The big stuff first: The iPhone 7 is waterproof, no longer comes with a built-in headphone jack, and adds Jet Black to its color lineup. It’s the same size as the iPhone 6 and 6S, and there is no longer a 16 GB model – choices are 32 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB, but […]
Author Archives: Daniel Knight
The Apple Power Mac Processor Upgrade (APMPU) is a PowerPC 601 upgrade for 68040-based Macs that have a 32-bit LC processor direct slot (PDS) – the Quadra 605/LC 475/Performa 475-476, LC 575/Performa 575-578, LC 580/Performa 580-588, and Quadra 630/LC 630/Performa 630 series.
The Apple Power Mac Upgrade Card (APMUC) plugs into the 68040 Processor Direct Slot (PDS) of the Centris 650, Quadra 650, Quadra 700, Quadra 800, Quadra 900, and Quadra 950 and provides PowerPC 601 power. With an adapter, it also works in the Centris 610 and Quadra 610. It is not compatible with 68040-based Macs […]
The DayStar Turbo 601 provides full PowerPC 601 performance and compatibility – it even provides faster performance for 680×0-based applications. The Turbo 601 was available in 66 MHz and 100 MHz versions for the Mac IIci, Mac IIsi, and Mac IIvi/IIvx/Performa 600.
Getting an old (2002) 700 MHz iMac G4 with just 512 MB of memory up and running reminded me of what a nice – and still useful – operating system Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger is, especially on that old Apple PowerPC hardware.
Yes, Android is the top selling mobile platform around the world. Yes, Android dominates the low end of the smartphone and tablet markets. So why do you see so many iPhone and iPad cases and accessories when you go shopping?
The Google Chrome story began when Google introduced its new Chrome browser in September 2008. Initially it was Windows only, for XP and later, and Chrome was only for Windows until 2009. It was finally released for Mac OS X and Linux in May 2010.
The Quadra 840av has no system memory on its motherboard and has four 72-pin SIMM sockets for memory expansion to 128 MB.
The Centris 660av and Quadra 660av are identical except for the name plate. They have 4 MB of RAM soldered to the motherboard and two 72-pin SIMM sockets for memory expansion.
Whether marked Quadra 630 DOS Compatible, LC 630 DOS Compatible, or Performa 631 or 640, these models have 4 MB of RAM soldered to the motherboard, two 72-pin SIMM sockets for memory expansion up to 52 MB, and usually a DOS Compatibility card as well.
In recent weeks we’ve done an in-depth look at Mac floppy disk formats, published a 5-part series on Palm, launched a Facebook group for Newton users, looked at memory upgrade options for long-discontinued Macs, talked about the Mac Color Classic, and looked at some of the more obscure Mac clones from the mid-1990s. Earlier this […]
Earlier today in the Apple Macintosh Enthusiasts Facebook group, Charles Lott asked if an OS X Mac with a USB floppy drive could write disks that a Mac running System 7 could use. The short answer is, it depends.
On August 2, 2016, Firefox 48.0 was released. It is scheduled to be replaced by Firefox 49.0 on September 13, 2016. At that point, Mac users using OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, 10.7 Lion, and 10.8 Mountain Lion will be left behind by the current versions of Firefox. It will be a sad day, as […]
This Old Newton is Low End Mac’s user-to-user Facebook support group for Apple Newton users, including MessagePads, eMates, and licensed devices. The group was begun on 2016.08.09 and is meant to replace the defunct Apple Newton group on Facebook.
Apple released the first Mac mini with a 64-bit CPU in August 2007, although the Mac OS that shipped with it was a 32-bit operating system, whether OS X 10.4 Tiger or 10.5 Leopard. It wasn’t until OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard arrived two years later – in August 2009 – that we had the […]
Life was so much easier in the olden days of the Classic Mac OS. Every PostScript printer worked with Apple’s standard LaserWriter driver. That’s not true in the world of Mac OS X, where you need the correct CUPS printer definition to take advantage of all your printer’s features.
I think I’ve wanted to have a fisheye lens since I was in high school. A fisheye lens usually covers a 180° angle, although some are 150-170° and a couple very expensive Nikkors managed to cover 220°! To cover such a wide angle, these lenses introduced a curved distortion that is instantly recognizable.
We love old technology, especially old tech that worked well. That’s why we’re passionate about Mac – and big fans of Palm OS PDAs and smartphones. This page lists all of our content about the Palm OS and the hardware that ran it.
Palm had started as a software company that decided to make its own PDA because nobody else saw what Palm’s founders did. Palm dominated the PDA world and was one of the strongest players in the smartphone realm as well. So what went wrong?
Apple introduced the Mac mini in January 2005 as the smallest consumer computer on the planet. The original version ran a 1.25 GHz or 1.42 GHz G4 CPU on a 167 MHz bus and accepts a maximum 1 GB of system memory. It shipped with OS X 10.3 Panther and also supports 10.4 Tiger and […]
Handspring had been founded by several members of Palm Computing in June 1998 and was the second Palm OS licensee to ship product – and probably the most successful (see Part 3). In 2003, Palm Inc. merged with Handspring in a mutual agreement by both companies. This marks a new chapter in the story of […]
Apple took a nice step forward when it introduced the first Aluminum iMacs (iMac7,1) in August 1997. The logic board uses the Santa Rosa chipset, and it has an 800 MHz data bus, up from 667 MHz on earlier Intel-based iMacs. The CPU sits in a socket (Socket P), so you can upgrade it!
The first three generations of Intel-based iMacs use the same Socket M to mount the CPU and have a 667 MHz system bus. The CPU is not soldered in place, allowing the Early 2006, Mid 2006, and Late 2006 iMacs to take the same CPU upgrades, bringing speeds as high as 2.33 GHz.
The first three generations of Intel-based Mac minis used the same Socket M to mount the CPU on a 667 MHz system bus. The CPU is not soldered in place, allowing the Early 2006, Late 2006, and Mid 2007 models to take the same CPU upgrades, bringing speeds as high as 2.33 GHz.
With the release of the first PalmPilots on March 10, 1996, Palm finally addressed issues it had been dealing with by making software for other people’s hardware since 1992 (see Part 1). For the first time, Palm had its own hardware and software, and the Palm brand became synonymous with PDA (Personal Digital Assistant).
This page lists some of the best software for the Classic Mac OS – System 6 through Mac OS 9.2.2 – in my admittedly biased opinion. Listings are alphabetical, and some programs have OS X versions as well as classic ones. Many links are to archived files in my Dropbox.
I’ve just finished wading through 6+ years worth of press releases from Gartner Group, digging out quarterly PC sales results from Holiday Quarter 2008 through 2nd Quarter 2016. Why? Because the global PC market is in decline, and I wanted to see how Mac sales compared to Windows sales.
For nearly as long as I’ve published Low End Mac, we’ve had the “Road Apples” category for Macs that we felt didn’t live up to their potential (here’s an archive link to the 1998 Road Apples index). Sometimes it was because of hardware architecture. Sometimes it was because of unnecessary memory ceilings. And much of […]
I’ve been using a standup desk in my home office, and my recent job manufacturing high pressure air hoses required me to stand most of the day. A standing desk makes it easier to move around than sitting in a chair, but it can be hard on your body in other ways.
While most early Mac clones depended on Macintosh ROMs to function, NuTek spent four years reverse engineering the ROMs in a clean room in its quest to produce a legal Mac clone. It didn’t exactly succeed.
