New to Jaguar questions (Long)

[Charles Martin]

> From: "Mark D. Chapman" <mchapman at chass.utoronto.ca>
>
> I just bought Jaguar and have a few questions:
>
> 1. Printing. I can no longer print to my LaserWriter (the original 45
> pound beast). I found an open source print driver at
> Linux_printing.org but it always prints with a grey background. Are
> there any other options?
>
Try Gimp-Print. You can find it via Versiontracker.com. How is your 
laserwriter connected to your iBook? Perhaps all you need is the 
built-in CUPS printing.

> 2. Scanning. I used to be able to use the fancy scanning program that
> came with my EPSON Perfection 1660 Photo under classic. Now it can't
> find the scanner (exact message is "Cannot find the Scanner on the
> Bus). Where did it go?

You probably need to reinstall the driver. You may also need to update 
your Classic to 9.2.2.

Was your OCR program working before in Classic?

> 3. Speed. Jaguar is supposed to be faster. However, it doesn't feel
> any faster. Furthermore, I now have more instances where one program
> seems to slow down the whole computer. I have tried FSCK and Repair
> Permissions. Maybe I am expecting too much but the finder still feels
> slower than my 7500 running 8.1 (Word is a lot faster on the iBook).
> Is something wrong?
>
You are expecting too much. 8.1 was a VERY lean system by comparison to 
OS X (not so graphically rich for a start!). Jag is more than fast 
enough for my needs, but the Finder does still feel faster in OS 9 and 
earlier. It's an illusion though -- try doing any video processing or 
intense Photoshop work in OS 8.1 on that 7500 and you'll immediately 
see what I mean!

> 4. Icons. I like to change some of the folder icons to better reflect
> what is in them. However, some of them resist changing (e.g., the
> Utilities folder). Is this normal?
>
Yes. OS X resists creating custom icons for "system-related" folders 
because it causes problems in backup/restoring. However, you can work 
around this with the use of the "CandyBar" program from IconFactory.com.

> 5. Menubar widgets. I used to have a little utility that would put a
> 9 in the menu bar if classic was running. It does not work anymore.
> Is there any way around this?
>
Maybe. If the author has updated the program to work in Jag, then just 
get the updated program. Otherwise, it may not work anymore. Apple 
changed the menubar API to make it more difficult for non-Apple menu 
apps to get up there. I guess they feared "menu overload." However, I 
run several such apps (Weatherpop for example) which work fine.

> 6. System Issues. I don't remember the finder crashing with 10.1. But
> it happens every couple of days with 10.2. When I boot into single
> user mode I get the error "Extension
> com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModel Cannot be found" and a
> different prompt than before "sh-2.05a#" Does anybody know what is
> happening?
>
This is VERY ABNORMAL. Since you mention that you've repaired 
permissions and run fsck, the only thing I can suggest is that your 
installation is damaged. I would suggest that you try a clean install 
(will not overwrite your old system). Did you by chance copy your 10.1 
system from another machine, one that had a SCSI port or a SCSI card in 
it?

> (I have not upgraded to 10.2.4
> because my dial-up connection is not stable enough to download
> anything of that length).

You need to find a Mac-using friend who can burn you a CD of the combo 
updater. It's worth it.

_Chas_

Claiming that the Macintosh is inferior to Windows because most people 
use Windows is like saying that all other restaurants are inferior to 
McDonald's.