I was able to print to the LaserWriter 12/640 PS over ethernet from the new MacBook Air with a generic postscript printer driver and printer sharing active on the iBook. Guess I gave up too soon previously when the “downloading software” dialog box came then said it was unable to access any at this time. Can’t use special printer features (choose paper trays, manual feed, etc.) but handy to have it available.
I connected my CanoScan 5600F flat bed scanner (USB) and it was recognized immediately. I was able to acquire images using Image Capture, Graphic Converter, and Preview.
My older LaCie pocket drive wouldn’t mount with a USB connection although it is accessible through sharing while connected to the iBook. The newer LaCie Porche worked well though. It would probably work with Time Machine for backups now but it has about the same amount of storage as the laptop. Need to think about it.
I worked some more on connecting my Samsung mobile phone. Think the difficulty I experienced at first with Bluetooth transfers is that the connection gets dropped periodically — perhaps to conserve battery charge? In addition to transferring pictures and video files, I was able to export phone contacts as individual .vcf files and batches and merge them into the Contacts application on the MacBook with the contacts I brought over from the iBook.
Still getting accustomed to the newer autocorrect — have to watch what I type carefully! Transcribing manuscripts has been difficult for some time due to medical problems so this just makes that even more iffy.
Have two more devices to check, an external CD burner and a hard drive, but they are in storage. Fortunately the snow and ice is melting quickly with two consecutive days of temperatures well above freezing so should be able to get to them soon.
In the realm of Geezerdom, I could have sworn that I had more ethernet cables! So far I have found one six foot crossover cable and two 24 foot ones. I must have put the others somewhere special!
Atticus was getting a bit ticked because of the extra attention to computer stuff and now there is a rat’s nest of cabling to contend with too!
With better performance on the internet I have also been getting caught up with updates, etc. In the process of upgrading a photo gallery I actually opened a terminal window and used ssh to connect to a server and run a shell script to clean out old files. Also have switched my online genealogy software from PhpGedView which isn’t being updated to webtrees which branched off. Safari has been very stubborn in replacing “webtrees” with “welters” – can be frustrating. Wonder if it learns your vocabulary as you use it?
Now that binge viewing on Hulu is practicable suspect that productivity may suffer. Still holding off installing Angry Birds for the same reason. Netflix recently released Season 4 of Game of Thrones, so will be transported to Westeros for hours at a time. Returned the first DVD (two episodes) of four today.
Oh yeah, messing around doing selfies with the FaceTime camera:
