What have you done with an early Intel recently?

[TheShortTimer]

Never ever buy first-generation products

Never!

You're nearly always buying what is a dress-rehearsal for the refined version. I learned about this in 1990 courtesy of a Terry Pratchett interview where he and the interviewer informally warned that you basically serve as an unpaid bug-tester for the manufacturer. If I'd remembered this when considering the MacBook Pro 1,1 - I would've passed and bought the late 2006 model instead. (Don't get me wrong, it's a great machine but it represents a testing of the waters in many ways when you compare it to the significant advances that were introduced very soon after with the 2nd generation MBP.)

Also much to my surprise, I discovered it had its original 160 GB 5400rpm SATA hard drive (wiped), as well as a 4 GB DDR2 module! The latter now lives in my MacBook 3,1 while the former is awaiting a new home in another Mac...

Congrats! I found an iMac G5 years back in my neighbourhood with a damaged LCD and bulging caps. Its 1GB RAM was recycled into my Mac Mini and the optical drive is a nice spare for my iBook G4. That moment of good fortune saved me £££ on a RAM upgrade for the former and provided a backup option for the latter.

With wholly wasteful, greed-oriented practices as disposing a serviceable product no longer classified as “saleable” by the vendor, it’s little wonder our species are doing such a fine job wiping out the planet and exploiting its resources as fast as we’ve been doing for the last 200 years.

The amount of perfectly edible, unsold food that I've found piled high in supermarket bins - often by the sack-load whilst there are families across the UK that are struggling to maintain regular meals, is distressing. I'd share photos of my discoveries which I've compiled as a visual diary but someone would no doubt flag it as off-topic.

I'll need to do it in a context that involves the discussion of the usage of early Intel Macs... 🤔

I realize it's nothing personal, and from a capitalist perspective it makes total sense, but it feels like an awfully petty thing to do to ensure that used electronics (especially a machine as good as an R-series ThinkPad) go straight to the bin.

In a way, it is personal though and I agree with you that it's a terribly petty thing to do - and it's symptomatic of the spiteful thinking that often pervades the capitalist perspective: they've determined that they're unable to profit from it in any capacity, which renders it worthless within their estimation but they still don't want anyone else to benefit from it.

 

[B S Magnet]

The thing I’ve done this day, so far, with my Early Intel Mac (my A1261 running the venerable 10.6.8), is to use PPCMC to archive some gaps in my music video library from my favourite drummer of all time, Yukihiro Takahashi, who I learnt this morning died last week at the too-early age of 70.

He was best known as drummer and vocalist for Yellow Magic Orchestra alongside Haruomi Hosono and Ryuichi Sakamoto, and also for the Sadistic Mika Band (later, The Sadistics). He also collaborated with Roxy Music (minus Ferry) and Iva Davies of Icehouse.

Next up, later on: picking up a can of Asahi Super-Dry to pour one out for a gifted, kind, creative mind no longer amongst the living. His memory is a great blessing.

 

[B S Magnet]

The amount of perfectly edible, unsold food that I've found piled high in supermarket bins - often by the sack-load whilst there are families across the UK that are struggling to maintain regular meals, is distressing. I'd share photos of my discoveries which I've compiled as a visual diary but someone would no doubt flag it as off-topic.

Heck, do it. We ought to start a “dumpster dive finds” thread for Macs. Within that, once it takes off, toss in a couple pics of food finds alongside more Mac/computer finds.

It’s extremely illogical to find unsold, still un-perished, edible (if not legally “saleable”) foods in bins and not, say, at a nearby food bank. I find it infuriating, antithetical to reducing our species’ carbon footprint, and also just plain broken and ill-willed. Worse, there are places in the U.S. where people get arrested for retrieving said food from bins (it’s actually not that uncommon there, and I wouldn’t be shocked to learn it also happens here in Canada). Of course, the linked incident had a fortuitous ending, but it doesn’t take much imagination to piece together how many more folks with even fewer resources (or non-monetary affordances) get saddled with much harsher outcomes.

I'll need to do it in a context that involves the discussion of the usage of early Intel Macs... 🤔

Time to put on your thinking toque!

In a way, it is personal though and I agree with you that it's a terribly petty thing to do - and it's symptomatic of the spiteful thinking that often pervades the capitalist perspective: they've determined that they're unable to profit from it in any capacity, which renders it worthless within their estimation but they still don't want anyone else to benefit from it.

