Thursday, October 05, 2006
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Friday, September 29, 2006
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Contact Testers
Suitable for iChat 2.x and iChat 3
Testing with Another User
Use the Tables below to contact the various Test Accounts or Real people testers.
Table 1. These account names need to be added manually to your Buddy List.
Regarding the next Table. This has been edited in May 2006. It now includes the relevant screen name of the person (Where they have agreed). Their Apple ID is also listed which, in most cases, links to a profile at the Apple Discussions. This can be the Current discussions and in some it is the Profile in the Previous Discussions. With the Previous discussions you may find that if you have recently registered on the Apple Discussions you may find that you do not see the whole Profile and the iChat name is missing from the display.
Regarding the iChat name - some prefer arrangenments by email first - some list trial account @mac accounts that are not current email accounts, just to add to your fun.
Add the Test account name or the contact's account/screen name into your iChat Buddy List. I would suggest Texting first. Then you can double click the Video icon.
Table 2.
Ralph
Testing with Another User
Use the Tables below to contact the various Test Accounts or Real people testers.
Table 1. These account names need to be added manually to your Buddy List.
| Current Known test users (Be polite and Text a request first please). | |||
| Auto-Respond Accounts | Whereabouts | Capabilities | Level of Expertise |
| appleu3test01 (AIM) | Apple | On Tiger: Video only Reponses | Dummy: Auto-respond (No Need to Text) |
| appleu3test02 (AIM) | Apple | On Tiger: Video only Reponses | Dummy: Auto-respond (No Need to Text) |
| appleu3test03 (AIM) | Apple | On Tiger: Video only Reponses | Dummy: Auto-respond (No Need to Text) |
| ichatavtesting (AIM) | Courtesy of Ryan Mathus Occassionally on line | On Tiger: Audio only and Video responses | Dummy: Auto-respond (No Need to Text) |
| RjinWI PC (AIM) | Courtesy of Rj in WI Occassionally on line | PC Video responses | Dummy: Auto-respond (No Need to Text) |
Regarding the next Table. This has been edited in May 2006. It now includes the relevant screen name of the person (Where they have agreed). Their Apple ID is also listed which, in most cases, links to a profile at the Apple Discussions. This can be the Current discussions and in some it is the Profile in the Previous Discussions. With the Previous discussions you may find that if you have recently registered on the Apple Discussions you may find that you do not see the whole Profile and the iChat name is missing from the display.
Regarding the iChat name - some prefer arrangenments by email first - some list trial account @mac accounts that are not current email accounts, just to add to your fun.
Add the Test account name or the contact's account/screen name into your iChat Buddy List. I would suggest Texting first. Then you can double click the Video icon.
Table 2.
| Person/Apple Discussion Nickname | iChat name | Whereabouts | Capabilities | Level of Expertise |
| Erik Bech | Yellowknife. | On Tiger. | Contacting testing only. | |
| Ralph Johns (UK) | ralphjohnsr Please Text first | Dorset, England. UK | Tiger: Can also host 4 ways (outside specs) Panther at 10.3.9 possible still (iChat2) | Some networking/Router/Modem issues and Contact testing |
| defcom1@mac.com | London, UK | Using Tiger. Can now host 4 way chats. | Can sort some routers and contact testing iChatAV for late Jaguar users | |
| Ryan M | blindside953 Please Text first | Maryland. | Jabber, iChat (AIM) testing and explanations | Knows more about Macs Than most |
| ChrisBel | chrisbel@mac.cam Occassional contact. | Paris, France. | Using Tiger | Contact Testing. Some Continental popular routers and modes |
| James A. Weston | jawestonb@mac.com Please Text First | San Francisco | Has PCs and Macs, 3- and 4-way hosting. | PCs and Macs, routers, networking. |
| Gilbert N Taylor | giltaylor1@mac.com | Cape Cod, MA, USA | Tiger with Jabber Hosting 4 Way Chats | Contact Testing and Jabber set ups Knowledgable Mac user |
| Jeremy Varner | Pennsylvania | On Tiger | Knowledgeable of Macs, contact for testing audio/video | |
| Rj in WI | rjinwi Please text first | Appleton, WI | Tiger with Jabber includes Hosting 4 Way Chats | Contact Testing and Jabber set ups Knowledgable Mac user Please text |
| John Holt | nqmacuser | Australia | Tiger includes Hosting 4 Way Chats | Contact Testing. Long time Mac user |
Ralph
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Friday, February 17, 2006
iChat and Parental Contrls
Hi all
I have found out that there is a reset problem with using a AIM name in a Test Mac User account.
Any settings/Confiuration you make to the Test (non Admin account) to the Aim or .mac names account (ichat login name) also gets made to the account in the Admin Users account of iChat.
Lets say I create a a Mac Account (non Admin) called Test
I set iChat up there with the name I use in the Admin account (ralphjohnsr)
Then I set Parental Controls and allow no AIM buddy contacts (AIM or .mac), for the non Admin account.
