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December 1998
1998 was the Year of the iMac. Announced in May, it didn’t ship until August, and it killed off all those legacy printer, AppleTalk, hard drive, keyboard, and mouse ports with something new called USB. The iMac quickly became the most popular computer on the market.
In 1999, I wrote, “Was it only last year that Apple went from beleaguered to industry darling? Released the amazing iMac? Ran a profit every quarter?”
1998 – Mac Daniel will be enjoying the New Years holiday with family. The next column will appear on January 4, 1999.
1998 – In their day, the 68040-based PowerBook 500 series and PowerBook 190 were very nice machines, but in the PowerPC era, was it time to replace them?
JJ writes: Along the same lines as the current discussion about the best desktop Mac to have, what is the best used PowerBook when it comes to upgradability? I’m just finishing college and would love a brand new G3, but I’m still on a budget.
1998 – Thanks to utilities like SmoothType, ATM, and the anti-aliasing built into Mac OS 8.5, type today can look better on the screen than ever before. For instance, in the black and white sample to the right, anti-aliasing (courtesy of Photoshop) uses shaded pixels in spots where neither black nor white best fits the […]
1998 – DH writes: I need some help in convincing my firm to provide me with a new G3 rather than provide me with more memory. If you could help me develop an answer, I would greatly appreciate it.
What’s the best version of the Mac OS for your Mac? It depends on the hardware.
1998.12: Charles Piller, in Fast-Selling iMac Model Is a Singular Sensation for Apple, writes: “While the sensational new iMac has doubled Apple Computer’s share of the consumer PC market to about 10%, according to the latest data, so far the popular machine has no coattails. Sales of Apple’s more costly and capable G3 desktop computers […]
1998 – Mac Daniel will be enjoying the Christmas holiday with family. The next column will appear on December 28.
1998 – KW writes: Hi. You must get thousands of emails! If you have the time, I wonder if you’d comment on the following: I have two Umax J700s with 56 MB RAM running Mac OS 8.5, Optiquest 17″ monitors, and networked with a 266 MHz Power Mac G3 with 64 MB RAM and an […]
1998 – GF writes: Just took my son’s Performa 575 out of storage. We added 32 MB of memory (which I think is the max), and my son upgraded to Mac OS 8.0. He also had RAM Doubler added two years ago to the original memory. Is the Doubler not needed now or not being […]
1998 – DS writes: At our (the Atlanta Mac Users’ Group) annual swap-fest, I was unable to not purchase for a small amount an extremely clean and (I think) handsome LC 550 that had been used by a school administrator. [Readers, you may want to read that again. It’s a masterful use of the double-negative.]
1998 – GS writes: I was interested to read your advice to a 7200 owner saying that he would be better off upgrading to a 7500. I have a 7500 and am mulling some upgrade questions.
1998 – JB writes: I have a question about upgrading the Power Mac 7200. I am rather irritated because, when I bought the machine in winter 95/96, the 7200 was advertised and promoted as upgradeable (to a 7300). Having been burned twice before with Macs that had no upgrade path, I thought I was making […]
1998: Paradigm is a buzzword of the 90s. A paradigm is a mental picture, a way of thinking of things. Significant changes take place when we think outside the box or shift our paradigm. This is what Apple was talking about with the Think Different campaign.
Have you ever had a really good friend of yours make a bad decision? No matter what you did, you couldn’t convince them to change their mind. Well this is a story of good friend of mine who went to the dark side and came back. -B.H.
This is not a regular article, but more like a follow up on Brad Harrison’s Mac vs. PC article last month. Brad you told the world why Macintosh knocks the competition cold, and I want to tell how it does just that. Worry – it gets technical. 😉
Bill Gates wanted to look good and impress everyone with his success. He decided to measure the accomplishments of Microsoft against General Motors.
It’s back! I got some positive feedback and a few submissions, and it looks like the Menagerie of Macs might just survive. I have to remind all of you about some of the things I said last month. I really do need help. I need submissions, mostly for articles, but art doesn’t hurt. I think […]
1998 – Readers ask about options to upgrade old 68030-based Macs, the Classic II and LC II.
1998.12: If you surf the Mac sites, you’ve probably run across links to “Skin-Deep Beauty: The iMac’s Performance Doesn’t Live Up to Its Snappy Appearance” (no longer online) by John Breeden, published by The Washington Post on December 17. The article raises a few valid criticisms of the iMac, but also contains some inaccuracies.
1998 – JW writes: I have a Power Mac 7600/120 with 96 MB RAM and a 2 GB hard disk. I intend to upgrade it in order to use it as a video editing machine for freelance work. Is it worth it to upgrade at all? What kinds of upgrades are viable: graphic card, video card, […]
1998 – One reader asks whether it makes sense to try to overclock a Power Mac 8600, while another wonders whether a $530 repair to a Power Mac 8500 is justifiable.
1998 – JT writes: I have what I think is a simple question: Which (if any) hardware or software enhancements should I consider to improve the Internet performance of my Performa 5200 CD? The model I own came with an external modem – a 14.4 Global Village – and the computer has its originally installed […]
1998 – JF writes: I have a Performa 5400/160, a nice machine that I like a lot, but I’m getting the upgrade itch. I see Vimage has released a G3 upgrade via the Level 2 cache slot for my machine – which is great to see!
