One of the things I cared about (somewhat) in the transision from PC to Mac was thjhe question of what I would have to give up. Put another way, what things work automatically and easily on a Windows machine that would not on a Mac (or Linux system). I didn’t want to be spending time looking for drivers, changing settings, etc.

I’ve had a negative experience with video chat. For years I’ve used a web cam and microphone and speakers to “video chat” with friends and family around the world. In the PC world, I easily did this with a cheap USB webcam and MSN Messenger, AIM, and Yahoo Messenger. Some of the people I video chatted with have high-speed connections. Some have a terrible, 1950s phone infrastructure (Ukraine).

With the Mac I have found the following:

• Only certain web cams will work. (The old “you don’t have a driver” problem.) So, I cannot just slap in the cheapest USB cam I can find. I tried a Logitech Quickcam Zoom Digital video camera. It would not work. I added 2 “shareware” products to make it work and still no joy. I sent it back and went straight to Apple’s very expensive (compared to USB cameras) iSight. I is very nice-looking. Also, it has an integrated microphone. I hated spending so much money. But, I hate wasting any more time.
• iChat works with Jabber, and Apple’s Bonjour, which is as far as I know useless to me. No Yahoo Messenger. No MSN Messenger. It’s okay, I thought. I’ll just run Yahoo Messenger for Mac. I didn’t expect iSync to support all of them. (Adium does, as does it’s cousin, Gaim and the Windows-only Trillian. But, none of them support audio and video.)
• iSync to iSync it works fine, but my friend, Michael, needed to adjust some firewall settings. iSync to iSync used our AIM accounts. It works beautifully. Again, before on the PC with Yahoo Messenger video and audio, I needed to change nothing.
• iChat at my end with Video AIM on an PC XP box works, as long as the firewall settings are correct. At least it does in my house, between different systems. I have been unsucessful trying with my daughter at college. Maybe their college firewall is stopping some of it in an attempt to stop file sharing sorts of things
• Yahoo Messenger works fine to a PC. That is, until I try to use the iSight. When I “Start my webcam,” it hangs with the Spinning Beach Ball of Death (SBBOD). When I restart Yahoo Messenger and try it again, it crashes. So, so far, I cannot use iSight with Yahoo Messenger.

There are a whole lot of people struggling with this. Some say it works fine (AIM and/or Yahoo). Some, like me, are having problems. Forums are filled with discussions. This is frustrating. Shouldn’t be so hard, should it?

I am going to try one of the MSN Messenger work-alikes, Mercury Messenger (previously called dMSN). I’d do it now, but my daughter is out at a play of all things! 🙂

I’ve finally gotten rid of my ISDN phone line I’ve had since April 1998. I had an ISDN line back then for two reasons (if I remember correctly). First, ISDN gave me a faster data connection to the Internet than regular dial-up. This was way before DSL of any type was available where I live. (I live 36 miles from the White House and 30 miles from downtown Baltimore—hardly the boondocks.) It also gave me related lines, one I used for voice and the other for fax. And the ISDN connection for data did not use either (if I remember correctly. A third bonus, but not necessary for me, though it would come back to bite me: It gave me a “foreign exchange”; I have a Columbia number though I live in a small town west of there.

When I moved to two-way satellite as my “always on, high-speed Internet connection (I used to tell people in my classes, when it came up, “It is absolutely the greatest, if you have no other choice.”) I stopped using it for ISDN data connection, but kept the 2 lines to keep the numbers I had for years and because it was less expensive than ordering 2 different local numbers.

Recently, I decided to check out Vonage (pronounced “VAH-nidj,” by every employee of theirs I talked to, by the way, not a French “vo-NAJ”). It seemed like a good deal. I decided to sign up for the “$14.99 Basic 500” package. I gave them my phone number, 410–309–6910, and they said they could transfer it. (There were a few caveats.) I did not try to transfer the fax number; I only get junk faxes on it and I can hook a computer up to any phone line to receive a fax in an emergency. Everyone I deal with uses e-mail.

Vonage sent me the Linksys VOIP router. They gave me a temporary, “virtual” number, plugged everything in and it worked! The outbound calls identified themselves as being from my number (the one they were trying to get). Sweet. Inbound only worked, of course, to my new, virtual number. My old number would ring on my old line.

A few weeks later, they gave me the news that they could not transfer my number until I removed the ISDN and the foreign exchange attributes. I asked Verizon. They said to remove the ISDN, I needed to cancel the ISDN and then call residential services and ask for a new residential phone with my old number, which they would hold for 45 days. I did it and waited. Vonage contacted me again. No, go. They cannot take over a disconnected line. I need to get the line back from Verizon. Then Vonage could do it. I just had to make sure it had no foreign exchange on it.

Do you see where I am going? I cannot get that number as a local number; it is not local to my home. Someone suggested I just ask a friend to register it from an address local to him. Think about that a minute. Neither Verizon nor Vonage will give me or allow me to take over a number at a different service address.

