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You certainly can add a second drive in Quicksilver G4. Out of the box every G4 Mac tower can support at least two internal drives. Macs of course ship with one drive, so you can add another just by setting its jumpers as a "secondary" drive (MDD G4s use "Cable Select") and placing it on top of the first drive. There will be an extra space on the ribbon cable and power cable for that second drive. Apple made two generations of Quicksilver G4 towers. The first generation could only work with hard drives 120 GB or smaller. The second generation, made in 2002, can see drives up to 500 GB. All these PATA drives for the Quicksilver are 7200 RPM drives. The bigger speed issue is with the PATA bus speed on the logic board, that is the system’s true bottleneck. What you may want, for the best performance, is a PCI SATA card and a newer SATA hard Drive. Sonnet makes an affordable card that will fit in one of your open PCI slots. Then you just need to find any SATA hard drive that has a Molex power connector . This is going to be your best solution for getting large capacity and fast-writing hard drives into your Quicksilver G4.

OS 9 Comments are not viewable in OS X 10.4. Apple has implemented "Spotlight Comments" in OS X 10.4 and they are stored in different ways. There are free and Shareware utilities that will move OS 9 Comments to OS X. Comment Synch is one that I have heard good things about.

This is one of those semantic marketing tricks that many manufacturers use. In this case, one of the three ports must be used to connect the computer to the hub. The effect on this three-port hub is that it really is a FireWire 800 splitter. Instead of one FireWire 800 device you can have two off one port. In the strictest interpretation of "hub," it is a union of like items by a center device. With this hub there are three ports joined together in a box but for your use, just think of it as a splitter.

Although the Intel-based Macs all use SATA hard drives, Macs do not yet support eSATA without the use of expansion cards. The eSATA standard is a variant of internal SATA. The only substantial difference between SATA and eSATA is that eSATA was designed for external drive use. There are advantages over FireWire or USB that comes from SATA native communication. In external FireWire drives, for instance, data has to be converted into a FireWire-friendly format and then converted back to a hard drive-friendly format, and then it can be written to the disk. This process of converting data eats up little bits of time.

Power Mac and Mac Pro users can use PCI or PCIe cards to add eSATA support. MacBook Pro users can buy a eSATA Express Card. Unfortunately other Macs are not able to use any expansion cards. It would not make sense to make a FireWire-to-eSATA device because that is what you get inside a FireWire drive enclosure. Your best bet is to continue using FireWire or USB external drives.

There are several complications with installing newer system restore disks on older equipment. The first complication comes from the difference between the PowerPC and Intel versions of OS X 10.4. If your Mac mini has an Intel processor, then the version of OS X you have will not run on the older PowerPC iMac. Even if your Mac mini has a PowerPC processor, those grey discs that came with the Mac mini will not install on any other type of Mac. Apple tries to prevent you from using those discs because it is technically stealing an OS sale from them. If both computers are PowerPC-based Macs, you could use a program like Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your 10.4.8 system onto the iMac. That would give the iMac OS 10.4.8, but it would also include all your data from the Mac mini. Mostly, it is best to upgrade the operating system from retail discs. The good news is that this year 10.5 will be released, and then you can buy a copy of that upgrade for your systems.

We also sell install discs of varying versions separately from our used Macs, so if you’re looking for a particular version, we may be able to help you there. We don’t include OS CD’s with our used Macs because many of them don’t come with when we acquire them, and often customers aren’t in need of the discs anyway, so we make them available separately for those who do.

I see what you are talking about. When copying the items to the clipboard in iCal it does not preserve the organization of the list. The order is almost random when you paste it into another application.

Here is what I was doing to replicate what I believe you are trying to do. With one of my calendars selected (In my case the PowerMax vacation schedule) I click on the show search results window. It is the third left button on the lower right hand corner of the iCal window. It looks like three dots with lines after them. The lines on the button will be blue when activated and grey when hidden. In that list, there should be a list of all your events on your calendar. For me, I see everyone’s scheduled days off. Then in the search field below the list I do my filtering. I searched for the word "Joe" and now only see days Joe has off. I click the "Date" Column to put them in dated order. Then I click once on the first item and then, holding down the "Shift" key, I click on the last entry in the list. All items are now highlighted. Now I copy the items to my clipboard. Then in text edit I start a new blank document and paste the contents of the clipboard into the document.

The strange thing is that if I change the sort order of the list and copy it again it will sometimes paste in order. Other times it is all mixed up. This inconsistency is the most troubling part of it. After playing with it for some time, I feel confident this is an iCal bug. We will have to see if it gets fixed in the next version of iCal. I will be keeping an eye on from now on and I will be forwarding this on to Apple.

Over the past few years I have found that Sony’s quality and competitive edge has diminished. The simple answer to your question is the Sony display has no advantage to the Dell display. The Dell display is a great monitor, and I can say this because both Apple and Dell use the same LCD panels in their equipment. There are a few advantages in working with Apple displays for color correction, but the Dell displays should look the same as the Apple displays when uncalibrated. You may want to give the Apple another shot in a side-by-side comparison, but I do not think that the Sony display is superior.

I have seen this problem many times before when OS X was new. An iMac loses connection to its built-in screen most often when you upgrade to OS X without first installing the firmware update. It could be that the firmware did not install on your system or was installed improperly. The fix can be as simple as reinstalling the firmware. From this link you can find all available firmware that you need to install OS X. Here is the specific link for your iMac’s firmware. Please follow the directions on this page point by point. You will have to download and run this update from OS 9. At the end of this process, you should see a message that says your computer’s firmware has been successfully updated to version 4.1.9. You may see a message saying that the firmware is up-to-date and will not run. If you see that message then your only other "Home Remedy" would be to zap your PRAM. To zap your PRAM, start up the computer holding down the "Apple," "Option," "P," and "R" keys. Let the iMac chime four times before you let go of the keys.

The PD726W is a nice projector with more than your average connection capabilities. The wireless presentation feature looks convenient, but I doubt that it will work through the Mac OS. That feature uses a built-in web server that lives in the projector. Often, device-based web servers use the Active Xweb programming language to actively communicate with the computer. That is why the Acer requirements for the wireless feature are Windows 2000 or Windows XP with Internet Explorer. Active X is a Microsoft proprietary technology and is, as far a I know, only available through Internet Explorer for the PC.

Some of these device-based web servers can switch from the Active Xlanguage to Java. If you can switch the language to Java, then it will work with any modern web browser. I did not see that as an option for the PD726W projector, but it could be an undocumented feature. Look around the menus and see if you can change that function.

Otherwise you should look at using Parallels and a copy of Windows XP to run Internet Explorer.

