scott

My Sort of First Mac, Again

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Back in November while I was searching for the iBook G3 clamshell I got curious and was looking up other Mac’s that I might be interested in. I immediately was drawn to  the first Mac that I ever bought, the iBook G3 12 inch in white. I was pleasantly surprised to see this model plentiful on eBay and also relatively inexpensive at about $50-$75 depending on condition. For that price I kind of wanted to buy one. What I ended up searching for and buying was not the exact model that I owned. That was because the advice I was given was that model is prone to issues. So I stayed away from the G3 polycarbonate white and got the last version made in that body type that was a G4. It was harder than I thought to find one that did not look visibly beat up. After a while I did find one in order to.

After getting the laptop the screen feels a little washed out however I’m not sure if it’s this particular computer or if I just don’t remember the screen being like that on those older computers. It’s still very usable and I was happy to see that the keyboard and hand rest was in good shape. I purchased some headlight cleaner from a recommendation that is perfect for cleaning polycarbonate. I haven’t yet however I intend to clean the shell of the computer to get looking in better shape.

As with the G3 clamshell I have specific plans in mind for this computer. It is not just an impulse by to sit around. Now that I have them however I’m not sure if I’m going to swap what I intended them to do or not. I might end up just keeping the clamshell G3 for show since it looks awesome. I would then use the polycarbonate white G4 to do what I wanted to with the G3. Use it as an educational computer for the girls. I have my eyes on my favorite PowerBook of all time. The 12 inch PowerBook that I owned three or four different versions of over the years. If I do get that I would use it as my off-line writing computer that the polycarbonate white computer would have been used for.

As I am slowly preparing to install software on these computers I’m surprised at how much software I saved that is in my backup archive of Mac software that will run on the later variance of OS 10 at work on the PowerPC chips. There is a bunch of things that I’m missing from my latest backup that I have online. I need to go to some off-line hard drives with backups circa 2009 or so to get a few more applications. In any event I should be able to easily do what I want to do with this computer.

Now all I have to do is find time to work on this and other projects I would like to take on.

My Sort of New Vintage Keyboard

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In addition to the vintage computers I picked up I also bought an Apple Pro keyboard from the early 2000’s. Over the summer when I bought my wireless Bluetooth mechanical keyboard I did so because I thought fondly of my old black Apple Pro mechanical keyboard. As I was shopping for vintage Mac laptops I started to look for how much a pro keyboard would cost me. Most of the ones I found were pretty dirty shape. The going price was somewhere in the range of $30. I searched around and want to bid on one that looked pretty decent. With shipping I think I paid less than $40. For a good mechanical keyboard that’s not so bad.

When I got it I was eager to tried out. It typed as I remember it did. After using it a bit I did realize that my new Matais mechanical keyboard based on the same movement typed nicer. I found myself able to type faster and more comfortably on that one however the old Pro keyboard is still pretty slick.

I was using the Pro keyboard on my second computer set up for a while at home. A few weeks ago I decided to bring it into the office to use so I can bring home the Matais keyboard. The computer it’s plugged into I delight amounts of typing on however having the mechanical keyboard on it has been an improvement over the newer white and silver Bluetooth Apple keyboard that I had.

My experience with the Pro keyboard versus the Bluetooth Matais makes me want to get a new wired mechanical keyboard. The only issue I have with the Matais is it loses its Bluetooth connection with my laptop much more frequently than I would like. I had many more problems with it than I do with my Mac keyboards. That was one of the reasons why I took it home.

I Figured Out My Problem With The Apple Watch

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Back in early October I was curious enough to pick up and other Apple Watch. I bought a series 138 mm. I felt the 30 mm was better fit on my wrist even though my other watches are larger. From what I read series 1 was as fast as the series to and should solve all the problems that I felt I had with what is now called the series 0. As much as the series 1 wasn’t super cheap, it wasn’t that expensive. At present it’s actually the most expensive watch I own since my Seiko was slightly more.

Since I bought the Apple watch for the second time I’ve been using it exclusively. I like it. Functionality wise I’ve been pleased with it. I haven’t had major frustrations with the speed of anything that it does like I did with the series 0.  I find myself telling the watch to set the timer or an alarm often. I also like the ability to see how much times less than the timer instead of having to go to my phone. Other advantages of the Apple watch for me has been the fact that I do not need to wear my Fitbit. Seeing and sometimes replying to texts on the phone has been useful however I don’t do it often. Also the ability to answer the phone and talk on speakerphone briefly from the watch is something I don’t do often but I’ve done it and it’s been helpful at those times.

