Apple

[andypress]

How can you tell what software is availible for apples?

[locustfurnace]

Not exactly sure what you are asking.
First off, Oldversion does not carry Mac Software, this is explained in the FAQ's on the main site. So do not expect to see Mac software here. There is hundreds of sites for Mac software already. So whatever you are looking for you can find most likely with some good searching.
ASking what software is for a mac. can be a tricky question. Not really as simple as for the PC.
What processor do you have? is it a 68k, PPC? or other?
What OS are you running?

is the Apple connected to the net already? you are best to download the software via the mac, than via a PC, due to the PC's inability to download the Mac software correctly if it was not compressed into a .sit, .hqx or other format.
there exists 2 forks for a Mac file; a resource fork, and a data fork.
PC's will only get one, and skip the other.
So it's best to download most of your software with the Mac.
If you have to download the software to the PC, make sure they are comrpessed, you can copy it to a PC formatted floppy, the Mac will understand the PC format, - but the PC will not understand the apple format.
If you must read a Mac formatted floppy on a PC, use the program called HFVexplorer, it will help out alot.


whatever software you are looking for, you will be beter helped on a Mac forum, since this is - as the sites FAQ's states, a PC software site.

you can try the list of mac software sites to help you possibly find what you are looking for.
http://w3.trib.com/~dwood/software.shtml

[CALM]

Speaking of Macs brings up a Q that I have wondered about for awhile: I have used a Mac and hated it but like the small Imac or Apple mac, the one piece monitor-computer-all-in-one-machine.
Can a mac be striped of MacOS and turned into a PC? It would be just for internet and Word?
Chris

[locustfurnace]

Originally posted by CALM@Sep 18 2003, 08:37 AM
Speaking of Macs brings up a Q that I have wondered about for awhile: I have used a Mac and hated it but like the small Imac or Apple mac, the one piece monitor-computer-all-in-one-machine.
Can a mac be striped of MacOS and turned into a PC? It would be just for internet and Word?
Chris

No, you can not turn an Apple into a IBM PC.
the IBM PC is built upon the Intel Architecture, therefore when you see referrences to x86, or i386, or IA386, it refers to the IBM PC built upon the Intel architecture. and it doesnt matter if you have an Athlon XP, Cyrix or other CPU. it is still and I386.
An apple is an Apple. All the software is Apple and the hardware is Apple. Some of the CPU referrences would be 68k, and the PPC, for the PowerPc.

PC's mostly use IDE devices, while the Apple use the more expensive SCSI devices.
The PC is a mixed pot of parts from various vendors, you might have a SoundBlaster Audio card, a Matrox Video card, a Panasonic Floppy Drive, a Plextor CD drive, a Foxconn Bus card slot, a Via chipset, a Deer Power -Supply, an Antec Case, a logitech mouse, so on an so on.
On the Apple, you have Apple built parts, Apple built OS. So the Apple is more overall compatible with the devices, since the are built by the same vendor.

Older Mac's still are powerful. I am running a PPC 7200/120, which has a 120 Mhz CPU, 56megs RAM, OS9. and it runs ICQ, IE4.5, Mozilla 1.0, Eudora, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator. and does very well. I use it daily, for a backup system (my memory fried in main system this week so was on the Mac looking for replacements parts) and just for fun considering the MHZ factor, it performs well, try this with an old PC at 120Mhz, it just wont keep up.
I also have a Quadra 650, that has a tiny 40Mhz CPU. OS8, 20Megs RAM, and plays Quicktime movies with no problem.
I also have several OLD macs from 1984 that still work fine and are used for PRODOS programming and the other for Word Processing.

IF You have an older Mac, they can still be used for certain purposes, they might even get you online. you could turn one into a mail station.
the ones you used might not have been customized to remove unecessary extensions, which could have hogged up alot of RAM. the cache may not have been properly set.

You can not strip the Apple from an Apple and make it a PC. You can replace the OS with Linux or NetBSD or even BeOS. but not with MS Windows (dont see why ANYONE would even want to&#33, on certain systems, such as the PPC 7500.

If you have an older MAC, use it as is. they should already come with built-in Ethernet. My PPC did, my Quadra even has built in infra-red file transferring abilities.
If you think the system is too slow. you might be able to toss out the insides and replace it with a more powerful G3/G4. But I would suggest adding more RAM. and you will soon find the MAC very useful, I have not ever had my MAC crash on me yet.

If you find an older MAC, you might be able to upgrade the OS also. Apple puts older Operating Systems on their ftp sites for customers to download, such as 7.5, unlike Microsoft which would never give their OS away for free. Apple does with their older versions. So if an old mac is found you might be able to get it up and running with no problems.

