On Monday, March 3, 2003, at 02:22 PM, Bryce Lee wrote: > 1. Microslop (in some form or another) has to reside on the computer, > although under 8.6 on my 350 Mhz iMac > it wasn't even allowed on the property.
not at all. i haven't a single MS app on any of my Macs at home, which run everything from System 7.5 all the way up to the latest version of OS X. i'll personally guarantee that Microsoft software is completely irrelevant to your problems. > 3. As same person from the telephone noted, I tend to be a minimalist > at > heart, so when the iMac died it still had 5.6 gig free > on a 6 gig hard drive. Large hard drives are a waste, on people > like. > me. Again of the old school. If it isn't needed, it gets trashed. this is EXTREMELY dangerous thinking with an OS like OS X. just because YOU don't think it's needed............ you could be very wrong. the problem you mentioned above (/etc/passwd missing) is probably caused by this thinking. in OS 9, you probably saw a folder called "private" or "etc" and, thinking it extraneous, trashed it. unfortunately, this is like going into OS 9's system folder and throwing away your preferences and control panels folder. > 5. And here's the crunch, I guess. As long as the Mac keeps going > perhaps I'll keep it, but how long may it run? I did purchase Applecare > this time round, but realistically I had hoped the iMac was the last > Mac > I'd have to buy; it died. Maybe I should flog the emac and go back to > an > iMac, with a fan and 8.6? *shrug* you may want to consider picking up a couple of books that helped me tremendously back in the day. the first is Sad Macs, Bombs, and Other Disasters, by Ted Landau (the guy who runs MacFixIt.com). the other is The Mac Bible, put out by the folks at MacWorld Publications. beyond that.... my greatest advise is that If It Ain' Broke, Don't Fix It -- and this includes throwing away ANYTHING. i merrily throw out files all the time... even important system files. i also know the exact ramifications of trashing the exact files i'm trashing... and if i want to trash a file that i'm not sure of the ramifications of trashing, i look around on the web, in chat rooms, on mailing lists, and ask some co-workers. if i don't know exactly what it does, it doesn't get trashed. period. -- The iMac List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | - Epson Stylus Color 580 Printers - new at $69 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> iMac List info: <http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/imac-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
