Any Daily Drivers?

[Interceptor2]

I just "got lucky" - I bought a Mac laptop off ebay for £10. When the box arrived the delivery man had another identical box addressed to me also which I wasn't expecting. I questioned him to make sure the box was for me, indeed it was. Inside was a nice iBook G4 in full working condition, the previous owner had removed all of their personal files and left a full running install of Tiger 10.4.11. I was amazed.
From the very few clues, I think the guy just wanted to give the laptop to a good home, realising I was keen for the £10 laptop and made the connection.

I'm always looking for jobs to give my old Macs, I recently got an IPCam and find I can use the iBook as a realtime monitor using rtsp. I can connect to my router using WiFi with the iBook, then access the IPCam using VLC media player, perfect!
Hmm.. I'm just giving that some thought, I don't actually know if I connect directly to the IPCam, it does have a full Linux based server thing inside and Wi-Fi.

 

[mmphosis]

These are my "daily drivers" running Mac OS X 10.5.8 ...

PowerBook G4 867 MHz 1.12 GB
This little laptop is my "third" monitor on my desk for various things that I do daily: browsing the web, using chat, using Terminal for various things like ssh or checking things, Screen Sharing to other PowerPC Macs. It is also my go to laptop if I am away because I like the compact size. The fan often gets noisy -- so turn off javascript!

Mac mini G4 1.25 GHz 512 MB
I am using this mostly as a file server and to perform backups. It usually runs headless with large drives attached. Backups should run at least daily, right?

Mac mini G4 1.42 GHz 1 GB
This is my fastest PowerPC Mac. I would like it to become more of a daily driver as a "development" machine: XCode, gcc, etc. I currently have bootp configured on it so that I can boot the PowerBook off of it, when I need to, so that the PowerBook can operate completely without it's (failing?) hard disk.

 

[SkyBell]

The only thing my eMac gets used for everyday without fail is as an alarm clock But I generally hop on it once or twice a week to just listen to music on YouTube or browse a couple forums. It also works well with my banks website even though I know better

 

[amagichnich]

Right now i use my Mac mini 1.5 as daily driver in favor of the more powerful ibook 12" 1.33 because I have acquired a 20" cinema display. I can tell you it is possible, but the mini really is a weak creature

 

[AphoticD]

Two of my PowerPC Macs that have been getting daily use during software development:

• PowerMac G5 DP 2.0Ghz 8GB (Tiger)
• PowerMac G5 DC 2.3Ghz 16GB (Leopard)

I’ve been cycling between my PowerPC portables at night for after hours R&D.

Typical order of use; PB12”, Pismo, PB17”, TiBook and PB15”. Mostly running offline, using Tiger.

I’ll switch between portable Macs as their batteries deplete. I believe it’s best to cycle them like this to keep the batteries in good health. So at almost any time, all the portables have a (mostly) full charge and their batteries are getting regular usage while keeping the cycle count low(er).

There are also a MacBook Unibody ‘08 and Mac Pro ‘08 in this mix of regular use machines. But my balance of daily driver usage between Intel and PowerPC is pretty even.

 

[abundantmussel]

I use my DP 2.3 G5 daily. The iMac G5 gets used by the kids almost every second day. My 3 G4s don’t get as much use anymore.

 

[ctmpkmlec4]

The only thing my eMac gets used for everyday without fail is as an alarm clock But I generally hop on it once or twice a week to just listen to music on YouTube or browse a couple forums. It also works well with my banks website even though I know better

How does one use an eMac as an alarm clock? Just curious.
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These are my "daily drivers" running Mac OS X ...


Mac mini G4 1.42 GHz 1 GB
This is my fastest PowerPC Mac. I would like it to become more of a daily driver as a "development" machine: XCode, gcc, etc. I currently have bootp configured on it so that I can boot the PowerBook off of it, when I need to, so that the PowerBook can operate completely without it's (failing?) hard disk.

I have the silent upgrade Mac Mini (1.5 GHz), and even with Tiger it seemed too slow to be usable. Perhaps it’s because of the stock 4200 RPM hard drive?

 

[AphoticD]

How does one use an eMac as an alarm clock? Just curious.
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I have the silent upgrade Mac Mini (1.5 GHz), and even with Tiger it seemed too slow to be usable. Perhaps it’s because of the stock 4200 RPM hard drive?

