Lets Hear your PPC stories

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

The Apple II home computer was everywhere; schools had it and homes had it. That was over 30 years ago. The Macintosh was even more widespread. By the mid 1990s, many many homes had computers, and that's still over 20 years ago in time. Those who ignored the past 40 years of personal computers may have legitimately not needed a computer after all this time, but others are simply reluctant to learn because they lack the confidence / are afraid of technology.

Even adults around the age of 40 claim to know nothing about technology, and make excuses, saying that we were born around it and that they weren't. Pulllleeaassee... most people that age are still young enough to have been able to use a PC at some point in their youth.

And, by the way, I had trouble with computers when I was young. I couldn't even type well. This changed when I opened up to computers and educated my own self. That's what it takes. The only kids to really have been born around total, overwhelming exposure to technology were those born within the last 10-15 years.

 

[eyoungren]

Even adults around the age of 40 claim to know nothing about technology, and make excuses, saying that we were born around it and that they weren't. Pulllleeaassee... most people that age are still young enough to have been able to use a PC at some point in their youth.

I can attest to that.

I'm 46. My dad bought a TRS-80 in 1980 and I learned BASIC and later went on to a Commodore 64 in 1984. A former friend of mine though, as I discovered much later, is a lazy Luddite. He uses technology and computers only because he wants to do 'X' and the only way to do 'X' is to use that stuff. Beyond that he doesn't think about it.

He was supposed to call me once and didn't. Turns out he'd completely forgotten about his cell phone in the back yard and it rained that night. Had to get the phone replaced.

That pissed me off on so many levels. People forget and crap like this happens, but with him it was just one part of a consistent pattern.

He refuses to use email unless he has to and his answer to virus/malware scanning on his PC is to nuke the OS and reinstall from scratch every time. He can be bothered to find the right device to play online gaming sessions, but can not find the right device to Skype with and lets his four year old stomp all over it on the floor.

I was pretty saddened to discover just how incompetant and ignorant about tech he is - because he wants to be. We're supposed to be the generation that grew up with computers and welcomed the internet later on - Generation X. His utter rejection of anything to do with technology was insulting to me.

As to keyboard…I don't type in the regular methods. When I had that TRS-80 I was hunt and peck, so I sat down one day and said to myself…everything to the right of the number 6 is right hand and to the left of number 6 is left hand. I memorized where all the keys are and I have a pretty good typing speed that way. Been doing it that way since I was 10.

 

[CooperBox]

Working in the aircraft industry as a supplier to Airbus, our office was introduced to computers in or around 1994. We had 4 shipped across from the US, probably early Pentium PC's I can't really remember, and to be honest, not only was I not interested, but so busy dashing to and from the flight line that I had no spare time to sit in the office on my derriere. So I gave any computer tasks to the secretary and the technical assistant to perform.
I do recall a great deal of excitement when a new OS was announced, which I guess was Win95. I watched a few of the guys playing solitaire, but that didn't interest me either.
Fast forward to 1997 when loads of aircraft operators started taking delivery of a new aircraft type, and I was tasked to setting up a new field-support office, in Lebanon! Alone, and with no assistance. Within the first week, one new PC and a printer arrived from the US. Up until then I'd never even switched on a computer, let alone connect up a mouse and a keyboard, and for a few days started to regret I hadn't paid a little more attention to those 'who knew'. As for connecting and setting up a printer, at that particular moment, in my mind, it was akin to performing brain-surgery. I was being thrown in at the proverbial deep-end!
But I managed, and within weeks began to enjoy the new found experience. And in down-town Beirut I noticed there was all sorts of software available from a multiple of sources, doubtful and legit. So when 2001 eventually came around, and I saw my first Apple PPC computer, not only was I blown away, but I was more than ready to use it and to give it a good home. See post #33 https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/lets-hear-your-ppc-stories.1979545/page-2#post-23065358
And I've never looked back, now with 30+ PPC powered Macs of all flavours to keep me contented. And two more arriving next week.........

