Blog R.I.P., Mac Support Site Lives On

I have decided, after much deliberation and thought, to discontinue this Mac Support Site Blog, and only continue my actual Mac Support Website. This is due to time constraints, etc.

I will leave all the information that's currently on this blog on the Internet for some amount of time, and I will update my Mac Support Website from time to time, but I will no longer be maintaining this blog. It was good while it lasted, but nothing lasts forever! Farewell!

P.S. You can also check out some other cool sites I will continue to maintain at LifeisaPrayer.com.

Running Mac OS 9 (Classic) Applications in Mac OS X

I received this email today:

"My grandpa just bought a new Mac with OSX 10.3.4 on it. He has Canvas 3.0 that he could run on OS 9 but now, OSX will not run Canvas anymore and he asked me for some help. I know a bit about Mac's but I'm mainly a Windows user. He has a copy of OSX 10.3.4 and OS 9. So, do I have to install OS 9 from within OSX to run the old programs or ... what is the solution?"

My response:

To run older OS 9 applications in OS X (any version), you will need to make sure you have Mac OS 9 (any version, preferably 9.2 or later) installed on your Mac and Classic installed in OS X. For detailed instructions, read these Apple Knowledge Base Articles:

• Mac OS X: How to Use Mac OS 9 Applications
• Troubleshooting the Classic Environment in Mac OS X

Pixar's 'Incredibles' DVD a Smash-Hit Success

Today, I noticed on MacMinute that The Incredibles DVD has already sold 5 million copies ÄîIn its first day on the market. I am happy to say that I am one of those 5 million purchasers - at Wal-Mart, you could pick a copy of the 2-disc Collector's Edition DVD for $11.99!

I personally attest that not only was the movie incredible, but Pixar also did an incredible job on the DVD. 'Jack-Jack Attack' was very entertaining, and so was another short made to look like an old 'Incredibles' cartoon. You'll have to see them for yourself - I can't adequately describe them in words. The other bonus footage is pretty fun, as well, and the menu structure, design and transitions are simply icing on the cake.

Google Labs: "OS X Rocks" - New 'Google X theme' [UPDATED]

Today Google Labs has released 'Google X' - an alternative home page for the Google Search engine that features a dock-like interface for clicking on different sections to search - News, Pictures, Video, Froogle, Local, etc. It even includes Magnification

I played around with it, and it's pretty cool. The icons will magnify as you move your mouse over them, while other icons move to make room for the bigger icon. It's not 100% as fluid as Dock magnification, but that's acceptable; not even Google can match Apple's Quartz engine ;-)

UPDATE: It seems Google has pulled Google X from its site. No reason has been given. I will post again if I can find more information.

Linux Creator Linus Trovalds Switches to Mac (...Hardware, that is)

It would seem that the creator of Linux is using a dual-processor G5 as his main Linux-running computer now. From CNET News.com:

Torvalds, who initially created Linux for the Intel x86 platform, revealed to the Linux Kernel Mailing List in February during a discussion on kernel size reduction that his main desktop machine no longer featured an x86 processor.

"My main machine these days is a dual 2GHz G5 (aka PowerPC 970)--it's physically a regular Apple Mac, although it obviously only runs Linux, so I don't think you can call it a Mac any more ;)"

It doesn't surprise me when I see many people using Mac laptops and G5s who don't even run OS X -- don't get me wrong; I still think OS X (especially Tiger, when it comes out) is the de-facto standard OS for the masses, but the hardware is also much more stable and better than any X86 on the market. This means that people running Linux or UNIX workstations may find it advantageous to purchase a high-end Mac G4 or G5; Mac software works great, and Mac hardware runs like a dream.

New Mac Help Articles - Startup Sound and Right-Clicking

Lately I've received a few questions in my email concerning right-clicking on Macs and disabling the startup 'Chime' or 'Bong' sound, so I've finally found some time to post them on my Mac Support website.

Here are the links:

How to Right-Click on a Mac
How to Mute or Turn Down the Startup Sound