From: Tony Lindsey, xxltony@cts.com Subject: Mac*Chat#114/16-Jul-96 Mac*Chat#114/16-Jul-96 ====================== Welcome to Mac*Chat, the weekly electronic newsletter for everyone interested in using a Macintosh computer professionally, no matter what their situation or profession. See the end of this file for further information, including how to get a free subscription. Any [comments in brackets] are by Tony Lindsey. Highlights Of This Issue ------------------------ I estimate how many people are reading Mac*Chat, ask how to run a small online discussion-list, Keith Gillespie shares some good sources for online humor, I share some tips about RAM prices and upgrading, John Friedlander invites Mac consultants to a dinner party in Boston, many readers tell us where to take our dead hard drives for resurrection, plus many tips for locating excellent 360-degree view movies for enjoyment, we begin a discussion on Mac resources for folks with disabilities, and we continue even more discussion about inexpensive color printers. Topics: Highlights Of This Issue Editor's Notes How Do I Run A Small Online Newsletter? Humor Resources RAM Prices Are Down - Time To Upgrade Consultants Dinner At Boston Macworld, August 7, 1996 Hard Disk Recovery Quicktime VR Treats Voice-Recognition, Or Other Means? Inexpensive Color Printers, Continued... Legalisms Free Subscriptions To This Newsletter Editor's Notes -------------- By Tony Lindsey Well, I'm embarrassed. A few issues ago, I swore that every single issue of Mac*Chat would be out on deadline, without fail, unless I warned folks beforehand. I didn't count on health problems getting in the way. I was definitely not in any shape to deal with clients or computers for a while there. I'm fine now, and eager to get back in the saddle. ----- One reader (whose address I lost) asked: "Hi, I was just wondering how many subscribers you have to the newsletter. It might be interesting to add the number somewhere in the newsletter so us die-hard Mac users could get some idea of how many of us there are." Good suggestion - I haven't done it in a while. The newsletter is currently estimated at 97,000 readers in 71 countries. Around half are in the USA. Mac*Chat is archived in around 3,000 places (like Fiji and Latvia), and on many, many BBS's that aren't directly connected to the Internet. Of course, it's also available just about everywhere else online. I'll be mentioning the Web-friendly mirror sites in the next issue. There are some new additions. There are over 7,000 or so e-newsletters (covering every topic, not just computers). The LISTSERV site that keeps track of those newsletters no longer ranks them by popularity, but Mac*Chat is definitely in the Top Fifteen. RAM Prices Are Down - Time To Upgrade ------------------------------------- By Tony Lindsey (This is a re-post of a message I sent to my San Diego-area consulting clients). I'm surprised how few people are aware that RAM-chip prices have plummeted lately. They bought a PowerMac a year or so ago and recoiled at the idea of spending large bundles of cash for 32 more megs of RAM. As a result, they've been struggling along with a s-l-o-w PowerMac (which is like owning a Ferrari with the parking-brake jammed on). Things have changed, and for the good. Out of all of the places that sell RAM chips, I've recommend Chip Merchant <619-268-4774> many times for my clients. It's nice that they are two freeway exits away from me. Needless to say, I am not affiliated with them in any way at all. When I went shopping for the rare RAM used in the 500-series portable Macs a few months ago, every other vendor was quoting me a standard $659. Chip Merchant sold it to me for $420, and charged me $12 to install it while I waited. Of course, that same item is a lot cheaper now. What are other good sources of inexpensive, high-quality RAM chips? I called Chip Merchant on Tuesday, July 9, 1996 and asked the salesperson what that day's price would be for a 32-megabyte SIMM (useful in older PowerMacs like the 6100/7100/8100). She told me that the cash or check price would be $220, and credit -card price is $225. Delivery would cost extra, of course. She also told me that the 32-meg DIMM chips (used in the newest PowerMacs like the 7500) would be $232 cash, $235 credit card. I'm listing these prices only as a way to impress you how much prices have dropped lately - They are undoubtedly different today. They have a brand-new web-site, which lists their current prices: --------- If you have a PowerMac of any age, I strongly recommend upgrading its RAM. You'll be able to run many programs at once (saving you time when you're working on money-making projects). If you're running Photoshop, it'll run a lot quicker. If you have RAM Doubler loaded, I'd dump it quick and add real RAM chips. Same thing for virtual memory on an 8-meg PowerMac - TURN IT OFF. Life's too short to own an expensive, slow computer. Virtual memory can speed up your PowerMac's operations once you have some real RAM to back it