[aapl4ever]

I'm considering upgrading from OS 9.0.4 to X, *but* I have a few issues. For instance, I use Power Print to use my HP LaserJet III; I have a few USB peripherals; Earthlink for Mac doesn't support X; WordPerfect isn't OS X-compatible, as most all my apps aren't, either. Also, I cab't delete OS X Beta, and some other files inmy Trash give me a -127 error. Should I wait?

Thank you.

[Hash]

Sometimes think by your own head

[snodman]

Well, IMHO you better think about wiping the whole drive the OS X beta is installed to before you update to OS X. Either that or install X to a different drive untouched by the public beta. Right now OS X 10.0.3 is tons faster and more useful than the public beta ever was. However, it is far from complete. More annoying than anything else, but few USB devices (besides printers, mice and keyboards) will work at all. The peripherals that do work often are missing features (none of the custom buttons on my Internet Pro keyboard or Intellimouse are going to work before Microsoft gets around to releasing OS X drivers). No joy at all for faxing with even an internal modem in a B&W G3 or G4 tower. Toast 5 does not work (still). Performance may or may not be an issue for you. A G4 helps. At least 256 megs of ram is really helpful, and more ram than that IS better. And the only workaround for using most scanners, faxing and burning most CDs is to boot into 9.1 (from whence you came...)- ahh, the joys of being an early adaptor .

[aapl4ever]

Thanks, snodman. I'm trying to back up my hard drive to Zip disks before I wipe it, as you suggest, but when I put a Zip disk into the drive, Iomega says 'no removeable media detected.' Any advice on how to fix that?

[snodman]

If the Mac itself won't format the ZIP disk (as well as the flaky Iomega tools) it may well be a bad disk. Do you have an internal (built in) ZIP drive or is it USB or SCSI?

[aapl4ever]

External USB.

[jbmelby]

WordPerfect isn't OS X-compatible, as most all my apps aren't, either.

I don't know what version of WordPerfect you're using, but I have Corel WordPerfect 3.5e running right now under Classic with no trouble at all. Most apps, in fact, should be usable under OS X in the Classic environment as long as they don't require direct access to hardware from Classic. And as far as that goes, some hardware lacking OS X drivers may still be usable in Classic mode. For instance, my HP Laserjet 4MV and Canon BJC-8200 printers and my Canon N650U scanner run without a hitch. (The 4MV is networked with AppleTalk, but when I print from OS X it uses the OS X drivers, and when I print from Classic it uses the OS 9.1 drivers.)

My answer to your question, after using OS X for quite some time, is--go ahead and buy it, install it, and begin to get familiar with it. Then when it's feature-complete, you'll already be ahead of the game. I hardly ever need to boot into plain vanilla 9.1 except to fax, burn CDs with Toast 5.0.1 (you can already burn audio CDs, with some restrictions, from OS X), or use Virtual PC.

[This message has been edited by jbmelby (edited 05-22-2001).]

[I'mDaMac]

Originally posted by aapl4ever:
I'm considering upgrading from OS 9.0.4 to X, *but* I have a few issues. For instance, I use Power Print to use my HP LaserJet III; I have a few USB peripherals; Earthlink for Mac doesn't support X; WordPerfect isn't OS X-compatible, as most all my apps aren't, either. Also, I cab't delete OS X Beta, and some other files inmy Trash give me a -127 error. Should I wait?

Thank you.

I say wait. OS X has too many shortcomings right now to consider it over OS 9.

[aapl4ever]

jbmelby, I'm using Word Perfect 3.5.4.

[dn15]

Originally posted by Hash:
Sometimes think by your own head

"Sometimes think by your own head"... that's a good one. Maybe we should try being nicer to each other instead of making semi-incoherent statements like this one.

[This message has been edited by dn15 (edited 05-23-2001).]

[Hash]

From what he has written, the guy understands that he will not have smooth ride with OSX and he is right. I can rephrase my advise: BELIEVE you intuition. Are you satisfied?

[Snowflake]

"Earthlink for Mac doesn't support X"

Not officially, maybe, but you can still use Earthlink with OSX. In the Public Beta I was using Roaring Penguin via the Terminal to use DSL through Earthlink. I need to replace my hard drive before the final version(s), so I don't know for sure, but assume that PPPoE is now supported.

[aapl4ever]

PPPoE?

[gorgonzola]

PPPoE: PPP over Ethernet. It's basically what DSL/Cable modems use to connect now.

It used to suck because the connection clients are awful, but X does it with built in stuff so it's all good.

HTH

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