There's no gain without pain. Martin Russ experiences the joys and agonies of a new computer.
So there you have it: several large and heavy boxes, newly delivered by the carrier. Contained within them is that new MacOS computer — in my case a new Apple PowerMac 7300. And what was the first thing I did?
Nope, I didn't. Experience is a wonderful thing. It nags away at your fun and replaces it with the mundane. So having looked wistfully at those boxes representing hard cash, I turned to my old trusty Centris 610 and started to remove the authorisations for all the copy‑protected music software. I will resist the tempation to drone on about how copy‑protection seems to be out of fashion for everything except music software... Anyway, with my valuable 'installs' now residing on floppy disk, ready for subsequent transfer to the new machine, I actually got down to the unpacking and connecting together bits. Since I seem to be posing questions at the end of each paragraph, what happened next?
Preparation
I suspect you might be wrong again. Having checked that it booted up, and that it seemed to be working properly, I took out my trusty Norton Utilities CD‑ROM, set it as the Startup Disk, and re‑booted. Assuming that a new computer will be perfect, with a defragmented hard drive, correctly set‑up system with B‑trees and BNDL bits all OK, is asking a lot. So, having put everything right, I set about removing all of the junk — oops, non‑essential goodies. Previous Apple Notes have covered the process of creating a 'Not the System' folder and moving all the really useless junk into it, as well as adding 'Extensions (disabled)'‑type folders to the active System Folder and moving all the 'might need sometimes' bits and bobs into them. But this is also an ideal time to prepare for subsequent installation of additional software.
Assuming that a new computer will be perfect, with a correctly set‑up system, is asking a lot.
The next thing to do is label all the contents of the pristine System Folder by selecting everything and using the 'label' menu. Because this does not work recursively down into all the folders, you also need to open all the folders inside the System Folder and label them too. I use the orange 'Essential' colour, but you can use your own favourite labelling. From this point on, anything that is added to the System Folder will not be labelled, and thus will be very easy to spot. Some people recommend re‑labelling of the newly added files after each major installation, and making a colour label key so that you can see which files are associated with each application, but even I am not that organised!
Of course, before installing serious music application programs, there's always time for those essential utilities. As it happens, the new computer came pre‑installed with the same Operating System (B1‑7.5.5) that I've been using for the last few months, so the only change was from the 68040 microprocessor to the 604 RISC processor. I'd like to be able to say that things went smoothly, but that would be wrong. Actually, I had one or two tiny bits of teething trouble...
Crash Position
Perhaps it's just me and computers. I seem to have this problem where once they get unstable it's a hard slog to get them stable again, but then they will be crash‑free for ages. I seemed to have stumbled into a teensy little bit of instability here. Like the Energy Saver, which periodically put the 7300 to sleep (fine), but then couldn't be persuaded to allow it to return to consciousness (not fine). Along with my customised version of Extension Manager and a few other unwisely installed goodies, the Energy Saver was ditched, and things got better. So in a rash moment of over‑enthusiasm, I ran an old piece of favourite freeware. At first it worked, but then it stopped working, and the Mac froze. I rebooted, and when I emptied the Wastebasket, the Mac froze again, and when I rebooted again, the Mac froze during boot‑up. At this point I began to suspect that severe damage had been done to the operating system, and rather regretted testing out the utility,
Although Apple have recently started to reveal some of the hidden extras in some of their software, the 'Clean Install' is something that still seems to be unfamiliar to many users, even though it's probably tucked away somewhere in the documentation. What it allows you to do is install a new System Folder, while leaving the old one unscathed, but not active. All you need to do is press Shift‑K when the Installer main screen starts, and you get a dialogue asking you to confirm which type of installation you want. I needed a clean install, and a few minutes later I had one.
