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Lastic

macrumors 6502a
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Mar 19, 2016
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North of the HellHole
Did I miss it ?

I haven't been active here a lot since I recently went further down the retro road by buying an Atari 130XE,
and have spent quite a lot of time on this machine the past 2 months.

My 2nd Powerbook 12" 1.5Ghz dying in his repasting which I still didn't find time to fix , hasn't helped either
and the G5 didn't get a lot of attention lately neither.

But I still lurk around here and check the posts.
Still replicating my current Atari emulators and cross-assembler setups from the Macbook and Fedora Thinkpad to the Powerbook G4 successfully.

SMTube still seems to work with Mplayer :)

Things I would like to check out but work and private life has been depriving me from free time lately :
 
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Did I miss it ?

I haven't been active here a lot since I recently went further down the retro road by buying an Atari 130XE,
and have spent quite a lot of time on this machine the past 2 months.

My 2nd Powerbook 12" 1.5Ghz dying in his repasting which I still didn't find time to fix , hasn't helped either
and the G5 didn't get a lot of attention lately neither.

But I still lurk around here and check the posts.
Still replicating my current Atari emulators and cross-assembler setups from the Macbook and Fedora Thinkpad to the Powerbook G4 successfully.

SMTube still seems to work with Mplayer :)

Things I would like to check out but work and private life has been depriving me from free time lately :

Unfortunately, you did not miss the challenge. Its been such a busy time in my life that I completely forgot to organize the challenge for the summer. It’s also gotten to the point that I personally don’t want to partake in such challenges anymore since they’re honestly not much of a challenge, but also at the same time, they feel like a chore to have to ONLY use PPC. I’ve said over the past year or so, my PPC torch has honestly gone way down from what it used to be. I still like to use PPCs every so often, but they haven’t been a part of my daily workforce in just over a year at this point. I’ve gotten so many more modern Macs, that I’ve found replacements for what I was using the PPCs for. It’s honestly quite sad to think about the fact that my PPC usage has essentially dropped to zero, being how prevalent it used to be.
 
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I haven't been active here a lot since I recently went further down the retro road ...
[/LIST]
Ha, that's a good quote!
There might be no particular annual challenge-thread this time - well, the whole sub-forum is kind of a PPC-challenge.
During the previous challenges I couldn't and didn't want to go so far to ban all my newer equipment.
"Life's to short, don't miss a thing." (one of the last Palm-webOS-ads before doom ... )
But during that happenings a lot things made a big leap forward regarding me and PPC:
- view/capture video with PPC using a new iOS-device/adapters/old eyeTV-hardware
- get more familiar to os9 and make it a working client in my mixed Win/Mac-network.
- expand PPC to the cloud with the help of iOS/iFiles
etc.
Well, it was not the os9/earlyOSX-PPC-diehard experience, but was/is great to see, how the old stuff fits nicely into my current workflow plus gives the option to revive legacy software-stuff.

@Gamer9430: BTW many thanks for bringing the previous challenges to life!
 
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Unfortunately, you did not miss the challenge. Its been such a busy time in my life that I completely forgot to organize the challenge for the summer. It’s also gotten to the point that I personally don’t want to partake in such challenges anymore since they’re honestly not much of a challenge, but also at the same time, they feel like a chore to have to ONLY use PPC. I’ve said over the past year or so, my PPC torch has honestly gone way down from what it used to be. I still like to use PPCs every so often, but they haven’t been a part of my daily workforce in just over a year at this point. I’ve gotten so many more modern Macs, that I’ve found replacements for what I was using the PPCs for. It’s honestly quite sad to think about the fact that my PPC usage has essentially dropped to zero, being how prevalent it used to be.

I feel where you're coming from, work has taken a lot more time in these months and one needs patience when doing all-around stuff on our PPC's.

A lot of time is spend on my Fedora Thinkpad X220 and the MBPr simply because I need something to be done quickly.

However I still try to replicate all the open-source stuff on my PB G4 and for some Macports stuff the G4 comes out a winner versus the MBPr , Fedora is a different league completely.

