Number 8
It was so nice today, which by now is actually yesterday, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ride the “spaceship” one more time before winter decides to get serious. I needed a destination though. I’d been meaning to get out to the Green Hills Apple Store and see what that’s all about, so that’s the direction I pointed myself.
Number 8 resting atop Number 6
The Green Hills Apple Store isn’t quite so nice as the San Francisco store, but hey it’s a store filled with geeky Apple goodies so I was happy. So happy in fact that I accidentally bought a new computer, a Mac mini to be exact… and a KVM switch to boot.
I’d been thinking about this for quite a while actually. My PC has been making me less and less happy lately, and the Mac, besides just being a better operating system, really does a much better job with multiple users in my opinion. I have much finer grained control over just how much access my kids have to various applications and built in parental control for email, web browsing, chatting, etc., etc. Also, “my” laptop isn’t technically mine and I wanted to offload some of the more personal items from my work machine to something at home. Quicken stuff comes to mind.
Installation was hampered by the fact that the mouse I was using on the PC uses a PS/2 connector and I couldn’t find the USB adapter that I know is around here somewhere. So I had to buy a new mouse. I figured I’d simply leave the PC connected to the old mouse and use the new one for the Mac. Well, the PC wasn’t having any of that. It no longer wants to have anything to do with my old mouse. I think it’s feeling indignant about the new machine resting on top of it. Oddly enough, the old mouse communicates just fine with the mini, seeing as the new mouse is also a wireless Logitech. Windows… *sigh*.
So, the new machine is a 1.42GHz G4 Mac mini with 512MB of memory. It has been christened Number 8. Not very creative I know, but it follows a long line of computers who’s names began with “Number”:
- Number 7 (Feb 04) – 17″ PowerBook / 1.33GHz PowerPC G4 / 1GB
- Number 6 (Jul 03) – DIY PC / 2.4GHz Pentium 4 / 1GB
- Number 5 (Apr 99) – 14″ “Wallstreet” PowerBook G3 / 266Mhz PowerPC G3 / 192MB
- Number 4 (Jul 97) – Motorola StarMax 3000 / 240Mhz PowerPC 603e / 32MB
- Number 3 (Aug 95) – Macintosh Performa 6200CD / 75Mhz PowerPC 603 / 16MB
- Number 2 (c1990) – Packard Bell / 12MHz 286 / 1MB
- Number 1 (c1981) – Atari 400 / 1.8MHz 6502 / 48kB
I miss my KVM switch. I had one when I was using the G4 tower at my office, but they’re useless with an iMac, or so I’m told.
There is no thing of beauty as great as a KVM switch.
While I take issue with your “Number 1” actually being a computer, I applaud you on the Mini. I’ve been thinking of getting a Mini/KVM to ride shotgun on the PC we have upstairs. Let me know what you think of yours.
And congratulations again on the new “baby.”
If the Apple II was a computer then so was my old Atari, which I still have actually. I’m thinking of building a shrine…
The KVM switch is so-so. When both machines are up and running, it works just fine, but it’s kinda quirky while the PC is booting. That is, it seems to switch back to the Mac during portions of Windows bootup where the video drops out momentarily (resolution changes). And of course there are still problems with Windows and my old mouse. I have to get that figured out. I’ve come to rely on the side buttons in WoW 🙂
I haven’t heard of any troubles with KVM switches an iMac’s though I admit it’s not something I’ve followed closely.
When I bought my iMac from Mac Authority I asked if I could run a PC through it with a KVM switch. That was my ideal scenario, because it would help with my work a great deal.
The guy said that the iMac wasn’t technically a “monitor” but a screen (?) so you couldn’t use a KVM switch with it. I guess that sounded fairly reasonable, so I took him at his word. Although relations between me and Mac Authority have been strained, so I’d love to hear about how he was so very wrong.
I have always had a grudge against the Atari computers, if only because I had a Commodore. I’m such a side-taker in the computer world.
Ah, yeah I guess I could see how the iMac might have trouble with the KVM switch. I wasn’t thinking… that happens quite a lot.
Oh you were one of those Commodore people. That was a long time ago though, so I won’t hold that against you 😉