MacIntel?
Was it not once said that the Mac operating system now known as OS X would be usable on Windows systems? Is this likely ever to be possible? Robin Wiseman Liverpool
Jack Schofield replies: Mac OS X is a reworked version of NeXT's NextStep, which Apple obtained by buying NeXT at the end of 1996. NextStep was based on a Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) version of Unix, which also runs on Intel processors. So does Apple's version, which it calls Darwin. This is a full Unix operating system, like GNU/Linux. It does not need any Apple Macintosh code to run, and it is available free. However, as well as Darwin, OS X also includes Apple's programming interfaces and graphics systems (QuickTime, Carbon, Cocoa etc) plus the Aqua graphical user interface. Since NeXT had already developed NextStep for Intel processors, Apple could certainly convert "Mac NextStep" to Intel as well. Unfortunately, this would probably be commercial suicide unless it also changed its 1970s-style hardware-dependent business model, which is to pay for the development of its proprietary software by charging high margins for its hardware. This means Apple is unable to allow its users an alternative source of hardware, as illustrated by its abandoning of an open hardware standard called CHRP (Common Hardware Reference Platform), developed with IBM and Motorola, and the closing down of licensed Mac "clone" operations such as Power Computing's. Incidentally, Apple rewrote Mac OS for Intel chips in the Star Trek project, in 1992, but never released it.
Search by date
Is there a search engine which orders the results chronologically, ie: according to when they are published or updated? I often search for news articles on Google, and so many results seem to be historic. Deb Wilson
JS: Google is not very good at news - it's one of its few major weaknesses - so I use RocketNews or Moreover instead. Northern Light lets you limit a search to the past two weeks, two days or two hours. Its Power Search feature lets you sort results by date and time. The FT Global Archive also lets you sort results by date, and its Refine Search page lets you choose specific dates and ranges of dates for up to five years. One great feature of the FT site is that you can limit the search to the Guardian. Google has recently added a headline news page, but the best its Advanced Search can do is limit results to pages updated in the past three months.
No show
Whenever I go to a web page which should have a picture, instead I get a box with a small red square in the corner. However, when I print the page the picture is printed. Trevor Preston
JS: Sometimes pictures fail to load, and this is what you get. Often you can get them to show up if you refresh the page (eg hit F5), or right-click inside the empty box and select Show Picture. However, if the pictures are printing then they must be downloading, so make sure you haven't got images turned off. Go to Tools|Internet Options, click the Advanced tab, and scroll down to the Multimedia section. There's a box for Show Pictures, which should be ticked.
Font directory
Do you know of a directory which illustrates the immense variety of fonts available in Microsoft Word and Publisher? I began to make my own but soon realised that it was too large a task. Jean Jones Wirral
JS: I don't know of a comprehensive directory, but there is a useful TrueType site. (TrueType fonts are bundled free with both Windows PCs and Macs: the system was developed by Apple to break Adobe's monopoly of scalable fonts, because it considered its licensing fees too high.) Adobe also has an impressive type library.
For links to lots of sites offering free fonts, see Yahoo.
Grab it
Could you tell me how to download a web page and then send it as an attachment?
DHarrison
d@aol.com
JS: If you can see the web page then you have already downloaded it. All you have to do is go to the browser's File menu, click Save As, and in the "Save as type" box, select "Web Archive, single file (*.mht)". You can attach this file to an email message in the usual way. However, if the recipient can read email, they can probably save the page themselves. Just email them the address.
Backchat Terry Donovan was trying to speed up his internet connection. I suggested using a short modem cable with no connectors. Richard Platt adds: "I've found that I can get a more reliable, faster connection by unplugging everything except the modem from the phone sockets. Not practical all the time, but worth it when I'm downloading a large file."