 

[macgeek18]

So.... I was raised around computers but never took an interest in them till high school. My family had an array of pc's while growing up but never cared too much. In 2008 I got an iPod Touch and found this forum while learning about it. That was the start of my internet days. My first personal computer was my 867Mhz PowerMac G4 in 2009 from an engineer that my dad worked with and I worked on his property for a week to earn that computer and monitor. I used that computer as my main machine till 2010 when I got my first Intel MacBook from a friend. I have had more than enough PPC's over the last few years and I still love them all and miss a few of them. So in 2009 I graduated high school and went to college and got my networking degree and have just continued my interests in the tech world and now I do it for a career how cool is that. In 8 years I went from knowing literally nothing to supporting PCs and Macs. I enjoy this stuff too much. Drives my wife nuts haha.

 

[eyoungren]

Drives my wife nuts haha.

There are reasons some of us (not me) are single.

 

[1042686]

I can attest to that.

I'm 46. My dad bought a TRS-80 in 1980 and I learned BASIC and later went on to a Commodore 64 in 1984. A former friend of mine though, as I discovered much later, is a lazy Luddite. He uses technology and computers only because he wants to do 'X' and the only way to do 'X' is to use that stuff. Beyond that he doesn't think about it.

He was supposed to call me once and didn't. Turns out he'd completely forgotten about his cell phone in the back yard and it rained that night. Had to get the phone replaced.

That pissed me off on so many levels. People forget and crap like this happens, but with him it was just one part of a consistent pattern.

He refuses to use email unless he has to and his answer to virus/malware scanning on his PC is to nuke the OS and reinstall from scratch every time. He can be bothered to find the right device to play online gaming sessions, but can not find the right device to Skype with and lets his four year old stomp all over it on the floor.

I was pretty saddened to discover just how incompetant and ignorant about tech he is - because he wants to be. We're supposed to be the generation that grew up with computers and welcomed the internet later on - Generation X. His utter rejection of anything to do with technology was insulting to me.

As to keyboard…I don't type in the regular methods. When I had that TRS-80 I was hunt and peck, so I sat down one day and said to myself…everything to the right of the number 6 is right hand and to the left of number 6 is left hand. I memorized where all the keys are and I have a pretty good typing speed that way. Been doing it that way since I was 10.

The only people I know who are like this are either extremely old (like my 81 year old neighbor or my grandpa etc.) or are ignorant to tech not out of choice rather out of access and opportunity. Perfect example is my sous chef. He's a great cook & kitchen asset but has had a hard life with some tough choices and simply put, has not had the stability and or finances to afford consistent access to technology. I having too many boxes of all flavors, gave him and his son their first laptop - a used midgrade 2007ish timeline. I wiped the machine and upgraded to win10 for them and I get questions every week about what's this (tablet mode) and how do you do that (open up emailed financial reports using openoffice - him or can I install Steam on this - his son)? So from this experience and others, it is pretty obvious that given the chance, folks naturally adopt technology at different levels and within different time frames.

I dont see the need to cast such harsh judgment on folks who use or engage technology in a lesser way or care less about their tech than we do.

 

[eyoungren]

I dont see the need to cast such harsh judgment on folks who use or engage technology in a lesser way.

There's a lot more going on behind this, some of it to do with knowing a person for over 20 years.

If his reasoning had been the same as the person you describe I would not fault him. I don't fault anyone who has a fear of technology or for whom learning this stuff is difficult or because of finances. But my friend was coming solely from a place of technology being beneath him, except when it came to something he wanted. He was perfectly capable of learning it all - he just didn't want to.

And that's the type of person I mean. The type who can't be bothered because letting someone else fix their problems is just fine with them. Replacing an item they ruined was preferable to actually taking care of it. And that's ok if you're willing to pay up. My friend wasn't.

Another example? One of the women I work with. When first hired, she didn't "do" computers. Why? Not because she wasn't capable or didn't have the opportunity to learn them but because that's what I was being paid for! Why bother when you can treat everyone else as a personal assistant?

