I bought a 2.1MP digital camera yesterday for use in my classroom and school (photographing students' artwork, activities, sporting events, etc.). The camera is from a company called Kobian and it's the Mercury Deluxe Classic Cam. Now the school board I work for is strictly MS XP. Needless to say I bought this camera strictly for use with XP machines. Kobian's website and the camera's manual never even mentioned Mac. All drivers were for Winbloze. Apple's compatibility list doesn't mention Kobian or the camera.
I took home the camera (Winbloze drivers and all) and trying to experiment with it I loaded the drivers onto my Mac via VPC and Win98SE. I thought to myself that I wouldn't really be using the camera at home since I would have to keep using VPC and my version won't work in OS X so I would have to boot into OS9 each time I wanted to use it. When I plugged the camera into the USB port I noticed that it's LCD screen flashed the message "Mass Storage" and in Winbloze it became drive E. As rare as it is an idea flashed in my head and I quickly shut down winbloze, unplugged the camera, and in OS 9 I plugged it back in and low and behold the damn thing mounted as a removable drive onto my desktop! I double clicked it's icon and there were the pictures I took. I thought well if they work in OS 9 then it should work in Jaguar. In Jaguar it not only mounted BUT it also automatically ran iPhoto2! This camera, let alone the company, wasn't even listed in the compatibility list. I was able to import all my photos and iPhoto2 even listed the correct name of the camera. The only quirk was trying to unmount the camera in Jaguar. I get the spinning ball and I seem to need to unplug it at that point or else it just keeps spinning (no error messages at all). In OS 9 it unmounts without a problem. The camera itself is pretty sweet. It takes 4 AAA alkaline, NiCD, or NiMH batteries, SD memory cards, and it is about the size of Canon's digital elph. Now it doesn't have optical zoom but does have digital zoom (oh well). The pictures came out quite crisp for 2.1MP and they're in standard jpeg format. I haven't tried it yet but you can also record some video (about 1min.) w/sound. The max resolution is about 1600X1240 for each picture and it has 8MB of built-in memory (good for 19 Fine pictures). Only on the Mac could a product made for Winbloze simply just work in Jaguar and OS 9. The only major problem was actually installing the drivers in Winbloze. I had to do it 3X before it actually worked in 98SE. My system : B&W G3/300 768MB RAM Radeon7000 2X40GB HD, 1X5GB HD Macally USB hub OS 9.2.2, Jaguar --- "Silence can not be misquoted." --- -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
