1999: Computers have fascinated me since I read the first Radio Shack flyer about the TRS-80. And once I got my hands on a personal computer, I discovered my destiny. I was born to be a computer geek. (See Geek Like Me for more on that topic.)
Author Archives: Daniel Knight
What upgrades are practical for an older (pre-Power) Mac?
1999 – I cut my teeth on personal computers in 1979 on an Apple II+. Back then, the computer (not including floppy drive and monitor) cost over $1,500. Today, the 300 MHz Power Mac G3 is about the same price without floppy and monitor.
1999 – I’ve received a lot of questions about the Power Mac/Performa 5200 and 6200. Here are some recent ones.
Have you heard about iCab, the new shareware Mac-only web browser from Germany?
1999 – DH writes: I have a Performa 550 (20/160/2x, built in 14″) with a failing hard drive. I also need to replace the keyboard, mouse, and printer.
Got an old Color Classic, LC, LC II that’s just too slow to keep using? Using an LC III, LC 520, or LC 550 that just doesn’t pack enough power? If so, Sonnet Technology had a solution in the Presto 040 accelerator, which can push these older Macs to Quadra level performance.
The Color Classic (also sold as the Performa 250) uses a 16 MHz 68030 CPU, but the Sonnet Presto accelerator provides either a 25 MHz 68040 or a 68LC040 (a 68040 without a math section), which are much more powerful. But how much more powerful is it?
The Color Classic uses a 16 MHz 68030 CPU, so performance should be comparable to a 16 MHz Mac IIcx or Mac LC. The tested unit also has a 16 MHz 68882 math coprocessor. The hard drive is an 80 MB Apple branded drive formatted with Apple HD SC Setup 7.3.5.
I got home last night to find a box from Contour Design waiting for me. Contour Design? It didn’t quite ring a bell, until I got inside and saw the green box marked UniMouse.
1999 – NKM writes: You wrote in What about 7500 Upgrades? that, “There are also some nice G3 upgrades for the 6100, although I would find it difficult to justify that much expense on such a limited design.”
1999: Did you hear the one about the two 16-year-old boys in Canada who registered appleimac.com – and have now been threatened by Apple’s lawyers? If not, read Teen in Dispute with Apple Over Domain on Cnet.
1999 – It’s been three weeks since my last column, yet the email keeps pouring in. I hate to admit it, but I’m about two months behind on your letters, so I’ll be keeping a low profile on Mac Daniel (one or two columns a week) until I catch up.
1998: I miss the little guys. You may remember them. The original Macintosh (just Macintosh, no other name or model number). The 512K and 512K enhanced. The Plus. The SE and SE/30. Then the Classic and Classic II.
February 1999 – This letter was written by a system administrator in the U.S. Army, who wishes to remain anonymous, after hearing how Cal State was planning on adopting Microsoft Exchange Mail Server.
Feb. 1999 – This letter was written by an employee of Cal State who wishes to remain anonymous.
1999 – Articles circulated in the past few days – see Cnet and Yahoo+ stories – note that Mac users shouldn’t be too smug about the Year 2000 (Y2K) problem. The Mac is not immune.
1999: It feels good to be right. Last August, I asked, “Is Apple Too Popular for Its Own Good?” – and I suggested that Apple needed to outsource iMac production if it wanted to increase market share.
1999 – A few days ago, Free-PC.com started giving away free Windows PCs. Ho hum Compaq Presarios. The Mac community yawned – or snickered. But now One Stop Communications is offering a free iMac. In fact, they’re offering a total of 25,000 free iMac.
1999: I got a lot of positive feedback on last week’s column, I Was Wrong about the iMac, but also a lot of negative feedback on two paragraphs:
January 1999 – The following letter was sent to the technology coordinator and members of the school board of the South Kitsap (WA) School District in response to Macs Under Fire in South Kitsap (WA) School District. A few clarifications have been added between [brackets].
1999: For over a dozen years, the personal computer industry has been producing incremental upgrades. The 4.77 MHz IBM clone gave way to 8 MHz “turbo” models, then 10 MHz, and sometimes more. With the 80286, speeds leapt from 6 MHz to 8, 10, 12, and 16 MHz.
1999 – KS writes: I’m considering upgrading my Umax J700/180 with one of the new cards from Vimage, Newer Technology, or PowerLogix. I upgraded my RAM to 96 MB when I bought the machine, but other than that I have not enhanced it in any way.
1999 – KSJ writes: I was wondering if you could help me figure something out. I have a Power Mac 5400/120 that I bought a couple of years ago. I am looking into a PCI-based G3 upgrade, but no one seems to acknowledge the fact that my machine has a PCI slot (as evidenced by […]
January 1999 – Response to the article Macs Under Fire in South Kitsap (WA) School District is really great! Unfortunately, the district has just recently approved their course of action in the matter. I’m just hoping that the school board gets enough email to possibly reconsider changing the policy. It’s never too late with this […]
1999: In all the excitement over the iMac, I got a bit carried away. I wrote editorials calling for a headless iMac (The Tiny iMac), a headless iMac with a DVD player and TV output (iMac TV), a behemoth 17″ iMac, a drive bay iMac, an expansion slot iMac, and more (see iMac: First of […]
1999 – EK writes: I own a PowerBook 540c and a Quadra 650. I feel as if I got left at Penn Station watching the train of technology zip by.
The WallStreet PowerBook G3 Series was a trio of very capable models replacing the 250 MHz Kanga PowerBook G3 (Apple needs to do something about these names!). The 250 MHz and 292 MHz models were lightning fast, but the 233 MHz version was dog slow.
1999 – No, the Performa 6360 (also sold as the Power Mac 6300/160) isn’t part of the dreaded x200 family. It uses the same improved system board architecture that later made their way into the 6400 and 6500.
1999 – GA writes: I read this article (Using a IIcx for Shared Internet Access) and liked it. I use IPNetRouter at my wife’s office (I guess that means she used it) for five Macs sharing a DSL line. Here in USWest-land, you must use the DSL modem/bridge they provide or they won’t support you. […]
