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December 2001
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house; No hardware was stirring, not even the mouse;
2001 – This is the first Mac Lab Report I’ve submitted for a while, primarily because I was working on a grant proposal for my school, and it absorbed all of my time. It absorbed my time not just because it was a lengthy proposal (approximately 20 pages of text and charts) but because it […]
In a lot of respects, the Dreamcast was ahead of its time. It was released in 1998 in Japan and 1999 in the rest of the world – a year before PlayStation 2 – and was the first 128-bit console gaming system ever. Sega, a Japanese company started by American expatriate David Rosen in the 1950s, seemed […]
2001 – For a while in the late 1990s, Voodoo was the hottest name in video cards. It popularized OpenGL and GLIDE as programming interfaces for 3D graphics used in games.
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November 2001
I get some interesting letters about the Best of the Mac Web survey each time I run it. I suspect I’ll get more about the Rest of the Mac Web survey we’re launching today. Let’s look at some of the common threads:
2001 – One of the recurrent themes in computer advertising today is the “digital lifestyle.” Intel says that their Pentium 4 is the center of our digital world. Apple says that it wants to be our digital hub. People talk about going digital and wanting bits instead of atoms.
2001 – One of the recurrent themes in computer advertising today is the “digital lifestyle.” Intel says that their Pentium 4 is the center of our digital world. Apple says wants the Mac to be our digital hub. People talk about going digital and wanting bits instead of atoms.
2001 – Gathering software for older Macs has become my latest Macintosh obsession. I am copying the installers onto hard drives and Zip disks for posterity’s sake. There is a lot of useful shareware, freeware, and commercial software available at little or no cost to the hordes of “vintage” Mac users. Some are distributed by […]
On Low End Mac, we are interested in value computing – getting the most for your money. Usually we look at ways to do cool things with inexpensive Macs, like using a Quadra as an MP3 server. But when is the right time to forsake the low end? Is there a point where the time […]
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October 2001
Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPod at a special event on October 23, 2001. The new device was a hard-drive based MP3 player with a well thought out menu system and room for 1,000 songs. It would to change Apple Computer forever. The first iPod had a scroll wheel that actually rotated, a feature that […]
A little over five months after Apple released the first Dual USB iBook (a.k.a. iceBook), they replaced it with this 600 MHz – 20% faster – model available in DVD, CD-RW, and ComboDrive versions. Changes include a faster CPU, a faster system bus (100 MHz vs. 66 MHz) and a larger hard drive (15-20 GB, […]
Just nine months after releasing the first titanium PowerBook, Apple replaced it with two faster models – this is the faster of the two. Both models share the same logic board, but they run the bus and CPU at different speeds. The 667 MHz CPU in this model runs on a faster (133 MHz vs. […]
Just nine months after releasing the first titanium PowerBook, Apple replaced it with two faster models; this is the slower one. Both models share the same logic board, but they run the bus and CPU at different speeds. The 550 MHz CPU runs on the same 100 MHz system bus as the original TiBook. Standard […]
In the first part of this tutorial, we covered general use of StuffIt Deluxe. This time we are going to discuss file exchange on the Internet. StuffIt Deluxe encodes and compresses files for the Net and has features designed to make file transfers easier.
StuffIt Deluxe is the most comprehensive compression solution for the Mac. It is not just an application that compresses files; it handles everything that a user needs to do for file exchange or compression. StuffIt Deluxe 6.5 is the best version to have, since some of the features discussed, such as StuffIt Express Personal Edition, […]
The Tanzania motherboard was introduced in October 1996 and supports PowerPC 603e and 604e processors on a 40 MHz system bus. This motherboard was used in the Power Mac 4400, Motorola StarMax 3000 and 4000, Power Computing PowerCurve and PowerBase, and Umax SuperMac C500 and C600, as well as some lesser known clones.
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September 2001
Even as I and other Canadians mourn for the victims, even as we join with other people across the world in solidarity and sympathy with Americans as they grieve, we pause to reflect on the possible meaning of this atrocity, not just for Americans, not just for freedom-loving people everywhere who are struggling to find […]
This is a response to “A Call For Peace” by Andrew W. Hill [no longer online].
In light of last week’s events and a lifetime of watching kids grow up in America, on Monday I suggested the time is right for mandatory national service when each American turns 18.
2001: Oh great, my little 350 MHz G3 upgrade is about to look even pokier: Motorola Completes 1.6 GHz PowerPC G5. My tired but indefatigable workhorse PowerCenter Pro is chugging along nicely, thank you very much. Darn it.
Until the morning of September 11, people who believed in strong military, mighty intelligence services, and significant defense funding were an outdated species from the past who did not jump the hurdle of modernity. Since the end of World War II, our world has lived through peaceful times, except for eternal local wars and a […]
Change is the only constant. Last Tuesday’s terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center are changing everything for the United States and the world. Things are getting back to normal – but only because normal has moved. This Monday is very different from last Monday.
