Members Introduction... time to reflect on our past that got us here :)

[DieHard]

Thanks for making it possible to resuscitate 4 old G4's (2 x PB, 1 x QS, 1 x B&W) and turn them into 9.2.2 afterburners, just dropped $100 into the jvbonanno-cookie-jar. The main goal has been to reacquire the tools to edit sort-of-ancient MIDI-synths, primarily for the Yamaha VL1 and the Hartmann Neuron, but even for all the others the Diver can handle. It all works so far! Great success!

Diehard says many thanks for this support !

This site created for people who were on a very limited budget (who cannot donate in $$, but in thought and spirit), so that old Macs could be acquired from scrap yards (or cheaply on craigslist) and turned into "Gold"... but this is very appreciated

[kim]

Hi

Thought it was time for the intro post 

My first classic Mac was a 128K bought on the "Own a Mac" scheme. I was working as hardware and software support for a Apple dealer at the time and we got offered the deal which was a 128K Mac (System 1.0, Macwrite and MacPaint), Imagewriter printer and carry bag for $A2228. I've had a variety of Apple's gear over the years. Got really disillusioned with the current lack of backward compatibility and pulled out my Dual 1GHz Quicksilver recently. It has pride of place on my desk, and my MacBook Pro gets pulled out for Photo editing and to be an internet appliance. Made me remember how much I enjoyed the Mac so I've been acquiring a few more older systems - although I already had some. I have the Quicksilver set up with 1.5GB of Ram, 120GB SSD and 1TB second drive. Still a great responsive machine in Mac OS 9.2 or 10.4.

Recently acquired a couple of TiBooks. One is a 500MHz original model and came without a hard drive or the cable to connect one. The other is an excellent condition 1GHz machine which I am also really enjoying. I have an M.2 SSD and adaptor, and a new battery on order for it. I've tried rebuilding the battery for the 500MHz but have had limited success. Seem like I need to reset the electronics in the battery somehow to get it to try and use the replaced cells.

Anyway, really nice to find this place and that there are others who still appreciate was the Mac really was, rather than the hollowed out shell it has become.

Kim

[IIO]

Hello all, I am a curator at the National Music Museum and am here for DAW topics. I have a Mac II for which I am interested in sourcing sequencing software. It is on OS 6.0.7. Any help appreciated!

lol, we attract people from musems. i still develop software for OS9.

i see myself sitting in a glass showcase and people visit that place and explain to their kids: "look, he is still working in the past."

[OminousSilence]

Hello all!

My name is Will and I hail from the windy wasteland that is Northern England. I apologise for the long time between me joining and introducing myself but no sooner had I signed up then I had to reinstall my whole system from scratch and like hell could I remember all my passwords!

I'm a life-long Mac user; throughout the last three decades I have used the following:

Macintosh Plus
One of these was in my grandad's office and I was allowed to play on it when I was tiny. The company actually had five of these, and four of them were still helping to run the business all the way until 2001! I wish I had saved them, but I was 11 at the time and had no say in it.

Performa 6200
Don't laugh, this was my first colour computer and we got it cheap in 1997. I still have it too, but I don't use it as it's become a dumping ground for other faulty bits of hardware. This was my introduction to SS7 and later OS8, and since my best friend at the time had a IIvx we would usually share any games we bought which meant twice as many games!

iMac Five Flavours (Lime)
We got this second hand in 2001 and it broke down after eight months. We were refunded and I went back to using the 6200 for a while, until in 2003 my parents agreed that it was entirely useless as a computer and I used a Windows XP laptop for a while since all the school computers were Windows by then too. Poor Acorn.

Mac Mini 1,1
The Mac Mini was bought new in 2006 for my A-levels but — like the 6200 — was grossly underpowered. I still have it but the internals are completely shot after it cooked itself, but I am going to use the case for a picocomputer project at some point. The Mini was the first time I used OS X as my main system and it was a lot of fun by that point; Tiger was and still is the best version of OS X.