We're all still booting these PPC machines and keeping them alive instead of being thrown on the trash or becoming completely obsolete, guess that is a challenge for life :)
 
Ha, that's a good quote!
There might be no particular annual challenge-thread this time - well, the whole sub-forum is kind of a PPC-challenge.
During the previous challenges I couldn't and didn't want to go so far to ban all my newer equipment.
"Life's to short, don't miss a thing." (one of the last Palm-webOS-ads before doom ... )
But during that happenings a lot things made a big leap forward regarding me and PPC:
- view/capture video with PPC using a new iOS-device/adapters/old eyeTV-hardware
- get more familiar to os9 and make it a working client in my mixed Win/Mac-network.
- expand PPC to the cloud with the help of iOS/iFiles
etc.
Well, it was not the os9/earlyOSX-PPC-diehard experience, but was/is great to see, how the old stuff fits nicely into my current workflow plus gives the option to revive legacy software-stuff.
Good point! In every challenge someone discovered cool tweaks or has coded something in order to maintain the work flow he had in a mixed environment or Intel only environment. Just for the sake of that I think we should continue having these challenges
 
I don't see why it still can't go ahead? Just share your experiences under this thread?
What would be interesting is to see the lowest spec someone can cope on - and by that I don't just mean installing an OS but actually using it.
 
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I don't see why it still can't go ahead? Just share your experiences under this thread?
What would be interesting is to see the lowest spec someone can cope on - and by that I don't just mean installing an OS but actually using it.
If only for a week during holiday: Clamshell & iMacG3 /w os9/Tiger - but only with the help of my iPhone 6s ... :D
A few things certainly would become a bit awkward and I still have to get ShrewSoft VPN-client running in order to connect to my Office-network via os9/VirtualPC6/WinXP-Fundamentals/RDP-Client6. (Finally that will be my personal summer-challenge this season ...)

Here's some inspiration (without the smartphone) ...
 
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It’s also gotten to the point that I personally don’t want to partake in such challenges anymore since they’re honestly not much of a challenge, but also at the same time, they feel like a chore to have to ONLY use PPC. I’ve said over the past year or so, my PPC torch has honestly gone way down from what it used to be. I still like to use PPCs every so often, but they haven’t been a part of my daily workforce in just over a year at this point. I’ve gotten so many more modern Macs, that I’ve found replacements for what I was using the PPCs for. It’s honestly quite sad to think about the fact that my PPC usage has essentially dropped to zero, being how prevalent it used to be.
I can empathize.

I have to be reasonably up to date at work with hardware and software, but at home I can use what I like. But as I've often mentioned here as my usage changes at home the scale slides.

I feel that another jump is coming. More and more my online banking and bill paying has been challanged in the browser and old tricks are failing. As the principal usage of my Macs is online I'll be making the leap to early Intel soon.

My 2006 MBP was my toe-hold, but it's already been marginalized so this next jump will be Macs capable of running something higher than Snow Leopard.

I anticipate it to be my last jump with Macs but should hold me for another ten years or so before I have to shift back to PC. I have a ThinkPad but it's never been a primary driver.

I love my G5s and they will still be working for a while yet even with a new Intel. But eventually my justification for still using them (InDesign CS4, Acrobat 9) will fail. You can only continue to use old software for as long as what they produce remains relevant. It's still relevant right now but as I continue to upgrade at work it's not going to be much longer.

I already chafe at the fact that edits on personal ID documents must either wait until I get home or require me to load CS4 at work rather than simply being able to work in ID CC17 alone. That wasn't an issue at all until earlier this year when I made the jump from CS4 to CC17 at work. Now it is.

Time marches on.
 
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I can empathize.

I have to be reasonably up to date at work with hardware and software, but at home I can use what I like. But as I've often mentioned here as my usage changes at home the scale slides.

I feel that another jump is coming. More and more my online banking and bill paying has been challanged in the browser and old tricks are failing. As the principal usage of my Macs is online I'll be making the leap to early Intel soon.

My 2006 MBP was my toe-hold, but it's already been marginalized so this next jump will be Macs capable of running something higher than Snow Leopard.

I anticipate it to be my last jump with Macs but should hold me for another ten years or so before I have to shift back to PC. I have a ThinkPad but it's never been a primary driver.

I love my G5s and they will still be working for a while yet even with a new Intel. But eventually my justification for still using them (InDesign CS4, Acrobat 9) will fail. You can only continue to use old software for as long as what they produce remains relevant. It's still relevant right now but as I continue to upgrade at work it's not going to be much longer.