I was in the subway – here in Montreal – and a woman from the Middle East was wearing a veil. This piece of clothing indicated her Muslim faith, and the other passengers saw that she was of Islamic origin. They were staring, nay, glaring at her. Do I really need to draw you a […]
The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was truly a shocking event for everyone, whether they knew people working at these places or not. I guess we all thought that the U.S. was immune to terrorist attacks such as this. Hopefully the government will learn from this how to better protect […]
What an extraordinary week. My condolences to the families and friends of those who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. My prayers for the victims – and for their families and friends who are alive. Life is continuing.
I actually had something related to Macs, but a little while before I was ready to send it, the events that took place on Tuesday happened. I felt it more appropriate to not write about iMacs at this time, but rather to write regarding the terrorist attacks. I will warn you now – this article […]
At about 8:45 a.m. on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, a hijacked airliner smashed into one tower of the World Trade Center. Within two hours both towers had been hit and become piles of rubble. A third airplane caused massive damage to the Pentagon, and a fourth hijacked plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania.
Was it just a coincidence that the terrorist attack on America took place on 9-11 – the phone number we dial in an emergency? Or was it only a coincidence that the attack took place on the first day of celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year? Again, maybe the perpetrators just wanted to […]
Last week I talked a bit about Linux and the low end. Linux offers some of the same modern foundations of Mac OS X, but it can run well on older computers. Last week I hinted that I would talk about the fatal flaw of Linux.
Last week I was reading an article [no longer online] about how one county was saving several million dollars a year by implementing Linux on all it’s desktops. It wasn’t only the Information Technology department – it was secretaries, receptionists, firefighters, police officers, and other county employees.
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August 2001
Nothing is more annoying that a cluttered desktop. It is nice to create aliases to your favorite applications and files, but it is not very nice to have them all over your desktop. Just like for a real desk, a cluttered computer desktop can be less functional and can distract you from your work.
So, You Think You’re a Writer, Eh?
2001 – I remember first reading a review of the original PaperPort scanner from Visioneer* in the mid 1990s. It was brilliant – a tiny sheet-fed scanner that could slurp up a typewritten page and automagically turn it into a word processing document.
Low End Mac readers have one thing in common – we are not the biggest fans of frequent upgrades. On the other hand, the computer industry loves you if you keep buying stuff, which is why hardware and software manufacturers work to make their products so attractive. They want you to lust for what they […]
August 2001 – These prestigious Lite Side awards are hereby awarded to the award-winning awardees who won them.
2001 – I received a very interesting letter with a lot of information about the Quadra 840av.
Yesterday we took a strong line against pirated MP3s, warez, and other copyright violation. We received some excellent feedback, particularly with respect to discontinued or abandoned software.
2001 – Team 6100 has 18 members and has completed 301 work units since May 2, 2000. Over the last dozen work units, we are averaging 111 hours, 42 minutes. The total contribution of Team 6100 is 3.68 years of CPU time.
August 2001 – With Mac OS X 10.1 Puma on the horizon, I want to step back and look at Apple’s other point one releases: 7.1, 8.1, and 9.1.
2001 – While on vacation in California, I ended up with a Quadra 840av with 8 MB RAM, a 230 MB hard drive, and no CD-ROM. Two weeks after I got home, I got another 840av, this one with 40 MB RAM, a 230 MB hard drive, and a CD-ROM. Since these machines are so […]
The question of color takes up much space in these pages, but the question of color, especially in this country, operates to hide the graver questions of self. – 1961, James Baldwin, expatriated Black-American writer and gay activist Blood, darky, Tar Baby, Kaffir, shine, moor, blackamoor, Jim Crow, spook, quadroon, meriney, red bone, high yellow, […]
Last week I talked about Quicken. At one level, Quicken is a boring product – a database – but at another level it is a revolutionary tool for self-knowledge that can improve your relationship with money. Mac users who consistently apply Quicken’s tools are better off than those who don’t.
McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, and a host of other businesses successfully sell franchises around the country – and sometimes around the world. Last week John Scheeser proposed Apple do the same thing with its retail store in an article published on The Mac Mind.
Owning a portable computer is great. In the world of computing, mobility has its benefits. You can use your computer virtually anywhere, which is definitely splendid to channel a burst of creativity and produce work. Here are a few tips to learn how to use your portable for best results, sometimes for security purposes.
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July 2001
Last week I wrote about revolutions and participation. Revolutions in technology are rarely what we think they are. When something is termed revolutionary, it is usually a marketing ploy. For something to truly be revolutionary, I think that it requires participation from the users. Revolutions can’t be done for you by someone else.
2001-07-27: LapBottom keeps ‘Books cooler. PC Card drive from CMS. PowerBook hoods. More ‘Book news. Willow i/Ti Slipcases Ease Slip-Sliding Away The LapBottom CMS Launches Mac Support with Pocket and PC-Card Hard Drives New PowerBook G4 Sleeve from J.R. Hill and Company Hoodman PowerBook Hoods Reconditioned PowerBooks Apple Is Honoring Both PowerBook Sales Promotions Bargain […]
For math and science teachers, entering equations into typewritten (or word processed) documents is often a challenge. For the novice, many tabs, spaces, underlines, and struggles with the Symbol font yield unsatisfactory results.
