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The other task I'm trying to achieve is to get some more apps on the iPad 3. I previously did this using a Mac Pro 2,1 running Lion, via the iTunes App Store, but of course, that doesn't feature in later stuff. So, for fun, I've unboxed the Mac Pro 3,1, taken out all the drives, and stuck in a spare SSD.While getting this ready, I torrented an ISO of Snow Leopard from the Internet Archive and flashed a USB stick. Just installed, and doing updates. Then we shall see what we shall see...
 
MacPro and Photoshop, got my new iPhone 6 Plus wallpaper installed…there's a theme here, LOL!

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OK, someone enlighten me.
"Enter the verification code sent to your other devices".
So where is this mythical code? I also normally get the option to have a text to my mobile, but Mountain Lion doesn't offer this option...
 
OK, someone enlighten me.
"Enter the verification code sent to your other devices".
So where is this mythical code? I also normally get the option to have a text to my mobile, but Mountain Lion doesn't offer this option...
The 2FA codes usually pop up as notifications on newer devices. To then type them in on older devices you add the one time code to the end of your password on the next login attempt.
 
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The 2FA codes usually pop up as notifications on newer devices. To then type them in on older devices you add the one time code to the end of your password on the next login attempt.
That's my point, nothing ever gets sent, or I don't receive it. I have a registered phone number, but Mountain Lion does not give that option, so that install is impossible.
Ploughing my way through the 2FA documentation seems to say that I should get these on my 2009 iMac, but no...
 
That's my point, nothing ever gets sent, or I don't receive it. I have a registered phone number, but Mountain Lion does not give that option, so that install is impossible.
Ploughing my way through the 2FA documentation seems to say that I should
That’s a tricky one. Have you tried logging in to iCloud.com via a browser? Will it even work on something that old? I think the only would be to force a code sent via sms is through a web password reset.

Won’t help in this case though
 
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That’s a tricky one. Have you tried logging in to iCloud.com via a browser? Will it even work on something that old? I think the only would be to force a code sent via sms is through a web password reset.

Won’t help in this case though
Stranger things...
While I was investigating all this, and going through the iPad settings, I decided to put a PIN on the device. Then moved on to getting El Cap on the Mac Pro, which took several attempts. Finally got that started, and up came the code screen, with the option for a text message. Before I could complete it, up pops a notification on the iPad, with the code. Was it because I'd secured the iPad?
Anyhow, all progressed well from that point. I was able to use the old iTunes app store and get what I wanted for the iPad.
 
I am back at home from a weekend trip and decided to try straighten out the bent bottom case on my 17" MBP A1297. Took a small ball peen hammer and I quickly managed to fix it. Here is a pic which shows how much the top case is bent in two directions. Won't be straightening that out so easily. So, waiting for the replacement.

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One last thing I've done on the iMac 10,1 is, after cleaning it, monitor temperatures. It can get pretty hot at the top. It probably needs further tear-down and thermal paste renewing, which might help a little. Anyhow, this got me thinking: back when I had the Mac Pro 2,1, I bought a Pro copy of MacsFans Control. So I installed the free version, and emailed CrystalIdea to see if he could trace my purchase and send me a key. And he did, well done, that man. Using MacsFans, everything is set for constant speed a couple of hundred RPM above 'auto', and all is a good bit cooler, and still silent.
 
All of my iMac 10.1, 11.1 and 12.1 all run very hot to touch on top of the case. But not at the component level. The whole case is pretty much a heat sink so its expected to get hot.

I use the "based on a sensor" -setting in MacsFans Control in all machines I use. I don't like constant speed -setting as it doesn't react to sensors. And the automatic setting is too "mild" for my taste.
 
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One last thing I've done on the iMac 10,1 is, after cleaning it, monitor temperatures. It can get pretty hot at the top. It probably needs further tear-down and thermal paste renewing, which might help a little. Anyhow, this got me thinking: back when I had the Mac Pro 2,1, I bought a Pro copy of MacsFans Control. So I installed the free version, and emailed CrystalIdea to see if he could trace my purchase and send me a key. And he did, well done, that man. Using MacsFans, everything is set for constant speed a couple of hundred RPM above 'auto', and all is a good bit cooler, and still silent.
I had an iMac11,1, the late 2009 with a first gen i7. That thing got hot. So hot that I was worried that my kid would burn himself if he touched the case. No wonder the first GPU failed.
 
I did change up my setup at school a bit. In place of the 2008 20", I've put in a 2009 21"! The 20" is now at home on my tech workbench. It's nice to have the higher-res screen of the 21", and it aesthetically matches the 27" 2010 next to it :D

I feel like I could post in this thread every day "I did everything for my job with early Intel Macs" :p

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The G5 Powerbook melted before the Cube did!
 
