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iMac desktops
#17560 09/23/11 08:14 PM
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grelber Offline OP
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Given the age of my iMac DV SE and current OS (9.0.4), I have been looking at the possibility of upgrading to an iMac 21.5" desktop.

I have no need for the massive hard drive capacity (given that my current HD is 15GB and I'm only using one-third of its capacity), but what I do require is a modem for dial-up access (since I have no need/desire for high-speed/broad-band access, particularly not at the cost such runs here in Canada, and I use the Internet for a maximum of 3 hours per day).
However, apparently no such modem exists — ie, there is no software support in modems for Lion.

So, upgrading would seem to be a no-go for me at present ... unless anybody out there has information to the contrary.

Re: iMac desktops
grelber #17562 09/23/11 10:32 PM
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There's no software support for Apple's USB modem (but they no longer sell it anyway); there are several third-party modems compatible with Lion. Here are a couple:

USRobotics 56K Modems: USR5637 56K* USB Faxmodem

Zoom Telephonics - V.92 56K USB Mini External Modem



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Re: iMac desktops
dkmarsh #17563 09/23/11 11:54 PM
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Pretty small and slick compared to what I remember....and no AC to DC adapters.

I still recall, in the 80s, getting a 1200 baud Apple modem and signing onto a billboard when a message popped up "Wow! 1200 baud. Lucky guy."

ryck


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Re: iMac desktops
dkmarsh #17564 09/24/11 01:12 AM
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grelber may find How to fax with Lion helpful.

Quote:
Prob solved!

With the Zoom 3095 my iMac 2011 faxes perfectly under Lion... I even can use the AppleModem's cord connecting the Zoom to my fritzbox.

Nevertheless, Apple's arrogance ignoring the needs for a 64bit-driver for Apple's own modem is pretty annoying!

Best,

Rabendoktor


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: iMac desktops
dkmarsh #17566 09/24/11 09:24 AM
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grelber Offline OP
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Thanks, guys.
Strange that the campus comupter store couldn't come up with either of those items.
They both have fax capability which is nice.
And they both cost US$49.99.
I have never heard of Zoom before, but USR is a familiar brand. Any recommendation on which one might prove better (ie, more reliable, longer lived)?

Re: iMac desktops
grelber #17567 09/24/11 03:10 PM
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Originally Posted By: grelber
I have never heard of Zoom before, but USR is a familiar brand. Any recommendation on which one might prove better (ie, more reliable, longer lived)?

FWIW, Zoom Telephonics has been around for almost as long as Apple, and offered Zoom branded modems from the moment Macs could use them. Along the way they absorbed big modem names as Hayes and Global Village. I can't say much about current quality of any (stand-alone) modem maker's products, but if you've been around for so long it must amount to something...


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Re: iMac desktops
alternaut #17581 09/25/11 08:10 AM
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grelber Offline OP
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Thanks again. I was able to locate the USRobotics 56K Modem: USR5637 56K USB Faxmodem locally (but for $40 more than cited online); nobody in these parts has heard of the Zoom Telephonics - V.92 56K USB Mini External Modem.

According to the write-ups on both modems, Mac Snow Leopard and Lion both have fax software/capability built in. So one does not have to rely on third-party software?

Some other issues have surfaced in the interim:

- What's up with the weird downsized keyboard on the new iMacs? There's no numeric keypad plus other keys. To get a full one I'd have to buy a whole new set-up.

- Assuming that I can connect my iMac DV SE (running Mac OS 9.0.4 and using Mozilla 1.0.1 browser) to the new iMac (running Mac OS X 10.7 and using Firefox browser), using a USB cable, how would I get my Mozilla bookmarks off my current set-up and into the new iMac?
[I discussed this with a colleague who just got a new Power Book Pro, and he was unable to transfer the bookmarks from one machine to the other, even though both were running OS X (10.6 to 10.7) and using Firefox.]

- The new iMac has a FireWire 800 port, whereas my current machine has an older FW port. Are there adapters so that I can continue to use my CD burner (LaCie) and laser printer (Lexmark E120n), both of which use the older style cable? Or are those peripherals no longer usable with the new iMac?

- What's the score with Apple Help? Is there a self-contained Help function on the new iMacs, so that one can figure out how to configure it and manipulate/navigate it without having to go online?

- With my current iMac I had (as I recall, only poorly) at least 3 months' of free Apple telephone advice. What's the current situation with telephone assistance from Apple?