The Test Mac User account now has No Buddies because of Parental Control disallowing all AIM buddy list names and closing Bonjour and Jabber.
Returning to the Admin Account you find that All Buddies have disaapeared from the AIM buddy list.
This is irrespective if you set both iChat versions to allow Mutlipe Logins of the same AIM or .mac name
The solution is to go to the Admin accounts version of iChat Preferences > Accounts > Security settings tab.
here you will find an Allow Specific people only setting has been made.
This needs setting back to your previous setting.
Can any one confirm ?
Please Post a comment
Ralph
I have found out that there is a reset problem with using a AIM name in a Test Mac User account.
Any settings/Confiuration you make to the Test (non Admin account) to the Aim or .mac names account (ichat login name) also gets made to the account in the Admin Users account of iChat.
Lets say I create a a Mac Account (non Admin) called Test
I set iChat up there with the name I use in the Admin account (ralphjohnsr)
Then I set Parental Controls and allow no AIM buddy contacts (AIM or .mac), for the non Admin account.
The Test Mac User account now has No Buddies because of Parental Control disallowing all AIM buddy list names and closing Bonjour and Jabber.
Returning to the Admin Account you find that All Buddies have disaapeared from the AIM buddy list.
This is irrespective if you set both iChat versions to allow Mutlipe Logins of the same AIM or .mac name
The solution is to go to the Admin accounts version of iChat Preferences > Accounts > Security settings tab.
here you will find an Allow Specific people only setting has been made.
This needs setting back to your previous setting.
Can any one confirm ?
Please Post a comment
Ralph
Thursday, February 16, 2006
About ports and setting them for iChat
Very Basic stuff
Basically the data from iChat has to leave the machine (the Mac firewall does not effect outgoing stuff) through any router (Which could be effected by outgoing filters) to the modem (which again could have ougoing filters) and on to the internet.
Data coming to you has to pass through the modem (if the ports are open (plus any software firewall that has), through the router if you have one (same blah vlah blah) and so to your computer which has to have the port open if the Firewall is on.
Don't give up yet as we can look on your Mac for some of this.
Go to System Preferences > Network
Open the Connection Method from the second drop down
Click on the TCP/IP tab to make sure it is the front one.
Thsi is mine
Your should look similar. Mine is set to Manual for Stic IP address routing.
By default your probably says [i][u]Using DHCP[/u][/i] in that top drop down.
Further down you see it lists the "[i]router[/i]"
This is the routing device closet by connection to your computer.
If you have only one device it will be the modem.
If you have two devices it will be the router (depending on how the LAN is set up).
OK Pause. Take a breath.
In most cases the "router" IP above is the default IP address you type in to a web browser to gain access to the device.
To Access mine I type [b]192.168.1.1[/b] in to the text field of the web browser like I would the name of a web page.
Next we should check the Mac firewall.
Go to System Preferences > Sharing
Open the Firewall tab
Is it on ?
10:44 PM Thursday; February 16, 2006
Basically the data from iChat has to leave the machine (the Mac firewall does not effect outgoing stuff) through any router (Which could be effected by outgoing filters) to the modem (which again could have ougoing filters) and on to the internet.
Data coming to you has to pass through the modem (if the ports are open (plus any software firewall that has), through the router if you have one (same blah vlah blah) and so to your computer which has to have the port open if the Firewall is on.
[b]A word about Ports.[/b]
At a software level your computer can be thought of as having 65535 windows and doors that data can arrive on (and be accepted if certian conditions are met). These are referred to as ports.
Different Applications tend to use different ports to connect to servers on the internet. Web browsers use port 80, Mail apps can use a few different ones (110, GoogleTalk uses and incoming (995 and outgoing one (587) and others, FTP uses 21-23 to name some common ones.
Most modems and routers have a default set of ports that are always open and need no configuring (1-1024). Some applications check on some of these ports if there is a new update, often without you knowing.
Ports that are not open are therefore Firewalled shut and the device acts in this instance as a Hardware firewall.
Some, and your Mac, have a software firewall which needs the ports for certian applications to be open or in some cases the firewall needs to be turned On to be effective.
See this page for a List of Games and applcations that need ports to be set up.
Don't give up yet as we can look on your Mac for some of this.
Go to System Preferences > Network
Open the Connection Method from the second drop down
Click on the TCP/IP tab to make sure it is the front one.
Thsi is mine
Your should look similar. Mine is set to Manual for Stic IP address routing.
By default your probably says [i][u]Using DHCP[/u][/i] in that top drop down.
Further down you see it lists the "[i]router[/i]"
This is the routing device closet by connection to your computer.
If you have only one device it will be the modem.
If you have two devices it will be the router (depending on how the LAN is set up).
OK Pause. Take a breath.
In most cases the "router" IP above is the default IP address you type in to a web browser to gain access to the device.
To Access mine I type [b]192.168.1.1[/b] in to the text field of the web browser like I would the name of a web page.