1998 – JF writes: I’m another Power Mac 6100 owner who wants a faster Mac. I primarily want the extra speed for Web surfing. I use a 6100 with 40 MB RAM, Apple 15″ monitor, 256 KB L2 cache, and Supra 28.8 modem. I see that I can get a 7×00 or 8×00 for $500-600, […]
1998 – TH writes: I have a Performa 6110 CD. It has the 60 MHz 601 processor, a 250 MB hard drive, and I just upgraded to 40 MB of RAM. I would like to get a new hard drive for this machine, perhaps as large as 2 GB, but I am unsure of where to […]
The following tips are especially aimed at the lowest low-end Macs, such as the Mac Plus, SE, Classic, LC, Mac II, SE/30, PowerBook 100, and other models with older, slower processors or limited memory. However, some of the hints will help anyone using a browser.
I’m going to try to explain termination, because FireWire uses termination as well as SCSI, but very few people really catch on as to how.
1998 – ABV writes: Which version of the Mac OS would you recommend running on the following Quadra 630? The system has 20 MB of RAM, a 250 MB hard drive, an external Chinon 2x CD-ROM drive, 14″ Apple Trinitron Monitor, 33.6 kbps Supra Faxmodem, and a StyleWriter II inkjet printer. I want a version […]
1998 – AH writes: G’day. I have a Performa 6220 CD, 32 MB RAM, 1 GB hard drive, 14.4 faxmodem, 603 processor (75 MHz), 17″ Sony screen, and System 7.5.5. I use it currently for Net surfing (exceedingly slow) and for various home projects (adequate). Is there anything to do to speed up Net travel?
1998 – JP writes: Thanks for reading my email. I have reached an interesting intersection. I want to be able to share data among my three Macs.
1998 – Damon writes: I was hoping you could help me with a couple of things. I wanted to know if the LC III can take the same type of 72-pin SIMM as your standard Intel machine? Also, can an LC III support more than 36 MB?
1998 – VZ writes: Thanks for your intelligent musings on all things Mac. My Mac obsession is flaring at the moment, and I wondered if you’d given some thought to my current dilemma. I just bought an iMac to replace a beloved Performa 638CD that I’d maxed out on RAM, processor upgrade, etc. The iMac […]
There are plenty of sites offering installation and troubleshooting advice for Mac OS 8.5 – at least for the Power Mac user. Since neither Apple Computer nor Umax Corporation provides any support for Mac OS 8.5 on SuperMacs, this page exists to cover problems specifically noted by users of the Umax SuperMac series of Macintosh […]
AH writes: Thank you for the reply to my questions about the Performa 6220; I appreciate your time. In your opinion, what would be the best refurbished Mac to upgrade to as far as future flexibility for upgrades
1998 – Rumors are that Apple will drop the Bondi bombshell’s price to $999 in February, simultaneously introducing a more powerful iMac at the $1,299 price point.
1998 – JF writes: I’ve got a Power Mac 6100/60av, and I’m getting a 7100/66 for free. I want to “gut” the 6100’s 1.2 gig hard drive, (2) 32 MB RAM modules, etc., and put them into the 7100.
1998.12.02 – GDF writes: I read your stuff regularly, and it seems that you both know your Macs and have common sense [thanks]. This is quite rare, so I’ll ask you what you think.
1998 – CF writes: I’ve got a few decisions to make in the next several months, and I’d like your two cents. Right now, my girlfriend and I have two Mac OS machines.
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November 1998
1998 – Two readers write in with questions about their Performa 6400/Power Mac 6500 G3 upgrade options.
The Umax SuperMac J700 was the first Power Mac clone that I benchmarked. My J700 shipped with a 180 MHz 604e CPU, and has 104 MB of memory and a Quantum Fireball 2110 hard drive installed. It shipped standard with an ixMicro Twin Turbo 128 video card, which I replaced with an ixMicro Ultimate Rez 3D […]
This article is dated November 26, 1998 – Thanksgiving Day here in the States and the start of a four-day weekend – but I wrote it in advance so I wouldn’t have to spend any time working on Thanksgiving Day.
1998 – NCS writes: I have a Quadra 650 running on System 7.5 with 56 MB RAM and a hard drive of 250 MB. I also have an external 3 GB hard drive. I use this machine at home, for surfing, and for administration purposes of my small business. I also use it to design Web […]
1998 – The following is from a dialogue on Macintosh TV. After letting ET know that there’s no way for Mac TV to handle more than 8 MB of memory and that upgrading the motherboard would lose the TV part of the computer, she sent the following.
1998 – Windows users not only put up with outrageously totalitarian behavior by Microsoft (as the DOJ hearings are making more obvious every day), but also actually love Microsoft for it.
1998 – SP writes: It has taken me a long time to find you, but you sound like the answer to my prayers! I have a Quadra 700, with 20 MB RAM, 12x CD-ROM, and a 1 GB hard drive running System 7.5.5. Should I upgrade or trade in?
November 1998 – Steven Bauer sent the following letter about the York County, Virigina schools moving from an all Apple district (at least in grade school) to only Windows PCs.
1998 – G writes: I just got a cable modem to connect to the Internet. I was just wondering, I want to connect another Mac so I can share the modem with two computers. My family keeps fighting over the computer with the cable modem. None of us can stand dial-up anymore. Is there a […]
When I bought a used Power Mac 6100 to replace our aging Performa 600, I thought I was moving into Mac Heaven. The feeling of swapping out a restricted 030 for a PowerPC chip, albeit a slower one, was a major thrill. What’s more, it had a DOS card installed, meaning that I could easily […]
Exactly why does the Macintosh beats the pants off Wintel? We all know it’s true but sometimes we forget all the reasons to confuse Windows users with. This is the average Mac lovers guide to what you should tell your friends who think they know it all.
