Charles Moore's Mailbag

The Power of Older Macs, Why Vista Only Sees 3 GB of RAM, Wangwriter Supplies, and More

Charles Moore - 2008.10.08 - Tip Jar

Popularity: LEMLEMLEMLEM

The Power of Older Macs

From Brian G. Reilly:

Hey Charles,

I'm a regular reader of Low End Mac. I just started up a blog, of which I think I might be posting entries that are relevant to the readers of LEM. I think this one in particular: http://www.pwrmac.com/2008/10/01/real-world-speed-freak/ would be of interest. In the article, I cover why upgrading RAM and hard drives are important, and I have three videos posted demonstrating the speed of my low-end Mac, a dual 1.8 Ghz G5 from 2004.

Thanks for taking the time to check it out.

Sincerely,
Brian

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the link.

Good article. I do notice that the 5400 RPM hard drive in one of my Pismo PowerBooks does give significantly better performance than the 4200 RPM drive in my other Pismo, even though the latter has slightly more RAM installed.

Charles

Why 32-bit Vista Only Sees 3.12 GB of RAM

From Matthew in response to 4 GB of RAM 'Mostly Wasted' with Vista:

Charles,

It is true that a 32-bit processor can directly address 4 gigabytes, but Windows was designed with the lower 2 gigabytes available for application programs and the upper 2 gigabytes reserved for the operating system. It shares this approach with VMS, which Dave Cutler also designed.

When computers started to push the 2 gigabyte boundary, Microsoft partially addressed this problem with the /3GB and the /PAE startup switches. This article explains why Vista says 3.12 gigabytes is free rather than the expected 4 gigabytes:

64-bit Windows doesn't suffer from this problem. A 64-bit processor can directly address up to 16 exabytes, so I don't imagine this problem with Windows will be repeated anytime soon.

It makes the memory handling of OS X look pretty good by comparison, doesn't it?

Matthew Reed
http://www.trs-80.org

Hi Matthew,

It does indeed. Thanks for the comment.

Charles

Windows System Profile Software

From John in response to PC System Profiler:

Charles,

Actually all Belarc Advisor does is it gathers its information from the local Windows installation. A better solution would be the program Everest Home Edition by Lavalys.

John

Thanks for the tip, John.

Charles

MIT HyperArchive - End of an Era

From Dan:

I'd just like to alert everyone to an obscure but important event today.

After over a decade serving the Mac community, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's HyperArchive was shut down today as part of the ongoing process of consolidating the many scattered Info-Mac mirrors to just one. The MIT HyperArchive was the first searchable mirror of the Info-Mac Archive of Mac shareware and freeware, and since 1997 has been an invaluable resource for us Mac users, both new and old alike. Links to files in the MIT mirror will now be automatically redirected to the same files in the Info-Mac Archive.

Persons wishing to search and download from the Info-Mac Archive are encouraged to use the official, database-driven version at http://www.info-mac.org/archive from now on.

Dan Palka
http://www.info-mac.org

Wangwriter Supplies

From Don Morse:

I happened across the postings about the Wangwriter and JB Royal. I worked on that project, and in the process of clearing out my house I have found a stash of ribbons of all types and a large assortment of printwheels. There is enough material there to keep one going for another lifetime. I got my daughter a surpluss Wangwriter for collage and it may even be around some where. If there is any interest in this WangWriter material please contact me before it hits the dumpster.

Best regards,
Don Morse

Note: If anyone in interested in Don's WangWriter stuff, drop me a note here at Low End Mac, and I'll forward it to him. cm

Go to Charles Moore's Mailbag index.

Join us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Charles Moore has been a freelance journalist since 1987 and began writing for Mac websites in May 1998. His The Road Warrior column was a regular feature on MacOpinion, and he is a news editor and columnist at Applelinks.com. If you find his articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.

Recent articles by Charles W. Moore

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Miscellaneous Ramblings ©1999-2012 by Charles W. Moore. Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2012 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iPad iPhone, iMac, iPod, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
  Advice is presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Email may be published at our discretion unless marked "not for publication"; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.

Custom Search

Share

Follow Low End Mac on Twitter
Join Low End Mac on Facebook

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Quantcast

TypeStyler 11 is now in the Mac App Store!! -- Special Introductory Price of $59.95!! -- To Buy From The Mac App Store Click Here Now!! Or buy direct from Strider Software.

Quantcast

Quantcast

Quantcast

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker and Mac Casino applications in minutes.

Quantcast

Quantcast

Quantcast

Quantcast

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
Cult of Mac
Shrine of Apple
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac Museum
DealMac
Deal Brothers
Mac2Sell
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End Mac FAQ

Affiliates

Amazon.com
The Apple Store
The iTunes Store
PC Connection Express
GainSaver
Parallels Desktop for Mac
eBay

Low End Mac's Amazon.com store

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link