[CALM]

Thanks for the info. I understand the hardware part. The mac i used DID crash repeatedly and I thought they werent supposed to. But the part that I really HATED was the $%#@$ mouse. That single button thing is only useful for ppl age 6 and under. I use my right mouse button as much or more than the left.
Plus they have no floppy drive and contrary to what is predicted for the demise of floppies, i find it extremely useful for back ups and copies between computers. (i know there are external drives, but that is too much bother)
I am happy with my Netscape/windows which does not crash.
Next year I will get a laptop so wont need an apple.

[locustfurnace]

Originally posted by CALM@Sep 18 2003, 04:11 PM
Thanks for the info. I understand the hardware part. The mac i used DID crash repeatedly and I thought they werent supposed to. But the part that I really HATED was the $%#@$ mouse. That single button thing is only useful for ppl age 6 and under. I use my right mouse button as much or more than the left.
Plus they have no floppy drive and contrary to what is predicted for the demise of floppies, i find it extremely useful for back ups and copies between computers. (i know there are external drives, but that is too much bother)
I am happy with my Netscape/windows which does not crash.
Next year I will get a laptop so wont need an apple.

Older MACs, such as the ones I have, DO have floppys, which are much more advanced then PC floppys in that they are powered and can auto eject, just drag the mounted floppy to the thrash bin, and it ejects.

the single mouse button, is fine once you are used to it. the rest is left up to key combos, which I find good in alot of areas, it allows me to keep both hands on the keyboard, instead of having to keep on switch from keyboard to mouse and back. I also have a track ball for my mouse, its big.. i dont use it much.

Then you go and use a X system, and it requires a 3 button mouse. 2 buttons dont't cut it on X.
I have a 4 button mouse on my PC. I am still waiting for the retina pointer!

I dont use the mouse so much even on the Windows system, I will toss away apps in favor of apps that take advantage of the accelerator keys. i find they are much faster and have swapping going on, which wastes time.

I dont use floppies for backing up. But i do use them for floppy based OS's. and I have alot of older OS/2 Warp 4 software titles. I was for a while running a dedicated firewall from floppy on some older hardware.
I have a LS-120 SuperDisk, its a floppy that holds 120megs, reads the 1.44meg floppys. I bought that many many years ago. But find it useless today.
Yea i know Dell Computer was saying they will no longer ship PC's with a floppy drive,a nd if a customer wants one, they can pay extra! A floppy drive is a staple item, just as the mouse has become. not everyone needs/wants to stick a txt document on a CD-R. I found the UDF Packet writing software, which allows you to use the CD-R like a floppy, to be very quirky. If the system crashed, and the UDF sesion was not closed, the data is lost. and since windows is the King Crasher, using the Packet writing is a waste of someones time. thats where a floppy comes into play.
I have a 2 gig tape DAT drive. for backing up. the blank media is impossible to find today, but I can still go just about anywhere and buy blank floppys. which I can format to any size i want, I need a floppy for my Apple, but all i got were PC ones, i can reformat it to work on the Apple. I need a floppy for my old Tandy in 720kb, i can single side format my PC floppys from 1.44 to 720.
or i need a 1.7meg floppy, i can do that too.

[Dookie]

There is an alternative to Imac.

Peeps really into "designer" PC case have converted Apple.
This is purely a cosmetic thing tho. It basically consists of ripping out the entire inards of the Monitor case, replacing the Phosphor tube with a 17 inch plasma/lcd display and mounting a pentium/amd motherboard behind it. Even the CD tray fits the slot in the front of the Apple screen.

A whole lot of work - pointless unless PCs are to be treated as an ornament that pleasing to look at.
Ive seen a couple of websites that show you step by step how to convert the monitor case.

[locustfurnace]

Originally posted by Dookie@Sep 19 2003, 11:31 PM
There is an alternative to Imac.

Peeps really into "designer" PC case have converted Apple.
This is purely a cosmetic thing tho. It basically consists of ripping out the entire inards of the Monitor case, replacing the Phosphor tube with a 17 inch plasma/lcd display and mounting a pentium/amd motherboard behind it. Even the CD tray fits the slot in the front of the Apple screen.

A whole lot of work - pointless unless PCs are to be treated as an ornament that pleasing to look at.
Ive seen a couple of websites that show you step by step how to convert the monitor case.

there are other systems also besides the Apple that have a good overall appearance, the very expensive SGI systems look really cool.

the ripping out and replacing, with a plasma screen is an expensive "upgrade."
i suppose you might also ahve to drill & cut holes into the case to align your ps/2 ports, and other ports. I wonder if the power supply has to be alternated as well.
I know the P4 requires a different conenctor from the power supply case, as well as the watttage of a PC power supply vs an Apple power supply might pose a problem.

if you want your own designer case, might be better buying some acrylic sheets of material and customizing that to a nice clear case design. Which i have seen other do. but i personally would just stick to the 1U case style. small and rack mountable, or can be mounted and hidden even under a desk.

[Guest]

But Mac users can buy "VirtualPC" which is a great Windows emulator for Mac.