These letters were received prior to publication of the first issue as Menagerie of Macs was preparing to launch.
Well, my computer threw a major hissy-fit today. DOCmaker blew up. I’ve decided that I’ve kept you waiting long enough. So, without further ado I present the first issue of the Menagerie of Macs!
1998.11: Kudos to Apple for upgrading the iMac with Rage Pro graphics and 6 MB of VRAM. It gives us a hint at where Apple may be taking the iMac in the future. Already we’re hearing rumors about an iMac with DVD taking the $1,299 price point while the current iMac drops in price. It’s […]
1998 – MJ writes: Long term(ish) I want to aim at a G3 something. But at the moment I’m just a hard-up student in New Zealand dreaming of the the day I win the lottery. But I figured why buy a new G3 machine when they are way out of my price range when I […]
1998 – DR writes: What kind of modem can I use with my Mac IIci? It has System 7.5.5 and a floppy disk drive (it’s a pretty much stock computer). I’d prefer a 56k modem, if possible. It will be primarily used for Internet access. I’ve had a tough time trying to buy a modem […]
1998: For too many years the PowerBook was the underpowered cousin of the desktop Mac. The original Macintosh Portable was a 16 MHz 68000-based beast and weighed over 16 lbs. The battery alone was a good 3 lbs., but it did provide five to ten hours of use.
1998 – TG writes: Current system: Motorola StarMax 3000 with 200 MHz 603e, 32 MB RAM, 4 MB VRAM onboard. Thinking: Vimage G3/240 processor upgrade, 32 MB more RAM, PCI video card with 2D-3D acceleration (total upwards of $700). Or buy an iMac. Whaddaya think? Mac Daniel writes: Let’s start with the iMac. The current […]
1998 – DB writes: Wow, and I thought I was running a low-end Apple orchard . . . have an Apple IIe, Classic II, LC, and IIcx. My boss wants me to buy his 630CD . . . admittedly, it’s more machine than I have now, but it doesn’t seem like a wise move . […]
“Some people are under the impression that all that is required to make a good fisherman is the ability to tell lies easily and without blushing; but this is a mistake. Mere bald fabrication is useless; the veriest tyro can manage that. It is in the circumstantial detail, the embellishing touches of probability, the general […]
1998 – PR writes: I need some serious help. I just obtained a position with an ad agency. They have a mix of PCs and Macs. I have no problem with the PCs. However, it has been a while since I worked with the Macs. The ones here are pretty behind the times. I would […]
1998.11: The iMac isn’t the perfect computer for me – but I still want to buy one!
1998 – GD writes: I am an end user and have been a dedicated Macintosh user ever since I knew what a computer was. In high school, I used an Apple IIe. In college, I used a Macintosh Plus, which I upgraded to a severe 2 MB RAM! WOW!
1998: Bill Gates plays for keeps. He always has. And, DOJ permitting, he always will. I’m not a Microsoft basher. I’ve used their BASIC, DOS, Word, and Excel. My favorite web font is Verdana, a font Microsoft owns and makes freely available on its website.
1998 – Back in March 1992, MacUser magazine ran an article comparing past and then-current Macs. One comparison was the original Macintosh with the Quadra 900: 8 MHz 68000 vs. 25 MHz 68040, 128 KB RAM vs. 4 MB to 256 MB, no SCSI or hard drive vs. several internal drive bays and an external […]
1998 – Back in March 1992, MacUser magazine ran an article comparing past and then-current Macs. One comparison was the original Macintosh with the Quadra 900: 8 MHz 68000 vs. 25 MHz 68040, 128 KB RAM vs. 4 MB to 256 MB, no SCSI or hard drive vs. several internal drive bays and an external […]
1998 – Back in March 1992, MacUser magazine ran an article comparing past and then-current Macs. One comparison was the original Macintosh with the Quadra 900: 8 MHz 68000 vs. 25 MHz 68040, 128 KB RAM vs. 4 MB to 256 MB, no SCSI or hard drive vs. several internal drive bays and an external […]
What if half the things ever said turned out to be a lie… How will U know the truth? If U were given all the answers and U stopped to wonder why… How will U know the truth? “The Truth,” O{+>
1998 – GHQ writes: What do you think of the Mac IIsi? Is it worth upgrading? At the MacWorks site, they were giving away older Macs as-is, untested, for the cost of shipping. So I sent off $50 and got a IIsi. Works great. Now . . . I’ve seen Sonnet upgrades for under $200. […]
Why can’t we learn about God for ourselves, without some preacher trying to tell us what to believe?
1998 – MS writes: I own a Power Mac 7600/120 and am interested in boosting performance. I currently run on a 604 with 112 MB RAM and 1 M L2 cache. Would you recommend migrating to a G3 or a 604e?
1998 – This is the weekend Best Buy joins the ranks of nationwide Macintosh resellers in the US. This means Macs will be available in dozens of communities that have Best Buy stores but don’t have CompUSA.
1998 – TG writes: I’m in a weekly newspaper office that has a couple of Performa 6116s and Performa 636s doing essentially the same job: email with First Class, minimal word processing with Word 5.1, and mostly shared access to FileMaker database of some size. The files themselves are on a Power Mac 7200/120. The […]
1998 – CAR writes: I am the owner of three real old but still functioning Macs – a 512K Fat Mac, Mac IIcx, and Power Mac 7200.
1998.11: Steve Wozniak says that Apple won because all of today’s computers look like Macs. Bill Gates thinks Microsoft Windows won because he “borrowed” all of Apple’s good ideas. Sorry, but it just isn’t so.