This is my guide to Macs that you probably don’t see every day and that might be worth more than the average Mac a few decades from now. Many of them are very solid systems and are rare for reasons other than their design, while several others are Road Apples.
THIS is for all the times you followed me round in stores…. And THIS is for the times you treated me like a nigger…. And THIS is for G. P. – General Principle….. – Nate McCall, Makes Me Wanna Holler It makes me wanna holler And throw up both my hands…. – “Inner City Blues,” […]
July 2001 – Last week’s Macworld Expo was a disappointment for many people attending the show. People wanted to be amazed or surprised – flat screen iMacs were hoped for by many. The surprise was that the products were evolutionary.
2001-07-20: Macworld Expo report. New iBook and TiBook bags. PowerBook upgrade center. More ‘Book news. Macworld Expo Spire Introduces the Icon Backpack for TiBook and iBook Dr. Bott LLC Has iceBook Bags for iBook Tom Bihn BrainBag MadsonLine G4 Saver SmartDisk Introduces 8x FireWire Portable CD-R/W and FireWire Portable Thin Drive Designed to Match PowerBook […]
July 2001 – This week, Apple will undoubtedly make several announcements at the Macworld Expo in New York. Among these will be some product revision announcements, Mac vs. PC benchmarking demonstrations, and sales figures showing how Apple has regained the lead position in educational sales. What won’t be announced are some of the unfortunate tactics […]
Code named Quicksilver, this was the fiftth computer to share the name Power Mac G4, but the first to be housed in an obviously different case. With processor speeds ranging from 733 to 867 MHz, the G4had the power to outperform any Pentium 4 machine made at the time. The top of the line was a […]
When you use a computer frequently, whether it is for leisure or work, you risk repetitive stress injuries. Most stress injuries can be avoided easily if you are careful enough to position your body correctly and remember to spare your wrists from unnecessary strain.
The July 2001 iMac came in speeds of 500, 600, and 700 MHz, although the 700 wasn’t available until August. All models included CD-RW drives and at least 128 MB of RAM. Except for the $799 indio-only model, each version was available in snow (white). The 500 MHz models were available in indigo, and the […]
July 2001 – A recent news article said that IBM had made a breakthrough in semiconductors. Typically computers have been getting faster because the transistors in the CPUs have been getting smaller. Which each decrease in size, the chips get faster or use less energy.
2001-07-13: Apple Store selling Brenthaven cases. Tiny KangururMicro USB flash drive. Get OS 8 for $22. More ‘Book news. Brenthaven ‘Book Cases at Apple Store MacCase and MacPacks on Special at Jam Online Store Interactive Media Corporation USB Flash KanguruMicro Drive My Replacement WallStreet Power Adapter Is on Its Way A Really Expensive PowerBook Hinge […]
Monday, July 9, 2001: I finally got DSL up and running over the weekend. It’s been a long story that started last summer when EarthLink announced DSL service for Grand Rapids (MI). I put my name on the waiting list – and waited and waited and waited.
2001 – You are not very likely to face direct attacks from hackers because you use a computer, because those people mostly target businesses and large networks. On the other hand, the security of your files is never 100% guaranteed, even though you use a computer that less people know to hack than, say, Windows.
I detest the background noise of computers; I’m not alone. On several other websites (especially Slashdot), the topic of quiet computers comes up on a regular basis.
BBEdit Lite (BBEL) from Bare Bones Software is a program I use daily. It looks like a simple text editor, but I don’t use it for designing pages or writing; I use it because BBEL has a blindingly fast search-and-replace function. In fact, that’s the feature I use most of the time.
2001 – Packaged in a plain beige case with a single DA-15 connector, this single-sided 400K floppy drive (model #M130) works with early Macintosh computers. The “Click of Death” likely occurs on drives that have not been adequately dusted or as a secondary result of restoration by the liberal application of lubricant.
2001-07-06: Newest ‘Books now okay for non-Apple warranty repair. WallStreet hinge repair page. $100 FireWire/USB enclosure. More ‘Book news. Apple Reauthorizes Apple Specialist Servicing of PowerBooks WallStreet Hinge Repair Page Posted Kensington TripleTreks FlapOver PowerBook Case at Small Dog SK 2.5 FireWire/USB Combo Enclosure for $99.99 VST 3 GB FireWire Drive for $100 Cool, Homemade TiCase […]
2001: All CompactFlash cards are not created equal. Just as some hard drives and CD-ROMs are much faster than others, some memory cards are faster than others.
If Apple lovers made bumper stickers….
It was about five years ago that I first used the Web – and four-and-a-half that I started building my own Web pages using Claris Home Page. I’ve learned a lot along the way, some of it the hard way.
