Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

A Worthwhile Upgrade!

Krishna M. Sadasivam - 2001.12.06

I've been a Mac user since 1997. Prior to that, I was a die-hard Apple IIGS fan going back to 1987. I've been well versed with the Mac OS for over 14 years. That said, I was very excited when I first read about the impending arrival of OS X. I knew I would make the switch, but I wanted to wait a few months after the initial release before upgrading.

While I like the classic OS, I find it to be unstable over a period of time. Frequent reboots were commonplace. I made sure to read articles and message boards on the subject, to know what to expect when performing the upgrade. In the end, the decision to upgrade was inevitable.

First, I decided to repartition my Dual G4/450 with 15 GB dedicated to OS X, and 15 GB devoted to Classic. Installation of 10.0 -> 10.0.4 was flawless. Even the subsequent 10.1 installation went without a hitch.

However, the same could not be said for my PowerBook G3 (Pismo). Installation of 10.0 was a nightmare, with kernel panics galore - sometimes early in the install, other times, as installation was on the verge of completing. After two days (and two sleepless nights!) of debugging, I narrowed the problem down to a faulty 512 MB DIMM I had purchased from OWC. A quick phone call to them, and I was able to get a replacement module. After its arrival, installation was a breeze!

I use Mac OS X 10.1 on a daily basis, both at home and at work. I found it to be relatively easy for me to adapt to, given my experience with Macs and (more recently) Unix. The stability factor and Unix under the hood were two features that sold me on getting this OS.

I am still patiently awaiting a few key apps to be ported over to OS X, namely Photoshop and GoLive, but I can live with running these in Classic for the time being. Perhaps the only reason I still revert to booting up my Mac into Classic is for AOL Instant Messenger. The "classic" version of this app supports Internet "Talk" mode, which allows me to voice-talk to friends over the Internet. I'm hoping for a Mac OS X version of Instant Messenger with the same feature.

At work I use my PowerBook G3 for hardware engineering. It's great being able to bring up terminal sessions, run vi, and run batch scripts within the operating system. I haven't been bold enough to experiment with utilities that allow me to bring up Unix GUI-driven tools yet, but it's nice to know that with a few free add-ons, that it is possible.

The most interesting thing I've noticed is how people's attitudes have changed towards the Mac with OS X. My coworkers were very impressed, and one of them might even consider switching to the Mac, given his current problems with his Compaq at home.

All in all, I'm very pleased and wish to congratulate Apple on a job well done!

Krishna M. Sadasivam is the creator of The PC Weenies cartoon - "Two 'toons a week, or the next one is FREE!"

Recent 10 Forward

Three glitches in Safari 1.0, 07.07. Safari developer Dave Hyatt has asked for a Top 10 list of Safari problems. Try as I might, I can only come up with three.
Troubleshooting iChat AV for voice and video chat, 06.24. Can't get iChat AV to work for audio or video chat? Here's how to get past your firewall.
Good news and bad news about the Jaguar update and other thoughts on OS X, 04.01. Turning the Jaguar upgrade into a full installer, OS 9 vs. X, pros and cons of OS X applications, thoughts on the dock, and more.
Safari update, Mac OS X 10.2.4, a neat haxie, and how Mail can better fight spam, 02.14. Safari mostly improved but adds a glitch, 10.2.4 seems just fine, a better CPU monitor, and ways Apple can leverage Mail to better fight spam.
More in the 10 Forward index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: Mac IIfx, Mar. 1990 - This 'wicked fast' 40 MHz Mac trumped the 33 MHz DOS world.
Group of the Day: StarMax List is for anyone using Motorola StarMax Mac clones.
March 19 in LEM history: 90: Mac IIfx - 99: Fool me twice? - 01: Add FireWire, USB to older Macs - Time to replace your iMac? - 02: The Mac Challenge - Installing Linux on a low-end Mac - 03: Value of the Lombard PowerBook - Your portable should have WiFi - PowerBook 1400 upgrades - 04: The video iPod - 07: Troubleshooting an iMac - 08: Intel Mac mini value

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2010 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.