The way Apple has started to handle the default browser/email control does bother me. Not only is it counter intuitive but its obscure placement is almost deceptive. The setting can be found inside Safari. Go to the Safari preferences from the "Safari" menu. Under the "General" section you will see the "Default Web Browser" pulldown menu, it is the first in the list. Any web browser you have installed on your computer will be under that menu. Select FireFox and then close the window. From then on you should not see Safari unless you want to. To change the default email application you do the same from within Apple Mail.

Apple no longer sells the tools you need to take your G3 iMac wireless, that’s why the Apple Store people could only offer you an extreme solution. You are perfectly right to think that a 600 MHz iMac will connect wirelessly. The original airport card that you mentioned will work, but you will also need an added part. Slot loading G3 iMacs like yours need something called an Interposer. The Airport card will slide into the Interposer and then get inserted into the iMac through the RAM hatch on the bottom of the computer. You need to remember to connect the antenna to the card before you slide the card into the iMac. Here is a link to instructions on installing the Airport card.

There is another solution to go wireless but it will only work in OS X. The Addlogi XWireless-G USB Network Adapter for Mac OS Xwill also work but it takes a little extra setup. Also, Addlogi Xwill not support OS 10.2.8 but I have tested it and found that if you use the 10.3 driver that it will work in 10.2.8.

Your WRT54G router should work fine, try running the setup utility from the PC and see if that fixes your problem. Also make sure that your DSL / Cable modem is plugged into the port marked as either Broadband, Internet, or WAN. You will want to also turn off the DSL / Cable modem before moving the connection to the wireless router. Then power up everything when the ethernet cables are connected.

The G4 Mac mini uses the same type of hard drive that iBooks and PowerBooks use. It is a 2.5" PATA laptop hard drive and can be found in sizes up to 160GB. The Intel Mac mini uses a 2.5" SATA drive similar to the ones found in MacBooks and MacBook Pros. SATA drives will not function in any G4 Mac unless it is a tower with a PCI adapter card.

So you will need to find a 2.5" PATA drive and you have to make some additional choices. There are three drive speeds and the speed of the drive will affect prices and size limits. Laptop drives are offered in 4200 RPM, 5400 RPM, and 7200 RPM speeds. Low drive speed can significantly decrease the performance of your computer. For that reason I would not recommend buying a 4200 RPM drive, despite their low cost. Instead, decide between storage space and speed. If your Mac mini is your workhorse, then choose a 7200 RPM 2.5" drive. You will be limited in size, but the speed of the 7200 RPM drive will increase yoru computer’s performance. However, if your computer is just a depository for your digital life and performance is not an issue for you now, the 5400 RPM drive will have enough speed. I would recommend either one of these following two drives:

For 7200 RPM drives
PN: G68346, 100gb Ata Mobile Hdd 7200 2.5in

Or for a 5200 RPM drive
PN: J36308, 120gb Eide 5400 RPM 2.5in Mobile Hdd

Both will cost about the same, but prices do fluctuate so call into the sales phone line to place an order. Note that any internal work on a Mac mini can be difficult. If you are not comfortable doing the work yourself, please seek the assistance of an Apple Authorized service center.

One final suggestion would be to use an external hard drive as the new boot drive. There are many Mac mini look alike drives that will stack underneath your mini and work as well as a 7200 RPM internal drive option. Look at this LaCie drive as an example: http://www.powermax.com/product/Factory_Refurbished_Major_Manufacturer_HD_160GB_Mini_FireWire_2MB_7200RPM/d-rl-301105ur.html

The answer to your question is not going to be just a “yes, so we’re in trouble” or “no, we’re still safe.” Most things that make the Mac a safe system are going to be unchanged by the Intel switch. For one, Mac OS X was engineered with safety in mind. By leaving out the base of Mac OS 9 in creating OS X, Apple avoided the trouble Microsoft has had with Windows. When most of the operating systems were written, computing was much safer. Computers then didn’t connect to one another as much, and if you wanted to damage someone’s computer you had to break into their house. It’s hard to take something that was written from a trusting perspective and then make it secure afterwards. So Mac OS X was a clean start at the right time. The second safety of the Mac is in its market share. Macs still only account for around 5% of the world’s computers. Most virus writers use infected computers to spread to new computers exponentially. So trying to go after Macs would be difficult and slow because of the small numbers of vulnerable computers. The last built-in protection for Mac users is with the OS itself. Many viruses are sent as attachments in emails and require users to open those attachments. They are mostly .exe files or some other executable that requires Windows to run. Macs will not run .exe files so the pure difference in operating systems is a safety tool. Alas, we come to the exception to our uninterrupted Mac safety. The most difficult aspect of protecting a computer is not knowing what the next attack will be. PowerPC processors do work in a completely different way than Intel processors and that has always been a good difference as far as the viruses go. However, someday we could see a virus or worm that needs only an Intel chip and RAM to wreak havoc. And that day we all will suffer.

However, Mac users lost only one of our four Mac protections, but we have also gained more benefits than we have lost from this Intel switch. For now we are still safe.

Final Cut Pro is definitely going to be faster on an Intel Mac. No one can say so by experience though. As of now FCP will not run on the Intel iMac. None of Apple’s Pro applications run on these new Macs quite yet. Apple says it will have versions that will run sometime in March, but there is another glitch. FCP is no longer sold as a program by itself (though PowerMax still has some in stock). It is only sold in Final Cut Studio, which also includes the $49 Intel software upgrade program. The just-discontinued stand-alone FCP will cost $99. Earlier versions can cost up to $699. Suffice it to say, it’s worth finding out what upgrading your software will cost before you upgrade to an Intel Mac.

Upgrade wisely!

Using that adapter would be bad for your 17” PowerBook and could create a fire hazard. The reverse of this would be OK to do because a Mac laptop will not use more power than it needs. The Watts (W) of that power adapter is a reference to the maximum power that adapter can provide. Under-powering a PowerBook could cause it not to charge or shorten the life of the battery. In addition to harming the 17” PowerBook that 45W power adapter will overheat as it tries to give the PowerBook the power it wants. More watts than needed are OK… less is not.

Don’t use that old adapter, Good luck.

Macs introduced after the beginning of 2003 will not boot into Mac OS 9. They are OS X computers only and will only run OS 9 programs through the OS 9 emulator called Classic, which is part of OS X. A new iMac G5 will still come with Classic on discs but it will not be installed. However, you are right to wonder if your husband’s survey software will work in Classic. Some software does not run in Classic at all, or runs poorly, although other programs work well. See if you can find a friend’s computer with OS X and Classic to test it on. If it will run in Classic then you are just in time. As Apple switches all Macs to Intel processors your options to run OS 9 applications are disappearing. Intel-based Macs will not run Classic at all. Find the fastest PowerPC based system that will run that application because this will be the last upgrade for your husband’s application. Don’t fear if Classic doesn’t work for you, PowerMax still has many OS 9 booting computers just for people in your husband’s position.

