Using Classic Control Panels

Unlike Mac OS X, Mac OS 9 didn’t have a single System Preferences application with different panes to configure the system preferences, there were control panels. All control panels that you use for setting preferences for the Classic application environment are separate applications. These applications are located in the Control Panels folder of the System Folder that’s used for starting the Classic application environment on your computer. In addition, these applications are normally listed in a Control Panels submenu of the Classic Apple menu.

You can open Classic control panels in three ways:

• You can open a Classic control panel by double-clicking its icon in a Finder window. If the Classic application environment is not currently running, Mac OS X starts it automatically before opening the control panel.

• If a Classic application is already open, switch to the Classic application and choose the control panel that you want to open from the Control Panels submenu of the Classic Apple menu.

• If you have the Classic Menu active, you can access the Control Panels folder from the Apple Menu Items submenu.

As a rule, the settings in Mac OS X’s System Preferences application have an overriding effect on the Classic application environment and Classic applications. Conversely, Mac OS 9 control panels have no effect on Mac OS X. System Preferences replaces many of the control panels that you use for preference settings in Mac OS 9. Only about a third of the Mac OS 9 control panels retain functionality in the Classic application environment. Table 17-1 specifies which Mac OS 9 control panels are obsolete in the Classic application environment and what to use instead in Mac OS X. The control panels listed in Table 17-1 will not even launch in Classic — you must boot in Mac OS 9 to even attempt to take advantage of them. This Chapter solely covers Mac OS 9 Control panels that retain functionality in the Classic application environment. For those systems that still retain Mac OS 9 boot capability, besides affecting the Classic application environment, changes that you make with control panels also have an effect on the computer when the system is booted in OS 9.

Table 17-1: Obsolete Control Panels in Classic Application Environment

Mac OS 9 Control Panel	Mac OS X Replacement
AppleTalk	Network pane of System Preferences, no effect in Mac OS 10.3
ColorSync	ColorSync pane of System Preferences, configures color management for Classic application environment only
Control Strip	Icon menus in the menu bar and some Dock icons, no effect in Mac OS 10.3
DialAssist	Configure dialing options in the Network preference pane, or Internet Connect application
Energy Saver	Energy Saver pane of System Preferences
File Exchange	No longer needed
File Sharing	Sharing pane of System Preferences (Lets you change some settings, but better set in Mac OS X preferences.)
Infrared	No real equivalent, but can use Network Preference pane to configure as port and turn on menu item
Keychain Access	Keychain Access application
Location Manager	No equivalent in Mac OS X, although you can change network locations with the Apple menu
Map	Date & Time pane of System Preferences
Memory	Not applicable in Mac OS X
Modem	Network pane of System Preferences, no effect in Mac OS 10.3
Monitors	Use Displays pane of System Preferences; this control panel is the only part of Classic that can affect Mac OS 10.3 settings
Mouse	Keyboard and Mouse pane of System Preferences, no effect in Mac OS 10.3
Multiple Users	Users pane of System Preferences
Password Security	Account Preference pane and Security Preference pane
PowerBook SCSI Disk Mode	No equivalent control panel in Mac OS X. Use FireWire Target Disk Mode instead; to configure SCSI Disk Mode, first boot into Mac OS
Remote Access	Internet Connect utility (and the Network pane of System Preferences)
Software Update	Reboot into Mac OS 9 to update Classic
Sound	Sound Preference pane
Startup Disk	Startup Disk pane of System Preferences
TCP/IP	Network pane of System Preferences
Trackpad	Mouse pane of System Preferences
USB Printer Sharing	Sharing preference pane, and Print and Fax preference pane
Web Sharing	Sharing pane of System Preferences

Keyboard control panel

The Keyboard control panel enables you to choose a keyboard layout for Classic applications only. You use this option when you want to type in a different language in a Classic application. If you want to switch keyboard layouts in Classic applications by pressing Command-Option-Spacebar, click the Options button in the Keyboard control panel and turn on the option in the dialog that appears. You can always cycle through the language scripts that are installed (if more than one script is installed) by pressing Command-Spacebar. Figure 17-9 shows the general view of the Keyboard control panel.