The bottom line is that I had to give up the office number I’ve had for 7 years, and start using a new number. I had to tell everyone who might need it, what the new number is. (I am still doing that: credit cards, banks, frequent traveler programs, etc.) Still, most people e-mail me.

I was grumpy about it for a few days. But, I am very happy with Vonage, it’s features, and the service.

Macs Just As Vulnerable To Wolverine Attack. What next?!

In October, 2003, I wrote about my experience with a $200 computer from Walmart and its Lycoris operating system, in A Linux Desktop. I recently started using my Fedora Core Linux 2.6 server with the Gnome desktop. And I am impressed. Here may be a desktop that “Mom + Pop” (™ Jon “maddog” Hall) can use.

It is difficult not to compare things to the predominant home computer desktop. Really, I must. The discussion is really about an alternate to Microsoft Windows. Does this match it for ease of use, etc.? I think so.

The Gnome desktop is clean with mouse and keyboard use similar to Windows. This is important for anyone thinking of a move, as well as the new user who has computer support from friends and family. There are familiar-looking “Computer,” “Trash,” and “your home” (which you can easily rename to “My documents”, and by “easily” I mean “exactly as you would in Windows”). There is a root window menu to launch a terminal window, which Mom+Pop would never do, create a folder, which they might, and create a Document, which they would do elsewhere.

A row at the top of the desktop gives access to drop-down menus, easy to explore. There is a text editor (Notepad replacement), gedit. (I am using it now to create this file), a bunch of games, tools (calculator, dictionary), graphics tools (like Gimp for photo editing and an image viewer), and PDF viewer. It comes with an X Window system version of Gaim (AOL IM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Jabber, all in one interface), Thunderbird for e-mail, and Firefox for browsing. Also, there’s video conferencing application, GnomeMeeting. Mom+Pop would have no use for Nmap, Ethereal, FTP, or IRC, but you might.

The whole OpenOffice set of applications is here. Mom+Pop will ever even notice they are not using their expensive, MS counterparts.

All the audio and video applications you might think of are here, except iTunes; Apple does not make an iTunes implementation for Linux.

For the power-user, you can set all system parameters, servers, and other system configuration tools.

Adding a printer just worked.

I’ve used the X Window System for years, and I’ve used Linux for years. I am closer to a power-user than Mom+Pop. But, I bet that this could be an excellent and un-Redmond-encumbered alternative to the usual, and more expensive, personal computer.

On October 18, 2005 I mentioned this book and pointed to this interview with its author. This is a short review.

You might think that the purpose of this book is to promote Linux or Mac use. And you would be both right and wrong. I was on guard against Microsoft-bashing for bashing’s sake. Not that it is not a temptation. Microsoft is the company that people love to hate. But most of us use it anyway (though, me to a very small degree, of late). While I think Bove does dip into Microsoft-bashing, there is still useful information here, and the bashing is not too often or blatant.

This is an excellent introduction the the alternatives available to the computer user. Bove talks about the joys of moving to Mac, the openness of of the Linux world, and mostly gives the person thinking of a change the courage to try. He talks about how most of what the average user uses their computer for is available on either Mac or Linux (I will shortly blog about my positive opinin of Linux with Gnome as a replacement for Windows for anyone; I’ve already been raving— in a nice way—about my Mac experience). He talks about Open Office as an alternative to MS Office as well as tries to make a case for PDF as a document exchange format.

Okay, diversion. I am struggling with this. I would like to get away from “Microsoft Word as a document exchange format.” I just don’t know what else to do. PDF is fine —and he makes a case for it. But, it is lousey for collaboration (unless everyone has expensive Adobe products.) So, I still send plain, ASCII text e-mail. I do send ASCII when the recipient doesn’t need to change it. And I did enjoy his pointing to We Can Put an End to Word Attachments, by Richard M. Stallman (January 2002), and MS-Word is Not a document exchange format, among others.

Recommendations?

Here is the table of contents, taken from the publisher’s web site.

Introduction PART I: YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION Chapter 1: Playing Monopoly Is No Longer Fun Chapter 2: All You Need Is a Mac Chapter 3: Linux: Land of the Free, Home of the Brave PART II: REHAB FOR YOUR MICROSOFT ADDICTION Chapter 4: Slay the Word and You’ll Be Free Chapter 5: De-Microsoft Your Office Chapter 6: Media Lib: Microsoft-Free Music and Video PART III: THE WHOLE NETWORK IS WATCHING Chapter 7: The Message Is the Medium for Infections Chapter 8: This LAN Is Your LAN Chapter 9: Browsers and Your Own Private Identity PART IV: GETTING ON WITH YOUR COMPUTER LIFE Chapter 10: Twelve Steps to Freedom from Microsoft Chapter 11: Where Do You Want to Go Tomorrow? Appendix: The Truth Is Out There Citations