Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual (Missing Manuals)

2017-07-07 02:10:07

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If you still harbor the notion, propagated by certain old Mac books, that it's bad form to have two System folders on the same hard drive, welcome to the 21st century. When you use Mac OS X, it's not only a good idea to have two System folders, it's almost a requirement. You should have one copy of Mac OS X, and at least one copy of Mac OS 9. (Appendix A describes various ways to set all this up.)

It's easy to spot the Mac OS 9 System Folder on your drive, as shown in Figure 6-1.

Figure 6-1. When you're running Mac OS X, the System Folder that contains Mac OS 9 is clearly marked by the golden 9. Only one System Folder per disk may bear this logo, which indicates that it's the only one officially recognized by the Mac. (As the programmers say, it's the "blessed" System Folder.)

6.2.1. How to Start Classic

You can start up your Classic program in any of several ways.

6.2.1.1. Double-click a Mac OS 9 program

The most common method of launching Classic is simply double-clicking the icon of a preMac OS X program. Your Mac concludes: "Well, this program won't run in Mac OS X, so I'll just go ahead and launch your Mac OS 9 simulator."

At this point, several things happen. The very first time you ever run Classic, you may see a message that says, "Classic needs to update resources in your selected Classic system folder." Mac OS X is telling you that your Mac OS 9 System Folder requires a couple of extensions and other system files (listed later this chapter) in order to run within Mac OS X, and that it's offering to put them in the right place. Click OK.

Now a progress bar appears in a floating window, as shown in Figure 6-2. Classic takes about 15 seconds to start up, depending on your machine. (You can cut that time in half using the tricks described in the following pages.)

During the startup process, you'll see a little Classic (numeral 9) icon in your Dock, just to help you understand what's going on.

Tip: If you haven't got the time to wait, or you suddenly change your mind, you can cancel the Classic startup process by clicking the Stop button. In the confirmation box, click Stop Classic. You return to the desktop, no harm done.And if you find Classic launching fairly often when you don't really want to bother, try this. Open System Preferences (Chapter 9), click the Classic icon, and turn on "Warn before starting Classic." Now, whenever you try to open a Mac OS 9 program, accidentally or not, Mac OS X will ask for your OK before firing up Classic.

When all the bouncing stops, you see a number of changes onscreen. Your Apple menu is now rainbow-striped, as it was in the days before Mac OS X, and it lists whatever programs, documents, and other icons you've put there. The menu bar is light gray, its fonts are smaller, and its menus and commands are different. In short, you've now gone back in time to Mac OS 9.

Figure 6-2. Top: Starting up Classic involves waiting for the progress bar to fill up.

Bottom: If you click the flippy triangle below the progress bar, you summon what looks like the full screen of a Macintosh floating within your own Mac's monitor, displaying the standard extensions and control panel icons, the Mac OS 9 logo, and other landmarks of the traditional Mac OS 9 startup process. (The title bar identifies which Mac OS 9 System Folder you're starting up from.)

Note: As an entire operating system, Mac OS 9 could well be the subject of an entire book unto itselflike Mac OS 9: The Missing Manual . The rest of this book assumes that you either know Mac OS 9 already or have a good source of information to help you with it.

6.2.1.2. Launch it manually

You can also start up Classic manually, although you'll rarely have much need to do so. The master control panel for controlling Classic is in System Preferences, and it works like this:

Open System Preferences .

You can choose System Preferences, or click the System Preferences icon in the Dock.

Figure 6-3. This preference panel lets you specify which Mac OS 9 System Folder takes over when you launch the Classic mode. If you point to a System Folder without clicking, a square balloon appears to identify its name , location, and system version.

Make sure the correct one is selected; more on this topic later in this chapter.

To start Classic manually, click Start .

Water appears to flow into the progress bar, exactly as shown in Figure 6-2. (If the Start button is dimmed, check the boldface message above the list of disks. It may be that Classic is already running.)

Tip: You can also add the icon of Classic to your Dock, creating a quick and easy way to launch it without having to burrow into System Preferences. Open your System Library CoreServices folder. Inside this folder, you find an icon called Classic Startup. Drag it into the Dock, where it will remain for easy access.In fact, you can even add a little Classic menulet to your menu bar, complete with Start and Stop commands. Instructions are on Section 4.5.2.

From now on, Classic automatically launches when you turn on, or log into, your Mac.

6.2.2. What to Expect from Classic

Once Classic is running, you're free to use the Mac OS 9 program you originally double-clickedor any other Mac OS 9 programs, for that matter. You'll probably find, in fact, that Mac OS 9 programs launch even faster in Classic than they would on an actual Mac OS 9 computer.

