Technogeekery updates

[ffutures]

1: My iBook G4 really doesn't like writing DVD+R - it's fine with DVD-R. Maybe some of the newer ones had drives that can do both, this one doesn't.

2: iBook also doesn't know about the microscope camera, even with the macam program running. So it goes - I can use it with a PC for now, maybe bring my microscope in here and use it with the spare desktop machine.

3: Is there any reason other than "you don't need to worry about it" why you can't see what the USB ports etc. are up to?

4: Is there any particular reason why Apple don't give you any information at all about the progress of a job such as writing a DVD when you do it? Such as how long it's likely to take? First time of trying, not overwhelmingly impressed.

5: Re 2 - 4 above, am I missing something obvious in the way of an additional program / menu I ought to be looking at for this stuff?

Comments

[ckd]

1. Yes, newer drives are +/- compat; older are just - compat. See answer to #5 for how to tell what the drive supports.

2-3. See #5.

4. It should give you a progress bar, though I don't remember if it has a time estimate.

5. System Profiler. Easiest way to get to it is to open 'About this Mac' from the Apple menu and click on the More Info button. Shows all USB & FW devices, etc.

What version of Mac OS X are you running?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Re. system profiler - thanks, thought there had to be some way of doing it.

re version - 1.3.9

[cdybedahl.livejournal.com]

1: Well, it was worth a shot, at least.

3: Exactly what do you mean by what the ports are up to? A lot of info ends up in /var/log/system.log, particularly problem reports.

4: On my 10.3.9 machines the DVD burning alert box has a foldout triangle that brings up a progress bar. Might be different in Tiger, I guess.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Agree it was worth trying, but I got this from Charlie and he's an early adoptor, wasn't very hopeful.

Didn't notice a triangle, doesn't mean it wasn't there. Don't want to waste another DVD finding out right now, but next time I burn one I'll check.

Re "what the ports are up to", I mean whether anything is plugged in and if so what the system thinks it is, that sort of thing.

[cdybedahl.livejournal.com]

All right, then System Profiler is just what you're after.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Whoops, I thought I'd said it was a CD-RW/DVD-R only. I've only just acquired a Mac that can do DVD+/-RW. (You can, however, procure an external USB 2.0 DVD+/-RW drive and it ought to do the business.)

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Additional warning: don't use a DVD-R in your drive that's faster than 8x -- older iBook and Powerbook drives (specifically the Masushita UJR-816, if I remember correctly) suffer from indigestion if you feed them fast burn disks, and I think your iBook is of roughly that vintage.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I thought that was what you said, but Calle suggested that some Mac drives do both even if only sold as -R. But in any case I much prefer to use Nero on a PC for making CD masters and will be using it if I do go to an FF DVD, it's the program I know how I use and it's well suited to mass production, so it's no big deal.