Figure 17-9: The Themes tab of the Appearance control panel lets you switch all the control panel’s settings at once in the Classic application environment.

Appearance control panel

The Appearance control panel has a variety of settings that affect the appearance and behavior of Classic applications. The Appearance control panel also has many settings that do not affect the Classic application environment but do take effect if you restart your computer with Mac OS 9. Naturally, none of the settings in the Appearance control panel has any effect on Mac OS X applications. The Appearance control panel contains Themes, Appearance, Fonts, Desktop, Sounds, and Options panels.

Themes tab

Click the Themes tab of the Appearance control panel to switch all the Appearance control panel’s settings to predefined combinations (called themes). You can choose from among several themes, and you can save your own additional themes. Switching to a different theme may change some settings that don’t affect the Classic application environment, but do take effect if you restart your computer with Mac OS 9. Figure 17-9 shows the Themes tab of the Appearance control panel.

If you click Save Theme, the Appearance control panel displays a dialog in which you can type a name for the theme you’re creating. You can change the name of any theme that you created by selecting its preview and choosing Theme Name from the Edit menu. You can’t change the names of preconfigured themes.

To remove a theme, select its preview in the Appearance control panel and choose Clear from the Edit menu.

Appearance tab

The Appearance tab of the Appearance control panel has three settings:

• Appearance: In theory, you can change this setting to give the Classic application environment a different overall look than the gray platinum appearance it inherits from Mac OS 9 and its predecessors. While Apple never released any alternate appearances, you can find third-party themes on the Internet.

• Highlight Color: Determines the color used to highlight text that you select in Classic applications.

• Variation: Determines the color used to highlight Classic menus and controls.

Fonts tab

In the Fonts tab of the Appearance control panel, you can set the font used for menus, window titles, button names, and some text in dialogs. You can also turn font smoothing on or off, and set a minimum font size for smoothing. Two settings, Small System Font and Views Font, have no effect in the Classic application environment but take effect if you restart your computer with Mac OS 9.

Desktop tab

The Desktop tab of the Appearance control panel affects the look of the Desktop only if you start up the computer with Mac OS 9. These settings have no effect in Mac OS X or the Classic application environment. To change the appearance of the Finder, use the Desktop and Screensaver preference pane.

Sound tab

Click the Sound tab of the Appearance control panel to set sound effects that can play in Classic applications. You can choose a sound set and specify the types of actions that you want sound effects to accompany. Mac OS 9 comes only with a sound set called Platinum Sounds. Other sound sets are available on the Internet. The sound track plays only while you are in the Classic application environment.

Options tab

The final tab of the Appearance control has two options that affect the functionality of the Classic windowing system. If Smart Scrolling is checked, both up and down scroll arrows appear only at one end of the scroll bar. In addition, the length of the scroll box indicates how much you can see without scrolling. The longer the scroll box, the more you can see without scrolling. If you deselect Smart Scrolling, the up arrow appears at one end of the scroll bar, the down arrow appears at the other end, and the scroll box has a fixed length. Checking the Double-click title bar to collapse windows option causes the Classic window to minimize in place, and shutter up and display only the title bar.

General Controls control panel

The General Controls control panel allows you to set whether the Launcher control panel opens automatically when the Classic application environment starts up. Two other settings regulate the blinking rates for the text insertion point and menus. Another setting determines which folder you see first in a dialog for opening or saving a document in a Classic application. The two dim settings are always turned on and can’t be changed in the Classic application environment. Figure 17-10 shows the settings in the General Controls control panel.

Figure 17-10: The General Controls control panel allows you to configure settings like insertion point blinking.

Apple Menu Options control panel

Settings in the Apple Menu Options control panel determine whether the Apple menu in the Classic application environment has submenus and remembers recently used items. If the Submenus option is turned on and you highlight a folder in the Classic Apple menu, then a submenu lists the contents of the folder. Checking the option to remember recently used items creates folders in the Apple menu for tracking the documents, applications, and servers used most recently. You can set the number of documents, applications, and servers to track. If you want to suppress the tracking of one type of item only, set the number to be remembered to 0 (zero).

