16 Sep
2009
16 Sep
'09
11:28 a.m.
On Wed, 16 Sep 2009, Cameron Kaiser wrote:
So do I. I've started hoarding AT and PS/2
keyboards also -- in fact, my
old Cyrix DOS games PC and my BeBox/133 demand AT connectors. I doubt the
PS/2 keyboard supply will ever dry up, but none of them were built to last
except maybe the high-end offerings.
I still use a AT 101 keyboard via a PS/2 converter on my PC at home. :-)
I've used that keyboard since '91 when I got my 486. I've lost track of how
many different computers it's been connected to. I've even had it talking
to Sun workstations via a PS/2-to-Sun converter. My favorite PS/2 keyboard
is the one that came with my first SGI O2. It is solid.
I was hoping that SheepShaver got picked up by someone
knowledgeable but so
far no one has, and it's not evolving. It still has a lot of stability issues
and the emulation core is underwhelming (no MMU is not a big deal, but it
just won't run a lot of things). I'm toying with working on it myself, but I
don't really need it badly enough because I'm Tiger Forever, and I have
plenty of classic systems that I use regularly (I'm priming my 9.2.2
TiBook G4 into becoming my alternative laptop, although I'll probably give in
and get a MacBook for current software as my one nod to the Intel world).
The worst part is, SheepShaver was a commercial product. I've been really
tempted to look into an old enough PowerBook that it will run something in
the System 8.0 to 8.6 range. That would run all the Classic software I want
just fine. It wouldn't even need much RAM. Basically my needs are
ClarisDraw, the original Master of Orion and Warlords 2. For those games
the Mac versions are vastly superior to the PC versions since they allow for
larger video resolutions. Warlords 2 is the tricky one, it stopped working
right sometime during 8.x or 9. My only Mac laptop is a PowerBook 540c
which is 640x480, and I'd like something with higher resolution. I bought
it used as it was cheaper than getting the screen on my 520c fixed.
If there were an Amiga PPC laptop, I'd buy it
today. I was really impressed
with the ports to OS 4.1, and Origyn covers the Internet aspects.
For me the software isn't there. Anymore I have two options, Windows or Mac
OS X since my main apps are Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Besides the
price to performance ratio on the Amiga's is whacked. I didn't realize 4.1
was out. Any new hardware?
Zane