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 […]
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Macs tend to be pretty trouble-free, but sometimes things happen. Maybe you had to force-quit an application, or a program refuses to launch, or the spinning beachball of death won’t stop, forcing you to manually power down your Mac. All of those could mean it’s time to do some hard drive and system checks.
The PowerPC platform had a long life on Macs. The first Power Macs arrived on March 14, 1994, 10 years after the first Mac – the Power Mac 6100, 7100, and 8100, running the PowerPC 601 CPU at speeds of 60, 66, and 80 MHz respectively. The PowerPC G5 came to the iMac in August 2004, over […]
I upgraded my memory past 8 MB, but a bunch of memory seems to be missing or used by the OS. Where did it go?
I recently put a 250 GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD in my Mid 2007 Mac mini, replacing a failing hard drive. While working on this setup, I found yet one more advantage of using an SSD.
Face it, there aren’t a lot of Mac keyboard options out there. Apple and a few other companies make USB and Bluetooth keyboards with the Mac layout. That’s it, and they tend to cost a lot more than PC keyboards – even good PC keyboards.
I’ve been using Classic Mode on G4 Power Macs for years, but now I have a 2.3 GHz Power Mac G5 with dual processors. It can’t boot Mac OS 9 natively, but it can run Classic Mode. How fast is it?
Someone in our Facebook group asked an interesting question: “Anyone know the maximum size flash drive that can be used in OS 9.2 on a 300 MHz iBook G3?”
The power supply in my Power Mac G5 fried itself. What G5 Power Macs can I use for a donor power supply?
Put simply, you can’t. With the introduction of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard in August 2009, Apple removed all support for PowerPC Macs from its operating system. You cannot run OS X 10.6, 10.7, 10.8, 10.9, or 10.10 on G5 Macs or anything earlier. They will only run on Intel x86 hardware.
How do you prevent unwanted email from showing up in your in box? If you’re a Yahoo! Mail user, it’s really quite easy.
LibreOffice is a competent, free alternative to Microsoft Office. Like Office, it’s kind of bloated and slow to load. I’m using it to replace AppleWorks, which is incompatible with OS X 10.7 Lion and later – and I’ve discovered that LibreOffice is no speed demon.
One problem with personal computers is that you can’t run full diagnostics of your boot drive when booted from it. It’s very helpful to have an emergency drive you can boot from to run diagnostics on your primary drive, whether that’s a DVD, hard drive, or USB thumb drive. This article explains how to build […]
Since installing OS X 10.9 Mavericks, I’ve been plagued by problems with security certificates. I couldn’t visit Twitter or LastPass using Safari or Chrome. And I couldn’t log in to Messages or FaceTime. But after a fair bit of research, I found a solution.
Low End Mac reader David M. was unsuccessful in his attempt to install OS X 10.2.8 Jaguar on his Beige Power Mac G3. The attempt caused the computer to boot into Open Firmware, and he found several similar results on the Web.
After reading Thunderbolt vs. USB, HDMI, PCIe Cable: How Does It Compare? on Cnet, it looks like we’re going to have yet another port war in the PC world.
One of the best ways to speed up your Mac is with a bigger, faster hard drive (adding more system memory is the other), but there are less hard drives for PowerPC ‘Books than before, and they tend to be lower in capacity than today’s SATA drives.
One of the best ways to speed up your Mac is with a bigger, faster hard drive (adding more system memory is the other), but there are less hard drives for PowerPC ‘Books than before, and they tend to be lower in capacity than today’s Serial ATA (SATA) drives.
This page covers CardBus WiFi hardware that is compatible with Mac OS X. CardBus uses a 32-bit data bus that’s faster than the 16-bit bus used by PCMCIA/PC Card devices, which are covered in WiFi PC Cards Compatible with PowerBooks Running Mac OS X.
This page covers PCMCIA/PC Card WiFi hardware that is compatible with Mac OS X. Some of these devices are also compatible with the Classic Mac OS; all of them are reported to work with OS X.
Older Macs may not have a slot for Apple’s AirPort Card – and even if they do, you may want higher throughput than 802.11b WiFi offers. 802.11g will give you nearly five times as much bandwidth.
This page covers PCMCIA/PC Card WiFi hardware that is compatible with the Classic Mac OS. A few of these devices are compatible with Mac OS 8.6; all of them are reported to work with Mac OS 9, and most also have drivers available for some versions of Mac OS X.
Older Macs may not have a slot for Apple’s AirPort Card, and even if yours does, you may want higher throughput than 802.11b WiFi offers – 802.11g will give you nearly five times as much bandwidth.
The iMac DV ClockUp page was originally posted at <http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~t-imai/imacde1.html> and is no longer available there. We have adapted that information for the benefit of those who wish to overclock slot-loading iMacs.
It’s been almost two years since I last wrote for Low End Mac, but my love of all things Apple hasn’t waned. Most recently, I’ve become the proud owner of an iPhone 3G, which may finally stop me hunting for an elusive MessagePad 2100 on eBay.
I’ve been carrying on an extended email conversation with Bill Brown for months. Bill is more-or-less the IT guy for an intense volunteer Mac program at a senior center. Certainly a confirmed Mac lover, he has made some interesting discoveries and developed some interesting techniques for refurbishing, repairing, and updating older Macs, particularly G3 iMacs.
My track record with eMacs has not been the greatest. My first was a 700 MHz with a Combo drive. I purchased it refurbished after the second generation eMacs came out, which meant I got a great deal on it – and Apple’s one-year warranty. Good thing, as it ended up in the service department […]
I recently wrote some short articles on running Internet Explorer (IE) 5.1.7 in OS 7.6.1 (with the help of the Appearance Manager 1.0.4 SDK) and ResEditing OS 7.6.1 to believe it is OS 8.1. That is the way I am doing it myself, but the stuff here could help you, even if you’re running a different […]
Blame it all on BBC, the British Broadcasting Company. I like BBC’s radio programs, but as my favorite operating system is Mac OS 7.6.1, there has been a problem called Real Player 8 (RP8). Regular OS 7.6.1 lets you use RP5, and the Appearance Manager brings RP6 (a.k.a. G2) in the game, but the BBC Radio […]
In recent online discussions (circa August 2004), it is apparent that there is some confusion in some circles regarding the interchangeability of different versions of what Apple calls the “SuperDrive” – the standard 3.5″ floppy drive built into most Macintosh models since just after the original Mac II.
