Powerbook Tips

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 18:31 BST 
From: bcek1@cus.cam.ac.uk (B.C.E. Khoo)
Subject: [*] Collected PowerBook tips 

Once again the PowerBook tip sheet!
This version
  - corrects some errors
  - adds comments about some PowerBook-specific utilities.
  - includes a discussion on the so-called 'memory effect'

Please replace /info-mac/report/powerbook-tips.txt.

Thanks are due to:
   John Livesey (livesey@radonc.washington.edu)
   Murph Sewall (SEWALL@uconnvm.uconn.edu)
   David Tillinghast (David.M.Tillinghast@dartmouth.edu)
   Shannon Spires (SVSPIRE@sandia.gov)
   Thomas Rothenfluh (rothen@cis.ohio-state.edu)
   Alan Hewat (hewat@frill.bitnet)
   Norton Chia (norton@au.oz.su.ucc.extro)
   Dave Platt (dplatt@ntg.com)
   

Bernard Khoo
University of Cambridge Medical School, UK.
BCEK1@phx.cam.ac.uk or @cus.cam.ac.uk (World order, reverse for UK order)

=============================

PowerBook Tips v.2.50 (21 August 1992)          copyright Bernard Khoo (c) 1992

Notes
-----

1.  Many of these tips are common to all the PowerBook range. I have noted
differences where I know of any.

2.  Many of these tips are referred to in the manual. I cannot emphasize how
important it is that you read the manual thoroughly and carefully. In my 7
years of Mac ownership I've managed to escape reading many manuals, but not this
time!

3.  Thanks are due to the following:
     * John Livesey (livesey@radonc.washington.edu)
     * Murph Sewall (SEWALL@uconnvm.uconn.edu)
     * David Tillinghast (David.M.Tillinghast@dartmouth.edu)
     * Shannon Spires (SVSPIRE@sandia.gov)
     * Thomas Rothenfluh (rothen@cis.ohio-state.edu)
     * Alan Hewat (hewat@frill.bitnet)
     * Norton Chia (norton@au.oz.su.ucc.extro)
     * Dave Platt (dplatt@ntg.com)

4.  A similar document in SUMEX-AIM, /info-mac/report/powerbook-faq.txt, has
some additional tips and technical data that you may find interesting.

DISCLAIMERS and WARNING:
    I have not tested all of these tips yet. Whilst I have taken care to make
sure that they are correct, I disclaim responsibility for any mishaps/
accidents/disasters that may ensue from the use of these tips. Please be
careful when using them.
    I have no affiliation with any company producing any commercial products
mentioned below, except as a user of their product.
    This document solely expresses my personal opinions.


Things to buy/download
----------------------

1.  Buy more RAM.
    The PBs contain 2MB installed on the motherboard and an expansion slot. Add
a 2MB card to get 4MB total, a 4MB card to get 6MB, and a 6MB card to get 8MB.
PBs with 4MB come with a 2MB card already installed, so a 4MB -> 8MB upgrade,
for example, means that you have to buy a 6MB card and pull out the 2MB card.
    4MB will allow you to run System 7 and one or two fair-sized applications.
However, you will probably run up against the wall at one time or the other, so
it's probably best to grit your teeth and save for an upgrade to 6 or even 8MB.
    It's important to buy pseudo-static RAM rather than the cheaper dynamic RAM
-- dynamic RAM will drain battery power faster. Don't forget to ask for a
rebate on the 2MB card, if available -- the 2MB RAM card is just about as
saleable as a 256K SIMM, i.e. not very!

2.  Download the PB Sleep FKEY (freeware).
    On SUMEX-AIM this is at /info-mac/fkey/powerbook-sleep-10.hqx. This is an
extremely useful and small FKEY which switches off AppleTalk then puts the PB
to sleep, bypassing the annoying dialog which pops up when you use the Finder
Sleep command with AppleTalk on.

3.  Get AutoDoubler/SpaceSaver/SuperDisk.
    These save you hard drive space by compressing files on the disk and
decompressing them on the fly. I have AutoDoubler installed: at most times
there is an acceptably small performance hit, files are compressed to about 1/2
size, and I have yet to experience any major problems with the program.
However, I have only gained about 16MB of virtual space -- due to the large
size of my System Folder, which is kept uncompressed.

4.  Download SuperClock! 3.9.1 (freeware).
    On SUMEX-AIM, this is at /info-mac/cp/superclock-391.hqx. The battery gauge
that appears on the menu bar is incredibly useful, more so than the Battery DA.
However, the battery icon only indicates half-full on PB170s (and probably on
PB140s as well) when your battery is actually almost completely discharged --
this is a property of NiCad batteries, whose voltage declines with discharge in
a non-linear fashion. The icon works properly on a PB100, whose lead-acid
batteries discharge more predictably.
    Trivial hint: control-clicking on SuperClock puts the machine to sleep.
Unfortunately this does not switch off AppleTalk and brings up the annoying
Sleep dialog. You'd probably be well advised to use PB Sleep (see above). 

