Banner printing

How can I get my HP DeskJet 1120C A3 printer to print a full banner without giving up after the first page?

Karen Hillman

Banner printing ­ spreading long, narrow content across a series of pages in a strip ­ was popular in the days of dot-matrix printers using fanfold paper. In essence, banner printing today consists of using a multiple-page layout ­ for example, one page high and 10 across ­ and then sticking the printed pages together. So your first requirement is software which supports long, multi-page layouts. This is easily achieved in applications such as Macromedia FreeHand, although you’ll have to align the separate pages up against one another. Even popular ‘all in one’ suites such as AppleWorks allow you to create banners, using the Document command from the Format menu to size a Drawing-format document with several pages across.

The other key step is governed by the printer driver ­ that is, the printer software which you configure through the Chooser to actually output the document. Printers with good support for banners need to be able to print right to the edge of the page, or you will end up losing strips along the banner. (Although some application software, such as AppleWorks, may handle this automatically.) If your printer (and its driver) can be set up to print right to the edges, it should be easy to create a banner in this way.

If your printer only prints the first page, then throws an error or just stops, it’s almost certainly a problem with the printer driver and not the application or Mac OS. Check that you are using the latest version of the driver, and that it’s known to work properly with the version of Mac OS which you are using.

With older printers, you could experience problems with Mac OS 9. If the problems persist, get the supplier to contact Hewlett-Packard for support. If your supplier sold you the printer in order to print banners, you may be able to invoke your consumer rights if banner printing will not work.

Office 4.2.1

When I tried to install Microsoft Office 4.2.1 on my iMac DV (Mac OS 9), the Setup Assistant unexpectedly quit. Now, Word will not save or print properly to my Epson 760i printer. How can I get Word to work properly?

Tony Beresford

Although it’s possible to get Office 4.2.1 to work under Mac OS 9, there are many potential incompatibilities between them. Try turning off all non-essential control panels and extensions, in particular disable the multiple-user feature, and then re-install Office.

However, the best solution would be to upgrade to Microsoft Office 98 for Mac, which most definitely does work well under Mac OS 9. It will also enable you to work with a wider range of PC document formats. If that’s too costly, Microsoft offers a special version of Word for the iMac at a low price.

File corruption

Following a Desktop rebuild, all images freshly saved from Adobe ImageReady and Photoshop appear to be corrupted, whether they’re JPEGs or GIFs. What has gone wrong with my Desktop?

Jonathan Bracey Gibbon

The Desktop database files contain information for the Finder, and should not affect the reading or rendering of images in this way. It’s more likely that, when rebuilding your Desktop, something else has gone wrong on the hard disk. This could be corruption of the applications, of some common software component on which they rely, or an error in the hard disk itself.

Back up your work completely, then run Apple’s Disk First Aid and a third-party repair utility (such as Alsoft DiskWarrior or Norton Utilities), and perform any necessary repairs. If the problem persists, try re-installing the applications, and then the Mac OS itself, if necessary. You should also check that you’re only using essential control panels and extensions, in case a third-party component has become corrupted.

SCSI and new Macs

I’m trying to upgrade from a Power Mac 7100 to a G4 system. Can I continue using my Apple Multiscan 20in monitor and my Agfa Arcus II scanner?

Allyson Dias

You shouldn’t have any problem in using your 20in Multiscan monitor, although one chosen from the current range of products may give you better support for colour calibration. Your scanner will require the installation of a suitable SCSI interface card, as G4 models don’t have built-in support for SCSI.

You should also upgrade to the latest version of the scanner drivers, including Agfa’s FotoLook software. While some components may be unreliable under Mac OS 9, the Photoshop plug-in support for your scanner should still work well.

TechTool Pro

TechTool Pro 2.5.4 sometimes reports that the System, System Enabler or Finder files are damaged on various of my Macs. Should I replace them using TomeViewer from the original installation CD-ROM?

Jamie Register

Such reports are not always reliable, particularly if you’re using a more recent version of Mac OS than the version of TechTool Pro. Another common cause of a spurious report occurs when third-party software has modified one of those files ­ this is not a good thing, though, and might make you ponder whether you wouldn’t be better off without that product.

However, if the problem turns out to be genuine, you should not attempt to copy over a replacement component without re-installing Mac OS properly. Recurring problems of this kind might indicate that you have a virus infection, a third-party product is interfering where it should not, or your hard disk has become flakey. Run your virus checker first, then Disk First Aid.

Performa RAM

Should I add more memory to my Performa 6200 (currently fitted with 8Mb of RAM), or buy a new iMac, in order to access the Internet?

Stuart Major

Your Performa has a PowerPC 603 processor running at a sedate 75MHz, and thus even when bumped up to its maximum memory of 64Mb is going to be slow. For more money, you could get a new iMac, with a G3 processor running at a much faster speed, plenty of hard disk space and a built-in modem.

However, don’t rush to get rid of the Performa ­ pop an Ethernet card into it and you’ll be able to network it to your new iMac.

File transfer

How can I move files from my old Performa 5300 (Mac OS 8.5) to a new iMac or G3 PowerBook?