up, unless you're running Photoshop, which uses a conflicting virtual memory scheme of its own. I wouldn't wait to see if RAM prices drop any lower - They could ricochet back upward. --------- To check to see how much RAM you have installed, click once on your Trash Can in the lower right corner, then pull down the Apple menu and choose "About this Macintosh." If there is a listing for "Installed Memory," divide it by 1024. If not, refer to the "Total Memory" number and divide IT by 1024. That's how many megabytes of RAM chips are installed. If you're just a casual Mac user, writing an occasional letter and playing games, don't fret yourself too much about more than 24 megs of RAM or so. However, if you are a professional, using a lot of PowerMac-compatible programs like QuarkXpress, Illustrator, PhotoShop, Freehand, Painter and so on, I'd recommend a minimum of 40 megabytes of RAM. The maximum? Depends on your budget. I've seen professional designers using those programs with 160 megabytes installed, and they haven't called me to complain that they have too much RAM. Every once in a while, I get a question from a client, saying "Why did they only provide my PowerMac with 8 megs if it's not enough?" This has a simple answer - The store's salespeople wanted to make it attractively cheap for an initial purchase. They didn't have a loyal, affectionate consultant like me to tell you that you really needed more. Consultants Dinner At Boston Macworld, August 7, 1996 ----------------------------------------------------- By John Friedlander, Executive Director, Macintosh Consultants Network [I solicited the following message for the newsletter. I won't be able to make it to the MacWorld Expo in Boston this year (can't afford it), but if I were, this is one event I'd never miss... It's a great, great experience for anyone who is a professional Mac consultant, or wants to become one.] The Macintosh Consultants Network will host a dinner for Mac consultants and vendors Wednesday evening, August 7, 1996 in Boston -- the first night of MacWorld. It'll be an informal, prix fixe meal in a familiar downtown hotel at 7:15pm (meeting in the bar starting at 6:30pm), cost about $40, require a reservation and advance credit card payment, and be limited to about 50 guests. It'll feature old and new friends in the Mac business, likely vendor specials, easy networking opportunities, and our usual good-natured MCN camaraderie. We'll also have a chance to talk about where the MCN is going over the next few months, and what we've got in store for Conference 16 in January in San Francisco. There will be no booths, no full-scale demos, just quick opportunities to introduce ourselves to the entire group, then follow-up one-on-one conversation. If you make your living helping people with Macs, and you've been looking for an opportunity to learn more about the MCN face-to-face, please join us for this special MCN event: email immediately to and we'll return the details and a registration form. See you in Boston! How Do I Run A Small Online Newsletter? --------------------------------------- By Tony Lindsey Thanks to Shrimmy, I have no problems distributing one of the biggest electronic newsletters on Earth, but I need help on starting a new, smaller, automated online discussion-list for my online car-club. As you may know, I collect old cars, and my '61 Imperial convertible (one of 429 made) is still a ways away from being completely restored, though it looks great from a distance. I have been deluged with e-mail from around 100 other Imperial owners who found my Imperial Web-pages: The other Imperial owners are desperate for a simple way for everybody to stay in touch with each other. It seems that a nice, simple, automated program should allow my Mac to call in once a day, grab messages waiting at a certain e-mail address and then re-post those messages to everybody on the Imperial mailing-list. I want to be List Mom, spanking rude people and archiving back-issues. I know I can use the program "Macjordomo" to do this, though I believe it requires a separate e-mail box, and my ISP wants $231 for the first year for this feature. Ouch! Is there a cheaper, better way? My ISP also tells me that I may want to use UUCP instead ($70 for the first year). I'm baffled by this (I've never heard of it), and throw myself upon your mercies. I want to do next to NOTHING to maintain the daily operations, since my plate's pretty full already. Let's be creative and miserly! Will there be sneaky ways to use Eudora Pro 3.0's Auto-Reply to handle a primitive daily mailing-list? I'm planning to upgrade. Humor Resources --------------- [In issue #113, I asked for a few humorous tidbits to spice up some upcoming issues of Mac*Chat. A FEW. Holy Mackerel! I received 1,241 messages on the topic, totaling 4,723,991 bytes. Such generous readers! I have to admit, I was laughing like a hyena, but the funniest jokes were a bit more X-Rated than I'd prefer to re-post here. I also noticed a lot of Urban Legends being