A word about IP addresses.
1) Modems and routers tend to issue IP addresses to your LAN devices.
This allows more computers to share the Public IP from your ISP
2) These IP addresses come in three groups.
a) 10.xxx.xxx.xxx
b) 192.168.xxx.xxx
c) 172.16.xxx.xxx through to 172.32.xxx.xxx
If the IP at "Router" in System Preferences > Network shows one of the above then the device you are connected to is issuing IP addresses.
Using DHCP will confirm it is a DHCP server (giving out Addresses Dynamically)
If the IP and "Router" Ip are not in the groups above then the Modem is in Bridge Mode and the computer's handling the log on to the ISP. In this case all the ports are open.
As you can see from my pic the Manual address I have is from a device that is using a number from the groups above
Next we should check the Mac firewall.
Go to System Preferences > Sharing
Open the Firewall tab
Is it on ?
10:44 PM Thursday; February 16, 2006
About ports and setting them for iChat
Very Basic stuff
Basically the data from iChat has to leave the machine (the Mac firewall does not effect outgoing stuff) through any router (Which could be effected by outgoing filters) to the modem (which again could have ougoing filters) and on to the internet.
Data coming to you has to pass through the modem (if the ports are open (plus any software firewall that has), through the router if you have one (same blah vlah blah) and so to your computer which has to have the port open if the Firewall is on.
Don't give up yet as we can look on your Mac for some of this.
Go to System Preferences > Network
Open the Connection Method from the second drop down
Click on the TCP/IP tab to make sure it is the front one.
Thsi is mine
Your should look similar. Mine is set to Manual for Stic IP address routing.
By default your probably says [i][u]Using DHCP[/u][/i] in that top drop down.
Further down you see it lists the "[i]router[/i]"
This is the routing device closet by connection to your computer.
If you have only one device it will be the modem.
If you have two devices it will be the router (depending on how the LAN is set up).
OK Pause. Take a breath.
In most cases the "router" IP above is the default IP address you type in to a web browser to gain access to the device.
To Access mine I type [b]192.168.1.1[/b] in to the text field of the web browser like I would the name of a web page.
Next we should check the Mac firewall.
Go to System Preferences > Sharing
Open the Firewall tab
Is it on ?
10:44 PM Thursday; February 16, 2006
Basically the data from iChat has to leave the machine (the Mac firewall does not effect outgoing stuff) through any router (Which could be effected by outgoing filters) to the modem (which again could have ougoing filters) and on to the internet.
Data coming to you has to pass through the modem (if the ports are open (plus any software firewall that has), through the router if you have one (same blah vlah blah) and so to your computer which has to have the port open if the Firewall is on.
A word about Ports.
At a software level your computer can be thought of as having 65535 windows and doors that data can arrive on (and be accepted if certian conditions are met). These are referred to as ports.
Different Applications tend to use different ports to connect to servers on the internet. Web browsers use port 80, Mail apps can use a few different ones (110, GoogleTalk uses and incoming (995 and outgoing one (587) and others, FTP uses 21-23 to name some common ones.
Most modems and routers have a default set of ports that are always open and need no configuring (1-1024). Some applications check on some of these ports if there is a new update, often without you knowing.
Ports that are not open are therefore Firewalled shut and the device acts in this instance as a Hardware firewall.
Some, and your Mac, have a software firewall which needs the ports for certian applications to be open or in some cases the firewall needs to be turned On to be effective.
See this page for a List of Games and applcations that need ports to be set up.
Don't give up yet as we can look on your Mac for some of this.
Go to System Preferences > Network
Open the Connection Method from the second drop down
Click on the TCP/IP tab to make sure it is the front one.
Thsi is mine
Your should look similar. Mine is set to Manual for Stic IP address routing.
By default your probably says [i][u]Using DHCP[/u][/i] in that top drop down.
Further down you see it lists the "[i]router[/i]"
This is the routing device closet by connection to your computer.
If you have only one device it will be the modem.
If you have two devices it will be the router (depending on how the LAN is set up).
OK Pause. Take a breath.
In most cases the "router" IP above is the default IP address you type in to a web browser to gain access to the device.
To Access mine I type [b]192.168.1.1[/b] in to the text field of the web browser like I would the name of a web page.
A word about IP addresses.
1) Modems and routers tend to issue IP addresses to your LAN devices.
This allows more computers to share the Public IP from your ISP
2) These IP addresses come in three groups.
a) 10.xxx.xxx.xxx
b) 192.168.xxx.xxx
c) 172.16.xxx.xxx through to 172.32.xxx.xxx
If the IP at "Router" in System Preferences > Network shows one of the above then the device you are connected to is issuing IP addresses.
Using DHCP will confirm it is a DHCP server (giving out Addresses Dynamically)
If the IP and "Router" Ip are not in the groups above then the Modem is in Bridge Mode and the computer's handling the log on to the ISP. In this case all the ports are open.