1998 – GM writes: I have an old Mac IIci which I have already upgraded with a 2.1 GB hard drive, 32 MB RAM, and System 7.5.5. It however is too slow to support the graphics and word applications I’m using! Also most new programs now will not run on this 68030 processor!
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October 1998
1998.10: It was a clever move on Apple’s part, quietly slipping the Revision B iMac onto the market last week.
1998 – Readers ask how they can upgrade their Power Mac 6100s.
1998 – Two readers ask about upgrades for their “Road Apple” Performa x200 models.
1998 – Does it make financial sense to upgrade a five-year-old Centris 650?
1998: Once upon a time, I was a DOS geek. I cut my teeth on the Apple II+ and Commodore VIC-20. When we moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1987, I managed to obtain a sales position at the local Heath/Zenith computer store. I had no DOS experience and almost zero Mac experience, but they […]
The first rule of computing: You can never have too much computer. The first corollary: Your computer is never quite enough computer.
1998 – Today’s Mac Daniel column looks at upgrade options for the Power Mac 7200 and 7500.
1998 – Today’s MacDaniel column answers questions from two different readers asking about upgrading their Power Mac 7100s.
This was the first Mac Daniel column published – way back in October 1998.
1998.10: Face it: The iMac was announced five months ago and is rapidly becoming dated. Look at the Wintel world. It’s getting hard to find a 233 MHz Windows computer these days, although they were hot when Steve Jobs first announced the iMac in May.
On October 17, 1998, Apple released Mac OS 8.5 and the first update to the popular Bondi iMac. CPU speed, base RAM, and most other specs were identical to the original iMac. In addition to coming with OS 8.5 installed, the Revision B iMac incorporates the faster Rage Pro graphics chip, has 6 MB VRAM, […]
A recent study by Computers, Support and Consulting in conjunction with MacMarines surveyed Mac users about their computer systems, as reported in the current issue of The Mac Report (no longer online or in the Internet Archive). As the publisher of Low End Mac, most of the results didn’t surprise me, but they are interesting.
1998: In HFS+ Nightmares, I wrote, “I sincerely hope my experiences with HFS+ are not typical.” Feedback from dozens of readers confirms that it isn’t.
1998: I sincerely hope my experiences with HFS+ are not typical.
1998: If you cut your teeth on the Mac or even a Windows machine, count yourself fortunate. A graphical operating system lets you play around and figure out how things work. It’s user-friendly, which is why the Macintosh caught on and influenced the shape of the dominant PC operating systems. The same concepts are playing […]
1998: This is a story with a long background. Most of you are fortunate: You’re not responsible for keeping dozens of Macs running, just one – or maybe a few. I support not just dozens and dozens of Macs, but dozens of different models.
If they got you with Y2K, what will they do for an encore?
1998: The future of Claris Emailer looks bleak. Although Apple says it is considering its options for the popular email program, Emailer owners are already acting as if the program is history.
The Mac Portable uses a 16 MHz 68000 CPU, so performance is about twice that of the 8 MHz Mac SE and Classic. The Portable and PowerBook 100 were the only Macs to use a 16 MHz 68000. The installed hard drive is a 40 MB Apple-branded Conner CP-3045 formatted with Apple HD SC Setup 7.0.1 […]
The Mac SE uses an 8 MHz 68000 CPU. The tested hard drive is a 40 MB Apple-branded Quantum LP40S formatted with Apple HD SC Setup. This was not the original hard drive, which had been a much slower 20 MB mechanism.
1998.10: With USB, Apple is in the odd position of strongly promoting a technology invented on the Wintel side – but not yet embraced there. Despite the pain of early adopters (iMac buyers), there are now USB printers, keyboards, mice, trackballs, and more.
1998.10: It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Dickens said it first, but the words could just as easily have been written about Apple Computer in the year since Steve Jobs became interim CEO – or iCEO – for life.
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September 1998
1998: In one way, the Macintosh is the less popular cousin of the Wintel PC. I’ve heard there are now over 20,000 viruses for DOS and Windows computers. Twenty-thousand! Until this year, the Mac was stuck at 44. I think it was about five years since the last new Mac virus was created and discovered. […]
1998: I don’t usually write editorials on a Saturday morning, but an article on MacCentral (Apple Canada Scaling Back?) got my attention. Although I’ve lived in the States most of my life, Canada is my homeland and the place most of my relatives call home.
1998.09: Apple’s iMac probably had the most successful rollout of any computer in history. Sales are estimated at about 360,000 units from its launch on August 15. (Today ends Apple’s fiscal year – maybe we’ll see some hard numbers soon.)
Sometimes you just have more Macs than monitors – or wish you could free up some space in your network center. But you need a keyboard and mouse to run your Macs, and a monitor to see what you’re doing.
1998 – Whether you’re using a 44 MB, 88 MB, or 200 MB SyQuest cartridge, a 100 MB, 250 MB or 750 MB Zip drive, or some other removable media drive of similar or greater capacity – or even have spare low-capacity hard drives sitting about – here are some practical things you can do.
1998.09: Last week I suggested that Apple produce a set-top version of the iMac with a DVD player, infrared keyboard, and the ability to display as clearly as a TV screen allows. (See I Want iMacTV.)
1998: From the original Macintosh of 1984 through March 1987, there was one Mac case: a compact beige box with a 9″ screen. (For more details, see last week’s Still Useful After All These Years: The Mac Plus.)
As of 31 January 1999, Apple has posted System 7.5.3 for free download (19 disk images!) – and don’t forget the System 7.5.5 updater.
