I need to use my new Power Mac in OSX (where the new Office:Mac v.X
resides) and in old, faithful 9.2 (where most of my other stuff
currently runs). How come OSX seems to have no idea how I've
configured my dial-up internet access in 9.2? And why won't Outlook
Express, etc., run in Classic mode? Isn't that what it's for?

What I don't get is, I can only get a Word email attachment by booting
up from the 9.2 startup disk. But, when I reboot in OSX to edit the
file, IT HAS COMPLETELY DISAPPEARED!  OSX seems to not be aware that
there is a 9.2-only desktop and a document folder with my stuff in it,
so I can't even see the document to open it.

Can these 3 operating systems "know" what the other knows, seeing all
the same files and sharing the same Internet and email preferences?

Hello Happy2BeHere,

I have had some of the same problems and will describe (or point you
to) some suggestions on solving these problems.

#1 - dial up in OS 9 and OS X

What I have found is that the dial up capabilities in Mac OS X are a
step backward from what used to be possible in OS 9. As you noted,
upgrading from OS 9 to OS X - the system does *not* find the old
configuration information nor use it. There are a number of reasons
for this - perhaps the most significant is the use of Unix based
utilities to implement dial up on Mac OS X.

If you want to find out more about the new dial-up utility (pppd), you
can run the terminal application from OS X (Applications folder,
Utilities folder). You will get a command line interface to Unix and
can enter
  man pppd
to bring up a copy of the documentation for this utility. Press the
space bar to page through the file or press h to get a (long) list of
options.

I did a search for conversion programs to generate pppd scripts from
the OS 9 information, but failed to find any. [I would have used such
a tool myself]

#2 - Running outlook express in classic

I guess I do not understand the problem you are having here. I
launched Outlook Express (version 5.02) on my system and it launches
just fine in Classic. You should be able to tell by closely looking at
the menu bar at the top, the platinum colored apple changes back to
the rainbow colored one and the style of the menu changes back to the
classic version.

It *is* possible that Classic is not configured properly. Select
  Apple Menu -> System Preferences
then select Classic (use "Show All" if it does not appear). You should
then get the option to set up your OS 9 system folder to run under OS
X. OS X installs a compatibility extension and then will "boot" OS 9
whenever you run a classic application (or at start up if you wish).
If this is still a problem, make a clarification request so I can go
through what you are seeing in a step by step manner. This is also
explained in the "Welcome to Mac OS X" document - it is on page 16 on
my copy (though it appears to be missing from the Jaguar version of
this book).

#3 - missing files

Hmm. I am going to assume you have placed the Word file onto your OS 9
desktop (or a folder on that desktop) and want to know where it is
under OS X. If this is incorrect, ask in a clarification request.

In the Finder,
  File -> Find...
to bring up the search dialog. Search the disk with OS 9 installed and
search for "Desktop Folder". On my machine it is on:
  B -> Desktop Folder
but on yours it more likely is under
  MacHD -> Desktop Folder
select that item and double click to open the folder. On my system, I
only have a single item (the printer - the icon has a slash through it
indicating it is not usable) because I don't store items on the
desktop. On your system, it should have all the items you are looking
for.

If the above does not work, try the following from the Finder,
  File -> Find...
and search for the file name of your word file. Select the file and
then do a "right click" (or Control click if you have a one button
mouse) to bring up a menu of items. Select "Open Enclosing Folder" to
get to the folder that includes your word file.

At this point, you may want to put an alias to your OS 9 desktop
folder on your OS X desktop. Control click (or right click) on the
folder to get the menu - Make Alias, and then drag that alias to your
OS X desktop.

#4 - See all the same files and sharing the same internet and email
preferences.

Doing this "right" is going to be *very* hard and may be prone to
error. There are a few things you should consider before taking this
kind of action:
 - an OS X and Classic program may be called the same (e.g., Microsoft
Word) but have a different format of preference files. In this case,
you can't share preferences. At best, you can bring your classic
preferences forward to OS X but not backward. [and as you noted -
dial-up is one where this was not possible]
 - the files seen by both systems *are* all present under both
systems. As I noted above, the OS 9 desktop is just "another folder"
under OS X. It may just be a matter of finding out which items are
where and adding aliases to make it easy to find information on both
systems.

There are some further steps you could make to make the system appear
to be the same under both OS 9 and OS X, but a mistake could require
the OS to be reinstalled. I don't recommend it but if you want to
pursue this further, please ask in a clarification request.

As a final aid, there is a *lot* of on line material to describe how
to use Mac OS X, tricks, and so on. Starting at the google directory:
  http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Systems/Apple/Macintosh/FAQs,_Help,_and_Tutorials/Mac_OS_X/?il=1

there are over 20 sites listed that have answers to questions or user
forums that you can ask questions and get answers (for free).

Please let me know if this helps or if some steps don't work right so
I can help you get your system set up so you can use it more easily.

  --Maniac

Impressive. This could become a powerful way for me to save hours --
if not years -- of wasted effort in many arenas. I just have to
practice making the question as focused as possible. The answer was a
little broad because (I see now) my question was too scattershot.

You'll have to recreate your dial-up access in OS X, System
Preferences -> Network (make sure internal modem is selected). When OS
X is running it ignores certain system settings from OS 9, it has to,
it's the OS in charge.

Office X comes with an excellent pro version of Outlook Express called
Entourage. Import your settings from OE by starting up Entourage for
the first time or going to File -> Import. You'll have to tell
Entourage where your Outlook stuff is. Outlook holds all of it's info
in a folder called "Identities" this folder is located in Macintosh HD
-> Documents -> Microsoft User Data, or in some rare cases in the OE
folder itself. Import everything then start using Entourage.

Make sure you update Office X if you haven't already. www.mactopia.com

OS X should see your OS 9 'Documents' Folder, 'Applications (Mac OS
9)' Folder, an Alias (shortcut) to 'Desktop (Mac OS 9)' Folder and
'System Folder' when you double click on the HD. Check if any of these
have been accidentally moved inside other Folders, or choose a list
view.

Remember that in OS X your 'Documents' Folder now lives inside the
'Users' Folder -> 'your user name' Folder.

Hope this helps a bit!

Regards

mikey001
www.networkers.com.au