I spent some time messing around a bit more with my USB key today, and I determined that its read speed is just fine -- it's only the write speed that's screwed up. With that, and having talked to the tech at Apple about it, I strongly suspect that there's something wrong with the key, not with the PowerBook. These are the same problems I had with my iBook, and neither the Apple tech nor a Google search revealed anyone else reporting a similar problem, so I don't think it's an OS X issue. I won't know for sure, of course, until I've had a chance to try another key with the notebook.
In other news, I tried the external display adapter this evening, and it worked marvelously. One of the neat things about the PowerBook that the iBook didn't have is that it can actually treat the two displays as separate displays, whereas the iBook treated them only as "mirrors" of each other. This means that I can arrange the displays to be side-by-side, or one on top of the other, or whatever, and when I move the cursor off the edge of the notebook's display, it appears on the monitor's display, or vice versa. A big plus. (Mirroring the displays is also an option in the System Preferences if for any reason you prefer to do it that way.) This has been a feature on Macs for quite a while now, at least as far back as 1994, but this is the first Mac I've ever owned that could actually do it, so I'm pretty excited. :^)
The testing of the new PowerBook is largely completed, then, and all things considered, I have to say that I'm very pleased. There are certain annoying quirks, such as occasional odd behavior with OS X not treating windows properly, and I need to investigate a bit further how to get it to treat "Classic" apps correctly. Overall, though, I'm quite happy with it -- certainly much more than I was with the iBook.
Apple, in keeping with the rest of the computer community, does not ship the PowerBook with enough RAM (I don't think I've ever seen a stock configuration from any vendor that included a realistic amount of RAM). It comes with 256 megs, but 512 is really the more appropriate base amount. Fortunately, expansion is a pretty straightforward matter, and I've purchased a 256 meg DIMM on eBay. I'm anxious for it to get here.
I can also report, from what I've seen thus far, that "RealMyst" is a great game. I do wonder how long it's going to take me to find the new "Rime Age", though. If any of my readers know where it is... no hints, please. I'd prefer to find it on my own. And if I get desperate enough, I'll Google it. :^) My best guess is that it's probably hidden inside one of the other ages, since hiding it on Myst Island would be too obvious... then again, I guess one never knows.
Posted by Zathras at October 3, 2003 09:01 PMEvery once in a while I play Riven - I really like the fact I can play it in both the Mac and PC. Is the structure of Real Myst different from the old 'Unreal Myst'?
Posted by: Matt at October 9, 2003 09:31 AMStructurally, it's largely the same, at least from what I've seen so far -- cosmetically, though, it's very different. The sun rises and sets, there are different animals on the island that you can run into, and of course it's no longer a slide show, you can actually move around, as in an FPS game.
Thus far, I've found only one significant structural difference in the game -- however, I don't want to blow the secret, so I won't. :^) I will say that it's on Myst Island itself and is not difficult to find, so there's that.
At this point, I have no clue where the Rime Age is. My plan is to open up the other four ages completely and solve them, then start sniffing around. It's possible, after all, that the Rime Age is hidden inside one of the other four ages. Regardless, I'm definitely anxious to find it... in fact, I think I'll play again tonight.
Posted by: Zathras at October 9, 2003 11:22 AM