I was very interested in Rachael’s article about choosing a digital camera. One point that she didn’t mention is physical size and weight of the camera.

I had an Olympus D-620L. I took the ATPM desktop pictures of France (Nov. 2000) and I used that camera. It took very good pictures but was big. I am just five feet tall. The first week in France it rained a lot and I had to get my raincoat around myself and my camera that was on my chest. It was a big hassle aside from that fact that it was heavy to carry along with a purse and an umbrella.

Now I have the 4-megapixel Olympus D-40Zoom, which is tiny and just 11 oz. I can drop it in my purse, wear it on my wrist, or put it in a case I bought that goes over my head and arm. I’m trying to cut down on the weight of things I carry while still getting the quality I desire and that fit this little old lady. I think most of the computer engineers are big, strapping guys who forget about the “other half.” Now that I have this little camera, I bought a 12-inch iBook for traveling. My motto now is: Think small.

—Janet Mobley

Thank you for the well-written article. I normally use PCs, but at work we use all Macs. Finally, a Mac networking article that I can understand!

—J.Q.

I am new to Mac computers and recently purchased a G4 PowerBook because of its facility with multimedia and Web-based applications (which I am truly impressed with). I am a long-time user of Microsoft Office and am searching for an alternative for word processing and presentation applications that will run in OS X and not cost an arm and a leg. So far, all that seems to be available is Office and AppleWorks, which are not too highly regarded.

Are there any other integrated packages out there available for OS X?

—Eric Villafane

I am just starting out with this Web stuff and this is the first page I have found that offers advice and makes sense. Not bad for a 50-year-old, so an old dog can learn new tricks.

—Ian Standish-Leigh

When I play a CD with iTunes (2.0.4 on Mac OS 9.1) the vocals are often buried and the sound is muddy, even after fiddling with the equalizer. AppleCD Audio player, on the other hand, sounds sharp and well balanced, even without an equalizer.

I have the same problem with the MP3s I’ve ripped (high-quality 192 kbps). Having an MP3 jukebox doesn’t make much sense if you have to adjust each song to hear the vocals. I love iTunes in concept but I’ve gone back to AppleCD Audio player.

Has anyone else experienced sound quality problems or is it just me?

—Jean

Where would I be able to find a new keyboard to install on my iBook?

—Janessa

I have a Pismo G3 500 MHz PowerBook running Mac OS X and a Power Mac G4 466 MHz running OS X. They both have AirPort cards installed and are properly communicating with the Base Station. I have no issues with Internet, e-mail, etc., but I cannot print to my laser printer anymore. Why?

I have the AirPort Base Station (older model with one Ethernet port) plugged into a NetGear Gateway Router and the laser printer plugged in as well. But because the printer is not directly wired to the G4 or the PowerBook, I cannot set it up in the Chooser (under OS 9). I prefer both computers to be able to print to the printer so having the printer hooked up permanently to one of the systems will not do.

Under OS X, I have added the printer in the Print Utility using its IP address, but it will not print PostScript this way.

Any ideas?

—Brian J. Tomassetti