Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

Cheers, figured as much.

I realise I'm about 10 years late to the party, but I've just built one of @ectoplasmosis Powermac G5s into a PC.

Needs a tidy up but I was just glad it worked and I didn't injure or damage anything with the angle grinder

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Mad ting

Help needed please.

My partner home office setup needs some care.
I’ve tried to connect two screens using a mini display adapter for VGA for one screen and an adapter usb cable for the usb remaining port. It’s a MacBook Air.
We would like to have extended but it works only as duplicating the screen. I tried to change setting but no way.
I believe I bought the wrong adapter… is anyone able to help to point what I should buy please?

Thank you in advance

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Which iteration of MacBook Air? I have been looking recently and I think it’s only the most recent M3 chip that can do dual screens, the M1 and M2 seem to only support one external display. Have you tried just using one monitor and seeing if that works?

Thanks,
One monitor works.
I be to check with Mx is our air.
Thank you

You need a DP alt mode adapter for DVI an ordinary one will not work.
When you say USB do you mean thunderbolt? Then you need a proper cable not a USB one or a thunderbolt data/power cable. You will have to google for the right one as there’s lots of cable standards.
Also check if the air can even do more than one extra screen.

That’s an (ancient) Intel MacBook Air.

What’s the USB adapter exactly?

Anyone else encounter this?

2015 27-inch iMac running Monterey, and using Office 365 on a group licence.

For the last two weeks Word has been slow and clunky: frequent double-entry from the keyboard, vanishing cursor, missing text, freezing, etc.

I think Word auto-update has updated 365 to a level Monterey can't work with. I can't go beyond Monterey because of other software compatibility issues (Quark, etc) with people I work with.

Any ideas from the hive mind?

Quark

wow, haven't heard someone mentioning that since the 90's I think 😅

For the last two weeks Word has been slow and clunky: frequent double-entry from the keyboard, vanishing cursor, missing text, freezing, etc.

Do you edit documents in multiple windows? I.e have one document open in two windows so that you can see one section and edit another at the same time. I get those kind of issues when I try and do that.

I just checked and I didn't move over to InDesign from Quark until 2009, the first magazine redesign I did with InDesign was in the summer of '09. I was a really late starter, I thought the company I'd been working at were the last to still use Quark. Do you still use it? Does it even still exist? Are there updates?

Yep, Quark still exists and is regularly updated. It's buggy sometimes but my designer guy gets on with it and isn't fond of InDesign.

But my issue is with Mac OS and Word. Re multiple windows - no, that's not the issue.

I suspect your problem is a combination of a) the iMac being almost 10 years old and b) it probably is too slow / too weak / has too little RAM to run the most recent 365.

I'd maybe try to re-install MacOS.
Which could be a huge faff, depending how tech-savvy you are and how much time you have on your hands (backing up all the things, re-installing software etc.)
I'm neither familiar with 365 nor the recent Quark express, but maybe you can indeed get installers for older versions of these, so you'll end up kinda where you were before Word auto-updated 365 - but with a nice, clean MacOS install. This would help for sure (and you'd then take measures to keep 365 from being updated to a version your computer can't handle).

Probably adding more RAM (if the iMac isn't maxed out already, which I guess it isn't) would help as well - if I remember correctly those old iMacs were still upgradeable (via slots in the back I think), you'd need to find what kind of RAM exactly you need and likely find it for not too much money on eBay etc.

If you would share details on your system (Apple menu top left of the screen, "about this mac") it'd be a bit easier to help.

The Mac OS is on constant auto update as far as September. It's on Monterey 12.7.6. The machine won't happily run later versions of the OS.

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015)
3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5, 16 GB 1867 MHz DDR3 (yes, extra RAM!)

The last thing I want to do is go through the hassle of reinstalling MacOS when I'm pretty sure it isn't the OS that's at fault.

Word for Mac is Version 16.89.1 , recently auto-updated.

I'm techie enough to have kept this machine running, and several Macs before it. This is the first time I've run aground in 30 years. But very tech savvy? No.

I've done all that stuff about experimentally removing plist preference files. It makes no difference.

Ok, then if I were you I'd probably try to find installers for older versions of Word / 365 (as, if I understood correctly, the iMac worked well with the previous versions), uninstall the new ones, install the old ones, and then prevent them from auto-updating obviously.

Another idea for general system maintenance would be running Onyx.
Might not solve your problem, but worth a shot.

Running current software on old macOS versions is not a fight you're going to win. Software publishers simply don't test it and won't fix bugs.

If you have old software you need to run you need to dedicate this computer to that task (and never update it), or figure out how to run it in a VM or buy an old MacBook.

If you are using old macOS you need to turn off auto updates on any current software (if they allow that) and be very careful about installing future updates.

And also very careful about connecting that machine to the internet.

Hi,
This what I found: MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015). I can't find if M1 M2 or M3. More likely they have an intel i5.

Correct, intel core i5.
The usb adapter to VGA i bought from ebay:
ELECABLE USB to VGA Adapter Cable Compatible with Mac OS Windows XP/Vista/10/8/7

Hi,
I am a bit lost.
I got on the USB side: ELECABLE USB to VGA Adapter Cable Compatible with Mac OS Windows XP/Vista/10/8/7
on the thunderbolt got Mini Display Port Thunderbolt to VGA Adapter.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/111956

Only supports mirroring on one external display.

Apologies I thought it was DVI not VGA which is an analogue signal.
With apple not every DVI adapter will work it needs to be different type.
Either way your laptop can only support one extra monitor.

Thanks guys :) will pass the "sad" info to my missus :)

Thanks for that. Food for thought. I'll let you know how it goes.

Part of the reason I find bicycles life-enhancing is that you can endlessly repair them. And a well-maintained bike from 30 or 40 years ago is actually just as useful as a new one if you discount racing.

From this perspective, overt designed-in obsolescence is an abomination.

#World gone wrong!