MailForge Still Not Ready for Everyday Use
From Bob:
Charles,
I read your recent review of MailForge
2.0.4.
I too have been using Eudora for many years and have not found
anything that I like better. I have tried MailForge and have the latest
version (2.0.4).
However, I can never get it to work properly, so I have not
converted to MailForge. I use to have problems with not being able to
select the date and get it to show the most recent email at the top. It
now finally does that. But when I sent a file from Eudora (which did
not show some graphics) to MailForge, I was amazed that the graphics
were there.
However, when I tried to print, it showed that there were three (3)
pages for the email. When I tried to select page 2, I got a "ding" and
nothing happened. I tried to create a PDF file, and it showed the
progress bar with no progress. After a couple of minutes, I clicked on
the Cancel button and got a "barber pole", but again nothing happened.
I had to force quit MailForge and start over. The same thing happened
again. So I cannot print, view more than the first page when printing,
and cannot create a PDF file. All not good.
Then I sent the email back to my dominant account (the one that I
use Eudora on), and I received nothing. So I cannot send either. I can
receive emails but not send. I sent it a second time but got nothing in
Eudora. However, if I go to the out box in MailForge, both emails are
listed as being sent.
So MailForge is not an option for replacing Eudora for me as of
yet.
I thought that you might be interested in my experiences with
MailForge. I hope that some day they get it fixed. I am
surprised that they haven't done it yet, as they have been working on
it for several years. I don't know why some of these "basic" features
don't work.
Bob
Hi Bob,
Your phrase "I can never get it to work properly, so I
have not converted to MailForge" sums it up concisely for many of us
who really want MailForge to succeed but remain frustrated and thwarted
by its bugginess. I too have problems getting MailForge to send mail,
although this seems to be a somewhat generalized issue with my ISP (I
have similar issues with other email clients, and even
Thunderbird/Eudora OSE is not completely trouble-free as regards
sending). You hold your mouth right and hope, but the ongoing issue has
pushed me more and more into the Webmail cloud, notwithstanding my
preference for POP3.
MailForge is young software. The old Eudora we loved
was the product of two decades of development, beginning in an era when
email software was far less complex. Like you, I'm hoping for MailForge
to be able to get the bugs squashed, but in the meantime, I'm using
Eudora OSE, and it's really not bad once you get used to it.
Charles
Eudora 6.2.4 Fails with Leopard
From Ron:
Sir:
I'm a Mac user (not technical) have MacBook Pro OS X 10.5 (Leopard) for Eudora 6.2.4. I
understand there exists a direct replacement to Eudora and fully
compatible with Eudora. I run PGP software (Phil Zimermann's version).
Also use Eudora - signatures to contain high volumes of research a real
need. Will not accept any email that cannot reside within my
machine (not onwww). Can you alert me on which way to
proceed?
Interesting that Apple repair centers have no knowledge on Eudora -
except Computer
Village in Billings, MT. Don Lewis has taken time to delve into
Eudora problems - e.g. No Apple Store nor Apple factory would sell me a
machine two months ago running Leopard period. The Apple Store
manager sold me his machine from his desk, as it was running Leopard.
That all files and applications from Tiger were downloaded and Eudora
6.2.4 has never run right since. I need help and willing to pay
for that assistance.
Thank you,
Ron
Dear Ron,
Apple usually demurs comment on third-party
applications.
Here's what I can tell you (no payment necessary):
Eudora 6.2.4 is a lame duck, and really has been since
Leopard came out. I have never been able to get it to work successfully
with Leopard, although I continue to use it with OS X 10.4 Tiger on my old
Pismo PowerBooks.
Theoretically, Infinity Data Systems' "new from the
ground up but inspired by classic Eudora" MailForge would be the answer
to your dilemma, but at its present stage of development and refinement
(often lack of), I would hesitate recommending it for mission-critical
duty. Hopefully someday, as it promises to be a worthy Eudora
replacement.
In the meantime, as a Eudora devotee, I would suggest
that your practical alternatives are two, since you're not likely to be
happy with OS X's build-in Mail client. (Some profess to love it, but I
suspect that few of them were real Eudora enthusiasts). There are a
number of other OS X compatible POP3 clients, but likewise
unlikely to satisfy a classic Eudora aficionado.
