Recycled Computing

New Browsing for Older Macs

- 2011.08.01

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Short link: http://bit.ly/qJ2owV

I confess that I have been using my new iPad to browse the Internet due to the speed of its Safari browser. My 867 MHz G4 PowerBook was just having a tough go of it.

I had been being a good Apple doobie and updating Safari every time an update appeared. I started thinking - which is not always a good thing. My reasoning went that all the updates were benefiting the newest Macs and perhaps slowing down my aged G4 capabilities.

As Featured on Low End Mac: TenFourFox!

TenFourFox is a browser optimized for PowerPC Macs, and it perked up the browsing experience on my PowerBook immediately. Go to the TenFourFox website and read all about it!

While TenFourFox starts with the same code as Firefox 5, it is optimized for OS X 10.5 Leopard and 10.4 Tiger. There are separate versions for G3, G4, and G5 processors. TenFourFox even offers two different versions for G4 computers, depending on the type of G4 processor you have.

I feel that with this new browser, I have extended the life of my old G4 Powerbook, and I was very pleased with TenFourFox when I installed on my old Pismo G3 PowerBook. It was like Internet Geritol! I had been planning on retiring the Pismo to the desktop as an email machine, but now I think I can still use it for occasional trips on the Internet.

Saying No to iCloud

I'm not all that excited about Apple's forthcoming iCloud service, but it's good that I have options. I'm also not that interested in updating my iCal app, since I don't really use it anymore, and I can't make use of all it's new features. I have been using Google Calendar for the past four years at work and plan to switch to it exclusively for my personal use.

Google Calendar is easy to use, allows multiple calendars, emails invitations, and you can subscribe to it or embed it on a web page. Repeating events is a snap. It is user friendly, and any update you add to it will appear immediately on your mobile devices.

Google Calendar has several advantages over iCal. It is operating system independent. As long as I have Internet access and a computer with a (relatively) new browser, I can view my calendars. I can share my calendar with any of my friends regardless of the computer or portable device they own - and Google mobile apps are available for my iPad and iPod. I can even subscribe to my Google Calendar with iCal.

In short, I can use Google Calendar on my old machines and my new machines and any machine I might buy in the future. Options.

With Google, I have options that I don't with iCloud.

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Recent Recycled Computing Columns

Mountain Lion Obsoletes the MacBook I Just Bought, 2012.02.24. John Hatchett just got his first Intel Mac, a preowned MacBook, in December, and now it looks like it won't be able to run OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
Improving Tablets: Why Not a Slider Keyboard?, 2012.02.20. Perhaps the biggest drawback of the iPad and other tablets is lack of a buil-in physical keyboard. Many phones have slider keyboards....
Which Apple TV Is Right for You?, 2012.02.15. If you own an older TV set, the original Apple TV may be a better choice than Apple's current unit.
More in the Recycled Computing index.

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May 24 in LEM history: 99: Mac sales up, iMac sales down? - 01: Speeding up digital photography - 02: The Internet, research, and plagiarism - 04: NewerTech TiBook battery - Optical mice from Contour - 06: Power Mac today or Intel tomorrow? - 07: G5: Apple's last fling with PowerPC - G3: From 233 MHz to 1.1 GHz
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