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How soon they forget.

It's been quite a bit longer than 18 months since the computers he's talking about were current. Do you know what one of these is?

Getcha non DRM Macintoshes here!!!

http://www.sunrem.com/

obdisclaimer- I don't work for them.

FWIW, one of the primary reasons that neither OOo, NeoOffice/J, nor AbiWord have grammar checkers is that no good open source grammar checker tools exist yet. Just about any grammar checker worth its salt is completely closed source. There are some options available, though...

The Link Grammar Parser is one that I've actually been keen on integrating with NeoOffice/J for quite some time. I have ideas on how to do so but have not yet had time to devote to it. I had been waiting for an OSS license for a couple of years for it, but unfortunately I think their new license was incompatible with GPL and can't be used in OOo or NeoOffice/J. Aside from that parser, I don't really know of any other good OSS grammar projects for English, much less all the foreign languages that need to be supported too!

If you have knowledge of any other OSS grammar engines (or contacts for acquiring and freeing source code for a defunct grammar checker like Correct Grammar please contact me!

ed

i have a circa 1984 macintosh i picked up at a garage sale or surplus at some point. i can't remember when. i have so many now - 9 compact "toaster" models of various descriptions.

anyhoo, it's still a marvel. at some point, it has been upgraded from the original 128k to a 512k-e motherboard so it's actually pretty usable. i wish i had the original 128k mobo. i'd frame it - "look kids, soldered on memory and no expansion slot!".

the keyboard and mouse still work after 20 years, which is remarkable in itself, but by the feel of them in the hand and the action of the keys, they could have been sold a year ago.

i had to track down an operating system (and 400k floppies) to get it and its brethren to work. the folks at sun remarketing used to sell software for it - i can't find it on their site now - system version 5.x and finder 4.x, i think, but i was able to track down a couple years ago disk images all the way back to system 1.

it's tricky to get a working 400k system disk from a G3 with no floppy to a 512k with no network connection, but suffice it to say it involves another power mac and a mac plus with two floppy drives.

but anyway... the finder and few apps i have are not only remarkably fast (no multitasking, though), but beautifully designed - every pixel placed with care, and use of the very limited screen real estate well thought out.

it's no wonder, comparing this machine to some of the other '80s vintage PCs in my collection, why the press of the time was gushing over the first mac. regardless of its lack of hard drive and cooling fan (steve likes his computers quiet - and when not reading from the floppy, the mac is eerily quiet) and nonexistant expansion opportunities, it was way ahead of everything else out there.

well, maybe with the exception of the Lisa.

The problem is, Apple used to have lots of confusing model numbers.

Which is better, a 5400, a 6300, a 7200, or an 8100? Normal people couldn't figure that mess out. The only clear rule seemed to be that three-digit model numbers were m68k and 4-digit model numbers were PowerPC.

Then they introduced the PowerMac G3, and ditched model numbers entirely. This was around the time Apple acquired NeXT and Steve Jobs; I don't recall whether the naming of the G3 systems was before Jobs' arrival or not. In any case, under Jobs' reign, they're trying to keep things simple by using only the product names and (for PowerMacs and PowerBooks) the processor generation, e.g. iMac and PowerBook G4.

Of course there have been many revisions of each product over the years, and it is necessary to distinguish between models. Sometimes internal development code-names leak to the public and are widely used, such as "Yikes" and "Sawtooth" which refer to the motherboards used in the first and second versions of the PowerMac G4. Apple's official documented names for these systems are "PowerMac G4 (PCI Graphics)" and "PowerMac G4 (AGP Graphics)" and the way Apple recommends you tell them apart is that the headphone and microphone jacks are oriented horizontally on one, and vertically on the other.

There have been eight different models all named simply "iMac". They are very different machines - early models took PC66 SO-DIMMs, later models took standard PC-100 DIMMs, and the latest models have G4 processors and LCD displays.

Never mind that there have been several different processors, from both Motorola and IBM, that Apple calls simply "G3" or "G4". My eMac (original 700MHz model) apparently has a PowerPC 7450, according to the "hostinfo" command (Apple System Profiler doesn't even show it).

Apple hardware docs

Sun Remarketing is in a similar line of business as Shreve, but their prices are higher.

first of all, there is no mac OS 7.9, and if you have a 100mhz PowerPC box, you should be able to run OS 9, which is the currently shipping - and thus only available - OS for that mac. if you let me know the model number, and thus whether it's a Nubus (x100) or a PCI box (x500, x600, etc), that will determine how well it runs linuxPPC, if at all.

if you're not able to run OS 9 (check the apple site to see what they recommend for that model, ram, etc) you might be able to get an older 8.x version on ebay or at Sun Remarketing. that's where i got system 6 for one of my old toaster macs.

in any event, 100 mhz PPC should run linux like a champ, and, if the video is decent, should make an excellent X box.

• Sun Remarketing http://www.sunrem.com/
• Shreve Systems http://www.shrevesystems.com/
• Pre-owned Electronics http://www.preowned.com

It's funny you mention the Apple IIe. I just saw mine while at my parents' over the weekend. If I can find my copy of EA's Space Station Construction set (or whatever it was called) I think I'd bring it to my house. But now that you mention it, it could be fun to use as a Linux terminal for controlling an MP3 jukebox. It already has the video output to let me plug it into the TV...

I should have a spare manual for either a serial or parallel card (I can't remember which it had two of). Also, might want to check eBay.

But yes, many were scrapped, by Sun Remarketing, on Apple's order, iirc. They still sell Mac parts and used to have some Lisa stuff.