Toast and Mac OS 8.1

I’m having recognition problems between my PowerBook G3 233 running Mac OS 8.1, and a Plextor external CD-RW drive. Does Adaptec Toast 4.1 need SCSI Manager 4.3, Mac OS 8.6 or later, or what?

Andrew

You shouldn’t attempt to use Toast 4.1 with any version of the Mac OS older than 8.6, and it’s really intended for Mac OS 9. Up to and including Mac OS 8.6, Toast 3.5.7 is preferred, although getting hold of it may be hard. You should really upgrade to Mac OS 9.0.4 as soon as you can, by buying an upgrade from your dealer.

You can check whether your Mac has features such as SCSI Manager 4.3 by browsing through tools like Apple System Profiler, or GestLab, available from www.download.com.

Epson print drivers

My G4 400 with 198Mb of memory and a 10Gb hard disk has been nothing but trouble. I can either use my Epson Stylus 870 Photo printer or the Internet, but trying to use both causes a crash. I’ve updated the printer drivers, but this hasn’t helped. What can I do?

Dr Shaun Kilminster

These kinds of problems can be very difficult to solve. If you bought the whole package from the same dealer, you may be able to arrange to take it back and get them to fix the problem. Given the total cost of the package, this would be a reasonable proposition to put to them before formally invoking your consumer rights.

If you have to try to solve this yourself, then you should first update your disk driver (using the version of Drive Setup supplied on your Mac OS CD-ROM), then repair any problems on your disk with Disk First Aid. Restart from your Mac OS CD and perform a clean reinstallation of Mac OS 9.0.4. Finally, install the latest version of the Epson printer driver for your model, according to the instructions provided.

The only two areas of doubt here could be the Internet software you have installed, and any other software that may be putting extensions and so on in your System Folder. Some ISPs require you to install their own software for connecting to their service ­ if that’s the case, you must check with the ISP’s support line that they’re confident of its compatibility. If you perform these tests before installing any other third-party products, you should rule out the other possibility, too.

SCSI card

My three-year-old Power Mac 8600 250MHz needs to be upgraded to a G4 machine. I have several SCSI peripherals, including a Nikon Coolscan II, Epson Perfection 1200S scanner, and Yamaha CD-RW drive. Should I get a SCSI card for the G4, or sell the peripherals and buy new ones?

Jonny Boyd

There’s no simple answer to this. The decision will ultimately come down to how much you’re prepared to spend on your new system, and how much you love your old peripherals. You can get very good SCSI cards for the latest G4 models, but you should try to buy them fitted to the machine, and ensure they’re known to be compatible with these models.

Some relatively recent SCSI adaptors either need a ROM upgrade or may not work at all with current G4s. If you want to be able to connect any SCSI peripherals, then a PCI card is the best choice: some USB-to-SCSI adaptors can and do work, but are unlikely to prove suitable for a chain of relatively complex devices, and the faster FireWire-to-SCSI adaptors have yet to arrive on the market (if they ever do). A good SCSI card should ensure that most of your peripherals work, although you may need to replace one of them.

Vinyl records to MP3

I want to convert my old vinyl singles and LPs into MP3 format using SoundJam, but my iBook doesn’t have a sound input jack. How can I get sound from my hi-fi system to the iBook?

Steve Carr

To create MP3 files from vinyl discs, you need to digitise the analogue line output from your stereo system, record the digitised sound, and finally compress it into MP3. Although most other Macs have a microphone or line-input facility, iBooks (even the latest models) don’t, so you’ll need to buy a USB sound input adaptor.

But before you splash out on something that could cost you, for a high-quality device, £100 or more, consider the quality of your record deck and its cartridge. If these aren’t up to scratch you may be better off searching out remastered CD copies of your vinyl. If these simply aren't available, or the total expense would be too great, obtain a good quality USB audio input device and hook your iMac up to your stereo. SoundJam (www.soundjam.com), MacMP3 (www.macmp3.net) and Audion 2 (www.panic.com) are good tools for converting audio input to MP3 format. Apple’s QuickTime Player (the ‘pro’ enabled version) or Audion 2's MP3 editor may be needed to trim down overrun recordings.

Print server

I’m about to switch from my old Power Mac 6100 to a new G4 450 MP. Can my old computer do anything useful ­ perhaps I could use it as a print server?

Sam Brierley

If your current printer supports background printing, you’re very unlikely to achieve much by making your old Power Mac a print server. Instead, you might like to consider what jobs leave you waiting for the longest time at the computer: if you only have a dial-up Internet connection, it might be downloading large updates, for instance. If that’s the case, set it up as a streamlined FTP and Web client, perhaps. This would free up your G4 to allow you to carry on working safely while that 60Mb download arrives. Another possibility might be to fit a large hard disk in it, and use it to mirror all your working documents and to store reference material, as a local file server. You won’t, of course, need to move up to dedicated server software, such as AppleShare IP: standard peer-to-peer networking (regular file sharing built into the Mac OS) will be fine.

File transfer

How can I transfer my old files (160Mb in all) from a Power Mac 6100 to my new iMac DV+?