As you can see from my pic the Manual address I have is from a device that is using a number from the groups above
Next we should check the Mac firewall.
Go to System Preferences > Sharing
Open the Firewall tab
Is it on ?
10:44 PM Thursday; February 16, 2006
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Apple Discussion Boards.
HI,
The Apple Discussion Boards have undergone a revamp on the weekend or the 11th -14th November.
It looks like they have a few teething problems.
I am certainly getting the return to a blank page after posting an answer. This makes it very difficult to spot any glaring errors taright away. I type very badly at times.
In some areas I am getting NO Data responses when tru=yig to post and navigate.
Today (15th) there are no Levels being shown against any user.
The Level 4 lounge, a source of useful info about what is going on also does not seem to be up and running at the moment.
Hopefully all will get sorted soon.
Ralph
The Apple Discussion Boards have undergone a revamp on the weekend or the 11th -14th November.
It looks like they have a few teething problems.
I am certainly getting the return to a blank page after posting an answer. This makes it very difficult to spot any glaring errors taright away. I type very badly at times.
In some areas I am getting NO Data responses when tru=yig to post and navigate.
Today (15th) there are no Levels being shown against any user.
The Level 4 lounge, a source of useful info about what is going on also does not seem to be up and running at the moment.
Hopefully all will get sorted soon.
Ralph
PostGreSQL info
Hi
If you have PostgreSQL and want to use iChat this page may be of some help
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/7.2/interactive/kernel-resources.html
Ralph
If you have PostgreSQL and want to use iChat this page may be of some help
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/7.2/interactive/kernel-resources.html
Ralph
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Tables Sorted.
HI,
The tables (see previous post) have been temporarly sorted with adding a Font clour to all text.
Ralph
The tables (see previous post) have been temporarly sorted with adding a Font clour to all text.
Ralph
Tables In the Blog.
Hi,
The tables in the Blog seem to display white font colours on a white background.
This seems to be in spite of any edit I have tried on the older posts.
I will correct as soon as I work it out.
The Text can be seen with a Click and Drg to highlight.
Sorry for any inconvience.
Ralph
The tables in the Blog seem to display white font colours on a white background.
This seems to be in spite of any edit I have tried on the older posts.
I will correct as soon as I work it out.
The Text can be seen with a Click and Drg to highlight.
Sorry for any inconvience.
Ralph
Link Corrected
Hi,
The link to the Pics about iChat 3 has now been corrected.
It was a Upper/lower case problem with the name of the folder for the pics pages.
Enjoy chatting.
Ralph
The link to the Pics about iChat 3 has now been corrected.
It was a Upper/lower case problem with the name of the folder for the pics pages.
Enjoy chatting.
Ralph
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
New Error Message and solution
This one came to me by email 28/09/2005
This one appears to be associated with cocoaAspell, See this link at MacOSXHints. Searching for any bits that might be active with Spotlight is useful.. It appears the SpellCatcher was the original Utility that was deactivated in this case. Thanks to Susan F. Epstein who alerted me to this problem and Ryan Mathus for the link to MacOSXHints. Susan worked through looking for active files and deleted them from the Home/Library/Services.
Ralph
| ** -Invalid parameter not satisfying: (index >= 0) && (index < (_itemArray ? CFArrayGetCount((CFArrayRef)_itemArray) : 0)) |
This one appears to be associated with cocoaAspell, See this link at MacOSXHints. Searching for any bits that might be active with Spotlight is useful.. It appears the SpellCatcher was the original Utility that was deactivated in this case. Thanks to Susan F. Epstein who alerted me to this problem and Ryan Mathus for the link to MacOSXHints. Susan worked through looking for active files and deleted them from the Home/Library/Services.
Ralph
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Upgrading to Tiger/iChat3
Ok We will start with loading Tiger and iChat version 3.0
From Panther
There are or were serveral Add-ons and applications avaiblable to Panther users of iChat that are not compatible with iChat 3.
These following need to be deleted.
iCAR - An Add-on that posts an Auto response Away message (produces a 1 fps result in a Video chat)
Virex for Panther - An Anti Virus app avialable to @mac account users (Produces the 1 fsp problem)
iChatUSBCam for Panther/iChat2.x - A Add-on utility for using iSight or USB cam with iChat2.x (Incompatible with Tiger/iChat 3)
iProfile - An Add-on for producing a profile on the AIM server that ichat 2.x could not do (not proven to be a problem but now not needed).
A clean install of Tiger (not Archive and Install) produces the best results.
But any install should also check these Tiger settings.
First, UPGRADE to 10.4.2 as this gets past many Connection issues that became apparent with the basic Tiger (10.4) and iChat 3.0 It updates iChat to version 3.0.1
Check Settings
Don't be complacent that you have not set anything different.
There are several new things in Tiger that may trip you up.
These are worth looking at:
Mac Firewall. Now includes the ability to Block all UDP traffic in the Advanced button (System Preferences > Sharing >Firewall tab then the Advanced Button).