MacBook 4,1
The MacBook replaced the Mac Mini when I went to university in 2008. I had the black one, because goth, and I pulled the screen apart in order to slip some green plastic behind the logo so that it wasn't boring white anymore. This laptop followed me everywhere for three years and I somehow managed to not ruin it; a friend of mine now uses it exclusively as a music machine with some old software that needs Rosetta.

MacBook Pro 8,2
This laptop lasted eight years until January this year. While other 2011 models were dying left and right from Radeon Rot, mine just kept on soldiering on regardless. I used it for everything between video editing and gaming, down to browsing and typing, pretty much every day. It ate two batteries, three power cords, had a replacement number 3 key, and finally died of self-melting on new years day. Lest auld aquaintaince be forgot, and all that.

Macintosh Classic II
This little beast popped up on eBay for £80 in an area of Scotland that I love driving in anyway, so we made a day-trip of it and now it lives with us. System 7 has been installed, and it runs so very, very smoothly with 4 megabytes of RAM.

---

So with my MacBook Pro dead, I did what any other perfectly normal and sane and not crazy person would do. I went on eBay and bought a Power Macintosh 5500. I won the auction for far less than I was expecting, only to discover not only did it have all the video cards still in place and working, but it also had a Sonnet G3 processor card in the L2 slot so it's possible that I own the only 400MHz PowerMac 5500/275 (yes, the black one, of course) on the continent.

And that's why I'm here, because yes indeed, the 5500 is my new daily driver. Sure, the Internet is a pain in the backside — this forum works though! — but who cares when I have almost unlimited free software and a computer that can be forced to single-task when I want all that tasty G3 power, with a gorgeous cathode screen display (16 meeeeellion colours!). The only let-down is the keyboard (AppleDesign Keyboard II) which is like typing on the flesh of a whale that has been beached in direct sunlight for a week, so I actually use the ADB Keyboard II from the Classic instead.

It's funny really, OS9 is probably the version of MacOS that I've used the least, but it's certainly the one I'm having the most fun with. Moving from a 2.4GHz machine with 16GiB RAM and 1024MiB of video memory to one with a 400MHz processor, 128MiB RAM and only 2MiB of video memory is refreshing, rather like a purge of unnecessary disctractions; minimalism in the extreme using a machine that was top of the line in its time 22 years ago!

Well, that's all the interesting stuff out of the way anyway! Thanks for accepting me into the forum, and I hope to speak with some of you soon!

[FdB]

Welcome aboard Will. Great to hear from the “frozen tundra” of the great-white UK north. (laughing)
After several days of quiet time ‘round here lately, seems that we may now be entering our Fall Season
and long time users like yourself are again “coming into the flock”. The more, the merrier. Welcome.

“Where’s that confounded bridge?”
                            -R. Plant & B. Johnson

[IIO]

MacBook Pro 8,2
This laptop lasted eight years until January this year. While other 2011 models were dying left and right from Radeon Rot, mine just kept on soldiering on regardless. I used it for everything between video editing and gaming, down to browsing and typing, pretty much every day. It ate two batteries, three power cords, had a replacement number 3 key, and finally died of self-melting on new years day. Lest auld aquaintaince be forgot, and all that.

really, really sad. but thats how stuff looks like today.

[OminousSilence]

Thanks peeps! Glad to be a member. I'll lend some expertise and ask some daft questions over time, have no fear

@FdB it's not always frozen up here. I almost had heatstroke this summer as the mercury touched a whole, positive 20ºC!

@IIO Yup. They certainly don't make them like they used to!

[Monotremata]

Welp, another new guy here.. Found this place awhile ago probably looking for something to do with Sound Diver which I still need to this day. Glad to see lots of folks still keeping the OS 9 audio thing alive.. I know I have plenty of stuff that still needs it in use! Probably ditching Sheepshaver and just getting out the old G3 or dual AGP G4 since I have an old sampler on the way and need to resurrect the old Adaptec 2906! Hopefully it will be as 'painless' as it was 20 years ago so I wont have to bug you guys too much!