Right after I bought the series 1 I regretted not having the waterproof series 2. The series 1 was available immediately when I ordered it whereas the series 2 I would’ve had to wait almost a month for. When I bought it I didn’t think I really cared much about the waterproof. I had some buyers remorse and thought about returning it within the two week period I get from Apple to make a return. In the end I opted to keep the cheaper version of the watch did not think the waterproof would come in handy for me.

Until Friday of this week I’d worn the watch every day since I got. Recently however I missed the nicer looking watches I own. I contemplated switching back however i was concerned about the loss of functionality if I stopped using a “smart watch”. Friday for some reason I decided to put on my X-33 and where that instead. What I found was a few times during the day I went to look at the watch to see the date. I also went to set the timer and after two seconds I put my arm down and reached for my phone to do it instead. Other than that I didn’t really miss the smartwatch. I had to get used to the fact that the X-33  was noticeably heavier then the Apple Watch. It makes sense that it was heavier however I am use to my titanium X-33 being the lightest thing I wear.

When I first started wearing my jawbone Up several years ago I wanted to encourage myself to be more active. Nowadays I’m pretty knowledgeable in knowing what I do and how active that makes me. I learned a lot from four or more years of wearing an activity band. Friday when I put the Fitbit on since I wasn’t going to be having the Apple Watch I immediately took off the Fitbit. I did not want to wear the extra weight or hear the clanking of the Fitbit against my Omega. The loss of the standup notifications in my activity tracking was slightly noticeable however I was pretty okay with it.

We are traveling this weekend and at first I packed the charger for the Apple Watch so I can bring it with me. Before we left however I put it away and unpacked all the gear I needed for it and just put on my Speedmaster instead. Yesterday I again went to my wrist for a few things that the  Apple watch does for me before I realized I didn’t have it. Other than that I don’t really miss it day-to-day. I miss the idea of it and how cool I think doing electronic stuff on my wrist sounds like. In practice however I don’t miss it. I also like how my mechanical watches look significantly better than the smartwatch.I feel like that sums it all up for me and why I’m not so sure if I’ll wear the smartwatch again.

Unfortunately I know myself and I’ll sell something and not have it for a while and little get updated and I’ll feel like hey this major issue I had with it is solved I should get it again. That’s why I got the series 1 in the first place. I’m glad I did because it was an improvement however when you boil it down I just don’t feel like I need it. I do waffle about this stuff so it doesn’t mean that I don’t want it sometimes however functional speaking I don’t miss it.

I Bought a Classic iBook G3 Clamshell Laptop

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One of the guys at work has been talking about some of the old computers he’s been buying and reconfiguring or restoring to get working. It’s fascinating to talk to him about it partly because he’s very passionate around the topic. Also it’s something that I have thought about doing with one or two computers but never had the space or time to want to do it.

I’m finding it very funny that for some time now I have wanted a classic iBook G3 Clamshell laptop circa 1999. I never owned one however they always did look pretty cool. I personally did not get into Max until the G4 around 2002. I’ve also wanted a lampshade iMac. For some reason I keep thinking about the 15 inch version although the 17 inch is better and the same physical footprint. I owned a 20 inch version of that computer and loved it. I was reminded of my desire to want the iMac when I was at my sister-in-law’s I saw that she had one and she commented about oh that old thing or something like that. I told her I’m jealous since I actually want one.

The final straw for me was when my friend was talking about how he bought and restored and upgraded the G3 iBook. I started asking questions around how we found a good one and how much it costs. He gave me a bunch of pointers on what to look for on eBay and I started to search. The prices weren’t too bad however I was surprised that a 18-year-old computer was worth even that much. It goes to show you that this particular model was in demand. I found a blue G3 that had its internals upgraded to slightly better variant that did not come in blue. It also had an SSD instead of an IDE hard drive. Even had a new power brick.

I was ex cited get the laptop however when I got it I realized there was something wrong with it. The LCD backlight was out. The seller on eBay was extremely accommodating and I sent back the laptop. He fixed it and send it back to me. I had a choice of a full refund or options on a different model but after I got the laptop it was in perfect shape other than the backlight and one hairline crack in the case. The crack was visible in the auction pictures even though I didn’t see it myself the first time. The computer was still functionally fine with the crack and he barely noticed it so I was happy to keep this particular computer if he could get the LCD to work. Thankfully he was and shipped it back the same day he got it after fixing it.

