Dan Knight
- 2007.04.19
Old LaserWriter Pro vs. Wasteful
Consumerism
Jean Lee writes:
Hi, my name is Jean.
The funny thing is I found the article [Satisfaction the Answer to Wasteful
Consumerism] ironic, because I found something this weekend
that was the answer to wasteful consumerism.
This past weekend I planned on buying a new laser printer for
home use. However, I decided to go to storage to get some of my
spring clothes when I found a box with my dad's old Apple LaserWriter
Pro 630 in it. To my utter shock, I plugged the thing in and it
worked. So I brought it back to my apt with the AsantéTalk
box, enabled AppleTalk on my MacBook Pro, and hooked the printer up
to my ethernet jack. Even more shocking was that my MacBook Pro
recognized it!
The best part of the weekend was I didn't have to buy a laser
printer, and I found it amusing that something old could be used
again. The laser printer is a little slow when printing out my
PowerPoint notes for school, but I can deal with it. Sure, it's not
as fast as today's printers, but it's good enough for me.
The funny thing is the Apple toner is still inside my printer,
but I will probably be needing a new toner soon. My father was
amazed that "that old thing" still worked.
I guess the point of my story is that your article was right; I
thought about purchasing a new laser printer and whether I really
needed it after I found my old one. I guess just because it's a
little slow it doesn't mean I have to waste $200 for a new printer
whose toner cartridges probably wouldn't have the output this
printer has with its toners.
In the end, I like using that old thing (it's from 1994) with my
MacBook Pro.
Oh yeah, I have another question. Any suggestions in what to do
with my green iMac? It has a busted hard drive. I've been using it
as a stool, but I thought about disposing of it. What's your
alternative to this?
The sad thing is that I wish old Macs could be as useful as my
old printer . . . sigh.
-jean
Hi Jean,
Sometimes old hardware lasts a lot longer than
expected. When I worked in publishing, we had several old Apple
LaserWriter II models with well over a million impressions, and my
HP LaserJet 2100TN survived about 8 years of heavy use. They used
to build 'em like tanks!
When the HP finally gave out, I was amazed at how
much printer I could buy for $200. The Brother HL-5250DL I ended up
with is rated at 30 pages per minute, prints double-sided (my
default setting), works on a network, and works with the classic
Mac OS.
It's hard to make a recommendation for your green
iMac without knowing a few more details. Hard drives are cheap, but
installing them in G3 iMacs isn't especially easy. And there were
two different "green" iMacs - the lime green tray loader (in
266 and 333 MHz versions) and the sage green slot loader (450 MHz).
All of the G3 iMacs are decent under the classic
Mac OS, but if you're running Mac OS X, the slot-loaders have
a clear advantage: They support 1 GB of RAM (vs. 256 MB), have
a 100 MHz system bus (vs. 66 MHz), have better graphics processors,
and include FireWire (except for the 350 MHz model).
Without knowing which iMac you have, how much RAM
it has, and what you plan to run on it (which OS and which apps), I
can't even begin to suggest whether it's work putting back into
service or not.
Ballpark figures, if it is a sage model, $40-50
should buy a 120 GB or smaller hard drive (you run into problems if
you pass the 128 GB mark), and $50 should give you 512 MB of RAM,
which is adequate for OS X.
Dan
Hi Dan.
Thanks so much for responding. I guess this printer is a tank.
It's probably the only thing from that long ago that is still
useable. I was talking about with my dad; he was telling me that
printer and those Macintosh II series cost several thousand
dollars. I guess Macs were more expensive back in the 90s as
compared to now. Not sure. That printer has gone through 3 Macs
already, and that was in the 90s.
The iMac G3 I have is the
group of Macs that came out after the turquoise iMac. It has a
loading tray, and it was like $1,200 when I got it. If the hard
drive is busted, I'd prolly have a hard time paying someone to
replace it.
The thing is that computer is so slow now. I never put OS X
on it, because by the time it came I bought my mirror door. It's
not wireless capable and won't even run Tiger - from what my friend
tells me. I remember buying all these external devices for it were
getting so expensive, ha ha. I still have the external Zip drive,
external Iomega CD drive, and my external 3.5 floppy disk
drive!
I'm guessing the labor and parts are too much to bother? I'm no
Mac tech.
Today for fun I made a "sit on me" sign. I guess I can use it as
a chair.
-jean
Hi Jean,
You're right, it's probably not worth upgrading.
Add a hard drive, enough RAM for OS X, and the cost of labor,
and you can buy a better Mac for the money. I'm sure it's a real
conversation piece as a chair.
Dan
iPhone Plus Apple TV Could Make a Great Hotel
Computer
Michael Hammermeister writes:
Great article!
