Computers are a big part of my life. Well they pay the bills actually. So while at work I actually have only a small say and choice in what we use, at home i can do anything I want. I think most of us are this way actually. It’s not that the things I work with day in and day out are bad, I just like a little something different at home and in my personal life.
I spend all day at work with Windows 10 and I truly do love that. It’s a really great OS and for what I need to accomplish it works.
Now when I am home it’s an entirely different environment. I use Windows 10 on a Surface Pro 4 at home. There is also the MacBook Pro with OS X (or should I say MacOS now? Still seems wrong). Then there is the nostalgic part of me. There is a large collection of old PowerPC Macintosh lying around the house. There will probably be further posts about that. So at any given time I’m using OS X from 10.1 up to the latest version, Windows, and Mac OS 9. Sometimes I pull out the old Performa or Macintosh TV for a little System 7 action. When I first got started using computers it was on the Macintosh TV. From there the family moved on to Windows 95. The first computer I bought ran Window 98. Once I bought my first mac I personally bought was an Indigo Clamshell iBook. To this day that is still my favorite computer to use. This was the only computer I used at the time. I still hand my Windows 98 machine, but it really only got used for sitting in the corner.
Well I have to say at home though the MacBook Pro sees the most use from myself. My Indigo iBook was probably second (until recently. more on that in another post) followed by the Surface. They all have their uses, but most tasks a normal, average, ordinary user would do are accomplished via the MacBook Pro. Normal things like browse the web, check e-mail, listen to music, watch stupid youtube videos, keep track of my checking account, pay bills and just stuff like this. The iBook and Surface are actually used primarly for software development.
This is actually less a challenge as much as it is a commitment. I’m not going to decide that I will do this for a week or month or whatever definitive time frame I put on this. It will be more like when you switch to Windows from MacOS or MacOS to Windows. You just switch and that’s what you use. Now there are always specific things that any OS can’t do. But here is a list of things that must be done with OS 9.
- Web Browsing (anything on the internet. YouTube, Facebook, etc…)
- Listening to music
- Internet radio
- Audio recording and editing
- Video editing
- Manage my finances/pay bills
- Personal software development
- Website development
- Photo Editing/Graphic Design
- Writing
- Manage my record company
That should cover just about all of it. At home I don’t do anything else using computers. I will also be trying to maintain this web site.
Now I do have to make some exceptions. I feel this is for two reasons.
- I need to pay the bills and this will not work with my current job.
- With any time in my life i have had some sort of very specific need that I always need something else for. But these are edge cases and not normal use. I will still make an attempt to do this with OS 9, but it may not happen. One example I can think of if creating boot floppies for my sampler. I have only ever been able to do this under Windows 98 so I actually keep a machine around that is just for that. But again this is only one specific edge case.
So here are the exceptions.
- I can use what ever is need to do what I need at work as long as it is work related.
- If I am working from home I will need to do it with my Surface. Though if I am looking up some detail on the web, then I will still probably use an OS 9 machine.
Additionally I will only use my cellphone as a phone, for texting and for directions. No more e-mail on my phone or games or anything like that. If I really do end up needing a PDA type device for that kind of stuff, I have an old newton. I don’t do much more than talk, text and navigate with my phone anyway.
I will provide future post to how this is going and when I just can’t do something, but I will make every effort I can to find a way to do it in OS 9.
As I am always using mutiple systems for stuff anyway, there will still be multiple machines involved.
My primary computer will be an Indigo iBook . It used to be one of those cool 366mhz firewire models, but I turned that logic board into a brick so it has a logic board from a 300mhz Tangerine iBook. I had to swap them because I just love the Indigo look. The 800×600 resolution will be fun.
I will use a desktop from time to time and the primary one will be a B&W G3.
For video I use to computers and since they are already run OS 9 they will stay in place. One is a beige G3 desktop for video capture. It has that cool AV personality card in it. And then a Dual 1ghz QS for editing.
In my studio I already use a Dual 1ghz QS (different from the video one).
For both video and audio stuff the iBook will get used when I don’t feel like working in the basement or I am out on the road for some reason.
All my other PPC OS 9 macs will continue to be used as they were before as targets for project testing.
I am giving myself a couple days to transfer data and get all the correct software installed. This is really no different from when you would switch to a new computer anyway.
My target to be completely switch over is March 6th, 2017.
More updates to come on the progress and details of how this works out.