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POWER USER TIPS
• If you're using an old Mac (Power Mac 6100, 7100, 8100 series; PowerBook 1400 or 5300; Power Mac 9500, 6200, 6300, or 6400) or some third-party video cards, you will discover that the new Apple Studio Display 17 doesn't offer a full complement of screen resolutions. In order to get every resolution you paid for, you must turn off the DDC control. Here's how:
Press the OSD Enter button on the left side of the monitor. The Basic Adjustments menu will appear. Use the left and right arrow keys to move among the icons, select the ETC icon, and press the monitor's Enter button. Select the Off option to disable DDC. Finally, press OSD Exit to return to your normal programming. You should now be able to access the full complement of resolutions your Mac offers.
• If you have a Power Mac G3 with the Audio/Video card option, there's a way to confirm that the card and software are configured properly to send a signal out from the Mac to a TV or VCR. Here's how:
Attach one end of a video cable to the video output port on the back of the Mac and the other end to the video input port (both ports are yellow). Turn on TV Mirroring in the TV Control Strip module and open the Apple Video Player (found in the Apple menu). If everything's hunky dory, the output from TV mirroring should appear in the Player window. If you don't see the image of your monitor in the window, check to see that the input for the player is set to Video.
• One area where Macs have fallen behind PCs is speech recognition. However, given the right equipment (and a nearly unlimited budget) Mac users can control their computers with speech just as well as PC users. Here's a little story to illustrate how this can happen:
Scholle Sawyer, one of Macworld's editors, suffers from RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury) and can use a computer keyboard and mouse in only a limited way. Although Scholle dearly loves her Mac, she found that its speech recognition capabilities weren't advanced enough for her to get her work done. She therefore opted to get a PC and Dragon's Naturally Speaking Pro dictation program - an application that reliably (and quickly) transcribes words you speak into a headset.
Naturally Speaking and the PC worked fine together, but Scholle wanted to use her Mac as well and here's what she did: With a copy of Netopia's Timbuktu Pro installed on both machines and networked with Miramar Systems' PC MacLAN, she's found that she can control her Mac - and dictate to it quite easily - via Naturally Speaking. Naturally Speaking translates her words into Windows key commands, Timbuktu translates those Windows key commands into Mac key commands, and PC MacLAN allows the two machines to talk to one another.
So here's the tip: If you need to control your Mac via voice, all you need is a PC, Naturally Speaking, two copies of Timbuktu Pro, and PC MacLAN. Hardly a bargain, granted, but it can be done!

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			POWER USER TIPS • If you're using an old Mac (Power Mac 6100, 7100, 8100 series; PowerBook 1400 or 5300; Power Mac 9500, 6200, 6300, or 6400) or some third-party video cards, you will discover that the new Apple Studio Display 17 doesn't offer a full complement of screen resolutions. In order to get every resolution you paid for, you must turn off the DDC control. Here's how: Press the OSD Enter button on the left side of the monitor. The Basic Adjustments menu will appear. Use the left and right arrow keys to move among the icons, select the ETC icon, and press the monitor's Enter button. Select the Off option to disable DDC. Finally, press OSD Exit to return to your normal programming. You should now be able to access the full complement of resolutions your Mac offers. • If you have a Power Mac G3 with the Audio/Video card option, there's a way to confirm that the card and software are configured properly to send a signal out from the Mac to a TV or VCR. Here's how: Attach one end of a video cable to the video output port on the back of the Mac and the other end to the video input port (both ports are yellow). Turn on TV Mirroring in the TV Control Strip module and open the Apple Video Player (found in the Apple menu). If everything's hunky dory, the output from TV mirroring should appear in the Player window. If you don't see the image of your monitor in the window, check to see that the input for the player is set to Video. • One area where Macs have fallen behind PCs is speech recognition. However, given the right equipment (and a nearly unlimited budget) Mac users can control their computers with speech just as well as PC users. Here's a little story to illustrate how this can happen: Scholle Sawyer, one of Macworld's editors, suffers from RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury) and can use a computer keyboard and mouse in only a limited way. Although Scholle dearly loves her Mac, she found that its speech recognition capabilities weren't advanced enough for her to get her work done. She therefore opted to get a PC and Dragon's Naturally Speaking Pro dictation program - an application that reliably (and quickly) transcribes words you speak into a headset. Naturally Speaking and the PC worked fine together, but Scholle wanted to use her Mac as well and here's what she did: With a copy of Netopia's Timbuktu Pro installed on both machines and networked with Miramar Systems' PC MacLAN, she's found that she can control her Mac - and dictate to it quite easily - via Naturally Speaking. Naturally Speaking translates her words into Windows key commands, Timbuktu translates those Windows key commands into Mac key commands, and PC MacLAN allows the two machines to talk to one another. So here's the tip: If you need to control your Mac via voice, all you need is a PC, Naturally Speaking, two copies of Timbuktu Pro, and PC MacLAN. Hardly a bargain, granted, but it can be done! Beginner Tips Intermediate Tips Tips Main Page Product Reviews