This is a common question, particularly among PowerMax customers. PowerMax is one of the only places anyone can buy an OS 9 booting computer that have warranties, so we get people in your position calling every day. The bad news is that Intel Macs will not run classic applications at all. OS 9 is officially unsupported from Apple on Intel systems. The reason for this has to do with how the two emulators work. Classic was a component of OS X and not a stand-alone application. Rosetta is the same kind of OS component as Classic. In order for OS 9 applications to have worked on Intel Macs, a user would have to run Classic as part of OS X for the Power PC inside of OS X for Intel, which just isn’t realistic. The other option would have been for Apple to create a different emulator for Classic altogether, but they are no longer willing to support that level of older software.

The lack of Classic is going to be a problem for you and many others, so you’re not alone. The solution I have for you is basically what you suggested. What I would recommend is using two computers. Buy the best computer that you can find that will boot into OS 9. Install only your “Must Have” applications on it and keep that old system in the best working order possible. Then do everything else on your newer systems. Living a split digital life will not be overly convenient, but it’s going to be the best solution apart from finding a new program to replace your old one.

Most new external hard drives come formatted in an old PC disk format, called Fat-32. They do this because nearly all computers can read and write to a Fat-32 hard drive. Macs also can use Fat-32 disks, but they cannot boot from those disks. What you will have to do is reformat that Western Digital drive as a "Mac OS Extended" drive. You do this by opening the Disk Utility application, found in the Utilities folder that is inside the Applications folder. Select the WD hard drive in the left hand pane of the Disk Utility window. Then click on the erase tab. Change the "Volume Format:" pull down menu to Mac OS Extended and then name the drive. Once you click on the "Erase" button the drive will be overwritten in a Mac-only format. This will cause you to lose all the data on the WD drive, so back up those files! Now you will have a bootable drive that will only need an OS installed or cloned onto it.

This is the same step you should do with any new drive that you buy. The only reason to leave a drive formatted in Fat-32 is if you share file between a PC, using the drive.

Losing video when the laptop’s lid is in a certain position, or when wiggled, is a definite cabling issue. Inside every laptop is a thin ribbon cable that works similarly to a full-sized monitor’s data cable. In addition to the data ribbon cable, there is a thin power cable that powers the LCD backlights. Backlights are like mini florescent tubes at the side of each LCD panel. If any of those two cables are loose or damaged, your screen could black out. These cables are constantly being moved as you open and close the lid of your laptop because the cables are routed through the LCD hinges.

Whatever the cause, you will need a qualified Apple technician to open up your laptop. If it is just a loose connection, then it will be a simple fix. If however, the cables need to be replaced, then you may want to consider spending the money on a new computer.

You may just want to keep using your iBook until the display cables wear out but it will progressively get worse. If the display turns permanently dark, you can always connect the iBook to an external display with a VGA adapter

A monitor that blacks out can often be the result of a faulty display or video card. You have eliminated the possibility of it being a display by trying a different monitor. Now it could be the graphics card, and if you have a spare card to test with that would be a good next step. If you do not have an extra video card, do not run out and buy a new one just yet. It could well be an issue with the system going to sleep and then crashing in that sleep mode. Some USB cards can cause sleep problems as well as some USB devices. Try removing the USB card and see if the problem continues. If it stops after you remove the USB card, then you can replace the card or disable the sleep option.

This kind of dark screen crash could also come from a faulty screen saver. Disable your screen saver and the screen saver hot corners. If all these things fail to have an effect on the problem and you have updated all your software, then you should start questioning your video card.

The MacBook is one of the easiest Mac laptops to upgrade. Both the RAM and HD can be removed from the battery compartment and are classified as user installable. Those would be the only upgrades that you could perform on a MacBook, but both those upgrades, in a few years, will really add life to your computer purchase.

The comical answer to "What is the difference between a Core Duo and a Core 2 Duo?" is… "About 100 bucks." The reality is that the difference between both processor architectures is efficiency and data bit size. The Core Duo is a 32-bit, two core processor. The Core 2 Duo is a 64-bit, two core processor. Most programs you use do not utilize the double bit size of the 64-bit processors. Photoshop CS 3, although it could benefit from 64-bit processing, does not use 64-bit instructions. Someday Adobe plans on adding support for full 64-bit processing, but for now it will run Photoshop at 32-bits.

The efficiency aspect of Core 2 Duo processors adds some performance increases per clock cycle. A Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz computer would run a little less than 10% faster than a Core Duo 2.0 GHz computer. The real advantage of the Core 2 Duo efficiency is in power consumption. The Core 2 Duo chips run cooler and draw less power then the Core Duo processors, leading to better battery life on laptops.

FireWire-based camcorders are the most compatible with Macs. Although some USB-based camcorders will work with Macs, many do not. I have yet to find a FireWire camcorder that does not work with iMovie. FireWire is known by other names, such as IEEE 1394 or iLink, but they all work the same, and with the same reliability. The FireWire port on the back of your Intel Mac will work fine but you may have to get an adapter cable. The port your computer has is a FW400 six-pin connection, and most camcorders use FW400 four-pin connection. So you will need a FireWire 400 4-to-6 pin cable, but this is such a common configuration that most cameras come with this cable.

It is actually possible to add storage memory to an iPod Nano. However, it requires buying an old iPod and removing the NVRAM and then soldering the chips to your iPod. It is a tough job and beyond anything I would attempt. Perhaps the better route is for you to trade in the old iPod with us and buy a new one that will fit your size needs.

Another thing to look at is the source of your music. Sometimes people bring in music recorded off tapes, LPs or the like, and the files can be quite large. To check to see if this is the case with any of your songs, look at your entire library and sort either by size or Bit Rate (these are viewable options under "View Options"). If you have songs that have a bit rate of, say, 1536 kpbs, they will be 30-50 MB or more in size. You can reduce the size by selecting the song and choosing "Convert Selection to AAC" under the Advanced menu. Some purists may shudder at the idea of reducing file sizes with its very slight reduction in sound quality, but AAC is an effective means of reducing the size of the file, and most listeners will never know the difference. Keep in mind if you do that it will create another file; the smaller one can go into your iPod selection and/or you can then delete the larger one.

Sorry to hear about that,

Here are a few things to try when searching for missing photos. First click and hold on the grey space while holding down the "Control" button found on the keyboard. A menu will pop up in which you will want to select "Show File." That should take you to where iPhoto remembers the file was located. If you find it there, then just reimport it into iPhoto by dragging the photo file to the iPhoto icon in the Dock. If that doesn’t work, then you can try to do a Spotlight search for the picture’s name. Just click the blue eyeglass icon in the right corner of your screen and type in the name of the picture you are looking for. If it is in your computer, Spotlight should find it.

