Ask Jacob

Adding a printer can be a simple process, provided that Mac OS X has built-in drivers for it. In the Utilities folder within the Applications folder is the “Printer Setup Utility.” Start up that utility and click on the “Add” button. The “Printer Browser” will open and show you a list of many of the available printers on the network or directly connected to the computer. Find the printer you want in the list and click once on it. Wait for the Add button in the lower right hand corner of the window to turn from grey to black and then click it. That should add your printer to the master list of printers and will set it as your default printer. If you have trouble seeing a networked printer (one connected to the network and not the computer) and you use an ethernet network then try turning off your Airport. Having two active networks can cause problems.. It may not be necessary, but having an updated printer driver can help take full advantage of a printer’s features.. Before adding your printer, try downloading the latest Mac OS X driver from the manufacturer’s website and install it. Then when you add the printer through the utility it will use the most recent driver..Hope that gets you printing.

A USB hub can have connectivity issues due to a few different reasons. The connection point for the hub can be the largest barrier. A USB hub should be directly connected to the USB ports on the computer and not the keyboard or another hub. Also, not every USB port is equal, so try different USB ports to find the best connection. Another issue can come from the hub itself. Some USB hubs will have an external power adapter or have a port for an optional power adapter. This is because USB devices can be powered off a USB bus, but too many of these bus-powered devices will exceed what the computer can deliver. Without additional power the hub and the devices could stop working. A powered USB hub is a good thing to use, even if none of your devices are bus-powered. More hub problems can be caused by cables. USB cables can come in long lengths, but when connecting to a hub it is better to use cables 6 feet or shorter. Also some cheaper cables can fail randomly because of cheap metal wires or thin shielding. Try using known good cables for the main stretch between the USB hub and the computer.Hope that helps

This kind of .Mac connection failure is interesting because often it is a password or username typo. In this case you have entered the same information in the online .Mac login and it works. That would demonstrate that her account information is accurate and it is something with how the iMac is connecting to .Mac’s servers that has failed.. As long as you are using the same display name (the email address without the @mac.com) and the same password that gets you into the .Mac web-mail, then it should connect the computer to the other services.There was an issue this last summer with some .Mac users being cut off by the Wanadoo/Orang ISP. You can read the long discussion but this particular issue was resolved (Apple Discussion). One interesting solution that worked for some on this discussion was power-cycling the DSL modem and rebooting the system. In another instance the 10.4.6 update broke some users’ connection to .Mac (Apple Discussion). I believe updating fixed the issue, but an interim fix was to remove the passwords from the Keychain and preference pane, then reenter them. If your problem is related to these past issues, using some of the interim fixes could be worth a try. You should also temporarily eliminate any routers or hubs and just directly connect the Mac to the DSL/Cable modem’s ethernet port. It may even be worthwhile to take the iMac to another location. If you can connect to .Mac from a different ISP then you know the issue is with Hiedi’s ISP, but if it will not connect at both places then you know it is a system configuration issue.As a last ditch attempt, try to connect to the iDisk as if it was not hers. From the finders “Go” menu mouse over iDisk. There is an option to connect to another users iDisk in the pop-out menu. Click on that option and enter Hiedi’s information. Connecting that way should tell you if you are blocked to all .Mac services on her computer or just the one setup inside the system preferences..I hope that helps some, let me know how it works out.

This weird memory error is a not too uncommon failure of some 15″ Aluminum PowerBooks. In one particular version of the G4 PowerBook, a problem like yours occurred enough times that Apple has a repair extension program for it (Apple Tech Article).. Although this repair extension does not cover your 1.25 GHz PowerBook, you can read through the symptoms and see that it is very similar to the problem your PowerBook developed.The solution to the problem is to replace the logic board. That is an expensive repair and not the most appealing option you would hope for.. The most cost effective solution would be to buy a single RAM chip in the total size you want and install it in the good RAM slot. A 1 GB stick could be a good combo upgrade and repair for you. It would cost much less than replacing the logic board.Hope that clears up the weirdness.

