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Step Into 1994 For Free (2/3/99)
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Hey, while the rest of the "cool" people are swapping Sherlock plugins and 32-bit icons for their G3 Power Macs running Mac OS 8.5.1, are you still puttering along on an LC III with System 7.1? We feel your pain, really we do. The simple fact of the matter is, older Macs just can't run the latest system software; indeed, even Mac OS 8.0 required a 68040 or higher. Anyway, for Mac users still in the '030 club, the only real upgrade path was to purchase System 7.5, and good luck buying that anywhere these days, right? But now you don't have to! Apple has just recently posted System 7.5 on its servers as a free download.

So grab it now! Think of all the benefits you'll enjoy: Stickies! Open Transport! Drag and drop, with clippings! A hierarchical Apple Menu! QuickDraw GX and PowerTalk! (Er, on second thought, scratch those last two...) Seriously, though, if you've got the RAM to support it, System 7.5 could let you squeeze a little extra life out of an older Mac... plenty of software still comes out for 68K machines, but we notice more and more that requires some variant of System 7.5 or greater. And lest you run screaming because of System 7.5's infamous instability, fear not-- the download from Apple's server actually gives you version 7.5.3-- and a free update to the much stabler 7.5.5 is but a click or two away.

Now, in our experience, even System 7.5.5 wasn't quite as stable as we remember System 7.1 to be, but it wasn't much worse, and the extra features made it all worth it. Unfortunately, even though the software is now free, the download is something like 22 MB-- broken into nineteen chunks. Still, plenty of users of older Macs will find the download very worthwhile. We think we'll stick with 7.1 on our 4 MB Mac SE, however-- it's kind of nice to have a little RAM left over to run an actual application, after all.

 
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors
 

From the writer/creator of AtAT, a Pandemic Dad Joke taken WAYYYYYY too far

 

The above scene was taken from the 2/3/99 episode:

February 3, 1999: Has the iMac's reign at the top of the sales charts ended for good, or will new colors and lower prices help it regain its throne? Meanwhile, Apple lends a helping hand to users of older Macs by releasing System 7.5 for free, and we're not quite sure what to make of the mystery of mammals.org...

Other scenes from that episode:

  • 1315: Back on the Upswing (2/3/99)   The naysayers had a jolly time last month when the iMac sales figures for December were announced. If you recall, everyone's favorite Bondi blue buddy had slipped from its number one November spot, to rest at number three during the holiday month-- and plenty of people announced that the iMac fad was on its way out...

  • 1317: iFurby? Or What? (2/3/99)   Goodness knows, we at AtAT aren't typically hurting for, shall we say, "imaginative" explanations for strangeness in the world of Apple. Heck, when Apple reversed its Super Bowl commercial plans, we were the first to blame aliens...

Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast...
Vote Early, Vote Often!
Why did you tune in to this '90s relic of a soap opera?
Nostalgia is the next best thing to feeling alive
My name is Rip Van Winkle and I just woke up; what did I miss?
I'm trying to pretend the last 20 years never happened
I mean, if it worked for Friends, why not?
I came here looking for a receptacle in which to place the cremated remains of my deceased Java applets (think about it)

(1312 votes)
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