Apple had introduced the G5 processor with the Power Mac G5 in June 2003, and the amount of heat the G5 processor generated required a case designed to keep air flowing so the computer wouldn’t overheat. The G5 also used much faster memory than the G4, running at one-half or one-third of CPU speed rather […]
The original idea behind PowerPC processors was to create a Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) and focus on making those instructions as efficient as possible. This was in direct contrast to Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC), which kept adding more and more instructions, which meant more decoding and processing had to be done by the […]
Dan Knight (Mac Musings): It’s hard to believe that it was just three years ago that Mac OS X went Intel only. Macs had uses PowerPC processors from the System 7.1 era up until 2006, when the first Intel-based Macs arrived running a special Intel-only version of OS X 10.4 Tiger. With OS X 10.5 […]
Could Apple TV save you money over Dish Network?
Until 1995, Microsoft Windows took a back seat to the Macintosh. Although Windows 3.x supported 256 color 320 x 200 VGA mode, by default is used a higher resolution (and thus sharper) 16 color mode. There wasn’t the least thing pretty about it. By contrast, Macintosh System 7 was very impressive, with its support for […]
I haven’t always been a Mac user. I started my computing days out on a Commodore 64 and an Acorn 3010. I bought my first PC from my employer in 1997 – a massive, heavy beige tower containing a 486DX2-66 processor, 64 MB RAM, 500 MB hard drive, a CD-ROM drive, and a 15″ SVGA […]
In my previous two articles, we looked at how to get Apache Web Sharing and PHP up and running in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion via some quick trips to the Terminal. While Apache and PHP are a powerful duo indeed, with their ability to serve up web pages and dynamically script the creation of web […]
Last time, we looked at how to use the Terminal to start and stop the Apache web server that comes bundled with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion now that Apple has removed its checkbox from the Sharing pane in System Preferences. This is fine and dandy for all your static HTML files, but if you are going […]
According to ExtremeTech, NASA’s Curiosity rover is powered by a RAD750 motherboard that contains a PowerPC 750 CPU, which is equivalent to a PowerPC G3 in the Mac world.
The Mac OS has had a web server bundled with it since Mac OS 8 debuted in 1997. Traditionally, Apple has referred to the included server software as Personal Web Sharing or just Web Sharing. While little is known about the web server that shipped with OS 8 and OS 9, OS X has included Apache, the most […]
Fifteen years ago, Steve Jobs announced at the Boston Macworld Expo that Microsoft was making a $150 million investment in Apple Computer, cash Apple desperately needed to remain afloat – along with a promise that Microsoft would continue to develop Office and Internet Explorer for Mac for at least five years, an assurance that helped […]
It’s not easy running a successful small business. As the owner, you have to wear many hats – and some don’t fit as well as others.
As I noted in my crisis article, Low End Mac Needs Your Help, I wear a lot of hats here at Low End Mac. From the earliest days, I was a writer, a researcher, a proofreader and editor, and a designer.
2012 – Much has been written about Linux on PowerPC Macs. To some, it is a reliable alternative; to others, just a crippled port of the x86 original. What if there was another competitor in the game? There is one – MorphOS.
The Apple world rarely rests, and talks are already beginning about the next release of Mac OS X. I am typing this on my 2009 MacBook with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion installed (see last week’s First Impressions of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion). It has only been a few days. The initial dust has […]
Today marks the 15th birthday of Mac OS 8, but the operating system’s name is perhaps more significant than any of its features.
Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion was released yesterday, and within a few hours of its release I had purchased it, downloaded it, and installed it. This is the first time I have ever bought a copy of Mac OS on launch day.
I love the Classic Mac OS, the Mac operating system prior to Mac OS X. Mac OS 8 has to be one of favourite classic OSes.
Apple announced a developer preview of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion (Mac App Store link) in mid-February 2012, and it became available on July 25, 2012. As expected, it makes Macs even more iOS-like, continuing the trend begun with OS X 10.7 Lion in July 2011.
Mac Blu-ray Player has been around now for a little over a year, but until the UJ-267, which I recently reviewed, and the UJ-167, which both arrived mere weeks ago, there were no internal Blu-ray drives for the Unibody MacBook Pro. This limited Blu-ray playback to external drives on these late model portables, which needless […]
The Clamshell iBook has to be one of Apple’s most debated products. Some say it’s gorgeous, some say it’s hideous, and it’s described in some of the most bizarre ways – Barbie’s handbag and the toilet seat to name a few.
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.
Computers die. Laptops get dropped or stolen. Hard drives fail. You deleted a file or folder and now realize that you need it back. You need to use an app that’s not compatible with your current version of Mac OS X. Your system just crashes and now refuses to boot from your hard drive.
From the headline, Microsoft Won’t Bring Office 2013 to Mac, but It Will Add SkyDrive Integration to Office 2011, you’d think that Microsoft was sticking it to Mac users. And from reading the article by Killian Bell, you’d never know that Mac users currently have a newer version of Office than Windows users – or that Microsoft has […]
I had some video files I needed burning to a DVD-video yesterday, so started looking around for something free, and I stumbled across a superb little application called Burn.
Blu-ray is officially a “bag of hurt” no more for those who want to take advantage of the high-end optical media format on the Mac without the distraction of external drives and wires. Enter the Matshita UJ-167 and UJ-267!
Is it really fair to compare a three-year-old operating system to a three-month-old one? Maybe not (for the three-year-old), but it is interesting.
Is tech racist?
Since the dawn of Mac OS X, there have been major and minor versions. That is, versions that introduced major features and those that focus mainly on speed improvements and streamlining, bringing only small new features or additions.
2012 – Without change, there’s no indication time is passing. The sun rises and sets. The moon changes it phases. Flowers open and close. Some degree of change is inevitable. And some changes we don’t like.
This is a very simple and easy-to-build project that provides a sensor on the pedal crank of any exercise bike and generates keyboard output triggering Google Maps Street View to advance via the up arrow key.
On June 23, 2003, Apple introduced the first Power Mac G5, which represented some big changes from the G4. The Power Mac G5 was the first Power Mac with built-in USB 2.0, the first to use PCI-X expansion slots, and the first with onboard support for SATA drives. It was also the first Mac to […]
Back in February, my first generation 13″ MacBook Pro died of logic board failure, and I was forced to sell it due to the fact that I was starting dual credit courses at my local community college and needed a small, cheap, lightweight laptop that could follow me around and take a beating. I was […]
2012 – The proverbial bell is tolling louder for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and PowerPC Macs.
Sometimes the math geek – which can always be a bit anal about numbers and how they’re presented – wonders why a particular headline isn’t a bit better. For instance, Cult of Mac published The SSD in the New MacBook Air Is 217% Faster than Before on Tuesday, which makes it sound like SSD performance in the Mid 2012 MacBook […]
