Speed Up LibreOffice on Your Mac

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.

Maximum Hard Drive Size

Hard drive capacity is limited not only by how densely bits can be packed on a magnetic platter, but also by the number of sectors and tracks and drive surfaces in the drive itself and the number the computer’s operating system is designed to handle.

The Great Emoji Controversy

First we had emoticons, those smiles, winks, and other usually sideways image created using standard keyboard keys. :-) And then came emoji, those tiny colorful expressive faces, animals, modes of transportation, food, buildings, and so much more. And now they have come under attack.

MacPaint FAQ

MacPaint was one of two applications bundled with the original Macintosh; it and was the Mac’s default paint program. It was written by Bill Atkinson, and its user interface was designed by Susan Kare. It continued as freeware through version 2.0. MacPaint images could be copied to the clipboard and pasted into MacWrite documents.

MacDraw and ClarisDraw FAQ

MacDraw was the Mac’s first drawing program. The vector-based drawing program was based on LisaDraw, which had been created for Apple’s Lisa computer – both applications were produced by Mark Cutter. MacDraw was especially useful for technical drawing, such as floorplans and flowcharts.

Mac LC, a Compromised Mac

Second Class Macs are Apple’s somewhat compromised hardware designs. For the most part, they’re not really bad – simply designs that didn’t meet their full potential. The Macintosh LC is the oldest Compromised Mac, one of four models sharing the same problems.

Mac LC II, a Compromised Mac

Second Class Macs are Apple’s somewhat compromised hardware designs. For the most part, they’re not really bad – simply designs that didn’t meet their full potential. The LC II (a.k.a. Performa 400-430) was a slightly less crippled version of the LC.

Mac Classic II, a Compromised Mac

Second Class Macs are Apple’s somewhat compromised hardware designs. For the most part, they’re not really bad – simply designs that didn’t meet their full potential. Take the 16-bit motherboard of the LC, replace the 68020 CPU with a 68030, strip out the expansion slot, and put it into a Classic case – and you have […]

Color Classic, a Compromised Mac

Second Class Macs are Apple’s somewhat compromised hardware designs. For the most part, they’re not really bad – simply designs that didn’t meet their full potential. The first color compact Mac, the Color Classic, was full of compromises.

Cacheless MainStreet PowerBook G3, a Road Apple

Second Class Macs are Apple’s somewhat compromised hardware designs. For the most part, they’re not really bad – simply designs that didn’t meet their full potential. The PowerBook G3 Series was a trio of very capable models replacing the 250 MHz Kanga PowerBook G3. The 250 MHz and 292 MHz models were lightning fast, but the […]

ClarisWorks and AppleWorks for Mac FAQ

ClarisWorks 1.0 redefined the software category pioneered by Microsoft Works. Where Microsoft’s package was a software suite containing separate word processor, spreadsheet, and database programs, ClarisWorks was a single program.

Macintosh TV, a Road Apple

Road Apples are Apple’s most compromised hardware designs. For the most part, they’re not completely bad – simply designs that couldn’t meet their potential. The first desktop Mac finished in an attractive black color, the Mac TV was pretty much a crippled LC 520 with a TV tuner instead of an expansion slot.

PowerBook 5300, a Compromised Mac

Second Class Macs are Apple’s somewhat compromised hardware designs. For the most part, they’re not really bad – simply designs that didn’t meet their full potential, such as the PowerBook 5300, Apple’s first PowerPC-based PowerBook.

Stainless Browser: Light and Efficient, But…

Since I have made the Dual 1.8 MHz Power Mac G5 my primary machine, I have been on the hunt looking for an alternative to Safari 5.0.6 . This has lead me to Stainless 0.8, a Chrome influenced browser that, while no longer in active development, is still available for download. (Source code is available […]

Performa 600 and Mac IIvx, Road Apples

Road Apples are Apple’s most compromised hardware designs. For the most part, they’re not completely bad – simply designs that couldn’t meet their potential. The Performa 600 is more deserving of the Road Apple title than any Mac before it, as is it’s nearly identical twin, the Mac IIvx.

Out of the Closet: The G5 Lives On

It sat in the closet in the spare bedroom, a 2013 impulse buy at a good price on Craigslist. It was something I really wanted, a Mid 2004 Dual 1.8 GHz PowerMac G5. I was so excited to bring it home, so excited to turn it on. The satisfying “bong” sound and hearing the hard drive start […]

Core Solo Mac mini, a Compromised Mac

Second Class Macs are Apple’s somewhat compromised hardware designs. For the most part, they’re not really bad – simply designs that didn’t meet their full potential. When it was introduced on February 28, 2006, the Core Solo Mac mini was the smallest desktop computer on the market – and the second-least expensive Macintosh Apple had […]

Was the Original iPhone Just ‘an OK Phone’?

Based on the headline on Cult of Mac (WTF? Ex-Apple Executive Apologize For The Original iPhone, Says It “Wasn’t Great”), you’d think Bob Borchers, Apple’s former Senior Director of Product Marketing, had really knocked the original iPhone, saying, “If you had the original iPhone I apologise; it was not a great phone, it was an OK […]

Apple and the ‘goto fail’ Bug

Late last week, Apple delivered iOS 7.0.6 and iOS 6.1.6 to address the “goto fail” bug in iOS and Apple TV OS 6.0.2 as well. This week it released OS X 10.9.2, Security Update 2014-001 for OS X 10.7 and newer, Safari 6.1.2 and 7.0.2 so everyone running OS X 10.7 Lion and newer will […]

Low End Mac’s Compleat* Guide to the iBook G4

The dual USB iBook form factor was in production for five years – the longest-running laptop design in Apple portable history. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, since its only major shortcoming (albeit a significant one) is that it is relatively difficult to open up and work on – even for routine stuff like hard […]

Quick Overview of G4 iBooks

Apple moved the popular iBook to the G4 processor in October 2003, eliminating the last Macs with G3 processors. Although the G4 iBooks used a G4 CPU, it wasn’t initially the same one used in the PowerBook G4; instead, it was version with a smaller level 2 (L2) cache, which meant the first generation iBooks […]

Low End Mac’s Compleat* Guide to MacBooks

When Apple introduced it MacBook Pro line, it discontinued the PowerBook series, and when the first MacBook models arrived in mid-May 2006, it discontinued the iBook line. These were the first two Mac brands to disappear in the Intel transition, followed by the Power Mac, which gave way to the Mac Pro later in 2006.