Using PC Peripherals on the MacApple's latest marketing effort, "Switch," concentrates on converting users from the Windows platform to Mac OS X. I'll stop short of saying "My Dad's PC ate my homework," but I will say that I am impressed with my newly purchased eMac.
Over the years, Apple has assured users that its familiar PC applications would still be able to run on Mac OS X (or made available, such as Microsoft Office X). However, many PC users (including myself) are actually more concerned about the price of peripherals. A typical Windows user would have invested in quite a few peripherals, including an external hard disk, a Zip drive, a digital camera, printers, and so on. Simply telling them that their favorite Microsoft WinWord is available on the Mac is not comforting for these potential converts.
Recently, I decided to see for myself this much talked about new OS that Apple has been touting for the last 18 months--Mac OS X. So I set out to buy myself an eMac, since this is one model that a poor academic like me can afford.
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With my new eMac, I looked at the various hardware add-ons available for the Mac, such as portable hard disks, printers, and so on. To my surprise (shock would be a better word), prices for the various add-ons are consistently more expensive than those for the PC world. (Unfortunately, I need these add-ons to do my job.) So I decided to try out my existing pool of PC peripherals. To my great pleasure, most of them work!
This article lists some of my experiences in using my existing PC peripherals on the Mac. PC users who are contemplating buying a Mac can use this as an informal guide to see for themselves how much of their existing hardware they can reuse.
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The most visible physical difference between Macs and PCs is the mouse. PC users are familiar with two-button (or often three buttons) models. And newer mice often come with a useful scroll wheel, which makes scrolling long Word documents or Web pages very efficient. When I first used my new Mac, I was literally stuck with Apple's simple one-button mouse. Their rationale for sticking with the one-button mouse is that it's more simple to use.
Unfortunately, no matter how much Apple tries to convince me, I don't like the one-button mouse. No doubt there are ways to emulate the behavior of a two-button mouse with keystrokes (see Terrie Miller's article, I've Switched From Windows, Now What?), but I find it easier to use my old, trusted PC mouse. So with trepidation, I plugged in my Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse to the eMac.
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It works! Not only does it work, the right click button is also able to invoke the context-sensitive menu on the Mac. Scroll wheel support is good, though not all applications support it. Microsoft also provides the driver for the Mac as well.
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With my wireless mouse working, I now have more confidence in getting my other devices to work on the Mac. The next device I plug in is the Conquest 256MB USB Pocket Disk. Because the eMac does not come with a floppy drive, finding a way to transfer files from one machine to another is essential. Since my eMac is not connected to a network, I have to rely on my USB Pocket disk, which doesn't require any drivers because it's a Mass Storage Device. So for Mac OS X (and OS 9 too), these little gems are truly plug and play. And if I have to exchange data with a Windows XP PC, no problem. It works the same there too.
Another popular storage device with PC users is the Iomega Zip drive. The latest Zip drive connects using USB and does not need an external power supply.
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I first tried plugging my USB 250MB Zip drive into the USB port on my eMac keyboard, but it gave me a USB Low Power Notice. Obviously, the keyboard does not have enough juice to power up my Zip drive. And thus I disconnected the Zip drive and connected it to the eMac directly. It works and best of all, no driver is needed.
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I have an external notebook hard disk enclosure from Ziv. The Ziv drive is pretty neat--it runs without external power and it connects using USB. The drive needs a driver to work on the PC, and it also comes with a driver for Mac OS 8.6 or higher. I have tried installing the driver in Mac OS X but it just did not work. I have scoured the Net for an updated driver, but have not been successful.
I did manage to get it to work under Mac OS 9 though. I restarted my eMac and booted up in Mac OS 9. Although it works, I don't think I would want to do this as the drive emitted a strange noise when it accessed the data. So I think I'm going to wait for an updated OS X driver.
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Using a USB hub on the Mac is straightforward. Plug it in and it should work fine.