Norman Moffitt

The simplest and best way to move files from your old computer is to hook them up via Ethernet networking. But you would need to install an Ethernet card in your Performa to be able to do this. A much slower solution would be to connect them via a special serial null modem cable ­ and that would in turn require a USB to serial adaptor for the iMac.

If you just want to do this once, consider getting someone (from a user group or through your Apple dealer) to copy all the files from your Performa onto a CD-R disc, which you can then read on your new Mac.

Memory problems

Since installing a 256Mb DIMM into my PowerBook, the Finder has started taking up huge amounts of memory ­ up to 100Mb ­ and I am suffering more crashes, although I am using Mac OS 9.0.4. Is the new or old 64Mb memory module duff, and how can I test them?

Ed Gain

This memory is not just being taken by the Finder, but by the whole of Mac OS. You can reduce the amount consumed by turning off non-essential control panels and extensions, and switching Virtual Memory on (using the Memory control panel) is another effective way of minimising it. Unfortunately, you’ll need plenty of free hard disk space to use virtual memory, as its hidden cache file will be as big as the total virtual memory.

The best way of checking that your memory modules are correct for your PowerBook is to get your dealer to look at them. However, several utilities, notably TechTool Pro, include exhaustive memory-checking features. Before going back to your dealer, try running a long and thorough memory test, and see whether anything suspicious happens.

StyleWriter

Since I upgraded my beige G3 to Mac OS 9, I’ve been unable to use my Apple Color StyleWriter 4500 printer properly. An HP driver (recommended by VersionTracker) doesn’t support photo-quality printing. Is there a better solution?

Jef Hallett

Apple has at last released a printer driver for the Color StyleWriter 4000 series, including the 4100 and 4500, which works properly with Mac OS 9. To use it, first ensure that you have the original drivers shipped with Mac OS 9 in place, then download the update from asu.info.apple.com/swupdates.nsf/artnum/n11756

Bus and RAM speeds

Your article on upgrading Macs (Vol 16 No 13) listed bus and RAM speeds, but why are RAM speeds consistently faster than those of the bus?

Brian Bradshaw

The short answer is that RAM speed is determined by the processor clock rate, while the clock rate of the bus is a design feature which is relatively independent of the processor clock rate ­ although faster models tend to have faster buses to prevent bus-based components from limiting overall performance.

PowerPC (and many other) processors run too fast to be able to rely on direct access to main memory. Consequently, the processor itself deals with much faster memory in smaller caches, both in the processor itself and externally. The figure normally quoted for memory ‘speed’ is the access time, and may be qualified by giving the number of ‘wait states’. The lower the access time, and the smaller the number of wait states, the faster the memory will be ­ but it will still be much slower than the more specialist processor cache memory, which is much smaller in size.

The system bus is driven at a clock speed significantly slower than the processor, as access to PCI cards, ports and the other devices which sit on the bus doesn’t have to take place at that furious pace. Picking the best bus speed is inevitably a compromise ­ fast buses improve overall performance, but they also increase component cost. Good computer designs pick a bus speed fast enough for it not to hinder performance, but slow enough to allow costs to be kept down.

Speech recognition

I have seen Olympus digital dictation systems offered with PC support. Is there a Mac version available?

Kath Baker

Olympus offers special bundles of its D1000 and DS-150 digital dictation machines which include a customised version of IBM ViaVoice for PC. Unfortunately, Olympus doesn’t currently offer any customised version of ViaVoice for the Mac, and the transfer of speech files to Macs is also unavailable. A USB adaptor for the DS-150 is promised, but is unlikely to support Macs.

Thankfully, if you have a Mac which supports sound input (all current and recent models, although for an iBook you’ll need to buy a USB sound input adaptor), you can play back speech on your Olympus digital dictation system, into ViaVoice for Mac. All you need is the cable ­ supplied with the DS-150 kit with ViaVoice, or separately in the DS-150 data transfer kit ­ to connect the headphone socket on the dictation machine to the sound input socket of your Mac.

If you intend using this combination much, hook your DS-150 or D1000 up to your Mac and then perform ViaVoice’s audio setup and voice training through the dictation machine. This will ensure that the audio levels and voice analysis are optimal for the Olympus equipment, rather than the standard headset supplied with ViaVoice. You should also use the Short Play setting, rather than Long Play, to give better speech quality.

Results from this system are comparable to those obtainable using the standard ViaVoice headset, although this varies with user, the type of material dictated, and the amount of effort you put into training. Unless you have a fast G4, running the customised ViaVoice under Virtual PC is likely to be too slow to be usable.

SCSI disk problem

After adding a new external hard disk to my beige G3, it now refuses to start up, showing a blank grey screen instead of the ‘happy Mac’ face.

Oliver South

The most likely answer is that there is a problem with your SCSI chain. Check the termination of the last item in the chain, and if it doesn’t have an active termination switch, try using an external one. Check that the hard disk SCSI ID is set to a number from one to six, and that it isn’t the same as any other device in that SCSI chain. Disconnect any other SCSI devices, plug in the hard disk, and try again. Also check the SCSI cable, as damage can cause all sorts of worrying symptoms.