I already chafe at the fact that edits on personal ID documents must either wait until I get home or require me to load CS4 at work rather than simply being able to work in ID CC17 alone. That wasn't an issue at all until earlier this year when I made the jump from CS4 to CC17 at work. Now it is.

Time marches on.

When do you figure that will happen? Within a year, perhaps?

End of an era...
 
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When do you figure that will happen? Within a year, perhaps?

End of an era...
I expect at least one Mac Pro by the end of the year.

I hope for the MBP A1261 by the end of the year. It's the last 17" MBP that has the same body style as the Aluminum PowerBooks and it can run OS X El Capitan and can be maxxed at 6GB ram. That's enough to ensure my internet couch surfing and online bill paying for a while.

Just like it was with my G5s it's a matter of aligning all the financial moving parts. We just bought a house at the end of the school year and are struggling to get through the summer until school starts again. That should start to rectify itself by the end of July, but it's been a long two months of not having any money at all.
 
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I can empathize.

I have to be reasonably up to date at work with hardware and software, but at home I can use what I like. But as I've often mentioned here as my usage changes at home the scale slides.

I feel that another jump is coming. More and more my online banking and bill paying has been challanged in the browser and old tricks are failing. As the principal usage of my Macs is online I'll be making the leap to early Intel soon.

My 2006 MBP was my toe-hold, but it's already been marginalized so this next jump will be Macs capable of running something higher than Snow Leopard.

I anticipate it to be my last jump with Macs but should hold me for another ten years or so before I have to shift back to PC. I have a ThinkPad but it's never been a primary driver.

I love my G5s and they will still be working for a while yet even with a new Intel. But eventually my justification for still using them (InDesign CS4, Acrobat 9) will fail. You can only continue to use old software for as long as what they produce remains relevant. It's still relevant right now but as I continue to upgrade at work it's not going to be much longer.

I already chafe at the fact that edits on personal ID documents must either wait until I get home or require me to load CS4 at work rather than simply being able to work in ID CC17 alone. That wasn't an issue at all until earlier this year when I made the jump from CS4 to CC17 at work. Now it is.

Time marches on.

Well, if you’re looking for cheap early Intel machines that still pack a punch while remaining affordable, I’d really suggest getting a Mac Pro 1,1 and 2009 MacBook or MacBook Pro. With the Mac Pro, you can run anything from Tiger to El Capitan with some slight modification, can upgrade the CPUs to make it much more powerful, and can install up to 32GB of RAM. You can install 4 SATA HDDs and 2 IDE HDDs, or as I had it setup, a IDE DVD-RW and ZIP drive. Thanks to the ability to run such a wide variety of OSes, you could easily install Tiger/Leopard/Snow Leopard to keep PowerPC compatibly, but at the same time, install Mavericks-El Capitan to get newer software support when needed.

As for the 2009 MacBook/MBP, the same thing applies as to the Mac Pro, you can run such a wide variety of OSes on them, from Leopard all the way to Mojave (with minor modifications of course). Personally, I’d choose the MBP over the MacBook because of the fact that the MBPs have a much higher build quality, can support up to 8GB RAM, and don’t have the common overheating issues from the Polycarbonate MacBooks. 2009 was also the first year you could get a MacBook Pro in either 13, 15, or 17 inches, so you’ve got a pretty wide variety to choose from.

When all is said and done with macOS support on these things, Windows 7 and 10 support will more than likely still be available. Windows 7 only ended support on the Pentium 3 last month, so you should be good for awhile.
 
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When all is said and done with macOS support on these things, Windows 7 and 10 support will more than likely still be available. Windows 7 only ended support on the Pentium 3 last month, so you should be good for awhile.

I believe Windows 7 will stop receiving updates in 2020.
 
I expect at least one Mac Pro by the end of the year.

I hope for the MBP A1261 by the end of the year. It's the last 17" MBP that has the same body style as the Aluminum PowerBooks and it can run OS X El Capitan and can be maxxed at 6GB ram. That's enough to ensure my internet couch surfing and online bill paying for a while.

Just like it was with my G5s it's a matter of aligning all the financial moving parts. We just bought a house at the end of the school year and are struggling to get through the summer until school starts again. That should start to rectify itself by the end of July, but it's been a long two months of not having any money at all.

I see you beat me to it on the Mac Pro LOL.