Most USB hubs in the market support both the PC and the Mac platforms. I seriously do not think there will be any compatibility problems. Note however, that the latest USB version is 2.0, which is backward compatible with version 1.1, and most Macs still ship with USB 1.1. Be sure to buy a version 2.0 USB hub so as to protect your investment.
As I have described in my earlier article, I was able to use my 3Com USB Bluetooth adapter to work on my eMac (after some tweaking).
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Cost-wise, I find that it is actually much cheaper to get the D-Link DWB-120M USB Bluetooth Adapter (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=T4728G/B) than the 3Com Bluetooth adapter.
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Most digital cameras and MP3 devices support SmartMedia storage devices and hence it is not uncommon to find PC users equipped with readers of this type. I have a Viking IntelliFlash USB Flash Memory reader capable of reading PC cards, SmartMedia, and CompactFlash.
The reader that I have does not come with the latest driver for Mac OS X. Fortunately, I was able to download the latest driver for Mac OS X (see the IntelliFlash Installer X 10.1 in Figure 13) from Viking's web site.
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Once the driver is installed, just reboot to use the reader.
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One of the storage expansion kits available for handheld devices, digital audio players, and digital cameras is the IBM MicroDrive. The IBM MicroDrive is a one-inch hard disk drive that conforms to the industry CF+ Type II format. It is also compatible with PCMCIA Type II through the use of an adapter.
The 1GB IBM Microdrive that I use is for my Pocket PC--the iPaq 3870. Using the PCMCIA Adapter provided by IBM, I was able to get my eMac to read the drive by plugging it into my Viking IntelliFlash USB Flash Memory Reader.
Most digital cameras are designed to work with both PC and Mac platforms. And so I have no problem connecting my FujiFilm FinePix 2800Zoom to my eMac.
When I plugged in my FujiFilm FinePix, iPhoto launches automatically. And you can then download the images onto your Mac rather effortlessly. FujiFilm, however, provides its own FinePix viewer, but iPhoto is sufficient for me.
To be honest, the last device that I expected to work with my eMac was my iPaq 3870 Pocket PC. Since the Mac and the Pocket PC are running two drastically different operating systems, I wasn't too optimistic about getting them to talk.
However, as I found out, there are two ways to connect a Pocket PC to a Mac:
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What I have discovered, apart from the two methods described above, is that through my Bluetooth connection to the Mac, I was able to initiate a file transfer from my eMac to the iPaq. You just need to pair the two devices (see my earlier article for a discussion of Bluetooth connectivity) and drag and drop the file onto the Bluetooth File Exchange utility (installed with the Bluetooth Technology Preview 2.1 software).
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My eMac comes with a measly 128MB memory, considering that most of my PCs have at least 512MB memory. The eMac uses the standard 168-pin DIMM memory. According to discussions on Apple's site, you can use PC memory on the Mac. For eMac, you should use PC-133 RAM, though there have been cases of people successfully using PC-100 RAM. In any case, I have not tried this and when in doubt, it is always wise to get a trained technician to do the upgrade for you. For those of you who want to do it yourself, Apple provides a self-help document.
Another thing that I have not tried is wireless connectivity via 802.11b. I am tempted to use my existing 802.11b USB adapter to try connecting wirelessly to the network, instead of using Apple's Airport card.
Apart from all the devices that I have described in this article, there are two devices that I am not able to get to work on my eMac. I have a HP5L laser printer and a serial port modem. As the eMac does not have a parallel port or a serial port, getting the printer and modem connected is not easy, unless you use special adapters.
Most devices that I have invested in for my PC are compatible with my new eMac. In general, devices that connect using standard interfaces like USB or FireWire should work without problems. The most you need to do is to hunt for the native software driver. I hope this article has shed some light for those of you who are considering getting a Mac and that it serve as reassurance that a Mac can be as affordable as a PC. Now, if someone could tell me how I can expand my screen real estate by connecting an additional monitor to my eMac....
Wei-Meng Lee (Microsoft MVP) http://weimenglee.blogspot.com is a technologist and founder of Developer Learning Solutions http://www.developerlearningsolutions.com, a technology company specializing in hands-on training on the latest Microsoft technologies.
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