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June 2001
2001-06-29: BookEndz for PowerBook G4 shipping. Mini power adapter. SmartDisk battery charger for TiBook. Bargain ‘Books. More ‘Book news. BookEndz G4 Docks in Stock and Shipping MadsonLine Mini Power Adapter SmartDisk Offers VST G4 Battery Charger for PowerBook G4 VST Power Adapters for PowerBook G4 Apple Instructions: How to Clean an LCD Panel Apple Software […]
2001: When Apple introduced built-in ethernet, the port Apple standardized on wasn’t the regular “wide-phone-jack” connector used for 10Base-T ethernet on today’s systems. Instead, it was a proprietary new connector called AAUI, a combination port that supported both 10Base-T and the then-popular 10Base-2 Ethernet (a.k.a. Thin Net) – the catch was that you needed to […]
If you are a novice Mac user, reading iBasics is a great idea! All kidding aside, if you are a novice user, file security and computer security is probably a weakness that you should address. In addition, you can take advantage of a few technologies that are embedded in the Mac OS.
How do I connect my Mac to my stereo? I want to record audio (like LPs and tapes) and also want my Mac’s sound to come through my stereo system’s speakers. Connecting your Mac to your stereo is a great way to improve sound quality tenfold. Most Macs have only one speaker, and it’s usually […]
2001-06-22: 20 GB drive for $112.50. Memory specs for TiBook and Dual USB iBook. Refurb Mac auction site. More ‘Book news.
2001: I’m a 35mm photographer from way back. Much as I’d love a digital camera that takes my Nikon lenses, until now they’ve been preposterously expensive. So I use a wonderful little Canon PowerShot A50 for digital shots and my Nikon N6006 when I want more control.
2001-06-15: New PowerBook cases from Willow. Keycap replacements for Pismo, Lombard, and iBook. $99 digital camera. More ‘Book news.
Hello, my ever so fast growing gathering of hard-core Mac UK fans. Thanks for dropping by on this oddest of all Low End Mac columns, where some strange doctor from the Scottish west coast rambles about the state of affairs in the homeland of “first past the post” democracy (in this sentence is an oxymoron […]
DVD Firmware Update for PowerBook G4, PCI Expansion Chassis for PowerBooks, Bargain ‘Books, and More
2001.06.08: DVD firmware update for PowerBook G4. PCI expansion chassis for PowerBooks. Bargain ‘Books. More ‘Book news.
2001: About a year ago I discovered Video CD (VCD), a low cost, low tech alternative to DVDs. In Is Video CD a Real Alternative to DVD?, I looked at the quality of VCD and found quite quite a bit of variance. The best offer the same quality as a top notch videotape and may […]
2001 – This week’s piece could be named iSimples because of the simplicity of the problems we’ll solve. Some little bugs can make a difficult day an even more annoying one. Let’s go through them and solve them, one by one, to make your life a little easier.
2001-06-01: New PowerBook website. New PowerBook G4 cases. iBook audio update. More ‘Book news.
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May 2001
2001 – Apple’s desktop computers began to include Harman/Kardon speakers in October 1999, when Harman/Kardon’s brand-new Odyssey digital speakers were included with the new slot-loading iMacs.
May 2001 – Back in 1998, the new Director of Management Information Systems at the Grand Rapids (MI) Public Schools (GRPS) decided to move the school system to Windows. Mac using parents and teachers fought back (see Grand Rapids (MI) Schools Standardizing on Windows).
In Just for Fun, Linus Torvalds’ recent memoir of the early days of Linux, Torvalds recounts meeting Steve Jobs and Apple technical chief Avie Tevanian.
2001 – Everyone knows how to type, and many typists use Microsoft Word, since it is a standard for word processing. Word has plenty of unused and unknown features that facilitate the writer’s work. Whether they help to improve your writing, make word processing easy on the eye, or provide powerful editing techniques, those features […]
Sometime the IRS doesn’t seem to be living in the real world – depreciating new computers over a five-year period is one example.
2001 – In 1991, I got my first Mac. It was a Mac IIsi with an 80 megabyte hard drive, which was considered a big drive then. Fast forward ten years, and we have 80 gigabyte drives that occupy the same niche in the storage environment. Compared to my first drive, a current 80 gig […]
2001-05-25: Top end Dual USB iBook gains Combo drive as a standard feature. Compaq laptop/desktop prototype. New iBook teardown. More ‘Book news.
2001 – This tutorial is a bit different from the others. Most of the time I teach tricks and tell you how to do stuff on your Mac. This time, I wish – with all the arrogance that this implies – to educate you regarding things that you should not do, whether on a Mac […]
I’m a bipolar extensions user: I go from one extreme to another. First I’ll go download a bunch of cool extensions that improve my user experience. Extensions are part of what make the Mac so fun. Over time, the extensions build up to the point where I feel like I have too many. Maybe I […]
The New Math
In the past few weeks, Microsoft has been getting some bad press. Okay, I don’t suppose that is particularly a news item. The current issue is the change in Microsoft’s software license. In layman’s terms, Microsoft is switching from selling its software to leasing it.
