News

Minor quirks in Mac OS 8

WindowShade glitch Several readers have now reported this (I get it occasionally, but not consistently): After moving a folder window to the bottom of the screen in Mac OS 8 - so that it becomes a pop-up window, make it a regular window again. The WindowShade feature now does not work - until you close and open the window again. [Philip Saunders claims this only happens if WindowShade has never been used with the folder before.]

Option-copy to System Folder glitch Try this: Drag an extension or control panel file to your System Folder icon. Wait for the message to … Read more

Epson mailing list expands

Epson800@leben.com is now Epson-Inkjet@leben.com. Previously, this mailing list covered the Epson Stylus Color 800 only. The list is renamed to Epson-Inkjet and now covers all Epson inkjet printers. To subscribe to Epson-inkjet: Send a message to majordomo@leben.com with the words "subscribe epson-inkjet" in the message. No subject is required.

Floppy Fix extension: the jury is still out; suggestions are in

I continue to get reports that Apple's Floppy Fix patch works for some but not for others. Readers similarly continue to send in the "tricks" that they claim helped them to get the extension to work. Here are two suggestions:

a. Delete Finder Preferences. (I'm beginning to think that doing this can also help you lose weight and may even prevent the common cold.)

b. Bob Potasky claims that part of the problem seems to be that changes made to the floppy disk itself cause the slow mounting. Disks that have already been "exposed" … Read more

Apple replies on "missing" subfolders in Mac OS 8

Several readers have noted (as we have) that some of the new blessed System Folder sub-folders (such as for Sounds and Chooser items) initially reported by third-party sources as being included in Mac OS 8 - never showed up in the release version. Here is Apple's response to this (as noted on its Discussion Boards): "Those folders were in a beta release but were not fully implemented in the final release version. The custom icons are still present in the System resource, and it is preserved as a custom name, but the functionality does not exist." Apple … Read more

Troubleshooting PowerBook 3400 modems

Avariety of issues regarding using modems with PowerBook 3400s have been raised recently. Here's a sampler of the questions asked and the possible answers:

Can't reconnect after a disconnect (noted on PowerBook Discussion Board) A user writes: "I am having problems with my internal modem on my PowerBook 3400. After a successful connection, the modem will not dial again. It can take up to 2 hours before it gets free again." Apple replies: "This issue has been escalated to the engineering team and as soon as they make the solution known to me, I will … Read more

Mac OS 8 Technote "final" version released

The Mac OS 8 Technote is now a release Version 1.0, as opposed to the previous draft (beta) versions. (Thanks, David Atkinson.)

MacOS 8 Views Setter update released

A new version of MacOS 8 Views Setter is out. The first release ( see previous item) had a bug in it such that when you launched the script it would not be able to find the sound file resource and would quit. This has been fixed. Because this new version is also much smaller (only 43K), it should also remedy the download problems that people were reporting.

ARA 3.0 and multiple modem access

Marty Cohen writes: "With ARA 2.1, I can select a modem different from the one selected in the Modem control panel by using Remote Access Setup. Richard Ford (of Apple Computer) confirmed that I will lose this capability with ARA 3.0 since it will also use the Modem control panel." Richard's response said in part:

"By combining ARA and PPP into a single package with ARA 3.0, you can only make one type of remote connection at a time with ARA. Either an ARA call or a PPP call. In order to replicate … Read more

Apple comments on ARA 3.0 and PPP control panel; OT/PPP Strip 1.0.2 released

Regarding the issue of the PPP control panel ( raised last time) Apple's Richard Ford confirms what we wrote and adds: "ARA 3.0 offers a superset of the features of OT/PPP - it supports both AppleTalk and TCP/IP concurrently over a PPP connection. Both protocols will be enabled if the PPP server supports both. It also supports the Apple Remote Access Protocol (ARAP) v2.0 and so can be used to call either a PPP server or an ARA server. ARA 3.0's ability to use TCP/IP over a PPP connection can and does … Read more