Go Back   Freethought Forum > The Marketplace > Computers & Technology

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #26  
Old 09-22-2018, 01:48 AM
lisarea's Avatar
lisarea lisarea is offline
Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: XVMMMDCXLII
Blog Entries: 1
Images: 3
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

I paid $369.97 for the major components of my desktop-slash-server a little over nine years ago, but I already had a keyboard and monitor, and I did replace the power supply a few years ago, so that probably doesn't count.
Reply With Quote
Thanks, from:
ChuckF (09-22-2018), Kevlar (09-26-2018), Kyuss Apollo (09-22-2018), mickthinks (09-23-2018), specious_reasons (09-22-2018), Stormlight (01-09-2019)
  #27  
Old 09-22-2018, 02:29 AM
specious_reasons's Avatar
specious_reasons specious_reasons is offline
here to bore you with pictures
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: VCXLVII
Images: 8
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

Quote:
Originally Posted by lisarea View Post
I paid $369.97 for the major components of my desktop-slash-server a little over nine years ago, but I already had a keyboard and monitor, and I did replace the power supply a few years ago, so that probably doesn't count.
My desktops are always a combination of new and old parts cobbled together from previous iterations - but I can't sit on the couch and post to :ff: with my desktop.
__________________
ta-
DAVE!!!
Reply With Quote
Thanks, from:
Kyuss Apollo (09-22-2018), lisarea (09-22-2018), Stormlight (01-09-2019)
  #28  
Old 09-22-2018, 03:10 AM
ChuckF's Avatar
ChuckF ChuckF is offline
liar in wolf's clothing
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Frequently about
Posts: XXCDXXX
Images: 2
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

All this reminds me: this thing finally died a few weeks ago. Some of the components have a May 2003 date stamped on them. erimir bought it in like 2003, I bought it from him for my dad in like 2010ish. Then my dad used it for about 5 years until he broke a hinge on the display. Then I pulled all the excess components out of it and it ran a BOINC client on Ubuntu non-stop for about 18 months.

It will still boot but powers off after a few minutes. So if anybody needs replacement parts...

(Also Bort I will return your VGA cable if you want)
Reply With Quote
Thanks, from:
Ari (09-22-2018), ceptimus (09-22-2018), Kyuss Apollo (09-22-2018), lisarea (09-22-2018), Stormlight (01-09-2019)
  #29  
Old 09-22-2018, 03:52 PM
lisarea's Avatar
lisarea lisarea is offline
Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: XVMMMDCXLII
Blog Entries: 1
Images: 3
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

Quote:
Originally Posted by specious_reasons View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by lisarea View Post
I paid $369.97 for the major components of my desktop-slash-server a little over nine years ago, but I already had a keyboard and monitor, and I did replace the power supply a few years ago, so that probably doesn't count.
My desktops are always a combination of new and old parts cobbled together from previous iterations - but I can't sit on the couch and post to :ff: with my desktop.
Yes, but you got your new computer, so you're irrelevant to your own thread now.

Now I am one-upping mick by having the oldest and cheapest computer.
Reply With Quote
Thanks, from:
Ari (09-22-2018), ceptimus (09-22-2018), JoeP (09-23-2018), mickthinks (12-20-2018), specious_reasons (09-22-2018), Stormlight (01-09-2019)
  #30  
Old 09-22-2018, 06:51 PM
ceptimus's Avatar
ceptimus ceptimus is offline
puzzler
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: UK
Posts: XVMMDCCXC
Images: 28
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

I still have working computers from the 80s (working last time I checked them anyway). A Sinclair Spectrum, a Commodore Amiga 500, and a PC (286 with 1MB RAM that I built myself from components). None of those were particularly cheap when I bought them (new).

But if we're talking cheap, then I have several old PCs that I've been given. :P
__________________
Reply With Quote
Thanks, from:
JoeP (09-23-2018), SR71 (09-23-2018), Stormlight (01-09-2019)
  #31  
Old 09-23-2018, 03:16 PM
JoeP's Avatar
JoeP JoeP is offline
Solipsist
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Kolmannessa kerroksessa
Gender: Male
Posts: XXXVMMXI
Images: 18
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

Quote:
Originally Posted by lisarea View Post
so you're irrelevant to your own thread now.
There's some kind of custom user title in there ...
__________________

:roadrun:
Free thought! Please take one!

