Steve Watkins' iBook

Before I write anything, just let me give you my reaction to Macworld and the flat-panel iMac: "I gotta get me one of those!"

Now that I have that off my chest, on to the business at hand.

I have enjoyed the last two holiday weeks off from writing The Practical Mac. However, I did not allow moss to grow around me. I spent the time wisely, adopting OS X as my primary and (for the most part) full-time OS. While I will go in-depth on this subject in the near future, I say this by way of introduction to my "tools of the trade."

I spent about four months traveling between Atlanta and Kentucky, practicality forced me to adopt my iBook 466 as my primary computer. Along the way I learned that a notebook really can be your only computer. I left behind my souped-up Power Mac 7500 (for the most part).

My iBook has the stock 10 GB hard drive and 320 MB of RAM. I run OS X 10.1.2. I have Microsoft Office v.X installed, although as a practical matter I only really use Entourage. My preferred word processor is WordPerfect 3.5e (freeware). I write my Low End Mac articles and, in fact, most of my basic correspondence in SimpleText.

My primary browser is currently Internet Explorer 5.1. I say "currently," because I tend to change browsers a lot. I have used and also like Netscape 4.7.9 and OmniWeb. I have downloaded iCab and Opera, and I intend to try those shortly.

My goal is to use as many OS X native applications as possible so I can avoid having to use Classic mode. However, I don't want to compromise functionality just for the sake of Carbon and Cocoa. Somewhere between the two is that elusive middle ground that I am still seeking.

We have an AirPort network at home, and my iBook has an AirPort card. My wife, Kay, has a Titanium PowerBook G4 as her only computer, and a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 1200 attached. I am still trying to figure out how to share the printer in OS X (or if it is even possible). In OS 9.2, USB printer sharing was great. For now, I just copy the files to her PowerBook and print from there.

Another piece of indispensable software is Connectix' Virtual PC 5. This is the OS X version of the product, and I have been very impressed by it. I only have one lone Windows program that I run, so admittedly I am not really putting Virtual PC through its paces.

I do some Web development work and occasionally use the Macromedia suite of products (Dreamweaver, Fireworks, etc.). I look forward to the Carbon versions of these products. I don't really do a lot of higher-end work, so I probably use Claris Home Page more than the Macromedia products. There obviously won't ever be an OS X version of this product, but I don't believe I have ever had it crash, so continuing to use it may be a non-issue for me. For FTP, I have always used Fetch and have just downloaded the OS X version to try.

My "other" computer is a Power Mac 7500 with 256 MB of RAM, OS 9.1, 18 GB SCSI hard drives, a Sonnet G3/400 processor upgrade, and a Sonnet Tango FireWire/USB PCI card. Although Sonnet has an installer that will allow you to install OS X on this computer (and I have used it successfully on a Power Mac 8500), I am staying at 9.1 on the 7500.

Now that most of my work has been migrated to the iBook, I use the Power Mac primarily to drive my Umax Astra 6400 FireWire scanner. Unfortunately, their product, VistaScan, does not work with OS X, not even in Classic mode, so I would have to reboot into OS 9 to use it with my iBook. It just seems easier to leave the Classic Mac OS on this computer. Most of my scanning involves documents for transmittal or storage, so Adobe Acrobat is used regularly.

The Power Mac 7500 is hooked to a Brother HL-630 laser printer via serial connection. I have not investigated whether this printer will work under OS X. If so, a USB-serial converter might enable me to use it with my iBook. On the other hand, the printer is over six years old and is subject to go belly-up any day, so maybe I should not disturb the status quo.

We use Quicken 2002 for OS X for tracking our bank accounts and household expenses. The data files reside on Kay's PowerBook, but I also have a copy installed on my iBook so I can enter items and check the accounts when I am home.

Along the way, I purchased an external USB drive kit and put a spare 6 GB hard drive in it. Although USB is far too slow for everyday use, this drive makes the perfect inexpensive backup solution. We have used it to back up all our Macs at one time or another.

I also have a Global Village 56k USB modem on the Power Mac 7500. I use the modem primarily for sending and occasionally receiving faxes.

Finally, in order to reduce expense (not to mention clutter), I have a Belkin KVM switch, complete with Mac adapter, so that I only have to employ one keyboard, monitor, and mouse for hooking up the various computers that I seem to come across.

When Kay began using her Titanium PowerBook exclusively, I inherited her tangerine iMac. She got me a new Maxtor 40-gig hard drive for my birthday. I have not decided how I will use the iMac, but it looks pretty good sitting on the edge of my desk.

As I gaze back and forth from the iMac to the new hard drive, I become convinced that I will figure out something....