Extensions Manager control panel

The Extensions Manager control panel can individually deactivate extensions and other startup files in the Mac OS 9 System Folder and in its Control Panels, Extensions, Startup Items, and Shutdown Items folders. The Extensions Manager window has a scrolling list of these items. For each listed item, the Extensions Manager displays its status (on or off), name, size, version, and the package it was installed with. You can also display each item’s type and creator codes by selecting options with the Preferences command (in the Edit menu). Figure 17-11 is an example of the Extensions Manager.

Figure 17-11: Use the Extensions Manager control panel to easily deactivate and activate Classic startup items.

Reorganizing the Extensions Manager list

It can sometimes be difficult to find the items you are looking for in the Extensions Manager. Apple has made it possible to organize the list of Extensions, Control Panels, and System Items for easier viewing. You can reorganize the Extensions Manager list as follows:

• View items grouped by the folders they’re in, grouped by the package they were installed with, or ungrouped. Choose a view from the View menu.

• Collapse and expand a group by clicking the disclosure triangle next to the group name or by double-clicking the name.

• Sort the list within each group by clicking any column heading to set the sort order.

• Adjust the widths of the Name and Package columns by dragging the right boundary line of the Name column heading or the left boundary line of the Package column heading. (You can’t adjust the other column widths.)

Seeing detailed information about an item

The names of extensions, shared libraries, and control panels do not always provide much information about their purpose. You can view the detailed information about an item in two ways:

• See more information about an item by clicking the item’s name to select it and then clicking the disclosure triangle labeled Show Item Information at the bottom-left corner of the Extensions Manager window.

• Open the folder that contains an item by clicking the item’s name to select it and then choosing Find Item from Extensions Manager’s Edit menu. (The Get Info command in Extension Manager’s Edit menu does not work in the Classic application environment.)

Activating and deactivating items

You deactivate or activate an extension or other item by selecting or deselecting the checkbox next to the item’s name. Activating or deactivating a group affects all the items in the group. You can save the current configuration of the Extensions Manager as a named set by choosing New Set from the File menu. Your named sets appear in the Selected Set pop-up menu in alphabetical order, and choosing a set from that pop-up menu changes Extensions Manager to the configuration saved for that set.

Changes you make to the status of any items take place when you restart the Classic application environment (or when you restart the computer with Mac OS 9). To restart Classic immediately, click the Restart button in Extensions Manager. To restart Classic after quitting Extensions Manager, open the Classic pane of System Preferences and click the Restart button there. To cancel the changes you’ve made, click Revert in the Extensions Manager window.

Note

Deactivating items removes features from the Classic application environment. If you deactivate items that are required for the Classic application environment, Mac OS X notices they are missing the next time you start Classic and displays an alert in the Classic startup window offering to replace the missing items.

Extensions Manager puts items that you deactivate into special folders inside the Mac OS 9 System Folder as follows:

• Deactivated items from the Extensions folder go into the Extensions (Disabled) folder.

• Deactivated control panels go into the Control Panels (Disabled) folder.

• Deactivated items from the System Folder go into the System Extensions (Disabled) folder.

• Deactivate Startup and Shutdown Items are placed in Startup and Shutdown (Disabled) folders.

An alternative way to disable the items in the Extension manager is by removing the items from the corresponding folders in the System Folder you use for the Classic application environment. See the section titled Examining the Essentials of the Mac OS 9 System Folder later in this Chapter for more information.

Using preconfigured sets of extensions

Extensions Manager comes with two preconfigured sets of extensions: Mac OS 9.1 All and Mac OS 9.1 Base. (The version number is higher if you are using Mac OS 9.2.1 or later for the Classic application environment.) These sets are locked so that you can’t change them.

You may think that Extensions Manager’s preconfigured, locked sets would keep all the items turned on that are required for the Classic application environment. This is the case with Mac OS 9.2.1, but not with Mac OS 9.1. In Mac OS 9.1, both the All and the Base sets turn off some essential items.