5.  Buy a multimodule application.
    e.g. ClarisWorks, MS Works, BeagleWorks, GreatWorks etc.
    These are OK for most use on the field, take up little drive space and
memory, and can be installed in a RAMdisk (see below).

6.  Download InUse 2.0 (freeware).
    On SUMEX-AIM as /info-mac/cp/in-use-20.hqx. This flashes an icon on the
menu bar every time the drive is accessed, and is slightly more practical than
listening carefully to the computer to determine whether the hard drive is
being used.

7.  Download PB Tools 1.2 (freeware).
    On SUMEX-AIM as /info-mac/util/power-book-tools-12.hqx. This package by Bill
Steinberg includes SpinD FKEY, another small FKEY which spins down the hard
drive, and SafeSleep, a simple INIT which asks for a password before waking the
computer from Sleep.

8.  SCSI operation with the HDI-30 SCSI Disk Adaptor cable (PB100).
    If you have a desktop Mac and a PB100 this cable allows you to operate the
PB100 as a SCSI drive from the desktop Mac. This is especially convenient for
installing systems and copying files between the two. Unfortunately this works
only with the PB100 and not with the other models.
    For instructions, read the manual. Please note that the SCSI Disk Adaptor
cable used here is different from the SCSI System cable used to connect all the
PB models to SCSI devices, although they look similar.


Getting the most from your hard disk
------------------------------------

1.  Use the space you never knew you had.
    If you received the computer with System 7 pre-installed, chances are that
the drive was formatted using a standard Macintosh volume partition to 40MB.
[Trivial fact: according to MacUser this was because the Apple Tape Drive could
only take 40MB of data.] There is usually another 1.6MB free space on the
drive. To exploit this:
a)  Backup your hard disk completely.
b)  Boot up with the Disk Tools floppy (from the System Disks package).
c)  Fire up HD SC Setup.
d)  Initialize your hard disk.
e)  Select Partition. You should see a rectangle representing your hard drive,
    subdivided into: (from the top) Mac Driver, <your hard disk volume> and a
    grey area (the free space).
f)  Select your 40MB hard drive partition and click Remove, then OK to confirm.
g)  Click in the now-larger grey area.
h)  Select 'Macintosh Volume' in the dialog that pops up and type in the
    maximum size of the partition (the dialog will tell you what the maximum
    size is -- usually 41600).
i)  Click OK and quit HD SC Setup.
j)  Restore your hard disk from the backup.

2.  Get AutoDoubler etc. (see above)

3.  Consider an upgrade to a larger hard disk.
    There is an official Apple upgrade, although there are also cheaper
third-party upgrades (up to 120MB at the time of writing). However, these
upgrades may be noisier and consume more power than the 40MB Conner.

4.  As always, take a long hard look at the files on your drive.
    Are all those extensions and control panels really necessary? Removing them
will save you drive and memory space, and can only decrease your chances of an
INIT conflict.
    Do you really need all the help files that came with your application?
(Claris Help Files are especially large!) Or even the tutorial files?
    Fonts (outline and _especially_ bitmapped) should be cut down to the minimum
-- if you're doing DTP, you've probably got the wrong machine! Alternatively,
MasterJuggler and Suitcase II both come with font compression utilities.
    Rationalise the files stored on your hard disk: include only those files
and programs which you will use most often on the road, and archive less-used
items on floppies or an external hard disk. You can leave aliases, which only
take 1K each, to these files in the appropriate places on the hard disk.
Double-clicking these aliases will bring up a prompt for the appropriate floppy
to be inserted.
    A screen saver is unnecessary on a PB. Actually it seems to me that they
are generally unnecessary anyway! 8-) It is true that a sort of 'burn-in'
effect can occur if the screen is left on for prolonged periods, but you can
always put the computer to Sleep. (If you are a victim of this effect it can be
reversed by simply switching off the screen for a few hours.)


