Mac upgrades the right way.

Last Updated on September 30, 2010 by Dave Farquhar

On Tuesday, 768 MB of Crucial DIMMs arrived, earmarked for an old Mac G3. I know, Mac OS can’t make intelligent use of 64 megs, let alone 768 megs, but Photoshop and Illustrator can–especially when used together. Just allocate 256 MB to each of them and get it over with.
Nice thought, except the DIMMs were too tall. When I put them in, the case wouldn’t close.

I tracked down the problem. Older Mac desktops have a grill over the fan that protrudes out about 1/8 inch, and that, combined with the layout of the G3 motherboard, prevents what’s now a standard-sized DIMM from clearing. I figured the grill was aluminum, so I went and got some wire snips and figured I’d just go snip snip, remove the grill and leave the fan unprotected, and let the Mac have its full 768 megs of allowable memory. Well, it turned out to be steel, so my little wire snips barely even scratched the grill. Just then one of the building maintenance guys walked by. I told him what I needed to do, so he went and got a humongous pair of tin snips. What he did next was more of a snap snap than a snip snip, but it got the grill gone, regardless. After that, the case closed properly, and the Mac booted up and recognized its full 768 megs without any sparks flying.

You have computers… You have really big manly tools. Why not put them together?

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7 thoughts on “Mac upgrades the right way.

  • September 6, 2001 at 2:32 am
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    One word Dave, Mir.

  • September 6, 2001 at 9:37 am
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    Err… which Mir? Are you talking about the Mir that Dave and Tom put together from spare parts, or are you talking about the actual space station? 😉

  • September 6, 2001 at 12:07 pm
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    The one Dave and I put together. We had to use some tin snips on part of it in order to get the keyboard socket to be accessible. It looks like we shot a bullet through the back of it.

  • September 6, 2001 at 4:57 pm
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    Hey Dave, I know where we can get a rail car mover. It’s a piece that alows one person to move up to a 40 to 50 ton rail car. Got to be a way we can merge it with a computer.

  • September 6, 2001 at 7:02 pm
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    Hey, even if we can’t merge it with a compuer, that thing would be SO useful! Hmm. I want that guy’s parking spot. The only one open is way down there. Hmm. Hey, wait. If I can move a 50-ton rail car, I can move a Honda!

  • September 6, 2001 at 8:03 pm
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    Only problem would be transporting it. It’s as tall as I am, so I don’t know if it would be too easy for ya to carry along in your car. But if ya want one, we could probably mount it to the top of your car. It’s not wide, just tall.

  • September 11, 2001 at 9:38 pm
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    THAT’s one I would love to see on America’s Funniest Home Videos.

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