- 2006.05.15
One year ago my first article - Bigger, Faster, More: Enough Already! - was
published on Low End Mac. Since then, 13 more of my articles (not
counting this one) have been published.
Together we've touched of subjects ranging from how to make your old 68k Mac useful again to
what it's like upgrading from an aging
Beige G3 to a much faster Sawtooth G4.
In all of my articles (the ones related to computers anyway) the
point is that most of us don't need to go out and buy a $30,000
Power Mac G5 setup to
be productive. That would be like buying an RV just for you daily
commute (with today's gas prices, I don't think anyone will do
that).
I must confess that over the course of the last few months I haven't
been following my own advice.
Ever since I upgraded my from my Beige G3 to my G4, I have acquired
several Macs that are much better than the ones I had, including a
Blue & White G3/400
(I got that one for free, it replaced my Sister's old Beige G3), an
iMac 400 (also free -
it replaced my Mom's old 5500/225), and a Lombard PowerBook G3 (that one
cost me $10, it replaced the old AIO G3/233 in my room).
Because I've been so busy with these new Macs, I haven't had time to
use any of my really vintage Macs that I keep in the house: 512K, SE, SE/30, Classic II, IIci, and PowerBook 170. I've been so busy setting
up these new machines that I haven't had time to even touch my old
machines.
I was looking at these vintage Macs, and it was almost like they
were looking back at me - and they were upset. So today I decided to
power a few of them up and do something with them.
I wrote this article on the 512k, sent some email with the SE,
played Brickles on the Classic II, and made a Mother's Day card on the
PowerBook 170 using Kid Pix (I wrote this article on Mother's Day).
It's been so long since I used them that I forgot just how fun they
are. They're still easy to use, and even today they're still powerful
tools.
I really do love using these old machines. I got so caught up
messing with the new stuff trying to make it just right that I forgot
how much you can really get done with the old stuff.
So to those of you who emailed me last year and told me I was wrong,
take my advice: Dig out that old SE (or even that old 9600 or beige G3) out of your closet
and use it. You just might be surprised at what you can get done.