The girls wanted to play with it. Originally that was my idea to get it working with some educational software for the girls to use. Now that I have it however not so sure I want them playing with a vintage laptop. Just because it’s so cool I don’t want them to break it. It’s very heavy I’m not sure other than the LCD if they could break it but I don’t want to chance it. I do have a few use cases in mind for it.

My friend needs to own up and take responsibility for all the money I spent since knowingly or not he gave me the idea to go out and buy this laptop. I was just following is very bad/very good footsteps regarding vintage computers.

Dual Monitors

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Now that the girls are in school full time when the opportunity arises unable to work from home more often. Sometimes it’s a necessity because of the girls being in school and the need to drop off and pick them up in the same day if MC cannot for some reason. Other times it’s just general convenience. Being able to do that has posed new challenges for me. I used to have to hide in my bedroom with a laptop so no matter what I did I was not comfortable. Now I can go to my desk however I don’t like sitting in front of the laptop screen all day. It was a big production to reconfigure my monitor so I can plug my laptop into it to work. My solution was second 27″ monitor so I can have two computers running at the same time.

This configuration solves another challenge I had since I wanted to run a Linux desktop in tandem with my Mac mini. Or sometimes plug raspberry pi into monitoring my desk and work on. With my Apple Cinema Display I’m unable to do any of that since it has the thunderbolt display adapter that limits what computers I can use on it. Amazon had a good deal on a 27 inch Dell monitor. It’s basically the 27 inch variant of the 24 inch monitors I have at work. They’re pretty good so I was confident in buying a larger 27 inch.

Even I measured before I bought it that both 27 inch displays will fit I have very little room on my desk  with both computers set up. Functionally speaking the set up does exactly what I wanted it to. I put my desktop and the cable run for the laptop to a shelf on my desk so I save surface area. When I’m not using my work laptop I can plug my MacBook or a Lenox computer into the second set up. I’m contemplating buying and building a Lenox desktop however  I don’t have the time for that project just yet with a few other projects I have still going on at home.

The W Sisters and Stories About The Letters A & T

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At the time of writing this post over the past few days I’ve gone to both T and A’s school orientations for the year. At both girls orientation their teachers talked about things they would be doing and learning. T’s teacher talked a bit about what she would need to be able to do at the end of the class A’s teacher talked about the alphabet and I thought of a few things from the past that the girls have learned that I thought were funny and wanted to write down.

The details are vague over time. That’s why I want to start writing this stuff down sooner however while I still remember it at all here we go.

T when she started to learn her letters first would identify the letter T. It’s not really that surprising since whenever we would point out the T we would identify that it’s the first letter in her name, T. After a while she started to see it and then repeat T for me. To this day she still identify T in that way. Nowadays she’s able to identify all of her letters however I find it funny that that’s how she remembers.

With A I can’t remember if she first remembered the letter a or the letter T It’s no surprise that she was able to identify T almost as easily as she was able to identify a because of her big sister Even though I find it funny her that T would say “T for me” Amelio would identify “A is for A” With A she’s not quite there knowing all letters. One challenge I’ve noticed in identifying how much A knows is when you ask her question it’s almost like she’s deliberately not giving you the right answer. She does know several of her letters.

One of the things T needs to learn to do in pre-k is right her name. I know that our babysitter was spending time with her tracing letters of the alphabet. And then letting her free-form right letters of the alphabet. Hopefully that extra help will give her leg up. Of course like she really needs a leg up in pre-k.

While on stories about letters and numbers one thing I remember recently is that there is a book we read at bedtime about a boy named Oliver and his birthday party. It’s a counting book and each page has an kit coming and then going. At the bottom there is all the kids lined up and has you do a simple math problem when someone’s added or removed from the group. Most of the time when we read the book T insists on every page to count up all the kids to get to the right number. She still hasn’t figured out subtraction since when kids are leaving she counts out all the kids +1 since she does not realize that it’s subtraction instead of addition problem. I tried to explain it however I don’t think she understands the concept yet. On the other hand she does realize that there’s only one kid left at the end. Math was never my strong suit.