2001-05-18: BookEndz docking station for Titanium PowerBook. MadsonLine power adapter for TiBook. Another source of 512 MB modules for PowerBook G4. More ‘Book news.
A few weeks ago I got a letter from my friend David in Western Samoa. I lived next to David in Vaitoomuli village for two years while I was a Peace Corps Volunteer. We taught at the local high school together. I trained him on Macs, because I wanted to have someone to troubleshoot the […]
The science fiction world lost a great humorist and the Mac community lost a great advocate on Friday, May 11, 2001, when Douglas Adams unexpectedly passed on at the age of 49.
2001-05-11: Super Mini Optical Mouse for notebooks. How Dual USB iBook keyboard differs from Clamshell iBook layout. New TiBook accessories from SmartBook. More ‘Book news.
2001 – Your Mac was so darn fast when you bought it. It was a top-of-the-line and state-of-the-art computer, but it suddenly seems older than you. You have the impression that with all its power, it could deliver the goods in much less time than it does now.
2001: Apple has been making CRT monitors since the late 1970s. Their last model, the Apple 17″ Studio Display with ADC, ended the line of perennially pricey displays with a myriad of off-the-wall features and ever-changing proprietary connectors. Yet there probably hasn’t been one model that somebody doesn’t love.
When I first wrote about BeOS, several readers were careful to point out the good sides of Apple picking NeXT instead of Be. Without the purchase of NeXT, we never would have gotten Steve Jobs back as iCEO, and there would be no iMac or iBook. But Apple got much more than Steve and a […]
2001 – Apple has hit several home runs in the past few years, but it never did anything as fine as the latest iBook. The 4.9 pound portable is an almost incredible combination of strength, small size, good looks, and technology at a good price.
2001-05-05: Apple introduces new iBook design. More 512 MB modules available for TiBook. AppleCare on Apple refurbs. More ‘Book news.
2001 – Isn’t it great to have a cool looking desktop picture in the background when you do your work or surf the Net? Most people like to have a decent picture and have a hard time finding the one they like.
The Dual USB iBook had been the subject of great speculation in the weeks before its introduction. Gone were the tangerine orange, key lime green, graphite gray, and indigo blue colors of the past – the new iBook is simply white. Gone are the curves – the new iBook is a white box with rounded […]
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April 2001
In my past couple articles (BeOS or NeXT: Did Apple make the wrong choice? and User Interface: Mac vs. BeOS), I’ve described parts of BeOS. It’s a technically impressive OS that lacks some of the finesse that the Mac OS has.
2001-04-27: New iBook announcement rumored for next week. Tutorial on upgrading hard drives in iBooks. 512 MB modules for TiBook allow 1 GB of RAM. More ‘Book news.
2001 – We explored ways to increase the browsing speed of Internet Explorer (IE) a few weeks ago. As IE offers more than mere “get to the pages” browsing, we want to take advantage of all its features. With IE 5.0, Microsoft has added some great features.
Last week I talked about some of the advantages that BeOS has over Mac OS X. When Steve Jobs first demonstrated Mac OS X, Mac users got a taste of their own medicine – we’re used to having a superiority complex.
I’m glad that my previous article has generated some interest and that David Puett took the time to clarify some points that I skimmed over in his BeOS or NeXT: Did Apple Make the Wrong Choice. I agree that I oversimplified some things in my article. Still, I think some of my ideas were generally correct, […]
2001-04-20: PowerLogix trims price of 466 MHz G3 upgrade for WallStreet. PCMCIA tutorial updated. FireWire Depot intros titanium laptop drive case. More ‘Book news.
2001: The “Read Before You Install” document on the Mac OS X install CD says that installing Mac OS X on a FireWire or USB drive is unsupported. That means it doesn’t work, right?
2001 – Before we get started, let me introduce a new feature to iBasics. I will rate tips in terms of difficulty, from easy to intermediate to expert. As the focus of the column is basics, we will mostly go through easy and intermediate topics, but sometimes an “expert” tip will be useful, especially as […]
It’s hard to believe it has been four years. In early 1997, Power Computing announced that they would ship BeOS with its clones. An upstart clone maker shipping an upstart OS, if you will. This was big news, since BeOS fixed many of the problems that System 7 faced. The discussions from then sounds all […]
2001-04-13: Used Lombard PowerBooks from $1,399. 333 MHz PowerBook 1400 and 466 MHz WallStreet G3 upgrades on sale. More ‘Book news.
2001 – Now that you know how to import and organize a library of MP3 files, you may want to take advantage of a very powerful feature offered in iTunes: CD burning.
In a previous article, I talked about creating an MP3 server out of a Quadra 630. At that time, I asserted that it could handle the job, but I hadn’t really tested it out. Now I’d like to put a few numbers on my Quadra’s performance and talk about optimizing it.