I have used a few G4 mini's throughout the years. I was in an office job at the time they were new and we replaced all of our office G4 flat panel iMacs (15" 700Mhz, 800Mhz and some 17" 1Ghz models with RAM varying from 128MB to 512MB) with new minis. We put in all new first rev Mac minis and despite being an "upgrade" on paper (1.25Ghz, 512MB RAM, etc), without a doubt, they were slower and beachballed massively in comparison.

In contrast, I bought a mini G4 1.42Ghz (1GB RAM) earlier in the year for very cheap and replaced the internal drive with a 5400rpm HDD from my PowerBook G4 15" and it has been absolutely fast and reliable.

I have my mini's HDD partitions for a quad-boot setup: Leopard, Tiger, Panther and MorphOS 3.9. It feels just as "zippy" as similar spec portable G4s and performs really well with Leopard (despite being CoreImage challenged).

I would point the finger at a failing HDD if it has become too slow to be usable. Many of my IDE HDDs have begun to fall over to some degree by this stage. It has been 12 years since the G4 mini was manufactured, so it's a great run considering the build quality was so cheap.

 

[amagichnich]

How does one use an eMac as an alarm clock? Just curious.

Besides, how does one pay the electricity bill for a ~80 Watts alarm clock?

I have the silent upgrade Mac Mini (1.5 GHz), and even with Tiger it seemed too slow to be usable. Perhaps it’s because of the stock 4200 RPM hard drive?

It's because it's IDE controller is damn slow and it's firewire controller as well, but the latter one is still the faster one.
Even with a SSD it is really slow compared to my other macs. Only the 1ghz eMac is slower
Btw Emacs have very fast hard drives and controllers!

 

[AphoticD]

You could just have the eMac scheduled to boot at the same time each morning and add a radio stream or audio file to the Login items (or startup items in OS9), then have it scheduled to shut down after 20 mins or so.

 

[SkyBell]

How does one use an eMac as an alarm clock? Just curious.

There's an app I've had for years simply called "Alarm Clock". Plays a song from my music library with scheduling options.

Besides, how does one pay the electricity bill for a ~80 Watts alarm clock?

Surprisingly easy, actually - my electric bills only run about $75 a month with the eMac running 24/7.

You could just have the eMac scheduled to boot at the same time each morning and add a radio stream or audio file to the Login items (or startup items in OS9), then have it scheduled to shut down after 20 mins or so.

I wish I could do something like this with it, but the CRT is a little wonky - it doesn't like to function properly if the computer is powered off or allowed to go into sleep mode - so I just have fully running 24/7.

 

[eyoungren]

Surprisingly easy, actually - my electric bills only run about $75 a month with the eMac running 24/7.

Ugh! Must be nice!

My bill is around $170 at the low point (winter months) and around $400 at the high point (summer months).

Granted, most of that is A/C, but still!

 

[ctmpkmlec4]

There's an app I've had for years simply called "Alarm Clock". Plays a song from my music library with scheduling options.

Surprisingly easy, actually - my electric bills only run about $75 a month with the eMac running 24/7.

I wish I could do something like this with it, but the CRT is a little wonky - it doesn't like to function properly if the computer is powered off or allowed to go into sleep mode - so I just have fully running 24/7.

Never heard of that app. Is it still available for download? It’s a unique and somewhat practical use of an old Mac. Sorry to hear your eMac is giving you trouble. The CRT/digital assembly isn’t that difficult to swap. I think dvwarehouse.com has the screen assembly in stock for a relatively reasonable price, but then add shipping and it becomes impractical.

 

[SkyBell]

Ugh! Must be nice!

My bill is around $170 at the low point (winter months) and around $400 at the high point (summer months).

Granted, most of that is A/C, but still!

Having spent what is now the majority of my life in Texas, I'm pretty used to the heat; combine that with the fact that I'm a cheapstake, and my AC doesn't get touched until the mercury reads 90 or so. I'd actually be willing to wager that my eMac makes up the lions share of my electric bill.