Remember, you're running two operating systems simultaneously ; yet you can freely flip back and forth between Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X. When you click a Mac OS X program's icon on the Dock (or click inside a Mac OS X program's window), you bring forward both that program and Mac OS X. When you double-click a Mac OS 9 program's Dock icon (or click inside a Mac OS 9 program's window), you bring forward both that program and Mac OS 9. You can copy and paste information between the programs running in these two worlds or even drag-and-drop highlighted material.

You'll soon discover that the icons of open Mac OS 9 programs appear in the Dock, just like Mac OS X programs. (Well, maybe not exactly like them; see Figure 6-4.)

It's important to note, however, that Mac OS 9 is no more stable now than it ever was. It doesn't offer Mac OS X's memory protection and other goodies . One buggy program can still freeze or crash the entire Classic bubble. At that point, you may have to exit the entire Mac OS 9 portion of your machine, losing unsaved changes in any of your Mac OS 9 programs, just as though it were a Mac OS 9 machine that had locked up.

Figure 6-4. Most preMac OS X programs exhibit ragged icons in the Docka side effect of being enlarged to Mac OS X size . There are some exceptions: For example, Microsoft knew about Mac OS X in time to design Mac OS Xstyle icons for Office 2001.

On the other hand, even when your Classic world goes down, you won't have to restart the actual computer. Mac OS X soldiers on, unaffected, and all your Mac OS X programs remain safe, open, and running.

6.2.3. Getting Out of Classic

Because Classic is a genuine Mac OS X program, it doesn't consume any memory or horsepower to speak of when it's in the background especially if you turn on "Put Classic to sleep when it is inactive" (on the Advanced tab of the Classic pane of System Preferences). You may as well leave it open so that you won't have to wait for the startup process the next time you use a Mac OS 9 program.

In fact, Classic doesn't even distract you by putting its icon on the Dock. Apple's idea was that you shouldn't really care whether a program is running in Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X. All application iconswhether in Classic or notshow up on the Dock as equals. Clicking one switches to it, whether in Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X.

There are a few situations in which you might want to quit Classic manually, however. For example, you might want to close it following a system crash or lockup within Classic. Or you might want to restart Classic after making changes to its extensions, control panels, drivers, or other System Folder elements.

You can exit Classic in any of several ways:

In the System Preferences pane shown in Figure 6-3, click Stop or Restart. The Mac invites you to save the changes to any open documents, if necessary.

If you've installed the Classic menulet (Section 4.5.2), just choose Stop Classic from your menu bar.

If your Classic environment has frozen or crashed, you may have to force quit your Classic programthat is, shut it down with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. You lose any unsaved changes in any Classic programs, but at least you escape the freeze or crash.

You can force quit Classic just as you would any program (Section 5.1.1). You can also click Force Quit in the System Preferences window shown in Figure 6-3.

6.2.4. Specifying a Classic System Folder

Classic doesn't operate at all unless there's a Mac OS 9 System Folder somewhere on your Mac.

On the other hand, it's perfectly legal, in the world of Mac OS X, to have more than one Mac OS 9 System Folder on boardand many people do. You may want to designate one of them exclusively for use in Classic. (You might want to use a second one for dual booting , as described at the end of this chapter.) Note, however, that for Classic purposes, each Mac OS 9 System Folder must sit on a different disk or disk partition (see Appendix A).

When following the instructions on the previous page, therefore, choose carefully . The System Folder you select here affects how much time it takes Classic to start up, which extensions and control panels it has (and therefore how stable it is), what preference settings apply in various programs, what Web-browser bookmarks are available, and so on.

6.2.5. Controlling Classic Startup

If you're smart or lucky, you'll eventually eliminate the Classic startup delay altogether. For example, you can set up Classic so that it opens automatically at startup or login. Or maybe you'll get into the habit of never shutting down your computer at all, allowing it simply to sleep when not in use, so that Classic remains running essentially forever. Or you may eventually move almost all your operations into Mac OS X programs, rendering Classic obsoletethe dream of everyone who uses Mac OS X.

But if you openand wait forClassic every day, you might find it valuable to shave down the amount of time it takes to get going. The best way is to turn off as many extensions and control panels as possible. That's just one of the ways you can control the Classic startup process, as described in the following section.

6.2.5.1. Summoning Extensions Manager

By the time Mac OS X arrived on the scene, the System Folder of its predecessor, Mac OS 9, was caked solid with extensions and control panels (self-launching software that loads into memory at startup time). Each controls some function of the Mac, but taken together, they account for much of the standard Mac OS 9's propensity to freeze, crash, and otherwise act up.