Power issues -- or how to save, save, save
------------

1.  Creating a RAMdisk to use as a startup disk.
    Requires 8MB to be practicable with System 7. Steps i) to iv) to be done
once only, a) to d) when you are preparing to go out.

i)   Create a 4+MB RAMdisk using the control in the Memory control panel.
     Restart. The computer will ask you if you want to initialize the RAMdisk
     -- answer yes.
ii)  Install a System Folder (SF) on the RAMdisk using the System disks that
     came with the computer. Install any applications, control panels,
     extensions, fonts and ancillary files on the RAMdisk. Compress a copy of
     the RAMdisk onto your hard drive using Stuffit, DiskDoubler, Compact Pro
     etc.
iii) Set the RAMdisk to be the startup disk and restart. The computer should
     now run faster and use less power in this configuration.
iv)  Copy the compressed copy of the RAMdisk to floppies and take this with you
     in case of emergencies.

a)   Set up the RAMdisk using the Memory control panel.
b)   Decompress the compressed archive onto the RAMdisk. To convince the PB
     that this is actually a viable SF, drag the System from inside the
     RAMdisk's SF to the open SF icon.
c)   Using the Startup DIsk control panel, set the RAMdisk to be the startup
     disk.
d)   Restart. The PB should boot from the RAMdisk.

Note that Shut Down erases the RAMdisk on PB140s and 170s, so use Sleep to
switch off the computer when it is not being used.
    On the PB100 it is possible to create a 1MB RAMdisk containing a very
minimal System 6.0.8, ClarisWorks (only the application is needed) and some
small documents. This means that it is possible to run ClarisWorks on a PB100
off a RAMdisk with only 2MB!
    Incidentally, the RAMdisk on the PB100 is more robust than the one on the
PB140/170: it survives Shut Downs.

2.  Hard drive discipline.
    Apple has implemented this by allowing you to set a delay time after which
the drive will stop spinning (find this in the Portable control panel). I'm
afraid only trial and error will allow you to find a suitable setting to your
liking. Also, Bill Steinberg's SpinD FKEY (see above) allows you to stop the
hard disk electively.
    If you require access to the drive, once the drive is still, the PB will do
a very good imitation of a system freeze whilst the hard drive spins up.
Frequent stopping/starting wastes power and also annoys. It only takes a little
foresight and discipline to minimize this:
    a) Open up any DAs, control panels, or applications which you are likely to
need in a work session beforehand.
    b) If you have any font or style selections to make, try to leave them till
the end, just before you save. More often than not, the PB will load a font
from the drive when you make a change. Learn to spell as you go, instead of
using a disk-intensive spellchecker!
    c) Try to go for long stretches before saving. In this case, auto-savers
may be a waste of power. Of course, you have to balance this with the need to
save often to protect against crashes!
    d) Choose your work applications and DAs carefully. Many of the mainstream
packages are very disk-intensive -- the worst culprits being DTP programs. I
personally find that ClarisWorks is quite well behaved in this respect.
Consider loading MS Word (v4.0) completely into memory.
    e) Load your work applications into a RAMdisk. This saves having to start
up the disk every time the application wants to redraw a window, load a dialog
box etc. A good program for this purpose I have seen is AppDisk 1.5 by Mark
Adams ($15 shareware). This program uses application memory as a RAMdisk, which
gets over the inconvenience of having to restart time and time again to reclaim
memory back from the RAMdisk -- the built-in RAMdisk sequesters memory in the
System Heap and requires rebooting before its size can be changed. AppDisk does
not survive restarts (again, unlike the built-in RAMdisk), but can be set to
auto-save its contents onto hard disk. You can create multiple copies of
AppDisk: one containing (say) MacWrite II, another containing FileMaker Pro and
so on. Launching one of these sets up a RAMdisk containing that application.
Find this program on SUMEX-AIM at /info-mac/util/app-disk-15.hqx.
     f) An alternative to loading applications into a RAMdisk is to set up a
large disk cache of about 2MB (the control for this is in the Memory control
panel). Launch your set of work applications: this will load them into the
cache. Then switch off the hard disk with the Sleep command or the SpinD FKEY.
Any disk accesses made by the applications should be obtained from the cache,
and the disk should now not be spun up by the PB. [This tip from the
documentation to SpinD FKEY.]

3.  Backlighting.
    The backlight consumes a lot of power (some 40% of the power consumption).
Most times, 50% or less intensity is fine, and saves some power. Alternatively,
find a bright place to work and switch off the backlight. (Not so easy in the
midst of a British winter!)
    Backlight Control, a fine control panel by Ricardo Batista, allows you to
set a period of inactivity after which the backlight is switched off. (Apply to
me for copies.)

4.  Power-saver mode (only in the PB170).
    The power-saver mode in the Battery DA (accessed by clicking on the toggle
switch to the right of the gauge) slows the processor down to 16MHz to save
power. This is acceptable for most use, and makes a large difference to power
consumption, adding an extra 30 minutes (Apple estimate).

