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About The Hardsdisk Mac Pages

Dedicated to the fact that: We don't need no stinking 64-bits!

6/27/2003 (original version)

This page contains some nonessential styles & JavaScript which are here to illustrate a point about browsers. Don't sweat it if your browser doesn't support it.

The Hardsdisk Mac Pages was launched in May of 2003 with just a few pages written from my Mac experiences. Since then, it has grown and I continue to add pages as I get them written. I have made every attempt to keep THMP simple so it will not only work with older Macs and browsers but pages pertaining to specific Macs, like PowerBook 1400s, will also display well in iCab on those Macs. All of the pages are approved by iCab's validator and most* have passed the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) standards. Unfortunately, due to code used by the Google ads, most of the pages will not validate. The ads were introduced in Oct. 05 in a effort to partially fund the site. If you can see them, please use the links. It will help. Update: 10/2/2016 - The Google ads were discontinued due to an insufficient payment vs irritation balance. Enjoy the site on me.

Why iCab? The majority of the pages in this site are written to an older standard and should display acceptably in most older browsers, except perhaps for Netscape which has always adhered to its own standards, especially where tables are concerned. If you are using Netscape 4.x or earlier, it can't handle the JavaScript or styles. The eyeballs in the simulated menu bar above aren't moving with your cursor and you may not be seeing the specified font face and color. Internet Explorer, with its own peculiar standards, adds spaces where none are specified. Mozilla 1.3.1 and Opera 6 render the bar as written but have real problems in other areas. No one-currently-available browser is going to work in every situation. However, there is little reason for not using iCab as your primary classic OS browser, since it is both compliant with current HTML standards and tolerant of the standards of noncompliant pages, written for specific browsers like Netscape or IE. What other modern browser works with System 7.0.1 and up?

Why old Macs? For most people, myself included, it's a matter of economy. When I launched this site, my main computer was a Quadra 950, upgraded to PowerPC. I had purchased the 6-year-old CPU, hard drives and upgrade card for less than $80. A few years later, in late 2003, the Quadra was beginning to show some limitations, so I purchased a beige 300 MHz G3 on eBay for $100. A year later, you could get one for $75.

Although I acquired a Mac mini at the end of 2005, the G3 still fills a gap by handling my OS 9 graphic, video, sound and web editing needs.

Some Mac users that I know, have more recent Macs than my G3 and are doing far less with them. Granted, my Macs aren't always stock configuration but the plain fact is that if you are only using your computer for dial-up web access and word processing, you can get by very nicely with a $10 first or second generation PowerMac.

Future Updates Late in 2005, I had some email conversation with Dan Knight of Low End Mac. He had kindly linked to one of my recent pages and said that the subject was right in line with his call for new material. I innocently commented that I hoped to be able to contribute sometime and now I find myself on the LEM writing staff. This has already been a rewarding experience in many ways, but it does mean that future updates to THMP may be few to non-existent. However, I have absolutely no plans to take the site down. The ad revenues are mostly paying for the space and due to the vintage nature of the information, it can't really go out of date.

You may browse THMP in privacy. No cookies will be installed on your computer while you are here. Your IP address will not be recorded and none of your activities on the web will be monitored from this site. I neither need nor want to know any of that stuff.

While I don't consider myself to be a Mac guru, I think I have come up with some useful or at least interesting information in the years that I have been making do with older Macintosh computers. These pages embody one person's Mac experience. I hope you find something you like. If not, please use the links on the home page. You are sure not to be disappointed by them. If you really like or dislike something about the site, please drop me a note. I'd be happy to hear from you in either case. All the best, Hardsdisk

Do you remember "Eyeballs"? It was a small extension that you either liked or hated. A pair of cartoon eyes followed your cursor around and eventually closed if you stopped moving the mouse. It had only one practical use. If you had a PowerBook with a passive matrix screen, it could help you find the cursor, if you lost track of its blurred movements.

 

*This page is a hybrid of HTML 3 - 4 and is not W3C valid.


Eyeball to cursor tracking JavaScript © Alexander Clauss

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