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Location: Orkney Islands, Scotland
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 4,963
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Hmmmmm, tried to tick both, but it wouldn't let me! In Snorri Mansions, the old machine (The Big Mac) has a CRT monitor - it's actually a PC monitor, but it has a Mac connection adapter. The "Happy Meal" (Mac laptop) has what I think is TFT (unless someone knows different!). It's the Happy Meal that gets most use, because it will go anywhere.
I think pics look better on-screen with the laptop (and I have to use it a lot for pics), but as I've never installed the Epson printer driver, I don't know how well it prints. (The printer is somewhat temperamental at best: it works when it feels like it ajnd needs its guide rail cleaned and vaselined before any session!).
The annoying bit is that if I want to print pics, I have to email them to myself on the Big Mac - the Happy Meal has the Apple iPhoto application which imports from my digicam, but iPhoto won't work on the Big Mac's old operating system (OS 9.1).
I do have an Apple Airport (WiFi base station), and while the laptop should work with it, the Big Mac doesn't have an Airport card - so the Happy Meal talks, but the Big Mac doesn't listen. If it did, I wouldn't have to do the email thing and printing pics wouldn't be such a pain in the butt!
The other reason for using the Happy Meal most is that its software is far more up-to-date: the Big Mac has an ancient version of Internet Explorer and half the Dogweb features are not visible, but the Happy Meal has a newer version, plus the marvellous Firefox, which sees everything!
I think I can hear some folks saying "Get a PC, then!" - but a) I can't afford one (both Macs were a second-hand gift, or I'd have nothing) and b) although I did do an NVQ course on a PC, in 1998, I've forgotten half the PC stuff I learned. Everything I've learned since was learned on a Mac - I have learned to love Macs, because they are simple, stable, and easy to fix when they b*gg*r up.
I had to open up the Big Mac a few months back (the clock battery expired) and the innards are stamped with the building date. The Big Mac was constructed on 1 July 1998, making it about 9 years old, which is pretty good - it still does what it's meant to do, which is more than can be said for some PCs! I have no idea how old the Happy Meal is - probably about 5?
The CRT gives lovely colours, but I don't think they are very realistic (red is too red, yellow too yellow - just like Kodak film. The TFT looks more natural to my aging eyes!).
Sorry to have rabbited on for so long!
Snorri