:unitedkingdom:   :southafrica:   :unitedkingdom::finland:   :finland:
Reply With Quote
Thanks, from:
SR71 (09-25-2018), Stormlight (01-09-2019)
  #32  
Old 09-25-2018, 02:28 PM
SR71's Avatar
SR71 SR71 is offline
Stoic Derelict... The cup is empty
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: The Dustbin of History
Gender: Male
Posts: VMCCXXXIX
Blog Entries: 1
Images: 2
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

I have a 2006 IMac. It has max upgrades and runs 10.6.8, which means it won't open a lot of web pages in Safari, but will still open most in Firefox. Replaced the HD. Lucked out there, didn't have any backup, but was able to recover a lot of files with Disk Warrior, even though the HD had a run speed fault. That may have been my fault, I was moving the thing around a lot while it was running. Supposedly those type HD's don't really like that, gyroscopic effects and bearings or what not.

Thinking about getting a Mac Mini. Idk, this still works. I like it for internet.
__________________
Chained out, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall _Cage the Elephant
Reply With Quote
Thanks, from:
specious_reasons (09-25-2018), Stormlight (01-09-2019)
  #33  
Old 09-25-2018, 10:12 PM
ceptimus's Avatar
ceptimus ceptimus is offline
puzzler
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: UK
Posts: XVMMDCCXC
Images: 28
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

I have a Mac Mini I bought early 2009. Still seems to work fine, though I admit I don't use it very often. I recently upgraded it to 8GB RAM - I just like upgrading computers! Bit fiddly to get it apart and back together but I found some good instructions (on YouTube, I think).

It wouldn't take the very latest software update - some weird excuse about the WiFi hardware not being supported. I wouldn't mind running it on wired Ethernet only, but Apple wouldn't allow the upgrade because of the WiFi. :shrug:

It's now running El Capitan 10.11.6. I just switched it on to find that out and the clock was wrong at first - though it fixed itself once the Mac automatically connected itself online looked up the correct date and time from the internet. I guess the battery that keeps the clock running when it's off has died at last - I'll take a look at replacing that (or at least removing the old one) as old dead batteries, even the small ones, are notorious for leaking and destroying the circuit boards around them.
__________________

Last edited by ceptimus; 09-25-2018 at 10:28 PM.
Reply With Quote
Thanks, from:
SR71 (09-27-2018), Stormlight (01-09-2019)
  #34  
Old 09-25-2018, 10:25 PM
ceptimus's Avatar
ceptimus ceptimus is offline
puzzler
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: UK
Posts: XVMMDCCXC
Images: 28
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

In other old computer news, I bid for and won a vintage 1989 plotter on Ebay! I was the only bidder so I only had to pay the automatic opening bid of £0.99 :cheer:

... but I did have to drive 150 miles each way to collect it. :sadcheer:

... but it was a nice sunny day so I enjoyed the drive, and did some Ingressing in Swaffham - I was running early and didn't want to arrive to pick it up before the agreed time. I actually gave the seller £5 for helping by dismantling it and carrying it out with me and lifting the it into my car (it's an A1 plotter, so much too big when assembled on its legs to fit in a car). The fuel for the collection journey cost about five times as much as I paid anyhow.

I just assembled it, powered it up, and it plotted out a nice self test with the one pen that actually works - so now I need to figure out how to wire it up (RS232), rejuvenate the dried-out pens somehow, buy some larger format paper to print on, and find / write some drivers to get it plotting...
__________________
Reply With Quote
Thanks, from:
ChuckF (09-25-2018), Crumb (09-25-2018), JoeP (09-25-2018), lisarea (09-25-2018), slimshady2357 (09-26-2018), specious_reasons (09-26-2018), SR71 (09-27-2018), Stormlight (01-09-2019)
  #35  
Old 09-25-2018, 10:36 PM
JoeP's Avatar
JoeP JoeP is offline
Solipsist
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Kolmannessa kerroksessa
Gender: Male
Posts: XXXVMMXI
Images: 18
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

- and to post pictures both of it and of something plotted!
__________________

:roadrun:
Free thought! Please take one!

:unitedkingdom:   :southafrica:   :unitedkingdom::finland:   :finland:
Reply With Quote
Thanks, from:
ceptimus (09-25-2018)
  #36  
Old 09-25-2018, 10:53 PM
ceptimus's Avatar
ceptimus ceptimus is offline
puzzler
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: UK
Posts: XVMMDCCXC
Images: 28
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

I've been working on a computer vision hobby project (on Raspberry Pi) and it has some servo actuators to move things around. As part of the development procedure I used it as a plotter, moving a sharpie around on a square of paper.