One of the two methods should work for you if they are still on your system.

You will first want to make sure that your fax modem is set up correctly. Test your phone line so that you have a known good cable plugged into the modem port. Double check that you have the phone line plugged into the modem port and not the larger ethernet port (It has happened to the best of us). Make sure that it is a snug fit. Now that you know your outbound modem connection is solid we can look at the settings.

Go to the Print & Fax section of System preferences and select the Faxing tab. Now click on the Padlock icon at the bottom of the window to unlock the preferences. If the Padlock icon is not unlocked, then everything you change will not be permanent. Check the checkbox to receive faxes and enter your fax number. Check the Checkbox for "Save to:" and set it for the "Faxes" folder that lives in your user folder. Now check the checkbox next "Email to:" and enter your email address. Next place a check mark for "Show fax status in the menu bar." Now make sure all your settings are saved. Click on the "show all" button and then click on "Print & Fax" again. If everything is there the way you want it, then click on the Set Up Fax Modem button. A new Fax List Window will open. You should see a listing for "Internal Modem." If you do not see that option you may need to try faxing something first. Open a web page and select print, when you are able, select Fax PDF. Enter in a number you own, for instance your cell phone. The Modem section should say Internal Modem. Send a test fax: it will fail but if your cell phone rings then you know it is trying. Your phone should ring and "Internal Modem" should be in the Fax List. If you get this far it should start working for you. Try some test faxes. If you still get Hold responses in the Internal Modem’s faxing queue, then try manually selecting "Resume" for the fax job. Watch for the specific error displayed. It is often only on the screen for a few seconds but it should tell you where the failure occurs.

There are several ways a program can auto-start in OS X. One way is to place an application in the StartupItems folder that is in your main Library folder. However, the more common way applications auto-start is through a user preference. Go to the System Preferences and click on Accounts. Select your user account and click on the "Login items" tab. You will probably see PageMaker in the list of auto-starting applications. Click on PageMaker to highlight, and then use the "-" button to remove it from the list. That’s it, PageMaker should only start when you want it to. Often you can add or remove login items from the Dock. If you click and hold on an application’s dock icon, a menu will appear. One of the options is "Open At Login" and selecting it will cause that application to auto-start next time you restart. An auto-starting application will have a check mark next to the "Open At Login" menu item.

I understand now what’s happening. When Lacie drives come from the factory they are formatted in a PC format, which Macs can read and write to. For best performance you should always reformat new drives in a Mac format. You do this by opening Disk Utility and selecting the LaCie drive from the left hand column. Then click on the Erase tab and change the "Volume Format" to "Mac OS Extended" (AKA HFS+). Clicking on the Erase button will reformat the drive. You will lose all data on the drive when you format, so make a copy of what you need. Instead of using the LaCie program, however, I would recommend you use Carbon Copy Cloner.

Bell South must be a little confused. There was never a version of OS 9.2.3, the highest was 9.2.2. Here is a link to all the free downloads of OS 9 available:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75288

The problem you may have is that OS 9.1 is the highest OS you can install on a Pre-G3 Mac.
Here is a link to Apple’s OS 8 and OS 9 compatibility chart:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25114

The difference between Mac OS 9.1 and 9.2.2 is not too significant, I think you could update to OS 9.1 and use their software without any problems.

According to Apple the only computers that support 802.11n connections are Core 2 Duo and Xeon based Macs, which of course is true for those Macs with Airport already installed from Apple. However, there is an unsanctioned upgrade option using Apple parts. We have performed some tests in the PowerMax lab and verified that you can replace the wireless card on older Intel Macs with the Apple 802.11n card. We used the Mac Pro wireless upgrade kit to replace the older 802.11b/g cards in MacBooks and Macbook Pros. It’s not easy work to open your MacBook Pro and exchange the wireless cards but it is a clean upgrade without the need for bulky cards hanging out of the computer.

The larger question is whether the 802.11n functionality is necessary for what you do. The 802.11n Airport Extreme Base Station is definitely worth the money even for non-802.11n Mac owners. It has printer/drive sharing and other cool features, but the best benefit is even without 802.11n clients on the network it offers extended range. The truth is that your cable or DSL modem is serving up an internet connection slower than even 802.11b speeds, so you really will not get any internet browsing speed bump with 802.11n connectivity. Also, when you have 802.11g and 802.11n clients on the same network, everyone’s connection speed decreases. All your computers would have to be 802.11n-enabled to get the expanded network speeds. I do recommend the new base station for all Mac users, but not primarily for its network speed.

Data loss sometimes happens to USB thumb drives and digital camera memory cards. The good news is that the data is probably intact and recoverable. There are many applications out that can recover those lost files, but unfortunately I have yet to find a free Mac version. Data Rescue II is one that I have had recommended to me. I would recommend downloading their free demo before you buy, just to make sure that it works for you. I have yet to use it but would trust it more than the other download-only applications out there.

The problem you are experiencing has to do with file compression. Most downloadable software has been run through a process that makes the end file smaller, but unusable in its smaller size. This act of compressing a file into a smaller size has to be undone by an application that understands how it was compressed. There are many varieties of file compression programs and OS X understands the majority of them. Unfortunately, some compression software is proprietary and it requires you to use that company’s software to uncompress those files. In your case, “dvd2onex211.zip” is a ZIP file and you will need an unzipping application to decompress it. The most common Mac program is Stuffit Expander and it was included in Mac OS version prior to OS 10.4 Tiger. You can get a free unstuffer here but they will need your email address and will then use it to market to you. Once you have installed Stuffit Expander, all those files should start to open up for you.

The question of whether you need an OS 9 System folder on your OS X computer depends on what software you use. The OS 9 System Folder is installed on some OS X Macs so that the “Classic” environment will work. Classic will allow Power PC-based Macs to use OS 9 applications in OS X. This is particularly helpful for longtime Mac users who have old programs that were never rewritten for OS X. I still use one or two and so keep Classic on my computer just for them. If you do not have any old applications, then you can safely remove the “Applications (Mac OS 9)” and “System Folder” from your computer.

An OS 9 System Folder is not always easy to remove because the OS X operating system actively references it as part of Classic. The easy way of removing it is to go into the System Folder and moving the file “Finder” to the trash. Then you need to restart the computer. After the computer has restarted you can move the whole System Folder to the trash. Most likely you will have to enter your Admin user name and password to make that move. I would discourage you from emptying the trash for a week or so until you know that you don’t need Classic for any of your applications.

Hope that works well for you.

