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May 04, 2003
Back Again
Time to head back. I am on the 2:00 pm from Fassifern. To ensure that the trip will take just as long, we waited until 2:15 before starting. With that handicap, we should be a good half hour late at Central. Oh well, I actually don't mind. Sorry, I should have warned you to sit down before springing that on you.
For more ranting, read on ...
Unlike this morning I am in a good mood brought on by good friends, a good solid meal and of course some coffee. Even more important is the fact that everything worked!
I can just imagine the expression on monday, when a colleague asks: "so, whaddy do onya weekend?" and I answer: "Well on sunday, I was standing in a convent kitchen drying dishes alongside a priest."
The background to this is that I sometimes refit old computers for charitable purposes. Used to be old PC's but now that the licenses cannot be transferred between owners it is not worth the risk of being charged with piracy. Now it is old Macs. They keep their value well and tend to remain viable as a working platform longer. A fellow I know was buying a new eMac and wanted to sell his old (pre-G3) 7300/180. The machine came with an old but working monitor and a HP deskjet printer. The internal zip drive was dead (click of death) but everything else was supposed to be working. As I knew the history of the machine, I matched the highest 2nd hand retail price we could find: $200.
I reformatted the hard drive, reinstalled the O/S (9.1) and AppleWorks 6 (included with system) and added iTunes and then patched everything. Last weekend, I delivered the system to Sr. Cabrini who previously had been using a Performa 400. I copied her data over using a serial network (no ethernet on the Performa) and fired everything up. Computer worked like a charm and much faster than the old one. Then I tried to print. At first the printer wouldn't turn on at all. Then it wouldn't turn off (even with power disconnected). When it was on, it refused to talk to the computer or for an encore refused to print more than 1" of the document before claiming that there was no paper. Nothing helped except a momentary respite after resorting to percussive maintenance (ie wacking it).
A quick ring around confirmed that I had no hope of either (a) getting the printer fixed, or (b) buying a printer with an Apple serial connection. The only solution: buy a usb/pci card and a new printer. The local tricky-dicky was able to supply a USB card manufactured by dolphinfast and a HP printer in an open box. As the printer had obviously been opened, the boss knocked about $10 off. The card was in a box that clearly stated that it worked with Macintosh.
Back to the convent, open up the machine, thank goodness I had my tools with me. Wack in the card (using static precautions of course). Close up, start the machine: nothing happens. Maybe we need extra drivers. Grab O/S disk and reinstall USB and USB card drivers. No good. Apple system profile seems to be unsure about how many pci slots exist and what they are named.
Ok. Grab a phone line and my trusty powerbook and get on the net. Yup, the dolphin card supports Mac but no special drivers are required. Waste lots of time looking for answers - try different slots, software reinstalls - you name it. Oh well, I can test the printer using the powerbook. NBG (Australian for "Doesn't work"). End up vandalising the ink holders from the dud printer to rebuild the new one. The printer is now OK but the card is still stuffed. Spend so long that I need to book another night in the motel (Cardiff Motor Inn - great motel, try the spa room).
After I get back to Sydney, do some more research with no luck. Shopped all around the city for another card or a solution. The genuine Apple stores wanted two arms and a leg and the PC shops kept telling me that Macs can't use PCI cards. Gave up and went to Hardly Normal and found a Belkin card for $30 (the dolphin was $50). The salesman (everyone say "Hi Tim") was helpful but toed the standard non-Mac line: "you can't install that in a Mac". These guys must have shares in an Apple store. My response (having already identified this card by the part number): "even though it says Mac on the box". Given that, he allowed me to purchase the card.
After arriving this morning (and getting some coffee) I stuck the Belkin card in and it worked. Nothing else required. Apple profiler was happy, the printer worked and sisters' documents and bottle labels printed. Total time to get it going 10 minutes, including one toilet break (while the system booted) :grin. Travel time = 5 hours :sad. All in all, I feel pretty good about it.
PS: The train got back early!
Posted by Ozguru at May 4, 2003 11:05 PM
