There are reports of problems like this with AlPBs. It started to hapen with mine after 10.3.5 (or one of the recent security updates). There are similar reports on MacFixIt and Apple's Discussion boards.

I keep seeing uptimes of 45-66 days for some of my users. Not too shabby, coming from OS9.

I don't think I've done much to make this more Windows-like. I've loaded things to make my life easier and to make the machine work more like I need it to. Things like Sidetrack to deal with multiple pointing devices (one left-handed) should not be too much to ask. Everything I've loaded has actually been something recommended here.

The last thing I want is an expensive, incompatible Windows clone; I'm using this machine to try something different. However I do expect it to be able to accomplish all the same TASKS I can do in Windows, even if it looks and feels different. So far it does not. I've tried to add a lot of hardware with varying success, like kernel dumps on plugging in a USB HD. I've actually resisted loading anything extra to make the machine more Windows-like, and while I love the Mac GUI, it could use a few little features.

In summary, based on my experience, a Mac is no more friendly or reliable than any Windows computer. Maybe it is if you simply keep it like you bought it and add few peripherals. Once you want it to do a lot of work, you're back to the same issues any other computer has. Same as Windows.

You are implying that those of us that don't have problems with our Macs aren't doing any work? I am quite offended by this.

Lots of people recommend software that works for them but that doesn't mean that it won't exhibit problems on your machine which may have a different combination of hardware & software.
To take Sidetrack as an example - doesn't that install a kernel extension? All 3rd-party kernel extensions are the first things you should suspect when experiencing kernel panics. It may work for most people but still have latent bugs when used in certain circumstances.

Often the panic.log (under /Library/Logs) will show some indication of what might be the cause of the kernel panic in its list of the active kernel extensions.

If you experience kernel panics, you should disconnect all peripherals and remove all 3rd-party kernel extensions and see if that solves the problem. Then add them back in one at a time.

As I've said elsewhere, I recommend extreme reluctance to installing anything that has system-wide effects - especially if it involves a kernel extension. Adapt to the system as it is instead of trying to make it the way you want it to be.

I agree with hayne here. I found SideTrack to render both an iBook and a PowerBook (both running Panther) extremely unstable. Once I traced the problem to SideTrack, I've not had kernel panix since. IMO, SideTrack is a great idea, but it's still a work in progress and has a long way to go.

No, I'm not. I said a "lot" of work, but realize I'm not being clear. My computer and my Pocket PC contain my entire life. Nothing exists without being in one or both of those. I have no paper files whatsoever, no paper calendar, nothing outside the computer. Both business and personal. No stamps, no newspapers, really nothing non-electronic. I spend 10 hours a day at it or more, since nearly everything about my job requires it, and because my personal life is similarly managed on it.

So...I'm not the user that takes a PowerBook and uses it sitting at the kitchen table with basic software and maybe just a printer attached. I need automated scanning abilities, multi-tray printing, extreme portability since I travel frequently, multiple backup systems since my entire life is in there, multiple pointing/keyboard devices to relieve strain and due to arthritis, and much more. I've got two USB hubs filled up and a drive on the FW port.

Without things like Sidetrack, I don't know of a way to have my left and right-handed pointing devices. So without it I'm forced to work the way the computer tells me to work, rather than telling the computer to work the way I need to. I think you'd agree that's unacceptable, especially when there's a physical, medical reason.

This certainly is not Apple bashing, but it should be noted that all of these things were very easy to accomplish on my Windows PC. Should I go back? Maybe, but I do love the GUI so much, plus the power of the Unix CLI. There is so much about Mac OS that feels so "together" and comfortable to me, which is why I keep fighting to make it work for me. As far as peripherals, it's got a ways to go for people like me.

I appreciate everyone's help here. I'm really not trying to be combative. The original point of this post is that Mac OS isn't quite as perfect as some people like to say, but it does have some very strong advantages. My goal is to make it work perfectly to me, and then recommend it to people I work with where it is appropriate (I see lots of people who would love it).

And to clarify that...I realize lots of people do serious work on it, that was just an extreme example. But the recurring them around my issues seems to be that I'm asking too much of it or doing too much to it.

I can understand your annoyance at the lack of peripherals. But this is not entirely Apple's fault. Many vendors just don't see $$$ when they thing of providing support for Macs. All they see is $$$, coupled with typical misinformation that those who don't know a lot about the Mac OS.

Your experience according to what you told us..."I'm now on my third day of using a Powerbook as my primary computer"...you need to give yourself and your Mac a bit more time to get to know each other...


I believe most people know this already. No machine is perfect...don't tell me you were looking, searching for the perfect machine? Most of these forums are about problems you encounter while running an Apple Computer and the probable solutions that can be implemented.

