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News Archive for Monday Nov. 16, 2009    Go to Current News Page

Mac Upgrades/Mods | Storage | Video | Audio/Home Theater | Apple Updates/Tips/WiFi
= Recent Articles/Updates =

Snow Leopard Printer Driver Updates (Canon, Brother, HP, Lexmark)
As usual use Software Update first to see if there's an updated driver for your specific printer model as these download pages are the complete set. (When I posted this earlier, Apple hadn't revised the OS X v10.6: Printer and scanner software page to note specifics on what models were updated (*)/added (+), but they have now.)

Printer support (functionality) has been one of the biggest complaints about SL in the past. Hopefully things are improving. (And if nothing helps, did you install Rosetta which may be needed for some models apparently. Unless you've already given up and went back to 10.5.x already.)

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Firmware Update 1.0.2 for 5th Gen iPod Nano
Available via iTunes update check. Here's the change list:

"iPod Nano (5th gen) v1.0.2
This update contains bug fixes and improvements including the following:

  • Fixed Audiobook playback setting so Normal, Slower, Faster works for audio podcasts
  • Resolved issue where Genius Mixes did not work when using the Nike + Sport Kit
  • Accessibility setting for Mono Audio now working
  • Fixed bug so VoiceOver menu items are no longer skipped when using headphone + and - volume buttons to navigate"
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    Reminder on Snow Leopard Rosetta Install (Optional install but reqd for some printer drivers/software)
    This came up back when 10.6.0 was first released (Rosetta isn't installed by default, but there were comments some printer drivers and software still needed it due to no native intel code). I'd almost forgotten about that but a reader that first asked about running 10.5.8 on a new iMac (due to SL issues with his printers/software) wrote back that installing Rosetta in SL solved the problem.
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    Reader's fix for (early) MacBook Random Shutdown Syndrome (repairing melted/shorted wiring)
    I've posted a page with notes/pix from a reader mail this weekend on his MacBook Random Shutdown Syndrome Fix . (Repairing/re-routing melted insulation/shorted wiring.) He didn't mention the model in his email but I assume an early (2006) series as I remember this issue originally coming up back then (a sensor wire insulation melted/shorting out on some builds due to wire touching hot heatsink). I did some checking and found an old page here from 2006 on (early) MacBook problems that refers to a Sept 5th, 2006 news page post on 'random macbook shutdowns solved' with same cause/fix. Apple had posted a doc back then on "MacBook: Shuts down intermittently" that said simply to "contact applecare". (That old doc URL now converts to a revised one on an SMC firmware update however.)
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    (Some) Updated M-Audio Drivers for Snow Leopard (32bit/64bit)
    From a reader mail this weekend:

    "new M-Audio drivers
    Not sure how many M-Audio devices have new drivers but my ProFire 610 now has new ones for 10.5.8, 10.6. and 10.6.1 (32-bit and 64-bit)
    Release Date: November 13, 2009
    www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support&tab=driver
    (I asked James if he tried the new driver with 10.6.2.)
    The ProFire 610 is my main real time 5.1 audio monitoring device in FCP 7.0.1. (It has up to 8 channels of analogue outputs bal/unbalanced, and 2 channel SP/DIF up to 192 KHz@24 bit)
    The latest drivers are without issue for this application in OS X 10.5.8 and 10.6.2.
    Cheers, James"

    I don't own any M-Audio cards/devices personally but noticed there's a USB Transit 10.6.1 (32bit and 64bit) driver update v1.8.0 dated Nov. 13, 2009 - I guess they hadn't tested it with 10.6.2 yet either. (If any readers are still using a Transit - older page here of feedback on it often typically wasn't positive.)

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    Reminder on WD 1TB Passport drives (USB drive only)
    Over the weekend I had a mail from a reader that missed my post last month (Oct 12th news page with drive photo) and made the same mistake I did, thinking the WD 1TB Passport case had a std SATA notebook drive inside. (As noted in that post apparently for some time even lower capacity Passport's have USB only HDs inside - a reader said his 500GB passport from several months ago was also USB only.)
    He also noted his preorder/backorder had been cancelled (as ETA's have kept slipping on these and many sources have removed listings for them now). Although reportedly some shipped I don't know what's the root cause of the delay (some think there may be some issue with them but not sure that's true.) I'll try to find a WD contact late today to ask but not sure they'll give me more than a company party line reply.
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    Other News/Articles, Misc. Software updates

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    Recent Articles and Reviews
    Listing/links to recent articles and reviews you may have missed.
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