Well it has now been a few years from the time I replaced an aging Mac Ci with a Umax C600 and my folly into the Umax family of computers has been a fun yet at times frustrating adventure.
One C6 turned into two, that turned into a custom built Umax in PC case C6. As in the PC world versatility of the C6 units can provide one with a string of events that if not well understood can cause loss of many hours resolving issues, but for all the difficult times the ability to run both SCSI and IDE drives the robust performance will forever make this machine dear to my computing heart. One of my machines has logged just under 9 months of very stable service as a server 24 hours a day ! A reboot every week / rebuild of the desktop and it chums along. As prices fell for S900 machines I added one of these to my stable and I must say it has been a pleasure to configure and handles just about anything I throw at it. I am hard pressed to find a task that I have not been able to accomplish - Solid graphics (not super fast but fine), digital video work, web design and much more. When you consider this machine does everything a imac can do @ $ 1500 my $ 150 investment works wonderfully. On prices has anyone noticed the sub $ 10 c500's on ebay ? At these rates we will be able to trade a coke and fries for a S900 soon !! When OS x 10.2 came out I was encouraged with the prospect of being able to network my wife's P4 2 GHZ and my laptop with just a click or two and move work around. With smack down prices for G3 cards I added another $ 100 to the pile, and with a family member being a elementary school teacher 10.2 fell out of the sky one day (thanks Apple), the last element was a 18 Gig hard drive (an old Western Digital unit that doubles as a room heater). I attached this out the back SCSI port in an external case and 10.2 installed first try with Xpost. Although 10.2 runs just fine I own not OS X native programs so my stable of favorite junk defaults to running in classic mode under OS X and I find this very much of a burden on the memory and processor. But from what I have read so far even a new robust G4/800 will not tip the scales and end up with true OS X speed given the limited bus speed of the S9. Is anyone using one of the new G4's and OS X ? Keeping OS X on an external drive allows me to just flip a switch and run only when needed. Although having been a Mac fan from my first purchase of a 128K unit in 84, then a Lisa aside from these early operating systems this has been the first time I have run a current OS in 16 years...... and strangely I find because of other critical use programs X just provides a platform to move files about. I have noticed that 10.2 likes to strangely bless OS 9.1 causing restart problems that nothing short of a mild cuda clean up and desktop rebuild fixes quite a pissy fault, has anyone nailed down this issue and can offer a fix ? Taken on balance a less than $ 300 machine that runs 10.2 - My Umax S900 is a fine unit, but a computer hobbyist you must be to own and enjoy one. The last of the faceplates will be going out the door soon - Thanks to all who gave support. Regards to all in this fine group, Frank Acevedo -- SuperMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | Service & Replacement Parts [EMAIL PROTECTED] | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> SuperMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/supermacs/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/supermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
