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+--- Thread: Slow but functional: Smurf meets new monitor (/showthread.php?tid=111495)
Slow but functional: Smurf meets new monitor - ka jowct - 02-05-2011
I am keeping a B&W around to handle legacy hardware and software needs, and also because I upgraded it about 6 years ago (G4/600) and can't stand to just toss it out. It has worked OK hooked up via VGA cable to my old Dr. Bott switch. It currently has the original 32MB Radeon Mac Edition card in it, which somewhat to my surprise has a DVI connector, so I finally hooked it up to the new monitor via the IOGear KVM. It is poky, but it works. My 1152 X 870 desktop pictures look pretty small floating in the new acreage.
The Dr. Bott switch worked/works great, but technology has obviously leapt forward since then.
Re: Slow but functional: Smurf meets new monitor - Jimmypoo - 02-05-2011
I've got a G4/450 in mine, but haven't turned it on it 3+ years. Maybe even 5 years this June.
I've got a mini - 1.42GHz, and I prefer to run it from a FW drive.
I just can't think of anything to really do with either of them.
and to make matters worse... of the smurfs -- I've got 5 of them. And while I did have a dozen iMacs
(G3-400, 450 and one white 600 - that was free, but DOA, much to my disappointment), I've reduced
that via donation and destruction to 5... got a few airport cages, and still can't think of anything useful for
them - even though I've always thought the sound from the iFruit was excellent - and I've got a 120GB
drive and 1GB of RAM in my "test machine" - (1GB in the G4 Smurf too... and enough RAM to max out
another pair of Smurfs, using the 256s or a pair of iMacs using the 512s)
I originally was ready to deploy them at a few places I thought might want the computer help - a few half-way houses, an animal shelter, etc. I thought of making a drive farm out of the Smurfs, but what good is
a computer with a 120, a pair of 80s and a 40GB drive, vs a single $69 1TB external??
Then there is the matter of the Pismo... aging screen, fatigued plastic, needs both a PRAM battery and
a regular battery - but once you remove the dead PRAM battery, works as a Boot Drive in target mode,
if you're willing to just let it be that (and format it as one) or just a storage drive with no OS on it -
because I've already got the Macbook. And even temporarily, no Pismo it going to take the MacBook's place
if it needed repaired!
So what to do with these ancient pieces of gunk? I'll definitely keep a single, G3/450 iMac, but having
trouble not looking at the dumpster for the rest of them each time I get a little pressed for room.
(and I haven't even addressed the 68000s that are in storage in South FL yet!)
Re: Slow but functional: Smurf meets new monitor - ka jowct - 02-06-2011
I have an ADB PowerKey Pro 600 smart power strip that I really like. Right now it's connected to my old 9600, but it could be hooked up to the Smurf at some point.
I found the PowerKey strips incredibly useful back in the day. From the power-on button on my Extended II keyboard, I could boot up my computer and all attached peripherals. It worked with QuicKeys, and could be set to start-up at a set time and shut down at a set time, along with all attached devices, of course. Aside from the obvious practicality, it was useful when I didn't get to work on time. The computer would turn itself on, and anyone who came looking for me figured I was in the office somewhere…
I am thinking of setting up small partitions on one of the smaller drives I having lying about and cloning the contents of the drives in the 9600 onto them, then stashing that drive in the Blue and White. The OS 9.1 and 8.6 systems will work in the Smurf. I still have to go through those old drives and salvage e-mail, files, images, etc.