This amalgamation of stories isn’t as funny as some of the other ones I’ve written recently however it was topical in my mind and I wanted to write it down I have several other ideas I need to find time to sit and write about. At present I’m writing this article on 9 September and it is likely to be scheduled to post On 12 October so I have a little bit of time before need to write out a few more posts.

The W Sisters and The Story of Their Inheriting Fragments of My Remaining Childhood Toy Collection

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I find it fascinating what stuff my parents decided to keep from my childhood. When I got too old to play with some toys I boxed them up in old VCR box or two and put them in a closet. It felt like ages later but in retrospect was less than 10 years before some of those toys made it out of their box when younger cousins would come over to play.

Not all of my childhood toys were created equal however. My remaining G.I. Joe’s and Star Wars action figures along with some miscellaneous other action figures and matchbox cars were what the family would get to play with when they would come and visit. Other stuff such as most of my transformers and I believe the Lego state safely tucked away. Of the toys is that made an appearance when the cousins came over only the matchbox cars survived. I don’t know where any of the Star Wars figures went. The G.I. Joe’s physically are still around however I believe I’ve written about in the past that the rubber band that held them together deteriorated on most of them so by the time I opened the box with them in it they were in pieces. I did have some other action figures that survived. Most notably my Ironman, Hannibal Smith’s and Murdoch from the A-Team.

It must have been well over a year ago when I asked my mom to bring the action figures over to my house if she still had them. I wanted to introduce the girls to some of the superheroes that I thought I had. What my mom brought wasn’t a whole lot since overtime things broke or got lost. I was still surprised how much stuff there was. The box that she brought over was mainly matchbox cars, G.I. Joe’s and a few of the other action figures I mentioned. There was one or two small transformers and a few transformer accessories. At the time I thought that was all that survived.

Of the toys that I got some of the matchbox cars I could not give to the girls because the wheels were very loose and I was concerned A might put them in her mouth after breaking them off. After I vetted what toys were safe for the girls I gave them some matchbox cars and action figures to play with. MC’s parents bought a few other new matchbox cars had to the limited collection I had released for use. Even to this day I get in all the install job when I see the girls playing with a matchbox car that I recognize and remember playing with when I was a kid.

More recently I wrote about asking for Legos that I knew my mom had. After I began asking for that it opened the floodgates for my mom to want to purge what stuff she had left from my childhood out of her apartment. Having an apartment of my own with two kids made it high time I probably took this stuff anyway. I was surprised at how many transformers and additional matchbox cars I had in the second box I received in August. Several of the matchbox toys I can’t give to the girls because the paint is flaking off them. Most notably are two die cast metal space shuttles and one 747 where one of the space shuttles would sit on. That jet for some reason I painted completely white and the paint was flaking as well. I did find several transformers. I even had the cab to optimist prime. I don’t know where the semi part of him went however I was happy to have anything at all. I decided that there was no way I was giving the girls Transformers from the 80’s to play with. First of all they would break them in a minute. Second of all there’s too much nostalgia in it for me to chance them destroying them. Nancy found a shelf in our bookcase where I have them on display now. Jetfire still remain separate however that’s a different post in and of itself.

Next up for my mom to bring over is my baseball card collection. When she brought up that she was doing that I asked where my comics were. She insisted that I didn’t have any. After I insisted she look for them further she found my boxes and will bring them all over together. The baseball card collection is not that substantial. I had significantly more of them when I was much younger. I remember my mom would bring home tons of them were confiscated or found from her classes. That must’ve been late 70s and early 80s. What I do have are a few complete annual series from the late 80s. As for my comic books I will wait to go through them before writing more about them. I have an idea about some of what I have however I don’t recall how extensive the collection that I kept was. I think I kept everything that I don’t however I will need to confirm that once I get them.

It’s cool getting all these flashbacks from my childhood. As an adult I purged a lot of the things that I had taken with me when I moved out or previously gone from my parents. For example I remember getting rid of my relatively extensive collection of Dungeons & Dragons books in the mid to late 2000’s. I could’ve gone some money for them on eBay but the amount of effort to sell all of them would’ve been too much for me at the time. Each piece individually wasn’t worth that much however the entire collection might’ve been worth selling. I also have purged much of my book collection from my childhood. There are a few that I kept however not much. That reminds me I need to find where I put my Narnia Chronicles box set. I know I loaned them to my niece Morgan with the specific instructions that I would like them back when I have kids. My sister did give them back to me recently but I don’t remember what I did with them. T’s not quite ready for those stories however she might be pretty soon.