Questions about Performa 476
Richard Howes writes:
I am looking for a modem for the Performa 476 for a friend. Do you know if
any Mac modem will work on the Performa 476? Is there a specific one I
can use that is available on the market or used? Is there a way to
install a network card instead of a modem? Cost is an issue for my
friend so I'm sure she would rather use a modem.
Now there's a low-end question. :-) The Performa 475/476
was a hot consumer machine ten years ago - and a lot of them remain in
use.
As far as I know, there was never an internal modem made for the LC PDS
in this and several other low-end Macs, but any external modem designed
for the old Mac serial port (1986-1998) should work. Because the serial
port on this model is only designed to support throughput up to 57.6
kbps, you may not be able to take full advantage of the capabilities of
a v.90 modem, so you may find a 33.6 kbps modem provides comparable
throughput. (Not that this is any reason to avoid a 56k modem if you
can find a good deal on one.)
I don't know how easy it is to find external Mac modems these days. One
brand I had great luck with in the old days was
You can find ethernet cards for the LC PDS in your Performa, probably
for no more than US$10-15 on the used market. There's no reason you
couldn't have both a network card and a modem.
PowerBook 5300 power connector info
Your great site has a bad link, sadly, and I wondered if you could
point me to similar information - I've looked everywhere.
The bad link is at http://lowendmac.com/pb2/powerbook-5300.html
which was pointed at "DV's PowerBook 5300 Info Page. Includes tips on
repairing the power connector on the PB 5300 and PB 190."
One of the great frustrations of the World Wide Web is that pages
move or disappear. As best as I can determine, DV's PowerBook 5300 Info
Page began on GeoCities, then moved to Apple's mac.com server back when
iTools was free, and then vanished without a trace when DV let his
account lapse rather than ante up for .mac.
It happened to a lot of good Mac pages. Thank you very much, Apple
Computer.
Thankfully there's the Internet
Archive Wayback Machine. It's not perfect, but more often than
not you can find an old copy of a page that's been modified, moved, or
vanished into the ether. Better yet, they have DV's page
archived - and I'm updating links on LEM to point to the
archive.
And if anyone knows how to get ahold of Dave (a.k.a. DV), I'd like to
offer him free hosting for this and any other Mac-related pages on
LowEndMac.Net....
Internet sharing in OS X
After reading Internet Sharing a
Breeze in OS X, Mike Schramm writes:
I'd been wondering about that for awhile. And it prompted me to do a
little searching about sharing an Internet connection over AirPort,
something else I had been pondering for a bit. Keep up the good
work.
The AirPort base station already supports that, but you should have
no trouble setting up a Mac with an Internet connection and an AirPort
card to share the connection with other 802.11b equipped
computers.
We only have one AirPort card here, so I haven't been able to test
it.
Small Dog, Searches, and the Low End
After reading our history in Low End
Mac: Six Years on the Web, Craig O'Donnell comments:
Nice editorial. It was through you we got hooked up with Small Dog, and I buy as often as
possible from 'em. LEM is one of the sites I visit most anymore, in
fact it's usually my first stop for anything Mac-related.
I'm in sympathy with the LEM approach - the Cheap Pages is
really a LEM for small boats, with a little other stuff tossed in. One
of these days I'm going to work on some stuff about Low End Digital
Audio. Stuff that sufficed to do albums and soundtracks in 1993 is now
trash can fodder.
I still use Claris Home Page 3 - did it simply vanish from the face
of the planet? I know FileMaker Corp gave it the boot, but there are
almost no legacy-ware websites dealing with CHP; possibly none.
Final disconnected thought: I've been harassing the folks at the
Maryland State Archives to improve their searching via Google. They
basically link you to Google Advanced Search and tell you to type in
mdsa.net as the sole domain - tacky.
I whomped up for them a better button using a Java script which
seems to work (see http://www.hskcmd.com/BBBBB.html)
I was wondering if your Perl script for searching Google would be
helpful to them (if you'd part with it). I can't write Perl, and for
that matter can only hack up preexisting Java scripts.
Thanks for the kind words. Small Dog is definitely a think
different company, and we've always appreciated their support (as well
as that of our other sponsors). After reading how MacMall had dropped us from their
affiliate program "due to customer complaints of posted messages,"
Small Dog was one of two advertisers to email words of support.
Definitely a class act.
(For the record, increased volume through other affiliate programs has
made up for what we lost through the MacMall affiliate program - and
then some. So while MacMall has lost an account that sent $5,000 of
sales per month their way, we haven't lost out at all.)
Home Page 3 is history. If anyone ever creates something like it that's
as fast and easy to use but somewhat more standards compliant, I'll
definitely give it a try. It's good enough to get the job done, but not
good enough to produce modern HTML code.
Our search engine in remarkably simple, and I must admit that I had
nothing to do with it - other than ask my second oldest son for help.