Got it today instead. While not pristine by any stretch of the imagination, it's a lot less beat up than £10 would suggest. Let's try it out and see...
Nice, good luck with it! They're lovely computers, if only 4GB DDR2 sticks weren't so expensive. I lucked out and found one in a recycled laptop years ago that I've been tossing between my DDR2 Macs to bring whichever one I use the most up to 6GB :p
 
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Not all of these are early Intel Macs, but the last couple days have been a fun journey of restoration here! I have a friend that works at a small phone shop, and he occasionally gets devices in for recycling, then forgets about them until he cleans up the shop. Earlier this week was a cleaning day, and he found a couple old junk laptops for me! All three of them were labeled as "No power" and had been liquid damaged. I ended up with:

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2012 13" Unibody MBP - i7, 8GB, 750GB. Keyboard was completely dunked and shorting, computer wouldn't power up or would randomly power on and off. The screen was also smashed. This was also one of the most disgusting computers I've ever had the displeasure to touch, and I've worked on machines that had milk spilled in them. Disassembled, liquid residue and corrosion on the logic board. I swapped in a lid from a long-dead 2011 13". A solid, long cleaning with alcohol and a keyboard replacement (God I hate those screws) and it's up and running beautifully! I stuck an SSD and 16GB of RAM in it and it's working great. The replacement keyboard had its keys swapped by me years ago when I took the black ones off to put on my white poly MacBook, so it has white keys and they actually look pretty baller with the backlight!

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2014 13" Retina MBP - i5, 8GB, 256GB. Battery was swollen, had pushed apart the case. Computer was disgusting, hinges were loose, lid and base were both held on with duct tape. No power or signs of life at all. Upon disassembly, a solid 1/3 of the logic board was covered in a mix of corrosion and mold that took about 30 minutes of careful, intense scrubbing with alcohol, a toothbrush, and cotton swabs to take care of. The case also had to be cleaned of corrosion. Upon reassembly, it booted! Cleaned it up (TONS of alcohol for all the duct tape residue) and it actually looks nearly spotless under all the grime and tape! It's currently working fine, and I have a new battery on order for it.

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2016 12" Retina MacBook - m3, 8GB, 256GB. No signs of life whatsoever, computer was also filthy and several keys on the keyboard looked like someone had tried to pull them out with a pair of scissors. The rubber around the display is degrading and melting. Upon disassembly, the entire computer had been soaked in something. For shiggles I fully disassembled it, then rinsed the keyboard off in the sink before scrubbing at it with alcohol. Scrubbed a bit of corrosion off the logic board, spent about 10 minutes scrubbing and cleaning the USB-C port alone given that it was nearly solid with gunk, and cleaning corrosion off the audio board. Upon reassembly, it too booted! It has a couple light pink spots on the display, the keyboard is technically functional though most keys either don't move at all or need to be pushed with massive force to register, and the trackpad is a tad wonky. The USB-C port also only works for power, no data. But it works! I've ordered a new top case and keyboard for it and will be reassembling it into the new one when that arrives.

So for the price of a few evenings of work, I ended up with three free working MacBooks! Not entirely sure what I'll do with them now, as I'd feel odd about selling what I know are liquid damaged machines without a massive warning to the buyer but for now I'll certainly be enjoying them :)
 
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Tried a couple of live Linux boots. Antix was fine. Linux mint behaved as it had on the Mac Pro 3,1. Just sat there showing a cursor, so ignored it for ten minutes, and voila, a desktop!
So this makes 3 Macs for 90 quid. All effectively labelled "Spares or Repair", all perfectly serviceable.
 
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I just managed to find a pristine mid 2010 Unibody MacBook for the equivalent of $40. Should arrive next week.

I’ve always had a soft spot for the white polycarbonate macs and this is the last one ever made. Plan to use it as my secondary computer when I don’t feel like being tied down by my desk where my M1 mini lives.
 
2012 13" Unibody MBP - i7, 8GB, 750GB. Keyboard was completely dunked and shorting, computer wouldn't power up or would randomly power on and off. The screen was also smashed. This was also one of the most disgusting computers I've ever had the displeasure to touch, and I've worked on machines that had milk spilled in them. Disassembled, liquid residue and corrosion on the logic board. I swapped in a lid from a long-dead 2011 13". A solid, long cleaning with alcohol and a keyboard replacement (God I hate those screws) and it's up and running beautifully! I stuck an SSD and 16GB of RAM in it and it's working great. The replacement keyboard had its keys swapped by me years ago when I took the black ones off to put on my white poly MacBook, so it has white keys and they actually look pretty baller with the backlight!

That 2012 looks gorgeous. Though at first glance I had to check the photo again, since in that lighting it looks so much like one of the older polycarbonate MacBooks. I first thought, wait, is that an A1181 MacBook?, or, how on earth did he get a backlit keyboard into an A1342!?
 