[Largephotoguy]

I've used Macs since my IIX days but still prefer OS 9.  I continue to run FoxPro, Pagemaker 6 and other programs.  No crashes, no problems.

[OminousSilence]

Welcome!

@Monotremata funnily enough it was an ATI video driver that brought me here myself! I certainly would try keeping your old hardware in use; if anything it keeps them from filling up with dustbunnies!

@Largephotoguy right there with you. Sure, I have a MacBook roaming around the house somewhere, but I'm far happier on Classic still!

[OttersLikeApples]

Hi, I Found your forum after wondering if anyone still ran os9 and thinking about doing some coding.
I have owned a lot of macs
My list of rigs that have treated me well
iBook G3/466 SE
5 Different Emacs
Apple Macintosh IIfx
2 Different Cubes One that had the full speakers and screen
iMac G4 Sunflower
Macintosh Performa model number I can't remember
Apple Power Macintosh G4 733
Apple MacBook Pro 15 Core 2 Duo 2010
Apple MacBook Core 2 Duo 13 2009 With custom black outsides and white insides I cobbled together for $300 in 2013
Apple Mac mini Core 2 Duo
Apple Mac Pro Eight Core
Apple Macbook Pro 2018 Current Machine
Thinking about picking up a Powerbook G4
More IPods then you can shake a stick at..
Hope That I can hang around in the shadows and learn some stuff.

[mrhappy]

I Found your forum after wondering if anyone still ran os9

I guess you found your answer!! Haha! 

Welcome.

[tommacman]

Greetings to everyone!

I have not used a Classic Mac OS computer in many years but I got frustrated with the complexity of modern MIDI software and longed to return to the simplicity of EZ Vision (my first sequencer) and Music Shop. In my research to find folks knowledgeable in Classic Mac OS and where to find older software, I found Mac OS 9 Lives. Your wealth of knowledge is nothing short of amazing!

My first Mac was a Classic II back in 1992 followed by a Centris 650 - man, that baby was a screamer! Lol.

I am new to all of this so I need to get a primer on how to post a thread on this site to begin with. Can anyone help me with that or point me to the "How can you be so dense" sign?

Tom

[ireneclamshell]

My Apple Clamshell Story
(by Irene B.)

My story begins 23 years ago in 1996 when I moved to rural southeast New Mexico. I was 36 years old and I'd never typed on a word processor, never been "online" , and never even seen a cellphone (that I recognized as such) . 
Shortly after I arrived to my homestead at the end of a BLM 2track without landline connection, I read about emailing and then I learned to use the library computer in town so I could email and keep in touch with family.
Etc.

I bought my 1st apple computer, a refurbished iMac that was about 20 years old, in 2005, and this is when I discovered beautiful and amazing, slim and trim, ultimate in functional, Mac OS 9    ! 
Wow  =:o  !   
I hooked up an Epsom printer to my iMac/square bowling ball desktop computer, and WoW again, Gorgeous colors    ! 
Too much prairie dust got into the dvd slot drive of my iMac and I opened up the square bowling ball to try to clear the drive out and not only could I not fix the drive, but the main iMac screen slipped sideways  :/  .

Next, I bought a one-owner used clamshell laptop, the orange version, running the full OS 9 suite. Very Nice, and I had lots of fun for a few years lazing and typing on my outdoor hammock before the aged clamshell plastic cracked from high-desert sun UV rays.

So then, I bought a lot of 4 online auction clamshells from a school closure. I mixed and matched them, and from remaining parts and a few chip upgrades I'm still enjoying my auction purchase today !
One clamshell was "Richard Nixon's Computer" but I don't really think so but it's fun so I still pretend that it's Richard Nixon's Computer  .

