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Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.
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MacPro Memory 667Mhz With Apple Spec Heat Sink 2GB $90 / 4GB $134 / 8GB $264. Click to Maximize your Macs...
Dirk Pilat - 2002.05.17
G'day everyone, steady she goes!
Yes, while my use of the antipodean idiom slowly but surely broadens, I have neglected you, my dear readers, terribly. This had a reason: I bought myself an old PC (beige, ugly, and loud with a beige, ugly monitor), as they seem to be given away for almost nothing these days. The stats are rather humble: Pentium 166 MHz, 64 MB RAM, old SVGA video card, sound card, ethernet card, and USB card. The whole kablouie cost me 100 dollars and is now sitting in my sun room overlooking the bay, next to my iBook.
But why, oh why, has such a vocal supporter of the Mac started to buy such shockingly unsophisticated hardware, you ask? Well, the answer is OS X, of course! As the innards of our beloved revolutionary new (?) operating system now resemble any old Linux box, I thought I do something useful and pop Linux on some horrible old beige PC and learn how to use the archenemy of every Macintosh user - the command line - just to better understand the goings on inside my iBook. Read all about it on Low End PC.
While all around me "Alpha-geeks" (don't frown, that was a Slashdot heading, and they should know what they are talking about) are drooling all over our computers and typing funny things into terminal (/dev/null anyone?), I was still confined to point and click.
I know that there's no reason for me to leave point and click and do something as sixties as actually typing something to tell the computer what it is supposed to do (especially if it's as convoluted as Unix's command structure), but I always wanted to be an alpha-geek. (Now is a good time, as my girlfriend is 18,000 km away and I don't have anything else to do. Ah, the joys of semi-bachelorhood.) If you wanna be with the in-crowd, you have to have at least a Beowulf cluster of Linux boxes (self-assembled, of course) standing in your living room and posing as a coffee table.
Well, so far so good. After about three weeks of tireless compiling, downloading, patching, and screaming in frustration, "Stinker" (that's the computer's name) has less functionality than a Mac Classic but is starting up and speaking to the rest of the world via the iBook's Internet connection.
I really understand why Linux is still not ready for the consumer market: It's just too bloody complicated. Nevertheless, every day hails another little success-story, and it certainly keeps me busy on these long New Zealandian autumn evenings. At the moment it is able to talk to the iBook, which sits next to its distant cousin like a 2002 Smart Car next to a Ford Model T.
I'm on my way hooking up an ADSL-USB modem and converting it into something as useful as a household MP3 player, IP router, Web server, and firewall. While I am cursing Linux's complicated setup proceedings and lack of ease of use, I have to admit that I am impressed by it's scalability, speed, and multiuser/multitasking options.
I know that I could achieve all this in 5 minutes with an old 7200, but it wouldn't be as much fun. Thinking about it, I actually should do that just to demonstrate a point and actually write something that would be appropriate for a Low End Mac column.
Now there's a thought.... 
Recent Down But Not Out Columns
- Thoughts and advice on replacing a two-year-old iBook G4, 02.01. This iBook G4 has taken a beating. Does it make more sense to buy a new iBook G4, wait for the Intel models, or look at the used market?
- iBook on last legs, Mac mini saves marriage, and Macintel meanderings, 01.23. With the iBook G4 "falling apart at the seams", does it make more sense to buy a new G4 iBook or wait for the Intellified next gen iBook?
- First impressions of the 14" iBook G4, 11.13. "Apple has managed to produce a machine that combines everything I want from a portable computer with appropriate processor performance for a competitive price."
- More in the Down But Not Out index.
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Time Machine can now backup to a shard hard drive, Alan Zisman, Zis Mac, 07.08. Earlier versions of Leopard didn't seem to allow backup to a shared drive on another Mac, but the 10.5.4 update allows it.
- More air: Expectations for future MacBook and MacBook Pro models, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 07.08. Next generation 'Books are expected to include Intel's next generation Montevino processor, but wireless power and wireless USB could give Apple a leg up on the competition.
- Safari 3.1 Is the best browser for Macs and for Windows, Carl Nygren, Classic Macs in the Intel Age, 07.08. Apple's Safari browser is fast, lightweight, and compatible with pretty much any website that doesn't require users to run Windows and Internet Explorer 5.5 or later.
- Best iBook G3 deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.08. Used clamshell, $100; 500 MHz CD, $169; 700, $279; 600 CD-RW, $240; 900 Combo, $299; 14" 700, $300; 900, $449.
- Best Power Mac G4 deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.08. Used 450 MHz ACP, $79; 533 DA, $100; 867 QS, $200; 1.25 GHz MDD Combo, $375; 867 dual, $325; 1 GHz, $395; 1.25, $529; 1.42, $619.
- Best classic iPod deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.08. Used 20 GB, $100; 30, $120; 40, $150; 60 color, $175; 30 video, $160; 80, $200; refurb 80 classic, $209; new, $229; refurb 160, $299; new, $319.
- Mac of the Day: 'Lombard' PowerBook G3, June 1999 - 'bronze keyboard' model is first PowerBook with USB, reaches 400 MHz, trims almost 2 lb.
- List of the Day: PowerList for those using Power Computing Mac clones.
- July 9 in LEM history: 01: Anti-spam measures marginalize low-end Macs - Color Classics on eBay - DSL diary - The 25th Anniversary Mac - 02: eMac test drive - Women in IT - 03: A week with an eMac - Are Apple's applications helping or hurting? - 04: Hardware failure, that rare Mac headache - Radeon Enabler unlocks video features
- Macintosh reliability improving since the shift to Intel, Kev Kitchens, Kitchens Sync, 07.07. For a while in the G3 and G4 era, Apple was plagued with logic board failures and analog board problems, but they seem to be a thing of the past.
- 1.8 GHz, SSD MacBook Air price cuts; Samsung vs. Hitachi notebook drives; Centrino 2 preorders; and more, The 'Book Review, 07.07. Also MacBook shipments up 61% over Q1 2007, Apple notebook redesign rumored, Santa Rosa MacBook Pro video failure, Mopar in-vehicle wireless Internet, bargain 'Books from $150 to $2,749, and m
- iPhone 3G service more costly in States, outrageous in Canada, and more, iNews Review, 07.07. Also long fingernails and the iPhone, future iPhone may include keyboard and Intel Atom CPU, voice control for iPods, Ringtons Studio for the iPhone, and more.
- Best MacBook deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.07. Used 1.83 GHz Combo, $819; 2.0 SD, $975; refurb 2.1 GHz Combo, $949; 2.4 SD, $1,099; black, $1,299; new 2.1 Combo, $1,005 a/r; 2.2 SD, $1,205 a/r; more.
- Best eMac deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.07. Used 700 MHz CD, $140; CD-RW, $150; Combo, $170; 1 GHz, $200; 1.25 GHz SD, $230; 1.42 GHz Combo, $300; SuperDrive, $439.
- Best Mac OS X 10.0-10.3 deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.07. Mac OS X 10.0.3, $40; 10.1, $49; 10.2, $60; 10.3 DVD, $80; CD, $160; 10.1 Server, unlimited users, $80; 10.3 Server, unlimited, $130.
- More links in our archive.
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