Never heard of that app. Is it still available for download? It’s a unique and somewhat practical use of an old Mac. Sorry to hear your eMac is giving you trouble. The CRT/digital assembly isn’t that difficult to swap. I think dvwarehouse.com has the screen assembly in stock for a relatively reasonable price, but then add shipping and it becomes impractical.

You have to make use of the Wayback machine, but it's still out there - and I keep a copy of the DMG file just in case it ever does go away online. Here's the link to download it.

Honestly I have such an emotionally unhealthy attachment to this eMac that I'd pay much, much more than it is actually worth to keep it in working condition. I've heard from others that it's quite the daunting task to replace the CRT in these tanks - I've never attempted the procedure for this reason, though I might be willing to if there were some sort of step-by-step guide for it.

 

[eyoungren]

Having spent what is now the majority of my life in Texas, I'm pretty used to the heat; combine that with the fact that I'm a cheapstake, and my AC doesn't get touched until the mercury reads 90 or so. I'd actually be willing to wager that my eMac makes up the lions share of my electric bill.

I live in Phoenix where the heat hits 100º around May and doesn't back off until mid-November. The average summer day is around 110º. In August it's usually around 114º to 118º. We had one day this year where it was 122º.

In about 2.5 years I will have lived as long in Phoenix as I did in California.

But from the age of 5 to 10 my address was in Houston, TX. My mom met her best friend there and they still see each other. I attended school in Pasadena and the family saw Star Wars in 1977 at the cinema there at the Galleria Mall in Houston (my sister cried at one point so we had to leave).

My wife tells me that my Texas accent pops out a lot. What can I say, I was 5 when my dad moved us there.

 

[amagichnich]

and my AC doesn't get touched until the mercury reads 90 or so. I'd actually be willing to wager that my eMac makes up the lions share of my electric bill

Depending on what you mean with 'mercury' - thermometer or PowerMac G4 'Quicksilver' - I can tell you what the lions share is

 

[ctmpkmlec4]

Having spent what is now the majority of my life in Texas, I'm pretty used to the heat; combine that with the fact that I'm a cheapstake, and my AC doesn't get touched until the mercury reads 90 or so. I'd actually be willing to wager that my eMac makes up the lions share of my electric bill.

You have to make use of the Wayback machine, but it's still out there - and I keep a copy of the DMG file just in case it ever does go away online. Here's the link to download it.

Honestly I have such an emotionally unhealthy attachment to this eMac that I'd pay much, much more than it is actually worth to keep it in working condition. I've heard from others that it's quite the daunting task to replace the CRT in these tanks - I've never attempted the procedure for this reason, though I might be willing to if there were some sort of step-by-step guide for it.

Thanks for the link!

I lived in Houston during my high school years (2000-2004), and Denton from '05 to '07. The humidity was killer, even in North Texas! If I had been forced to cut back on the AC, I think I would have died! As a matter of fact, my apartment in Denton had some kind of water-cooling system for AC. It may have been geothermal, but I doubt it. It was barely adequate at keeping the temperature under 80 during the heat of summer.

As far as CRT replacement in a eMac, it can be intimidating the first time you attempt it. There are several screws and connectors to keep track of and, as we all know, eMacs are heavy! When I swapped the CRT in mine last month, I think it took me a little less than an hour. I can empathize with your attachment. I have another eMac that has a yellowed front bezel. If I decide to replace it, I can do a write-up because you essentially have to disassemble the entire eMac to do so.

 

[1042686]

Ahh the evaporative majesty that is the swamp cooler - Effective only in temperatures up to around 90-95F.



And completely 100% ineffective in high-himidity environments. I bet you did indeed roast in Denton with a Swamp box. Anyhoo, in regards to emac CRTs I remember reading this CRT LED conversion (with pictures yay). Pretty cool and aside from the custom cabling (how-tos linked in the article), looks straight forward.

https://ierna.com/2006/07/02/emac-lcd-conversion/

 

[AphoticD]

Ahh the evaporative majesty that is the swamp cooler - Effective only in temperatures up to around 90-95F.



And completely 100% ineffective in high-himidity environments. I bet you did indeed roast in Denton with a Swamp box. Anyhoo, in regards to emac CRTs I remember reading this CRT LED conversion (with pictures yay). Pretty cool and aside from the custom cabling (how-tos linked in the article), looks straight forward.

https://ierna.com/2006/07/02/emac-lcd-conversion/

At least this would solve the eMac's vertebrae busting issues

You could cut a door in the side for a hot box to keep your lunch warm.

