Fruit-Flavored Slot of Death?

2000: Apple’s use of easy-to-use (and downright cool) slot-loading CD- and DVD-ROM drives in their iMac line shows that Apple has come a long way since using those awful CD caddies on their early CD drives. Those frustrating and easy to lose caddies actually helped Apple sell the smart but lethargic PowerCD, which was a […]

Moore Orders a SuperMac

2000: Dan Knight tells me that my column last week about cheap Power Macs for G3 and G4 upgrading was the most popular Miscellaneous Ramblings article that Low End Mac has published, beating out my previous champ – a piece on the economics of processor upgrades. Apparently, upgrades are a popular topic. Thanks for reading.

That Sense of Mac Ownership

My first computer was a 386 PC loaded with an elegant, almost forgotten program called GeoWorks. It was an impulse purchase in the fall of ’92, during a personal crisis. I badly wanted a distraction, something I could throw myself into. I dropped $1,300 on a credit card, carted home three boxes in my Honda, and […]

A History of Font Technologies

Fonts have been central to the Macintosh experience since the very first Mac. By looking at the history of font technologies on the Mac, I’m hoping to derive some suggestions about how you can get your fonts to work best for you. This is the first article in a short series.

Back & Forth

Jonathan Ploudre first started using Macs in 1991 with a Mac IIsi. He’s a technophile who especially enjoys making things usable. He’s a Family Doctor in Mount Vernon, WA, where he lives with his wife and three girls. He wrote for Low End Mac from May 2000 through Sept. 2002.

Software to Make Life Easier

2000: Many people can go through their computer-using career and never download a program to make their life easier. Why? Because they don’t know which programs to download. You don’t have to be one of those people because today I’ll review some helpful programs you never knew you needed until now.

SuperMac C500 and C600 CPU Upgrades

The SuperMac C500 and C600 are unique among Macintosh clones. They were the first clones to use a ZIF socket for easy processor replacement. Umax made processors in speeds from 140 to 280 MHz, as well as the CacheDoubler, which provides a double-speed (80 MHz) level 2 cache four times as large as the 256 […]

Slash-Not

2000: Slashdot is a fantastic source for Linux news and a variety of other user-posted topics. One of the biggest independent computer news sites on the Internet, it has among the best implementation of technology, while keeping a very simple and quick-loading layout. However, it has one largely unnoticed weakness: Its Apple news.

PowerBook Cinema Coming Soon

2000 – Sometimes bigger is better. Taking a page from the Dell Inspiron 7500 (good luck finding it on their horrendous site), which weighs in at a hefty 9.4 pounds and has a simply huge 15″ 1400 x 1050 display, Steve Jobs unveiled the PowerBook Cinema at the Worldwide Developers Conference last night.

Advantages of a Small Mac Market

2000: The recent fracas over the ILOVEYOU worm caused some back patting and congratulations in non-Windows circles. People who use Macintoshes, BeOS, and UNIX variants more or less sat back and chuckled as the Windows world went down in flames. Our only real protection from similar things happening is the minority status of Mac platform.

FireFly PowerBook on Tap

5/8/2K: IBM had announced a laptop with a “night light” that illuminates the keyboard, making it easier to use in the dark. Rumors of a PowerBook with illuminated keys have been around for months – in fact, some rumor sites were noticeably disappointed when Pismo didn’t include illuminated keys.

Boycott Microsoft?

2000: In my previous article I discussed why I think Microsoft products for the Macintosh should be viewed and reviewed in an unbiased manner. Since that article, Mr. Bob Allis has commented (The Mac-Files: On Boycotts) about my article and offered his opinion regarding why a Microsoft boycott would be sanctioned and supported.

Supporting the Cause or Arrogance?

2000: I have been reading on many of the Macintosh-oriented websites and magazines how people are removing all Microsoft software on their Macs. Some columnists boast about how they are very proud not to be running the “Evil Empire’s” software. The writers say that their Microsoft software crashes very often, and others say that they […]