And I made some software that turns photos into pretty good line drawings, though my primitive home built "plotter" doesn't really have enough resolution to plot them properly (and it can't lift the pen so it has to put a line between separate objects like you have to when playing with an Etch-a-Sketch). The sketches it makes are kind of charming though. :aww:

That's what got me interested in obtaining a real plotter. They're fascinating machines but are now totally obsolete having been replaced by much faster large-format printers. It's fun to watch them plotting - in the same sort of way that it's more fun to watch a steam locomotive than an electric one.
__________________
Reply With Quote
Thanks, from:
Crumb (09-25-2018), JoeP (09-26-2018), SR71 (09-27-2018)
  #37  
Old 09-25-2018, 11:37 PM
Sock Puppet's Avatar
Sock Puppet Sock Puppet is offline
Just keep m'nose clean, egg, chips & beans, I'm always full of steam
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: so far out, I'm too far in
Gender: Bender
Posts: XMVDCCCXXIII
Blog Entries: 7
Images: 120
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ceptimus View Post
Bit fiddly to get it apart and back together
I'm assuming that for most of us, "bit fiddly" translates to "approaching impossible."
__________________
"Her eyes in certain light were violet, and all her teeth were even. That's a rare, fair feature: even teeth. She smiled to excess, but she chewed with real distinction." - Eleanor of Aquitaine

:sockpuppet:...........
Reply With Quote
Thanks, from:
JoeP (09-26-2018), lisarea (09-26-2018), Pyrrho (01-11-2019), SR71 (09-27-2018)
  #38  
Old 09-26-2018, 12:07 AM
ceptimus's Avatar
ceptimus ceptimus is offline
puzzler
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: UK
Posts: XVMMDCCXC
Images: 28
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

No - it's not too bad. It's easier than a laptop, and much easier than a tablet or phone - but it's more difficult than a normal desktop PC because all the parts are that bit smaller and close fitting.
__________________
Reply With Quote
  #39  
Old 09-26-2018, 04:15 AM
Kyuss Apollo's Avatar
Kyuss Apollo Kyuss Apollo is offline
happy now, Mussolini?
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: location, location
Posts: VMCCCXI
Blog Entries: 7
Images: 17
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

No.
__________________
This week's track: MINUTEMEN - History Lesson Part II



Reply With Quote
  #40  
Old 09-26-2018, 09:17 AM
JoeP's Avatar
JoeP JoeP is offline
Solipsist
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Kolmannessa kerroksessa
Gender: Male
Posts: XXXVMMXI
Images: 18
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

Way back in the mists of time working for IBM, before digital projectors, we had plotters that would plot onto acetate foils for overhead projectors. For boring business meetings. Red, green, blue and black pens and a little bit of PC software that could do text and basic diagrams.
__________________

:roadrun:
Free thought! Please take one!

:unitedkingdom:   :southafrica:   :unitedkingdom::finland:   :finland:
Reply With Quote
Thanks, from:
ceptimus (09-26-2018), SR71 (09-27-2018)
  #41  
Old 10-08-2018, 03:46 PM
Ensign Steve's Avatar
Ensign Steve Ensign Steve is offline
California Sober
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Silicon Valley
Gender: Bender
Posts: XXXMMCXXI
Images: 66
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ChuckF View Post
and I have not lost any of the screws that are actually important.
Must be nice
__________________
:kiwf::smurf:
Reply With Quote
Thanks, from:
Stormlight (01-09-2019)
  #42  
Old 01-06-2019, 11:19 PM
specious_reasons's Avatar
specious_reasons specious_reasons is offline
here to bore you with pictures
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: VCXLVII
Images: 8
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

I had some extra christmas money, and now that I don't need to worry about breaking my old MacBook, I bought a $20 keyboard and replaced it. Now it's booting, and I haven't yet found out if I was 100% successful - I left it in a 1/2 installed state before, so I need to reinstall the OS.

I may do something interesting like install Ubuntu on it.
__________________
ta-
DAVE!!!
Reply With Quote
Thanks, from:
BrotherMan (01-07-2019), ceptimus (01-07-2019), Ensign Steve (01-07-2019), lisarea (01-07-2019), slimshady2357 (01-07-2019), Stormlight (01-09-2019)
  #43  
Old 01-07-2019, 03:58 AM
specious_reasons's Avatar
specious_reasons specious_reasons is offline
here to bore you with pictures
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: VCXLVII
Images: 8
Default Re: Should I get another Mac?

Looks like I was successful - it's booting and I can access the hard drive and the optical drive.

Yay
__________________
ta-
DAVE!!!
Reply With Quote
Thanks, from:
BrotherMan (01-07-2019), ceptimus (01-07-2019), Ensign Steve (01-07-2019), JoeP (01-07-2019), Pyrrho (01-11-2019), ShottleBop (01-07-2019), slimshady2357 (01-07-2019), SR71 (01-08-2019), Stormlight (01-09-2019)
Reply

  Freethought Forum > The Marketplace > Computers & Technology


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

 

All times are GMT +1. The time now is 07:20 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Page generated in 0.48793 seconds with 15 queries