Low End Mac Archive for February 20

February 20 in Low End Mac History

The appleimac.com dispute, Dan Knight, iMac Musings. "Did you hear the one about the two 16-year-old boys in Canada who registered appleimac.com - and have now been threatened by Apple's lawyers?"

My iPinion, Jake Sargent, iThings Considered. When are "iNames" okay to use, and when are they unprofessional and untasteful?
Mac in the middle ages, James Brock Clark, My First Mac. "Under the heading of 'use it or lose it,' we have a near perfect exercise machine for the human mind."
Introduction to Unix: The buzz words, Eric DeStefano, Mac Metamorphosis. Threads, multiprocessing, memory management, and preemptive multitasking - parts of Mac OS X.
Review: Flex-HDD 3.5" FireWire/USB enclosure, Dan Knight, MacUSB & FireWire. Turn an IDE drive into an external FireWire and USB drive - at a price.

Easier. Why not faster?, Korin Hasegawa-John, My Turn. Sure, Macs are easy to use, but why hasn't Apple adopter PC technologies like a 266 MHz system bus, Ultra ATA 133, and surround sound?
The Mozilla letters, Charles Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings. Mozilla vs. iCab, spell check, and installer problems on NuBus Macs.

Prioritized email: Up with the good, out with the bad, Jeff Adkins, Mac Lab Report. How smarter email software could flag what's important to you while also helping you deal with spam.
Intel CPU sockets, LEM saves money, overclocking iMacs and beige G3s, viruses, OS security, and more, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Mailbag. Also thoughts on dropping a G4 into a beige G3, fighting spam, the best PCI Radeon, faster ethernet, browser/OS integration, and drawbacks of Mac OS X.

Migration issues in moving from a Beige G3 to a Blue and White, Adam Robert Guha, Apple Archive. Using an older printer and a SCSI scanner, ejecting a CD, and dealing with a system freeze.
New G5 supports notebooks, 'Books in color, TiBook antenna triples range, a low-cost wireless card, and more, The 'Book Review. Online reviews of G4 iBooks and new 15" AlBook, 17" G4 hard drive upgrade tutorial, iPodResQ, bargain 'Books from $799 to $2,199, and more.

VNC, Basilisk II, and SheepShaver: 3 ways to run Classic on an Intel Mac, Alan Zisman, Mac2Windows. The new Intel-based Macs don't support Classic mode, but there are hardware and software solutions that will let you access some or all of your old Classic apps.
Back to the future: Downgrading my Pismo to OS X 10.3.9, Charles W Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings. With Spotlight and Tiger's Find refusing to work on the Pismo, it was time to backtrack to OS X 10.3.9 - which actually seems faster and more stable on this PowerBook.

Power Computing: Fighting back for the Mac or stealing Apple's customers?, Tom Hormby, Orchard. Power Computing, the first company to sell licensed Macintosh clones, seemed more interested in stealing Apple's high-end customers than expanding Mac the market.
The Mac dilemma: Low cost and limited expansion or high cost with great upgrade potential?, Adam Robert Guha, Apple Archive. Apple gives us two choices: A very expandable, upgradable Mac Pro or a far less expandable, less costly consumer Mac.

Power your recycled laptop with a rebuilt battery, John Hatchett, Recycled Computing. Old notebook computers usually mean old batteries that may be dead or on their last legs. You can buy a replacement battery, or you can have your old battery rebuilt.
Idiot proof: It isn't good enough to make things intuitive, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz. "Good design isn't about making things intuitive; it's about making them idiot proof."

Migrating to an Intel Mac more difficult than expected, Charles W Moore, 'Book Value. Eudora won't configure properly or work over dialup, Migration Assistant isn't importing setting, and Color It 4.5 simply refuses to work at this point.
I still use my LC, Tommy Thomas, Welcome to Macintosh. An interview with Scott Baret, who has been using the same Macintosh LC since 1991.
Mac Hater now loves Macs, Apple slows Mac upgrades, Opera Turbo boosts browser speed, and more, Mac News Review. Also what if Apple never updates the iMac, SwiftStore drives connect via gigabit ethernet, and new email and postage software.
Unibody MacBook vs. 12" PowerBook, 17" MacBook Pro disassembled, living with MacBook Air, and more, The 'Book Review. Also replacing hard drive much simpler in new MacBook Pro, netbooks now 20% of notebook market, notebook dock with video, bargain 'Books from $499 to $1,899, and more.
10 secret iPhone powers, spreadsheets on the iPhone, the jailbreaking debate, and more, iNews Review. Also using the iPhone as a wireless modem, Yahoo! Mobile introduced, Kids Eat Free app, multiport USB wall charger, and more.

Long Lasting Mac Value: Tiger and Snow Leopard, Dan Bashur, Apple, Tech, and Gaming. Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.6 stand apart by providing lots of support for older Macs and older Mac software.
Improving Tablets: Why Not a Slider Keyboard?, John Hatchett, Recycled Computing. Perhaps the biggest drawback of the iPad and other tablets is lack of a buil-in physical keyboard. Many phones have slider keyboards....
Snow Leopard Macs: The New Low End, Simon Royal, Tech Spectrum. The days of PowerPC Macs are numbered, but Macs that can run Snow Leopard should be good for years to come.