I'm a Graphic Designer but I was handling her email for two years before my boss finally shoved a computer in her office. She threw a fit! If you watched her for a while you'd come to realize that even though this is a family owned business she believes that everyone works for her and not my boss. So she doesn't have to learn any of this stuff because she doesn't want to and therefore doesn't have to.

It's been a 13 year battle to get her to the the beginner computer user level - yet she can burn the telephone lines down with the fax machine and she's gone through three copy machines since I was hired.

This is the kind of person I am meaning - not the kind you mentioned.

 

[1042686]

There are reasons some of us (not me) are single.

My god, if I was single I'd probably have at least 4 computers in every room I drive my wife crazy with my macs too but if I listened to her as I drove by a grungy powermac, sandwiched between a bunch of garbage in the rain, I would not have gone back to get it later and fixed up my now fav ppc g4 - my QS which is a great box.

Ehh, yanno, I let her have her purses and I get to have my computers. For the record, MY hobby is much cheaper than hers.

 

[eyoungren]

My god, if I was single I'd probably have at least 4 computers in every room I drive my wife crazy with my macs too but if I listened to her when I drove by a powermac sandwiched between a bunch of garbage in the rain, I would not have gone back to get it later and fixed up my fav ppc g4 - my QS which is a great box. Ehh, yanno, I let her have her purses and I get to have my computers. For the record, MY hobby is much much cheaper than hers.

That's where my wife and I have also achieved equilibrium.

She lately came to realize that my Macs were her purses. So, we now have an understanding. But it helps a lot that new acquisitions are either gifted or very low cost. I've also recently started moving some of my towers to work. Having them is one thing, but taking over all the rooms in the house is another.

 

[1042686]

When we move out of the condo and into a house, I am looking for one with an pitched roof/attic. flat roofs are a pita anyways. I'll run some cat5 or 7 or wth it's called ethernet cable up there and have my own little ppc bat-cave. I figure I can keep them up there out of sight, out of mind. Maybe score myself a 68k mac. It certainly does help that aside from the pmg5, all of my macs were pretty much free to me.

Well, free aside from the upgrades

 

[eyoungren]

When we move out of the condo and into a home, I am looking for one with an pitched roof/attic. I'll run some cat5 or 7 or wth its called ethernet cable up there and have my own little ppc bat-cave. I figure I can keep them up there out of sight, out of mind. Maybe score myself a 68k mac.

The garage has always been surrendered to me as my domain. Unfortunately, it's not unsulated so it's comfortably usable only during two seasons a year, Spring and Fall. There's no way I could use any of my G5's out there during the summer (112º days on average) and I'm not into profuse sweating while computing. Winter is still frickin' cold, even in Phoenix so there's that.

And the temp extremes would probably wreak havoc.

If I ever have a chance to determine what I want in a house I'll have an attic as you would, but also a basement.

 

[1042686]

Yanno, I considered that. I dunno how practical an attic would be in the middle of summer here in ABQ. Certainly not PHX hot but still freakin hot lol. On second thought perhaps a basement is the better ticket. I did see this awesome finished attic while house hunting last fall. Oh man it was nice - unfinished wood floors, insulated, electricity etc. I immediately envisioned some serious mac action up in there - completely inaccessible to young children (ceiling pull/drop down door) and I would certainly build myself a kegerator.

 

[CooperBox]

That's where my wife and I have also achieved equilibrium.

She lately came to realize that my Macs were her purses. So, we now have an understanding. But it helps a lot that new acquisitions are either gifted or very low cost. I've also recently started moving some of my towers to work. Having them is one thing, but taking over all the rooms in the house is another.

I liked this.
I think my French wife and I have also achieved equilibrium.........with my side of the pendulum swinging a little higher!
When I make another PPC purchase, I often buy her a small bottle of perfume - which she likes, and really appreciates. The problem is, this month at the rate I'm going, I fear I may have to save up for two gallons of Channel No. 5...............

