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Basic Networking, Type 2 Errors, And The Scrapbook
Well, here I am once again, folks, digging myself out of the pile of questions I received after last weeks column. Hopefully those of you who received answers from me during the week were able to get things going, and for those of you that haven't, here's the answers to the most relevant questions that came in: Laurent wrote, "Dear Dave, What is a type 2 error? Where can I find a list of the different error types?" A type 2 error is an "Address Error." This (officially) will only happen on the Motorola 68000-series of processor, and the PowerPC's are not affected. In "techie" terms, it happens when a program tries to write to an "odd" memory address space when the computer is expecting it to write to an "even" memory address space. Fun, eh? In "human" terms, it basically means someone wrote sloppy code and we get to pay the price! There are a few products out there that contain lists and descriptions of Apple's Errors. Among them are Apple Error Codes '98 and Black and Bleu . Black and Bleu's descriptions are slightly more in-depth, but it's shareware and expires after 3 uses unless you register. Apple Error Codes '98 provides ample description, and is freeware.
Jim wrote, "I forgot how to switch between two or more system folders on the startup volume. In light of the OS 8.5.x memory bug and the available patchers, how do I do this?" Well, there are two ways to do this. You can use a piece of software that's built just for this purpose, or you can do it manually. Software that's available include: Conflict Catcher: Available from Casady & Greene. System Picker: Available from Apple's ftp site. To do this manually, you need to understand how the MacOS decides which folder to boot from. It is the LAST folder that was opened that contained both a valid "Finder" and "System" file. You can "bless" a folder by opening it and closing it, but the safest way is to actually move EITHER the Finder or System file in or out of the desired System Folder. Doing this prevents the computer from getting "confused" as to which folder you wish to use at startup.
Carolyn wrote, "I have an iMac (A) purchased last August and I'm teaching the OS to myself, with a lot of help from online friends and I love it. I would like to utilize the Scrapbook, but I'm having trouble understanding the Mac OS research Help Guide with 8.5. When I open the Scrapbook, I see the photos and the File Menu has "Close or Quit", Edit has "Cut, Copy, Paste, or Clear" and Help just offers balloons. I type in "Scrapbook" in the search index and an outline appears with info to use Quick Draw and Quick Time. […] Can you advise?" Carolyn, I will do my best! The Scrapbook makes use of the computer's "clipboard." If you have something, like a slogan, which you type in your Word Processor all the time, you can put it in the Scrapbook for later use. To do this, highlight the text in your word processor, go to the Edit menu and choose "Copy." This places the highlighted text on the computer's virtual "clipboard." You then need to open the Scrapbook, go to the "Edit" menu and choose "Paste." When you do this you will see another page added to the Scrapbook with your text inside it. When you need to use this text again, just reverse the process: Open the scrapbook, scroll through the listed items and find the one you want. Next, go to the "Edit" menu and choose "Copy". Then open your word processing document, place the text cursor where you want the piece inserted, go to the "Edit" menu and click "Paste." Your text will be inserted right where your flashing cursor was. This will work with any type of data that can be "Copied" to the clipboard, including pictures and sounds!
Rich wrote, "I would like to get a small network setup for use at home. I have 2 Quadra's. One is running system 8.1 with 56MB RAM, the other is a Quadra 700 with 16 or 20mbs RAM and system 7.5.5. Also, if it is possible, I might throw a 486 clone into the mix, or more precisely, the mess! Darned windoze. I would like to do this with Ethernet since the Quadra's have that built in. I know I need a hub and appropriate cabling, but I can not find any literature on how to configure the software and the Ethernet to make this all work. My goal is to eventually connect to the Internet using a cable modem attached to peecee. What do I do?" Rich, let's start at the top with the two Quadra's (although this will work for any Mac with an Ethernet port). With the Quadra's you'll need to get an adapter to make them Ethernet-ready. The "Ethernet" port on the back of older Mac's is a proprietary port called AAUI. You'll need to head down to your favorite CompUSA and get an AAUI to 10Base-T adapter (of course, if you've got a PowerMac, then you already have 10Base-T ports and you can continue to the next step). Next we need to connect all the machines physically with cables and, as you said, a hub. With a 10Base-T Ethernet network, everything is configured in a "star"-type formation, with the hub at the center and each computer connecting only to the hub. The hub's job is to take data from each computer and pass it off to all the others. You'll need 10Base-T cables between each computer and the hub. Hubs come in MANY different configurations (with varying numbers of ports for computers), so pick one with enough ports for your future networking needs. Once you've got the network physically connected, you'll need to configure the operating system to use it. I'll assume you're using OpenTransport networking on both computers (if anyone needs help with "Classic Networking," e-mail me and perhaps I'll cover that in another column if there's any interest). Go to the "AppleTalk" Control Panel and choose the "Ethernet" option from the list (this may be listed as "Built-In Ethernet" depending on the make and model of your Mac). It may or may not ask you about changing the configuration. If it does, answer affirmative and let it do it's thing. Once this is done, close the Ethernet control panel. Now go to either the "File Sharing" or "Sharing Setup" control panel (depending on your OS version), give yourself an owner name, password, and machine name, and Start File Sharing. This will take a few moments depending on the size of your hard drive and speed of the computer. Now go to the "Users and Groups" control panel and add accounts for the different people that will be accessing that computer by clicking on the "New User" button. Hang in there, we're almost done! Close the "Users & Groups" Control Panel and click once on your hard drive (if you have multiple drives, you'll need to repeat this step for each of them). Go to the "File" menu of the Finder and choose "Sharing," (if you're running OS 8.5.x, you'll need to go to "File", "Get Info," and "Sharing."). Click the "Share this item and it's contents" check box, pick an "owner" for the drive, and set their permissions accordingly. If you created other users or groups earlier, you can give them permissions here as well. You can also define permissions for "Everyone," which makes administering a small network easier. When you're done, close the Sharing window. Now that you've done that, it's time to test it! Go to ANOTHER machine on your network, open up the "Chooser" in the Apple menu, click on "Appleshare" and you should see your other computer appear in the window. Double-click on it, enter your username and password, pick the drive you want to access, and the "shared" drive should appear on your desktop! When you're done using it, just throw it in the trash and it will log you out of the other machine. As far as adding a PC to this mix, the best software to use is PC MacLan Connect from Miramar Systems. It gives Windows access to the Appletalk protocols and allows you to "choose" shared drives and printers. For your cable modem, there are two pieces of software that will let you connect it to one machine and use it on the network. For the Macintosh, you can use IPNetRouter from Sustainable Softworks, and on the Windows side, Winroute will do the trick. A more in-depth review of using cable modems with IPNetRouter is in progress, and I'll be reporting that to you shortly! That's all for now, folks… enjoy your week, and keep those questions coming to [email protected]! -Dave
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