Believe it or not, an iMac would be the right choice for you. Although you are a pro user, current iMacs have plenty of power and quality screens. The 24″ iMac would be the best solution for your particular needs because the larger screen size will help you when working with large-format printing. A 20″ iMac would also work but you would want to consider adding an Apple 20″ display to extend your desktop. A $19.99 adapter will let you add any DVI display to an Intel iMac and increase your desktop. If you already have a good display, then you may just want to get the 20″ iMac and use it with your current display.

Hope you like it!

I have no personal experience with a NC100U-WM but I have found that Mac OS 9 or OS X will often work with generic 10/100 ethernet cards. And there’s no harm in trying: if it doesn’t work then you can just pull it out. It will not damage your 8600 to try it out. In most cases it will work without any additional drivers. Sometimes you will have to get the model number from the main chip used on the card and look for drivers for that chip online. A Google search for chip model number plus the word “Mac” will often do it.

This is actually not a Mac Vs. Windows problem, but a browser-specific issue. That web page uses a “bgsound” tag in its HTML source, which starts the music playing. This tag only works with Internet Explorer. All other browsers, whether on Windows or Mac OS, will ignore it. There was once a version of Internet Explorer for the Mac, which I still have a copy, and I tested the page with it. Sure enough my Mac was playing “BeeGees_ToLoveSomebody.wav” as soon as the page stopped loading. This is one of the problems with Internet Explorer, it ignores standards of web programming and instead does things its own way. If the world was owned entirely by Microsoft there would be no problem, but luckily we have choices. As more people choose web browsers that are not Internet Explorer, web developers will need to adhere to standards. Only then will the web look, and sound, the same to all.

All metal degrades wireless signals, that’s why your microwave oven does not cook you when it’s cooking your dinner. The wireless signal of 802.11b/g is the same type of signal as what is used in your microwave oven, and the oven has a metal housing to keep the cooking contained in the box. Apple knows this of course and has placed the wireless antennas behind rubber and not aluminum. I have an Aluminum G4 and find the wireless range to be exceptional, even compared to my plastic G4 iBook. Hope that helps!

There is no need for worry, that flashing folder icon is what a Mac displays when it is searching for a boot volume. A Mac will keep looking for a boot volume until it finds one. That could be a hard drive, DVD/CD, or an external hard drive. The reason you see that flashing folder icon now, when you did not see it before on your other Macs, is that the hard drive has not been designated as the assumed boot volume. Your Mac has to look around for a second to find where OS is on the hard drive. The fix for that is simple. In OS X go to the System Preferences and select “Startup Disk.” In the Startup Disk preference you can select which version of the Mac OS that you want to boot from every time you start your Mac. If there is a locked padlock in the lower left corner you may need to click on it and enter your password before you can select your version of OS X.

Now when you start up your iBook it will start loading OS X without delay.

Pro Tools LE 6 has issues with the Dual Core G5 towers. That compatibility was fixed in the later versions of Pro Tools. Version 7.3 is reported to be compatible with your Quad Core G5 and M Box.

I had a similar problem with my favorite CAD software. Claris CAD was the first CAD program I learned, and I still can whip together blueprints in that program faster then any other. I even kept an old Mac SE around to run the program because Claris CAD worked so poorly in OS 8.6 and up. As it turned out, when I started using OS X full time, I fired up Claris CAD in the Classic environment and it ran beautifully. I have to make Disk Images of floppy disks to save documents to, but other than that, this old application works great in OS X. To print I have to get creative and generate an EPS file and then convert that with an OS X application but it sill works. I would bet it could work for your lumber program as well. You are going to need a new computer because I think that Performa has sung its last song. A G4 iMac would be a good choice and would hold up over the years.

I hope that could work for you but if not, we do still have CRT monitors that can connect with adapters to the older Macs.

Sorry to hear that your G5 has problems.

There are many ways of opening a drive or ejecting a disc from the optical drive of a Mac, but all of them require the drive be mechanically sound. The easiest way to force the optical drive to eject or open is by holding down the mouse button on startup. You can also hold down the “Option” key on startup and at the boot loader you can press the “Eject” key on the keyboard and that sometimes will work. Open firmware ejecting is not easy for everyone but it is the most definitive way to eject a CD or DVD. When that fails, my assumption would be that the drive is not working. It could be that one of the cables has come loose on the drive or the logic board. I would check those cables and restart the computer. When you are booted up go to the System Profiler application: it’s in your utilities folder. Click on “ATA” in the System Profiler and look for your optical drive. If you do not see anything listed, then your optical drive has failed.

It is not too hard to replace an optical drive in a G5 tower. Here is a link to the Apple PDF on how to replace it yourself. This could also be a good time for an upgrade. Depending on when your G5 was made, this drive from MCE could be a burning speed boost.

Unfortunately, we will not see any more PowerPC upgrades from Apple. That means what is available today is going to be the fastest PowerPC Macs available. A fact that makes planning easy, in a way. Buy what will work best for your workload today. Then start saving for the Intel hardware and software switch. If you are working fine now don’t panic and buy a computer because you are afraid it’s going away. PowerMax will always sell every generation of Mac we can get our hands on for as long as someone wants to buy them.

A few things may be causing this to happen so I am going to have you try three things. First click on your desktop once. Then hold down the “Control” key and click again without releasing the mouse button. A menu window will appear next to the pointer. Select “Show View Options” from the menu. A small window will open. Towards the bottom of the window will be a checkbox labeled “Keep arranged by” with a pull down menu below it. Check the checkbox and change the pull down menu to “Kind.”

Next, from the same window check your icon and font size. The icon should be about 40X40 and the text should be 12 pt. You may want to adjust the size of both the icon and text to see if those are affecting your system.

Lastly check to see that your hard drive’s name has no extra spaces. To do this, click once on the hard drive icon and once again on the name of the hard drive. The hard drive name will be highlighted meaning you can edit it. Retype the hard drive’s name as you like it to appear. Click any place on the desktop when done.

One of those three things should fix your problem. Let me know how it works.

Speakers and headphones are always tough to recommend. The difficulty comes from the enormous difference between the way people hear sound. For example, it is rumored that the iPod is the loudest portable music player because Steve Jobs is slightly deaf and insisted that the volume needed to be increased to his liking. That being said, some people do not hear that much difference between good sound and bad sound when it comes to speakers. If you’re that kind of person, then most PC speakers systems will be fine for you. I have liked Logitech’s range of speakers but you can find many other speakers of similar quality. If you are the “golden ear” type of person who can hear every hiss and pop in an audio file then you should be pickier with your selection. I would recommend you sample the sound of the speakers. This is where owning an iPod helps. Create a playlist with a range of music and spoken word files on it. Take your iPod shopping with you and try bits of all the same files on different speakers. Mid range speakers are going to cost between $150 to about $300. If you look at going above that in price you may want to use the optical audio connection on your G5 and not the line out 1/8” jack.

