Apple introduced the Apple II in 1977. The Apple II line stayed in production until 1993. The Apple IIe variant, first released in 1983 and later upgraded in 1985 (Enhanced Apple IIe), can lay claim to one of the longest production runs of any computer in history. This feat is unheard of in today’s market … Read more
The Apple II line of computers uses two primary types of disk storage: 5.25 (5 1/4) inch floppy and 3.5 inch floppy (referred to as “800K floppy” for the remainder of the discussion). It is possible to hook a SCSI hard drive up to an Apple II via a special SCSI card, but good luck … Read more
The ImageWriter II is a dot matrix printer produced by Apple beginning in 1985. It was a redesign of the ImageWriter. The ImageWriter II would set you back about $600 in 1985. It was the mainstay of Apple printing in the late 1980’s. It remained so until PostScript and cheap inkjet printers like the StyleWriter … Read more
In 1975, Steve “Woz” Wozniak was thinking about building his own microcomputer. He decided to use the 6800 microprocessor instead of the 8080, then used by most microcomputers. The 6800 cost about $275 per processor and this was more than Woz wanted to pay for a microprocessor. Then the Wescon annual electronics show came to … Read more
The idea for the graphical user interface originated at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). The mission of PARC was to create the future without worrying about the commercial viability of the resulting technology. PARC was a scientific think tank staffed by brilliant software engineers. The PARC researchers created the Alto computer in 1973. The … Read more
Macintosh Classic II Here is a cool use for old Mac motherboards you may have never considered. Use them as decorative wall ornaments. I am not much of an “artsy” person but I do appreciate industrial design. Unlike PC motherboards, Mac boards are very nifty. They are well designed and thoughtfully laid out. Best of … Read more
Apple introduced the Macintosh LC III on February 10, 1993 as replacement for the Macintosh LC II. The change from the original Macintosh LC to the LC II was rather pedestrian. The LC II uses a 16 MHz 68030 processor while the LC uses a 16 MHz 68020 processor. The LC II’s 68030 is able … Read more
About DOS 3.3 and ProDOS DOS and ProDOS were disk operating systems designed by Apple Computer, Inc. to run in the 8-bit Apple II line of computers. Apple also developed a 16-bit version of ProDOS to run in the Apple IIgs. DOS was released for the Apple II in the late 1970’s and was later … Read more
Apple began designing the Apple III specifically for business users in 1978. It would be the first computer at Apple designed by engineers in a team environment. The Apple I and Apple II had primarily been designed by Steve Wozniak. Apple was experiencing monumental growth during the late 1970s and was poised to take its … Read more
One of the hidden gems in macOS is a scripting service called Folder Actions, where you can bind an AppleScript to run whenever the contents of a specified folder are changed. This feature can be exceptionally useful, not only for helping you organize files and folders, but also for helping you monitor aspects of your … Read more