files to my external hard disk, just to be safe.

Many thanks.

Jim

P.S. Sorry I wrote Charlie, rather than Charles. I was thinking that day of a friend named Charlie who had done away with himself 30 years ago. The Charlie got attached to the wrong person here, thank goodness.

Hi Jim,

I had no problem with the import and my Eudora 6.2.4 files were not altered, but it's never a bad idea to make a backup of your Mail Folder, Personal Nicknames, and Eudora Settings files, or just the whole Eudora support folder. Actually a god idea anyway. Over the years, the only reliability issue I ever encountered with classic Eudora was very occasional settings corruption, which was easily corrected by dragging in the backup Eudora Settings file.

No problem with Charlie. I went by that for many years, and many of my old friends still address me thus. My wife calls me (mostly) Charles, as do most folks these days, but either works for me.

Charles

Latest Eudora Beta Not Quite Ready for Prime Time

From Mike:

Charles,

I saw your posting on the above subject quite recently. I'm actually using Eudora 8 Beta 6 and have been doing so for several months. I'm not thrilled with it.

I'd like to be able to reimport all my mail folders back into my preferred email client, Eudora 7.1.0.9 , and go back to using that. Configuring the old Eudora is not problem; the issue is the large number of mailboxes/mail-folders that need to be migrated from Eudora 8 to Eudora 7.1.0.9.

I have not found a way to do this, as yet. Do you have any suggestions?

Hi Mike,

Sorry to hear that Eudora 8 didn't work out for you. I've become quite fond of it. I still love using old Eudora 6.2.4 (the highest classic Eudora version number reached on the Mac version) on my Pismo, which is still running OS X 10.4 "Tiger", but I have to say that Eudora 8 is doing a good job for me, and there's always Thunderbird as a seamless backup if I run into a bug.

Ergo, since Eudora 8 is a Thunderbird clone, if there's a way to import T-Bird data to Eudora 7 (I'm guessing you're on a Windows PC), and I'd be very surprised if there's not, you should be able to restore your files in the older program, although if you intend on upgrading to Windows 7, you might want to wait until you can try Eudora 7 with it before going to the trouble of a migration. Classic Eudora 6/7 has no future, while Eudora 8 does.

Since you don't like Eudora 8, my suggestion would be to try MailForge, which is a conceptual clone of Eudora Classic, but under active development.

Charles

Charles,

It took a while, but I did finally get back to Eudora 7.1.0.9. I didn't think to try the way you suggested, so I know I lost some things along the way. Ah, well, maybe someday I'll go back to Eudora 8.

But, for me, it's not quite there . . . yet.

Things that are missing :

• Stationary
• Signatures
• A good mechanism for searching thru multiple mailboxes
• Tables in email

Of course, perhaps I missed how to do these things in E8 ?

Hi Mike,

I'm finding the search engine in Eudora 8 quite serviceable and useful, although configuring searches is not as slick as it was in Eudora Classic. To be honest, I haven't bothered with signatures yet in the new program, and never used Stationery or Tables, although I can see how you would miss those if you had previously depended on them.

As a general suggestion, I would recommend installing a stable final version of Thunderbird, getting it set up with your files, contacts, and configuration settings as satisfactorily as possible, and then switching to the Eudora 8 beta in order to get the Eudora interface nuances back, which still has some bugginess to contend with, albeit nothing I've found fatal.

I already had a Thunderbird support file when I first used Eudora 8, and you can switch back and forth between the two programs seamlessly, although only one of them can be running at a time.

Charles

Mac Bible Study Software

From Carl:

For years I have depended on MacBible 3.0 for Bible study. I enjoy the ability to search by word, phrase, or reference using MacBible. I also like that I can ask for specific Scripture to be printed using the Print menu. It is great for me to be able to print out a list of Scripture references by word, phrase, or book title, chapter, verse(s).

When I read about new Bible software, most of what I read is the number of books of various types that I either already have or do not want. Is there anything similar to MacBible with these search/print features for OS X using PPC and/or Intel? I know my present computers will not last forever.

Thank you!

Carl

Hi Carl,

Sounds like MacBible has been doing a great job for you. I haven't had the pleasure of using that software, so it's difficult for me to evaluate its features and capabilities comparatively, but here are a few OS X compatible suggestions you might want to check out:

• Logos Bible Software
• Mac Bible Software
• Accordance Bible Software
• Bible Buddy (Freeware)
• Alkitab Bible Study 2.1b2 Bible Study Software (Freeware)
• Bible-Discovery 1.5
• MacSword 1.2.1 Bible Software (Freeware)

Online Bible Software

• Online Parallel Bible
• Bible Gateway

Hope this helps.

Charles

A Case for Apple Displays

From Brian:

Good Morning,

The other day I was at Best Buy, and lately I've been thinking of the productivity of my desk arrangement. Between my three machines (a last gen iBook G4, 15" 2.4 GHz MacBook Pro, and Quicksilver G4), I've kept them all relatively active - the MBP works well as a main machine, the Quicksilver as a server and multimedia center, and the iBook has been doing a bang up job for taking with on the road and for helping me diagnose friend/family machines (FireWire has come in really handy lately for difficult to handle jobs). One thing I've been thinking lately is to get an ExpressCard that adds USB ports to my MBP, which brings me back to my Best Buy visit.

