Apr
03
Listen to today’s show here! 
MC20050401.mp3 [17.1mb (37:26) 64kbps]
A podcast about Macs done by a Mac geek for Mac geeks. Show 44. Apple is 29. Tiger is GOLD. A laptop love song, Mic/Line in show corrections, PlayPod issues resolved with update, Podium Cool Pad review, why switch top 10 contest, response to Apple K-12 student dicounts, Simon Toon’s SlamIdol Podcast promo, MacCast: creating switchers one by one, OutPod review and keeping a PowerBook awake. New music, Might As Well by Thinking of Pinky. You should hear this. Shownotes in HTML or OPML
Subscribe to the Podcast Feed or Get the MP3
the sleeping powerbook/ibook problem i know that on the powerbook at least connecting any usb inpute devie (aka mouse) usually stops the powerbook from going asleep
To keep an iBook awake with the screen closed, you could use the “Screen Spanning Doctor” from http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html
I used it on my iBook and ran it with an external screen and had the iBook closed (which would stop the cleaner closing it) for many months without any problems.
The readme that comes with it has some warnings about possible thermal issues that you should be aware of but personally I didn’t have a problem.
Peter
great show. I like the reviews. keep them coming.
Several listeners have pointed me to Sleepless, http://www.alxsoft.com/mac/sleepless.html, for keeping you iBook or PowerBook awake when the lid is closed. Please pay attention to the warning that running your Mac with the lid closed can casue serious heat issues.
Regarding the mic connection with iMic…you can use a mic with a 1/4″ plug, you just need an 1/4″ to 1/8″ reducer plug. I record my audio using iMic and a 1/4″ plug microphone and it works just fine. You can get this adapter piece at Best Buy or Radio Shack as well as other retail locations. Thought you should know!
Darrell, I use the same iMic process to record my tapes and records. What a great product.
Hello Adam,
I’m a hard-core Windows user, but I also love and use a Mac from time to time. I have yet to switch over to a Mac because I also need a good reason too. I jumped up in my seat when you said you were going to give your top 10 reasons to switch from Windows to Mac. This was just what I have been waiting to hear for a long time, a real Mac user (a Power Mac User) giving me (all of us) the hard-core “tech facts” on why one should switch. What did I get? Another tired Apple Ad. That was a cop-out Adam! I wanted to hear the hard numbers. I wanted to know not only what a Mac “can do” better, but “why” it does it better. “The Mac…It Just Works”……come on! If I’m going to spend a bunch of $$$$ to completely swap out and replace my all of my Windows PC’s (and all my PC only Hardware/software), I need more than “It’s Beautiful”. Help the Windows users switch from the Dark Side.
Dred242
I interpret “it just works” as meaning you don’t have to prep your computer for use. That is to say you don’t need to install antivirus, antispyware, firewalls, run Windows Update, et cetera. In other words, with a Mac you’re not the computer’s tool.
Maybe that’s not good enough reason for some advanced Windows user who are able to handle those issues. I used Windows for years and never had a major virus problem and had minimal issues with spyware. Nevertheless there are some problems, for example the RAM in my old Compaq laptop actually caused system freezes, that simply do not happen on the Mac’s tightly integrated platform.
Tightly Integrated Platform (or T.I.P. for short Ha ha) One of my first PC’s ran on that old EDO Ram, and it would freeze all the time. It’s nice to know that Mac’s won’t. Now that’s what I’m talking about, useful information for the wanna-be switchers. Ok…that’s one reason, and only 9 more to go.
Thanks
Dred242
Thanks for the review on the Podium CoolPad. My iBook has started to get distressingly warm lately and this is exactly what I need. Just ordered one!
Well I don’t have a list prepared, but here are some more of my personal reasons off the top of my head.
When I entered the laptop market for college, I was thoroughly disappointed with the physical construction of PC laptops. They were always too heavy, too flimsy, and so on. I like the physical structure of iBooks and PowerBooks. They are both built solid, lightweight, and don’t have easily breakable parts such as CD trays.
Another reason is OS X. I prefer the appearance and usability of this operating system over Windows. Expose is a great feature of version 10.3, I assigned the f9 “show all windows” command to my mouse, when I depress the middle scroll wheel (not the standard Apple mouse) it shows me all my open windows. How’d I ever get along without that. Tiger 10.4 will bring several more features that I am REALLY excited about.
That’s all I got right now. There are obviously many personal tastes to consider, not every reason is a cut-n-dry “Mac is better” or “PC is better” type issue.
I would like to think of myself as an advanced PC user, over 20 years of computing before Windows was known. I was curious about the mac platform and bought a used iMac. Today, you can afford a mac mini, back then nothing entry level to try out, just used. You really need to try it to see if you like it. No one can give you a list of Top 10 reasons to dump your PC. I use both and it’s the best of both worlds. I find no reason to dump one platform for the other. I have found that I can use every good software on both platforms without being stuck using one or the other.
If in the end, you don’t like your experience, you can sell your mac mini. You won’t have a hard time selling it that’s for sure. There are many people out there who will take it off your hands !
fyi the K-12 educational program discounts are available at apple’s Ireland store (and UK i think)
cheers
Brian
About that frustrating Lid thing
This is not so much a solution as just a work around. I have accomplished this with my PB-Ti when watching DVD’s on a TV. What you do is get an external monitor and a USB input device (my suggestion is a mouse). Set the video for mirroring monitors, then close the lid, wait for it to sleep, then wake it up with the input device. The real trick to this is that you don’t actually need the monitor, just the dongle that came with the PowerBook (well it did with mine) or a TV input. The Mac just has to think it has an external viewing device. The monitor will remain off (the backlight anyway) so that will protect against burn out.
One CAUTION:
This will GREATLY decreases the cooling for your comp, so have it on a cooling pad, preferably an active one (e.g. has fans) and consider putting something to protect the screen from the keyboard which will get hot.
I am going to have to look into the other suggestions cause I have the same problem, but it is cause in a house hold of laptops they get shuffled around (my dad is a wintel user and I have to keep reminding him to not let my lid shut when he moves it)