Gideon Brimmer

This type of transfer problem hinges on finding the fastest common interface between the two systems. In most circumstances, you should look first at networking, as that tends to deliver the greatest flexibility and performance. Your Power Mac 6100 has a built-in Ethernet interface, but it requires an AAUI adaptor to connect it to network cabling. As such, you’ll need an AAUI adaptor that has a telecom-style UTP (Unshielded Twisted-Pair) cabling socket, which is the same as the network socket on your iMac.

Although you normally connect both to a network hub, the simplest way is to buy a UTP ‘crossover’ cable, which goes directly from one network socket to the other. Once connected, make sure the two machines have AppleTalk switched to ‘Ethernet’, after which you can move files using shared folders.

File transfer (2)

I need to connect a 6400 (internal modem and serial port) and an iBook (internal modem and Ethernet port). Can I do this without putting a phone line between them?

Paul Thompson

This combination of two Macs is more tricky, as the Power Mac 6400 doesn’t have built-in Ethernet, but the iBook doesn’t have a serial port. You have two main options: install an Ethernet card in the 6400 and then connect them with a UTP crossover cable; or buy a USB-to-serial adaptor (such as one by Keyspan) for the iBook and connect them using a special ‘null modem’ serial cable.

The latter is likely to be cheaper, more useful in the future, but significantly slower for file transfer. If you decide to opt for the serial connection, you should then install traditional communications software, such as ZTerm, on each machine, and you can then use that for file transfers.

Cursor display error

When I start my G4 450 dual-processor, there’s a black line about an inch long which follows the mouse cursor around the screen. This only affects the Desktop, not applications. Is this supposed to happen?

Nick Cliff

This isn’t a feature, nor a known bug, with Mac OS 9, or with G4 systems. It probably represents a corrupted Finder (or other Mac OS component), which could be corrected by performing a clean reinstallation of the Mac OS. Alternatively, it reflects a software conflict, which you need to identify and isolate using Extensions Manager, or a substitute such as Conflict Catcher.

Persistent disk problem

After about 30 minutes of working normally, my Power Mac 5500 225MHz gets taken over by a background application and eventually locks me out and crashes. I have clean reinstalled Mac OS 8.1, and Norton Utilities usually has to fix a major problem when I restart. I can’t use Disk First Aid because my replacement hard disk has a LaCie driver (since it was repaired a short while ago). What’s wrong and how can I fix it?

David Hilditch

You seem to have a serious problem, which hasn’t been helped by a less-than-adequate repair. Even with a LaCie driver, you should still be able to check and repair disks using Disk First Aid. If you can’t, return your Mac to the company which repaired it and insist it does the job properly. If it can’t supply a drive compatible with Apple’s Drive Setup, then it must provide you with the full version of the disk driver and formatting tool (for example, Silverlining). Your problem sounds as if it may result from an incompatible disk driver, or another serious issue. If this didn’t happen before the repair, it shouldn’t happen afterwards.

FireWire target disk mode

I’ve just bought a G3 (FireWire) PowerBook to go with my blue-and-white G3. I need to move some large files over to the PowerBook, but it doesn’t have a SCSI interface. How can I do this efficiently?

Karl Booker

Older PowerBooks used to have a special SCSI disk mode, and current FireWire models have an equivalent (FireWire Target Disk Mode), using a FireWire connection to Macs with a FireWire interface and running FireWire software version 2.3.3 or later.

You’ll need to buy a regular FireWire-to-FireWire cable, with identical FireWire plugs at each end (unlike a FireWire-to-camera cable, which has a smaller plug at the camera end).

With your G3 running, but the PowerBook shut down on mains power, connect a FireWire port on the PowerBook to one on the G3. Start up the PowerBook in the normal way, but hold the ‘t’ key down during startup. Your PowerBook’s internal hard disk will then appear as a volume on the G3’s desktop. Once you’ve finished, drag the PowerBook volume to the Wastebasket to eject it, and press the power key on its keyboard to shut it down.

USB hubs

My Bronze PowerBook G3 worked fine with a four-port USB hub, but I have too many USB devices for that, and bought a Belkin seven-port hub. Now, whenever I attach more than four devices to it, my PowerBook crashes during startup with an error of ‘There isn’t enough memory to useÉ’ Surely I should be able to use more than four USB devices.

Brian Little

Your PowerBook should be able to use more than seven USB devices without difficulty, provided their drivers don’t clash. This could be a power problem, a hardware glitch, or a shortcoming of an older version of the USB software.

When you’re using a hub of any size, it’s much better to provide power to it, so it can support more devices with greater power demands. There are strict limits on the power available from the Mac’s USB port, and it’s easy to exceed them and run into problems. The simple answer is always to provide power to USB hubs. Your hub could have defective (or incompatible) hardware, but it would be hard for you to identify that; your dealer is in the best position to check.

Unless you’re running Mac OS 9.0.4, you may need to upgrade your Mac OS support for USB from Apple’s support sites. You should also ensure that you’re using the latest drivers for each of the USB peripherals. There are several good tools for sniffing round USB problems ­ Apple System Profiler is a good start, but you can also find USB Prober on Apple’s site.

If you do find that the drivers are incompatible, why not connect just the USB devices you’re using at any time? Don’t forget that the beauty of USB devices is that they’re hot-swappable.