Back from the Low End Mac Mailbag is another excellent piece from longtime reader and now contributor, Adam Goff. Enjoy Adam’s excellent take on how Mac OS 9 is still alive and kicking today – over 24 years later! Introduction – It’s the late 1990s/early 00s.. Macs (and their accessories) Become Fashion Trends In 2002 […]
Tag Archives: Mac OS 9
Hi Low Enders! It’s been a while, but like a fine wine some vintage Macs just get more sought after with age. One of those happens to be the PowerBook G3 “Pismo”. The Pismo PowerBook was announced this very day 20 years ago while Apple was in the middle of their “Think Different” campaign […]
Dear Low End Mac Friends: It’s been a while. Life and other typical duties keep one busy, but when something extraordinary comes up, there’s always time to talk about it with our community. In this article, I will be discussing an interesting piece of hardware (a display to be precise) – the RCA MM36100. […]
Not everyone uses modern Macs. I spent a day with a friend who still runs 1997 and 1999 Macs 20 years on.
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?”
This is the third in a series of articles showing how Adam Rosen uses four vintage Macs to read, recover, convert, transfer, and return files to his clients. Today he looks at his PowerBook G3 WallStreet running Mac OS 9.2.2.
Mac’s Classic OS continues to fade in compatibility and relevance, with support in crucial areas – especially Web browsers and email software – becoming more and more tenuous. Classic Mode is not supported in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard on any Macs and was never supported on Intel Macs.
Need a copy of System 6.0.8, 7.0.1, or a newer version of the Classic Mac OS for your vintage Mac? You can dig through apple.com and try to find them – or you can download them using the updated links on this page. (Apple does rearrange things, making it more difficult to find things.) All versions […]
Prior to OS X, Apple had a rock solid operating system that was fast and stable, but by the time Mac OS 9 was released in 1999, it was looking very dull and dated, especially compared to what Microsoft was offering in the shape of Windows NT 4 (released July 1996), Windows 98 (released June 1998), and […]
2012 – Remember the early 1990s, when we found out about QuickTime and were all so excited about viewing five-second low-resolution clips on our Macs? We could finally play video on our computers! I remember it like it was yesterday. A new project for Mac OS 8-9 brought back those sweet memories: Cornica.org. What Is Cornica? […]
The final release of Mac OS 9 occurred ten years ago, in 2001. Mac OS X was launched that same year, and Steve Jobs symbolically buried his old nemesis in 2002. The old Mac OS survived for another few years, running on dual-booting G4s or as Classic Mode under OS X, until the release of the Intel […]
2011 – I got lots of positive and encouraging feedback on my article about going back to OS 9, Back to Mac OS 9, Because It’s All I Need. The main point of my article was that I could go back to OS 9, because it provides me with everything I want to do with a […]
2011 – I’ve done it. I’ve sold both my Intel iMac and my MacBook Pro (Late 2008). I took the money and spent it on a very nice trip with my girlfriend. Wonderful memories. That left me with my old configuration, a dual 1 GHz Power Mac G4 MDD maxed out with 2 GB of RAM. It […]
Mac OS X is a brilliant operating system. But what about the “Classic” Mac OS in the Age of Snow Leopard?
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.
Last week you had the rant; this week you get the information. Jason Walsh examines the options when it comes to choosing inexpensive Macs for design work.
2001 – Transferring files from one computer to another used to be relatively simple; you just copied the files to a floppy and sneaker-netted it over to the other machine, and voilà, you’re done. However, since the advent of the iMac, which has no floppy drive, users have had to become more creative. The solutions […]
If you are a novice Mac user, reading iBasics is a great idea! All kidding aside, if you are a novice user, file security and computer security is probably a weakness that you should address. In addition, you can take advantage of a few technologies that are embedded in the Mac OS.
2001 – It has always been my tradition to run one OS behind the current version. Many people do this – and with good reasons. If you depend on your machine, you don’t want to trash a hard drive with a buggy install.
2001 – I recently purchased an OrangeLink FireWire 1394 + USB PCI combo card so I could begin to add some of those nifty new peripherals I’ve been reading about. I own a 300 MHz Beige Power Mac G3 desktop at home and had my eye on some USB peripherals for a while now.
A Limited Mac The indigo iMac 350 replaced a virtually identical model that came in blueberry – but at US$200 less. The 350 MHz indigo iMac ships with the Apple Pro Mouse and Apple Pro Keyboard.
2000: The Mac Observer’s Michael Munger has written another interesting and provocative piece entitled The Deplorable State of Mac Software, in which he argues that “the condition of Mac software is as pathetic as it could be.”
2000: My week started out with me deciding to upgrade to Mac OS 8.5. I hadn’t heard of too many problems with 8.5 running on a SuperMac S900. The only question that remained was where to find it because it is out of print.
1999 – Every six to nine weeks, teachers face one of their less favorite tasks – grades. If they’re the diligent sort, they’ve spent every evening of the grading period carefully recording and averaging their students’ scores. For the rest of us party animals, grades mean at least a near “all-nighter” of entering scores and […]
1999 – I’ve never been able to do a prerelease column about a Mac OS update or upgrade, as either I’ve not had access to them before release or have been gagged by an Apple NDA. After reading that Tom McKenna of the G3 All-in-one Stop Shop had received his copy of Mac OS 9 […]
1999: The “I” in iMac must stand for inferior. Because after installing Mac OS 9 on your iMac, you’ll feel inferior to your little computer. OS 9, Apple’s latest operating system for the Mac, is sure to make your iMac work for you.
1999 – I’m writing this column under duress. I’m writing while conducting a conflict test. I’m also kicking myself for not doing this test before I dropped my excellent editor and publisher, Dan Knight, a note this week saying that Claris Home Page appears to break with Mac OS 9. Both Dan and I are […]
The 1999 version of the PowerBook G3 (a.k.a. Bronze Keyboard and Lombard) was announced on 1999.05.10 and reached stores by the end of the month. At nearly two pounds lighter and 20% thinner than the PowerBook G3 Series, toting Lombard was easier than any PowerBook since the 4.4 lb. 2400.
This PowerBook G3 Series II, code named PDQ, was announced Sept. 1, 1998. Changes from the earlier G3 Series include a 66 MHz motherboard for all versions and standard 14.1″ screen. The 1024 x 768 screen will also automatically scale, allowing users to emulate 640 x 480 and 800 x 600 resolutions.
