Save The Complete New Yorker

[MrTutt]

I have a mid-2010 MBP with 8 GB of ram running Mavericks and everything else is up to date. Some years back, when Snow Leopard was the OS, I bought The Complete New Yorker, a collection of nine DVDs that held every issue of The New Yorker from 1925 to the early 90s. It came with an app that loaded on the computer with the indexes and interface to view and read the images of the magazine. You ran a search, selected the DVD that had what you wanted, put it in the computer and read on. Well and good. The app was also available on an external HD if you did not want to swap disks. When I upgraded to Mountain LIon, the app would no longer work as the new OS no longer supported something or other--I forget what. (It was Power PC apps) The New Yorker no longer sold the collection so they had no interested in solving the problem. I suppose it still would work on a PC, but I do not know that for sure. And no, I am not really interested in running Windows whatever on the Mac.

I posted a call for solutions on a couple of Mac boards, and got some good suggestions from this one. The best of which was to create a Snow Leopard Boot Disk on a thumb driver and boot into that OX when I wanted to use the program. I am going to try that in soon, but it now occurs to me: Would it be feasible to not only create the Snow Leopard Boot Drive, but also to install all nine of the DVDs on the thumb drive so that the whole operation was self-contained. I ask a local computer repair guy (PCs not Macs) the question and he thought it might work.

I am looking for some thought and ideas on this, as well as some step by step directions as to how to do it. My technical skills have limitations, but I follow directions pretty well. So, Mac gurus of the Web arise and save The Complete New Yorker, or at least this one on the banks of the Red River. Thanks.

EMS

 

[pigoo3]

I can provide you with at least three solutions:

1. Get yourself an external hard drive...install Snow Leopard on it...install The Complete New Yorker app...then boot the computer from the external HD when you want to access The Complete New Yorker.

2. Partition your hard drive into two partitions. One for Mountain Lion & one for Snow Leopard. The run the New Yorker app on the Snow Leopard partition as you did before (you need to boot the computer into the Snow Leopard partition before doing this).

3. Buy yourself an older Intel or PPC Mac (inexpensive). Since it sounds like this New Yorker app is a "PPC" application...you could even go with an older G4 or G5 Macintosh (less expensive). Install the New Yorker app on it...and your good to go.

HTH,

- Nick

 

[MacInWin]

Doing a bit of math, 9 DVDs is on the order of 36 GB, assuming the files on the DVD aren't compressed. Add in the operating system and you need a big USB thumb drive, on the order of 64GB. They are out there, and it is possible to build a bootable version of SL on one, so your plan is feasible. The advantage is that it is more portable than an external HD. However, the disadvantage is that it's smaller, hence easier to misplace or simply lose. Nick's suggestion is good, too, and if you choose to partition the HD as he suggested in option 2, you'd have the magazines with you anywhere you have the laptop, and it's harder to lose a laptop than a USB stick. Plus, it will boot faster and be more responsive than the USB stick approach. Just be aware that partitioning your hard drive will mean you have to back up everything on it to somewhere else, as it will be lost in the repartitioning. Your new partition for the magazines should also be on the 60-70 GB range.

 

[pigoo3]

Doing a bit of math, 9 DVDs is on the order of 36 GB, assuming the files on the DVD aren't compressed. Add in the operating system and you need a big USB thumb drive, on the order of 64GB. They are out there, and it is possible to build a bootable version of SL on one, so your plan is feasible. The advantage is that it is more portable than an external HD.

A very good 4th solution...and easier to tote around than an external HD (if a large enough/affordable USB stick can be found).

- Nick

 

[cradom]

What format are the magazines in? If all you need is something to index and search them try this:
calibre - E-book management

 

[chas_m]

Something similar happened to users of the Complete Mad (Magazine) collection. The data on the discs was in PDF format, so any issue wanted could be opened manually.

On the one hand I was annoyed that the product I paid for didn't work as it should have any more, and it would have been an easy fix.

OTOH, it was a stupid Director/Flash based player that was awful when it did work, so I wasn't sorry to see it go.

 

[MacInWin]

A very good 4th solution...and easier to tote around than an external HD (if a large enough/affordable USB stick can be found).