It’s more than that: by deliberately spending time, energy, and effort to sabotage/destroy serviceable equipment no longer considered useful to themselves, they’re doing “free” labour in the name of said capitalism — which is wholly illogical to the remit of that paradigm.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Worked on my sons 2006 17" retro gaming imac today, added some roms and cleaned up the desktop. I have a 2008 20" imac lined up for him but he really likes this one, so I'm hoping we can get him into that 08 imac and then this one will go to his little 3.5 y/o brother. He's about ready to and is noticing this imac and plonking on the keys/watching the video games.

 

[Amethyst1]

Worked on my sons 2006 17" retro gaming imac today [...]

That keyboard 😍

 

[Amethyst1]

Aw, dang. That sucks so much, tbh. Replacing the poor logic board. Ie that expensive?

No idea. Replacing just the failed component should be enough, or maybe going all the way to swapping a 2016 or 2017 board in there if that's possible.

Yes, I know that but maybe they're a bit too skinny for their own good? They seem so fragile, to me anyway.

I've never thought of the MB as being overly fragile. I treat mine just like any other laptop. Gentle but not like, "OMG it's gonna break any minute now!".

I put a case on that thing, just to be double certain that it wouldn't break. It kept it pretty good tbh.

I hate cases, they make laptops and phones thicker and heavier. I keep mine in a sleeve when they're not in use, but that's it. I don't use a case on my phone either. If it gets scratched or anything, so be it.

Maybe I am just used to older, thicker laptops from growing up.

The first laptop my dad got in the 1990s was thicker, but I always thought a portable computer should be just that, i.e. as small, thin and light as possible. Thus, I've always been fascinated by ultraportables, and when I got my hands on this a couple of years after its release, I was blown away by how thin and light it was. Of course, it had a ticking timebomb in that the display backlight would eventually fail, and when that happened, I sold it on and got... an even smaller and lighter, but not as thin, ultraportable

Atom seems like a real pain in the ass.

I've had a few systems with them between 2008 and 2010 or so, mainly just to try them out and because you could get some amazingly tiny laptops with them, such as this one (I briefly had the successor). They were terrible. They've probably improved since then, but I still wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot pole. Never again.

Imagining an Atom on Windows Vista seems like a living nightmare, let alone on Mac OS

I ran Snow Leopard on an original Atom in 2009/2010 or so. It was better than I expected, possibly due to the SSD. Back then, slapping OS X on those tiny, cheap netbooks was a thing.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

That keyboard 😍

Yeah man, I picked that up for him last summer at a local retro computing festival used for $20 usd. Seller was moving to Dallas FW, so was moving as much as he could before the move, so he let it go pretty cheap. Mechanical cherry switches - it types like an absolute dream. I figure he will grow into it.

 

[VirtuallyInsane]

No idea. Replacing just the failed component should be enough, or maybe going all the way to swapping a 2016 or 2017 board in there if that's possible.

Yeah, maybe that would do for now. Or in a few years when they're cheap enough, just buy a full, new second hand one, if you still are interested in using one.

I've never thought of the MB as being overly fragile. I treat mine just like any other laptop. Gentle but not like, "OMG it's gonna break any minute now!".


I hate cases, they make laptops and phones thicker and heavier. I keep mine in a sleeve when they're not in use, but that's it. I don't use a case on my phone either. If it gets scratched or anything, so be it.

I was thinking more from the POV that I wanted to keep it good, so I bought the case. I do tend to treat my laptops well but because the Air was my first one, I wanted to treat it espcially well. I kinda have a habit of putting laptops on my bedroom floor beside my bed, and because this was my first real 'small and light' laptop, I wanted to treat it well.

Now, I don't have it on my MBP, I think it doesn't need it. I try my best to keep this one off the floor though, and on my desk. I have one on my phone, though. I spent a good bit of money on it and wanna keep it in good condition.

The first laptop my dad got in the 1990s was thicker, but I always thought a portable computer should be just that, i.e. as small, thin and light as possible. Thus, I've always been fascinated by ultraportables, and when I got my hands on this a couple of years after its release, I was blown away by how thin and light it was. Of course, it had a ticking timebomb in that the display backlight would eventually fail, and when that happened, I sold it on and got... an even smaller and lighter, but not as thin, ultraportable

Yeah, I get that. That looks pretty rad for its time period, though, in term of thinness that Sharp laptop. It can just about fit in an old VGA style port, lol.

I think that having a thin, portable laptop is great (like the MBP 13 I have) but I do sometimes miss the reliability of the USB port (without the adaptors) which is why like the Early Intel models as well.

The idea of ultraportables are good, as long as they run well and have good specs despite their size and there isn't too much cost cutting going on. And feature cutting, as well.