The first would be Mozilla.org's Eudora Open Source
Edition, which can import your classic Eudora files and archives,
and it shares some appearance similarities with real Eudora, but it is
an entirely different application that works very differently from
classic Eudora. It's a pretty decent email application, and I find it
generally reliable as my main email software these days.
The other suggestion would be Mailsmith, the former Bare Bones
Software client that sold for c.$100, but has now passed into the Open
Source domain as freeware. Mailsmith is more complex than Eudora but
has the advantage of using a multi-window interface that classic Eudora
fans will find reassuringly similar.
In either case, or for that matter with MailForge as
well, there will be a learning curve to scale, and none of these
programs is really as elegant and tractable as classic Eudora, but
they're as good as it gets so far in the post-Leopard era.
Good luck!
Charles
My Pismo Won't Come Back from the Dead
From Steve:
Charles:
I understand you are still using your Pismo.
I have quite liked my old laptop, having upgraded the CPU to a G4
and added 1 gig RAM. When my drive died, I put in a larger one. but
soon after that the 'Book stopped booting (just a black screen).
I wonder if you might be able to help me diagnose my dead Pismo or
point me to someone who might.
I have tried the suggestions I found on your site and on the iFixit
site, here is what I have tried.
I thought it might be a power problem, as I saw no lights, not even
the caps lock.
I left the power adapter connected to the 'Book and overnight the
battery fully charged (the dead PowerBook had been on my shelf for
several moths), so I think it is good (I had already tried 3
thought-to-be-good adapters)
I disconnected the PRAM battery, removed the AirPort Card, keyboard,
hard drive, DVD, both upper and lower RAM.
Pressing the power key does nothing, no sound or image on the
screen.
Tried removing and reseating the CPU card several times, still no
sound or image when power key pressed.
Pressing the PMU reset button and then the power key did something;
the screen slowly lights up to a white screen, and then slowly darkens,
showing weird splotchy patterns (a picture is attached), with about 8
vertical bars of differing intensity. the screen slowly darkened,
starting on the right side and soon the whole screen is blank
again.
I thought I had tried the PMU reset before, with all the components
still in the computer and not seen this, but after putting the RAM,
drive, keyboard back in, I tried the PMU reset again and saw the same
images and no sound.
Any thoughts will be appreciated; I don't have an extra Pismo to
swap parts to help diagnose this.
Do you think this sounds like a bad CPU card?
Thank you.
Steve
Hi Steve,
Two Pismos actually.
These sorts of faults are difficult to diagnose
precisely even hands-on without trial-and-error component
substitution.
My inferences would be in descending order of
probability:
- Bad Power Manager board
- Bad logic board
- Bad CPU daughtercard
- Bad hard drive
I emphasize that these are at best semi-educated
guesses based on the symptoms you've described.
At this point in time, I would not suggest spending
any serious money repairing a Pismo. Complete used units in good
working condition are frequently available quite reasonably (I
encourage buying from either a reseller who offers a warranty or
limiting your shopping to machines you can start up and try). You can
pick up a stock Pismo for a couple or three hundred bucks (or perhaps
much less) and swap your upgrade bits in, keeping your old machine as a
parts mule.
That's the course I took when I fried the power
manager board in one of my Pismos a couple of years ago.
Charles
Firefox 4 Beta Optimized Builds
From Gavin:
I just wanted to say that I am using a special build of Firefox 4
beta 3 available from http://firefoxmac.furbism.com/
that works just fine. Something to note is that these builds are highly
optimized for either PowerPC or Intel-based Macs. PowerPC builds are
available for several types of Macs including G3s, early G4s (PPC
7400s), later G4s (PPC 7450s), or G5s, while users with Intel Macs can
choose between 32- or 64-bit versions. In my experience, the PPC7450
version is faster than the official build.
Gavin
Hi Gavin,
Thanks for the useful link.
Have you tried any of the post-Firefox 3.6 builds with
Tiger?
Charles
Publisher's note: Furbism.com currently has PowerPC
builds of Firefox 4 Beta 5. I've just tested it on my Power Mac G4
under Leopard and can report that it launches, handles some pages
correctly, and has problems loading many pages (including Yahoo Mail
and Facebook). Not recommended.
If any reader knows where you can download Firefox 4
Beta 3, the last PowerPC version (which runs very nicely on my G4 with
Leopard), please let us know so we can post the link. Thanks!
dk
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