2001 – Four years ago, there was no Low End Mac. There were good resources for PowerBooks and Power Macs, but support for older models was spotty. You might find a really good Mac Plus page or a site with excellent Mac IIfx info, but I couldn’t find a comprehensive resource covering the oldest Macs.
2001-04-06: Apple’s Mobile Newsroom deal built around Titanium PowerBook. New FireWire hard drive enclosure. Bargain ‘Books. First refurbished TiBooks available. More ‘Book news.
2001: Microsoft recently announced it’s Hailstorm initiative. In a nutshell, Hailstorm is a storage system for the personal information of its users.
2001 – iTunes is one of the best software solutions that Apple has released in a long time. Despite the fact that most Apple software is great with a nice touch of Mac-like behavior, iTunes is a home run – it is beyond great. Not only is it amazing Mac software; it is consumer-savvy and […]
2001 – Two weeks ago, in What’s Wrong with PowerBooks, I wrote about some negatives of PowerBooks, and last week I looked at the other side in What’s Right with PowerBooks. So what does it all mean?
A senior programmer high in Microsoft’s Windows XP development team has written me with details on many additional improvements WinXP packs that were previously unknown to testers of XP Beta 2. The focus of the email was on the bugs in XP Beta 2.
It had to happen, what with Dan Knight getting a new TiBook and retiring his Umax SuperMac S900. Dan sets the tone of things for the now-former Low End Mac, being the founder, publisher, editor, and all, and there is nothing “low end” about a titanium G4 PowerBook.
This is a review of iPerforma, the next generation of Macs to hit the desktop and replace my vintage Performa.
Q: My favorite desktop pattern disappeared. How do I get it back? A: Buy a new computer. With a faster machine, you’ll save precious time…
I don’t understand why Low End Mac readers stick with your old clones or pre-G3 computers. I’ve been using Macintoshes since 1994, and most of the time I’ve had one of the latest machines. To me, living without the latest, most powerful stuff is unthinkable.
Hey, what happened to Low End Mac? Have you guys gone nuts? No. We realize that the future of the Macintosh platform is intimately tied to the future of Apple Computer. If you don’t buy a new Mac every now and then, Apple suffers financially…
A local auto dealer has been pushing “drive new every two” for a few years. It’s also become the norm in the Windows world, where three years used to be the norm. Mac users, it’s time to make “buy new every two” our battle cry as well!
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March 2001
2001-03-30: A $13 keyboard screen protector, IBM’s new quiet laptop drives, WallStreet PowerBook limit on where OS X can be installed, and more ‘Book news.
2001 – The Finder is the application that gives your Mac its desktop appearance. It displays the menu bar, your desktop background, menus, and icons that you need to get everything done.
Dan Knight, most caring of all Mac-related website editors, thought it was time to allow us people from that little island across the big pond (that’s Great Britain, not Hawaii) who still use Apple computers in the face of ever dwindling numbers of Apple stores and ridiculous retail prices to make their voice heard on […]
PowerBooks are wonderful but problematic. They can be too expensive, a poor desktop replacement, and not really that portable by the time they are packed up for traveling. Many people get caught up in the marketing around PowerBooks or iBooks when they would be better off with a different Mac.
2001: Before I even knew there was a firmware update for my PowerBook G4, the Mac Web let me know that a lot of users were having problems with it. These updates were posted late Friday, March 23. By Saturday morning, sites like Accelerate Your Mac, Mac Observer, MacCentral, and MacFixIt were reporting big trouble […]
2001-03-23: Apple is clearing out leftover 400 MHz Pismo inventory, MadsonLine and Dr. Bott announce new Titanium PowerBook accessories, MCE’s FireWire dock for Lombard and Pismo PowerBooks, and more.
2001 – There’s been a hiatus in the Mac Lab Reports, a column I have been writing consistently once a week for several months, while I did research for this entry, especially regarding QuickTime. I’ve wrestled with that one in particular because of the issues surrounding the implementation of multimedia on PCs.
2001: The newest addition to our benchmark suite is TimeDrive 1.3 (available here), which measures drive throughput. This can test a floppy, Zip, hard drive, or RAM Disk. TimeDrive is fairly primitive; the benefit of that is being able to run it on very old Macs.
2001 – Welcome to the third and final segment of this Outlook Express (OE) tutorial. We went through the most important features of OE in parts 1 and 2. To put the icing on the cake, let’s examine a bunch of convenient features available at your fingertips. They are mostly useful to personalize OE or […]
2001 – There’s a chasm that separates the promise and the reality of PowerBooks. Maybe it is marketing or collective delusion, but PowerBooks can be a horrendous value for many people. Many PowerBook users just don’t get their money’s worth.
2001-03-16: $349 466 MHz G3 upgrade for WallStreet and Lombard PowerBooks. PowerBook 5300 trade-in for Canadians. Leftover Pismo price reduced at Apple education store. More ‘Book news.
