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But what if I wanted to print?
Since the blue & white G3 doesn't have any serial ports, I had a couple of options. I could try to get a new USB printer, or I could add a gPort adapter in place of the modem in order to gain a serial port. While I was thinking of doing this, I noticed that my printer, an Epson Photo Stylus 1200, actually has USB. (And I advise anyone else in that position: Check your printer, just in case). This surprised me a little bit for such an old printer (1998 or so), but all I had to do was buy a USB cable and change the setting in the Chooser. That was it. Not hard at all.
Then I wanted to play a CD in my computer, so I pushed the F12 key, which ejects the CD-ROM drawer on most recent Macs. It did nothing. I knew that I could reach down and push the button to eject the tray, but I don't like pushing on the tray in order to get it back in again -- and on the b&w G3, you can't just push the CD eject button again, since it's actually located on a flap that folds down when the tray extends.
After
a bit of searching on the Internet, I found a piece of software
called EjectDisk
from Beyond Midnight Software. This allows you to select any key or
key combination on the keyboard to eject any disk in the machine --
or just disks in a specific drive. It was exactly what I needed, and
now my CD-ROM tray ejects like I'd want now with the push of the F12
key.
I was also a bit concerned over how my iPod would work under OS 9, since I'd updated the firmware in OS X several times. Thankfully, it connected and showed up just fine under iTunes 2.
The scanner was a bit of a challenge to set up. First of all, the SCSI card wasn't recognized. I finally realized that it was because the Adaptec 2906 needs driver software under OS 9 (OS X has built in drivers for it). I downloaded and installed the software, and it appeared in the system profiler with my scanner as SCSI ID 5. Fine, I thought, and tried to scan something.
"Scanner not found" it told me. Come on, it says that it's connected in the system profiler!
So I checked the SCSI termination; it wasn't terminated, but that had never given me a problem on my beige G3. I connected it to another external hard drive, since I couldn't find a terminator, and it worked fine.
This whole little episode started getting me thinking that I might want to look into a more modern scanner at some point. I'd like one that will scan negatives, as my neighbor's has this capability and I think it's a nice capability to have. Right now, though, this one still works fine. Yes, it's SCSI, which no modern Mac includes, but I'm still able to scan photographs and drawings. That's what really matters.
The last little minor annoyance is when the machine freezes. Unlike my beige G3, command-control-power doesn't restart it -- I have to reach down, find the restart button, and try to poke it with my fingernail or something else somewhat pointy. It's not the most convenient thing in the world. Considering that when the machine came out, OS 8.5 was the current OS, Apple probably should have made it a bit easier to restart the computer after freezes and crashes.
Still, in the past week I've only had one freeze, and that was in.
-- you guessed it -- Internet Explorer. 
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Recent Apple Archive articles
- iPods, notebooks, and other modern electronics more readily replaced than repaired, 12.07. Whether it's an intermittent failure or a broken display cable, more often than not it's cheaper to replace a broken electronics device than repair it.
- Options for replacing your older iPod, 11.19. Whether you've run out of space on your old iPod or want features it doesn't have, here are your options in new and used iPods.
- Could the $200 'green' PC with gOS Linux become a threat to Apple?, 11.14. The low cost, low power Everex desktop comes with a customized version of Ubuntu Linux, has a Mac-like Dock, and sells for $400 less than the Mac mini.
- Leopard different, a bit buggy, but worth the upgrade, 11.02. Leopard on a Power Mac G4 and a MacBook Pro: It runs well on both computers, but each has some odd bugs, and some of the changes are a step backwards.
- More in the Apple Archive index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: 17" iMac G4/800 MHz, July 2002 - The iMac 'grows up' with a 17" 1440 x 900 display.
- Group of the Day: LisaList supports Lisa users.
- November 8 in LEM history: 99: OS 9: I think I like it - 01: The simplified Mac life - Soured on Windows - Flea market Mac - 02: Little room for improvement in new 'Books - Combo drive upgrade for iceBooks - 04: Re-Porter - 05: Fix the old iMac or buy a Mac mini? - Apple's Copland project - 06: MacBook Core 2 - MacBook value equation - Cheap is as cheap does - 07: Problems with Classic mode in Tiger - The G4 Power Mac that won't run Leopard
- Support Low End Mac
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Quad-Core CPU Makes Sense in MacBook Pro, OS X 10.6 Causing Overheating, Overseas Power, and More, The 'Book Review, 11.06. Also Late 2009 MacBook reviewed, how to add RAM to new MacBook, 18.4in Acer notebook used Intel i7, and SanDisk SSD chosen for Sony VAIO X.
- Dumping Macs for Google Apps, SSD in iMac, Late 2009 iMac Performance Problems, and More, Mac News Review, 11.06. /newsrev/09mnr/1106.html
- WiFi Paranoia, iMac-O-Lantern, Magic Mouse Does Click, Free Clipboard Managers, and More, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.05. Also strange time stamps, problem with ColorIt on Intel Mac, and the story behind OS X 10.5.4 install discs.
- IDE Is Dead; Long Live SATA!, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 11.04. SATA has displaced parallel ATA. While IDE hard drives haven't disappeared, the best deals are in SATA hard drives.
- QuickTime X in Snow Leopard Imports, Trims, and Publishes Video Quickly and Easily, Alan Zisman, Zis Mac, 11.04. The long, slow process of importing video into iMovie to edit it, then render it to another format, is history as QuickTime X does that much more quickly.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.03. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 8-core. $2,299; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.26 8-core, $2,799; 2.93, $4,999.
- Best iPhone Deals, 11.03. New 8 GB iPhone 3G, $$99; refurb 16 GB 3GS, $149; new, $199; 32 GB, $299.
- Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.03. Used 867 MHz SperDrive, $348; 1 GHz, $499; 1.33 Combo, $298; SD, $559; 1.5 Combo, $448; SuperDrive, $589.
- Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used beige 300 MHz, $25; G4/366, $49; blue & white 350, $80; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15; shipping additional.
- Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used 400 MHz, $50; 733 MHz, $69; 933 MHz, $209; 1.25 GHz dual, $299.
- Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 11.02. Used 2.0 GHz, $800; 2.2, $900; 2.4, $1,000; refurb 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,949; 3.06, $2,169; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more.
- Best Mac mini Deals, 10.30. Used 1.33 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.42, $389; 1.5, $419; 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $350; Core 2, $439; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $770; Server, $990.
- Best G4 iBook Deals, 10.30. Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $225; 1.33 GHz, $298; 14" 1 GHz, $349; 1.33 GHz, $398; 1.42 GHz SuperDrive, $498.
- Best Classic Mac OS Deals, 10.30. System 6.0.8 floppies, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5, $20; 7.5 CD, $4; 7.6 $13; 8.1, $11; 8.5, $20; 8.6, $90; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $30.
- More deals in our archive.
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