I've had a few systems with them between 2008 and 2010 or so, mainly just to try them out and because you could get some amazingly tiny laptops with them, such as this one (I briefly had the successor). They were terrible. They've probably improved since then, but I still wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot pole. Never again.

Yeah, I have a GPD one of them for gaming and it's not great. If the processors were better on these things, and they made up for their super small size then it would be alright. But they're too small and expensive for what they are.

I ran Snow Leopard on an original Atom in 2009/2010 or so. It was better than I expected, possibly due to the SSD. Back then, slapping OS X on those tiny, cheap netbooks was a thing even if there was no point. But Vista or 7... nooooooo!

Yeah, SSD help. I had a non Atom laptop (Acer, I think) in like 2009 and Vista was a real pain in the ass on that too lol couldn't wait to be done with that and upgrade to anything else.

 

[Amethyst1]

Yeah, maybe that would do for now. Or in a few years when they're cheap enough, just buy a full, new second hand one, if you still are interested in using one.

I'm going to keep using my 2015 until it fails or is totally inadequate in terms of performance. Then I'll consider my options.

That looks pretty rad for its time period, though, in term of thinness that Sharp laptop. It can just about fit in an old VGA style port, lol.

It sure was, and the keyboard lifted itself up as you opened the lid, providing decent key travel. This was a much better idea than the weird keyboard on the Mitsubishi Pedion, which was 1997's go at creating the world's thinnest laptop. (Which isn't to say that I wouldn't snag a Pedion if given the chance!)

I think that having a thin, portable laptop is great (like the MBP 13 I have) but I do sometimes miss the reliability of the USB port (without the adaptors) which is why like the Early Intel models as well.

Same. The MB is a bit too extreme at times, which is why I value having other ultraportables with more/full-size ports.

The idea of ultraportables are good, as long as they run well and have good specs despite their size and there isn't too much cost cutting going on. And feature cutting, as well.

Specs of ultraportables have continously been improving. But they're still less powerful than larger laptops, of course.

Yeah, SSD help. I had a non Atom laptop (Acer, I think) in like 2009 and Vista was a real pain in the ass on that too lol couldn't wait to be done with that and upgrade to anything else.

I never used Vista much, and by the time Windows 7 was released (2009), the systems I ran it on had SSDs.

 

[eyoungren]

My SL only Mini (the one inside the house), streaming music to the Bluetooth soundbar. Connection via Screen Sharing.

 

[VirtuallyInsane]

I'm going to keep using my 2015 until it fails or is totally inadequate in terms of performance. Then I'll consider my options.

Fair enough. Enjoy

It sure was, and the keyboard lifted itself up as you opened the lid, providing decent key travel. This was a much better idea than the weird keyboard on the Mitsubishi Pedion, which was 1997's go at creating the world's thinnest laptop. (Which isn't to say that I wouldn't snag a Pedion if given the chance!)

Yeah, and the Pedion had a dock with ports on it. I am surprised that Apple hasn't tried to do a modern version of that on the Macbook for another $200 with any model Yeah, the keyboard looks kinda weird for the time. It took me a while to get used to my MBP keyboard, coming from the Air. I think I would have made a lot of typos on the Pedion Keyboard at the time, lol. Doesn't seem like it held a lot of battery charge either, but taking it for a piece of useable history isn't a bad idea.

Same. The MB is a bit too extreme at times, which is why I value having other ultraportables with more/full-size ports.

Yeah, I get it. When I got my MBA, I was surprised that it actually had USB ports on it. And the MBA needs adaptors and it's kinda annoying sometimes. And the fact that the charger is USB-C as well means that you can only have one other accessory at the same time, without an adaptor. Don't always have one of those on hand, though.

Specs of ultraportables have continously been improving. But they're still less powerful than larger laptops, of course.

Yeah, they need a few more years to catch up, definitely.

I never used Vista much, and by the time Windows 7 was released (2009), the systems I ran it on had SSDs.

Nice one. Windows 7 was miles better than Vista and I was excited when I changed over. SSDs are always great, though. I notice the difference in my MBP 2006 speed vs the hard drive. And I notice how fast my Air and MBP are too.

 

[Amethyst1]

Yeah, and the Pedion had a dock with ports on it.

Many ultraportables of the 1990s and early 2000s had that.

I am surprised that Apple hasn't tried to do a modern version of that on the Macbook for another $200 with any model

I’d say a Thunderbolt dock or enclosure is the modern version of that.

