Category: the value of X

Apple Gives Jaguar Free to All U.S. K-12 Teachers

CUPERTINO, California October 17, 2002 Apple today announced its X for Teachers program that gives a free copy of Mac OS X version 10.2 "Jaguar" to every K-12 teacher in the U.S. "Jaguar" combines a stable and robust UNIX-based foundation with Macintosh’s legendary ease-of-use to create the world’s most advanced operating system for teaching, learning and administration. The free copy of "Jaguar" is accompanied by free copies of Apple’s Digital Hub applications – iMovie™ for digital video editing, iPhoto&trad; for organizing and sharing digital photos and iTunes&trad; for building a digital audio library.

A nice idea, but without hardware (maybe some educational discounts on eMacs, if that hasn’t been done?) I’m not sure what good this does. I’d certainly be pushing it at my son’s school, but their old Performas won’t be able to run it.

I have the Office X test drive installer, but I’m not sure I want to install it, give the possibility, no, likelihood, I’ll be unable to use my ancient but reliable Office 98 apps on any documents the new apps have touched.

I’ll need to research that.

Apple .Mac

So I’m looking through all the fabulous benefits of .Mac membership, and Backup looks good. But what’s this fine print all about?

To create backup CDs or DVDs with Backup, you must have an internal, Apple-supplied CD-RW drive or SuperDrive and a paid .Mac subscription.

An Apple-supplied CD-RW? Hmmph. I’ll have to assume I can get away with an Apple-supported one, ie the moral equivalent of the ones they supply since I’m not buying a new machine just to get the drive.

Still, for $49.95, .Mac looks like a good deal for me. In light of the Leading Brand and their abortive switch ad, what does Apple do for me and what does Microsoft do for me? Does Microsoft offer to automate and store backups? Does Microsoft have an email service that doesn’t require I use their client software?

If people want to buy everything based on MHz numbers and other meaningless minutia, that’s OK with me. I know what works for me.

Microsoft ads to promote Mac – Tech News – CNET.com

Microsoft, which until recently had been critical of Apple’s efforts to pitch Mac OS X, has been stepping up its marketing effort for the Mac version of Office.

Perhaps MSFT is realizing that selling applications software that locks out users who don’t use their OS is a bad idea, especially as application upgrades are not tied to currently flaccid hardware sales much better to make stuff people want to buy than force them to use stuff they don’t.

On the other hand, the news that MSFT’s Mac business unit leader is moving to the X-Box is interesting. Who’ll take his place and will support stay strong or will it slip?

Welcome To Digidesign

FREE Hardware-Independent Pro Tools Power
By logging in below, you’ll be able to download the following software:

* OMS 2.3.8 – Required for Mac OS Pro Tools FREE users. Macintosh BinHex (.hqx) file, approx. 3.6 MB
* Pro Tools FREE 5.0.1 Documentation – Includes Quick Start Guide, Read Me, and complete Pro Tools 5.0.1 Reference Guide (Macintosh BinHex .hqx file, approx. 9 MB)
* Pro Tools FREE 5.0.1 Application and supporting files for operation Macintosh BinHex (.hqx) file, approx. 12 MB

John told me about this great suite of tools: I could finally scratch a long-felt itch to lay down some tracks and play around with them.

Alas, though, it’s OS 9 specific and does not play well in the Classic environment at all.


Oct 12 22:32:04 pink Classic[528]: *** The BlueBox just crashed! ***


Oh, well, switching to OS 9 to play is more rewarding than, say, rebooting into Windows for the same purpose.

I’m just a couple of cables short of getting this to work.

Now to hope the folks at Digidesign get this working in Classic or better, OS X. I doubt things will get any better for older code . . . . .

Apple – Public Source – Darwin – Projects

I’ll have to enquire what that’s about, but my initial reaction is one of horror. Perhaps it’s possible to use rpm in a safe and non-destructive way, but I have yet to see it. What was wrong with the Debian tools, I wonder? Sure, they were non-intuitive, but they had the distinct benefit of actually working.

Apple – Public Source – Darwin – Projects

The pages don’t reflect it, but the CDR image is named darwinppc-602.cdr.gz. Perhaps I’ll install it on my old 9500 and see how it differs from 1.4.1 which, regardless of numbering schemes, was the prior version.

On this
page I read the following — If you have upgraded to Mac OS
X 10.2 on a machine with a pre-existing Fink installation, then
this document will provide step-by-step instructions for upgrading
Fink as providing the details for upgrading fink to run with
10.2. But then on this
page, I read this: This is the last release for Mac OS X
10.1. Future versions of Fink will not officially support Mac OS X
10.1 anymore, we are gearing all our efforts towards 10.2. At the
same time, this release is not meant for Mac OS X 10.2. Fink 0.5.0.
which is targeted for October, will be geared towards 10.2. In the
meantime refer to the news item below on how to upgrade Fink for
10.2. As far as I can tell, fink 0.4.x runs with OS X 10.2.
That’s why I call this the “Jaguar Compatibility Release.” However,
I never saw the note about 0.4.1 being the last 10.1 release before
I started down this road. Read on for details. Continue reading “fink’s “Jaguar Compatibility Release” notes”

Fink – Upgrading Fink for Mac OS X 10.2

Frank mentioned he was installing Fink and it turns out there are instructions for both new users and upgraders. I’m taking the plunge now. I have been using CVS updates for ages now, so I’m not sure if this will make any difference.
Continue reading “Fink and Jaguar”

Matchmaker Bluetooth: No-cable connection excels at pairing handhelds

Even as recently as last spring, Bluetooth was hard to find and required a lot of hand-holding to operate in most operating systems. In April, Apple Computer launched a Bluetooth technology preview for OS X, then delivered the final code as part of OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) a month ago.

Apple also plans to add specific synchronization features with its free iSync software that will work with Bluetooth. (iSync had been scheduled to ship this month but has been pushed back.)

Microsoft promises Bluetooth support this fall as an add-on to Windows XP.

iSync public beta was released today: find it here.

The image above shows a couple of Bluetooth hardware devices, USB and serial/parallel.

I’m thinking of iSync’s immediate promise of being able to sync up calendars on machines here on my home network, but the allure of hardhelds (ah, once more I drink from the bitter cup of the Newton’s unfulfilled promise) is hard to resist.