DSL Reports refugee looking for Apple forum home

[Black_Mage]

Hi all! I used to enjoy discussing Apple and Apple products on a now-deactivated forum site called DSL Reports. I enjoyed going to the section called All Things Mac, later renamed All Things Apple, to talk about my Apple purchases and ask for help. After the owner decided to close dslreports.com, I decided to create an account on the Linus Tech Tips forum. The LTT site seems like a great forum to discuss tech as long as it's Windows or Linux related. It's just my observation that they couldn't care less about Apple there. As a side note, it sucks that a site that's been around since 1999 (DSL Reports) closed because the owner would rather delete the site than sell it to someone to keep it running.

So here I am, hoping to share my excitement for Apple products. I have known about Macintosh since the 1980s, but I didn't buy a Mac until 2006. Because I didn't buy a Mac until 2006, I never owned a Mac with a PowerPC CPU. I wish I could have purchased a iMac with a flat screen and a lamp base. Those looked awesome.

I currently own an iPhone 15 Pro Max, a M2 Pro Mac Mini, and an M1 Pro MacBook Pro. I am going to use Apple's trade-in option to get credit for my M2 Pro Mac Mini to help pay for a M4 Max Mac Studio soon. I won't buy a new MacBook Pro until Wi-Fi 7 is included. I'm looking forward to the new versions of MacOS and iOS. However, it's been my experience that it's better to wait until at least a .1 update because even new Apple Operating Systems have bugs initially. My one criticism of the new naming scheme is that they should use all 4 digits if they are going to use the calendar year as the version number.

 

[eyoungren]

Welcome to the forum. I didn't fully convert to Apple until 2003, but had owned a Mac since 2001 (Christmas present that year). I've had extended stays on PowerPC (2001 to 2020) and Intel (2020 to present) due to current Macs not being anywhere near my price range.

I have an iPhone 11 Pro Max. Will be upgrading this year though at some point, but not to the most recent model.

You've posted in the Community section. I assume that was intentional because you wanted to introduce yourself. But you're welcome to post in any forum on here on topics you can relate to. Also, there is a subforum for selling your stuff in case you did not know. But you can't see it yet, you need 100 posts before getting access to it.

As a side note, it sucks that a site that's been around since 1999 (DSL Reports) closed because the owner would rather delete the site than sell it to someone to keep it running.

I have to agree. sprintusers.com used to be like that. It was the major website to go to for all stuff related to Sprint as a carrier. It survived up until around 2015 or so and finally the domain registration was allowed to lapse and it disappeared. Would have been a great resource for historical posts now but it's long gone.

See you around the forum. Again, welcome.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Hi @Black_Mage & welcome to MR. I was aware of Macs before 2006 but was primarily a windows user; like you this was also when I bought my first Mac used- a 24” Intel core duo white iMac which I still have of course Sounds like you might have an interest in PowerPC & early Intel macs as well. Please feel free to poke in over there. A lot of us have small and large collections of PPC & EI Mac’s and that segment of the community is super friendly and very helpful if you choose to jump in the pool.

I fell in love with the OSX gui and is why I scraped all my Pennie’s together for my first used Mac. As such am partial from Leopard to Lion really and subsequently all my ppc Macs land there so I still find great comfort, efficiency and value using them. I still enjoy current macos on my M2 mbp but probably touch (outside of my iphone14) my EI Macs running current supported MX Linux the most - a 08 alum MacBook, an 09 Mbp and a cMP 1,1 (which also runs elCap). Funny though, I set them up to function very Mac like with docks etc.

Anyways, I didn’t join this forum when I got my first Mac as many do, I joined years later when I found a free quicksilver Powermac G4 in the rain. I just couldn’t leave it by the other trash for the refuse guy to take away. That started me down the PowerPC / retro Mac rabbit hole and that’s when I joined MR looking for information and advice on them.

Nice folks. Been around since.

See you around.

 

[eyoungren]

Hi & welcome to MR. I was aware of Macs before 2006 but was primarily a windows user; like you this was also when I bought my first Mac used- a 24” Intel core duo white iMac which I still have of course Sounds like you might have an interest in PowerPC & early Intel macs as well. Please feel free to poke in over there. A lot of us have small and large collections of PPC & EI Mac’s and that segment of the community is super friendly and very helpful if you choose to jump in the pool.

I fell in love with the OSX gui and is why I scraped all my Pennie’s together for my first used Mac. As such am partial from Leopard to Lion really and subsequently all my ppc Macs land there so I still find great comfort, efficiency and value using them. I still enjoy current macos on my M2 mbp but probably touch (outside of my iphone14) my EI Macs running current supported MX Linux the most - a 08 alum MacBook, an 09 Mbp and a cMP 1,1 (which also runs elCap). Funny though, I set them up to function very Mac like with docks etc.

