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The View From Here: Begin at the Beginning
August 1995
Welcome to my first column for the Sirius newsletter. I'm writing this in a car, on my way to Big Sur, on my Apple PowerBook 520c. (Someone else is driving.) This is typical of the way I use my computing equipment; I mold it to fit my lifestyle, not the other way 'round. This column will be about Macintosh-related issues: new hardware, software, power user's secrets, and notes for beginners - in short, ways that you can mold your computing environment to your needs and style of working.
"Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." Where can you go when you have questions about your Macintosh? You could send them to me, but I'm already swamped my email, and I may not get back to you for a while. There are much better places to get information.
The largest gathering of Mac-heads in the world is on USENET. There are many Mac newsgroups, I'll point you at a few of them. When you have a question, post it to the most relevant one - cross-posting is unnecessary and annoying. Mac mavens read all the groups they're comfortable with.
The first Mac newsgroup I read each day is "comp.sys.mac.announce" (also known as c.s.m.a) - it's where you'll see important news such as new viruses (very, very, rare), new software, calls for beta testers, and the like. "comp.sys.mac.digest" is where several newsletters are published, including Adam Engst and Geoff Duncan's invaluable "TidBits". You'll find general MacOS information in "comp.sys.mac.system". As a PowerBook user, I read "comp.sys.mac.portables" to find out what's new for us road warriors. I read "comp.sys.mac.games.marathon" to hear about other folks adventures with Marathon, a great action game. (I've just played the Marathon 2 demo that's soon to be made available - it's fantastic! Ambient sound, indoor and outdoor texturing, etc. Whoo!) Back to newsgroups. Far and away the best place to get information about Macintosh communications and networking are the folks in "comp.sys.mac.comm" - questions you ask will be answered in a matter of minutes.
Sometimes it's not finding information, but finding software. Macintosh freeware and shareware is plentiful, and much of it is of professional commercial quality (or better). The MIT "HyperArchive", is a place where you can see the recent additions to the Mac universe and search for software by keywords and fragments of the name ("...hmmmm, I want a terminal emulator, let me search for "term" and see what I find...").
With these two tools at your disposal, you'll be able to get answers to questions you need (and answer the questions of others). I'll see you next month.
Michael 'Mickey' Sattler has been involved with computers since 1979. After spending ten years consulting, he's now writing computer-related book at the People's Café and learning American Sign Language.
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