There is no way to add storage space to a nano that I know about. Files on an iPod must be in a fixed location to be searched and played, so adding extra storage space outside of the iPod would be difficult.When you say that 4 GB of space is not enough, are you speaking about your need to listen to multiple books between visits to your computer? I own a 2 GB nano, and it holds days of spoken audio. If you are getting Books-On-CD and encoding them in iTunes you may have the wrong bit rate selected for those books. In the preferences select the “Advanced” icon and then the “Importing” tab. Set the “Import Using:” pulldown menu to use the AAC Encoder. Then change the “Setting:” pull down menu to “Custom.” In the new window, change the Stereo Bit Rate to “64 kbps” and the Channels to “Mono.” Also check the checkbox for “Optimize for voice.” Click the OK button on both open windows and then start importing your books from the CD. That should create a file about a quarter the size they were before.Hope that makes that gift work for you.

Any Apple computer with Airport wireless capabilities can take the place of a base station. It is called an ad-hoc Wi-Fi network. This is a perfect solution for people who have a desktop Mac and a portable Mac. You will create the Ad-hoc network on your Mac with an ethernet or dial-up internet connection. From OS X you click on the Airport Menu near the clock in the upper right hand corner of your screen. From that menu select “Create Network…” From the window that opens you can name the network and chose a radio channel to broadcast on.. That is all that you have to do to start a wireless network, but you should consider password protecting your network. Click on the “Show Options” button and check the checkbox for “Enable encryption.” Then enter a password twice and you should be ready to go. If you have older equipment or a mix of PCs and Macs, first set up your ad-hoc network without a password to test the setup and add a password later. All you other computers will connect to your ad-hoc network the same as if there was a base station..

The permanent sleep of your computer is not related to your display. It is a problem with some USB 2.0 cards.. Certain cards will prevent a Mac from going into deep sleep mode and that will keep a Mac in a semi-sleep state perpetually. It will stay that way until you restart the computer. There are many reports of this exact problem and in nearly every case it is not a monitor problem but related to the card. Your solution will work in the short term, but never letting your computer sleep will reduce your hardware’s life-span. Another option is to buy a new card that will work well with Macintoshes. Apple does not have a list of cards that work with deep sleep but they do have a list of USB 2.0 cards that work with the iPod and that list is likely to reflect cards that also work with deep sleep (a href=”http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93405″>Apple Tech Article). I like IOGear and they make a nice USB 2.0 / FireWire card (USB2 FireWire Combo Card).That should get your Mac sleeping again.

ATA hard drives, sometimes called PATA, have to be designated Master or Slave. This designation is achieved by moving a jumper from one set of pins to another. The jumper pins are most often located on the hard drive between the drive’s power plug and the PATA interface cable. You will have to check the markings on the drive to find out which set of pins need to have the jumper connected to them. Many PATA drive cables will have three connection points called drops. One drop connects to the PATA controller which in this case is part of the logic board. On the other end of the cable is the drop for the master hard drive.. The middle drop is for the slave hard drive. In most G4 towers the bottom hard drive is set as the master drive and the drive on top is set to slave. The only exception to this is with the Mirrored Drive Door G4 Towers that do not use the traditional master/slave jumper setting. Instead, those G4s need all the drives’ jumpers set to cable select. In that instance, the drives’ positions on the cable determine their master/slave designation. This only works on this one model.So re-pin those drives and see if that gets things working.

Every 20″ Apple LCD has had OS X as one of the system requirements. This has caused some debate among Apple users because it’s difficult to imagine a display needing a particular operating system. Graphics cards are an understandable requirement, but an OS has little to do with the performance of most displays. The reason that you need to have Mac OS X with these displays is that the control for the brightness and contrast are only available trough the OS X Display Preference. The display will work with OS 9, but won’t be adjustable. What you see is what you get in OS 9. However, it is an Apple display so chances are good you will like what you see from that display in any OS.

Dual Boot is a generic computer term for a system setup and capable of natively running two different operating systems. In the case of PowerPC Macs, Dual Boot means that you can start up the computer in both Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X. Not all Macs can boot OS 9 and OS X. Most newer PowerPC Macs will only boot into OS X and any older application that needs to run in OS 9 will have to be run in emulation through the Classic environment. Some software does not run well in Classic so some people will need a Dual Boot Mac to run their application natively.

It may be a long shot, but “swap files” could be eating up your drive space. As you probably know, the swap file is a section of hard drive set aside for temporarily moving data out of the RAM and storing it until the RAM is free. When you are moving large files you could end up filling that file and forcing the OS to create a new swap file without deleting the old one. You can check it by clicking on the desktop and then going to the “Go” menu. From the Go menu select “Go to Folder…” In the text box type “/var/vm” without the quote marks and click on the “Go” button. That will take you to the folder containing the swap files. If you have more than a few files there then you should check their size. Most often a restart will clear these files and free up some space but something could have failed with that process.Let me know if that solves it.