I have found very few problems with Mac OS 10.3.9 but I would recommend you do some drive maintenance before upgrading. Open the application Disk Utility found in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder. From the left hand side of the Disk Utility select your hard drive. Then look for a button called “Repair Disk Permissions.” When you click on that button all your files will be checked for errors that could interfere with an OS installation. Those files will be fixed if problems are found and those fixes will be displayed in the box above the button. Quit Disk Utility after it is done repairing your disk permissions. Now you can upgrade your OS. I would recommend doing this every time before you do a big update.

Tiger has had some problems in its first few releases. Most copies sold now are at version 10.4.3 and are very stable. Of course you will need to upgrade further to 10.4.9, but 10.4.3 and up are all good versions of Mac OS X.

Upgrade as needed!

You are correct in your assumption that it is an internal connection causing the display to dim. What you describe is a faulty backlight connection or cable. Inside every LCD are florescent tubes that shine light through the changing pixels of the LCD. Most times there are only two wires that connect those lights to the main housing. Those wires run through the hinge and can be pulled loose from years of opening and closing the laptop’s lid. It may not be a difficult fix to check the connection of those cables, but if the cables need to be replaced then it can get expensive.

Using an external monitor is a fine low-cost solution with no ill effects. You will basically be turning your iBook into a Mac Mini. The one limitation with using a LCD on an iBook is that it will not display a higher resolution than what you were able to get on the built-in display. So you do not need to spend your money on a display with a higher resolution than 1024 X 768. I have always liked Planar displays and the 17″ PL 1700 would be a good option for you.

The only other thing you will need is a good keyboard and mouse. That way you can type directly in front of the display.

You have quite a few questions that can take you in many different directions. If cost were not a concern I would recommend a MacBook, which could run your old PC software through Parallels and still keep you doing most of your work in the Mac OS. You would particularly enjoy using iPhoto or Aperture for your photography. However, price is almost always a concern for people, so a Refurbished or Previously Owned G4 laptop would be a great option. The entry level MacBook could be in your budget so it is worth a look, but otherwise focus on any G4 portable with a processor over 1.25 GHz.

Moving over your photos and other files will be easy and should not pose any compatibility problems. Your photo CDs will be read just fine and other data files are going to be compatible. Your old programs will not work on a G4 Mac so you may have to buy Mac versions of the same program, but often a Mac will come preinstalled with replacement software that works better than what you have on the Dell. Your HP USB printer should work fine on the Mac and may even have built-in support. Most older Macs will come with dialup modems, but the new Intel Macs require you to buy a USB modem. I would recommend buying an AirPort Extreme wireless base station instead. It will allow you to connect to the internet with your dialup connection, but your laptop will not have to be tethered to a phone cable when online. Other computers will be able to use the same dialup connection at the same time as you and your USB printer can connect directly to the base station. That would let you print from any room in your house, wirelessly.

That should get you back to the Mac.

There is quite a bit you can do now and into the future to build the Mac skills you will need. The first step is to get the tools you will use to develop and troubleshoot software. Fortunately, Apple offers free software development tools. A copy of these tools would have come with your computer, but you will want to always work with the latest version. To get the development tools you will have to be a registered Apple developer but luckily that is also free. You will need to get your parents to sign you up because there is an 18 years or older restriction on it. Here is the link to the developer’s site: http://developer.apple.com/. After installing the Apple developer’s tools you should start working through the PDF documentation to get familiar with the tools. There are sample projects with step-by-step instructions on creating simple programs. Completing just a few of the sample projects will take you to a technical level above about half of where the current Mac techs are in regards to software.

After you create a little application and perhaps make an installer, then you can start poking around in other people’s programs to see how they did it. If you hold down the “Control” key and click on an applications icon you will get a special menu. This is the same as right clicking when you have a two-button mouse. In the menu that appears is the “Show Package Contents” option. Selecting it will open the hidden contents of that application in a new finder window. The files and folders inside the application’s Contents folder is what make up a program. Every function of the program starts from there. After you install the developer tools you will be able to open many of the files inside the developer applications and even make edits. My only word of caution is that you can stop a program from running by playing around, so make a copy of the program first before you start changing things inside of it.

The best way to become knowledgeable about solving Mac problems is to start fixing them. It may seem strange, but being responsible for finding solutions to problems will make you better at fixing them. The world of computers changes so quickly that the information you learn from traditional studying will soon become outdated before you can use it all. It is better to research as you go along and instead of learning the fix for a problem you will learn methods of solving computer problems. A specific fix for a problem will change or become obsolete before long, but the method that was used to create that fix remains the same for years. A great way to get that tech experience is to give away your services. With your parent’s permission, offer to volunteer your services as a Mac Tech at a senior citizens home. Provide tech support for whoever needs your help. When someone asks you a question or has a problem you do not know how to solve, make an appointment to get back to them. Go home and do the research on Apple’s support site and all over the web. When you find the answer you can go back and try to fix the computer. It is important to take the work you do for people as a challenge. “I do not know” should never come out of your mouth unless followed by the words “but I will find out.” This is a great way to keep your skills sharp and your confidence strong.

The last bit of advice I have for you is that you do not need to get a paycheck from Apple to be working for the Apple cause. Apple started as a company born from a California garage and grew into an empire. It has continued to grow beyond its confines as a company alone. Apple is a company and a community. The people who choose to create hardware and software for the Mac are as much responsible for the success of the Apple community as Apple Computer itself. Make your goal to be brilliant and creative with technology and then decide where you want to do your work.

Good luck with your ambitions and stay in touch.

There are a few reasons PowerMax does not include OS / Restore media with pre-owned Macs. The most substantial reason is that not all Macs are traded in with the original discs. Many of the Macs that become PowerMax Certified Pre-owned computers come from individuals, but others come from businesses and schools. Many home users will save the box and CD pack of their old computer, but not all; so combined with the school and business acquisitions, we have less than 50% of the media we need to include a disc with each system. Obviously not every customer will need the original media for the computer they are buying because they plan on installing a newer OS or have an old drive they are moving over. We decided to offer the OS / Restore discs separately because we wanted to be able to offer the people who really needed the discs the option of having them instead of just letting the inclusion be random. On the other hand, we were able to lower the price for the people who don’t need the original discs because they are upgrading or already have one. Every computer will have a clean OS installed on it, and that’s a good start, but at some point almost every Mac owner will need an OS install disc and we are happy to offer multiple options for them.