Also can now open UDP protocol for ports where as the Panther one only did TCP (Check any old Panther settings you Added to the presets).
The ports should be:
QuickTime. This has a change in the name of the Connection Speed tab to Streaming (System Preferences > QuickTime) Check this is set to be equal to your connection speed (the download one if this is faster).
Date & Time. Not conclusively involved but worth eliminating. Set a Network Server and the correct Time Zone.
Apple Remote Desktop. If this is active in System Preferences > Sharing > Services tab it causes problems for iChat.
Next, test the actual speed you are getting from your ISP.
http://www.dslreports.com/stest
There is a table here of the speeds you need:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301050
The one you get linked to in the Help menu is wrong.
Other Known Problems
There are several other applications that iChat 3 does not seem to like.
folding@home This is a application that uses spare processor time to help find protein chains for a University.
PostgreSQL This is a data base application that can be reset to allow more processor time for iChat. See here http://www.murraywilliams.com/blog/archives/000046.html
Lotus Notes Some people have reported problems with this.
Make sure any Add-on Video cards or input PCI cards have up to date Firmware
Thread on Miglia.
IF you are still having problems I would do Routine Maintenance Tasks as laid out here.
Lastly, some routers/modems are SIP aware and give different results in iChat 3 compared to iChat 2.
This is due to the Operating System changing (like a new computer connecting to the modem) rather than iChat.
See www.ralphjohnsuk.dsl.pipex.com/page4
Ralph
From Panther
There are or were serveral Add-ons and applications avaiblable to Panther users of iChat that are not compatible with iChat 3.
These following need to be deleted.
iCAR - An Add-on that posts an Auto response Away message (produces a 1 fps result in a Video chat)
Virex for Panther - An Anti Virus app avialable to @mac account users (Produces the 1 fsp problem)
iChatUSBCam for Panther/iChat2.x - A Add-on utility for using iSight or USB cam with iChat2.x (Incompatible with Tiger/iChat 3)
iProfile - An Add-on for producing a profile on the AIM server that ichat 2.x could not do (not proven to be a problem but now not needed).
A clean install of Tiger (not Archive and Install) produces the best results.
But any install should also check these Tiger settings.
First, UPGRADE to 10.4.2 as this gets past many Connection issues that became apparent with the basic Tiger (10.4) and iChat 3.0 It updates iChat to version 3.0.1
Check Settings
Don't be complacent that you have not set anything different.
There are several new things in Tiger that may trip you up.
These are worth looking at:
Mac Firewall. Now includes the ability to Block all UDP traffic in the Advanced button (System Preferences > Sharing >Firewall tab then the Advanced Button).
Also can now open UDP protocol for ports where as the Panther one only did TCP (Check any old Panther settings you Added to the presets).
The ports should be:
| Tiger TCP and UDP Ports For Mac Firewall | ||
| Method | TCP Ports | UDP Ports |
| iChat over AIM | 5190 | 5060, 5190, 5678, 16384-16403 |
| Bonjour | 5298 | 5297, 5298, 5353 |
| Jabber | 5220, 5222, 5223 | |
| All Ports | 5190, 5220, 5222, 5223, 5298 | 5060, 5297, 5298, 5298, 5353, 5678, 16384-16403 |
QuickTime. This has a change in the name of the Connection Speed tab to Streaming (System Preferences > QuickTime) Check this is set to be equal to your connection speed (the download one if this is faster).
Date & Time. Not conclusively involved but worth eliminating. Set a Network Server and the correct Time Zone.
Apple Remote Desktop. If this is active in System Preferences > Sharing > Services tab it causes problems for iChat.
Next, test the actual speed you are getting from your ISP.
http://www.dslreports.com/stest
There is a table here of the speeds you need:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301050
The one you get linked to in the Help menu is wrong.
Other Known Problems
There are several other applications that iChat 3 does not seem to like.
folding@home This is a application that uses spare processor time to help find protein chains for a University.
PostgreSQL This is a data base application that can be reset to allow more processor time for iChat. See here http://www.murraywilliams.com/blog/archives/000046.html
Lotus Notes Some people have reported problems with this.
Make sure any Add-on Video cards or input PCI cards have up to date Firmware
Thread on Miglia.
IF you are still having problems I would do Routine Maintenance Tasks as laid out here.
Lastly, some routers/modems are SIP aware and give different results in iChat 3 compared to iChat 2.
This is due to the Operating System changing (like a new computer connecting to the modem) rather than iChat.
See www.ralphjohnsuk.dsl.pipex.com/page4
Ralph
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Potted Computer history
For Tom,
My first taste of anything to do with computers was in 1977 when I went back to college here in Britian. This was a Further Education college that offered GCSE 'A' Level exams as well as other vocational and higher qualifications.
I started to do three. I lasted a term (Sept to Christmas) whilst trying to get a grant. (First person in Dorset to stuffer the first round off Education Grant cuts). This included computing.
