Mac OS 9 : the missing manual

471 Pages·2001·112.822 MB·English

by  Pogue, David

Mac:
POGUE PRESS'"
David Pogue O'REILLY®
Mac0S9:
THE MISSING MANUAL
The book that
should have been
in the box
MacOS9:
THE MISSING MANUAL
David Pogue
POGUE PRESS'"
O'REILLY®
Beijing • Cambridge • Farulzam • Koln • Paris • Sebastopol • Taipei • Tokyo
Mac OS 9: The Missing Manual
by David Pogue
Copyright © 2000 Pogue Press, LLC. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Published by Pogue Press/O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., 10 I Morris Street,
Sebastopol, CA 95472.
March 2000: First Edition.
Missing Manual and the Missing Manual logo are registered trademarks of Pogue
Press, LLC.
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their
products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this
book, and Pogue Press was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have
been capitalized.
While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the
publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages
resulting from the use of the information contained herein.
This book is printed on acid-free paper with 85o/o recycled content, 15o/o post
consumer waste. O'Reilly & Associates is committed to using paper with the
highest recycled content available consistent with high quality.
ISBN: 1-56592-857-1 (03/00)
Table of Contents
Introduction .......................................................................................... 1
What's New in Mac OS 9 .............................................................................................................. ..
About this Book ................................................................................................................................ 3
The Very Basics ...... ......................................................................................... .................................. 5
Port One: The Moe OS 9 Desktop
Chapter 1: Window Opportunities ..................................................... 9
Window-Edge Gizmos ..................................................................................................................... 9
Scroll Bars.......................................................................................................................................... 13
Additional Finder-Window Controls............................................................................................. 15
Window Views: Icon, List, and Button .......................................................................................... 17
Setting Up Standard Views ............................................................................................................. 25
Pop-Up Windows ............................................................................................................................. 27
Chapter 2: Icon Management.............................................................. 31
Icon Names ....................................................................................................................................... 31
Selecting Icons .................................................................................................................................. 33
Moving and Copying Icons .................................: ........................................................................... 34
Aliases: Icons in Two Places at Once ............................................................................................ 37
Using Labels...................................................................................................................................... 40
The Launcher .................................................................................................................................... 43
The Trash Icon .................................................................................................................................. 46
Password Protection ........................................................................................................................ 49
The Desktop Database: Where Icons Live ................................................................................... 51
Chapter 3: Interior Decoration ........................................................... 53
Desktop Patterns and Pictures ....................................................................................................... 53
Fonts, Sounds, and Colors.............................................................................................................. 57
Saving your Schemes as Themes .................................................................................................. 60
Chapter 4: Controlling Your Desktop ................................................. 63
The Menu Bar ................................................................................................................................... 63
Contextual (Control-key) Menus................................................................................................... 64
The Control Strip .............................................................................................................................. 68
TABLE OP CONTENTS v
Chapter 5: Mastering the Apple Menu ............................................... 79
How to Modify the AM enu........................................................................................................... 79
About This Computer ...................................................................................................................... 82
The Standard AM enu Items ·········································································································' 84
Control Panels .................................................................................................................................. 87
Recent Servers .................................................................................................................................. 92
Remote Access Status...................................................................................................................... 93
Scrapbook.......................................................................................................................................... 94
Sherlock 2 .......................................................................................................................................... 94
Stickies ............................................................................................................................................... 95
Ptlrt Two: Applictdions in Mt1c OS 9
Chapter 6: Using Programs in Mac OS 9 ............................................ 99
Launching Mac Programs ............................................................................................................... 100
Switching Programs: the Application Menu ................................................................................ 101
Launching Applications from the Keyboard................................................................................ 105
Type and Creator Codes ........................... :..................................................................................... 107
Chapter 7: Managing Your Mac's Memory ........................................ 111
Where Your Memory Goes .................... :........................................................................................ 111
Changing a Program's Memory Allotment.................................................................................. 115
Virtual Memory: Trading Speed for RAM..................................................................................... 117
The Disk Cache: Trading RAM for Speed ..................................................................................... 118
RAM Disk: The Ultimate Speed Trick ............................................................................................ 120
How Fragile is the RAM Disk? ..................................................................................................•.... 121
Chapter 8: The Save and Open Dialog Boxes .................................... 125
The Save File Dialog Box................................................................................................................. 126
The Open File Dialog Box............................................................................................................... 130
Navigation Services.......................................................................................................................... 131
Chapter 9: Moving Data ...................................................................... 135
Moving Data Between Documents................................................................................................ 135
Exchanging Data with Windows PCs............................................................................................. 141
Chapter 10: An Introduction to AppleScript ...................................... 147
Recording in "Watch-Me" Mode ................................................................................................... 148
Saving a Script .................................................................................................................................. 153
