Another Streak Ends thanks to Software Update


Panther (Mac OS X) got a new update monday night. We've moved from 10.3.2 to 10.3.3 and my uptime sadly had to be reset.

It had to happen sooner or later. I knew an update to the Mac OS X operating system was coming down the pipe eventually. In the mean time my iMac (17" Flat Panel, 1 GHz, 1 GB Ram, Superdrive) had been plugging along quite nicely. Now there's no need to worry. Nothing bad happened from this update. It installed and everything is running hunky dory as usual. But it did call for the computer to be restarted and put an end to the current streak of uninterrupted uptime. The last time the imac had to be restarted was after a power failure.


This was the longest documented run the iMac has had. just over 39 days without a restart. I know it's gone longer than that on one other occasion but I failed to capture proof of it, so the exact time remains a mystery to me. It's okay if I don't know exactly how long she's up and running each time though, because I know, when January 2005 rolls around, I'll only have had to restart my computer 7 or 8 more times. That's a lot of productivity I'm not going to be losing just because Apple cares enough to make a hardware and software solution that just works. If you want to get in on the uptime fun too, there's a website that tracks the uptimes for Macs. They have a small application that you can download that you launch from time to time and it sends in your uptime and logs it and ranks you. It's called Hit UP . If you go there I'm sure you'll see me slowly climbing the ranks again as my computers keep working for me day after day.




I first started using OS X in February of 2003. I started with version Jaguar (10.2.3). It came installed on the 17" iMac. Before that I had been using one of the original iMac Bondi Blue Rev. A 233 MHz computers I had purchased in January of 1999. I was running OS 8.6 on that machine. It served me well and still sits out ready for use, although it rarely hears it's numbered called anymore to come to bat for me. I've thought about putting in a new hard drive and some more ram in it so I can install Panther on it as well but I still wouldn't use it all that often so it seems like it would be wasted money, especially when I could really use a second external firewire hard drive instead.


Before the original iMac I was using a Powerbook 520 system 7.1 running. I purchased that in college over the summer of 1994. I used it until the screen literally fell of the laptop which necessitated the purchase of the iMac in 1999. Even then, I connected the base to an external monitor and used it for a while, but it soon became apparent to me that it had served it's usefulness to me and should be retired.

Going back before that I used a Mac SE. It was purchased in the summer of 1987. It's the grandaddy of my Mac collection and still saw frequent use until the iMac was bought in 1999. I pulled it out of storage around 2002 and used it for a couple of months as a glorified typewriter until the monitor went out. I had it worked on and had some connections redone that brought the monitor back to life but it had a very slight yet persistent wave flow in the screen that made me realize it was time for this one to retire as well. It ran system 6 on it and other than OS X, I would say it was the most stable operating system i've seen on the Mac. I don't recall it ever crashing at any time.

Before I entered the world of the Mac, I used an Apple II GS (it was the Woz Special Edition Model...what that means...I have no idea... obviously I know who Woz was but I don't know what made this model a special edition) for a couple years along with an Apple IIC . Before that, my very first computer was an Apple II + that I remember coming in the mail and sitting down with my father to assemble when I was very young.


But now...I'm using this 17" iMac and my 12" Powerbook I got in July of 2003 and I feel pretty comfortable that they will be with me for just as long as those others. While I'm jealous of all those people sporting those fancy G5 Power Macs , right now, I can't help but wonder what's going to be out there in 4 or 5 years from Apple when I'm ready to upgrade again so that I'm back on the forefront of what Apple is delivering to its faithful on that fine day.

Posted: Tue - March 16, 2004 at 01:26 AM   | | Email Me | |

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