Best Mac Apps

[Adcadet]

as some of you know, I've recently inherited a Mac G3 at work and have been discouraged from installing Linux on it, or upgrading it's OS. So I'm suck with Mac OS8.something. Oh well.
Q: what are the "best of breed" apps for older Macs. I mostly need a)a browser, b)an email client, and c)a word processor. A simple graphing program (such as Excel) would also be nice. And I'd appreciate an MP3 player for when the work gets slow, as well as an IM client (preferably one that uses ICQ and MSM networks). Thus, I ask the good people of Storage Forum what their favorite Mac apps are, bearing in mind that I'm running an older Mac.

 

[Bartender]

I know this is of no help, but my favorite Mac apps were QuarkXpress and Adobe Photoshop (I was never a big fan of Aldus PageMaker). This was back in 1990, when our interent connection of 900 baud, so IM and EMAIL were non-existant in the shop, and MP3, what is that? We didn't even have a color monitor!

Sorry for all this, I'll let someone else provide practical information now.

 

[Mercutio]

Out of all the versions of IE, the Mac version is supposedly the best. No matter. Install Moz anyway. It works the same on everything (incidently, Tannin, since you'll probably read this, try K-meleon for Windows and see if that's better for you. It starts in seconds like IE/Opera/Moz Quickstart, but is based on Mozilla. It's a download under 2MB). I'd use that for e-mail too. It doesn't support the complicated address book or anything, but it works just fine.

Stuffit does your winzip-ish chores.

Office 99 is probably your standard office app. No one really likes it, but ClarisSuite has the same problem as SmartSuite and OpenOffice (ie, they aren't Microsoft).
Filemaker Pro is a nice lightweight database. Scads easier to use than Access.

Most everything else goes into a specialized word. Graphics, Publishing, music production. I doubt you're interested in that stuff. I've always been more interested in interoperating Macs with PCs than with other Macs, so that's a pretty distinct bias.

 

[Santilli]

In my opinion, you have the best os going, if it's 8.6..

Both 8.5 and 8.6 for usb support worked well. They are also the only os that you can use a couple of my favorite tweaks with.

"Finder Heap Fixer" is a very old app that allows you to change the Finder memory. This is a really great tool, since the Mac os uses very little memory.

Another great app, in conjunction, I have to look up, but it shows you how much memory is allocated to each program, and allows you to shut down the apps from the program. It's memory manager, or something like this.

Anyway, I use the finder Heap fixer to alot about 6-10 MB of ram for the system heap, and this speeds boot, and really cuts down os paging.

Also putting your favorite apps on a Ram Disk program, like Rambunctious, makes them super quick.

For email, use Eudora. Free, and my favorite.

Browser? My major problem, and, why I have pc's. IE is ok, so is Mozilla, but, it does have minor problems last time I used it.

Corel Wordperfect Suite is very nice for the mac, and, is the legal industry standard.

MSFT Office also works, and the current version is what I use, thanks to our school system.

Apple works is really nice with OS 8.5 or 8.6, and, if you can get your hands on it, is a great suite product, and cheap.



Hope this helps.

gs

 

[Adcadet]

The Mac is in fact running OS8.6.

I installed Mozilla, and it didn't seem to work quite right. It tried to import a Netscape profile, and crashed. Then it would refuse to load at all....I'm not sure what to do with it.

The latest problem is that I've been given an older HP inkjet printer that only has a parallel and what looks like PS2 port. Meanwhile, the Mac only has Firewire, USB, and what looks like PS2 but is different from what's on the printer. Grump. I called the local vendor who we use, and the adaptor is about $80, so we're definitely not going that route. Double grump.; The challenge will be to find somebody in my lab who's using an older Mac that has a parallel port and who has a USB printer.

 

[Cliptin]

Some Macs used appletalk. The connector was round like ps/2 but with a few more pins. That is the extent of my knowledge on appletalk. Try google. What did HP web support say?

 

[Mercutio]

I have to admit that I never paid much attention to Macintosh printers (the Applewriters were really Deskjet 500-series models, probably the finest general-use inkjets ever made), but I think the connector you're describing as PS/2 like is actually an ADB connector, similar to the one used for legacy Mac keyboards and mice.

