Since my WallStreet PowerBook
unceremoniously
died last week, my old Umax
SuperMac S900, which had been mostly gathering dust since I bought
a Pismo PowerBook last October, has been
pressed back into service as my backup machine. The old SuperMac, with
its 200 MHz 604e processor, is no G3 or G4, but it acquits itself quite
decently, especially when performing tasks that don't tax the processor
or the mediocre video card I have installed in it too strenuously.
In particular, Web surfing and email are very lively, with page
downloads that seem significantly quicker than with the late, lamented
WallStreet - or even the 500 MHz Pismo. I attribute this partly to the
5400 rpm hard drive in the Umax, and possibly to more efficient port
access as well. The modem I'm using with the S900 it is an old Global
Village Platinum 33.3k external serial unit, as opposed to the built-in
56 K modems in the PowerBooks, but since none of these modems connects
at better than 26,400 bps over my less than optimum dialup service,
the slower modem isn't a handicap.
On the other hand, slow scrolling drives me nuts after years on the
speedy G3s, with system bootups and program startups also very leisurely by comparison. I could do
production work on this machine - and indeed I did for a week back in
May, 2001 - but I wouldn't be likely to use it with a G3 or G4
available.
Which brings us to the topic of processor upgrades. I have been
tempted, as the price of G3 PCI
upgrades has dropped, but several issues keep holding back.
While a 350-400 MHz G3 upgrade can be had for a reasonable $100 or
so, my Umax has only a 4 GB hard drive, 120 MB of RAM, and that
poky old video card from a Umax J700, all of which would want to be
upgraded as well.
Another issue is dictation software support. I am heavily dependent
upon dictation software. MacSpeech's iListen 1.1 works with the 200 MHz
604e, although it's not officially supported, and is frustratingly
slow. ViaVoice Millennium Edition refuses to install on the Umax at
all, although it might work with a G3 in place. However, MacSpeech
specifically says that iListen won't work with processor upgraded
machines.
Nevertheless, I'll bet the old S900 would really fly with one of
Sonnet's new Crescendo/PCI G4 800 upgrades installed - and even run
OS X happily. It would be a blast to be able to experiment, but
$399.95 is a lot of money to spend on old computer, and I would still
need that other stuff I mentioned.
Speaking of old computers, my former workhorse PowerBook 5300, which has been my daughter's
computer for the past three and a half years, really saved my bacon
when the WallStreet melted down. I had been a bit lazy about backing up
my files recently, and there were about three weeks worth of work and
email files in the PowerBook's hard drive that I didn't have duplicated
on other media.
Happily, I was able to install the WallStreet's 10 GB Toshiba drive
in the case of a little 810 MB VST expansion may drive my daughter has
for the 5300 and then transfer my unbacked up files to the Pismo via
Zip disk.
The old 5300 has been a rock of dependability since I bought it back
in 1996; the only real problems having been a broken trackpad button
and a loose AC adapter jack. The entire case plastics were replaced by
Apple in 2000 under their REA service extension program for the 5300
series when the trackpad button broke, at which time the AC jack was
resoldered. Despite the 5300's generally spotty reputation, this one
has been an excellent computer. It's now about twice as old as the
WallStreet was when it expired, and it's still going strong.
My daughter, however, has now switched to the PowerBook 1400 I wrote about here a couple of months ago, is enjoying the
larger, color screen and a bit more speed. The 5300 is now her backup
computer.
While the G3s and G4s are speedy and slick, these old legacy
machines still have a lot of going for them, and they do seem to be
more robust than the flashy new speedsters.
