Monday, September 28, 2009 marked my migration to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Yes, you read that right. Leopard, not Snow Leopard – since none of my Macs are Intel-based, Mac OS X 10.6 isn’t even an option.
Mac OS X comes with built-in integration to work seamlessly on a Mac Open Directory network or Microsoft Active Directory network. It is a fairly easy task to set it up to authenticate to a Unix/Linux OpenLDAP server. However, it is another matter to get it to read the home directory from OpenLDAP and mount […]
It was great to see Steve Jobs up and running around about as well as a man with a new liver can be expected to. But the big question for me was how would all the new changes to iTunes and the iPod touch affect me with my G3 Pismo PowerBook.
The 3G iPod touch is even more powerful than the 2G iPod touch, with a faster, more efficient processor, twice as much system memory, and improved graphics.
I got around to installing the Mac OS X 10.5.8 Leopard update on my MacBook over the long weekend. I figured that with OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard now on the prowl, I should at least bring Leopard up to spec on my production workhorse.
The gradual marginalization of PowerPC Macs is bound to accelerate sharply with the release of Intel-only Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and one can anticipate that it may not be too long before PowerPC Mac owners begin to be confronted with the frustrating up-to-date browser issue that is one of the biggest problems for Classic […]
2009 – Despite my 867 MHz Titanium PowerBook G4 (TiBook) being introduced in November 2002, making it nearly seven years old, it is still an excellent machine. Being an 867 MHz model, it is the earliest Titanium model to officially support Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, and it copes with it very well.
2009 – Apple is billing Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard as its first fully 64-bit operating system, but this isn’t the first time the Mac OS has changed it bitness.
Apple has been promoting three key advantages of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard that are hardware dependent: Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) OpenCL 64-bit operation
Since the early days of Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, Apple has provided a wonderful utility – initially part of Setup Assistant and later (in OS X 10.4 Tiger) renamed Migration Assistant – to help move data between your old and new Macs. With this utility and a Mac booted into FireWire Target Disk Mode, or […]
2009 – Low End Mac colleague Simon Royal says he didn’t believe the rumors last year that Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard would be Intel only. I have to say that at the early point when it was reported that alpha builds of Snow Leopard were being seeded to developers as Intel-only software, the proverbial […]
In late 2008, I wrote an article about the future of PowerPC Macs, The Future of PowerPC Macs and Software as Snow Leopard Approaches. Well, all the rumours have been put to bed: Apple have announced the next version of Mac OS X, and it isn’t looking good for PowerPC users.
Today I am going to look at a unique item in my collection. While it is not technically a computer, it does have an Apple logo – and all that Apple charm. Back in the early 1990s, Apple decided to branch out into peripherals and unique consumer electronic devices. Some of them, such as the W.A.L.T. […]
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard was billed as primarily under-the-hood changes to OS X 10.5 Leopard, but it was much more significant than that.
Everyone knows about the federal Cash for Clunkers program that’s done wonders for auto dealers, but we were taken by surprise to receive a press release from Microsoft about its Cash for Clunker Computers rebate program.
Do you have Bluetooth devices and an older Mac with USB but without Bluetooth support? Want to add Bluetooth support for a song?
Classilla, a new browser for Mac OS 9 based on Mozilla/Firefox introduced to replace long-discontinued WaMCom project. Also using Safari with OS X 10.4 Tiger requires version 10.4.11.
Autofs is often used in enterprise environments to set up network-based home directories and other network mounts for users at login. It can also dynamically mount network shares on access. Mac OS X uses an autofs code stack based on Sun’s Solaris version of Unix. Many of the advanced features are not documented very well, […]
Anyone can easily find Universal Binary builds of Firefox and Camino that will simply install and run on their Mac, so why would you want to scrounge around for an optimized build?
Apple’s Time Capsule, building the equivalents of an AirPort Extreme router and either a 500 GB or 1 TB hard drive into a single unit, is a space-saving and easy-to-use way for users to combine a wireless base station and storage accessible over a home or small business network – and even across the Internet.
The iPhone 3G had been a step forward in some areas – especially in adding 3G data support – but in other areas it was no better than the original iPhone. With the iPhone 3GS, Apple took a few more steps forward with a faster processor, a better camera, video capability, and a 32 GB option.
Long before they invented personal computers, I was a math geek. My favorite book on the subject was the Mathematics volume in the Time-Life Science Library. I’d spend hours reading about magic squares, the Pythagorean theorem, different number systems, and more.
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger uses less memory than Leopard, supports Classic Mode on PowerPC Macs, and, unlike Leopard, is supported on G3 Macs, so there are good reasons to install or reinstall it on your old Macs.
Just 5 months after introducing the first 17″ Unibody MacBook Pro, Apple improved it by moving to a 2.8 GHz CPU – and making a 3.06 GHz CPU a build-to-order option.
For the first time in a long time, the 15″ MacBook Pro has become more affordable while adding an SD Card slot. The entry-level 2.53 GHz model doesn’t have the GeForce 9600GT M graphics chip found in the previous generation of 15″ MacBook Pros – and in the faster models in the current generation. Prices […]
The long-awaited replacement for the 12″ PowerBook has finally been delivered. The 13″ MacBook Pro takes the successful Unibody Aluminum MacBook, ups the speed a bit, and adds an SD Card slot and FireWire, a feature the Unibody MacBook lost (in this case, it’s FireWire 800).
The June 2009 update of the MacBook Air (MBA) gets faster CPUs (1.86 GHz and 2.13 GHz) and lower prices ($1,499 and $1,799). It used the same Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics processor, which uses 256 MB of system memory, as its predecessor.
Completely unheralded, Apple quietly updated the MacBook White in late May. The updated model has a 6.5% faster CPU at 2.13 GHz, uses faster RAM (800 MHz vs. 667 MHz), and has a larger hard drive (160 GB) – and for the first time on a MacBook, a 500 GB build-to-order hard drive option.
2009 – My First Mac’s Chris Kerins says he’s been trying to get every last month out of his 6-year-old 17″ PowerBook G4, but it’s been not starting lately. He’s had power issues in the past, after he cracked the big PowerBook open to do a repair and broke a connector. Since then the power […]
A long time ago, in a time that seems like forever ago, computers were over-engineered to a high standard – especially in regards to computer keyboards. With a tactile feedback and a loud clicking sound, these were the well-oiled peripherals of yesteryear.
In 2005, I decided I needed a laptop computer. After using a Mac for a number of years, my first choice would have been an Apple laptop, but funds were tight, so I opted for a Windows machine. However, using Windows on a daily basis got the better of me, and I decided I had […]
Is it important to used matched memory? This question has intrigued me for a while. When cramming as much memory in a Mac as you can, should you use the same size and speed and brand to ensure maximum compatibility and stability?
I first started looking into alternatives to the Apple AirPort Card when a friend of mine had a slot-load iMac G3 and the original 802.11b AirPort Card was the only option to go wireless – other than USB dongles. Original AirPort Cards are expensive nowadays. Ever since Apple stopped selling them, there are less and less of them around […]
2009 – I have had so many arguments with people stating that Apple deliberately geared Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard to perform much better on Intel machines so as to pull people away from the PowerPC platform. I thought it was about time this myth was laid to rest.
Is it worth maxing the RAM in older computers? This has been a long-asked question, one I see on mailing groups regularly.
