Odds & Ends: Designating a boot drive; modem scripts;

unsupported printer driver hack; more Failure to find boot drive: a fix Jon Isom writes: "I kept getting the blinking question mark during boot. I fixed the problem by booting off of a OS 9 CD, opening the Startup Disk control panel on the hard drive and selecting OS X. Upon restart the problem was gone."

Modem scripts This MacFixIt Forums thread (Importing Modem Scripts into 10.1.3 Bug) points out a problem installing and using third-party modem scripts under Mac OS X.

Creating a driver for an unsupported printer This web page contains instructions on how to hack your own OS X printer driver for several unsupported printers. (Thanks Nicolas Owens and Matt Hovey.)

KeyQuencer and Mac OS X A reader forwarded us a message he received from Binary Software, which essentially states there will be no development on a version of KeyQuencer for Mac OS X. They will continue to support KeyQuencer 2.5.5 for OS 9, and have a cross-upgrade offer with CE Software for users to obtain a copy of QuicKeys for $49.95.

iMovie OS X video capture bug? Rusty Ross writes: "I am experiencing a video capture problem in iMovie 2.1.1 under OS X 10.1.3 which I have also seen described by some other folks on Apple's discussion boards. Video capture hums along perfectly for a minute or two (or sometimes more). Then without warning, the video window in iMovie turns blue and although the Import and Play buttons remain highlighted, capture stops completely."

Update: Stefan Oetter writes: "I also had iMovie under OS X stop importing and bring up the blue screen. I turned off the screensaver and set energy saver to never sleep. I was then able to import an hour of video."

Apple Discussions page returns, sort of Several readers report that they were able to post new messages on Apple's Discussion pages, although the site appeared to be running slowly overall. (We were unable to connect when we checked.)

AppleCare What's New page A reader pointed out this page, which logs the status of the AppleCare site (which includes KB articles, the discussion boards, software downloads, and more).

Flash MX display bug? Isaac Rivera writes: "I have noticed that sometimes when working in Flash MX in OS X if a Flash MX document is open and I switch focus to another application, when I return to Flash MX, the panels (all windows but the stage/timeline main window) are gone. Clicking on the TAB key does not "unhide" them. The only way to bring them back is to go to Window/Panel Sets/ and choose your default set."

Update: Alex Dearden replies: "I have noticed the same behavior after quitting and opening Flash again. Not every time, it seems to be intermittent and I can't pin it down. I don't get it when I Command-Tab to other applications though."

Lower toner inhibits printing Michael Allured writes: "I can not print when my printer is low on toner. I have an HP LaserJet 4000 which will report a toner low message months before I actually have to change the toner. This has never been a problem in the past. However, with OSX, the Print Center gives me a message that I can not print since there is a toner low message, with the only options to delete the job, stop the queue or stop the job."

Mac OS X: Do Not Move 'mach_kernel' or Other System-Installed Files and Folders, Some of Which Are Normally Invisible is a new Apple KB article (106805) that confirms something that we think is fairly obvious: don't mess with any Mac OS X-specfic files and folders when running under OS 9.