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"Collectable Mac" !!

The long wait is over! I finally acquire a true collectable Mac with funds from Patreon. This video defines collectable models (in my opinion) and reveals the new model!

Feel free to give your thoughts on collectable Macs, or if you think I'm wrong or missing any special models. Note: Performa 637CD Money Magazine Edition was considered and rejected.

The Ultimate First Macintosh(?)

I saw this posted on the Ontario classifieds today and thought I should share it. 

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-ipod-mp3-player-other/ottawa/the-ultimate-collection-of-apple-macintosh-first-computer-system/1669519009

Very ...

Strawberry iMac goes to new owner

A young local iMac G3 collector with presence on YouTube as TheMacintoshBuyer was looking for a strawberry iMac DV slot load, which was the only colour he hadn't owned before. I had bought one a couple years ago just for my iMac SL video and it sat on the shelf since.

When I said that I was not particularly attached to it, he offered a Power Macintosh G4 Sawtooth with 17" graphite CRT. The exact system I bought in 2000, but my CRT died... loudly... years ago. In addition, a 17" iMac G5,...

Two more G5 towers are brought in

As you may have noticed in my 'behind the scenes', G5/Mac Pro towers make up the support structure for my display shelving. Unfortunately, doing a video on G5 towers means pulling many of them out. So I need some Towers I can swap in, rather than relying on my 'Lab Jacks'.

An offer came up for a G5 tower this weekend but not much information on what model it was. The seller kept calling it an "...

Behind the Scenes, Ep. 2

I think of writing a video script as a series of questions to be answered. It's rare that I have many answers at the outset, and even more rare that my presumptions about the Mac model are correct. Here's a couple examples of the hundreds of questions that need to be answered in the process of making a video. 

Behind the Scenes, Ep.1

Some suggested a little more 'behind the scenes', so here's a quick glimpse as I work on the next video.

Bungie's New Marathon

I am releasing this video tonight, just to answer those who asked for my thoughts on Bungie's announcement of a new Marathon game and shining light on misinformation in certain 'for profit' YouTube videos.

Denied Final Cut Pro X

So, I’m trying the modern FCPX on a modified 2010 Mac Pro that can run 10.14 "Mojave". However, the version of FCPX that is compatible with Mojave 10.14 is no longer for sale. In fact you need a Mac that can run minimum 11.5.1. Can it at least run Final Cut Pro 7? ... No.

That’s one of the disappointing things about modern Apple - 'forcing' system upgrades instead of enticing buyers to upgrade.  The worst example is browsers, of course. G4 users were happily using the TenFourFo...

New Marathon Announcement

I noticed the views on my Marathon video really spiked around May 24th. Why? The rumours that surfaced while I was making the Marathon video came true. Bungie is bringing back the Marathon franchise that made them a success in the 90's. However, this is a "PvP extraction shooter" which means it will not have a single player campaign structure. This has caused many fans to lose interest already. 

Set on Tau Ceti IV decades after the events of Marathon 1, when the Pfhor returned and ...

The G4 Cube (2019)

In June 2019, I was actually getting cold feet about releasing this 10th video to a subscriber base of nearly 2,000 people. At 40 minutes running time, I was expecting a lot from the audience's patience, considering I wouldn't even touch on the internals of the machine. It was the first Macintosh model I had attempted that was already 'well-covered' by other 'content creators'. In the end, it was warmly received.

2023-05-21 19:18:42 +0000 UTC View Post

Apple iSight

When it became apparent I needed a iSight for my next video, I checked the online classifieds. There were actually two available. One was just the camera and cable for $15, the other was complete in the box for $25. The choice was pretty obvious.

The box also contained the various mounts, the manual, the plastic tube carrying case and FireWire cable. I recall watching Steve present it at the 20...

The problem with for-profit documentary videos

After watching me argue with Act Man in my Marathon video, viewer Khanh Tran Quang pointed me to a Mac video by a big tech YouTuber to get my impressions.

It's what I've seen for years on YouTube, even when I was deciding whether to do my Macintosh series back in 2014. Flashy effects and presentation hiding poor content. They have an incredible number of 'views' and they more-or-less admit in t...

Latest Acquisitions

The first is a Macintosh IIsi. This one caught my interest because it had a 12" NuBus card installed. Connected via a genuine Apple NuBus Adapter. The machine is also Y2K compliant.

2023-04-29 04:06:33 +0000 UTC View Post

Marathon, one month on..

It was a wild coincidence that The Act Man released a video about "The Rise and Fall of Arena Shooters" the day I released my Marathon video . In that video he acknowledges Marathon and Unreal, but only in a brief, almost forced way, and then goes on to make even more errors on the history of the genre.

Backlash was swift against his poor research. Reaction videos by viewers younger than him, lambaste him for brushing off Marathon as a Doom Clone instead of the important and ground-brea...

The Power Macintosh 4400 (2018)

After six months, the Power Macintosh 9500 video had amassed 3,500 views on YouTube, and now it was time to release a companion video, picking up where the 9500 left off. This was my 9th video, featuring a Macintosh that was almost unknown because of the chaotic times it was released within. I wasn't even aware of it until 2010. Information on this machine is pretty limited, so much of what I talk about came from the machine, the included documentation and the discs.

An opportunity to g...

"What are you doing with your feet?"

I'm sure everyone wants to see the 70's fitness promotional film that I used in the 9500 video. Here it is!! To my knowledge, this is one of those rare videos that you can't find on YouTube, therefore I can call this "exclusive content". This is pretty much what the 70's was like.

The Power Macintosh 9500 (2018)

My 8th feature video in the series was inspired by getting at 9500/180MP during the previous summer for $75, including a Macintosh Color Display. The take apart led to some surprises as I attempted to get it working again.