With the class you are taking, you have a definite need for an Intel-based Mac, but your current use of OS 9 applications will make that an expensive move. An Intel Mac would allow you to work with Explorer 6 through Parallels, but OS 9 applications are not supported on Intel Macs. I have seen people get Classic applications working on Intel Macs, but I wouldn’t recommend the hacking method they use for the programs from which you make your living.

Because Microsoft discontinued Internet Explorer for the Mac before it reached version 6, you are only able to use it on an Intel Mac by running Windows through Parallels or Boot Camp. However the class you are taking may only request Internet Explorer 6 so that all students have a common browser to view their work. It may be ok for you to test most of your web design work with the cross-platform browser Firefox, and then do your final preview in Internet Explorer from a fellow student’s computer or the library’s computers.

Without Internet Explorer in the way, you could then just buy a Previously Owned Mac that can run OS 9 Classic and OS X 10.4. That would allow you to use your old applications and slowly start buying Universal versions of software to replace your old programs. Then when all your software is transitioned to new Universal software, you can trade in the PowerPC-based Mac and buy a new Intel-based Mac.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

The lack of sound on your Mac could have a few different causes. First check the audio settings in System Preferences. Click on the Sound preference and then click on the Output tab. At the bottom of the screen verify that the “Output volume” slider is all the way to the right and the “Mute” checkbox is unchecked. Above the volume slider is a two-column list with “Name” and “Port” at the top of each column. If everything is working as it should the list should have “Internal Speaker/Built-in Audio” listed. If that is shown try plugging in a pair of headphones to the front plug and the listing should change to “Headphones/Built-in Audio.” With headphones plugged in you should be able move the Balance slider from right to left and hear corresponding beeps in the headphones.

Now if nothing is listed at first but headphones show up, then your internal speaker port probably is damaged. If the list always shows headphones plugged in, your front board may be damaged or have a jack tip stuck inside. If the listing never changes even when you plug into the line jack in the back of the G5 then your whole audio chipset on the logic board is probably to blame. You can try updating the firmware. I have not heard of an audio problem fixed by firmware but give it a shot. The last step would be to use a USB audio adapter and Multimedia speakers. Try the Griffin iMic 2 and some budget speakers.

I would recommend the last generation of iBook G4 for a cost effective portable G4. In addition both a 1 GHz or 1.2 GHz iBook G4 would run your Adobe applications and they are inexpensive durable portables. A listing can be found here, but you can also call in for other available deals. The screen is going to be small but this is more a portable portfolio for you than a desktop replacement. The iBook can connect to external projectors for demonstrations with the client and allow you to make edits as needed. If you look at spending any more than what an iBook would cost, you would be close enough to a MacBook price to just buy it new. The MacBook’s glossy screen presents outstanding color.

Hope that narrows your choices a bit.

We too use the HP 2200 in our office and have had great success with them, but we do go to HP’s website and download Mac OS X print driver updates. I would have you start there at first but I do not think that alone will solve the problem. Something to look at is the orientation of your paper in Page Setup. You may be printing a document formatted to print horizontal on a page but not changing the settings for the printer. In each application you are printing from go to “Page Setup” under the File menu. In there try changing the “Orientation” from vertical to horizontal or the reverse of that if it is already set to horizontal. Also in that same window make sure you have US Letter selected as your Page Size.

The website problem has more to do with the browser support of that website than your Mac, but it will be easier for your Mac to adjust then for the website to be rewritten. A first step is to try a different browser. I would recommend keeping a copy of Firefox on your computer when you encounter this problem. You can get a copy for free here: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/. If the page looks the same in Firefox as it does in Safari, then you can try to adjust the size of the text displayed. In Safari’s View menu are two options, “Make Text Bigger” and “Make Text Smaller.” Make the text smaller until it looks right to you and then print.

The problem you describe seems like a “Page Setup” problem. When the problem is only with one program and a variety of printer models, it is almost always a Page Setup issue. Under the File menu in Mail is Page Setup. When you select it you will see a standard Page Setup Window that looks the same in near every application. It is important that you make the changes to the Mail Page Setup because although they all look alike the settings are different for each application. The “Format for” should be set to “Any Printer,” “Paper Size” should be set to “US Letter,” and the “Orientation” should be set to the left most icon with the man standing straight. Scale is often set to 100% but can be less. Click OK after you make those changes and try to print. If the problem persists then something could have been changed with the US Letter settings. Go back to Page Setup and select “Manage Custom Sizes” from the Paper Size pull down Menu. In the Custom Paper Sizes window, click on the “+” button. That will make a new page setting. Set the width to 8.50 in and the height to 11.00 in and then double click on the untitled name of your custom page. Name it something you would remember. Now click OK and then select your new custom page from the Paper Size pull down menu. Click OK and then try printing again.

If both those suggestions do not work try downloading the latest print drivers for your printer. Good luck and I hope you are able to print this email.

It looks like you have done the basic step one should do to fix that problem. The next steps are more advanced but should hopefully save your data and get you to 10.4. The first thing to try is a different install option. When you select the destination drive to install onto there is an “Options” button at the lower left of the window. Click on it and select the “Archive and Install” option. Make sure to check the checkbox for preserve user data and network settings. Then install as regular. If you find that the installer fails again you are probably dealing with a hard drive issue. The drive could be fixed with a reformatting but you do not want to lose your data and applications. I would recommend that you buy a new internal hard drive and install it in one of your open drive expansion bays. Then you will need to format the new hard drive from Disk Utility. There is a copy on the 10.4 install DVD under the Utilities menu. Now install Mac OS X 10.4 onto your new drive. That will almost certainly work. Once the computer has booted up to the new install of 10.4 you can start entering your information like it was a new computer, but when it asks if you have information from an old Mac say that you do. Pretend like you have a computer in Target disk mode and click through the menus. It should then find your 10.3 hard drive and import your data and applications from that drive. Now you need to verify that all the things you want are on the new drive. After a week or so of living on the new drive and checking everything is on it, you can erase the old drive and start using it as additional storage. Keep an eye on it as it could be a failing hard drive. Back up the data you store on it.

Hope the moves you to 10.4 without delay.

That little helpful keyboard identifier can be a great tool if you have a non-Apple keyboard. It is a no-fuss way to configure your system. However you have found its biggest flaw, what happens when you don’t have a traditional keyboard. It is a simple answer. Just close the window by clicking the red button in the top left. Most times numeric keypads will just work without any help. You may need to make some adjustments in the keyboard section of System Preferences but it is unlikely.

The question of worth is always difficult to answer. The truth is that a 500MHz G3 and 500MHz G4 are going to behave very similar with the majority of work you do on your B&W. Things that will be faster have to do more with complicated math. For instance ripping a song from a CD or decoding Internet video will be faster. Both activities implement complicated compression techniques. Basic web browsing and other system performances will be about the same. The B&W is still a useful computer for research and writing but if you plan on doing more with your computer then spend that money on a newer computer altogether and skip the upgrade.