Within the Classic world, you don't need many of these extensions anymore. Remember that Classic is a workaround , not your main operating system. Mac OS X now duplicates many of its functions in a much superior way. Turning off as many Mac OS 9 extensions as possible, therefore, makes using your Classic environment a much smoother and more stable experienceand accelerates Classic's startup process.

The key to controlling which extensions load is to press and hold the Space bar just after the progress bar begins filling up, as described in Figure 6-5. Release the Space bar only after you see the appearance of the Extensions Manager window.

Tip: If you can't seem to get the hang of the timing, then open the Classic pane of System Preferences, click the Advanced tab, and, from the first pop-up menu, choose Open Extensions Manager. The Extensions Manager window opens automatically the next time Classic starts.

Figure 6-5. Pressing the Space bar while Classic is starting up opens Extensions Manager, just as though you pressed Space while starting up a Mac OS 9 computer. (If you own the now-discontinued Conflict Catcher 9a commercial replacement for Extensions Manager with many more featuresyou see its screen appear here instead.)

Extensions Manager lets you turn certain Mac OS 9 extensions or control panels on and off. One of its most useful features is its ability to create canned sets that permit you to switch among sets of preselected extension combinations with a single click. Use the Selected Set pop-up menu at the top to switch among them.

To set up your winnowed-down extension set, click Duplicate Set in the lower-right corner of the window. In the dialog box that appears, type a name for the set you're about to create (such as Classic Speedy Startup ), and then click OK.

6.2.5.2. Extensions and control panels to turn off

Now you're ready to start paring down the extensions and control panels that delay Classic's startup process (and make it so prone to crashes). Depending on what functions you need to use in Classic, you might consider turning off the extensions and control panels in these function categories (by clicking their checkboxes so that the X no longer appears):

Control Panels . Many of Mac OS 9's control panel functions are superseded by new panes in the Mac OS X System Preferences (see Chapter 9). Changing your mouse speed using Mac OS 9's Mouse control panel, for example, doesn't have much meaning if you've already set your mouse speed in Mac OS X.

Therefore, you should turn off the following control panels immediately, since they don't work in Classic and gain you nothing: Control Strip, Energy Saver, File Sharing, Infrared, Location Manager, Modem, Monitors, Mouse, Multiple Users, Password Security, PowerBook SCSI Disk Mode, Remote Access, Software Update, TCP/IP, Trackpad, and Web Sharing.

Note: These Mac OS 9 control panels work, albeit with limited functions, within Classic: Appearance, AppleTalk, Date & Time (for menu bar clock control only), General Controls (some commands, like Show Desktop, are dimmed), Keyboard ( duplicated functions are dimmed), Memory (Disk Cache only), Monitors, and Sound (for alert sounds only).

Internet . If you've moved your Web-surfing, email, and remote dial-in operations over to Mac OS X, you can safely turn off DialAssist, Internet, Location Manager Extension, Apple Modem Tool, Internet V.90 Modem (and other modem names , such as PowerBook Modem), the LDAP extensions, NBP Plugin, NetSprocketLib, Remote Only, and ShareWay IP Personal Bgnd, in addition to the control panels listed above. You may as well turn off the Software Update extensions, too, since they rely on Internet access.

Networking, Multi-User features . Most of Mac OS X's networking and Mac-sharing features far outshine those in Mac OS 9. So if you won't be connecting to other computers on your office network from within Classic, you may as well turn off AppleTalk, any AirPort extensions, Keychain Access, IrDA Tool and IrDALib, Apple Enet, Apple Enet DLPI Support, AppleShare, EnetShimLib, File Sharing Extension, File Sharing Library, Multi-User Startup, OpenTpt Remote Access, Network Setup Extension, and SLPPlugin.

Printing . If you don't plan to print from within Classic programs, you can turn off anything containing the words Print, Printer, Printing, or ColorSync, as well as the extensions bearing specific printer names (Color SW 1500, Color SW 2500, LaserWriter, and so on).

DVD . The old, Mac OS 9style DVD Player program doesn't even work in Classic. Turn off everything with DVD in its name.

Disc burning . Here again, Mac OS X does a far better job of burning CDs than Mac OS 9 does. For example, Mac OS X can even burn data DVDs , which hold a delightful 4.4 GB per disc. By all means, turn off the Disc Burner Extension.