In case it isn't obvious, I am extremely nervous about taking the plunge into a new iMac (even though I can easily use others' machines running OS X, as long as they're already set up and running well). Even colleagues who are quite 'conversant' with newer hardware and software have run into set-up problems which they can't figure out how to get around (see above).
My current iMac pretty much ran right out of the box, requiring minimal tweaking to get it to do my bidding the way I like.
I find Mac OS 9 far more user friendly and intuitive to use than Mac OS X, which seems to work in a far more mysterious/devious fashion, putting/hiding things in places where anyone other than a programmer can't find them or would even think to look.

Re: iMac desktops
grelber #17583 09/25/11 08:49 AM
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> With my current iMac I had (as I recall, only poorly) at least 3 months' of free Apple telephone advice. What's the current situation with telephone assistance from Apple?

AppleCare Protection Plan - Apple Store (U.S.)

Quote:
Every Mac, iPod, iPhone, and display comes with complimentary telephone technical support for 90 days after your purchase and a one-year limited warranty. The AppleCare Protection Plan extends your service coverage and gives you one-stop service and support from Apple experts.

Quote:
Extend your service and support coverage to three years from the date you purchased your hardware.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: iMac desktops
artie505 #17584 09/25/11 08:55 AM
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But is the AppleCare Protection Plan for iMac (my cost: $139) a worthwhile investment, given the standard warranty on the iMac?


Re: iMac desktops
grelber #17586 09/25/11 09:07 AM
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Originally Posted By: grelber
But is the AppleCare Protection Plan for iMac (my cost: $139) a worthwhile investment, given the standard warranty on the iMac?

That's a question for the denizens of Mt. Olympus, grelber. (Bruce, the math god, maybe?)

You get your 30 days & 1 year regardless; the extension is really up to your own particular feelings about insurance.

The only thing I can tell you with certainty is that, despite the fact that the thinking goes that portables are more in need of extended insurance than are desktops because they travel and are subject to more stress and strain, my 3 portables, which never travel other than to be repaired, have all undergone covered repairs that exceeded the cost of their extended insurance.

Edit: As for the extended tech support, though, you'll likely do better, more often than not, posting here.

Last edited by artie505; 09/25/11 09:10 AM.

The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: iMac desktops
grelber #17587 09/25/11 09:35 AM
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Originally Posted By: grelber
The new iMac has a FireWire 800 port, whereas my current machine has an older FW port. Are there adapters so that I can continue to use my CD burner (LaCie) and laser printer (Lexmark E120n), both of which use the older style cable? Or are those peripherals no longer usable with the new iMac?
I have used the Moshi FW adapter with great success. It is essentially a very short FW 800-400 cable.

Originally Posted By: grelber
Assuming that I can connect my iMac DV SE (running Mac OS 9.0.4 and using Mozilla 1.0.1 browser) to the new iMac (running Mac OS X 10.7 and using Firefox browser), using a USB cable, how would I get my Mozilla bookmarks off my current set-up and into the new iMac?
[I discussed this with a colleague who just got a new Power Book Pro, and he was unable to transfer the bookmarks from one machine to the other, even though both were running OS X (10.6 to 10.7) and using Firefox.]
I don't know about your situation since one machine is running 9.0.4, but your colleague should be able to do this by copying ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox from one computer to the other. Firefox does things a bit differently from other browsers and that Firefox folder contains everything from FF. In my setup, it contains a bookmarkbackup folder as well as a file labeled bookmarks.html. The latter may be from using Bookdog to synchronize bookmarks from Safari, so it may not apply in your colleague's case (Safari is my default browser). Of course, he will have to access ~/Library, which is hidden by default in 10.7. Read Access User ~/Library Folder in OS X Lion for instructions.

Last edited by jchuzi; 09/25/11 10:33 AM. Reason: added info about showing ~/Library

Jon

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Re: iMac desktops
jchuzi #17588 09/25/11 09:48 AM
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> In my setup, it contains a bookmarkbackup folder as well as a file labeled bookmarks.html.

I've got it too...neither Bookdog nor anything of its ilk.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: iMac desktops
grelber #17590 09/25/11 10:30 AM
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Originally Posted By: grelber
What's up with the weird downsized keyboard on the new iMacs? There's no numeric keypad plus other keys. To get a full one I'd have to buy a whole new set-up.
You can connect the old keyboard to the new computer. It's just a USB connection. That works fine for my Mac Pro and it worked for a neighbor's Intel iMac when I needed a wired keyboard for diagnostic purposes.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: iMac desktops
artie505 #17591 09/25/11 11:07 AM
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I should add that the standard warranty would be doubled (up to a year) when using my credit card to make the purchase.
So, on that score, I suspect that the additional 'protection' ain't worth the cost.