5.  Rest mode.
    This mode cuts the speed of the computer to 1/20 when it detects no
activity on the keyboard or trackball for a set period, to save power. Rest
mode may interfere with some programs which are processor-dependent. If Rest
mode interferes with the operation of your program, open the Portable control
panel and option-click the 'Minutes until automatic sleep' text. A dialog box
will pop up allowing you to choose between Rest/Don't Rest modes.
    An alternative is to download the Powerbook OK to Rest and Powerbook Don't
Rest utilities (SUMEX-AIM: /info-mac/util/powerbook-rest-norest.hqx). These are
small applications written by Insignia Software which set the PB to the
appropriate mode. For ease of access, leave aliases to these programs in the
Apple Menu Items folder.
    The effect of Rest mode is most noticeable with the text cursor: after a few
seconds of inactivity the cursor will suddenly flash much more slowly. This is
a feature, not a bug (as they say) -- some posters to comp.sys.mac have been
surprised by this phenomenon!

6.  Batteries.
    The manual advises you to discharge the NiCad batteries in the PB140/170
fully every 90 days, to maximize its life. This procedure involves using the
computer until it goes into Sleep mode automatically after the third low-power
warning dialog: "No battery reserve power remains.  The Macintosh will go to
sleep within 10 seconds to preserve the contents of memory.  Good Night."
    There are battery charger/conditioners (sold commercially) which supposedly
discharge the battery even more and maximise its life. However, from a recent
post to INFO-MAC, the following advice was given:

> Date: Fri, 7 Aug 92 13:40:36 PDT
> From: dplatt@ntg.com (Dave Platt)
> Subject: battery cyclers for PowerBook
>
> The "memory effect" is almost never observed in NiCd batteries used in
> consumer applications.  It occurs only when a NiCd battery is repeatedly
> discharged to _exactly_ the same level and then recharged, many times in
> a row.  This can happen in some very specialised applications, but won't
> occur in a typical consumer application such as in a PowerBook.  The
> "virtually random cycling and use" that you are giving your batteries is
> exactly the sort of use which ensures that the memory effect won't occur.
>
> There is an effect in NiCd batteries known as "voltage depression",
> which occurs if you overcharge the battery (if you leave it cooking in a
> high-rate charger for too long).  This effect lowers the output voltage
> slightly, and it can make the battery _appear_ to lose capacity (because
> its voltage drops to the 1.1-volt threshold sooner than it would
> otherwise).  Voltage depression can be reversed by completely
> discharging each cell in the battery, and then recharging it.
> 
> It's safe to discharge individual NiCd cells (1.2 volts each) all the
> way to zero.  It is NOT safe to discharge a NiCd battery all the way to
> zero - the first cell to be exhausted will be damaged by the continuing
> flow of current through it.  So... don't try to discharge your PowerBook
> battery by hooking it to a flashlight bulb or a resistor.
>
> The PowerBook has a low-voltage detector, which detects the fact that
> the battery voltage has dropped to near-exhaustion (usually 1.1 volts
> per cell) and shuts down the machine.  It's a bad idea to try to use any
> NiCd battery beyond this point -- you risk damage to the battery, and
> there's only about 1% of the useable power left anyhow.
>
> So... the best way to exercise your PowerBook battery (to eliminate the
> effects of voltage depression) is to use it until the PowerBook warns
> you that low-power shutdown is about to occur... then, sleep the
> machine, take out the battery, and recharge it for the recommended
> length of time (but not for longer than that). This should bring the
> battery back up to full charge, without overcharging it.
>
> Dave Platt                                             VOICE: (415) 813-8917
> Domain: dplatt@ntg.com                          UUCP: ...netcomsv!ntg!dplatt
> USMAIL: New Technologies Group Inc. 2468 Embarcardero Way, Palo Alto 
>         CA 94303

    For the PB100, an IMPORTANT NOTE: the PB100's lead-acid batteries are
easily DAMAGED by total discharge, as can happen if the computer is left in
storage for more than about two weeks without disconnecting the battery using
the storage switch on the back (p.225, manual). The manual also advises not
using the PB100 until the third low-power warning dialog -- occasional use to
this point is OK, but repeated discharge may damage the battery. There is
_no_need_ to discharge them before recharging.
    For tech-heads -- Volt (/info-mac/util/pb-battery-voltage.hqx at SUMEX-AIM)
gives you a reading of the voltage being supplied by your battery.
    Consider buying a spare or two for trips, in which case a battery charger
is also useful for charging two packs at a time -- both of these are Apple
accessories.
    Apple has announced that the terminals of PB140/170 batteries are
vulnerable to shorting, a situation that can be dangerous. They supply battery
cases for free to protect the terminals.
    Remember -- once the batteries are dead, send them back to your nearest
Apple authorised dealer for recycling.

7.  Sleep.
    If you have the Powerbook Sleep FKEY (see above) there should be no excuse
not to s…

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