Video games . A few video games require the OpenGL, QuickDraw 3D, NVIDIA, and ATI extensions. If you're a gamer, you'll experience the best game play by restarting your Mac in Mac OS 9, rather than trying to play Mac OS 9 games in the Classic mode. If you agree, turn off all extensions that contain the words QuickDraw 3D, OpenGL, NVIDIA, and ATI.

FireWire . Even if you have a digital camcorder for use with iMovie, you may as well turn off the FireWire extensions, as the Mac OS X version of iMovie is better than the Mac OS 9 version. (Slower, but otherwise better.) Leave the FireWire extensions on only if you have FireWire gadgets like external hard drives that you want to access from within Mac OS 9.

Once your pruning session is complete, click Continue. You should find that the Classic mode now starts up far faster than before.

Note: These are only suggestions. If, after turning off some of these extensions and control panels, you find that certain familiar Mac OS 9 functions are no longer available, exit Classic, restart it with the Space bar pressed again, and experiment with restoring some of the things you turned off. And if you don't have the time to fiddle with individual extension settings, you can always turn on the entire Apple-authorized original set by choosing Mac OS 9 All (or Mac OS 9.2.2 All, or whatever) from the Selected Set pop-up menu.

6.2.5.3. Extensions to leave on

You can't go totally hog-wild turning off System Folder elements. Classic expects to find certain System Folder items when it launches. If you turn them off, an error message will explain that "Some Classic-specific resources need to be added to or updated in your System Folder on [Disk Name]." If you click OK, Mac OS X copies them into the Mac OS 9 System Folder. Here's a list:

Control Panels : General, Startup Disk

Extensions : Apple Guide, CarbonLib, Classic RAVE, Open Transport, Open Transport ASLM Modules

Loose in the System Folder : Classic Support, Classic Support UI, ProxyApp

6.2.5.4. "Holding down" keys during startup

On a Mac OS 9 machine, holding down certain keys during the startup process triggers certain utility functions. Pressing Shift, for example, turns off all extensions and control panels. Holding down Option and eventually rebuilds the desktop database file, a Mac OS 9 troubleshooting technique that can cure general slowdowns as well as the "generic," blank-icon problem.

As Classic is starting up, these keystrokes work exactly as they do when a Mac OS 9 Mac is starting up. That is, if you press Shift immediately after the Classic progress bar appears onscreen, you see the usual "Extensions Off" message in the middle of the simulated Mac OS 9 startup screen. Similarly, if you hold down the Option and keys as the extension-loading process comes to an end, you're eventually offered the opportunity to rebuild the desktop. (Well, sort of after Classic has finished loading, click the blank-document icon that appears in your Dock with the name Classic Support UI, to bring forward the "Are you sure you want to rebuild the desktop?" dialog box.)

Still, Apple's engineers worried that you might find it difficult to gauge when the right moment is to hold down these various startup keys, so they offer you an alternative method of "holding them down."

To see it, open the Advanced tab of the Classic preference panel (see Figure 6-6).

Figure 6-6. The Advanced tab of the Classic panel lets you specify which keys you want "held down" for you as Classic starts up. It also lets you specify when Classic can sleepthat is, to slip down into virtual memory, returning the RAM (and processor attention) it was claiming to the general pool. Once it's sleeping, Classic takes slightly longer to open programsbut not nearly as long as when it first started up.

On this tab, you find a pop-up menu that helps you control the startup process. The options are as follows :

Turn Off Extensions . If you choose this command and then click the Start Classic (or Restart Classic) button next to it, you launch the Classic emulator with all extensions turned off, just as though you had held down the Shift key during its startup.

Open Extensions Manager . If you choose this command and then click Start Classic (or Restart Classic), the Mac behaves as though you had pressed the Space bar while Classic was starting up. As a result, the Extensions Manager window opens, just as described on Section 6.2.4.

Use Key Combination . This option is designed to accommodate all other startup keys, such as those available in Conflict Catcher, a now-discontinued extensions manager. Start by clicking in the <enter up to five keys> box. Now you can press up to five different keys (one at a time, please ) that the Mac will "hold down" when you start Classic by clicking the Start Classic (or Restart Classic) button in this dialog box. As you press the keys, you see them recorded in the text box.

Note that whatever option you choose from the pop-up menu will apply only to the next Classic startup you trigger from within this dialog box . These options don't affect Classic when you start it up in any of the usual ways.

Tip: There's no need to press Option- when Classic is starting up if you want to rebuild the Desktop file. The Rebuild Desktop button in this dialog box does the trick automatically, without making you launch Classic at all.