DVI has more then one form of connector for the same plug. There is DVI-I and DVI-D with dual link versions of both. DVI-I has both analog and digital video in one connection. DVD-D has only the digital video signal. The way to tell them apart is that DVI-I has four extra pins around the large flat pin. On the female end of the connection it looks like cross-hairs. The DVI to video adapter will work on all DVI-I connections and not just G5 computers.. Your Bell PVR may only have a DVI-D connection so this cable would not fit. You will have to check the back of your PVR. I have not found many DVi-D to S-Video adapters.Good luck and tell me how it works out.

There are more then a few iPod models.. When Apple upgrades the iPod I can hear loud groans from the sales floor because they have to memorize a whole new group specifications. Luckily it is easy enough to classify the iPod in groups.. The basic iPod has a B&W screen and ranged in hard drive size from 5GB to 40GB. We currently have some 20GB refurbished units of this style (Refurbished 20GB iPod). Later they started making the same style iPod but with a color screen in 20GB, 40GB, and 60GB sizes. We also have refurbished units of that iPod (Color 20 GB iPod). Then the iPod was made larger so it can display video on a larger color screen (The Latest Color iPod).In addition to the standard line of iPods there is the mini & nano iPod lines that function much like the original iPods without video, but in a smaller package. These are the tiny ones you are thinking about but the mini was a larger unit and may be the right fit for you (http://www.powermax.com/category/The_iPod_mini/PM_MP_IM..html).Finally you have the shuffle, which has no screen and is designed to be a repository for your favorite music. You can only skip back and forth through songs. They are all flash memory and have small capacities of 512MB or 1GB.Hope that helps a little but I could go into all kinds of detail and never be done writing. Look at the 20GB B&W or Color screen models.

A MacBook or MacBook Pro would be the best solution for the work you currently do and the things you want to be able to do. Both are laptops so you can take it with you when you DJ. Any new Mac will come with iLife applications for organizing you music and your photos. Part of iLife is iMovie for your future video editing. The Mac environment currently has no spyware or viruses and will likely be that way for a long time, even on Intel Macs. An Intel Mac is going to be faster than a G4, but the main reason you want an Intel Mac is for running Windows applications. Many commodity-trading software is for the PC only and you will need Windows to run it. On an Intel Mac you can use “Parallels” virtualization software to run Windows XP in a window with the Mac OS X. Then you can do your trading in Windows XP and everything else in the Mac OS. Windows viruses that find their way into the Parallels copy of Windows XP won’t hurt your Mac.Take a look at the MacBook, it should suit you well.

Drive noise is a problematic area when diagnosing problems. All MacBook Pro hard drives make a certain amount of noise and Mac laptops have been getting thinner. That means that the sound barrier between the user and the drive is also thinning, so new computers sometimes sound louder when it is actually less sound shielding. That being said, an increase in drive noise is not a good sign because it is indicating a change in the drive’s functionality. If you are not backing up now, please start. Use blank CDs to get your documents, pictures and purchased music saved. The next step would be to buy a FireWire hard drive 160GB or bigger. Use Carbon Copy Cloner to make a bootable mirror copy of your MacBook Pro’s hard drive (Carbon Copy Cloner).With all your data saved you need to take the MacBook Pro in for service.. I would recommend going to an Apple Authorized Service Center and not an Apple store. Many service centers like the one here at PowerMax have been fixing Macs for over ten years and are willing to do this type of service work without hesitation. The replacement drive and labor will be covered under your warranty. When you get your computer back it will be like it was when it was new, so during the setup it asks you if there is data from an old Mac that you want to move over. You should say yes and connect that backup FireWire drive. It will then set you up just as you where before the drive was replaced.Good luck and do not wait to long before getting this taken care of.

