Australian Retro Computing

Michael Dale

I've created a forum for Australia Retro Computing

iMac

Michael Dale

So after upgrading my Core2Duo 2.4GHz MBP to have an SSD, my i7 iMac is basically unusable now....

Sure having an i7 chip is nice (I run a bunch of VMs, xcode, bloated iTunes and the famous ram hog Safari) but 8gb isn't enough ram and the slow HDD just kills it.

Basically I need at least 16gb of ram or an SSD (both would be nice!).

Same issue with the MacBook Air (not that I own one), just needs 8gb of ram and it would be sweet, 4gb isn't enough at all.

MacBook Pro SSD

Michael Dale

So my old MacBook Pro has been working pretty well for 2 years now, but it was sloooow.

So I purchased an SSD for it, and wow. It now feels faster than my 27" i7 iMac!

Any new computer I purchase now will need an SSD, I am very impressed with the speed increase.

So yeah, SSD for the win!

Macbook Pro

Michael Dale

I upgraded from my white macbook the other day (10 days ago :p) to a MacBook Pro 15" (base spec: 2.4GHz, 2gb Ram, 250gb HDD, Geforce 9600 256mb).

I picked it up from the online apple store for $AU2699 (refurbished model, but in perfect condition) and it is great. The screen is much better than the old macbook and it can play some games too.

I'm currently dual booting Mac OS and Windows 7 Beta.

Photo

PowerBook G4

Michael Dale

I just picked myself up an old PowerBook Ti off ebay (yes I like collecting random old stuff), and I was surprised how fast it was.

Specs:

• G4 800MHz
• 512mb PC133
• Radeon 7500 32mb

I installed Leopard on it via Firewire (off my iBook G4) and it works really well. The screen is great and it is more than fast enough to browse the internet on with multiple tabs.

iphone

Michael Dale

I have an iphone on the way. Native Exchange with push email support is going to be awesome.

Replacing wireless card in macbook

Michael Dale

I'd been having some issues with the wireless in my macbook for the last month or so. It was only picking up really strong/close wireless access points. I first thought it was a software issue as there have been some issues with mac os and wireless of late. Anyway I tried Windows XP and was getting the same problem. So after a lot of playing around I opened up the macbook to make sure that the antennas were connected correctly; they were. So tonight I tried replacing the airport (wireless) card with another one. The original macbook uses an Atheros 5006X wireless chipset (Mini PCI-E). I used a standard PC Atheros AR5006EG (ar5bxb61 (em100)) card and it worked straight away. The mac thinks it is the same card that was in it before, except that the mac address has changed and that the wireless now works! So it looks like the airport card was dead, sort of. But I'm happy now my wireless works. This macbook hasn't been all that reliable. I've had a dead hard drive, replaced the top casing twice, had my battery die and had the wireless die. Saying that 1st gen apple products are known for their issues. I will keep using macs for laptops and PCs for desktops.

Mac Mini

Michael Dale

I got a Mac Mini for my birthday on the 21st. Specs:

Core 2 Duo 1.83GHz
1gb Ram
80gb HDD
Leopard.

It's awesome! I'll post some pictures later.

Apple G5 CPU and Heatsink

Michael Dale

Massive

How to enable PHP on Mac OS Leopard

Michael Dale

To enable php:

1. open terminal
2. cd /etc/
3. sudo cp php.ini.default php.ini
4. cd /private/etc/apache2/
5. sudo nano httpd.conf
6. uncomment the two modules: php5_module and fastcgi_module. They were at line 114 and 115 for me.
7. Use ctrl and o to save
8. reload apache (can be done from system preferences).