- Nick

They are out there.

 

[pigoo3]

They are out there.

Ohh I know that they are out there...I was really thinking more the affordability part.

For the price of a 64gig USB stick...I can get a much larger external HD via Craig's List. But of course the USB stick is more portable.

- Nick

 

[dharmarascal]

An update for any Mac users trying to access the Complete New Yorker. I just got my set working on an external hard drive after a lot of fiddling. This is great as it means you can use the app—and, crucially, search all the back issues—without having to constantly switch among the 8 discs to retrieve the correct file. Here are the headlines you need to know to get it working without spending any money:

1. The djvu files on the discs are copy-protected and there's no way to break the DRM (that I've come across). Ludicrously, it's also illegal to do do. That means none of the apps for Mac that claim to read djvu files will work.

2. On most Macs (mid/later Intels and M-series) you can no longer install virtualized older versions of macOS in order to install The New Yorker viewer app for Mac (which doesn't work post-Snow Leopard). So unless you have a very old Mac with an existing OS pre-Snow Leopard (macOS 10.6)—or an old and working copy of Parallels or VMWare Fusion which would allow you to install 10.6—you can’t access the app at all via macOS. Here's what to do:

3. Download the latest free version of VMWare Fusion from Broadcom. It's not very user friendly as a site but when you get the software the free license is now built in. You just have to register for an account and get to their free software. This page tells you how:

Download Broadcom products and software

4. Once you have Fusion up and running on your Mac, install Windows 11 (consumer or Pro, it doesn't matter). I installed the ARM-based version (see ferrarr's comment below re. M-series Macs requiring this version). You can use the built-in Windows download function in Fusion or download the ISO separately and install via Fusion (I did the latter but the former also works).

I'd recommend, as I did, installing Windows on your Mac's hard drive (if you have space), or on a separate external hard drive from the one on which you'll install The New Yorker app and all its back issues of the magazine. (I tried installing the Fusion Windows instance on one partition of an external drive and having the app + issues on the other but ran into problems with drive recognition within Windows.)

5. Make a dedicated partition for The New Yorker on an external hard drive (SSD is best if you have one) and format it as ex-FAT to suit Windows. I only set aside 100GB for the app + back issues and that was plenty of space.

6. Once Windows is installed, some patience is required. Follow these steps:

1. Update Windows with as many updates as it wants to make. It's worth doing this before installing the app itself.
2. You do not need to activate Windows in order to run The New Yorker program. If you have a license—or get a cheap OEM license online—you should be able to activate if you want to, but it's not necessary.
3. Connect an external disc reader (these days I use an Asus) and insert Disc 1 of The Complete New Yorker.
4. Install the Windows version of The New Yorker Viewer from the disc. I installed it within the Windows instance and on a couple of external drives so I had a backup, but the version of the app I use is on the same exFAT-formatted partition I made for the back issues.
   
   NB. It took quite a long time for the software to actually install. Some of the frameworks are very out of date and Windows took a long time checking itself. Eventually, the framework updates were offered and, once installed, The New Yorker app runs well.

With Windows running, install the VMWare Tools from the 'Virtual Machines' menu within Fusion. This is useful as it will let you seamlessly copy and drag files from macOS to Windows, which is handy when doing all this.

That said, when prompted, you'll want to connect any external drives to Windows rather than macOS. This is so Windows will see the ex-FAT drive with the app and its back issues. Confusingly, macOS can also see it so I sometimes had to eject my drive in macOS, switch to Windows, then re-attach the drive in order to force this system prompt.

7. When it comes to using the app to search all its back issues via an external drive, all the credit goes to user gendalf who contributed to a thread on Peter Rukavina's blog about this in 2006. (Their instructions are a few comments in on the thread: "Submitted by gendalf on Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 17:03".)

Basically, do what they suggest. Three notes, though, around specific problems I ran into with the instructions as given:

- In instruction 2 it says: "...copy the entire contents of the DVD 1 installation directory to the Install sub-directory." This isn't quite accurate in terms of the subsequent instructions. The app's database—ny-sqlite-3.db—must actually be in the root directory for your New Yorker installations, not in the 'Install; sub-directory.