1998.09: It was the first “gotta have it for looks alone” Macintosh since the first Mac shipped in 1984: Mac TV.
1998: The original Macintosh of 1984 was an incredibly cool computer – but impractical. With just 128 KB of RAM and a single 400 KB floppy drive, using it was an exercise in frustration involving a lot of disk swaps. A second floppy drive made the Macintosh a much more practical computer, but it was […]
1998: Some machines are designed to do a simple job simply. The best even do it with elegance. But some make you wonder what their creators were thinking.
“Honest question: What are the specific performance issues for a separate Web and Email machine?”
1998.09: A compact iMac? Isn’t the iMac already small enough? Yes, the iMac is remarkably tiny for a computer with a built-in 15″ monitor. But I’m thinking smaller: modular.
1998: Once upon a time, LCD panels were incredibly expensive, adding $1,000 to the cost of a laptop or portable computer. These were mostly passive matrix with 640 x 480 resolution. The best were backlit, supertwist LCDs. Most were only about 10″ on the diagonal.
1998: If you’re a webmaster, one thing you want to do is have people visit your website. There are lots of ways to get people’s attention:
The greatest obstacle to third party mice is the quality of Apple’s mice. Although the early Lisa/Macintosh mouse was a rather chunky affair, it was good enough – and the Mac market was small enough to attract little competition. Also, Apple’s mouse came free with the computer.
There have been alternatives to the Apple keyboard since the Mac Plus era. Macs introduced from 1984 through 1986 were plagued with a particularly thick, clunky keyboard.
1998 – I’m practically ancient for this industry. I remember lusting after the TRS-80 in Radio Shack flyers back in 1977. I think it was in 1979 that I first put fingers to keyboard and used a personal computer (an Apple II+).
1998 – I’ve received a lot of feedback to The iMac: Not for Me. Several readers applauded my honesty in admitting that the iMac isn’t for everyone.
1998 – Boy, was I ever wrong! Back in April, I wrote No $500 PC This Year. I didn’t see how anyone could combine a decent motherboard, hard drive, CD-ROM, case, power supply, floppy drive, keyboard, mouse, and a copy of Windows for under $500.
Sept. 1998: It’s a bit embarrassing to admit it, especially since I run one of the more successful iMac sites, but I don’t own an iMac, haven’t ordered an iMac, and doubt I’ll buy an iMac.
This PowerBook G3 Series II, code named PDQ, was announced Sept. 1, 1998. Changes from the earlier G3 Series include a 66 MHz motherboard for all versions and standard 14.1″ screen. The 1024 x 768 screen will also automatically scale, allowing users to emulate 640 x 480 and 800 x 600 resolutions. As with the […]
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August 1998
A big screen will absolutely spoil you.
1998: Did you ever buy a computer, only to have them introduce a faster, more powerful model within months – sometimes at an even lower price? Better yet, did you ever have it not happen?
1998: I couldn’t believe the headline. The Clinton administration is asking the United States Postal Service to devise a system of permanent email addresses. The great benefit of a permanent email address is that, once you have it, you can use it forever, even if you change Internet service providers. How forward-looking!
1998.08: Don Crabb wrote today about Apple’s backorder problems (Supply and Demand, MacCentral, no longer online). Almost all dealers are out of iMacs, PowerBooks are back ordered, and Power Macs are hard to get. The price of success?
Hello (again). Do you remember the first Mac, the one that didn’t even have a model number? The amazing 8 MHz 68000 CPU, crystal clear 9″ b&w screen, huge 400 KB floppy drive, and radical mouse? Fast forward from 1984 to 1998. Using up-to-date technology, Apple created a worthy successor to the original Macintosh as […]
August 1998: In iMac-ulate Conception: How Apple Made a Miracle Out of a Mere PC on ZDNet, Robert Lemos disparages the iMac as featuring “very little new technology and . . . missing some standard features found in other computers, such as a floppy drive and built-in printer connectivity.”
August 1998: The iMac is Apple’s most important product roll-out since the original Macintosh. A column by Jim Davis on Cnet (The iMac’s Ancestors) reminded me how like and unlike the two computers are. Here’s a comparison of features.
August 1998: “This sounds like Apple trying to make it back with a last ditch effort, and I feel that this iMac will only resolve to be a slightly faster, showy machine with fewer capabilities than a GameBoy with a modem. Macs have always proven to be the slower, clunkier machines in a world that […]
August 1999: Last November I said that Macs needed parallel ports. I got a lot of letters on that, some saying I made a lot of sense. Others said parallel ports would soon be obsolete, replaced with the Universal Serial Bus (USB) and FireWire.
August 1998: I’ve been looking forward to the latest issue of PC Magazine, the one that looks at sub-$1,000 (sub-$1K) Windows systems. So many “experts” are chiding Apple for releasing a $1,300 computer when (they say) buyers really want sub-$1K PCs.
August 1998: Way back when, Apple invented a business version of the Apple II. The Apple /// was an incompatible bust in both its original 128 KB incarnation and the later 192 KB version. It didn’t quite kill Apple.
1998: Once upon a time there were no computers. We’ve come a long way, baby! The first computers were pretty primitive by any standard. There was no software – you had to wire the computer for its intended task. Then came neat things like software on punch cards, paper tape, and eventually hard drives.
August 1998: The iMac is an impressive computing value: performance, expansion, and the world’s greatest OS. But it’s not designed for everyone.
