davintosh

It was June 5, 1977 that Apple released the Apple II for retail sale.

The first Apple II computers went on sale on June 5, 1977 with a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor running at 1 MHz, 4 KB of RAM, an audio cassette interface for loading programs and storing data, and the Integer BASIC programming language built into the ROMs. The video controller displayed 24 lines by 40 columns of upper-case-only text on the screen, with NTSC composite video output suitable for display on a monitor, or on a TV set by way of an RF modulator. The original retail price of the computer was US$1298 (with 4 KB of RAM) and US$2638 (with the maximum 48 KB of RAM). To reflect the computer’s color graphics capability, the Apple logo on the casing was represented using rainbow stripes,[1] which remained a part of Apple’s corporate logo until early 1998.

Wow; 4 KB of RAM standard. Another $1,340 to max it out to 48 KB!

Just for a fun comparison, that same $2,638 could buy you a brand spankin’ new 24″ iMac with 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB SDRAM, a 250GB hard drive, Bluetooth and AirPort wireless built-in, a SuperDrive 8X, iWork, a wireless keyboard & Mighty Mouse, and all of the bundled software that comes with the iMac. After all of that, you’d still have an extra $75 to take your sweetie out for dinner.

We’ve come a long way, baby!

I just discovered Skype, and am really, really impressed with how that works, and it’s potential. Skype has been around for a while, but not many people know about it or what it can do for them. It’s an Internet-based telephone system that offers free worldwide computer-to-computer calls. That’s F*R*E*E!

It’s a really great service, and I love the FREE part of it. Last weekend Yvonne talked with Thom & Ellen Schotanus, who are BGC missionaries in Cameroon. They are supported in part by our church, and we first met them face to face when we visited Cameroon in 2004. And Yvonne was talking with him like he were on the other side of town. Of course, there’s the 7 hour time differential to deal with, but that’s not insurmountable.

Earlier this week I was using Skype to chat with a guy in Australia, giving him some help in figuring out why an accellerator card I sent him wasn’t working. I was complaining about the below-zero (Farenheit) temps, and he was complaining about the 35 degree (Celsius) temps there. And it didn’t cost a dime.

Between e-mail, Skype and Google Earth (and Google Maps), the world is getting smaller all the time.

This little blog sits out here on the World Wide Web and gets maybe a couple-dozen visitors in a good week. (check the Site Meter stats.) But even though hardly anybody visits here, some spammer has decided that my site is a good mark for advertising all kinds of things that don’t even deserve to be mentioned. What do they have to gain by defacing — or rather, trying to deface — my little corner of the web? It’s like somebody trying to sneak into my back yard and write nasty things on a tiny piece of siding on my house with a Crayola marker; they don’t succeed, and even if they did it’s unlikely that anyone would ever see it, and I can get rid of it pretty easily. It just doesn’t make sense to me at all because they have little or nothing to gain other than bothering me.

Most of the referrals that my site gets is from Google searches from people looking for freebie instructions for building a Hillbilly Horseshoes goal; that’s the only thing I can think of that might be a draw for these dirtball spammers. Do they just set up stupid spambots that troll the web looking for targets, which makes it somewhat of a no-effort deal or what?

Whatever the reason, I’m sick of it. I also installed the Akismet anti-spam WordPress plug-in, which seems to be taking care of them for the most part. So far, only one piece of spammage has gone live on my blog, but that doesn’t seem to stop them.

I just wish they’d take a hike.

I had no idea that Apple had their own Theme Song. After watching the video of it, I kinda wish I didn’t know it.

It’s a bit like a train wreck; you can’t look away, but you want to scrub the images from your memory afterwards.

Apple Macintosh Computer Repair Manuals and Resources

Wow! Huge compilation of Mac service manuals, all in one place. You can even order the whole works on a 2 CD set for $10.

A bargain at twice the price!

Here’s a photo of my latest acquisition; the dash 30fx! The dash is one of the first computers that was “mine” professionally. I moved into the Electronic Prepress area back in ’92 or ’93, and since I was low man on the totem pole, I got the dash.

When it was new, it was the hottest thing available anywhere for any price, and it had a heck of a pricetag; I’m told it cost $40,000. Back in those days it was used as a workstation and an image scanner station. But it soon was outgunned by newer/faster machines. It was sent home with a couple of different employees for use as a training unit, but it was too slow for even that. People get spoiled. It sat in a closet unused for a long time.

I think it was about 2000 when I pulled it out, dusted it off & put it to work as a domain name server for our department. It pulled duty there until early 2005 when I was prepping to leave CCL. It may have been a little selfish of me, but I wanted to take it home, so I made sure it wasn’t doing anything productive when I left. Predictably, it sat there unused until last week when my buddy Jerry stopped by Cimarron & dropped it off. No matter what anybody says, Jerry is OK!

So now I have the behemoth at home. Here’s a photo of it standing next to a Color Classic to give you an idea of its size; it is monstrous.

A funny thing happened with it when I got it home, and is a testament to it’s durability. I was carrying it in the house from the garage, holding it by the top lid at the back and the lip on the door above the drive bays on the front. The door must’ve shifted a little bit which allowed the top to shift a little bit which allowed the top to come loose. The top stayed in my hand but the rest of the machine came crashing down on the threshold of the garage doorway.

Bang!

The result wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The doorway threshold took the worst of it; two creases where the case hit. The case only had a minor scuff line across the bottom where it impacted the metal threshold. Inside, one of the Nubus cards got knocked loose, as did some of the RAM cards. I’m glad it didn’t come down on my bare foot; I’m sure that would’ve put me in the hospital!

Once I put it back together (and snapped a few photos of it) I plugged it in & it booted right up. No damage done. Yup; built like a tank. Wonder if a new Mac Pro could handle a fall with that kind of aplomb.