And what about the Apple Help issue?

Re: iMac desktops
grelber #17592 09/25/11 11:59 AM
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Edit: The following instructions were compiled using OS X 10.5.8; they presuppose that the bookmark importing mechanisms for Safari and Firefox remain essentially unchanged in the most-current versions.

Quote:
- Assuming that I can connect my iMac DV SE (running Mac OS 9.0.4 and using Mozilla 1.0.1 browser) to the new iMac (running Mac OS X 10.7 and using Firefox browser), using a USB cable, how would I get my Mozilla bookmarks off my current set-up and into the new iMac?

(I think you'll want to connect the old and new iMacs using FireWire rather than USB, employing the sort of adapter Jon refers to above.)

1. On the old iMac, you want to locate a file named bookmarks.html. On my old iMac, that file was at the end of the following folder hierarchy: Documents -> Mozilla -> Profiles -> Default -> swi3y9m9.slt -> bookmarks.html. (That penultimate, alphanumeric item is unique for each user profile, so yours will be different from mine.)

2. Copy bookmarks.html to the Desktop of the new iMac (either by dragging it from its location on the old iMac, if you've got them connected, or by option-dragging it from its location on the new iMac, if you've previously copied data from the old iMac in bulk).

3. Launch Safari on the new iMac. From the File menu, choose the Import Bookmarks... command. Navigate to bookmarks.html in the dialog which opens, and click Import.

4. Launch Firefox on the new iMac. Choose Import... from the File menu. Follow the prompts to import Safari's bookmarks into Firefox.

Note that Safari is simply used as a conduit to get Mozilla's bookmarks.html file into a form which Firefox can import, but any default Safari bookmarks will come along for the ride, so you may want to purge Safari's bookmarks before beginning this process, to simplify the subsequent taxonomical tasks.

Last edited by dkmarsh; 09/25/11 12:05 PM.


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Re: iMac desktops
grelber #17595 09/25/11 02:07 PM
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Originally Posted By: grelber
1. I should add that the standard warranty would be doubled (up to a year) when using my credit card to make the purchase.
So, on that score, I suspect that the additional 'protection' ain't worth the cost.

2. And what about the Apple Help issue?

1. That sounds reasonable. (Note, though, that your extended warrantee may not cover the sort of service you'd like prefer, i.e. Apple's.)

2. I assume you're referring to "What's the score with Apple Help? Is there a self-contained Help function on the new iMacs, so that one can figure out how to configure it and manipulate/navigate it without having to go online?"

OS X has always come with "Help;" whether or not Lion's meets your specs will be a personal determination. (Edit: Personally, I've found OS X "Help" to be pretty comprehensive when I phrase my search "correctly.")

Last edited by artie505; 09/25/11 02:15 PM.

The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: iMac desktops
grelber #17596 09/25/11 02:15 PM
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Another thought about the keyboard: Apple offers several keyboard options when buying an iMac. You probably were not aware of them. If you contact Apple, they may be willing to swap the one that came in the box with one of your choosing.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: iMac desktops
dkmarsh #17598 09/25/11 03:50 PM
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Once again, many thanks for the advice, all.

I was just going to tack on a note re bookmarks.html, and you beat me to the punch.
I've been saving sequential versions of that file in Mozilla over the years (just in case of a case).
Since my version of Mozilla (1.0.1) is just an early version of Firefox, would be safe to say that I could just directly replace (ie, import from Desktop) the same file in the newest version of Firefox, which I'll have to download anyway?

Re: iMac desktops
artie505 #17599 09/25/11 03:53 PM
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RE your extended warrantee may not cover the sort of service you'd like prefer, i.e. Apple's.)

Credit card 'protection' covers the purchase with exactly the manufacturer's warranty (as long as the manufacturer is still in business).
Check the pile of paper you got with your MasterCard or Visa (or possibly other ones).

Re: iMac desktops
grelber #17600 09/25/11 04:37 PM
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You ask if Applecare is worth the cost. After some 30 months of use my iMac failed. The Apple Store replaced the logic board, video card, and power supply (this was on top the HD they had replaced within the first year of use). When it failed again even with all the new guts, they handed me a brand shiny new top of the then current model line iMac and threw in the Applecare on the new machine.

