The Power of Older Macs
From Brian G. Reilly:
Hey Charles,
I'm a regular reader of Low End Mac. I just started up a blog, of
which I think I might be posting entries that are relevant to the
readers of LEM. I think this one in particular: http://www.pwrmac.com/2008/10/01/real-world-speed-freak/
would be of interest. In the article, I cover why upgrading RAM and
hard drives are important, and I have three videos posted demonstrating
the speed of my low-end Mac, a dual 1.8 Ghz G5 from 2004.
Thanks for taking the time to check it out.
Sincerely,
Brian
Hi Brian,
Thanks for the link.
Good article. I do notice that the 5400 RPM hard drive
in one of my Pismo PowerBooks does give significantly better
performance than the 4200 RPM drive in my other Pismo, even though the
latter has slightly more RAM installed.
Charles
Why 32-bit Vista Only Sees 3.12 GB of RAM
From Matthew in response to 4 GB
of RAM 'Mostly Wasted' with Vista:
Charles,
It is true that a 32-bit processor can directly address 4 gigabytes,
but Windows was designed with the lower 2 gigabytes available for
application programs and the upper 2 gigabytes reserved for the
operating system. It shares this approach with VMS, which Dave Cutler
also designed.
When computers started to push the 2 gigabyte boundary, Microsoft
partially addressed this problem with the /3GB and the /PAE startup
switches. This article
explains why Vista says 3.12 gigabytes is free rather than the expected
4 gigabytes:
64-bit Windows doesn't suffer from this problem. A 64-bit processor
can directly address up to 16 exabytes, so I don't imagine this problem
with Windows will be repeated anytime soon.
It makes the memory handling of OS X look pretty good by
comparison, doesn't it?
Matthew Reed
http://www.trs-80.org
Hi Matthew,
It does indeed. Thanks for the comment.
Charles
Windows System Profile Software
From John in response to PC
System Profiler:
Charles,
Actually all Belarc Advisor does is it gathers its information from
the local Windows installation. A better solution would be the program
Everest Home Edition by Lavalys.
John
Thanks for the tip, John.
Charles
MIT HyperArchive - End of an Era
From Dan:
I'd just like to alert everyone to an obscure but important event
today.
After over a decade serving the Mac community, the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology's HyperArchive was shut down today as part of
the ongoing process of consolidating the many scattered Info-Mac
mirrors to just one. The MIT HyperArchive was the first searchable
mirror of the Info-Mac Archive of Mac shareware and freeware, and since
1997 has been an invaluable resource for us Mac users, both new and old
alike. Links to files in the MIT mirror will now be automatically
redirected to the same files in the Info-Mac Archive.
Persons wishing to search and download from the Info-Mac Archive are
encouraged to use the official, database-driven version at http://www.info-mac.org/archive
from now on.
Dan Palka
http://www.info-mac.org
Wangwriter Supplies
From Don Morse:
I happened across the postings about
the Wangwriter and JB Royal. I worked on that project, and in the
process of clearing out my house I have found a stash of ribbons of all
types and a large assortment of printwheels. There is enough material
there to keep one going for another lifetime. I got my daughter a
surpluss Wangwriter for collage and it may even be around some where.
If there is any interest in this WangWriter material please contact me
before it hits the dumpster.
Best regards,
Don Morse
Note: If anyone in interested in Don's WangWriter
stuff, drop me a note here at Low End Mac, and I'll forward it to him.
cm
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