Adding USB ports to a Power Mac that did not originally have them is a simple upgrade. The first step is to determine what version of USB you can use. There are two types of USB, version 1.1 and version 2.0. Both versions of USB will work in OS X 10.1 and up. However, if you have Mac OS 8.6 through 9.2.2, then you will be limited to USB 1.1, which is much slower but still suitable for what you want to do. OS 8.6 users will need to download a USB card support Extension before they can use a USB PCI card (Apple Tech Article). I would strongly recommend running at least OS 9.1 for working with USB devices. Most USB cards will work, but here are some cards to look at for USB 1.1 (Keyspan USB PCI Card) and USB 2.0 (ADS USB 2.0 PCI Card).. Once you get the PCI card you will need to install it into an open internal PCI slot.Now that you have USB you have many options for saving your files. I would recommend a USB Flash memory drive.. They now have units that are 8GB in size but I bet a 2GB drive would meet your needs (2 GB Flash Drive). This drive will work in 8.6 and up on both USB 1.1 or 2.0.Hope you like it.

A few things could be affecting your burning ability. If these blank discs are CD-RW or DVD-RW format then you have to erase the disc before you can use them. Insert the disc and open Disc Utility.. Select the disc from the left hand section of the window and click on the erase tab. Then select Quick Erase and click on the Erase button. Then the disc should be ready to use.If you are not using rewrite-able media, then you could be using defective media. If the disc you are using has failed to burn previously it may have been rendered useless. Try different discs and perhaps a different brand disc to see if you get better results..Another possibility is that your “CDs & DVDs” preferences were accidentally set to “Ignore.” To change that setting, go to System Preferences under the Blue Apple menu. Click on CDs & DVDs to see a listing of your options. For both “When you insert a blank CD” and “When you insert a blank DVD” change the pull down menu to “Ask what to do.”One of those three things should get you burning.

New burners can be complicated to add to older operating systems. There are really two ways to interact with disc media burners on a Mac. The most common way to burn a disc is with the built-in Desktop Burning features of the Mac OS. This feature will recognize a blank disc when it is inserted into the drive and manage the type of burn you want to perform. For this to happen the OS has to have all the drivers and burner definitions stored in the OS. When you buy a burner that is newer than your operating system, it will be unlikely to work with Desktop Burning. The OS in that case will not have the drivers you need to control that burner. A solution would be to upgrade your OS to a current version (Mac OS X Tiger 10.4x).. The other method of burning is to use specific burning software. Roxio Toast is a popular Mac disc burning software package that can burn all of your media needs (Roxio Toast 7 Titanium). The problem you will encounter is that it wants a Mac OS version of 10.3.9 or higher. Sometimes drives will ship with a limited version of Toast that has lower system requirements. Your new Sony burner may have come with that software. Try installing it if it was included and that could solve your problems.Otherwise I would recommend you upgrade to Mac OS 10.4 Tiger.Hope that works for you.

The Mac has always been about connection options and the Intel iMac is near the top of the heap for connectivity. The audio out jack on your iMac is a “Headphone/optical digital audio output (minijack).” That means it can connect to headphones, stereo speakers, and 2.1 PC speakers all through the analog 1/8th inch minijack. Also, a special fiber optic cable can be used from that same minijack to get digital audio to a home stereo. For a recommendation on good 2.1 speakers I asked our Trade-In manager. He listens to many speakers that come in on trade and has just recently bought himself the Logitec Z-4 2.1 speakers (Logitech Speakers). He liked the quality and range of the sound along with the additional line-in jack on the volume controller.Hope you like them.. Let me know what you think.

The new MacBooks and MacBook Pros do not offer a built in 56k modem for Dial-up internet connections (Apple USB External Modem). You can use Apple’s USB modem with those laptops if you only have a Dial up ISP account. If you have a DSL or Cable Broadband internet connection then you can use the built-in ethernet port or built-in Wi-Fi (AKA AirPort) connections. For a wireless connection you also need a Wi-Fi router to connect to your broadband modem.Another option if you have a dial-up internet connection would be the Airport Extreme Base Station (Airport Extreme Base Station). That has a built-in 56k modem that will connect to your ISP and send that signal wirelessly to your new MacBook.That should get you connected. Good luck

I had no idea that the playlist location feature existed.. It took me some time and an iTunes update later to find it, but here is how you get to it. In iTunes 7, right click or hold down the “Control” key and click on the song file. In the pop out menu look for “Show in Playlist.” Mousing over that will show you the playlists that that song file is in. Also above the “Show in Playlist” is “Add to Playlist” which will let you add that song to any existing playlist without dragging the song file.I think that is what you were looking for.

