Featured Link: iOS 6 Makes iPhone 3GS Feel
Like a New Phone, Simon Royal, Tech Spectrum, 09.20. Although
the iPhone 3GS was introduced in 2009, iOS 6 makes it feel like a
newer, faster phone.
Mac of the Day: PowerBook 500 Series, introduced 1994.05.16. 'Blackbird' includes a 25 to 33 MHz 68040 along with smart batteries and grayscale or color displays.
Recent Content on Low End Mac
World Book Encyclopedia 2012 DVD, Tommy Thomas, Reviews, 2013-03-05.
"You may be asking yourself, in an age of Wikipedia and instant information, is World Book still relevant?"
We've phased out the WebTV version of Low End Mac, which accounted for less than 10 page views per day. Links now go to the normal pages on our site.
Around the Web
Low End:
Signs of Old Age, Riccardo Mori, System Folder, 2013.05.05.
"Another rather common problem with vintage compact Macs (from the 128K to the Classic II) are their capacitors on the logic board. With time (and neglect) these components fail and leak...."
Advice:
OS X: Disable your v-sync, PowerPC Liberation, 2013.04.23.
A tip for vastly improving graphics performance on OS X 10.5 Leopard with PPC hardware.
Opinion:
Four years later, iWork apps need Apple's attention, Peter Cohen, iMore, 2013.05.08.
First released in January 2009, Keynote, Numbers, and Pages have seen minor updates - but not a major update in over 4 years now.
Opinion:
Doomed Apple Is World's Number One PC Maker, with a Snow Leopard Problem, Jonny Evans, Compuerworld, 2013.02.07.
Apple has a problem. People keep on using old Macs while Apple wants them to upgrade. 15% of our readers still use PPC Macs, 6.4% Intel OS X 10.4 or 10.5, and 21.4% 10.6!
Web:
Low End Mac Community on Google+, Google+, 2012.12.22.
We've got over 1,250 members at our Facebook change, and G+ now allows communities, so let's see how this plays out.
Advice:
What the End of Google Sync Means to You, Joe Kissell, Macworld, 2012.12.22.
If you're using Google Sync, you can continue doing so, but adding a new iOS device might be an issue.
History:
On the PowerBook G3, Stephen Hackett, 512 Pixels, 2012.12.20.
"Like the iMac G3, the PowerBook G3 line of notebooks helped revive Apple in the late 90s and the first year of the 21st century."
Advice:
Time Capsule for $25, Iurii Garmash, Programmer Blog, 2012.11.27.
How to configure Raspberry Pi and a USB hard drive to work as a Time Capsule drive.
History:
Apple's Mouse: A History, Stephen Hackett, 512 Pixels, 2012.11.27.
A visual history of Apple's mouse from the 1983 Lisa to the present.
Advice:
One Mac, Two Versions of OS X, Christopher Breen, , 2012.11.21.
A couple ways to run Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion on the same Mac.
History:
iTunes Through the Ages, Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica, 2012.11.23.
iTunes 1.0 arrived in January 2001, before the launch of Mac OS X - and before the iPod. It's grown a lot since the days of "Rip. Mix. Burn."
Analysis:
Out of the Box, James Gowans, 2012.11.21.
"Does iOS ship with everything you need out of the box?" Almost.
History:
On the Apple Pippin, Stephen Hackett, 512 Pixels, 2012.11.18.
"With the Wii U's release this weekend, I thought it would be fun to look at Apple's [1985] foray in to the gaming console market."
Opinion:
Microsoft Cheapens Windows 8 with Ads, Paul Thurrott, Supersite for Windows, 2012.11.10.
Get Windows 8 for $40 - but have to deal with ads when you use it. Really?