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2012 13" Unibody MBP - i7, 8GB, 750GB. Keyboard was completely dunked and shorting, computer wouldn't power up or would randomly power on and off. The screen was also smashed. This was also one of the most disgusting computers I've ever had the displeasure to touch, and I've worked on machines that had milk spilled in them. Disassembled, liquid residue and corrosion on the logic board. I swapped in a lid from a long-dead 2011 13". A solid, long cleaning with alcohol and a keyboard replacement (God I hate those screws) and it's up and running beautifully! I stuck an SSD and 16GB of RAM in it and it's working great. The replacement keyboard had its keys swapped by me years ago when I took the black ones off to put on my white poly MacBook, so it has white keys and they actually look pretty baller with the backlight!

This… turned out far different and far better than I ever would have expected using the white polycarbonate keys.

Until this proof-of-concept (which is really, really attractive, by the way), I always presumed the opacity of the white plastic would block all backlighting. Turns out that’s not the case at all. Beautiful and well done!
 
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Lately, I’ve been midwifing monarch eggs and watching over them as caterpillars. I’ve lost a few to outdoor predators, though.

Nevertheless, I’ve been using my phone to shoot potatovideo of the eggs hatching; the caterpillars eating their milkweed feast; and their moulting (the current batch I brought indoors until they reach being a chrysalis for 48 hours, before I plan to move them back outside).

The first couple of videos, time exposures, were set up with a tiny tripod and phone clamp, with the phone plugged into my nearby A1138 for bus power (as time exposure, plus on-board light, would have wiped out the phone’s battery in less than 90 minutes). Then, I shot a series, by hand (i.e., no gimbals, no steadycam, etc.), using a phone-clip mounted to a tiny tripod.

Then, on my A1278 running High Sierra, I used Premiere Pro and After Effects CS6 to prep basic (i.e., light editing) clips in 1080p for future reference, and occasionally tidying up things using QuickTime 7.

Below, from early this morning, features a just-found egg (unplanned, as I wasn’t looking for it when I went out to harvest fresh milkweed leaves last evening for the three other caterpillars I’ve been looking after); then, to the oldest of the three caterpillars (born seven days ago, in the morning); followed by the second-oldest (the same one as in the first clip, born four hours after the first); and then the youngest (born eight hours after the second).

In this clip, the youngest was caught in real time during an instar moult (which was the portion I sped up to 4x, from a two-minute-long shimmying to one lasting about thirty seconds).

If you’re not into nature stuff and find bugs icky, don’t watch the clip. But for the rest of y’all, enjoy the marvel of nature’s show — all done on “obsolete” hardware. :)

🐛

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Following up on this update, I put the time-exposure to work on my potatophone cam once again when the second of those three caterpillars moulted as a chrysalis earlier this week.

The first and second caterpillars emerged as chrysalids about two minutes apart from one another; the third was about a day later.

So now, in my home, I have three green-gold-encrusted, seafoam green chrysalids doing their thing. (If all goes well for them, they should emerge as monarch butterflies in about a week and a half; hopefully I’ll be able to record that on time exposure, too). Then it’ll be time for them to migrate to Mexico for the winter.

I’m attaching three clips, but only one relied on my A1138 providing bus power (for the hour-long time exposure, which I later pulled into Premiere CS6 on my A1278 to accelerate the start and end of the clip, leaving the middle at the 2x speed shot by the phone cam). All were finished to sub-25MB .mp4s clips in QuickTime 7 Pro, in High Sierra.

The first clip is the first caterpillar/chrysalis crawling on my finger a day or two before setting up for the chrysalis. That one, named Inky, was the first to moult as a chrysalis, but it was Blinky, following a couple of minutes later, who appears in the second clip time lapse. (The third to become a chrysalis is named Pinky). The last clip is of Blinky earlier today, day two of being a chrysalis. I wanted to capture the dazzling sparkle, but the potatocamera doesn’t do it proper justice.

I found two additional eggs by accident last week when picking milkweed leaves for the big caterpillars’ food; so those are in third and second instar at the moment, and are named Genki and Slinky, respectively. So the midwifing continues for a bit longer.

Anyhow, enjoy nature at its finest.





 
That 2012 looks gorgeous. Though at first glance I had to check the photo again, since in that lighting it looks so much like one of the older polycarbonate MacBooks. I first thought, wait, is that an A1181 MacBook?, or, how on earth did he get a backlit keyboard into an A1342!?
I'm really impressed at how well it looks to be honest. I quite like the light glow of the keys, and the legend is perfectly readable with the backlight on. This keyboard originally was from an early 2011 13" MBP which seemingly used the same key mechanism as the 2010 white MacBook. There were several revisions of the mechanism, all of which are slightly different and make the keys not fit. I ended up swapping the keyboard into a pristine 13" 2012 that I have, and put the i7 logic board into this case as well to build up the ultimate machine. I'm thrilled with this machine, and love the unique look just as I've always been happy with the black keys on the 13" Poly MacBook :D

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