My latest main Mac (since my Intel iMac died) is a Power Mac G4 Sawtooth that is way under Apple’s minimum requirements for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, but I set out on a mission to get it installed. At Low End Mac, we pride ourselves in getting the most out of our Macs. I use G3s running […]
Author Archives: Adam Geller
I have a lot of Macs similarly spec’d, and I began noticing a lot of difference between them, so I set about benchmarking them and comparing the results. I thought I would share my findings with you.
A mate of mine who has only been using Macs for a few weeks has been using a PowerBook G3. We installed Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger on it, and then he got a larger hard drive. He was about to reinstall OS X when I suggested cloning.
I love G3 Macs, but I’m no fool. A G3 machine in its original Apple-shipped state won’t cut it in today’s computing world – but with a few upgrades and additions you can easily get a little extra usage out of older Macs.
I’ve been an avid reader of Low End Mac for a number of years and have recently shown my appreciation and become a writer. But what exactly is a low-end Mac? Different people have different ideas.
As a user of older Macs, especially G3s, lightweight apps make your day-to-day usage a lot easier, and this extends to web browsers.
I have been in several discussion with people who claim that all operating systems are rubbish these days, whether Windows, Mac, or Linux. In this day and age of cross-platform computing and the Internet, does it really matter what OS you are running?
We have had time to get used to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. How does it compare to the legendary Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger?
Everyone seems to want portable computing, but are laptops now considered too big? Could a smartphone be a suitable replacement for a laptop?
I am a firm believer in getting the very most out of older hardware – part of the reason I like and write for Low End Mac. With the move to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Apple cut out a lot of older computer users and began a slow death for the G3.
My first Mac helped to change my life for the better. It was a 1.42 GHz G4 Mac mini, which later became 1.5 GHz thanks to overclocking. I was hooked from that moment on.
This article aims to show which Mac browsers are best, in terms of stability, speed, general features, and compatibility.
This article aims to show which Mac browsers are best, in terms of stability, speed, general features, and compatibility. This article was superceded by 11 Mac Browsers Compared on 2008.09.03.
I purchased a Lombard PowerBook G3 in 2005 and started upgrading it, adding everything from more RAM, and a bigger hard drive to a DVD-RW.
This guide shows you how to replaced the optical drive in both the Lombard and the Pismo PowerBook, which uses exactly the same drive bay modules.
Getting your PowerBook online wirelessly can be tricky. I take a look at which cards work.
As a child of the 1970s (albeit by only two months), I grew up when computing was at its ripest. I started my computing venture with the likes of a Commodore 64 and Acorn 3010.
I’ve been into computing for over 15 years, but I didn’t see the Apple light until 2000. I had always liked Macs, but they were way out of my budget. I started working for a publishing house and was using an old Quadra. Even though it was old, it was amazing. It was my first experience […]
2008 – Apple released the Time Machine backup utility as part of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard in October 2007. Time Machine is most commonly used to back up to an external USB or FireWire hard drive directly attached to a Mac running Leopard.
The ability to view and optionally control the screen of a remote computer can be very handy in a number of scenarios. Maybe you have a parent living in another city with questions about their computer or problems. Trying to help someone over the phone can be problematic, if when you say “Open the Finder” […]
One of the things that sets Macs apart from other computers is their longevity. People don’t just throw them away. Macs tend to soldier on long after their spec sheets say that they’re “obsolete”. This may explain another phenomenon almost unique to the Macintosh subset of the computing world: Mac collectors. It’s understandable when you […]
Early in 2006, I wrote an article for Low End Mac entitled VNC, Basilisk II, and SheepShaver: 3 Ways to Run Classic on an Intel Mac. In it, I noted that the then-new Intel-powered Macs were unable to run older Mac software in called Classic Mode, but that there were at least a couple of […]
There’s an urban legend that Mac’s don’t crash. That’s not entirely accurate. Mac hard drives, for instance, are identical to those in Windows systems and suffer the same sorts of physical failures with the same frequency. And the Mac operating system, while based on a solid industrial-strength Unix core, can suffer from problems from time […]
I recently (nearly) completed a novel that I started over the summer. If you check my publication history, you can see that the rate at which I have published columns on Low End Mac has dwindled to nearly zero. That’s because nearly all my free time for writing has been dedicated to writing a novel.
Bong! . . . 🙂 . . . Welcome to Macintosh! All Hallows Eve has crept up on us yet again, and for me it means getting my Classic Macs ready for the occasion.
Bong! . . . 🙂 . . . Welcome to Macintosh! In the first installment of In House with Low End Mac, I interviewed Dan Knight, who founded and runs Low End Mac. Next up to bat is a man whose writing speaks for itself. He has written for Low End Mac since 1999 and […]
I’m lucky enough to get to check out a fair number of technology gadgets. Most of them turn out to be just that, gadgets. They’re fun for a little while, but not really useful enough for me to care much about. But lately one has managed to insinuate itself into my life. I think it’s […]
In this modern age of computing, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. There are so many things you can do on a computer that you can easily become lost for focus. I spoke of this very thing in an early Welcome to Macintosh article, The Good Old Days of Computing.
Cluck-cluck-cluck-cluck . . . Welcome to Apple II!
2007: Ten years? Has it been that long? Well, not necessarily for me. Dan Knight, Low End Mac’s publisher, dropped me an email back in 2000 asking if I’d like to contribute to this fine website. Young enough to have the time, I figured why not? A column every two weeks seemed easy enough, and […]
Many of the greatest legends of our time have at one point or another brought their artistic abilities and creative genius back to the forefront of society.
Although After Dark got its start on the Macintosh, this wonderful screen saver also found its way to the Windows side through the help of two equally talented, artistic souls, Bill Stewart and Ian MacDonald. I recently interviewed Bill Stewart.
It’s nothing short of spectacular to interview the legends behind an artistic creation. Just to know through every freeze frame that came to their minds, every idea that became born of creativity beyond wildest imaginations, the magic, the bewilderment, the stories behind the culmination of it all – it gives you a feeling of awe […]
Ever bought a piece of software back in the day that made you go Wow!? Not being able to wait to open it? Just sensing true greatness lying within the box? Something on that disk you knew without a doubt you’d never forget?
Tommy Thomas managed to snag interviews with three of the men behind the After Dark screen saver.