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 […]
Author Archives: Daniel Knight
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.
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 […]
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 . […]
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 […]
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. […]
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!