If you want to use one of the preconfigured Mac OS 9.1 extension sets when starting the Classic application environment, you need to make a copy of the set and make sure that it has all items turned on that are required for the Classic application environment. You can use Extensions Manager to determine which of the items that Classic requires are turned off when you choose Mac OS 9.1 All or Mac OS 9.1 Base. Follow these steps:

1. Choose Mac OS 9.1 All or Mac OS 9.1 Base from the Selected Set pop-up menu. See Figure 17-12 for an example.

   
   Figure 17-12: Access the Selected Set popup menu from the top of the Extensions Manager window.

2. Choose File Duplicate Set. Extensions Manager makes a copy of the set.

3. Choose View As Items and click the On/Off column heading. This sorts the startup items by their on/off condition so that all items that are turned off are listed together.

4. Scroll the list looking for items that are turned off and have Classic in their item name or show Classic Compatibility Environment in the Package column.

5. Make sure all the Classic items are turned on and then use this set instead of the original locked set when you start the Classic application environment.

Date & Time control panel

Although the current time and date that you set in the Date & Time preferences of Mac OS X also affect the Classic application environment, the settings for the clock in the Mac OS X menu bar don’t affect the Classic menu bar. You configure the clock for the Classic menu bar in the Date & Time control panel. You can also set date formats for Classic applications in the Date & Time control panel. To set the date format, click the Date Format button. In the dialog that appears, you can choose a region whose customary formats you want to use, or you can create a custom format by changing individual settings. You set time formats for Classic applications in the Date & Time control panel. First, you click the Time Formats button. In the dialog that appears, you can choose a region whose customary formats you want to use, or you can create a custom format by changing individual settings.

Choosing text behaviors and setting number formats

The Text control panel allows you to choose a text behavior for Classic applications. Choose a language script from the Script pop-up menu, and then choose a regional language from the Behavior pop-up menu. By default only the Roman Script will be available, unless you install other packages such as Japanese language support from the Mac OS 9 installer CD. Regional Languages are only available for the specific Script they apply to.

You can set number formats for Classic applications in the Numbers control panel. You can choose a preconfigured number format for a region of the world, or you can specify a custom format by entering the punctuation marks to use as separators and the currency symbol.

Checking for Mac OS 9 software updates

The Software Update pane of System Preferences does not monitor for updates to Classic software. The Mac OS 9 control panel named Software Update does this. It is likely that you will never use this control panel, because the Software Update control panel does not function in the Classic application environment. You must restart your computer with Mac OS 9 to take advantage of this feature (if your computer supports it). It is also important to realize that Apple ceased development of Mac OS 9 several years ago, so there are likely no updates for you to download anyway. The control panel is simple to use, just open it and click Update Now. A control panel confirms your choice; click OK to continue. If you are connected to the Internet, the control panel contacts Apple’s software servers and finds out whether there are any updates available for your Mac. If the control panel finds any available updates, it lists them. Select the updates you’d like to download, and then click Install.

Classic Applications and the Dock

When a Classic application is running, its icon appears in the Dock right next to your native Mac OS X applications. While Mac OS X attempts to make the icon look its best, you’ll notice that it looks fuzzy compared to the crispness of a Mac OS X icon (this is due to antialiasing), Figure 17-1 shows an example of this. Mac OS 9 only supports icons that are 32 x 32 pixels, while Mac OS X supports icon sizes up to 128 x 128.

Just as with Mac OS X applications, Classic applications in your Dock can utilize Dock pop-up menus. To access the Dock pop-up menu either Control-click, or click and hold on the application’s icon in the Dock and a small pop-up menu appears. You can choose to keep the icon in the Dock, show the application in the Finder, and hide or quit the application. Because Classic applications were not designed with the Dock in mind and run inside of the Classic application environment, you cannot access information that other Mac OS X native applications can provide from the Dock’s contextual menu. Mac OS X applications often display a list of open windows in the application — playlists or media controls (iTunes) — usually you can just quit or force quit a Classic application from the Dock.