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I have been commissioned to help a local newspaper with some IT problems.

Problem 1: They're getting DSL and they can't get it to work. They're just trying one machine right now.

Problem 2: Eventually, they want a router, so all the machines can use the DSL connection. I think the machines are already on some type of Ethernet network, so they can swap files, share a printer, etc.

Problem 3: The machines are old, and they're running old apps. The main two apps are Photoshop 4 (!!!) and Quark XPress 3.32. Any new machine is going to come with OS X on it. That will necessitate software upgrades most likely, and that means expense, incompatibilities, training, confusion, etc. I've heard that people running Quark and Adobe apps are very hesitant to migrate to X. I can understand that. I don't know how well the old apps would run under Classic, either.

I haven't actually looked at anything yet - I'm going to do that Monday. Any advice in the meantime?

It would be great if I knew someone who had some experience with Macs, and had helped out at a newspaper before...

Buy me a plane ticket and I'll be right down.

Seriously.

It's only a 9 hour drive. Once you get past Chicago, it's a breeze.

No, once you get past Chicago it turns into a living hell.

It's bad enough I just drove to Cleveland.

Once you get past Chicago, Indiana is sparse and flat and you can fly. Then you get to see Louisville, then you're a little less than two hours away. Easy.

Or you could just make some recommendations and stay home.

Patrick's right. Once you get past that completely nightmarish stretch of 80/90 between Chicago and the blasted apocalyptic hellscape known as Gary, the rest of the drive is a total cakewalk. I've done it dozens of times (my dad used to live in Chicago).

Come on down! We'll have a hell of a time. Keeneland's open until the 25th, and I can get you both the "VIP tour." Then we'll go hang with the Cosmo supermodel at Centre. I've even got a guest room.

Ryan

I've driven I-65 more times than I've cared to already. Indiana is bad enough the short way (Toll Road).

Feh. So, Patrick, is this gig lucrative enough to justify about $200 to fly this guy down here?

Ryan

Don't forget a cut of the action too

I'm not entirely sure I get a "cut of the action." This is a small, weekly newspaper in a rural community. This isn't the NY Times. I'm just trying to help them out. To that end, advice about:

routers
DSL
Quark vs. InDesign
mixing OS X and 9
running Adobe apps under Classic
mixing really old machines with new machines
possibly switching to PCs
etc

would be appreciated.

Patrick M wrote:Problem 1: They're getting DSL and they can't get it to work. They're just trying one machine right now.

Could be any number of things. Is the modem actually connecting (usually there's a "DSL" or "line" light)? Does the service just use DHCP, or PPPoE?

Problem 2: Eventually, they want a router, so all the machines can use the DSL connection. I think the machines are already on some type of Ethernet network, so they can swap files, share a printer, etc.

That's simple. Depending on the DSL service, they might not even need one. Otherwise, a $50 Netgear from Best Buy will work fine.

Problem 3: The machines are old, and they're running old apps. The main two apps are Photoshop 4 (!!!) and Quark XPress 3.32. Any new machine is going to come with OS X on it. That will necessitate software upgrades most likely, and that means expense, incompatibilities, training, confusion, etc. I've heard that people running Quark and Adobe apps are very hesitant to migrate to X. I can understand that. I don't know how well the old apps would run under Classic, either.

I honestly don't know. I still don't have X here (well, I have it, but it isn't installed). You might try checking out places like Macintouch.

I'm sending you a bill.

Patrick M wrote:I've heard that people running Quark and Adobe apps are very hesitant to migrate to X. I can understand that. I don't know how well the old apps would run under Classic, either.

This is probably waaaay too late to help you, but ...

I've been using OS X at home now for almost a year, and I still use Photoshop 4 and Quark 4 in Classic mode (quite often, usually to design CD-R artwork). I have not encountered a single problem with either, or actually with any other apps I've used in Classic. It's a great feature that, for me at least, has worked very well.

How fast is your processor, Jeff? I just installed X the other day (10.2), and Classic seems kind of slow on my 400 MHz G3. OS X apps are generally pretty fast, though.

lukpac wrote:How fast is your processor, Jeff? I just installed X the other day (10.2), and Classic seems kind of slow on my 400 MHz G3.

My iMac DV has a 400 MHz G3 as well. I did double the RAM to 256MB just prior to the OS X upgrade.

Classic opens a little slowly for my taste, but once it's open my old apps run just as well as they ever did when I was using OS 9 exclusively. I can't say I've experienced any kind of slowdown.