I read your posts and I can see you have special needs, so by all means, if all your life is in a computer and you feel more comfortable in a PC, please don't give it up, just go for it...

.

I certainly don't blame Apple. I realize its the vendors that are primarily responsible for supporting the OS. From the user perspective though, none of that matters.

The PowerBook has been my primary computer for a week now. I've been a casual Mac user for a very long time, but didn't do much with them other than goof around. Hence, I never tried to make it work as a primary platform that I use for many hours per day. I've probably put 30 hours into just working on the machine and doing research in this past week. I'll give it more time, but meanwhile I have to also do work, and need things like printers.

I do want to make this work, evidenced by the fact that I sold my perfectly good (and 8 month old) Wintel notebook. It's just frustrating sometimes.

Yes, I can read 'between the lines' your frustration, expectation and jugdement, and it could be that at the moment, you're asking too much from your Mac. Will talk about your problems with a macintosh user friend of mine also with special needs and see if he has any ideas for you.

My 2 cents (well, 0.037 CDN :)
 

It is with great interest and amusement that I have read the posts in this thread. I can’t believe that after over 20 years, they still sound the same. As this fall marks the 20 year anniversary of my first Macintosh purchase – a cute little beige 512K, external 400K floppy drive and an ImageWriter printer, all for the “paltry” price of 3,695.00CDN, plus tax– please bear with me as I add my 2 cents.

That little 512K was used to run an agricultural supply business (yes, it WAS fertilizer! … so there! ) for 5 years and it never failed me once. Subsequent to that, I had an office product and computer retail business where I sold both Macs and PCs. As anyone else who has can attest, it was always a difficult sell to get the Macs out the door, with the price differential at the time. In my empirical observations, it was always a different sort of person who would go with the Mac; not mainstream, shall we say. During this time, I graduated from the Plus to the SE20 to the ‘awesome’ Mac II – in living colour! – and the crowning glory of a dual monitor installation; 21” main and 13” aux. Alas, the release of Windows 3.1 was the final straw. With it came, what most mainstream people thought, was the primary benefit of the Mac – point-and-click – with a reasonable interface.

I have gone on to do many other things, but a majority were computer-related in some shape or form, including a recent 4 month stint as a “technical support engineer” (?) in a call centre supporting HP-Compaq systems. Well, the “great unwashed masses” haven’t gotten any better; just more of them – and faster, due to, in part, the proliferation of fast, cheap systems and the internet. But I do still have most of my hair.

What I am trying to get across, I suppose, is that there always was, and always will be the ‘great debate between, or over, these to systems, or in any other area where there is a choice. This one’s better for this, that one’s better for that, ad infinitum. But for me, anyway – and it is why I am now going back to the Mac – it has always boiled down to just one word: cool! And if you don’t believe that ‘cool’ is a good enough reason to buy one thing over another, well, hmmm …any of you here in advertising?

Thanks for your patience in letting me ramble on.

Lyle – a soon-to-be 20” iMac-G5 owner!…cool, man!

My "great debate" goes back even farther. Let's set the Wayback Machine to 1979, my first year of high school. I took on the task of building the Heathkit H8 microcomputer and H19 terminal which the school had bought the year before. "Build" at that time meant thousands of discrete components.

After a couple months I had a working computer with 4k of static RAM, a cassette tape for the OS and programs, a non-grapical 80x24 display, and a 110 baud acoustical modem. Once the OS and BASIC interpreter were loaded up, I had 3.1k of memory left to program in.

Then the Apple arrived one day... Rather glorious in a sense, with full graphics and gobs of memory. I think 16k, or something phenomenal like that. It also had a 5.25" disk drive that held huge amounts of information, retrievable instantly (compared to a cassette tape). I remember writing a Space Invaders clone for it, which was fun to play, but I really didn't like it as a computing platform. I still stuck with the Heathkit machine for "real work." I'd retire to the Apple when I wanted to goof off or play a game (other than Adventure, if you remember that game).

And that pretty much has been my relationship with Apples until last week. Other than many years ago when I got a Newton, and was forced to use the Macs in the computer store just to load apps on it, until they made a Windows sync program.

I still have a Quadra 650AV and a PPC 9100AV at home.

I work 30 hours a week for a market research company. We've used Apple as an example of how not to market. I'm still embarassed to walk down the Apple aisle in stores, because I don't want to be "one of those people." The ones I see in the commercials I mean. And I most certainly don't want to be a poddie.

This thread is starting to ramble again. There used to be an actual topic at some point.


The Coat Room is a few doors below. :p

I think you should start taking this into account as a real possibility.

You are severely handicapped in this endeavor. You see yourself as a Super Computer guy and have continuously displayed distain for Mac users and the Mac way of computing. With all that, there is no way you are going to be able to put yourself in the proper mind set for the task at hand. You are just really not open to new ways of doing things.