Writing Commands by Hand······································································································-·· 156
Folder, Network, and Internet Scripts .......................................................................................... 163
Where to Learn More...................................................................................................................... 169
vi TABLE OP CONTENTS
Port Three: The Components of Moe OS 9
Chapter 11: Whafs in the System Folder........................................... 173
What's in the System Folder .......................................................................................................... 173
Chapter 12: Control Panels and Extensions ....................................... 187
The Mac OS 9 Control Panels ........................................................................................................ 187
The Extensions: What They're For................................................................................................. 215
Chapter·13: Apple Leftovers, Apple Extras ........................................ 221
The Apple Extras Folder .................................................................................................................. 221
The Applications Folder .................................................................................................................. 226
The Assistants Folder ................. ........... ..... .......................................................... ....... ..................... 231
The Internet Folder.......................................................................................................................... 232
The Utilities Folder........................................................................................................................... 233
Custom Installation Options........................................................................................................... 235
Port Four: Moe OS 9 Online
Chapter 14: Web Sharing, ilools, and Other Internet Integration ... 243
Mac OS 9 Internet Featurettes ....................................................................................................... 243
iTools @ Apple.com ......................................................................................................................... 248
Chapter 15: Finding Files and Web Sites with Sherlock 2 ................ 257
Finding Icons..................................................................................................................................... 258
Finding Text in Your Files ................................................................................................................ 267
Searching the Internet..................................................................................................................... 271
Port Five: Plugging In to Moe OS 9
Chapter 16: Networking in Mac OS 9 ................................................. 281
Wiring the Network ......................................................................................................................... 281
File Sharing in Mac OS 9 ................................................................................................................. 283
Apple Remote Access (ARA) .................... ......................................................... ............................. 296
The Keychain: Forgettable Passwords.......................................................................................... 301
Chapter 17: One Mac, Many Users ..................................................... 307
Introducing Multiple Users............................................................................................................. 307
Four Degrees of Freedom............................................................................................................... 308
Setting up Accounts ......................................................................................................................... 311
Setting Up the Global Options ....................................................................................................... 320
Signing In ........................................................................................................................................... 323
Technical Underpinnings ................................................................................................................ 329
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
Chapter 18: Disks, Cables, and Other Insertions............................... 335
How the Mac Does Disks................................................................................................................ 335
Madntosh Cable Crash Course ..................................................................................................... 342
Chapter 19: Printing, Fonts, and ColorSync ....................................... 347
Mac Meets Printer............................................................................................................................ 347
Desktop Printer Icons ...................................................................................................................... 349
Printing Without Desktop Icons..................................................................................................... 355
Making the Printout......................................................................................................................... 357
Fonts................................................................................................................................................... 363
ColorSync .......................................................................................................................................... 366
Chapter 20: Sound and Digital Movies .............................................. 371
Recording Sound .............................................................................................................................. 371
Quicklime Movies ........................................................................................................................... 378
Pasting footage ................................................................................................................................. 389
Chapter 21 : Speech Recognition and Synthesized Speech ............... 393
PlainT alk Speech Recognition ........................................................................................................ 393
Plain Talk Text-to-Speech ................................................................................................................. 401
Port Six: Appendixes
Appendix A: Mac OS 9, Menu by Menu ............................................. 409
Apple(*) Menu.............................................................................................................................. 409
Edit Menu .......................................................................................................................................... 413
View.................................................................................................................................................... 415
Special................................................................................................................................................ 416
Help.................................................................................................................................................... 418
Appendix B: Installing Mac OS 9 ........................................................ 423
Before you Install ............................................................................................................................. 424
The Standard Installation................................................................................................................ 424
The Custom Installation .................................................................................................................. 428
The Clean Installation...................................................................................................................... 423
Mac OS 9 Compatibility Problems ................................................................................................ 436
Appendix C: Troubleshooting Cue Card ............................................. 439
Freezes, Crashes, and Strange Glitches........................................................................................ 439
Other Common Problems .............................................................................................................. 442
Where to Get Troubleshooting Help............................................................................................. 443
viii TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Missing Credits
About the Author
David Pogue, award-winning Macwor/d magazine columnist, is the
creator of the Missing Manual series. He has written or co-written
15 computer, humor, and music books, including the bestselling
Palm Pilot: The Ultimate Guide; Macworld Mac Secrets; and six books
in the .. .for Dummies series (Macs, iMacs, iBooks, Magic, Opera, and
Classical Music).