The video featured Apple employee, Dave Garr's song from the period, "I think we're a Clone now", Elf Bowling memories and a terribly dated 1970's fitness video that got taped on my VCR one night in the 80's when David Letterman was postponed.

The 9500's reign s...

Hamburger Helper (2018)

To celebrate 1,000 subscribers, I posted this video to show my work-around for making Potato Stroganoff Hamburger Helper, which has been completely discontinued in my area. 

After realizing cooking videos was not my forte, I returned to Macintosh videos with the Power Macintosh 9500.

Marathon video response

I was quite happy with the responses to the Marathon video. After one week it's had almost as many views as Denfield Part 3, plus more comments & 'likes'. There was no angry backlash although some feedback was.. entertainingly odd.

Viewers rightly made note of The Colony (1988) and System Shock (1994) as important, but forgotten FPS games.

Others pointed out that Half Life was ported ...

NetWare (PowerPC)

I got an interesting comment the other day on my Apple Network Server video from a retired Apple employee who worked on porting NetWare to the server. The project was cancelled late in the development. He was kind enough to send this picture of the internal demo CD. He also shared his remembrances..

"I remember demoing in Barcelona at an Apple European sales conference around that time.  It’s possibly the only copy still in existence."

"I believe that disk would work on the...

February Update

For the first time in a couple months I was able to dedicate a whole day to the new video with the working title Denfield 4. It was great to be able to do that! 

I think it's turning out really good, with a surprise star cameo and surprise Mac appearance. Also all my angst over the last two months is there, so expect more outraged "Damn!!" moments.  

It appears it will be about 30 minutes, so way longer than the other chapters. I also need to determine a good YouTube tit...

Finally, a 12" RGB Display!

I have been searching for this display since my early days of collecting. It's not what I expected to be a difficult one to find, and maybe you have had a different experience. Above, paired with the Macintosh LC from my video.

The seller actually had 4 of them but "untested". The Powerbook 540c is perfect for this situation, so I took it on the road. After testing, there were 2 working and 2 with highly distorted screens (i.e. junk). Of course, the monitor with the best brightness had ...

The Power Macintosh G4 (2017)

A video about the Power Macintosh G4 was something I had to make at this point. Having purchased a new Power Mac G4 during the most interesting time in Apple's history gave me a lot of material for this video. However, the editing was so complex, it seemed hopeless that I would finish it. After this one, I did scripting of the videos instead of keeping it all in my head. 

A&E's Hoarders invading my basement, Bungie's Marathon with commentary by Herbert Morrison, and the first a...

The Macintosh LC (2017)

I can't remember what inspired me to do a video about the Macintosh LC. It could be that it was the computer that changed me from a Mac user to Mac collector. This was a unit my wife bought me for Christmas 2003. I always had my Macintosh Classic II on  display in the livingroom as a 'conversation piece', so she thought another old Macintosh would be a good gift idea. I had never even thought about buying obsolete Mac's. Who does that?!

The LC turned out to be a pivotal moment in M...

Preview of new video

If you thought posting my old videos on Patreon was an attempt to buy time while I worked on the next video, you couldn't be more partially correct.

Here's the opening to my next video (Denfield Hoard 4), where I will be looking at a lot of fun, unique and controversial elements of a classic Macintosh game. 

To be released soon.

The Macintosh 512K (2016)

The 5th video of the series stepped way back to 1984, way before I was involved with Macintosh. This video was initiated by getting a 512K (upgraded) machine from Goodwill earlier that year. Now I already had a 512K machine that I got back in 2010. A complete system in the box, no yellowing, set of 6 disks in the accessories box - $60 from an online classified. And it wasn't that I was quick on the trigger. It had been posted for months when I finally decided to buy it. Times have changed. 2022-12-24 00:14:53 +0000 UTC View Post

The Power Macintosh 6100 (2016)

(This is the 2022 update.) The 6100/60AV was the first Mac that I bought myself and I brought it home Nov 21, 1994. Quite pricey at the time, but I didn't have many expenses in those days. I had hoped to use it for video editing, but it wasn't powerful enough for that. But, it did bring me into the internet age and introduced me to Marathon, as well as being a great word processor and database. I used it until I bought my G4 tower on 2000. Video editing was no problem for that machine.

...

The Macintosh IIsi (2015)

The Macintosh IIsi is one of my favorite case designs, and so was chosen for my third video in the series. Views of my last two videos were rare, so some of the humour in this video was more for my entertainment. Examples: My friend, Rich, as the 'Technical User' and voice of the Scotty alert sound, Apple's cringe IIsi introduction and merging it with Single White Female, along with a reference to Jerry Seinfeld scolding the laughing audience on David Letterman. But the 'don't care' attitude ...

The Macintosh Quadra 800 (2015)

On August 23, 2014, I responded to an ad that had been up for awhile. It was for a Beige G3 desktop and a Quadra 800, both with monitors, $50.

Photo Credit: umm.. Previous Owner

The 13" High Resolution Color Monitor had the tilt stand on it, which does not show up for sale very often. The G3 desktop had a 16" Macintosh Color Display. He asked if I wanted the Umax scanner or Apple...

The Macintosh SE (2014)

With Patreon now offering Video Hosting services, it's a great opportunity to allow members to watch my past videos outside of YouTube and ad-free. YouTube still has that 'watch anywhere' advantage. But... I've finally clipped out the black borders of the HD frame, so there's that. Narration by camcorder microphone is generally frowned upon, and this demonstrates why. A few on-going sound effects started in this video.

The Macintosh SE video got almost no attention when I posted it, but...