1998: On August 15, Apple Computer will launch a revolutionary new personal computer – the iMac. “It looks like it came from another planet – a good planet, one with great industrial designers!” quips Steven Jobs, Apple’s interim CEO.
August 1998: Three months ago it looked like a risky move: The iMac would use the universal serial bus (USB), but not ADB, SCSI, or a standard Mac serial port. Although Microsoft and Intel have promoted USB, and the vast army of clone makers have been building USB into their computers, I don’t know of […]
There’s a lot to like about the iMac: styling, size, price, value, and a willingness to venture into new territory. Face it: No Wintel company has completely abandoned their traditional ports to go exclusively USB.
August 1998: Every month PC World lists the 20 best selling computer systems – and USA Today publishes the 10 best sellers. The USA Today list from 8 July 1998 includes:
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July 1998
The iMac Group is a group for all iMac G3, G4, and G5 and eMac users. We have launched a separate group for Intel-based iMacs. Group begun 1998.07.29.
1998: When you’re responsible for dozens of computers on a network, you try to plan ahead while choosing the most cost-effective hardware to meet your needs. Since 1994, that has meant buying PowerPC Macs.
1998 – I’ve looked at the theory of using an older, slower Mac as a server on a 10Base-T ethernet network in SCSI Throughput vs. Network Throughput – now on to the testing.
1998 – Scott L. Barber does something I didn’t understand for a long time: he recommends using a Mac Plus or Mac SE – or whatever your slowest Mac is – as a file server!
July 1998: Apple has introduced the most appealing educational computer since it introduced the Macintosh LC in 1990.
July 1998: Don Crabb was the first to speculate in public that the iMac wouldn’t stand alone for long (The iMac Line, Don Crabb, MacCentral, 9 June 1998). I have to agree with him. The iMac is as revolutionary as the original Macintosh – without breaking software compatibility (see The iMac: truly revolutionary). And just […]
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June 1998
June 1998 – The Grand Rapids Public Schools (GRPS) appear to be standardizing on Windows, if their current $795,000 purchase of Windows-based computer systems is any indication. This may mean they will phase out millions of dollars worth of Macintosh equipment (estimated at 2,000 computers), some of it installed as recently as the 1997-98 school […]
1998: For years the loyalty of Mac users was the envy of the PC industry. Report after report showed that when Mac owners bought another computer, it was almost always an Apple Macintosh. But things changed.
June 1998: How quickly we forget how revolutionary personal computers are! The first PCs were kits for electronic hobbyists. The Apple 1 came as a kit; users had to add their own keyboard, case, and power supply. The real revolution came in 1977 with the TRS-80, the Commodore PET, and the Apple II – computers […]
June 1998 – As a Mac user and proponent, a taxpayer, and the father of four children enrolled in the Grand Rapids (MI) Public Schools, these news tidbits about our school system migrating to Windows got my attention.
Vintage Macs is a forum for users of 68000, 68020, 68030, and 68040-based Macintosh computers (a.k.a. 680×0 Macs and 68K Macs). This includes compact Macs, the Mac II series, LCs, Quadras, and others.
June 1998: I received an interesting email from Mark Sutherland the other day. He swore he’d seen a picture of the iMac with a VGA port. I quickly grabbed Macworld and looked closely at the pictures (no longer online). No sign of a monitor port. Just audio, USB, ethernet, and modem ports. I asked Mark […]
1998 – On the Mac side of the fence, we all know the processors found in the Power Mac G3, the PowerBook G3, and in G3 upgrades in a host of older Macs are up to twice as fast as Intel’s Pentium II processor. But did you also know that Intel has a long history of […]
Feeling smug about the year 2000, Mac owner? Don’t.
June 1998: The world is trying to tell Apple the iMac is overpriced: “Buyers want a $999 computer.” But the facts speak differently.
With the iMac, Apple is adopting the Universal Serial Bus (USB), replacing the SCSI, serial, and ADB ports Mac users have had for over a decade.
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May 1998
May 1998: The iMac has one flaw: no removable media drive. That’s right, there’s no standard floppy drive, nor is there a SCSI port for adding a Zip drive, optical drive, CD-ROM burner, or other removable media drive.
1998 – Yes, Mac OS 8 takes up more memory than earlier Mac OS versions, but it’s not necessarily what you think. On a machine with 12 MB of memory, OS 8.x takes up less memory than on the same Mac with more memory installed. Here’s how – and Apple’s been doing things like this […]
1998: In his article, Apple Offers Sizzle in Forbes Digital, Michael Noer asks, “Is Apple really back?” Despite claims by Steve Jobs and the fact that Apple Computer is the sweetheart stock of 1998, Noer maintains that Apple is not back. Instead, he claims it is dying.
May 1998: We’ve had over a week to put iMac in perspective – and it’s still a winner.
The article on SCSI Component Order generated some excellent feedback and dialogue. The following comments were written by Keith Bumgarner of MacInformed, the author of the original article.
1998 – I don’t think I’ve been this excited about a computer since I got my own Mac Plus to replace an 8 MHz XT clone.
Per a few private requests, I found enough interest to post a thesis for all to see about the SCSI ID 5 issue.
The PowerBook G3 Series, code named WallStreet, was designed around the same PowerPC 750 (aka G3) processor as the original PowerBook G3 – but don’t confuse it with the original. Although they bear a similar name, this was a whole new computer. Available at three different speeds (233, 250, and 292 MHz) and with three […]
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April 1998
This was posted during a discussion of stripping PowerPC (a.k.a. PPC native) code from the System Folder for use on 680×0-based Macs.
