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Proper Care and Feeding (9/2/98)
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There are those among you who couldn't resist the sheer style and power of Apple's new creation. Admit it-- several of you got caught up in the consumer frenzy and bought an iMac even though you didn't really need a new system. That's perfectly okay; everybody could use a little Bondi-blue bundle of joy in their lives these days. (The iMac has brought peace, tranquility, and zest for life back into our home, for instance.) The thing is, though, now that you've made the commitment and bought one, you have to take care of it; no fair throwing it in the back of the closet with your lava lamps and Cabbage Patch Kids once the initial thrill wears off. The iMac deserves better, gosh darn it.
Thankfully, Apple's right on the ball when it comes to helping you with the care and feeding of the new addition to your family. They've just released iMac Update 1.0, which improves the USB software that drives the iMac's new-fangled peripheral expansion bus. Perhaps you've been hearing about some glitches that arise when trying to attach, for example, an Epson USB printer to the iMac? Well, apparently this update fixes several of those types of problems. The fact that Apple is releasing this patch less than three weeks after the first iMacs hit users' homes is an solid indication that Apple's paying attention and support for the iMac is a top priority.
Incidentally, the update itself is a pretty cool thing. It works by replacing the ROM file in the iMac's System Folder. As the first Mac with a minimal physical ROM, the iMac enjoys two benefits over previous Macs. First, it performs some operations faster, since the instructions are loaded from the ROM image on disk and popped into RAM at startup; there's no more bottleneck with the system needing to retrieve all of its instructions from a slow physical ROM. Secondly, since the ROM is just a file on the hard disk, it's upgradeable without requiring a hardware swapout. That's why fixing bugs in the iMac's USB code requires users only to download an updater and double-click it. Very cool.
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SceneLink (986)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 9/2/98 episode: September 2, 1998: The iMac is already making guest appearances on other TV shows. Meanwhile, some PC users are starting to think differently about whether or not using a computer needs to be a humiliating experience, and Apple's mad scientists release the first iMac ROM transplant for mass consumption...
Other scenes from that episode: 984: Spotted in Cleveland (9/2/98) We're basking in the glow that comes from having seen what we believe to be the first iMac to appear on television. And no, we're not talking about Apple's commercials, or news shows where some know-it-all says that it's a great computer but that it's doomed to fail because it doesn't have a floppy drive... 985: From the Dark Side (9/2/98) We're not used to seeing positive press about Apple in Business Week magazine, but hey, as we all know, the iMac can work miracles. For proof, just read this Business Week Online article, which details how a PC-using veteran of over ten years finally turned his back on years of "humiliating abuse" and bought an iMac...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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