2001 – Last week, we went through the basics of Outlook Express (OE). Now it is time for slightly more complex operations to take advantage of the power that begs to be used. In this case, more complexity means more power. OE has a variety of tools that make importing, filtering, and sorting easy. They […]
2001: One year and four months ago, I shared my impressions of how the Macintosh stacks up against the PC in regards to gaming. That was around the time when Quake III Test was out, and I was still toying with my Quadra 605.
2001 – I’ve had the chance to own a lot of high-end PowerBooks. First it was the PowerBook 180 (instead of the top of the line 180c). Then the PowerBook 540. Lately I owned a Pismo PowerBook G3, and next week I’ll get my hands on a PowerBook 3400/180.
2001-03-09: Apple has reinstated trade-in deals on PowerBook 190 and 5300 models. Third-party ColorSync profiles available for iBook, Pismo, and TiBook. More ‘Book news.
Got a Mac in your bedroom? Great – you can use it as an alarm clock! Here’s how to do it.
A man is flying a small airplane and is lost in the clouds. He descends until he spots an office building and yells to a man in an open window, “Where am I?” The man replies, “You are in an airplane about 100 feet above the ground.” The pilot immediately turns to the proper course, […]
2001 – Outlook Express (OE) 5 is the default email application for Macintosh when you install any recent Mac OS. Despite the fact that many folks choose Eudora, Claris Emailer, PowerMail, and other capable clients, many stick with OE since it is free and it satisfies them.
How many clicks or keystrokes did it take you to get to Low End Mac? I used to do nine clicks and keystrokes to get to Low End Mac. One click on iCab on my launcher program called Malph. One Cmd-L to open a URL, and then six keystrokes to type “www.lo” – at which […]
2001 – This article was posted about three weeks before Mac OS X 10.0 first shipped, so it reflects the reality under Mac OS 9.1. OS X has far better multiprocessor support, which Bare Feats demonstrated in an October 2001 comparison of single- and dual-processor G4 Power Macs using OS X 10.1.
2001-03-02: Welcome to The ‘Book Review, a new Low End Mac feature in which we will review each week’s iBook and PowerBook news in capsule form – new products, price changes, software updates, and suchlike.
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February 2001
2001 – When you took it out of the box, your Mac looked better than anything Windows. Whether you had System 7.5, Mac OS 8, or Mac OS 9, it simply looked better.
I was recently reading a magazine called T3 (Tomorrow’s Technology Today), which has all sorts of gadgets that I would like to buy. They reviewed digital picture frames, and I could see how it would be neat to have a way to display continuous slideshows away from my computer. But the prices were outrageous – […]
2001 – What was Steve Jobs thinking? That seems to be the #1 question on the Mac Web and in the online computer press around the world. Blue Dalmatian? Flower Power?
Q: I’ve been using many different free Internet service providers, but it seems that more and more free Mac ISPs are either closing their services or dropping support for Macintosh users. I still want free Internet access for my Mac, but I can’t find it anywhere. Are there any more free Internet access services left […]
There were four different G3 iMacs that ran at 400 MHz: two introduced in 1999, one in 2000, and one in 2001. The 400 MHz iMac DV and 400 MHz DV Special Edition were introduced in October 1999. These included a DVD-ROM drive and were the first iMacs with built-in FireWire. They have RAGE 128 […]
This model, available in Indigo and Ruby, replaced the earlier iMac DV. Both models share a 400 MHz processor. Other than colors, the biggest difference between the new iMac DV and the previous model with the same name is the use of a CD-ROM drive instead of DVD. The Summer 2000 iMac DV sells for […]
The 600 MHz iMac 2001 SE (for special edition) sat at the top of the Early 2001 iMac family. It was the fastest iMac when released and came in graphite, flower power, and blue Dalmatian (really – see the picture!). This model replaced the 2000 iMac DV SE at the same price while adding CD-RW, […]
The 500 MHz iMac 2001 is the middle member of the iMac 2001 family. It is Apple’s least expensive computer with CD-RW capability and comes in indigo, flower power, and blue Dalmatian (really – see the picture!). This model replaces the 450 MHz Mac DV+ at a $100 price reduction while adding CD-RW and a […]
The 500 MHz Early 2001 iMac is the middle member of the Early 2001 family. It is Apple’s least expensive computer with CD-RW capability and comes in indigo, flower power, and blue Dalmatian (really – see the picture!). This model replaces the 450 MHz Mac DV+ at a $100 price reduction while adding CD-RW, improved […]
The 600 MHz iMac 2001 SE (for special edition) sat at the top of the Early 2001 iMac family. It was the fastest iMac when released and came in graphite, flower power, and blue Dalmatian (really – see the picture!). This model replaced the 2000 iMac DV SE at the same price while adding CD-RW, […]
2001 – I got feedback on each of the 15 Mac Advantages I covered last week, but the following responses merit further discussion and acknowledgment. Thanks to these readers for their thorough and thoughtful replies.
