do you have an apple mac?

[AuntyQuated]

i don't but my dad does and he could do with some help...we are trying to set up either yahoo or msn and are struggling.

tia

I have a mac

oh, hello
do you use yahoo messenger or msn messenger or some other IM service? or nothing?

No, don't use any messenger service

oh, well, it was worth a try.
what my dad has on his screen is very different to what i have on mine...and i just can't help

hopefully a Mac user and a message user will come along soon.

thanks anyway

Hub2dee has a mac and is fairly techy

Just keep bumping and someone will come along

thanks WMF i will look out for him cos my dad is driving me MAD

Hi, if he has only just got the Mac he will have a free year's sub to the Mac helpline and they can talk him through it - Macs are very straightforward and easy to use. Don't try to access settings the same way you would in a PC - it all looks different.

The inbuilt Mail is great for email - no need to add anything else. Hope fully it has also come with Safari - which is an internet search system like Internet Explorer - it's really good. The number for the helpline will be in one of the booklets which came with the Mac, if you can't find it phone the company he bought it from.

Good luck from an ardent Mac fan

hi ediemay

he has had the Mac years and was getting along quite nicely with it until we bought him a webcam as a retirement prezzie then he can chat to the grandchildren!!!

do you use a IM service? if so, which one?

we have been trying on and off to sort this out since the beginning of March and it is very frustrating. I think we need to go and sort him out but we are about 200 miles away!

Hi AQ, I don't use any messenger services so can't be of much help but it sounds to me as though your Dad might need to update his system software. Ask him to click on the apple symbol, top left on his screen, then click on 'About this Mac.' A dialogue box will come up which will show what system software he's using. If it's anything older than System X version 10.2 he could well have some problems.

He could update the software himself or if (like me) he prefers to get an expert in, I recently found a guy in yellow pages who came and updated all of my software, sorted out a few glitches on my Mac laptop and tidied up my work Mac. It only took him a couple of hours and he charged me £45. It might be the easiest way? Good luck and sorry I'm not more technical.

I've got an oldish iBook and loaded Yahoo Messenger fine on it. I have to say I gave up with my webcam cos although it workded, my friends couldn't view it for some reason, it kept saying they needed to upgrade their software???

Hope you have some joy with this one! M

vkone - that is it! we now have yahoo up and running...he can see us but when he invites us to view his webcam it says he doesn't have a webcam yet he can see himself! strange
do you think there is a solution?

EM he has just updated (or had it updated) to 10 point something, maybe .2

It could be a problem with the Chooser or with the type of cable he is using - it might be worth contacting the company who supplied the webcam and telling him it's being used on a Mac, they might be able to help. OSX 10.2 should be fine.

i will ask what type of camera it is (I can't remember ) and look on their website - thanks

he has 10.3
logitech website says it supports 10.2 but no mention of 10.3

Hi, AuntyQ,

I've got a Mac, 10.3. latest, an iSight camera and have used iChat, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, but I'm not a big 'chatter'.

iChat with iSight works 100% fine to another iChat client. It is when you try and go cross-platform that things become more complicated.

I would update / upgrade to the latest 'free fixes' available for his Mac OS X installation, and also install the latest Messenger Programs you want to try. Is he on broadband ? This is one click away under 'Software Update'...

The iChat client uses the AOL Instant Messenger framework so users either have a 'dot mac' or 'dot aol' address (you can register for free).

The Logitech camera may or may not work in 10.3, and it may or may not work with the chat apps, I have no idea.

Just to clarify, what are you trying to chat between - is it your Windows XP PC and his Mac ? What video equipment are you both using ? What is your preferred chat app ?

thnaks hub2dee

yes ..we are trying to chat between my Windows XP PC and his Mac.
What video equipment are you both using ? i am using a Labtec cheappie camera (£17.99) he is using a Logitech quick Cam Pro 400 (80 quid)
What is your preferred chat app - anyhting that we can get to work; we are having most success with Yahoo in that we can'type chat', he can see us, he can see himself. But we can't see him--when he invites us to chat he gets an error msg saying that no camera could be found. That's the bit i don't get...his PC and camera must work as he can see the image on screen.

I'm not very technical but he is far less so!! When we use Yahoo what he sees on his screen is very different to what we see on ours.

btw- we did have it working, once, but only once and that was after loads of dailed attempts.

any ideas would be great, thanks.

i've sent him your list of suggestions above but he will have to wait for his pal to come and help him out later in the week.

Hi AQ,

OK. I will admit chatting apps work best between two Macs using iChat if you want fancy video / audio / conferenencing (with OS X 10.4 released Friday £88 !). Apple control both ends of the app, the protocol etc. and it makes for an infinitely better audio / video chat than you can get with any other program. I use Apple's iSight camera. Excellent microphone, focussing. Again, because it is made by Apple it 'plays nicely'.

So, one solution is to get a Mac !

However, I realise this is somewhat backwards wrt the concept of 'chatting with anyone'. I only use iChat to talk to Mac friends as the app is so nice, but I use different systems to chat to other PC people.

Yahoo Messenger is here - they imply Webcam support (though cannot tell if your dad's camera is supported).

MSN Messenger is here - cannot see any comment about video chat support.

Regarding getting things to work. You would both need to check your firewall settings are not blocking traffic. His is in System Preferences / Sharing, and there's possibly another section within his chat apps (though not Apple's iChat, that's seamless. ).

As Apple's system is based on the AOL Internet Messaging framework (called 'AIM') you may both also want to try AOL's chat application. I haven't been down that route.

Windows users download here

Mac users here

I'm sorry I'm not more of a pro-chatter to be able to give further useful advice, but post, and I'll help you if I'm in / around / have anything useful to share !

Hi

Thanks for the help - I will send this on to my dad but i know he won't try and do anyhting about it until his pal is there to hold his hand!

I will give you an update whichever way it goes.

thanks again
AQ