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Getting reacquainted with classic Mac OS computers

Apr 092010

I recently acquired a beautiful Macintosh PowerBook G3 (Bronze Keyboard) via Craiglist. Known better by it’s nickname of “Lombard,” it features the smooth curvy lines and black case plastics that characterized Apple’s stylish portables from 1998-2000. As the third generation of the G3 PowerBook, this unit has a quirky combination of new and old features. This is the first portable Mac with a “new world ROM” – and the last with a built-in SCSI port. For the first time in the Apple portable line USB replaces ADB for connecting mice and keyboards, and the multicolored Apple logo is replaced by a white one.
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Changes for early December 2008

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Dec 042008

I haven’t found a way to get the hard drive to spin down on the Color Classic even when all of the applications are running off a RAM disk, so I’ve given up on that option. When this hard drive calls it quits I may decide to seek silence by installing a solid state drive like the clever fellow over at junkstation did for his Performa 450! I have an 8G compact flash sitting in a drawer from an old Canon digital camera that would increase drive space on the Color Classic by a factor of 100 and reduce heat and noise inside the case dramatically.

The web pages have been updated to include a new banner (see previous blog posting) as well as a little sound easter egg you can hunt for yourself.

The Belkin wireless gateway arrived but I’ve not had a chance to test it yet. Right now I need to get my new Ooma Hub online to quit paying for phone service!

Banner for legacy Mac servers

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Dec 042008

Apple entered the internet server market on April 10, 1995 when they introduced their Apple Internet Server Solution at Internet World in San Jose, CA. The press announcement described it as “an affordable and easy way to establish a presence on the Information Superhighway.”

Included in the software bundled with the servers was a graphic logo for placement on web pages to tell the world they were hosted on a web server powered by an Apple Macintosh:

I’ve spotted this logo on a couple of web sites served up by legacy Macs and thought it rather clever, but decided to change it up a bit to send a more accurate message. You are welcome to add it to your web site if you like:

Color Classic internet connection over wireless?

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Nov 212008

Ever since I helped configure a wireless ethernet adapter at a friend’s house I’ve pondered whether the Color Classic could be connected to the internet without a direct ethernet cable.

The folks at buy.com are offering a Belkin F5D7330 802.11g wireless ethernet adapter for $19.99 this week, so I decided to spring for the purchase and give it a try. The product description includes the following statements which give me a glimmer of hope:

Works with all Ethernet-equipped computers or network devices
Requires no drivers, setup, or configuration
Comes with a Belkin Lifetime Warranty and free, 24-hour technical support
Automatically connects to the wireless network by the touch of a button

One gotcha may be that it is USB powered (does not have an external adapter) but I plan to get around that with a spare iPod charging adapter with a USB socket that plugs into an AC outlet.

I’ll report back on my progress after it arrives. If I get stumped I can always try their free technical support!

Visitor tracking software upgrade

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Nov 172008

Visitor statistics for the Color Classic Web Server are kept using a free service from Extreme Tracking. They recently upgraded their tracking software to a new version which required starting the statistics all over again (the new software does cannot import the previous data).

You are welcome to view the new statistics as well as the old data which collected visitor information from 21 July 2004 through 14 November 2008. During that timespan the Color Classic Web Server averaged 98 visitors a month. The busiest month by far was December of 2007 with 965 visitors after the Color Classic was featured in an article at pingdom.com.

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