 

[Corvair]

..··

Some Macs used appletalk. The connector was round like ps/2 but with a few more pins. That is the extent of my knowledge on appletalk...

That would actually be LocalTalk.

LocalTalk was a sluggish but cheap and convenient Macintosh-only network scheme built around a 230 kb/s RS-422 serial port.


..··

 

[Platform]

..··

...but my favorite Mac apps were QuarkXpress...

Bartender, what have you been drinking? Quirk Xpress was a fave???

Well, if it was version 3 maybe, but definitely not any of the many many MANY 4.x.x revisions. Quirk Xpress 4 has to go down in history as one of the most bug-ridden application programs ever.

..··

 

[Bartender]

..··

...but my favorite Mac apps were QuarkXpress...

Bartender, what have you been drinking? Quirk Xpress was a fave???

Well, if it was version 3 maybe, but definitely not any of the many many MANY 4.x.x revisions. Quirk Xpress 4 has to go down in history as one of the most bug-ridden application programs ever.

..··

I haven't been drinking anything for a while, maybe that is the problem. I worked with QuarkXpress on Macs until 1996. Then I switched to PCs. My first Windows version of Quark was 3.0. Presently I'm using 4.1 and I've never had an issue. What I've liked about Quark for Windows is that the version 3.0 that I installed on Windows 3.12 in 1996 installs on WindowsXP today without a hitch. Now I'm looking at version 5.0 - but I'm not sure if I should get the full version or upgrade again.

 

[Mercutio]

I used PageMaker and Quark in work for newspapers in highschool and college. I still see them both from time to time, depending on where I work.

Still, what possible daily use for such programs is there, that can't be handled by any of the top-notch WP packages at this point?

 

[Handruin]

I've been using QuarkExpress 4.0 for a long time and I've never had a problem with the program. I enjoy using Quark so much more then using PM 6.0. I used to do the layout design for my school's news paper with it, but I mostly use it now for my resume and portfolio.

 

[Adcadet]

Hey Doug - nice to see you here on the SF forums!
Adcadet

 

[Adcadet]

Hey Doug - nice to see you here on the SF forums!
Adcadet

Hmm...with over 600 posts you've obviously been around a while. Wonder why I haven't noticed before...maybe 'cause I haven't been around much.

 

[Handruin]

Hey Doug - nice to see you here on the SF forums!
Adcadet

Hmm...with over 600 posts you've obviously been around a while. Wonder why I haven't noticed before...maybe 'cause I haven't been around much.

Can I have some of what your on please.

 

[Mercutio]

Methinks Mr. A.D. has been partaking freely of his pig uteruses.

 

[Handruin]

Methinks Mr. A.D. has been partaking freely of his pig uteruses.

At least that would explain it... :mrgrn:

 

[Platform]

I've been using QuarkExpress 4.0 for a long time and I've never had a problem with the program...

I've barely used Quark Xpress on a PC, just a Macintosh. This was due to the fact that (back then) the Postscript printer driver for Windows 9x and NT 4.0 had problems generating error-free Postscript output.

When Quark Xpress 4.0 was introduced (and *long* awaited at the time, I might add) it was a nightmare for high-end colour output. V4.x also has various stability problems. V3.x worked quite well, V4.0 and all it's follow up patches and revisions did not for a long time. With the various 4.0.x patches, some problems might go away or only diminish, but various new problems would suddenly pop up. If I recall correctly, things finally became relatively stable with about V4.1.1.

Aldus / Adobe Pagemaker is better at handling "long documents" than Quark Xpress. Quark Xpress is better at handling layout design and outputting for smaller documents. Adobe's InDesign is competition for Quark Xpress.

 

[Pradeep]

You could always use FrameMaker for long technical documents.

The reason I still use Pagemaker for newsletter/brochure type output is because many printers are still stuck in the Mac era and cannot handle a Word or Publisher file.

 

[Adcadet]

Would somebody please tell me what I need on this damn G3 to execute mozilla-mac-100rc3-stub.sit. I'd really like to run Moz, but this computer is too stupid to know what to use. AHhhhhhh!

 

[Platform]

You'll need STUFFIT EXPANDER to unpack it first!

http://www.stuffit.com/expander/index.html