DIYbanter - View Single Post - (OT) Need keyboard & mouse for old Apple G3 computer

Don Y[_3_]

On 6/9/2016 12:55 PM, wrote:
I'm surprised that the graphics are crude, when over the years I have
heard time and time again, that the Mac computer was always preferred
for people who do graphical work professionally. And this goes back many
years. (Which would include the time period the G3 was in use). I
recall seeing some business that went to events and would print
photographs onto T-shirts, and they used a Mac. What they produced was
very high quality! This was in the late 90's.

The graphics are in ROM -- the equivalent of the PC's "BIOS".
The difference being that the PC has *no* graphics capability
until an OS is loaded.

An application (under MacOS) can add all sorts of fancy graphics
beyond the "core" graphics that are supported in the boot ROM.

A PC can't "browse the internet" -- or do anything other than
PXE boot, typically -- until the OS is loaded. Yet, the hardware
hasn't changed between the time you powered it up and started
browsing the web.

I can understand it being sluggush with so little RAM. I read the G3 can
get up to 1gb of Ram.

Mine has a "Rage" video card, which I guess was (or is) common! I
noticed that as soon as I opened it. Which, by the way, is a great
setup. It opens so easily without needing any tools.

Rage video (ATI) is a reasonably low end card by today's standards.
No accelerators, etc. E.g., I think a few of my *servers* use
Rage chipsets (and servers are not known for having fancy video
capabilities!)

The older Macs were largely "slide together" (I hesitate to even
say "snap" together). Some of the Quadra's had a single screw, IIRC.

I don't believe this is the case, currently. Definitely not for
the MacBooks, etc.

Either way, this is just another adventure with computers. I have tried,
rebuilt, or build darn near every older computer. I probably have about
30 old computers in my collection, going all the way back to the
original XT and on up to the Pentium 4. All are PCs, none are really
new, and I dont care to use any operating system newer than XP.
So, this Mac is my first Apple computer to play with, and may be the
beginning of something new, since I dont really care to continue with
Microsoft's newer bloatware crap, and while I've played with Linux, it's
not for me.

If you are looking for an adventure, you might try building a Hackintosh.

I've wanted to play with a newer Mac but hesitate to borrow one from
any of my friends as that will "void" my "Sorry, I can't help you
solve your Mac problem; I don't know anything about Mac's" excuse.

[The more folks know you can do, the more they rely on you for help.
The adage "Never admit that you can repair TV's" applies to much of
today's technology as folks are increasingly clueless...]