Finding the right boot discs that originally shipped with your computer can be difficult. Macs need to have specific boot discs and even little differences will cause the problem you are having. PowerMax sells boot discs but we only do it over the phone because we have to get detailed info about your computer in order to find the right version. Another option you may want to consider is buying a full copy of OS 10.4 Tiger (http://www.powermax.com/product/Mac_OS_X_Tiger_Version_10.4.6/j93916.html).. That will give you a disc to boot up off of to change your passwords and a useful OS upgrade.Hope that solves it.

One of the problems with this multi-operating-system world is that not all good software will work for everyone. PhotoImpact is one of those programs missed on the Mac platform. You can certainly do all the things that you currently do with PhotoImpact, but not in the same way and not all in one program.. If you are after the photo manipulation features of PhotoImpact then you could use PhotoShop Elements in its place (Photoshop Elements). Even within iPhoto many of the same photo tools you are accustomed to using are there, but if you are after the line art features then you will need another program. There are many free options for this type of program, one to try would be Inkscape (www.inkscape.org).Let me know how that works out for you.

Voltage is the major difference between British and North American power. Most Mac towers will work with 120 volt or 240 volt power. Older G3 and G4 towers had a red voltage switch on the back next to the power cord plug in. Newer G4 towers, G5 towers, and Mac Pro systems have auto switching power supplies. Whichever tower you have will work as long as you have the proper American Power Cable (A-53162). You can get a new cable for less than $15. Some iMacs and other non-tower Macs will auto switch and others will not. For those units look on the case to see the power rating. All G3 and newer laptops will also work here provided you buy a replacement power cable.Good luck and welcome Stateside.

I have yet to find any MagSafe auto adapter for the MacBook or MacBook Pro that I would trust. However I have a better solution for you. I use a DC to AC power inverter for my mobile travel needs (Mobile Inverter). This will turn a standard lighter plug into a three pronged house outlet that will accept your original Apple power adapter. It will also power all your other plug-in devices that you may need to bring along in the car. Most power inverters will work well, but remember you will want one with over 85W of output.. It is a versatile solution that will outlive your MacBook Pro. I have had the same inverter for many different laptops.

The Quicksilver can only accept a standard Airport card internally (Used Airport Card). Original Airport cards use different connections than Airport Extreme cards. You can always use USB wireless connections or other non-Apple solutions, but there are often advantages to using Apple Airport (Extreme) cards. The built-in antenna and automatic driver updates are just a few. Even though Airport is slower than the Airport Extreme, both wireless standards are faster than your internet connection.

I think the solution for you would be The 3M Notebook Privacy screen for 17″ wide screen laptops. This screen is designed for data security, but should have a dimming effect on your screen. The screen works by blocking light traveling in any direction except for straight forward. This also will block light in the opposite direction from hitting the screen.. So window glare and the overhead lights will no longer reach the glossy Mac Book Pro screen. This is a special order item so call into the PowerMax sales line and ask them about PN H68119 (Vendor # PF17.0W).Let me know how this works for you..

The iFire is the name of the device that does exactly what you want. With the iFire you can plug any 1/8″ audio source and listen through the Apple Pro Speakers you have. The round-ball Apple Pro Speakers use a proprietary plug that carries audio and power. Because the 1/8″ headphone jacks on your two computers do not carry power, the iFire also needs to be connected to a FireWire port. The power from the FireWire port is combined with the analog audio from the headphone jack and delivered to the Apple Pro Speakers.. Unfortunately, the iFire is no longer made by Griffin Technologies and you will have to look around for second hand sales of an iFire. I have yet to find any other alternatives currently being sold. I will keep an eye out for an iFire to come in on trade in and let you know.

Power Point has an on-screen drawing feature built in to the program. When you are in the slideshow view, just press the Command (AKA Apple) + P keys together.. Then you can press and hold the mouse button to draw. Right click or hold down the Control key, which will let you adjust the pen color. Pressing the E key will erase what you have drawn.Let me know how that works

Yes, that tablet would work well for your presentations, but if you have Bluetooth in your laptop, look at the Wacom BT tablet.Wacom BT TabletThis would let you walk around and even stand up front when working with the presentation. You will be able to do things with any tablet that you could do with a mouse. It just turns the mouse input into pen input, so any extra notations you do is a function of the software.. Accordingly, test with your mouse in the software first..Good luck!