2001 – Since the release of version 5, Internet Explorer became the Mac world’s number one browser, with many Netscape users dumping the Navigator or Communicator 4.x in order to get Microsoft’s latest offering. In any case, Explorer is very popular in the Mac crowd, and a few of you may want to maximize its […]
2001: I am sure that people are getting tired of hearing about multithreading, symmetrical multiprocessing, memory management, and preemptive multitasking. How is it really going to affect you, the Macintosh user, under Mac OS X, when you just want to read Low End Mac, check your email, and write a document.
Computers are supposed to make life easier, right? It seems like if I have a faster computer, I should be able to get things done more quickly and have more free time for important things – like talking to my fiancé or getting some exercise. But often that isn’t the way it seems to work […]
2001: The trackpad was launched by Apple in May 1994 as a replacement for the much-lauded trackball in its PowerBooks. It has been implemented in every subsequent Mac portable. It was used in lieu of a mouse in the Twentieth Anniversary Mac and is also used by the majority of PC notebooks now in production. […]
2001: Almost everyone loves the PowerBook G4 – Mac folk are calling it the greatest PowerBook ever, and some Windows users see it as the best laptop ever. Shoot, some might even convert from the dark side!
2001 – Hi everybody and welcome to iBasics.* The intent of this weekly column is to help you to tame your Macintosh and get the most out of it, whether it is old or new. Not everybody is a power user who relies on the use of a Macintosh for a living, but everybody wants […]
Greg Landweber is far better known for Kaleidoscope than for SmoothType. I know a lot of Mac users who love to play around with their interface; I know few as interested in how good text looks on the screen. Yet I suspect cleaner type does more to improving the interface than different colors, sounds, and […]
Red Skull: “I’m God” Captain America: “Then I’m Nietzsche.” From Earth X graphic novel (issues 1-12), Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, and John Paul Leon
2001: Thanks to several readers who emailed to suggest I pick up one of those plastic fish tank thermometers to measure the temperature of various parts of my PowerBook G4. Unfortunately, we had freezing rain overnight, so I don’t know when I’ll be venturing out to find one, but it sounds like it should work […]
2001: Monday morning, I received a Podium CoolPad from Road Tools. It’s a compact device measuring 11″ wide and 8.7″ deep. The base has a swivel, so you can easily turn a laptop from side to side. It also comes with adjustable risers, which let you raise the back of your notebook computer from 0.5″ […]
I don’t know when I first discovered Clean-Install Assistant (C-IA), but it’s been an invaluable tool ever since.
2001: I’ve put in a lot more hours and run a few more tests on Quicksilver, my 400 MHz PowerBook G4.
2001: Yes, it is a bit odd to own the newest PowerBook at Low End Mac. It doesn’t seem very low-end, does it? I could try to justify it: Apple has announced a 733 MHz Power Mac G4 and also has a 500 MHz PowerBook G4, after all.
I got my PowerBook G4 on Wednesday afternoon, spent a couple hours getting it ready, and shared my initial impressions Wednesday evening. Then I got to work moving all my files from my aging SuperMac S900 (a 1996 Macintosh clone with many upgrades) to the new TiBook – it took hours.
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January 2001
2001: For the past couple days, we’ve been hearing rumors that TiBooks (the Titanium PowerBook G4) are shipping. My dealer told me yesterday that mine had shipped from Taiwan via FedEx. They promised to let me know as soon as they had an ETA.
2001: A friend and I were having a “Mac OS stinks” discussion one day when, for once, he brought up a valid point on why the Mac OS does, in fact, stink: When you hold down the mouse button, the whole operating system comes to halt. Should anything interactive be running when you do that, […]
2001: Melonsoft’s Cabrio is a new and innovative Mac-only MP3 audio player.
2001: About two months ago, I received a DayStar Digital Genesis MP 600 with a 200 MHz quad 604 CPU module and a 132 MHz quad 604 CPU module as a gift from some friends of mine. If you have never seen one in person, this is big, heavy, and loud. Its metal case could […]
Apple doesn’t make it easy – this is the fourth model using the name Power Mac G4 and the same case. What most differentiates the Digital Audio version from earlier models is the 133 MHz bus on the motherboard with four PCI slots plus an AGP slot, one more PCI slot than previous models. There […]
The titanium PowerBook was announced on 2001.01.09 at the Macworld Expo. It is smaller and lighter than any of the G3 PowerBooks that preceded it, measuring just 1″ thick and weighing in at 5.3 pounds. Construction is titanium and carbon fiber, making for a very tough, very light computer. In the field, its battery yields […]
Here are two books that warrant the attention of serious Low End Mac readers: The Second Coming of Steve Jobs and Free For All.
ProTools v3.4 Digital Audio Workstation software was released on CD-ROM free of charge by Digidesign as a promotional effort in 1997. It is an older but fully-functional 16-track version of the program. Pro Tools v3.4 was only approved for use with some PCI-based Power Macs, but it is possible to run the program on many […]