Only thing to be extremely weary about on the 2007-2008 MBPs is that all their GPUs are prone to failure, unless they were fixed past 2010 or were personally replaced with the fixed GPUs, which unless you’re @dosdude1 or @LightBulbFun, probably didn’t happen. The only way to find out if they have been fixed is to open them, and see what color the GPU die under-fill is (defective is black, revised is white), or check the model number printed on the die of the GPU (defective is G84-602-A2, revised is G84-603-A2).

Here’s a very informative video from @dosdude1 doing a GPU replacement on a defective 15in 2008 MBP:

 
Well, if you’re looking for cheap early Intel machines that still pack a punch while remaining affordable, I’d really suggest getting a Mac Pro 1,1 and 2009 MacBook or MacBook Pro. With the Mac Pro, you can run anything from Tiger to El Capitan with some slight modification, can upgrade the CPUs to make it much more powerful, and can install up to 32GB of RAM. You can install 4 SATA HDDs and 2 IDE HDDs, or as I had it setup, a IDE DVD-RW and ZIP drive. Thanks to the ability to run such a wide variety of OSes, you could easily install Tiger/Leopard/Snow Leopard to keep PowerPC compatibly, but at the same time, install Mavericks-El Capitan to get newer software support when needed.

As for the 2009 MacBook/MBP, the same thing applies as to the Mac Pro, you can run such a wide variety of OSes on them, from Leopard all the way to Mojave (with minor modifications of course). Personally, I’d choose the MBP over the MacBook because of the fact that the MBPs have a much higher build quality, can support up to 8GB RAM, and don’t have the common overheating issues from the Polycarbonate MacBooks. 2009 was also the first year you could get a MacBook Pro in either 13, 15, or 17 inches, so you’ve got a pretty wide variety to choose from.

When all is said and done with macOS support on these things, Windows 7 and 10 support will more than likely still be available. Windows 7 only ended support on the Pentium 3 last month, so you should be good for awhile.
The MP at work is a mid-2010 with 32GB ram and 4 hard drives. @LightBulbFun has told me in the past that it's one of the more desirable models.

We'll see what happens on that score. ;)

As to the MBP, I've wanted the A1261 for a while. I have the A1151 because it was cheap and I needed an Intel Mac at the time. Only later did I find out SL was the max it would run. If it was capable of using a higher OS I'd be less motivated for a new MBP as it does fine browsing and for all the other stuff I do with it with only 2GB ram. But the browser upgrades are limited because of the processor and the OS.

As much advantage as a post 2008-unibody MBP might bring me, I'm really not interested. My concession here to having Intel Macs is that both the MP and the MBPs up to the A1261) still reasonably retain the Aluminum look of the G5s and PowerBooks. I am unwilling to let go of that look, particularly when the last model 17" MBP in that style is capable of doing what I need/want.

There's a generation of MBPs post 2008 I wish to skip, especially once Apple stopped offering the 17" models (you didn't think I'd downgrade size did you? :D)
 
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I believe Windows 7 will stop receiving updates in 2020.

Knowing the windows users of the world, businesses and end users alike, they’ll be using Windows 7 way past it’s expiration date like they’ve been doing with XP. 3rd party software support should also last a couple more years after that.
 
Only thing to be extremely weary about on the 2007-2008 MBPs is that all their GPUs are prone to failure, unless they were fixed past 2010 or were personally replaced with the fixed GPUs, which unless you’re @dosdude1 or @LightBulbFun, probably didn’t happen. The only way to find out if they have been fixed is to open them, and see what color the GPU die under-fill is (defective is black, revised is white), or check the model number printed on the die of the GPU (defective is G84-602-A2, revised is G84-603-A2).

Here’s a very informative video from @dosdude1 doing a GPU replacement on a defective 15in 2008 MBP:

Thanks.

I figure though that, just like the G5s with LCS all the ones that were going to die because of defect have died by now. That's one other advantage of upgrading as late as I do.
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Knowing the windows users of the world, businesses and end users alike, they’ll be using Windows 7 way past it’s expiration date like they’ve been doing with XP. 3rd party software support should also last a couple more years after that.
We have one PC at home with Win10. An ASUS. I have both learned I hate ASUS laptops and Win10's update process.

At work the few Win10 PCs we have require more of my attention than do the Win 7 PCs. So, I agree with you. Win7 will be as hard to kill as XP was.
 