I have no idea now what the computer was. I know it was a hand-me down from somewhere.
It had been pleaced in a room that was too small for it. The card reader was in one room and a printer (14") was based in yet another. The computer almost filled the room. It was taller than my 6ft (181cm) and about 4ft square at the base.
My course started with us having to learn BASIC. We had to type the cards out which obviously got punched and then hand them in to an assistant who ran them through the machine. The computer was not specifically programmed to run BASIC and did so under an emulation. Consequently it sometimes took days to get stuff back. In the term I was there I had just about managed Add,ubtract, Divide and Multiply. High level stuff I know.
When the Sinclair group broght out their Spectrum (sometime in the '80s), I had a 16k (yes a memory of a whole 16k) one. It had the rubberised keyboard that it was famous for. I learnt to programme it it it's own version of BASIC and to some extent in it's machine code. Lots of time also spent playing games in 8 colours. It stll works. Programmes were loaded from a tape recored and stored on cassette tapes.
There was then a big gap until 1991 when I started my nurse training.
Here, the School of Nursing and the local Poytechnic joined together to offer the new type of nursing qualification. (Project 2000 for those interested). (The two bodies later amalgamated to form a University).
This was my introduction to the Mac. We had an introductory seession. I was placed in front of a Mac plus and given a A4 (8.25 X 11.75 inches) with some simple instructions and told to "explore". The instructions were to use ClarisWorks (System 6) so that we could learn how to write our essays on a computer.
Despite there being several Mac labs all over the Campus and loads more dotted about in the Library it was always difficult to find a free computer. So in 1992 I bought a Performa 400.
This had a 68030 chip runnng at Mgz (I think). 4Mb of RAM and an 80Mb (yes Mb) hard drive. It also had a floopy drive and took about 40 or so to do a complete back up, once I had added my own stuff. It ran System 7.0.1 and I have updated that to 7.3.5, which is the highest it can go.
It came with several demos including one of the start of the Aladin series.
In 1998 came my Original Bondi Blue Ver A iMac (233mhz). What a difference !! The place I bought it from downloaded the 80Mb from the old computer (2 1/2 hours and loaded it on to the iMac (15 mins). I bought an AsanteTalk box which allowed me to connect the two.
It also came with a modem and so the internet started. On Dial-up at first. Then longer periods as optional phone service came on line. And finally on Broadband (ADSL 500k down/ 256k up).
I had upgraded the processor to 400Mgz, added a 80Gb hard drive and added more Video memory to it's max of 8Mb. However the screen then died on New Years Day 2003.
I currently have a G4 1GHz Mirror Door tower. It has been fitted with 3 extra drives. The salvaged 80 Gb , a 60Gb from an external USB unit that the G4 would not recognise in OS X and a 250Gb split into two partitions.
I would say I can use AppleWorks and Office for Mac and produce acceptable printed and Visual work. I can just about produce something in iMovie having edited my Father-in-Law's analogue video tapes through DV converter.
That has led my to iChat - and we all know about that.
Ralph
My first taste of anything to do with computers was in 1977 when I went back to college here in Britian. This was a Further Education college that offered GCSE 'A' Level exams as well as other vocational and higher qualifications.
I started to do three. I lasted a term (Sept to Christmas) whilst trying to get a grant. (First person in Dorset to stuffer the first round off Education Grant cuts). This included computing.
I have no idea now what the computer was. I know it was a hand-me down from somewhere.
It had been pleaced in a room that was too small for it. The card reader was in one room and a printer (14") was based in yet another. The computer almost filled the room. It was taller than my 6ft (181cm) and about 4ft square at the base.
My course started with us having to learn BASIC. We had to type the cards out which obviously got punched and then hand them in to an assistant who ran them through the machine. The computer was not specifically programmed to run BASIC and did so under an emulation. Consequently it sometimes took days to get stuff back. In the term I was there I had just about managed Add,ubtract, Divide and Multiply. High level stuff I know.
When the Sinclair group broght out their Spectrum (sometime in the '80s), I had a 16k (yes a memory of a whole 16k) one. It had the rubberised keyboard that it was famous for. I learnt to programme it it it's own version of BASIC and to some extent in it's machine code. Lots of time also spent playing games in 8 colours. It stll works. Programmes were loaded from a tape recored and stored on cassette tapes.
There was then a big gap until 1991 when I started my nurse training.
Here, the School of Nursing and the local Poytechnic joined together to offer the new type of nursing qualification. (Project 2000 for those interested). (The two bodies later amalgamated to form a University).
This was my introduction to the Mac. We had an introductory seession. I was placed in front of a Mac plus and given a A4 (8.25 X 11.75 inches) with some simple instructions and told to "explore". The instructions were to use ClarisWorks (System 6) so that we could learn how to write our essays on a computer.
Despite there being several Mac labs all over the Campus and loads more dotted about in the Library it was always difficult to find a free computer. So in 1992 I bought a Performa 400.