Here's the code to create the search box:
<form action="/google.php" method="post">
<h5 align="right">Search <input type="text" name="q" value=""
size="18"><input type="submit" name="submit" value="Go"></h5>
</form>
This passes the search words to a tiny PHP script in our root
directory:
<?php
header("Location: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=$q+site%3Alowendmac.com");
?>
All you need is PHP support for your website. Feel free to adapt
this to your needs. No trade secrets here.
Oh, one more thing - here's a free plug for OmegaPets, the virtual pet site that
two of my sons run. For all the PHP support these teenage boys give me,
a reciprocal link is the least I can offer.
Michigan Mac Users
Luke Rademacher writes:
Dan, I love your site. LEM is one of best
sources of Mac info anywhere. Also, I am a fellow Michigan Mac person.
I live in Novi, MI, and have been messing with Macs since my Mac IIci. In fact, I also got a 6100, 7100, PowerCurve, 7600, B&W G3, and a dual 800 G4.
Also, since I am a brand new OS X switcher, your site has proved
extra value when I am looking for OS X tips and such.
Keep up the good work.
The Web may be worldwide, but most sites (at least the smaller
ones) have a place to call home. For us, it's Grand Rapids, MI, a place
where the weather changes so much that we really appreciate sunny warm
days.
We're here for the long haul. I and the others who write for LEM (and
they are spread all over the world) will continue offering advice and
insights based on our own Macintosh experiences.
One Year Visiting Low End Mac
Ronnie Kwok writes:
Compare to the 6 years you have spent on Low End Mac, my single year
of visit doesn't really count much.
Indeed, I would like to send you my appreciation on this lovely
website you have maintained. Honestly, if I didn't locate your website,
I will not have started my enjoyment in using a "low end Mac". And I
will not start looking for secondhand Mac and try to make the most uses
out of it. This bring me so much fun!
Mr. Knight, please keep up the good job, and I am looking forward to
whatever plans you have ahead.
Regards,
Ronnie
(A happy owner of a PM 7300, iMac 233, PowerBook 1400, iBook Dual
USB 500, G4 Quicksilver 933)
My long-term plans include a warm island in the Caribbean and long
range wireless networking. Shorter term, just keep Low End Mac going
until we have enough reserves that I can take a week's vacation.
Thanks for the kind words about Low End Mac. Although it grew into a
business, the initial goal of helping people better understand their
Macs so they can get the most out of them (and know when they've
outgrown them) remains.
Disk Tools Floppy
Christopher Townsend says:
About Low End Mac: Thanks for all the great work you've done to help
folks with aging computers. I found very little lacking there. One
thing I had needed that I could not find was a way to start up a Umax
SuperMac clone that had a corrupt System Folder. I got myself out of
this bind, and I'd like to help anyone who may find themselves in the
same situation. Attached to this email is a compressed disk image, one
that will allow the computer to start up and load a file sharing
server. There's no disk tools per se, but it should help anyway.
In a pinch, truly old Macs - those that run System 7.5.5 and
earlier - can boot from a floppy. The Disk Tools floppy can be a real
lifesaver when you're having hard drive problems, especially if you
have a Mac that can't boot from CD or don't have a system CD
handy.
Due to copyright issues, I can't make your disk image available to
others. I've looked over the Apple site for Disk Tools disk images but
come up empty, and Google hasn't been any more helpful.
For those who have old Macs like these, even if you never use floppies,
it's a very good idea to keep a Disk Tools floppy on hand just in
case.
One Danger of OS X Internet Sharing
Having seen a problem from using Internet sharing in OS X, Steven Hunter
writes:
If I may add a word of caution here:
In certain network configurations you may inadvertently start
answering DHCP requests to other people on your cable/DSL line. This
will probably make your ISP very unhappy. This has happens to us here
at work when people bring in their PowerBooks w/o switching this option
off. Other users start getting invalid IP addresses, and we have to
track down who the culprit is.
(Actually, now that I think about it, DSL probably wouldn't have
that problem.)
Back in the System 7.x era, Apple came up with a really clever hack
to the operating system that let a computer determine at startup
whether it was on a network or not. If it was, it would load one set of
extensions and control panels via Extensions Manager. If no, it would
load another set.
Although the ability to create locations in the Network system
preferences panel is nice, it would be even nicer if 'Books could
determine what network they are on and change locations accordingly.
(It would also be nice if Energy Saver could switch modes based on the
presence or absence of a power plug, but that's another issue.)
Thanks for the tip. It should help a lot of people diagnose weird DHCP
assignments when 'Books running OS X are present.
Compact Flash as Virtual Memory
Eric L. Strobel writes:
In ages not too far past, you've written on this topic. I've finally
gotten around to getting a CF card (320 MB) to use for virtual memory.