I suggest you read your own posts in this forum. You are a Windows user. Windows is on your mind all the time. It is how you see computing.

Honestly, I don't see you getting past this. You take far too much pride in your Windows experience to let yourself be what you really are on a Macintosh... a completely inexperienced user. Your system is displaying issues that are real signs that something is going wrong... but I'll bet that you would never stoop to the level of asking someone in your local Mac community to help.

I'm not sure why you bought a Mac. But I think you need to start taking a real strong look at the possibility that you are not... and may never be, a Mac user.

With all the issues you are having (far more than any normal user or switcher I've come across), you'll never get to the point of finding out what is truly special about the Mac platform. You'll always see it as not working quite right, and that will cloud everything else.

Some Mac users feel we need every person we can get to save the platform. Personally, I think people should use what works best for them. You, in my opinion, are a true Windows user. And I have met tons of people just like you that I would never suggest a Mac to. But there are some people that thrive with the freedom that the Mac environment offers. Some have never even heard of Macs or have had people like you tell them that you can't do real work on a Mac. Those people I think should be given the time and energy to help them find what works best for them. And yes, I have -shudder- converted a few people to Windows.

Please... please, if you are not going to give this platform a fair chance, just save yourself the anguish and go back to Windows. I honestly think, for you, this is the best course of action.


:rolleyes:

I'm guessing that, as I'm a Mac user (one of those people), you are going to disregard this. Keep in mind that you are asking these questions of yourself too... which means it is coming from a Windows user whose opinion you respect above all others. ;)

You see me that way. I don't. And the only disdain I have for Mac users is for the image marketed to me by Apple. I've learned real Mac users aren't that.

I'm already there. Why do you think I keep trying to make it work?

Freedom?!? Now you've got me curious. Freedom from what? Peripherals that just plug in and work? Freedom from buying just anything at any store and having it just plug in and get to work? There are a lot of things I like about Mac OS, but there is no freedom. Apple has deigned how you will work, and by god, that's all you need. If you needed more, Apple would have given it to you.

That's rather arrogant and offensive. What do you think I'm doing here? How many times do you think I've been at the local Apple stores and have you any idea whether I've joined the local MUG, been to a meeting, or tried to educate myself? I thought I'd made it clear in most of my writing that I have very little clue on Mac OS, and I'm hear to learn. A lot, in a short time, so I can actually get some work done.

I don't believe anyone could be more committed to switching than I am. I've spent well over $3k to replace a perfectly good computer with one that still doesn't do everything I need. Some people would call that stupid. Come to think of it, I hear it at home every day, but she likes Linux and Windows, so what does she know...

Hey RacerX, lets not get personal here! CALverez is only being honest about what appears to be a very frustrating first week as a mac user.

CAlverez - sao is a regular and experienced poster here, so it might be an idea to see what he can dig up. It sounds like you are experiencing the most annoying bit of the mac world - lack of peripherals with good support.

From this thread it seems that we have been of at least some help: identifying SideTrack as the most likely source of your kernal panics. Your first stop might be to remove it and see if the panics stop. If they do, at least you will know what needs your attention. You might have to find an alternative (either software or hardware) or get in touch with the Sidetrack people and give them 'feedback'.

Re: printers, if you cant get the default apple drivers to run them, try the gimp-print option, which covers many more printers (albeit with maybe limited support, ie no watermarking etc). If that still doesnt work, you might have to swap them. Again, the most annoying bit of mac-world is peripheral compatability.

Truly, that pretty much covers it. And unfortunately it looks like I'm one of a handful of people who take document imaging seriously, and I'm the only one using a Mac... I simply can't find a product for that (software/hardware both). But now I'm running an old version of PaperPort in Classic so I can get by. I had forgotten how much nicer OS X is over the old stuff, visually.

I thought Sao had some ideas, and I was going to try removing Sidetrack. Now I can't make it fail again at will, so I can't make a solid controlled comparison. It's like it has chilled out and stopped having problems.

Definitely. For whatever it's worth, or may be interesting to others. I've found it useful when Mac users have told me about switching to Windows. And the original intent was to give people ideas on what to tell Windows users so they'll have an open mind regarding OS X. Not necessarily to "sell" it, but at least not to turn them off.

hmm, "document imaging" - what do you mean by that?? I took a trip to the PaperPort web site (PC only!) and think i might be seeing what you are needing - a tight integration between laptop and tablet PC for all of your electronic documents. Shame there isnt an OSX version.

Next time you get kernal panics, check out the log file (/Library/Logs) and send it to the SideTrack developer. You are using beta software, after all!

good luck

I thought we covered this already.