I was a bit surprised to find a 20" Apple Cinema display for around $180 less than it's previous price. I waffled quite a bit, but in the end, I decided I should go for it. This is the first Apple display I've owned since I was running on a Power Mac 7500. Typically, I like Apple's displays, but I am by no means a graphics professional, but I thought "eh, I won't find a brand new one of these again, and not for this price." So dragged my new toy home and began manipulating my desk to try to figure out the best place for it. I ended up sticking close to the current arrangement, using the new display to the left of the MBP's home station as a secondary display.

While setting up, I was reminded of something I often forget about these monitors: This particular display has two USB and two FireWire 400 ports on the back! Of course the newer models have even more features, but just having this is quite a help when considering my desktop set up. The plan now is to make this the primary display for the MBP when it's in "desktop" mode, and hook up a keyboard and mouse to the display. The laptop will sit on a stand directly next to the display.

I'm curious, with the number of machines you employ, how do you organize them for best use?

Thanks, as always, for the great articles,
Brian

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the report on the 20" Apple display. Sounds like you got a good deal. The price cut was probably due to that model being discontinued (replaced by the new 24" Cinema Display).

I'd love to have a 24" Cinema Display, but the price is prohibitive. (Can$999.00 here in Canuckland). I may eventually get an external monitor, but with decent quality name brand (e.g.: Dell) 20" screens often available for under $200, it'll be one of those.

Actually, the only external display I have in the house is a prehistoric NEC 15" CRT that I used with my SuperMac S900, which hasn't been started up in probably a couple of years or more. I just get along with the built-in displays in the 'Books.

As for how my fleet is deployed, the Unibody MacBook took over from the 17" PowerBook G4 last March as my desktop substitute production workstation, connected to a keyboard, three pointing devices (including a foot mouse), a printer, a microphone for use with MacSpeech Dictate, a USB modem that isn't getting any use these days, and two powered USB hubs to help connect it all.

In the usual scheme of things, the PowerBook G4 would have taken over my number two "mobile" production machine that I use away from my office desk, but I absolutely loathe its awful trackpad, and I like my Pismo so much that it gets the most duty in that role - usually around 3 to 5 hours a day, plus it goes on the road with me mostly, although I sometimes take the PowerBook afield. In third spot, the PowerBook gets used for scanning and photo downloads, disk burning, and so forth mostly these days, picking up from the other Pismo that I handed off to my wife when her G3 iBook died suddenly last winter. I expect she's next in line for the 17-incher when I next upgrade to a new Mac.

Charles

Hi Charles,

I ended up going with the display so I could have a nice display to work on photos with, as well as set up my MBP as a desktop machine, otherwise I have been extremely happy with the display on my laptop. I have a Dell Inspiron 9300, which I keep around for a few specific applications, but I have to admit that these two Apple displays - and even the one on my G4 iBook - seem crisper, cleaner, and brighter than the Dell, and always have.

I've been predominantly laptop since 2004, and I have to admit it's a little strange working at home on a full keyboard and mouse again. Strange, but I like it.

Something I forgot to mention in my previous email was how the added ports and functions of the Apple displays adds a value to them that I often forget because of the high price tag. The beauty of them is unrivaled by most displays you see at a consumer level, which is great, but then, unless you are a graphics pro you can easily write that off as more an unnecessary luxury. A display that adds USB and FireWire ports definitely adds value, especially when you take into account the lowered desk clutter from trying to set up USB hubs. Also, the displays newer than this one with built in speakers and iSight add value similarly. Still not enough to get me to fork over $899 US, but when I can find one for several hundred less, it becomes quite a tempting target.

Brian

Hi Brian,

Those extra I/O ports would be great. I keep two powered 4-port USB hubs connected to my MacBook in its office desktop substitute mode and find them not more than enough.

The extra FireWire port on your monitor intrigues me. I wonder if it would be a "backdoor" way to add FireWire support to my FireWire-less Unibody MacBook? I've never hear anyone mention trying that workaround, so perhaps it wouldn't work.

I had an IBM ThinkPad here for a while a couple of years ago and found its display no more than mediocre.

Charles

Plantronics Voyager Question

From Tom:

Nice review on the Plantronics Pro headset - very informative.

Question: have you, or do you know anyone, tried using the headset with a Mac, then watch/listen to online video (e.g., YouTube)?

Why am I asking?

I've run into an odd problem with my Blueant - it works great for audio, but as soon as you try using it to watch/listen to online video, no sound, and usually no video.

So - I'm now on the hunt for a headset that will work in that situation, as well as in an iChat mode.

Thanks,
Tom

Hi Tom,

I did try using the Plantronics Voyager with my PowerBook. It would show up in pairing, but I was unsuccessful in persuading it to work. I haven't a clue as to why.

I do have a Revolabs xTag USB Wireless Microphone that works well with my Mac laptops, but it's a clip-on lapel mic and not a headset or ear-mount.

Charles

Very Happy with Cheap USB 2.0 CardBus

From Ian:

Dear Charles Moore,

Greetings from Ithaca, New York!

Just wanted to let you know that I ordered the card from your 9.09.2009 column and have found it to be an excellent addition to my Pismo toolkit. I am very happy with its disappearing presence and USB 2.0 speed.

Thank you for your always enjoyable advice.

Ian

Hi Ian,

Delighted to hear that the suggestion was helpful, and that the card has worked out well for you. Pismos forever, what?

It's been many years since I passed through Ithaca, but I remember it as a pleasant spot, as we found upstate NY in general, touring in a 1967 MGB roadster.

Charles

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