🚀 go-pugleaf

philip <philip@bengio.demon.co.uk> wrote:

> Matt Wilson wrote:
> 
> > My Mum is rather taken with an IMac (and so am I - don't want to have to
> > answer support calls about GPFs if she buys a PC!).  We had a Mac SE a
> > long time ago (now part of my museum collection).
> >
> > However, what's the 'hidden' costs of owning a machine with no removable
> > media and none of the old style coms and lpt ports - i.e. How do you
> > print from the thing?

USB, USB, USB...  It's much better for pretty much everything than
Centronics and RS232 ports (when I say `better', I mean cheaper, *much*
faster, longer range, easier to set up, and so on).  The only serious
problems are related to its newness - there's not as much USB kit around
as there will be in another year or so (there's plenty, but USB hasn't
quite taken over yet), and some of the driver software (especially from
Epson) is pretty buggy.

> > I have a spare HP Deskjet 600 Black & White printer, as used on the PC
> > which I could give to Mum.  I presume it could work on the IMac - USB to
> > Centronics adaptor though?  Drivers?

Driver software is the tricky bit; HP doesn't make drivers to use that
particular printer with a Mac, but you could buy (for about the cost of
a new printer) a commercial package to do the job.  Chuck's Printer
Driver is a shareware driver that *might* do the job, but I wouldn't put
money on it.

> > How much are drives for it?

You can get an external floppy disc drive for somewhere in the region of
�100-�150 IIRC.  It's got a CD-ROM drive so you *do* have removable
media availale.

> > It says it comes with Appleworks, PageMill etc.. so I presume letter
> > writing, plants & recipes cataloguing, that sort of thing will be
> > possible with the bundled packages.

Yep.

> > Does it come with a modem?

I think they all do; certainly the first iMacs had built-in modems.

> > Would it be easy to connect up on an ethernet network to my PC?

Umm...  The physical connection is no trouble; the software side of
things is less straightforward.  What *exactly* do you want to do?  Some
people set up ftp servers and do stuff via TCP/IP between Macs and PCs
on that basis (yes, really).  There is commercial software available if
you want more straightforward filesharing and stuff like that.  It's not
something I've paid much attention to myself.

> > Finally, what's the best place to buy one (price and support wise) 

In my experience, after-sales support is pretty poor unless you pay
extra for a dedicated support package, and even then it's likely to be
ropey.  I'd be inclined to use uk.comp.sys.mac for any advice and help I
needed...

> >and should
> > she wait till after Christmas?

Yep; the longer you leave it, the cheaper they get...

[snip]

Rowland.

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