Safari has many cache issues that not only slow down your web performance but also your system performance. If you have kids on your computer I would bet that your system has slowed to a crawl. That is because Flash-based websites like YouTube or Neo Pets will fill your cache and cause your system to check those large cache files for web page changes whenever you go back to a cached webpage. Counter intuitively you may be able to get better speed by having an empty cache. To test if that will help, go to the “Safari” menu and select “Empty Cache.” If that speeds up Amazon.com then you can just disable the cache within Safari. To disable the cache you will need to use a Safari utility. I like Safari Enhancer for turning off the cache and getting to other nifty hidden features of Safari.

Copying a DVD can be limited. If it is a commercial DVD you are copying it may be larger than the average blank DVD has room for. If you click once on the DVD and press the Apple key and “I” key at the same time an info window will open. In the listing of the General section will be the DVD Size. If the size is larger than 4.7 GB it will not fit on a standard DVD. You may have a Mac that supports Dual Layer burning, if so then you will be able to fit most any DVD. Even If you can fit the whole DVD you may want to remove the copy protection and region encoding. To remove those items there are many free applications to help you out. Mac the Ripper is one I have used in the past and is well liked by many people who want to back up their DVD library.

If you are not backing up commercial video DVDs but instead copying Data DVDs or your own home movie DVD then you can use Disk Utility. With the DVD you want to copy in your computer, open Disk Utility. In the left hand section of the window in Disk Utility is a list of all Disk/Disc Media. Select the DVD you want to copy and go to the File menu. In the File menu under New is “Disk Image from (your DVD name).” Selecting that will open another window. There you name it and change Image Format type to “DVD/CD Master.” Click the Save button and wait for it to make a backup image. Now with the DVD image made you can start burning copies. Drag the image you made to the left side section of Disk Utility under the media listings. Click once on the disk image icon and then on the big radiation symbol to burn. You will be asked to insert a blank disc. Put one in and click on the Burn button. Repeat as needed for multiple copies.

I hope that will get you going in the right direction.

It’s possible that the DVD mechanism of your optical drive has failed. You can lose DVD reading functionality without losing CD reading. Although it is uncommon, both CD and DVD portions of your drive have many separate components, so partial failure is a possibility. It is also possible that all your problems exist in software. You should test by booting up off an Apple OS X DVD. Most versions of OS X Tiger are on DVD, so try booting up off that disc. If you can boot up off a DVD, it is safe to say that your DVD drive can properly read DVDs. Now it is just a matter of getting to the software problem. As a quick fix, and since you are already booted off an install DVD, try doing a Archive and Install. It is an option when you select the destination hard drive.

If the problem persists after you install off an OS X DVD, then I would look at the Region settings of your DVD drive. This should not effect burning, but it will affect the ability to play DVDs. You can only change the DVD movie region on your DVD five times. After that it will be locked to the last region played. If you use DVDs from Germany and the USA, eventually you will be locked into one or the other DVD regions. The simple test would be to insert a DVD from the USA and then insert one from Germany. If one works but the other one does not, then we know what happened.

There is info on Apple’s site on the DVD player regions.

Now if you can’t boot from a DVD, you can be certain that you have a DVD hardware issue. In that instance you have no choice but to replace the drive. MCE makes a replacement drive for your iMac G4, but it will take some skilled work to replace it. You may want the help of a professional.

Hope this helps… but no matter what, despite what you were told, your iMac G4 is still certainly a functional computer.

Mirror mode is probably the most problematic mode to run dual displays in. When you are in mirror mode, the screen resolution has a maximum of the highest resolution available on the smaller display. In your case, that is the PowerBook’s display. Even if you had two different video cards, running each display, Mirror mode would keep the resolution capped at 1280 X 854.

What many laptop owners do, when they want to use a bigger monitor without using the built-in display, is close the lid to the laptop. As soon as you plug in an external display, USB keyboard and mouse, the computer will wake up and use the full resolution of the display. Then your laptop will basically be the equivalent of a Mac mini, until you open the lid again.

There is a small boot-loader that lives in modern Macs’ firmware and that is what you see when you hold down the option key. It’s possible that your processor upgrade scrambles the low-level software that is needed to run the boot-loader. It is of course written for a different processor than what you are running it on. When firmware crashes, it takes you to the command line you described. A test you could try is holding down the “T” key to see if the G4 can go into a target disk mode. The boot-loader and target disk mode are similar in how they communicate with hardware.

Also, if you still have your old processor, you could put it back in and see if that makes a difference. After that, make sure that the firmware install was fully successful.

.WMV files are Windows Media files. You can download a player from Microsoft, but the better solution is to use a program called Flip4Mac. It is also found at Microsoft’s site through this direct link.

.EML files are outlook email files and should not come in as attachments. That is a common way for viruses to spread in the PC world. Your friend should instead “forward” those emails to you, not attach them.

Hope that helps

When an optical drive does not recognize blank media it can be one of two issues. The most likely issue is that the CD burning portion of the drive is mis-configured, broken, or dirty. The other possibility is that the media is incompatible. Not all blank media works in every drive and it is also possible for the CD portion of an optical drive to fail without affecting the DVD functions. Neither issue has been eliminated as a possibility, so you have some troubleshooting to do. First thing to do is try different blank CD-R discs. Get some blanks from a friend or just buy a small stack of alternative media, not from the same manufacturer as the ones you are using. After that, if you are then certain that the CD-Rs are not to blame, clean off the optics in the drive. Eject the CD/DVD tray and use some compressed air to blow out any dust. Try the CD-Rs again. If you are still having troubles, check to see that your OS is up-to-date and see if any iLife applications can burn to a disc directly. If all else fails then it is time to seek out Apple Authorized service or just replace the drive.

In the off chance you are using CD-RWs, it may be a problem with not reformatting those before their use. Re-writable disks are less popular these days but make sure you are using CD-R discs.

This Magsafe 12V issue has been a big problem for Intel Mac owners. Apple makes a Magsafe Airline Adapter that will connect to the lighter plug on cars and planes. However, the Airline Adapter will not charge a MacBook from the 12 V current that all cars put out. The MacBooks need more power than what a car’s lighter can produce. Those same low power concerns apply to your solar charger. The Brunton Solaris 26 can only put out 26 Watts, and the MacBook Power adapter is rated at 60 Watts. The power adapter just will not be getting enough juice. A work-around could be to use a power inverter (like a Targus Inverter) with the Solaris 26 and charge the MacBook via its own adapter when it is powered off. Charging the battery when the MacBook is off should have a much lower power draw. You could try the same procedure without a power inverter but you will want to test it before you head up the mountain.