 

[SkyBell]

Ahh the evaporative majesty that is the swamp cooler - Effective only in temperatures up to around 90-95F.



And completely 100% ineffective in high-himidity environments. I bet you did indeed roast in Denton with a Swamp box. Anyhoo, in regards to emac CRTs I remember reading this CRT LED conversion (with pictures yay). Pretty cool and aside from the custom cabling (how-tos linked in the article), looks straight forward.

https://ierna.com/2006/07/02/emac-lcd-conversion/

I don't know if I want to go that far with it, but it's a neat idea.

Thanks for the link!

I lived in Houston during my high school years (2000-2004), and Denton from '05 to '07. The humidity was killer, even in North Texas! If I had been forced to cut back on the AC, I think I would have died! As a matter of fact, my apartment in Denton had some kind of water-cooling system for AC. It may have been geothermal, but I doubt it. It was barely adequate at keeping the temperature under 80 during the heat of summer.

As far as CRT replacement in a eMac, it can be intimidating the first time you attempt it. There are several screws and connectors to keep track of and, as we all know, eMacs are heavy! When I swapped the CRT in mine last month, I think it took me a little less than an hour. I can empathize with your attachment. I have another eMac that has a yellowed front bezel. If I decide to replace it, I can do a write-up because you essentially have to disassemble the entire eMac to do so.

I guess I've just always been warned about the high amounts of voltage a CRT can store even when off, and it's always scared me away from trying anything with it - I got shocked pretty badly when I was younger due to an un-grounded pool pump motor, and electricity has always sort of freaked me out ever since. But if it's not as dangerous as some make it out to be, then I might give it a shot someday.

I had one of those things you're talking about for a couple months years ago - got rid of it and got some real AC first chance I had, it was near useless most of the time.

I live in Phoenix where the heat hits 100º around May and doesn't back off until mid-November. The average summer day is around 110º. In August it's usually around 114º to 118º. We had one day this year where it was 122º.

In about 2.5 years I will have lived as long in Phoenix as I did in California.

But from the age of 5 to 10 my address was in Houston, TX. My mom met her best friend there and they still see each other. I attended school in Pasadena and the family saw Star Wars in 1977 at the cinema there at the Galleria Mall in Houston (my sister cried at one point so we had to leave).

My wife tells me that my Texas accent pops out a lot. What can I say, I was 5 when my dad moved us there.

Yeah, but y'all have that dry, desert heat - it's formidable to be sure, but there's something to be said for the misery of when it's a hair over 100°, and the humidity isn't far behind number-wise.

I used to have an uncle who lived in Pasedena, and I have a friend who currently lives there - I never liked that area, or Houston altogether if I'm honest. A lot of people can't easily tell the difference between a Southern accent and a Texas accent - people who can tell me mine is mostly the former with a bit of the latter mixed in. Having spent most of my formative years in Arkansas, and then moving back and forth between there and Texas in my teens, I suppose that makes sense.

 

[ctmpkmlec4]

I used to have an uncle who lived in Pasedena, and I have a friend who currently lives there - I never liked that area, or Houston altogether if I'm honest. A lot of people can't easily tell the difference between a Southern accent and a Texas accent - people who can tell me mine is mostly the former with a bit of the latter mixed in. Having spent most of my formative years in Arkansas, and then moving back and forth between there and Texas in my teens, I suppose that makes sense.

Since the CRT is part of a subassembly, you don’t have to worry about disconnecting an anode cap to remove the screen.

I liked the area of Houston where I lived. It’s a suburb called Kingwood. Kind of a middle/upper-middle class place. Many good times were had there... even drank a few beers on Crystal Beach and Galveston island. I may have been underage...

Try growing up in Tennessee, moving to Texas, then Colorado, and ultimately Kansas. I was once accused of being from Iowa or Wisconsin. I have no detectable accent according to most people. Which is weird that someone thought I might be from “Wiscahnsen.” I think there are some words I say that are still influenced by southern upbringing, but I pretty much talk with a plain, boring, neutral American accent.