That would have been several months after the credit card warranty would have expired and for an investment of roughly $140 I received a $2,000+ machine with a larger screen, faster quad core processor, 3 times bigger HD, and double the RAM of the failed machine. I can cite several other instances where Applecare has paid off big time for me and my family and friends. Even better, Applecare attaches to the device and automatically transfers to a new owner.

You can't get odds like that in Vegas or anywhere else I know of for that matter.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: iMac desktops
grelber #17601 09/25/11 05:36 PM
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Originally Posted By: grelber
And what about the Apple Help issue?
If I recall correctly, Apple stopped storing Help articles solely on their website. I believe that they are now on the hard drive. If I'm wrong, I'm sure that someone will correct me.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: iMac desktops
grelber #17604 09/25/11 10:05 PM
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Originally Posted By: grelber
RE your extended warrantee may not cover the sort of service you'd like prefer, i.e. Apple's.)

Credit card 'protection' covers the purchase with exactly the manufacturer's warranty (as long as the manufacturer is still in business).
Check the pile of paper you got with your MasterCard or Visa (or possibly other ones).

Thanks for the info. Neither my MasterCard nor Discover Card extends warrantee coverage; maybe I ought to get one that does.

My question, though, was would the coverage allow you to bring a new Mac to Apple for service or would it restrict you to...?


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: iMac desktops
grelber #17605 09/25/11 10:07 PM
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A few more details:
Originally Posted By: grelber
- Assuming that I can connect my iMac DV SE [ ... ] using a USB cable...

Yet another option is the use of an ethernet cable in a local network. Also, let's not forget the inexpensive thumb drive implementation of the sneakernet.

Originally Posted By: grelber
- What's the score with Apple Help? Is there a self-contained Help function on the new iMacs, so that one can figure out how to configure it and manipulate/navigate it without having to go online?

Most Apple Help items listed will be locally sourced, but below these you may occasionally find links to additional information for which internet access is required.

Originally Posted By: grelber
- With my current iMac I had (as I recall, only poorly) at least 3 months' of free Apple telephone advice. What's the current situation with telephone assistance from Apple?

The consensus among pundits appears to be that AppleCare is a must for portables, and a peace-of-mind option for desktops. FWIW, I've always had AppleCare for my desktops, but never had to use it. As joemikeb's experience suggests, ymmv.

Originally Posted By: grelber
In case it isn't obvious, I am extremely nervous about taking the plunge into a new iMac
My current iMac pretty much ran right out of the box, requiring minimal tweaking to get it to do my bidding the way I like. [...] I find Mac OS 9 far more user friendly and intuitive to use than Mac OS X...

These are all valid concerns for anyone leaving familiar grounds for new surroundings. Most of us have gone through the motions. Yes, the changeover will take some getting used to, but a new Mac still will run straight out of the box. Even so, certain favorite OS 9 procedures and approaches will not be fully reproducible (or advisable). Some will have good alternatives or workarounds, others less so.
Your level of familiarity and adaptation will determine your ultimate qualification of any new system, including this one. You're bound to compare, but give it and yourself some time to get going. Forums like these can help you to fine-tune things to your liking.


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Re: iMac desktops
grelber #17606 09/25/11 10:20 PM
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grelber,
Quote:
- What's the score with Apple Help? Is there a self-contained Help function on the new iMacs, so that one can figure out how to configure it and manipulate/navigate it without having to go online?

and
Quote:
And what about the Apple Help issue?

I disconnected from the internet and tested the menu bar option for Help in these applications:
  • Mail
  • Address Book
  • iPhoto
  • iTunes
  • Preview
  • iCal
  • Activity Monitor
  • System Preferences
  • Disk Utility
  • Grab
  • Dictionary
  • Calculator
  • Pages
  • Numbers
  • Keynote

In all instances, Help topics were available. However, some tutorials and video tutorials were unavailable because the application was unable to locate the required pages online.

I am not sure this reply addresses your concerns on configuring, manipulating, and navigating a new Macintosh without having to go online, but just in case.


Back up everything you can't afford to lose: documents, mail, movies, music, photos, and other data and settings.
Re: iMac desktops
artie505 #17607 09/25/11 10:27 PM
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grelber Offline OP
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RE credit card warranty coverage:
End user has the choice of where to have the extended warranty coverage done, inlcluding Apple.

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