This had a 68030 chip runnng at Mgz (I think). 4Mb of RAM and an 80Mb (yes Mb) hard drive. It also had a floopy drive and took about 40 or so to do a complete back up, once I had added my own stuff. It ran System 7.0.1 and I have updated that to 7.3.5, which is the highest it can go.
It came with several demos including one of the start of the Aladin series.
In 1998 came my Original Bondi Blue Ver A iMac (233mhz). What a difference !! The place I bought it from downloaded the 80Mb from the old computer (2 1/2 hours and loaded it on to the iMac (15 mins). I bought an AsanteTalk box which allowed me to connect the two.
It also came with a modem and so the internet started. On Dial-up at first. Then longer periods as optional phone service came on line. And finally on Broadband (ADSL 500k down/ 256k up).
I had upgraded the processor to 400Mgz, added a 80Gb hard drive and added more Video memory to it's max of 8Mb. However the screen then died on New Years Day 2003.
I currently have a G4 1GHz Mirror Door tower. It has been fitted with 3 extra drives. The salvaged 80 Gb , a 60Gb from an external USB unit that the G4 would not recognise in OS X and a 250Gb split into two partitions.
I would say I can use AppleWorks and Office for Mac and produce acceptable printed and Visual work. I can just about produce something in iMovie having edited my Father-in-Law's analogue video tapes through DV converter.
That has led my to iChat - and we all know about that.
Ralph
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
How to Get iChat to Open AIM weblinks (Chatrooms)
Hi All,
Ruth Lachman posted this answer on the Apple IChat 3 Discussions: Link to Thread
Ralph
Ruth Lachman posted this answer on the Apple IChat 3 Discussions: Link to Thread
Just in case any of you were wondering, you open up Internet Explorer. Then you go to preferences and choose Network, then Protocol Helper. Then it'll give you a list of helpers, one being AIM. The helper will be AIM by default. Just hit the change button and select iChat as the helper.
Ralph
Sunday, July 17, 2005
PostgresSQL
On the Apple iChat Discussion Pages.
Kevin Woon reported this:
And Kaan Erdener replied with:
This might help other with the Postgres problem.
Ralph
Kevin Woon reported this:
You don't actually need to kill PostgreSQL to be able to run iChat. I did some experimenting and found that if you reduce the number of shared-buffers. I had started with 300, but reduced it to 75. After I did that everything worked fine.
And Kaan Erdener replied with:
Ok, I managed to get my iSight working again with iChat while leaving postgres running. Here's what I did.
Before I get started, I'm running postgres 8.0.1 on OS X 10.4.1. My postgresql.conf shows these default values for max_connections and shared_buffers:
max_connections = 40
shared_buffers = 200 # min 16, at least max_connections*2, 8KB each
So, I'm not sure where you saw a value of 300. Was it somewhere else besides postgresql.conf? Or are you running a different version of Postgres? Something else?
I tried descreasing shared_buffers to 80 (the smallest value allowed following the math rule of max_connections*2), but iChat still failed on video chats. This was logged to console output:
2005-07-17 06:37:13.894 iChat[8259] WARNING: Freeze-frame failed: couldn't get local buffer for layer Local!
When I decreased both max_connections and shared_buffers, as below, I found that I am now able to leave postgres running and use iChat with iSight for video chats:
max_connections = 20
shared_buffers = 40 # min 16, at least max_connections*2, 8KB each
Kaan
This might help other with the Postgres problem.
Ralph
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Sorting Tiger and iChat
Hi All,
This post is designed to help isolate problems.
Problems from Updating from Panther.
There are or were serveral Add-ons and applications avaiblable to Panther users of iChat that are not compatible with iChat 3.
These following need to be deleted.
iCAR - An Add-on that posts an Auto response Away message (produces a 1 fps result in a Video chat)
Virex for Panther - An Anti Viru app avialable to @mac account users (Produces the 1 fsp problem)
Similar with Apple Remote Desktop if active in the System Preferences > Sharing pane
iChatUSBCam for Panther/iChat2.x - A Add-on utility for using iSight or USB cam with iChat2.x (Incompatible with Tiger/iChat 3)
iProfile - An Add-on for producing a profile on the AIM server thta ichat 2.x caould not do (not proven to be a problem but now not needed).
Use Spotlight to find all files including .plist and delete.
Lotus Note 6 has recently got a mention
A clean install of Tiger (not Archive and Install) produces the best results.
Check Settings
Don't be complacent that you have not set anything different.
There are several new things in Tiger that may trip you up.
These are worth looking at:
Mac Firewall Now includes the ability to Block all UDP traffic in the Advanced button (System Preferences > Sharing >Firewall tab).
Also can now open UDP protocol for ports where as the Panther one only did TCP (Check any old Panther settings you Added to the presets).
The ports should be:
TCP -5190
UDP -5060, 5190, 5678, 16384-16403
There are more ports for Bonjour and Jabber)
QuickTime This has a change in the name of the Connection Speed tab to Streaming (System Preferences > QuickTime) Check this is set to higher or equal to your connection speed.