1998 – There is no functional difference between the Power Mac 7100 and the Quadra 650 with the PowerPC upgrade card: They use the same ROM. As for the PPC Toolbox, that appears on all the 68040 Macs I’ve worked with, simply because the PPC Toolbox is 68k code.
Apple launched the Macintosh in 1984 with an 8 MHz 68000 CPU. When this list was published in April 1998, the fastest Mac was the 300 MHz Beige Power Mac G3. Here are Scott Barber’s picks as the best Macs from each CPU family Apple has used to date.
1998 – Okay, kind of a flame, but really specialized. I disagree that Apple should dump the 68k code simply because they want to isolate the 68040 machines from modern use.
1998 – I have this incredible desire to mention a few things about SCSI, seeing the wealth of posts that in some way or another ask whether this drive or that drive will work with this machine or that machine. This isn’t meant to be sarcastic, and it’s very serious – I have clients that […]
All Macintoshes are capable of achieving the 230 kbps (kilobits per second) transfer rate, since this is the speed of LocalTalk. The problem is, unless a device uses the LocalTalk protocol, the port cannot stream that way and is limited to normal serial modes.
1998 – “One topic you you didn’t address was VRAM. Since I use a lousy 15″ monitor, I’m assuming that increasing monitor size will be key to increasing ease of use/performance. Of course, I assume that someone in a prepress use already has two 24″ monitors….”
1998 – It sounds to me like you’re running the kinds and types of software that can create common crashes. I’ve noticed a considerable number of people on the list that don’t have crashes, but I’m not one of them. There are things you can do to shore up your system from crashes and eliminate […]
1998 – First, you’re going to need a lot of memory. All you can afford. Pump your Mac to the maximum memory you can get. Once you get over 80 MB, you’ll be kind of redundant – most CD-writing programs only provide for a 64 MB RAM cache. Aim for at least 64 MB of […]
By request, I’ve searched my personal archives and stumbled on my thesis. It’s rather short compared to the ones I write now, but it should get the point across. Now, there are two complete reposts here, so don’t get confused when the subject changes.
1998 – Long ago, as it has been mentioned, some companies used soft partition software.1 This was an overlay of the hard partitioning format. In some cases, this worked okay, but in most cases, it worked just like Stacker or eDisk2 (for more on these ancient utilities, see Miscellaneous Macintosh FAQ) – sooner or later […]
“How come my folders/apps inflated in size when I moved them from the old drive to the new one? The size of files has jumped by more than 25% across the board. Did I do something wrong in simply dragging the entire contents from the old drive the new one?”
“I’m using my PowerBook Duo 280c over Apple’s LocalTalk Bridge to get access to my ethernet network. What do I need to get TCP/IP to flow through that, too? Where can I get it?”
1998 – Homer Brickley on Nando.net thinks we’ll see $500 computers by Christmas ( The Computer Model T Is Not That Far Away). I beg to differ.
1998 – Go into your Preferences folder and remove Display Preferences and Sound Preferences. One of the problems when Mac system software switched over was that the engineering team at Apple created Monitors & Sound, instead of leaving them separate, when they created Mac OS 7.6. This created two separate versions of preferences files which […]
A Level 2 (L2) cache was a popular way to boost performance on faster 68030-based Macs, including the Mac IIci, Mac IIvx, and Mac IIfx. But none of the 68040-based Macs shipped with an L2 cache, although most were capable of using one. The L2 cache is automatically accessed by the 68040 series processor, whether […]
ISDN is a nearly forgotten service provided by the telephone company to provide digital transmission of voice, data, video, and more over a conventional land line. It is faster and more reliable than the 56k modems that have been in use since the late 1990s. [There was a time when we had ISDN service for […]
I have posted my answer to your question to the Quadlist, simply because it’s the most on-topic question I’ve gotten in a while. Contained within my answer are little tips that I think others need to know so that they can get powerful performance out of their machines as well. I have eliminated a considerable […]
1998 – Quantum makes the best SCSI drives for Apple or Mac clone branded equipment. I think they make lousy IDE drives though and vote for IBM or Maxtor when it comes to IDE.
Someone I’d love to give credit to, but don’t know who they were when they suggested it to me, gave me a wonderful idea for the RAM disk/disk cache solutions in an article I wrote a while back, RAM Disk vs. Disk Cache: When to Use Each
1998 – This is a long post, but it is relevant to many of the problems we have discussed recently. I would also be interested to know if people agree with what this Apple tech has to say.
1998 – Your results may vary, but this should provide a good starting point for tweaking serial throughput on your Mac setup. Note that FreePPP allows serial port settings of 115.2 kbps and 230.4 kbps, settings not possible with Apple’s serial toolbox routines. This follows up on our earlier article, Macintosh Serial Throughput, providing real […]
1998 – The entire idea of a LocalTalk gateway is to bridge LocalTalk devices that don’t have ethernet – such as Macs, early LaserWriters, other printers, etc. which are not TCP/IP devices (visible on the Internet in the Internet’s most common language) as LocalTalk devices.
1998 – Much of the following information has been distilled from a series of articles by Steve Gibson of SpinRite. Since these articles specifically address Click of Death (COD) tools in the Windows world, they provide excellent technical information but no Macintosh perspective. If you want to know more about COD, Gibson’s articles are the […]
1998 – Scott Barber blew me away with the news: He has Mac OS 8.1 running on a Macintosh IIsi!
April 1998 – You’ve probably heard that the University of Texas McCombs School of Business will require students to purchase or lease a specific Dell laptop running Windows NT beginning in the Fall 1998 semester. (Special thanks to thessaSource for following the story.)