Doesn't seem like it held a lot of battery charge either, […]

Maybe two hours was considered decent back in the day. How did students (uh, their laptops) survive a day at uni back then…

 

[B S Magnet]

I’d say a Thunderbolt dock or enclosure is the modern version of that.

Meh, Apple left it to third parties. Those options range from nearly-as-good-as-Ive-touched-it-but-didn’t to janky.

 

[VirtuallyInsane]

Many ultraportables of the 1990s and early 2000s had that.

I didn't know that, but again, I didn't have one lol.

I’d say a Thunderbolt dock or enclosure is the modern version of that.

Those are too expensive, and look bulky, No thanks.

Maybe two hours was considered decent back in the day. How did students (uh, their laptops) survive a day at uni back then…

I dunno, doesn't seem practical lol.

 

[Amethyst1]

You're nearly always buying what is a dress-rehearsal for the refined version. I learned about this in 1990 courtesy of a Terry Pratchett interview where he and the interviewer informally warned that you basically serve as an unpaid bug-tester for the manufacturer.

Then again, if the product does what you bought it for and doesn't have glaring problems, what's wrong with that?

Meh, Apple left it to third parties. Those options range from nearly-as-good-as-Ive-touched-it-but-didn’t to janky.

And the 'Book doesn't slide into them like with the DuoDock.

Those are too expensive, and look bulky, No thanks.

Meet my dad's first laptop in its dock. That was bulky... but very practical. We installed a CD-ROM drive and a sound card in it.

I dunno, doesn't seem practical lol.

They probably did the same thing camcorder operators did: Bring along loads of batteries LOL.

 

[B S Magnet]

Meet my dad's first laptop in its dock. That was bulky... but very practical. We installed a CD-ROM drive and a sound card in it.

Not very… Compaq but very practical…

 

[Tratkazir_the_1st]

Hi again .
Can someone please recommend reliable battery for MacBook A1342? (PartNumber + manufacturers). Seems that battery which currently installed - quite worn out (it works for around 2 hours & shuts down discharged).

Thanks in advance!

 

[B S Magnet]

Hi again .
Can someone please recommend reliable battery for MacBook A1342? (PartNumber + manufacturers). Seems that battery which currently installed - quite worn out (it works for around 2 hours & shuts down discharged).

Thanks in advance!

You ought to take a look at Newertech.

 

[Tratkazir_the_1st]

You ought to take a look at Newertech.

Seems not an option - I live in Russia.

 

[VirtuallyInsane]

Meet my dad's first laptop in its dock. That was bulky... but very practical. We installed a CD-ROM drive and a sound card in it

I was also talking about the modern ones. They aren't very practical and stick out of the Macbook

They probably did the same thing camcorder operators did: Bring along loads of batteries LOL.

Not a very good remedy but times have changed eh?

 

[swamprock]

Installed Ventura 13.2 on my Mini 3,1 using OCLP 0.6.1. So far, so good. This makes three OS's on this Mini (High Sierra, Debian 11, Ventura). I installed Big Sur and Monterey on this same Mini in the past, and both worked fine as well.

 

[Amethyst1]

Not very… Compaq

Why not? Too useful?

Not a very good remedy but times have changed eh?

At least the battery life of laptops has changed for the better.

 

[B S Magnet]

Why not? Too useful?


At least the battery life of laptops has changed for the better.

Interestingly, because of where I was raised (the Houston area), I probably saw more Compaqs during my childhood than I did actual IBMs. Compaq, before the buyout by HP, were based in a suburb of Houston (one near which I lived for about a year). Later, when I worked in an office supply store, also in Texas, they sold basically Compaqs and Packard Bells, along with the token IBM desktop and Thinkpad running OS/2.

And indeed, the first “portable” computer I ever saw as a kid was a Compaq. It sported a tiny, amber CRT, at least one 5.25" floppy drive next to it (and either a second 5.25 drive or else an early hard disk drive), and a clasped-in keyboard connected to the body by a thick, spiral cord. Somewhere on there, it had a stout swing handle.

This would have been, I’m thinking, around the mid-to-later 1980s, and the machine was probably pre-286. For whatever reason, my memory of seeing it was inside someone’s garage one sunny afternoon, though seeing it in a garage during the mid-to-late 1980s, for such an expensive system, seems a bit odd. Nevertheless, it was definitely a unit with the old, “sunset coloured” brand mark.

 

[VirtuallyInsane]

At least the battery life of laptops has changed for the better.

I am so glad about that

____​

Today I turned on my Intel Laptop 😂 (to charge it)

 

[B S Magnet]

I am so glad about that

What, lead-acid bricks just aren’t good enough for you? Snob!