I have been musing along those lines myself. I loved my Velo and
will love the iPhone for all the same reasons, many that you
mentioned.
And yes, the other shoe is Apple TV. With larger hard drives and
network mobility it becomes a road warrior's tool operational
through your iPhone on any hotel/motel room TV.
But seriously, the last piece for my purchase is the way cool
factor - and at 60 years being way cool gets harder and harder.
Sincerely,
mrh
Thanks for writing, Michael,
Yes, the cool factor will be a huge part of the
iPhone's success. A preposterous number of high school and college
students intend to buy one.
I'm intrigued by its potential. All the technology
in such a small package! If Apple made the next gen iPod like an
iPhone without the phone part, I'd get in line. And if they made
one with a larger screen - say a 7" 800 x 1280 display - I'd want
to be at the top of the list.
As it is, unless AT&T/Cingular buys Alltel,
I'll be sticking with my Motorola cell phone and 60 GB iPod
photo.
Dan
New Is Boring, So Back to the Old
Laurence Gartel writes:
Dan,
Good morning.
One of my shelves in my closet was just about to collapse so I
had to remove all the software boxes, digital cameras, etc., etc. -
some of which is over 15 + years old.
What wonderful treasures! Too bad the freakin' [Intel] iMac won't run any of it. Too bad Adobe has
kicked everyone's ass so that nothing but their software is out
there. It's the complete homogenization of society, as if it were a
Stanlinist plot.
I'm wondering if you know where to purchase an old Mac IIci, or perhaps an 8100? While Photoshop CS3 is about to be
released, I'm thinking to go backwards about 18 years and load up
all my software and start again. Old is definitely new!
My greatest art work to date was produced in 1982 using analog
systems. If you don't know who I am, I think you might find this
note rather interesting, albeit humorous. "ART is not dependent on
the latest technology but on the greatest active mind!"
Thanks for your attention.
All the Best,
Laurence Gartel
Digital Media Pioneer
Hi, Laurence, and thanks for writing!
I just popped over to Wikipedia (after visiting
your website) to read that you helped pioneer digital art and have
exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art, have works at the
Smithsonian, and taught Andy Warhol how to use an Amiga. Quite the
resume!
My favorite source for older Mac gear is the
Low End Mac Swap List, which we've
been overseeing for almost 7 years now. You'll generally be buying
from people who know and love the old gear.
Although I started out on a Mac Plus and later used an SE/30 in my work at ComputerLand of Grand
Rapids (MI), I spent a good long time working with Quark XPress and
FrameMaker doing interior book design on a Mac IIci. It was a real
workhorse. That said, moving from a Quadra to a Power Mac was a
revelation of just how much power the then-new CPU family
offered.
May you go boldly into the past with whatever
hardware you choose to use.
Dan
Dan,
A pleasure to meet you indeed.
Gotta love the Internet to find like minded people. Thank
goodness we aren't concocting bombs and other forms of mass
destruction. Yikes! Just happy geeks trying to get computer systems
to work. - lol.
I was
going to send you some images in my last email but I thought if you
saw an attachment, you would delete it. (I know I might.) So I held
off till I heard from you. Thank you for writing back.
Yes. I've been around since the days of Nam June Paik and
pioneering this field since the 70s. I'm not that old
. . persay, I just started young. It's taken a
lifetime, but the truth of the matter is, I could do more
experimental things in the early days than you can now. Granted the
printers of today have soured. I'd like to make "new/old" images
and then transport them to the new HP machines.
Yes. I know of FrameMaker, early Quark, and I certainly remember
ComputerLand. I'm in a quandary as to what to buy. I'm on a
iMac G4, and it suits me just fine for
everything. I've actually made theatrical release movies with
iMovie. I have a love/hate relationship with Apple as much as
anyone who has been with them for years.
The ol Mac Plus made great images, and many of the works I have
created on that machine are included in my art history books. But
going through my software, I have Bryce 2.0, Color It!, InfiniD,
Stratavision, and every single Kai's Power Tools known to man.
(None of it working on an iMac.)
I tried to load up the software even though I have Classic on
the desktop. The software refuses to load into Photoshop 7
plug-ins. (What a pain in the ass.) If I start to think about the
hours (and bottles of wine) I had to give/drink with my systems
techie, it scares me how many hours went by with nothing
accomplished.
Still in all, people paid good money for art back then. Today
it's hard to give it away. Every idiot has a digital camera
. . . "And the scary part is that their pictures look
great too!" Digital Artists have gone the way of the "spit
can" at the beginning of the 20th century. A glutted commodity I
helped invent. Crazy.
Lets keep in touch.
Yours truly,
Laurence
Laurence is bidding on a Power Mac 8100 on eBay.
Once he gets things up and running, we may see an article about it
here on Low End Mac.
Dan
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.