- In instruction 5, where you have to edit the database file, the Windows software linked to is no longer available (or, at least, I couldn't find it). I downloaded DB Browser for SQLite, which I was able to use to edit the file within Windows (the Mac version may work well for this but I didn't try it). It was a little more complicated to do than the instruction for the other software but I figured it out (use the 'execute' function).

- In instruction 8 (editing Regedit to enable access to the back issues via external drive rather than the discs), it says: "After pressing F3 a few times to repeat the search, you will see the word InstallPath." In my experience it was more like 20+ times! So keep going and eventually the path will appear... Once edited (and assuming the database is in your root directory for The New Yorker installation on your drive) it all works as described. Amazing!

8. One little (unnecessary) flourish! It is, of course, astonishing that we can just run the latest version of Windows 11 in a window on a M1 MacBook Air. Perfect, as I only use Windows for this archive. However, because I didn't activate, I can’t customize the PC, though I was able to remove almost all visual cruft from its desktop by unpinning various things. I then saved a high res image of the first ever New Yorker cover onto the Windows desktop and was delighted to find you can (even with an unactivated copy) right click and choose to set it as your desktop background. Lovely! And here it is (see below).

Hope that's helpful if you are lucky enough to have found an old copy of The Complete New Yorker!

 

[Rod]

Thank you dharmarascal for your comprehensive up to date solution and description of the process.
You are however replying to a post from 2013. You will see the date of any post just below the user's name.
You may not get any replies from the OP but your answer will be available online for anyone who wants info on this topic.

 

[ferrarr]

I installed the Arm-based version.

If you have an M based Mac, the ARM version of winOS is the only version that will run this Macs.

You made me want to try to get this running again. Thanks. I was using VMware Fusion Player (12 & 13) for some time. It was free and it was from VMWare, it seems they are no longer around.

 

[dharmarascal]

Thank you dharmarascal for your comprehensive up to date solution and description of the process.
You are however replying to a post from 2013. You will see the date of any post just below the user's name.
You may not get any replies from the OP but your answer will be available online for anyone who wants info on this topic.

Thanks, Rod. Yes, it's kind of nice to have this hosted as part of such an old and venerable thread. I'm glad to be able to contribute to the forum, which I've often found helpful.

 

[dharmarascal]

If you have an M based Mac, the ARM version of winOS is the only version that will run this Macs.

You made me want to try to get this running again. Thanks. I was using VMware Fusion Player (12 & 13) for some time. It was free and it was from VMWare, it seems they are no longer around.

Ah, many thanks, ferrarr—that's a great reminder. I updated my post with some corrections, changes and pics added since the original draft went into review. I've also now included and credited your note as part of the version here and over on Reddit.

VMWare were absorbed into Broadcom a while back. It was a real labyrinthine mess trying to get Fusion working before but this latest version is much better: more stable, and the "perpetual" free license is now built into the software as installed. Confusingly, they forgot to remove the menu item asking the user to enter their license but this can be safely ignored.

Hope you can get the New Yorker up and running, I'm having fun searching the magazine again. I only wish there was a top-up set of discs from 2006, but I guess that's worth a subscription! Happy 100th birthday, Eustace Tilley...

 

[pm-r]

Hope you can get the New Yorker up and running, I'm having fun searching the magazine again.

An interesting revival of a 12-year-old mac-forum's thread and congratulations to the New Yorker and their staff for a century of publishing.

It was interesting to note several current members posting back then who are doing so as guests.
Example

MacInWin
Guest

A lot of things change with time. And computer stuff gets accelerated even faster.




- Patrick
=======

 

[MacInWin]

An interesting revival of a 12-year-old mac-forum's thread and congratulations to the New Yorker and their staff for a century of publishing.

It was interesting to note several current members posting back then who are doing so as guests.
Example


A lot of things change with time. And computer stuff gets accelerated even faster.




- Patrick
=======

My account got "lost" in the system somehow and got reverted to "guest" mode. Charlie (chscag) got me back on board, but those old posts still show as guest. I guess they always will.