However, it mounts as a DOS disk and can't be erased. Therefore, the
Memory control panel won't allow VM to go there. I'm wondering if
there's something obvious I'm missing. (I'm using OS 8.6.)
I'm getting closer and closer to writing a tutorial on this
subject. I keep learning more. To format a CF card as a Mac drive, you
have to disable File Exchange. But since this requires restarting the
computer, it's just as easy to restart and hold down the shift key,
which prevents all the extensions from loading.
Once you've restarted, you can run Drive Setup and format your Compact
Flash card as a Macintosh volume.
Then reboot as normal, open your Memory control panel, and you should
be able to select the CF card as your virtual memory swap space.
Low End PC
Gareth writes:
I was reading your article on LEM about 6 years on the Web and
noticed the commnents about LEPC [Low End
PC]. I agree there doesn't seem to be much new on a regular
basis.
I think that could change - mostly because a PII/350 MHz system
running "ME" or "W2k" can do pretty much all you need to have, and most
do not want to wade through endless hardware tomes to find out good
useful stuff.
The "Annoyances" site is better than most.
I build/refurbish a lot of old PCs as a hobby business. Some I give
away through my Parish church; others I sell. I have just brought my
baseline up to a PII/233. I'm not prepared to work on anything lower
than that because it's too time consuming to have to set up drive
overlay software or drive cards to put a 10 gig IDE HD in an old
Pentium 75-233(MMX) The other reason is I got a Gateway PII/300 from a
dealer I know in New York City for $40!
I was thinking of writing some for the LEPC website and wondered
what you thought of that?
Anyway, I know you're busy, and again I wanted to thank you for LEM.
It's been a real help since I got handed like 20 old Macs several
months ago! They include 2 Rev. B iMac's, 2 G3/266s, 14 4400/200s, 3
7100s, 1 7500, 1 7200/90, 1 6116CD, 1 5260, 2 6300(stripped for parts!)
+ about 22 monitors (a 20", 2x17"AV's 3x15"AV, a couple 14"AV, 3x14"
regular Apple displays and about 15 Viewsonic 15" monitors) plus a
license for 8.6 that would cover all, including AW6 and MS-Office
98!
I'm a PC LAN Analyst - well, I was until taking the last two years
off to do mostly church computer support - and I've really enjoyed
working on the Mac's.
Pax Christi,
Gareth
Thanks for writing, although some would probably consider it
sacrilege for a Mac geek to run a PC website. Tough, I was a computer
geek long before IBM PCs came out and a DOS user long before I got into
Macs. Old PCs don't have the same kind of mystique as old Macs, but I
hate to see good old hardware put out on the curb or left to gather
dust in a closet.
Until I find the time and resources to get the DOS card working in one
of my old LC 630 DOS
Compatibles, this is the only site I run where I'm not actually
involved with the site's subject matter. That's probably one reason I
haven't spent too much time developing the site.
I would love new content from you or anyone else who can share good
advice on keeping those old computers in some kind of service -
although I have to agree that sometimes the time invested in setting up
an old PC (or an old Quadra 630) is hard to justify.
OS Internet Sharing
Chuck Scheffreen writes
Thanks for publishing the article on Internet Sharing - and for Low
End Mac. I visit your website on a regular basis.
I have noticed that OS X 10.2.x has a way of forgetting that
Internet Sharing has been turned on. I have seen this happen on several
occasions, including my own system. I use a router, but when this (very
nice) feature showed up in 10.2.0, I checked it out. It did/does work,
but I have seen it forget to turn or turn itself off on two other
occasions with clients not using routers.
Has it ever happened to you? Any sense why?
The only flaw I see in Interhet Sharing is that it is automatically
disabled when the host's Internet connection is inactive. Hang up your
modem, and your Mac forgets it's supposed to be sharing your Internet
connection. You have to manually enable it after you create a
new Internet connection.
Help with a Mac SE
Ramiro sent this from Barcelona:
Hi, I am a big fan of low end Macs. I have recently found your site
(amazing) with great surprise and admiration.
I haven't found though the way to post questions or a technician
section.
There are a few things I would like to find out about my SE.
Please let me know if there is an address where I can solve all or
some of these questions. I wouldn't want to bother anyone.
I have found unmatching information on RAM upgrade between your
technical data and my SE, like a missing R36 resistor? Or copyright
dates, mine reads 1986 instead of 1987.
Congratulations on your site....
If you can't find the information on our site or through the links
on our site, your best bet is probably to join the Compact Macs email list, where you will find
hundreds of people familiar with your computer and other Macs like
it.
I am catching up on the backlog. More tomorrow.
Dan Knight has been publishing Low
End Mac since April 1997. Mailbag columns come from email responses to his Mac Musings, Mac Daniel, Online Tech Journal, and other columns on the site.