“You can’t run a 9600 modem on a Plus.” “You’re wasting your money buying a 56k modem for that old Centris 610.” “Those old Macs don’t do handshaking.”
This page looks at the first MS-DOS coprocessor cards for the Macintosh, the Mac286 and its sibling, the Mac86. I have created this page in response to the lack of information about these cards that is publicly available.
By now you’ve probably heard of FireWire, the new high speed standard for moving data between devices. Also known as IEEE Standard 1394 or P1394, FireWire was invented by Apple as a faster alternative to SCSI in its many permutations.
The G3 All-in-One succeeded the Power Mac 5000 series for the education market. Key features include the G3 processor and a 15″ multiscan display (13.8″ viewable). The All-in-One was specifically designed for the education market, where less wires and parts to remove are a big plus.
1998: The price/performance ratio of the Power Mac G3, especially after recent price cuts, is simply amazing. And somehow Apple has packaged the technology into the G3 All-in-One for as little as $1,500. The rumored $2,000 PowerBook G3 also sounds like an incredible value.
Sometimes getting a SCSI chain working properly seems to be more hit and miss than science. We know the last device should be terminated, that the chain should not exceed a certain length, and that every device must have a unique ID. But even that isn’t enough to consistently build a busy SCSI chain and […]
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March 1998
1998: I thought that a good topic to kick off The Road Warrior would be the machine I’m typing this column on, the PowerBook 5300, which has been my workhorse computer for more than two years. Of course, I would love to have a new PowerBook G3 Series machine like the ones I’ve had an […]
It’s the hot new technology for 1998: modem bonding. Windows 95 supports it, many modem makers support it, and ISPs are beginning to support it.
1998: I recommend you read It’s the Latency, Stupid by Stuart Cheshire to get a good understanding of latency, then come back to this overview.
1998: According to the hype, v.90 (a.k.a. 56k) modems are the greatest thing since Zip drives. In some respects, they are. They’re ideal for surfing the World Wide Web, but perhaps less than ideal for other uses.
1998: We’ve looked at packets, compression, and latency. We’ve seen that each takes a toll on throughput. The following shows the effect of this at various modem speeds.
Code named Gossamer, this faster version of the Beige G3 builds on Apple’s success with the 233 and 266 MHz Late 1997 models. In addition to a 300 MHz PowerPC 750 (a.k.a. G3) CPU, the 300 MHz model has the option of a 1 MB backside cache – twice as big as in the earlier models. […]
1998: Should the Internet be a tax-free zone? President Clinton thinks it’s a good idea. Anyone shopping on the Internet is inclined to agree. Why would anyone oppose the Internet Tax Freedom Act?
Sad to report that Rodney Lain finally committed suicide on 6/14/02. He had gone off his anti-depressants.
March 1998 – This letter was written in response to news reports that the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, was considering phasing out Macs in favor of Windows computers. This letter should be appearing soon in Imprint, the university newspaper.
1998 – There are several variables that determine hard drive throughput: How fast your Mac can move data over the SCSI or IDE bus, how fast your drive can move data over the drive bus, and caching, including both disk caching by your Mac and the disk’s internal data buffer.
Apple popularized SCSI (small computer system interface) by making it a standard feature on the third Macintosh, the Mac Plus, which was introduced in January 1986. Although Apple only embraced a subset of the emerging SCSI standard, the new bus allowed chaining up to seven peripherals to the computer. The 8-bit parallel interface was theoretically […]
“No Newton is good news.” “Apple kills the Newton.” “Life after Newton.” These are just a few of the headlines since Apple’s Feb. 27 announcement to discontinue the innovative but unprofitable handheld computers. Although it would have been nice if Apple could have sold the Newton division and its technology to someone else, the fact […]
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February 1998
1998: By now, everyone should realize that the 56k modem is just a flash in the pan. So were the 33.6k modem, the 28.8k modem, and the rare 19.2k modem. And let’s not forget the 14.4k modem, the 9600 modem, the 2400 modem, the 1200 modem, the 300 modem, and the lowly 110bps modem.
1998 – If you’ve seen the snail, you love the snail. Apple’s incredible new ad pulls no punches, bragging to the world that a Power Mac G3 is up to twice as fast as a Pentium II PC.
1998 – It’s the talk of the Internet: Apple has apparently inked an exclusive deal with CompUSA as the only national (U.S.) Macintosh reseller.
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January 1998
It had to happen sooner or later: First, Apple dropped support for the Mac 128K and 512K. After all, with single-sided floppies, too little RAM, and no SCSI port, they could no longer be considered serious productivity machines. The last version of the Mac OS to support these computers was 4.1, introduced in 1986.
“Should You Buy Disposable PCs?” is the cover story in the February 1998 issue of Byte. It is certainly an intriguing question.
During Macworld San Francisco came the rumors that Claris would discontinue Emailer. With freeware Eudora Lite and the emailer in Internet Explorer 4.0, perhaps people would be unwilling to pay for Emailer.
A source in Kitsap, Washington, writes, “I read the articles about the Grand Rapids (MI) Schools trying to go to PC only, and I couldn’t help but relate to the problems in Grand Rapids. The South Kitsap (WA) School District, where I live and where my wife teaches, is going through the same horror. I […]
The SuperMac J710 was the last new model from Umax, and only about 50 were ever produced. Combining the form factor of the compact C500 with the power of a PowerPC 604e or G3, the J710 would have been great for power users on a budget. About 90% shipped with a 200 MHz 604e, a few […]