 

[raymanster]

Talking about PowerPC collections and dens, I stumbled across this Youtube video the other day while searching for PowerPC related stuff:

A shame the channel hasn't been updated in years as he looks to have a very cool setup.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

I do not believe that access or age matter. It's about willingness. Sure, if one is old enough to not need to be forced into technology like we are today, it's understandable why they would choose not to use it; however, it is still on them if they think that they cannot adopt it because they are too out-of-the-loop.

My grandpa was a computer user; in fact, I'm 19 years old, and he had been using computers since before I was born. I believe he had a Mac in the mid-1990s or so, and then he later switched to Windows for whatever reason. Anyway, he used the internet and e-mail - and I believe that he had approached this on his own.

My grandma, on the other hand, is very old-fashioned and has great trouble using a computer. I had to explain to her what the internet was about, even though my grandpa had been using it for years. To her credit, though, she is very open to it and loves the iMac that we got for her. Every now and then, there's an issue, but she still uses the machine on her own. (On a side note, we tried explaining that an iPad or something would be easier to use, unlike an antiquated desktop is. However, she prefers the desktop.) Prior to 2012, any typing she did was still on a typewriter, and everything else was hand-written (AFAIK). Despite that, she wasn't opposed to using a computer.

My maternal grandma - who I don't think has ever used a full-on computer - now uses her iPhone and iPad daily, and was not shy to adopt them. It's all about being open to new things. Even I hated dealing with computers when I was young. I had no interest in sitting on the internet, until I was in 6th or 7th grade. I had owned and used a computer prior to that, but computing wasn't really among my interests, and I wasn't anywhere near advanced. In fact, I even sucked badly at typing - bad enough that it raised concerns with my typing/computer teacher, who feared my falling behind in class.

Nowadays, I'm an advanced user, can service plenty of machines, possess vast amounts of knowledge on Macs and Windows PCs, and type an average of 110 WPM in a typing test (with 140 WPM being my max speed achieved) - all without even looking down once. When an interest is expressed, doors which were previously locked may suddenly be opened.

 

[benwild_33]

I bought my first PowerPC Mac completely by accident, I was looking for a 30" Cinema display to go with my Mac Pro, I placed a bid of £200 on a poorly listed one that came with a "Mac Tower", I didn't win the auction so thought nothing of it. A few days later the seller contacted me saying the winning bidder couldn't collect it and did I want it for my bid of £200. I went straight up there and bought it.

Turns out it was a 30" Cinema Display and a Dual 2.5GHz G5. The G5 only had a Radeon 9600 so was only outputting half the res to the Cinema Display. I decided to sell it mainly because I was worried the LCS would leak and leave me with a dead Mac. I got £45 for the G5 making the Cinema display a bargain £155.

I found myself wanting something older to play about with, I looked at a few iMac G4s as I liked the design but I didnt see any I really liked.

A few weeks back I found myself bidding £40 on a boxed Studio CRT, a G4 Digital Audio, a G4 MDD and a G5. I went to collect it and it turned out nearly all of it was in original packaging, The seller had another listing that didnt sell so I ended up going home with a Boxed Quicksilver, Boxed Yikes! G4 and another two G5s. Just about got it all in my car, took it home, the MDD PSU blew but it turned out to be a 1.42GHz model. One of the G5 PSUs blew too. I ended up selling all of it as I didnt have the room for it. I kept the only one I couldnt sell and decided to upgrade it.

After looking on Gumtree I found someone selling a couple of G4s, one of them was pictured as being a dual 1.6GHz G4, for £25! Needless to say I bought it straight away and I now have a dual 1.6GHz processor for the Digital Audio I couldnt sell and a Gigabit Ethernet that can sell to make my money back.

I wish I had the space for a collection like some of you have but unfortunately I don't, luckily all of the Macs I've owned have gone to good homes and I've ended up with what could potentially be a decent G4.