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El Capitan will also stop receiving updates later this year.

I'm not saying people can't stay on them like we've been doing with Tiger / Leopard all this time, but when you have a machine capable of being up to date, it's a little bit of a waste...
 
The MP at work is a mid-2010 with 32GB ram and 4 hard drives. @Lightbulfan has told me in the past that it's one of the more desirable models.

We'll see what happens on that score. ;)

As to the MBP, I've wanted the A1261 for a while. I have the A1151 because it was cheap and I needed an Intel Mac at the time. Only later did I find out SL was the max it would run. If it was capable of using a higher OS I'd be less motivated for a new MBP as it does fine browsing and for all the other stuff I do with it with only 2GB ram. But the browser upgrades are limited because of the processor and the OS.

As much advantage as a post 2008-unibody MBP might bring me, I'm really not interested. My concession here to having Intel Macs is that both the MP and the MBPs up to the A1261) still reasonably retain the Aluminum look of the G5s and PowerBooks. I am unwilling to let go of that look, particularly when the last model 17" MBP in that style is capable of doing what I need/want.

There's a generation of MBPs post 2008 I wish to skip, especially once Apple stopped offering the 17" models (you didn't think I'd downgrade size did you? :D)

I just picked myself up a Mac Pro 4,1, which I’ve been working on over the past week. It’s now a 5,1, with a combined HDD space of 8TB (2x 3TB HDDs, 2x 1TB HDDs)+1 500GB SSD, 28GB RAM, High Sierra, Snow Leopard, Lion, Mavericks, and Windows 10. It’s also going to be getting a substantial CPU upgrade to the 2nd best ones I can put in there, Dual 3.33GHz 6-Core Xeon X5680s, behind the much more expensive Dual 3.46GHz 6-Core Xeon X5690s. Right now it’s rocking Dual 2.26GHz Quad Core Xeon E5520s, which comes in just under my maxed out 2.7GHz i7-3280QM 15in MacBook Pro 9,1 (arguably the last good laptop Apple ever made). That CPU upgrade and a new BT4.0/AC-WiFi Card will be ordered in the coming weeks. I’ve in love with this Mac Pro, since it currently is and will continue to be my most powerful desktop, rivaling and beating every Mac Apple offers right now except the iMac Pro and the only recently launched MBP refresh, including the current Mac Pros :D
 
Win 10 updates are cancer - I don't think you can stop them without being offline.
You can't. MS has now provided a way to put them off, but you can't stop them entirely.

It's a shame because in general I prefer Win10's interface over Win7, but I don't like being pushed around by a manufacturer.

In about 20 years when I finally make that move to PC if both MS and Apple are still trying to tell me what I can or cannot do I'll probably just use Linux. I figure by that point they will have worked out all the kinks in creating an actual user friendly GUI and installation process.
 
Win 10 updates are cancer - I don't think you can stop them without being offline.

Hence, why so many people have stayed away from it for as long as possible. Recently, Microsoft has taken to being incredibly authoritarian. It's really as if they and Apple are in the same camps; that you don't know how to use a computer, and the parent company always knows best. That's the whole reason of WHY I moved away in the first place.

Amazing.
 
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Thanks.

I figure though that, just like the G5s with LCS all the ones that were going to die because of defect have died by now. That's one other advantage of upgrading as late as I do.


Yeah thats not the case with the MBP3,1/4,1s there are still plenty of ones with defective GPUs running around, in-fact every single one sold at retail would of had a defective GPU its only if you got your machine serviced by Apple in 2010+ would you have gotten a revised and fixed GPU

what I would recommend if your looking to get a Pre unibody MBP is find a MBP4,1 that has a revised GPU already or find a nice looking MBP4,1 which has died from GPU failure get it nice and cheap and then enlist the services of @dosdude1 and have the GPU replaced :)

its also worth mentioning that with some slight hacking you can run 10.13.6 and currently even 10.14 on a MBP4,1 thanks to its Penryn CPU which supports SSE4.1 :)
 
I figure by that point they will have worked out all the kinks in creating an actual user friendly GUI and installation process.

From personal experience, I really haven't had any problems at all. On Intel, of course.

This is one of the situations where I think you really need experience with the subject before forming concrete opinions. Otherwise, it's just based on disinformation. It's an injustice.
 
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