Over the last 15 years, I've enjoyed various Mac OS's and updated computers like a 2007 MacAir with the razorsharp edges and a 2012 MacMini. 
Also I favored a Hackintoshed Dell Mini 9   .

My alltime allstar #1 favorite Mac OS, to date, is the simple elegant and supremely functional Mac OS 9  .
"It's never as good as the 1st time."

I feel honored and humbled to be here in this Mac OS 9 forum !

Sincerely,
-Irene.

[mrhappy]

That's quite a story Irene... welcome's aboard!!! Oh... and BTW... "I am NOT a crook!" 

[ireneclamshell]

Thank you,  mrhappy   !
And with a smile like yours, who would ever ever imagine that you could ever ever be a crook    ?

[acoustiq]

Hi guys,

Good to be here, in the land of old Macs!

I have quite an interesting little collection of old computers, and among those I have a bunch of old Apple hardware: the Macintosh 128K, the Mac Plus 1MB, the Mac Classic, a IIci, an LC, an LC III [modded], a Centris 650, a PowerMac 6400/200, a G3 Server, A G4 FW800 DP 1.42, A G4 Cube and a G4 15" lamp. I might have a couple of old laptops as well, but these are all working fine. All I want for my Apple collection is a Lisa [dream on...] and a G5 Quad, just for the hell of it.

Trouble is, it's getting harder and harder to find old software and people that know how these machines work, so here I am

btw, I think Apple lost it's soul when they moved to Intel, so I'm staying with MOS / Motorola / PPC. IMO Intel-era Apples are just expensive, moody, fashion-oriented PCs. So I prefer a proper PC for that. You know how it is, the right tool for the right job.

A friend asked me a few days ago to help him out with his G4 MDD FW400 [DP 867]; he only wanted OS9 on it to play around with some old DAWs and couldn't figure out how to install 9.2 from the images he found [some wouldn't boot, some wouldn't find the HDD, etc]. It took me about 40 minutes altogether using the MacOS9Lives 9.2.2 restore image [including burning the disc with Transmac]. Cleaned up the HDD with a bootable 10.4 disc, then everything else done from the restore image. Flawless install and sooo easy to do. So, thank you so much for all the work that went into that image! Great job!

Also, since it was so easy to do this, I just might install it on my G3 Server, just for kicks

I've lost myself in the world of MS and *nix in recent years, but it sure is nice to get back to the old machines. I have to find some time to play around with the old Macs, Suns, SGIs, DECs and all the 8bit machines I have [it's not just a collection, they're my favorite toys ]

I have little spare time available, but I'll sure be in and out of here, looking for ideas or hints and maybe helping out if I get the chance, although I'm sure my Apple knowledge is quite limited compared to some of you.

Cheers!

[mrhappy]

Good to be here, in the land of old Macs!

Yes it is!!! Welcome aboard.

[sinhu]

Hi,
My name is Ingvar and I live in the north of Sweden. In 1995 I became interested in Mac and have so been since then. My very first Mac was the iMac DV 1999 that I got through my work. Since them I have had lots of Mac´s, mainly the once before OSX, i.e 68K and PowerMac´s. Mac´s bought in the old days for USD 10 now costs USD 100 or more. It is also harder and harder to even find them and fantasy prices are very common among folks who know nothing about Mac´s .
My collection now is only a few but it is slowly growing. Recently purchased an iMacDVG3 that I by misstake tested with OSX without upgrading the firmware. It has now ALL the bad symptoms and sofar I can't´t get it up and running. Well, I have not given up yet but it is getting closer :-)
Looking forward reading lot´s of interesting knowledge in this forum.
Cheers / Ingvar

[DCGSXR750]

Hello,
DC here from California. I have been a long time Mac user, currently trying to repair and fix my old G3 233Mhz that I bought in London UK moons ago... I am very excited to be part of this forum.
Thank you for a great site
Best, DC