In his other life, David is a former Broadway show conductor, magician, and incor
rigible pianist. He and his wife Jennifer Pogue, MD, live in Connecticut with their
young son and daughter, as copiously documented at www.davidpogue.com.
He welcomes feedback about this book and others in the Missing Manual series by
e-mail: [email protected]. (If you're seeking technical help, however, please re
fer to the help sources listed in Appendix C.)
About the Creative Team
Nan Barber (copy editor) works as a freelance writer and editor from her home near
Boston. She graduated from Brown University in 1983 with a degree in Japanese
Studies and traveled throughout Asia and Europe as a jewelry buyer before getting
married in 1991. She's the managing editor of Salamander, a magazine for poetry,
fiction, and memoirs, and executive editor of Bonjour Paris (www.bparis.com).
Dennis Cohen (technical editor), a veteran of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Claris,
and Aladdin Systems, has served as the technical reviewer for many bestselling Mac
books, including several editions of Macworld Mac Secrets. He's the co-author of
Apple Works 6 for Dummies. He enjoys trapshooting, backgammon, bridge, and (es
pecially) spending time with his Boston Terrier, Spenser. E-mail: [email protected].
David A. Freedman created the cover design for the Missing Manual series (with
assistance from illustrator Marc Rosenthal, who drew the Missing Manual dog). From
his studio in Carlisle, Massachusetts ([email protected]), David also designs logos and
other graphics. Prior to establishing his design business, David worked for 20 years
with Milton Glaser in New York City.
Danny Marcus (head proofreader), entered the book business as a freelance proof
reader and copy editor in 1985 and lived the thrill of self-employment until he joined
Pearson Education's Prentice Hall imprint in 1999. Danny has done work several
big New York trade houses, university presses, textbook publishers, and Lotus. He's
also written eight pages so far of a new book on becoming an editorial freelancer:
I Get Paid to Stay Home, Read Books, and Point out Other People's Mistakes.
THE MISSING CREDITS ix
Phil Simpson, the designer of this book's interior layout, works out of his office in
Stamford, CT ([email protected]), where he has had his graphic design busi
ness for 18 years. Experienced in many facets of graphic design, he is proud to be a
long-time Macintosh user/supporter and honored to be part of the Mac OS 9: The
Missing Manual.
Other Acknowledgments
The Missing Manual series is a joint venture between Pogue Press- the team intro
duced on the previous pages-and O'Reilly & Associates, one of the most respected
publishers on earth. It's only because Tim O'Reilly and his team had the vision to
take a gamble on this concept that this book came into existence.
Creatjng this series was supposed to be my job; but the editorial and production
teams at O'Reilly went way beyond the call of duty in guiding me, demonstrating at
every step how deeply they care about creating outstanding, accurate, useful books.
In particular, this book owes its exjstence to Tim O'Reilly, who gave life to the series;
Cathy Record, the Missing Manuals' wonderful parent/product manager; Edie Freed
man, whose visual genius shaped the MissingManual.com Web site and guided the
book's design; and Allen Noren and his team, who took the Web site the rest of the
way to reality. Sue Wi!Jing, Mark Brokering, Dana Furby, and Sara Winge were also
delightful and integral parts of the books' birth.
My agent, David Rogelberg, first gave me the confidence to create this series and was
its first believer. And my wife, Jennifer, provided the affection, humor, and enthusi
asm I needed to create something from nothing- and love every minute of it.
Come to think of it, she always does that.
The Missing Manual Series
Missing Manuals are designed to be authoritative, entertaining, superbly written
guides to popular computer products that don't come with printed manuals (which
is just about all of them). Watch for these other titles in 2000:
• AppleW orks 6: The Missing Manual by Jim Elferdink and David Reynolds
• iMovie: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
• Windows 2000: The Missing Manual by Sharon Crawford
• Windows ME: The Missing Manual by Kathy Ivens
• Mac OS X: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
X THE MISSING CREDITS