Anyways, I didn’t join this forum when I got my first Mac as many do, I joined years later when I found a free quicksilver Powermac G4 in the rain. I just couldn’t leave it by the other trash for the refuse guy to take away. That started me down the PowerPC / retro Mac rabbit hole and that’s when I joined MR looking for information and advice on them.

Nice folks. Been around since.

See you around.

You're quoting me, but I think you meant OP.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

So I am. Let me fix that.

 

[Silencio]

That's a shame about DSL Reports. I joined it back in 1999, when the broadband market was just getting interesting. It's now the exact opposite of interesting. DSLR's forums were pretty good, but I didn't regularly venture out beyond the forums for the ISP's I was interested in, and I haven't been on the site at all in many years — Fios has been boringly good and reliable for me, I guess.

I've been on this almost as long (finally got around to registering my account in 2002), but this community has stood the test of time for Apple discussions and beyond.

 

[diggy33]

Man I remember that forum; been a long time since I'd even thought about it

 

[Black_Mage]

Man I remember that forum; been a long time since I'd even thought about it

It was the very first forum I ever joined. I lurked before I joined. I had Mac Rumors in my bookmarks for several years for the news. I just didn't feel the need to join the forum when I was already discussing Apple stuff on another forum.

One of the things that really sucks about losing DSL Reports is losing all the helpful troubleshooting information and ISP reviews that accumulated over the years from me and many other people. For example, I was having trouble with odd CPU usage spikes. It happened with a M1 Mac Mini and a M2 Pro Mac Mini. I finally figured out that it was a bad HDMI cable that was causing it.

So much for the idea that what you post on the Internet stays around forever.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I have similar memories of the old Monolith forums and the planet forums ie: Planet Unreal, UT, Quake, Shogo etc. that were all shut down by IGN when they bought Planet forums. I lived & moderated on those forums around the TOTC and they're all gone now. There were countless gaming clans/teams that were rooted there who were all dispersed to the four winds.

So much for the idea that what you post on the Internet stays around forever.

LOL

 

[I7guy]

I miss dslreports. It was one of a kind. I didn't realize it shut down until I wanted to get some information and poof it wouldn't load.

 

[eyoungren]

For me, it was an old version of the Quark forums. QuarkXPress is the competitor to Adobe's layout application InDesign, and Quark, the company that makes QuarkXPress had a forum on their website in 2001 when I joined. My understanding is that this was the second iteration of those forums.

I met many designers in those forums, some of whom I still communicate with today. But in 2003, with the bile and vitriol that had developed over the release of QuarkXPress 5.0, the company shut the forums down. All that info, all those discussions, tips, ideas, etc - right out the airlock.

The forums came back about a year later in an entirely different configuration and I re-established myself there, but it was never quite the same. Unfortunately, at some point because I started working in InDesign and my involvement in MacRumors got deeper, I stopped participating over there. Now that I am back working in QuarkXPress again however, I've long forgotten my password and I can't reset it because the account uses an email I no longer have. Browsers saving passwords are no help either because between the time I left and now, I've changed primary browsers and the model of Mac I'm using frequently.

And the culture over there has changed as well.

One thing working in the graphic design industry has taught me is that the only constant in life, is change. No matter how long something IS, there comes a day where it's present form is NOT. Forums are no exception, MacRumors included. The MR I joined in 2011 is not the same as the one today. That's neither good nor bad. It's just change.

 

[JanetTheGreat]

Welcome to the forum. I didn't convert to Apple until 2023 when I sold my old Windows Tower PC and downsized to a M2 Pro Mac Mini which I later sold last year to get the base model M4 Mac Mini. I find Apple is a lot easier and better for me to use. I used to have constant issues with Windows 10 and 11 and don't miss them one bit. This seems to be one of the better forums out there. I have seen Linus Tech Tips over the years and never liked his personality or his videos, so I'll likely never use the forums. I just find his content over-rated.

I don't really use any other forums to any real extent when it comes to computers and technology, maybe I just don't know enough about other sites. I like to think of this forum as a place I can go to whenever I want and for the most part it feels rather relaxed. Of course there are issues but nothing too bad.

I have an Iphone 16e, upgraded from an iphone 13 earlier this year.

 

[Herdfan]

Hi all! I used to enjoy discussing Apple and Apple products on a now-deactivated forum site called DSL Reports.

That was my home back in the day. Sad to see it go by the wayside.

 

[Madonepro]

Welcome, it's a forgiving place, and full of information. I suggest digging around the home page, and exploring the many themes and topics that have arisen.

I was introduced to my first Mac, by a friend who I worked alongside in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, in 1991. I bought my first Mac in 1992, 1995, and in 2001, a Titanium G4 Powerbook, and since then, have only ever owned a laptop.

 

[decafjava]

Welcome and enjoy your stay! I came to Apple through an iPhone 4 and then an iMac and have been stuck ever since.