Category Archives: Low End Mac

Analysis, advice, editorial, opinion, and commentary.

OS X Tip: Save PDF to Web Receipts Folder

Jeffery Adkins,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2014.05.31 -

My wife clued me in to this nice little feature introduced in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. She does a lot of online shopping, and when you buy something online, you usually get a screen that says something like, “Print this right now if you want a receipt.” You can’t usually save these screens effectively, […]

Need Macs for Your Classroom? Write a Grant

Jeffery Adkins,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2014.05.31 -

Not everyone can afford the latest computer and all the new software that accompanies it. Some teachers have older machines; others have only one or two machines available. Here at Low End Mac we often take the position of recommending refurbishing older machines to get something in the classroom.

Writing Your Grant Application

Jeffery Adkins,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2014.05.31 -

Last time we discussed deciding what to ask for with grants in Need Macs for Your Classroom? Write a Grant. today we talk about writing the application. Next time we’ll look at finding support from stakeholders and making your application stand out.

Getting Stakeholders Onboard

Jeffery Adkins,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2014.05.31 -

In our previous articles on grantwriting, we addressed establishing a purpose and identifying expenses to write into your grant. This article addresses the concept of getting others interested in your project – and why you should try.

Word 2004 vs. Pages 05 for Writing a Book

Jeffery Adkins,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2008.01.10 -

I recently (nearly) completed a novel that I started over the summer. If you check my publication history, you can see that the rate at which I have published columns on Low End Mac has dwindled to nearly zero. That’s because nearly all my free time for writing has been dedicated to writing a novel.

Embed a Blogger Feed in Your Web Page

Jeffery Adkins,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2006.08.24 -

I have a small collection of web pages for my various projects. Some of them have an associated blog. Try as I might, I cannot get my students to click on a link on my class web page to take them to the blog. “I can’t find it,” or “There’s too much stuff on your […]

Capture Stills from OS X DVD Player with a Simple Hack

Jeffery Adkins,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2006.03.16 -

My seven-year-old son enjoys taking screen shots of scenes in movie previews so he can print them out and hang them on the wall of his room. He recently decided he wanted a screen grab from a DVD he was watching, but – as many of you know – that function isn’t available when using Apple’s […]

Build Your Own Planetarium

Jeffery Adkins,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2004.02.25 -

As part of our ongoing efforts to build a small classroom planetarium at our school, we have opted not to go with a package deal from a single vendor and instead assemble components from different vendors.

Digitize Your Albums and Cassettes with Your Mac

Jeffery Adkins,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2003.08.14 -

I got a number of responses to How to Digitize Your Old Tapes, LPs, and 45s with Your Mac, my article about converting cassettes and LPs to digital format. Several readers wrote to recommend software and/or hardware if you have more music to convert than I do and don’t want to go through the complex rigmarole […]

Simulating Space Flight on a Mac

Jeffery Adkins,  Classic Mac OS Software, Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report, Mac OS X Software - 2003.06.06 -

Last year I began fiddling around with a program called A-OK! The Wings of Mercury, a computer program written by Joe Nastasi that completely simulates a Mercury space mission from the 1960s. Nastasi realized that today’s computers are sufficiently advanced that they can replicate not only the interior of a Mercury capsule and simulate its […]

Choose the Right Marker When Writing on Burned Discs

Mike Webb,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2003.01.14 -

I have just finished reading your article on how to make a bootable emergency CD for the Mac, OS 9 and below. While I found most of the article to be an invaluable resource (I’ve already printed it to PDF), there’s one thing you mentioned at the end that does concern me.

More on the History of Apple’s Command Key

Jeffery Adkins,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2002.08.15 -

A short while back, I wrote an article about the history of the Apple Command key and why it looks the way it does. One of the many benefits of writing for Low End Mac is all the interesting people you get to correspond with – and I got mail from all sorts of folks […]

Command Key Truth and Fiction

Jeffery Adkins,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2002.07.18 -

During one of those endless Web searches the other day, I ran across one of Those Little Things I Never Knew – the origin of the “splat” symbol on the Mac keyboard, officially known as the Command (cmd) key.

Using an iBook Cart in the Classroom: Training

Jeffery Adkins,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2002.04.04 -

2002 – This week’s Mac Lab Report is an annotated outline based on the presentation I did two weeks ago for our school. We have purchased several iBook laptop carts, and my job is to configure the carts for classroom use and train teachers on how to use them. Only teachers who have received the […]

Improving AppleWorks

Jeffery Adkins,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2002.03.21 -

2002 – AppleWorks is a fine Office suite. As it is, I like how well integrated the suite is and the fact that it runs smoothly in Mac OS 9 and OS X. Additional features, such as the slide presentation module (added since version 5), have been most welcome. However, I still feel the need to retreat […]

Configuring an iBook Cart, Part 2

Jeffery Adkins,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2002.03.14 -

2002 – This is one part of a multi-part series on setting up laptops for use with Apple’s iBook laptop cart. Today’s article deals with mechanical issues and configuring the AirPort base station.

Configuring an iBook Cart, Part 1

Jeffery Adkins,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2002.03.07 -

2002 – In a few weeks, I have to train my colleagues how to check out, use, maintain, and return one of several iBook carts our school has purchased. In the meantime, the carts have to be prepared with certain multiple user settings, passwords, site licensed software, and network settings.

4 Apps for Your Science Class

Jeffery Adkins,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2002.02.28 -

2002 – Here are four free (not shareware) programs you might find handy when teaching math, physical science, astronomy, or biology. Everything works under Mac OS X either natively or in Classic Mode except as noted. Enjoy!

iPhoto Is Missing One Important Feature

Jeffery Adkins,  Low End Mac, Mac Lab Report - 2002.01.31 -

2002 – I agree with most who’ve tried out Apple’s new iPhoto software: It has an intuitive interface that’s easy to learn, can manage large numbers of photos easily, and meshes nicely with iTunes and iMovie, Apple’s other digital hub software for consumers.

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