The Pismo at 20: An Enduring Legacy

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 […]

RCA MM36100 – Amazing “Under the Radar” Consumer CRT Display

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.   […]

Low End Mac’s Compleat* Guide to Mac OS 9

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.

Classic Mac OS Downloads and Updates

Need a copy of System 6.0.8, 7.0.1, or a newer version of the Classic Mac OS for your vintage Mac?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 […]

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: Perhaps the Best Version Ever

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 […]

No YouTube for OS 8 and 9, but We Have Cornica

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? […]

Mac OS 9 Isn’t Dead Yet

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 […]

Flash, YouTube, and .docx File Conversion for Mac OS 9

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 […]

Back to Mac OS 9, Because It’s All I Need

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 […]

WiFi PC Cards for PowerBooks Running Mac OS 9

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.

WiFi for Desktop Macs Running Mac OS 9

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.

350 MHz iMac (Summer 2000)

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.

Mac Shopping at CompUSA

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.

Teacher Tools: Gradebooks

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 […]

Mac OS 9: I Think I Like It!

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 […]

Does the ‘I’ in iMac Stand for Inferior?

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.

Claris Home Page Lives!

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 […]

Lombard PowerBook G3

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.

PDQ PowerBook G3 Series II

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.