Troubleshooting

SpeedLib speeds your Mac? (perhaps not)

A group called the Usual Suspects has produced a set of Shared Library files that purport to increase the speed of your 603 or 604 PPC Mac by somehow doing faster processing of code optimized for 601 machines. The ReadMe file says that the files are "designed for System 7.6 or higher. Use of the ObjectSupportLib 1.2 or higher will produce much faster results." Currently, they are in beta. Final versions are expected by the end of the month.

I have no information as to how effective these files really are. I haven't even tried … Read more

Now Utilities 6.7 beta

Now Software has released a public beta version of Now Utilities 6.7. The final version will be free to registered users of 6.5. (Thanks, Scott Boettcher.)

Solving a Bluets and Granola bar crash problem

Gail Curtis McKenzie got a Bluets and Granola Bar crash and could not restart her Mac afterwards. Here is what Apple recommended that she do (it's sort of an emergency clean install):

1. Start up the machine with the Disk Tools Disk.

2. Put the System suitcase & Finder in the trash and empty the Trash.

3. Rename old system folder to "Storage."

4. Shut down the computer with the 7.6 CD in the machine.

5. Restart and do an Easy Install.

It worked, although Gail found that the crash came back after adding back her … Read more

GlobalFax and PageMaker conflict in Mac OS 7.6

Jerry Redd reports that with Mac OS 7.6 installed and GlobalFax 2.6.1 extension enabled (the one that comes with the SpeakerPhone edition), PageMaker files will not open. What you get is a "application unknown has quit unexpectedly due to a type 1 error." According to Jerry, Global Village Tech support has admitted that there is a problem with 7.6 and their new 2.6.1 software. While GlobalFax 2.5.2 does not have this problem with PageMaker, the extension is not compatible with the Speakerphone hardware. So using it is not an effective … Read more

Wacom OpenTpt Serial Arbitrator Update

We have previously reported that some Wacom Tablet users (most likely only those with serial port tablets) may have conflicts with the OpenTpt Serial Arbitrator file. It turns out that there is an unsupported file on Wacom's ftp site, called OpenTpt Serial Arbitrator Update, that purportedly fixes this. There are also some other files of interest there, including a beta version of Wacom Tablet 2.5.3.

Update: On a related note: Bob Edmiston reports getting the following reply from Wacom concerning an Apple TIL file (and Info Alley article) mentioned here previously: "You don't need Serial … Read more

MacLink Plus: WordPerfect vs. Mac OS 7.6 versions: what to do - and info on a Word Mac to Windows translation bug

Glenn E. Boley informs me that he contacted DataViz asking for advice about the fact that both WordPerfect and Mac OS 7.6 come with separate versions of MacLink Plus and that, after installing Mac OS 7.6, you may wind up with both installed. DataViz replied:

"Trash the extension for MacLinkPlus for WordPerfect. You definitely don't need both in there, and they may even cause a conflict. We licensed some translators to WordPerfect, but if you have our program, it's more complete and contains more translators and better support for avariety of word processing formats & … Read more

More on Word 6 and Times New Roman font problem

Regarding our previous report about MS Office's Times New Roman font causing system crashes, Sally Everding reports that this indeed might happen if you have other PostScript and/or TrueType versions of the Times font also installed. Getting rid of the redundant fonts will solve the problem.

Salman Abdulali offered similar advice but additionally noted that you can check for these and other font problems with a utility from Apple called Font Validator. It's available, along with other font-related utilities, on the Tools section of the Apple Fonts Home Page. However, when I tried to run this utility, … Read more

CD Strip 1.0

Speaking of MRP, readers interested in installing the CD Strip control strip module (for playing audio CDs) included with Mac OS 7.6 should check today's page for details on how to do it.

Xclaim VR card: an assortment of info

a. Previously, I had reported that ATI was planning to post new drivers for the VR card on its web site - by early February at the latest. I subsequently received an email from a reader who said that ATI tech support had told him that ATI will not make these drivers publicly available. When I queried my contacts at ATI about this, I was told that tech support was wrong and that tech support would be instructed not to say this anymore. Yet, several weeks after that, Ed Sikorski sent me the following message that he received from Dave … Read more