passed along. These are well-told stories that are probably as fake as can be, but they just keep ricocheting around, like the story about the '67 Chevy with the Jet-Assisted Take-Off. For the moment, I'll play it safe and pass along something that's in the same vein as before:] ----- By Keith Gillespie For just about all the humor you can stand, point your browser to LaughWEB at It has links to humor archives on subjects such as: Education Humor, Gender/Sexual Humor, Insults, Parodies, Murphy's Law, In the News, Microsoft/Windows 95 Humor and, of course, Computer Humor--a small sample of which is below: ------------- Some people can't figure out the mouse. Tamra Eagle, an AST technical support supervisor, says one customer complained that her mouse was hard to control with the "dust cover" on. The cover turned out to be the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in. Dell technician Wayne Zieschang says one of his customers held the mouse and pointed it at the screen, all the while clicking madly. The customer got no response because the mouse works only if it's moved over a flat surface. ------------- You can also subscribe to Laugh Of The Day (LOTD), a free service of LaughWEB. I quote: "Every morning, subscribers receive an e-mail message with a piece of humor randomly selected from LaughWEB. Brighten up your morning with a little humor. To subscribe to LOTD via WWW point your web-browser to: via E-Mail: send e-mail to majordomo@world.std.com. In the body of the message (not the subject) write: subscribe lotd If you have questions, send them to " Hard Disk Recovery ------------------ [In issue #113, I asked how to contact folks who can resurrect data from desperately damaged hard drives...] ------ By: Patrick Henebry For best results contact DriveSavers. They are a very well known data recovery firm that has even been covered by C|Net Central. They are also recommended by MacUser. Contact info below: DriveSavers 400 Bel Marin Keys Boulevard Novato, CA, USA 94949 <800-440-1904/415-883-4232/Fax: 415-883-0780> Here is a page from their site with tips for Mac users on what to do before calling DriveSavers. ------ [I received many letters like the following one - The folks at DriveSavers have really made an impression on many folks with their booth display!] By: Thomas Parker DriveSavers. I've never had to use them, but have heard only great things. The last time I attended MacWorld, their booth displayed machines they'd recovered data from, including a Powerbook that fell overboard and spent a couple days on the bottom of the Amazon river and an unidentifiable model that had been melted in a fire. [So, let's hear from folks who have used their services... Hearsay is pleasant, but I want some red meat for the newsletter! ------- By Kass Johns I highly recommend... Total ReCall Colorado Springs, CO 800.743.0594 They advertise in the back of MacWEEK. When I managed a large catalog publishing network, we used them a couple of times to recover data from SyQuest cartridges. They were great. It seems that at that time it was 44MB for about $75. That was many years ago. I am sure prices are different now. Their recovery was prompt and well done. They boast of fire and disaster recovery too. It is my understanding that most of our user accessible file recovery applications (Norton, et al) look only at the A tree for recovery. Total Recall (as I am sure the other businesses who do this) use their own proprietary B tree accessing software. I had also heard that Total Recall was working on a possible commercial version of their software for resale to end-users. This was a rumor I heard a year or more ago. I do not know any more about it. My guess is that it will be more costly than standard off the shelf utilities, otherwise someone else (the Gods at Norton!) would have brought us this solution years ago. ------ By: John Graser There's a friend of mine in Portland, Oregon. He has a company called Data Discovery. 6107 SW Murray blvd. Suite 163 Beaverton, Oregon 97008 <503-641-0351> ------ By: Keith E. Propp You asked about finding a company to do hard drive data recovery. We have a local company called Total Recall - The Data Recovery Company <800-743-0594/719-380-1616/FAX 719-380-7022> 2462 Waynoka Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80915 I have never used or needed their help (luckily) but there was a favorable article about them in our local newspaper. Hope this helps. ------ By: Mike Carlson On-Track is the outfit at <800-872-2599> They have many locations worldwide [Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Washington DC, London and Tokyo] and considerable experience. Quicktime VR Treats ------------------- [In issue #113, I asked for Quicktime VR (Virtual Reality) sites on the Internet. I received many, many responses, and here are the best tips:] By: Gino J. Piazza The first way to get to some great QuickTime VR movies [and the Movie Player for Windows and the stable version 1.01 for Macs] is to go to Apple's QuickTime