Thanks - I think I have it! (At least as far as Zip disks go...)

If I have Iomega tools running, once I insert the Zip disk into the drive it sees the disk and tags it as an unknown format. For whatever reason this in turn stops OS 9 from showing the  unrecognised disk format screen, and I can open MESA and see the contents of the disk from the MESA "Disk" window.

A bit clunky and the sequencing of turning everything on and inserting disks is important, but once it's up and running MESA works like a charm!

Now I'm off to lie down...

There should be an option to ignore the disk. Looking through the manual myself and trying to see how I got around this myself. You might be able to dismount the disk from the Mac using Adaptec SCSI Utility to dismount that ID.

Ill keep looking into this. I plan to make a video for both Mac and Windows on how to setup Akai Mesa, SCSI, and Recycle for a future set of episodes of "This Old DAW"

Personally, I like the theme, it works well for me. I agree with the "extra white space", but it'd be a looooot of work to get this to cooperate nicely with older browsers, while simultaneously addressing this. Not something I would ever want to code myself, honestly, unless if I was paid ultra well. But this all was done free, which I find really admirable... I know I couldn't have done it.

To me, it's not a big enough issue that it would make me switch back to the older theme. I find the current theme preferable, but I also feel reassured we have the older theme to switch back to at any point in time, in case we ever want to set it in our user profile.

About readability, font size etc., there are no problems whatsoever on my side. It's all the exact same as before. Maybe the text inside the "Forum Options" box could be a wee tad bit bigger? Though I find it fine as is.

I'm speaking from the point of view of a 1920x1200 user, so yeah, I'm not bothered by the white spaces much like that. If I was, I think I would just switch back to the old theme in my profile. Having the option = win-win for all of us? Admittedly, this theme looks best with a CRT or other 1024x768 monitor, as @Bolkonskij already explained to us when the screenshot of the theme was first shared in another topic, so I don't understand the sudden reaction of surprise only now, but not then.

Regardless... It's good to voice opinions, as long as they are constructive etc.. So although I didn't contribute to these commendable and thankless efforts, I thank everyone for sharing your opinions (like I did), and obviously a special thank you to @Bolkonskij and @Knez both for pouring sweat, blood and tears into this! Personally, I like it the way it is, no "real" qualms from me.

 Wow, this loads faster for me! Great job.

Quote from: refinery on May 23, 2024, 03:30:57 PM

Quote from: wayneh69 on May 23, 2024, 12:39:38 AM

Hmm - also just had a thought. What if I install an internal zuluscsi? Won’t I just have the same issue with the mac seeing whatever akai formatted hard drive in the scsi chain? Sooo - what if from the Akai, I choose a scsi id that has no drive assigned? Will this work around the problem? One to try this weekend…

As long as you have "Scan PC Disks at startup" disabled in the file exchange control panel it should be fine. I have this setup in my s3200xl with a scsi-2-sd and leave it in and never have problems.

This is the answer he needs!

I can't see any option that says "Scan PC Disks at startup" in the file exchange control panel - the nearest I can see is "PC SCSI Disks: Mount at startup" option, which is unchecked.

Can you be more specific? Sorry to be a newbie pain but this is a really annoying "feature" of MESA / OS9 !

And you've missed the point.

that´s obvious.

what could have been the point? that you could have done it better because you know many artists?

on one hand you say it is "not OS9 like" and on the other hand you also do not like that looks like "something from the 90ies."

then you say it would be to small, where in fact it is about as broad as the old theme. and uses the same font.

then you said it would not be colorful enough. the text has been b/w before, too, and there is nothing better for readability.

hard to take any of those comment serious, i first thought you were joking!

Seriously, guys, are you reading the new site on 1920x1200 displays set to 800x600 or smartphones?

the new theme looks like most other forums, some discourse based forums are even smaller.

modern browers let you zoom websites and remember that for next time. i look at both themes at 133% - which i do for most websites -  and they both have about the same size.

and in macos9 times nobody made his brower windows fullscreen, you regulary only used a smaller window. the majority of our users do not run 3*1920*1200 like you and me, go look what the first imac had as monitor resolution.

sure, the space at the side could be a bit smaller, it seems wasted. however that is actually more a problem for those with small monitors.
 
 

As always I am missing a graphics/layout/DTP section, which is in my opinion also still a huge use case for Mac OS 9. Be it at the website itselve or the forum.

didn´t we once had one and nobody used it? can´t remember.
i would welcome one, as i am a PS user myself. and i already had a question once about wacom which resulted in helpful replies.

but honestly i think that user group will not grow over 3-5 people.

i am preparing the upload 500+ PS and AE plug-ins to the new file section, which will be like several full days of work, and that is crazy enough for the 3-5 people who might want them.

not to speak of the fact that during the last 9 years nobody was interested in that topic when i suggested it.

knez just cleaned out some of the forums because we thought there re too many categories... if you make one for design and print you can also make one for games and one for realbasic and then one day we have 100 forums, if you know what i mean.

we rather need editors to write articles which sum up the information from the forums - and an optimized search function... not more places to hide information.

What I really don't like is the fixed width and the menu on the left.
That leaves too little space for the actual content.
I'm back on the old design for now...

So what do you guys think of the new site? Missing something or want to contribute?Regardless, I hope you enjoy the new site

It's great! I think it's a move in the right direction. I like how it's toned down and serious. After all, we put our classic Macs to work.

I agree with ssp3's critiques though. New theme looks great on the forum actually, but the homepage is terrible, especially with OS X's font smoothing. Then we have to remember, this website will be accessed by devices that have screens with poor contrast and viewing angles.

I'm not very experienced but I would love to work on the redesign.

Also ssp3s critique has some true points (especially the blinking "new"-gifs are ugly).

True, they are a bit over the top. I will change the gif file for the one from the old theme.

As always I am missing a graphics/layout/DTP section, which is in my opinion also still a huge use case for Mac OS 9. Be it at the website itselve or the forum.

There's a need for a DTP section indeed. If you'd like to contribute one I'll of course ad it to the website! It's hard to write about a topic that I have never touched upon (well, a bit at school but not much).

But aside all the critique, I have to say, i could have contributed before (and Knez as Bolkonskij tried hard), and I did not. So accepting and especially esteeming the work of others is needed. I know how frustrating it is if you put massive work into something and just critique is coming back. So please take my huge THANK YOU for all the efforts you put into the new page!

No, thank YOU, Mat! We have worked hard on this and feel like it's a move in the right direction to differentiate Mac OS 9 Lives from other "retro Mac" type of websites. There's insane amounts of collective competence here about Mac OS 9 and I really want to spread to the world that it's still a viable platform for creative work.

You guessed it—I'm auctioning another Mac mini G4 with Mac OS 9 pre-installed.

This one is in the best cosmetic condition of the last few that I've auctioned. The auction has no reserve and starts at $0.99.

It's another 1.42 Ghz/128 GB SSD/1 GB with USB speakers, Apple Mouse, power adapter.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/126500797873

EDIT: Sorry someone actually hit buy it now on that auction right after it listed. That's the first time that happened. I'll have a new machine up soon!