Date & Time Not conclusively involved but worth eliminating. Set a Network Server and the correct Time Zone.
Next test the actual speed you are getting form your ISP.
http://www.dslreports.com/stest
There is a table here of the speeds you need:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301050
The one you get linked to in the Help menu is wrong.
Test with a known "good" Buddy:
Ralph Johns (UK), "FAQ: Want to Test your iSight WIth Another Person?", 10:18am Dec 14, 2004 CDT from this list or the four Auto Respoding AIM name accounts
tryichatav Not on line as often a it was.
appleu3test01, appleu3test02 or appleu3test03 New AIM name accounts.
D-Link router owners could try rebooting their router as this has worked in a number of cases.
After that if you are still having error messages post them in the discussions.
List all the steps above you have done and checked off.
State which problem message you are getting.
Insufficient Bandwidth
(Your name) did not respond when you started the chat.
NO Data was recieved for 10 secs
State which ISP you are using.
State your Geographical Location.
State your Computer's processor speed.
Ralph
This post is designed to help isolate problems.
Problems from Updating from Panther.
There are or were serveral Add-ons and applications avaiblable to Panther users of iChat that are not compatible with iChat 3.
These following need to be deleted.
iCAR - An Add-on that posts an Auto response Away message (produces a 1 fps result in a Video chat)
Virex for Panther - An Anti Viru app avialable to @mac account users (Produces the 1 fsp problem)
Similar with Apple Remote Desktop if active in the System Preferences > Sharing pane
iChatUSBCam for Panther/iChat2.x - A Add-on utility for using iSight or USB cam with iChat2.x (Incompatible with Tiger/iChat 3)
iProfile - An Add-on for producing a profile on the AIM server thta ichat 2.x caould not do (not proven to be a problem but now not needed).
Use Spotlight to find all files including .plist and delete.
Lotus Note 6 has recently got a mention
A clean install of Tiger (not Archive and Install) produces the best results.
Check Settings
Don't be complacent that you have not set anything different.
There are several new things in Tiger that may trip you up.
These are worth looking at:
Mac Firewall Now includes the ability to Block all UDP traffic in the Advanced button (System Preferences > Sharing >Firewall tab).
Also can now open UDP protocol for ports where as the Panther one only did TCP (Check any old Panther settings you Added to the presets).
The ports should be:
TCP -5190
UDP -5060, 5190, 5678, 16384-16403
There are more ports for Bonjour and Jabber)
QuickTime This has a change in the name of the Connection Speed tab to Streaming (System Preferences > QuickTime) Check this is set to higher or equal to your connection speed.
Date & Time Not conclusively involved but worth eliminating. Set a Network Server and the correct Time Zone.
Next test the actual speed you are getting form your ISP.
http://www.dslreports.com/stest
There is a table here of the speeds you need:
| Requirements | 1-to-1 Audio Conference | 10-Person Audio Conference | 1-to-1 Video Conference | 4-Person Video Conference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| To Initiate (Host) | System Required | Any G3, G4 or G5 processor | 1GHz G4, dual 800 MHz G4 or any G5 | 600MHz G3, any G4 or any G5 | Dual 1GHz G4, any G5 |
| Bandwidth Required | 56Kbps Internet connection (up/down) | 128Kbps Internet connection (up/down) | 100Kbps Internet connection (up/down) | 384Kbps Internet connection (up/down) | |
| To Participate | System Required | Any G3, G4 or G5 processor | Any G3, G4 or G5 processor | 600MHz G3, any G4 or any G5 | 1GHz G4, dual 800 MHz G4 or any G5 |
| Bandwidth Required | 56Kbps Internet connection (up/down) | 56Kbps Internet connection (up/down) | 100Kbps Internet connection (up/down) | 100Kbps Internet connection (up/down) | |
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301050
The one you get linked to in the Help menu is wrong.
Test with a known "good" Buddy:
Ralph Johns (UK), "FAQ: Want to Test your iSight WIth Another Person?", 10:18am Dec 14, 2004 CDT from this list or the four Auto Respoding AIM name accounts
tryichatav Not on line as often a it was.
appleu3test01, appleu3test02 or appleu3test03 New AIM name accounts.
D-Link router owners could try rebooting their router as this has worked in a number of cases.
After that if you are still having error messages post them in the discussions.
List all the steps above you have done and checked off.
State which problem message you are getting.
Insufficient Bandwidth
(Your name) did not respond when you started the chat.
NO Data was recieved for 10 secs
State which ISP you are using.
State your Geographical Location.
State your Computer's processor speed.
Ralph
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
10.4.2 is Out
Hi,
For those popping by, 10.4.2 update is out and includes an iChat fix for the "Insufficient Bandwidth" issue.
Ralph
For those popping by, 10.4.2 update is out and includes an iChat fix for the "Insufficient Bandwidth" issue.
Ralph
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