Hi Walter,


"Please define "share information" in precise terms; nobody knows what
you mean by it, and thus nobody can answer your questions yet. (IOW,
WTF? ;) )" -- Walter

More on this one later....after I finish what is being done (see below).

"Exactly what OS version does each machine run? Numbers, please." -- Walter

10.2.6 on all machines except the HA machine and the server.

I've downloaded the Server 10.2.4 combo and am in the process of
reloading the OS Server software on the G4 Server machine. That will
bring it to 10.2. From there I'm going to take it back to 10.2.4.

After getting there, I'm going to see what can be done to re-establish
communications between the various machines and get my daily/weekly
back-ups going again. This has been the worst 40 days I've ever
experienced with Apple. I've had to reinstall the OS on the server more
times than my wife had to install Windows on her machine where she used
to work. And the rude discovery of their little 'details' did not make
me any happier. I'm willing to pay extra for Tech Spt for the server.
But I definitely feel put out with the little trap they set in AppleCare
for me; no support for Server software after 90-days, without additional
big bucks.

Considering a report that I saw earlier this week, that in a few short
years, one-third of the households with computers in them will be on a
LAN, I think Apple had better get its act together about support for
such situations as this. Especially if these people want to share files
extensively between machines. One of them is going to have to be a server.

As an example, my server has an extensive set of FMP files on it. Some
are for business purposes. Others are for personal use.  At 0500 hrs,
the HA machine turns on the speakers in the bedroom and tells the
machine with all the MP3 files to run an applet that selects certain
types of tunes, suitable for waking up, and plays them. With Airport, I
can take the Titanium into the kitchen and call up recipes for dinner.
In the not too distant future, I'm going to get the speech recognition
working to the point an FRS two-way will allow me to tell the HA machine
things I want done. The objective is to turn the house into our own
cabin on the Enterprise.

AppleScripting and Home Automation go hand-in-hand and if you throw in a
network, where an HA tasked machine can call upon others to perform
tasks it gets even better. However, the necessity of having a server in
the LAN to offer up data is going turn everyone into a techie in a big
way, unless Apple can come up with a simpler system.

And wasn't that one of the selling points in a recent Apple campaign to
get people to switch from Windows to Macs? That it was so much simpler?

Regards,

Chuck(le)


Walter Ian Kaye wrote:

> At 03:42a -0600 05/24/2003, Chuck Pelto didst inscribe upon an
> electronic papyrus:
>
>> Hi David,
>>
>> The AppleScripting aspect is related to Home/Office Automation (HA)
>> using AS and FMP to coordinate the activities of several computers in a
>> LAN/ethernet-airport environment to manage the same. And for nightly
>> back-up of data.
>>
>> The move to OS X has made it much more difficult for small networks to
>> share information between computers without the presence of a server. Or
>> am I thoroughly mistaken on this point? Did things actually get easier?
>
>
> Please define "share information" in precise terms; nobody knows what
> you mean by it, and thus nobody can answer your questions yet. (IOW,
> WTF? ;) )
>
>> I have five machines here. Two are small business activities, one of
>> which is the recently procured server, one powerbook, for use on the
>> road and one is used for managing the HA, using AS techniques. All
>> relate to the server for back-ups using AS techniques, or rather the
>> server relates to them; some daily, others less frequently.
>
>
> Exactly what OS version does each machine run? Numbers, please.
>
>> So the server was procured 3 months ago, with AppleCare. By and large,
>> things were working fine with Mac OS X Server 10.2.4. Then 10.2.5 came
>> out and suddenly, as with XP, everything s****. Things did not improve
>> much, if at all, with 10.2.6. It's buggie as all get out. I can't get
>> back-ups to run. Can't get data to be shared.
>
>
> Can't you reinstall 10.2.4? (instead of cursing the .5/.6 darkness)
>
>
>> Chuck(le)
>> [Looking for the Penguin....]
>
>
> Last I saw, it was on the TV. Oops, sorry -- it's exploded.
>
>
> -boo :)
>  who really should be sleeping, or studying his lines (got morning
> rehearsal
>  with scene partner and unrelated afternoon meeting with filmmaker...)
>
>