VR web site at: and click on Samples. There you will find a whole slew of different QuickTime VR movies. Since I like downloading the samples to my hard disk instead of viewing the movies through my browser, I use Plug-In Master 1.40 to disable all the Netscape plug-ins I have which are related to viewing movies. If you wish to do the same, you can find Plug-In Master 1.40 by going to the MacSense home page at" and clicking on "Updates". The second way to gain access to a slew of QuickTime VR sites is to go to a search engine like AltaVista and search on "QTVR", or you can copy and the following URL and paste it into your wweb browser: The URL above was generated by AltaVista itself after I did a search on "qtvr". In other words, Step 1. Go to AltaVista at: , Step 2. Type in "qtvr" in the Search field and than click on Search, The resulting page generated by AltaVista will have the long URL listed above. ------ By: Ed Vawter Here's a location for a great Disney VR movie of Main St. USA in the Magic Kingdom! ------ By: Joyce McGowan Here's a great QuickTime VR site that not only lets you download the QuickTime VR player, but also has several VR movies of scenes from atop Mt. Everest. It is part of the South African Everest Expedition 1996 web site: [VERY impressive - I grabbed all of the movies there.] ------ By: Lloyd Burchill I've just released Knot 3.6, which I think is the only shareware that can generate QTVR object movies. It's at ------ By: Peter John Benson, Robbinsdale, MN Here's the BMW ad site: ------ By Robert Ward Here is a link to a cool 360 degree view from the dugout at Candlestick Park: ------ By George M Harris, Philadelphia Nashville Police Department and QTVR - Discusses use of VR in police work; in particular, using QTVR panoramas of crime scenes to present to juries. SAAB USA files - QTVR files TVR - Webix - Some very nice examples here. I downloaded one of an airplane on runway. QTVR - SiteFX Multimedia Services - Portfolio - View of US Capital, and interior scene. View360 - QTVR Showroom - excellent site, probably one of the best, with lots of examples of interiors & exteriors. Of course, by simply entering "qtvr" in the yahoo search you'll get more than enough examples. ----- By Don Dickson I have not checked out all parts of this one but it must be the mother of all VR sites. http://www.ga.unc.edu/ This is the home page of UNC. There is a link to a state map showing the 16 different campuses. Eight of them have VR sites. I only went to one so far and there were 6 different VR movies at that site alone so if the others are the same there are 48 QTVR's showing views at the various campuses. Voice-Recognition, Or Other Means? ---------------------------------- By Dr. Kit Weathers On May 10, 1996, I nearly lost my brother Dr. Beck Weathers to a disaster on Mt. Everest. Beck survived a storm that killed eight fellow climbers. Earlier this week...Beck's right hand was amputated and he underwent extensive surgery to try to save his left hand. He now needs some type of voice recognition software to be able to efficiently operate his computer. I obtained information concerning Dragon Dictate for Windows from a MicroSoft Bulletin board, and I was wondering if there is a comparable product (voice recognition software) for the Mac. ---- Tony's Reply: I would definitely check out the following web site: This allows you to explore Apple's enormous support for folks with disabilities. You'll find several voice-recognition products listed, but voice-control is only one way to help your brother - There are alternative input devices of many kinds. I remember when I used to give Mac demos to the local Disabilities Interest Group of the San Diego Computer Society. They were a tough audience, and they would have roasted me alive if I had misled them or tried to sugar-coat any information. Most of the folks there were PC users, and they always came away impressed by the Mac's built-in support for the visually impaired (CloseView) and those who cannot handle a standard mouse or keyboard (Easy Access). Apple has a long history of supporting folks with any kind of disability. Inexpensive Color Printers, Continued... ---------------------------------------- [This appears to be The Topic That Would Not Die... See issues 110-113.] By: Don Hinkle <73776.2504@CompuServe.COM> Following the discussion on the color inkjets. I got an Epson stylus II and like the output very much--had an art director at a major publisher (all Mac design staff) ask me pointedly if the (720 dpi) picture I showed her was really "computer art"... However, on my 5300ce I was having lots of crashes (probably from RAM Doubler, which I've since turned off) and each time it crashed while I was printing something the Epson driver went to heaven. So I had to reload the software. I finally got smart and after the last reload, duplicated the driver and stored it in my Utilities folder. Now if I get a crash--far less often--I just go and duplicate the copy and drag it into the System folder. ------ By: macman StyleWriter 2500 User Experience I use a LaserWriter Pro 600 for most of my printing but for a long time I wanted color for very occasional but demanding output. The 2500 is perfect for this purpose. I use the plain paper and 'Normal' printing dialog selection and under options I select 'colorsync' and '2500 scatter'. These settings when used with Cannon Bubblejet HR-101 paper (from Sears) gives near photographic results. The biggest mistake most users make on any printer is setting maximum resolution which unknowingly reduces the number of tonalities to the fewest shades. The middle resolution - 'normal' setting - gives medium resolution but equals more shades. On the 2500 this provides enough tonalities to trick your eye into seeing a photograph. Previously, I had an HP DeskWriter C for the Mac. The real problem is that the driver updates are for HPs currently shipping machines. In a market where models are discontinued every 6 months or so, this is a real problem. The Apple drivers always ship with the newest Operating Systems (soon to be system 8). Live and learn. That little apple logo means your hardware will most likely work for many years! My LW Pro 600 works even better with the newest LW8 drivers. ----- By: Mark Hickenbottom Mark Alan Cirino said: "With the StyleWriter, I know that I'm going to get a brand new compatible driver every time Apple updates the System - and it's free!" Not true. Apple's LaserWriter II SC is incompatible with 7.5.3 (prints dots all over the page, and spaces text out making it look ugly) and I don't think Apple has plans to fix it. [Something sounds odd here - The IISC is a QuickDraw device, using the Mac as its imaging-engine. As simple as you can get. Has anybody else found this problem?] Legalisms and Information ------------------------- Copyright 1989-1996 Tony Lindsey. The contents of Mac*Chat may not be republished, either in whole or in part, without the express permission of the editor. However, Mac- oriented BBS's may re-post entire copies of each issue. Small excerpts of Mac*Chat may be reproduced for personal use, or by nonprofit groups (such as Mac User Groups) if full credit is given, including this notice, and how to subscribe. Please contact the editor for any publication requests. This newsletter is intended purely as entertainment and free information. No profit has been made in return for publication of any of these opinions. Time passes, so accuracy may diminish. Publication, product, and company names may be registered trademarks of their companies. ----- This file is formatted as setext, which can be read on any text reader. I'd enjoy hearing your feedback and suggestions. Unfortunately, due to the massive numbers of messages I get every day, I can't guarantee a personal reply. Send all such messages to: Tony Lindsey Tips from readers are gratefully accepted. Please write them in a user-friendly way, and if you are mentioning an Internet site, please include a paragraph explaining why others should visit it. Mac*Chat back-issues may be found within any Info-Mac ftp archive at /info-mac/per/chat - For example: and read with any Web browser at Current issues may be found on the comp.sys.mac.digests newsgroup. GETTING A FREE SUBSCRIPTION, STEP ONE: -------------------------------------- This will cause Mac*Chat to be e-mailed to you automatically, every week (unless I'm on vacation or just too darned busy): FIRST, turn off your e-mail program's "automatic signature" feature, if it has one. Extra e-mail addresses in the end of your message can create a "Subscription From Hell," with unpredictable, hard-to-fix problems. ----- THEN, send an e-mail message to the following address: listserv@vm.temple.edu The Subject line on this message is ignored, so it can say anything. In the body of the message, include the following line: SUBSCRIBE MACCHAT Your full name As an example: SUBSCRIBE MACCHAT Juliana Tarlton. GETTING A FREE SUBSCRIPTION, STEP TWO: -------------------------------------- In order to protect people from being unwillingly subscribed to Mac*Chat, a message will arrive in your e-mail, asking for a one-word response to verify that you DO want to subscribe. Here's the response you should send: OK Notice that it's all-capitals, and nothing but those two characters. If you follow these instructions, you will receive a nice long message explaining acceptance of your subscription, how to end it (if desired) and general mailing-list info. KEEP THAT MESSAGE! It'll tell you how to un-subscribe when that day comes. WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU HAVE SUBSCRIPTION PROBLEMS? ------------------------------------------------- Please contact Shrimmy, who handles such things for me. His e-mail address is shrim@thunder.ocis.temple.edu ============== ____ ====================================================== Tony Lindsey \ _/__ Free, weekly e-mailed Mac-oriented newsletter Mac*Chat Editor \X / ================= \/ =====================================================