There were now two System Folders on my hard disk: the active one, and the old one, renamed 'Previous System Folder'. By opening up windows next to each other, I could incrementally copy across the new files that I had added before things went badly wrong. By rebooting after each copying session, I could determine exactly what was causing the problems. This may sound tedious, but it's often lots better than re‑installing all those control panels, extensions and other System Folder ephemera individually. At the end of this, another check with Norton Utilities indicated that all was well. In fact, this process had coincidentally had a beneficial side‑effect — the pre‑done Microsoft Office installation of files into the System Folder had been negated, and I was a 100% Microsoft‑free site again. I'll leave the shrink‑wrapped Office CD‑ROM for possible future emergencies.
Please don't get the impression that the PowerMac 7300 is buggy, unstable or problem‑prone. I'm just one of those people who implores others to keep a slim, clean computer on one hand, while being unable to resist trying out some tasty utility themselves occasionally. A few crashes have rapidly brought me to my senses. My standard advice still stands (if only I had listened to it myself): only Apple in the System Folder, unless you've carefully checked a test install first — and if it's fun, or does something neat or clever with the user interface, be very suspicious indeed. I know it's a terrible temptation when you get enough processing power to try out all those super add‑ons, but believe me, a crash‑free computer is much more valuable!
Recommended
- Norton Utilities has been my constant companion ever since I bought it. Thoroughly recommended for regular preventative maintenance.
- Only Apple in the System Folder, unless you've carefully checked a test install first.
- Install applications one by one onto a new computer. Don't hit it with all your favourite tweaks and apps all at once, because if it falls over it will be much harder to find out what caused the problem.
- Read the manual. Apple's new CD‑ROM User Manual means that the printed booklet is now mostly concerned with troubleshooting, hints and tips. Read them!
On The Net
The Internet has changed lots of things. When I first started surfing seriously, I carefully gathered bookmarks as I clicked through link after link, and then spent quite a bit of time sorting through all the links, putting them into sections and sub‑sections, so that I would be able to find them again easily. As with all obsessive computer‑based activities, your ability to keep on top of things is marred by the adrenalin rush of gathering new experiences rather than the tedium of organising them. With my ego speaking for me, I convinced myself that I could keep my habit under control, and would carefully sort my newly acquired bookmarks after each session. Yeah, yeah, yeah...
Unfortunately, the lure of freebase surfing was too great, and soon the chore of sorting bookmarks became tedious (er, actually, I kept putting it off!), and so when the bookmark file soared past the 250K point and started to take too long to load, I dumped it. Cold turkey time. As it happens, I hardly ever used all those carefully sorted bookmarks, so moving to one of the many 'bookmark organiser' apps seemed a little pointless.
Instead I opened a folder, and dropped interesting URLs into it. With a big folder, and careful dropping into various locations within the folder, these URLs were much quicker to access, easier to find, and structured in a two‑dimensional world instead of the one‑dimensional world of the MacOS's filing system. This only works nicely for less than a hundred or so URLs, and I did consider using a three‑dimensional approach like Apple's 'Hot Sauce' Meta Content Format (MCF), as previously mentioned in Apple Notes. But I found an easier way.
I now only keep bookmarks for really important locations — and the most important of those is my favourite search engine: Digital's Alta Vista. From my first meeting with this very, very nice piece of Internet technology I was hooked, and it continues to get better and better. I now use a searcher rather than wasting time going through my bookmarks for that elusive URL. Alta Vista does the searching for me, it's often faster, and the URLs don't go out of date or need updating manually.
Apple News In Brief
- FREESTYLE 2.0
When I first looked at MOTU's FreeStyle sequencer, I was struck by its new and very different approach MIDI sequencing. Version 2.0 builds on the 'trackless' metaphor by now allowing rubato, metronome‑less playing, where the beats and bars are automatically determined by the software — and there are lots of extras to make the most of the feel that is captured by not playing along to a fixed click. Call MusicTrack, on 01462 812010, for more information. - PERFORMER 2.11
I can't help thinking that this is one of the great missed opportunities of all time. MOTU have fractionally missed hitting exactly the right version number for their latest free update to Digital Performer. With newly added support for Korg's 1212 I/O PCI audio card, the version number should surely have been 2.1212! Contact MusicTrack, number as above, for more information.