Tuesday, July 10, 2007

More obsolete Mac stuff, with even more yet to follow...

So, finally having the free time to do some serious archeology in my apartment, I excavated the table next to VFTP Command Central. It was originally intended to hold my three old Mac laptops, but some rearranging of the freshly cleared surface allowed me to lug an object that had been collecting dustbunnies in the corner for years over and plop it down on the table. I dug through a box full of old cables, found what I was looking for, and plugged it in to put my plan into action.

Flashback to a conversation earlier that day:

Me: "So do you remember if that Performa 636CD had any problems? I don't think I ever booted it up."

Marko: "No, it was working when I tried it out back then. I think the battery on the motherboard is dead, though."

Me: "Cool. I'm going to hook it up tonight."

So...

Lug. Sweat. Grunt. Heave. Whine. Poke. Bonggggg! Chime. Happy Mac. Cool!

The computer that had sat untouched in a corner for over five years ground to life. I poked around on the hard drive and, Hey! Presto! It has Civilization II loaded! I sat up 'til the wee hours last night playing one of the best computer games ever on a computer that required no shortcuts, workarounds, or kludges to run it. I think I'll leave the machine set up on the desk for that reason alone. Is any other reason really needed?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can play Civ II on Windows XP without any kludges or workarounds...

Anonymous said...

Civ rules!

I just got a copy of Civ III and have been playing the heck out of it. Last week, perhaps for the first time ever, I won a DIPLOMATIC victory. Huh? Don't these people know my essential Hun-ness? Strangely, my saved games from that one have disappeared, or I'd go back to a save just before the end and nuke the snot out of the Germans, just on general principles.

Anonymous said...

Argh, I *really, really* wanted that machine when I was 13. I had to settle for the lowly Performa 476 with no CD-ROM.

Life was tough back then, lemme tell ya...

Anonymous said...

All of the Civ games are crack on a disc. I can generally expect about a week of my life to simply vanish into a black hole every time a new one comes out.

Don said...

It is by definition impossible to run Windows without kludges; they're written right in for you.

Thank God I don't play videogames or I'd be an integral part of this chair by now.

Anonymous said...

Civ4 is super crack. I still have civ2 and 3 but they are nothing like the addictvie gameing crack that is civ4.

You shoulld try it...

Anonymous said...

I've got a Bondi-Blue G3 gathering dust under my kitchen table ...

Mulliga said...

I like Civ 4, but the huge defense bonuses to cities make turtling way too easy IMO (I held off a half-dozen tanks with some 19th century riflemen - 80% defense bonus FTW). The culture and religion systems are pretty cool additions, though.

Chas S. Clifton said...

Civ II -- one of the best games ever. I liked it better than v. III, I think. But I just wanted to stay in the Bronze Age sending out caravans rather than rushing ahead to building spacecraft.

Or, for Tam, the Age of Riflemen.3SooSan

Tam said...

I like it when I have riflemen and my opponents still have legions.

"Whatever happens
We have got
The Maxim gun
And they have not.
"

:D

Anonymous said...

Mulliga:

Try playing against human players.

Tell us about how that 80% ftw after a human created Stack o' Doom levels it.

A half dozen cannons bring it down to 0% in a few turns ... one cannon sacrifices itself to collateral damage every unit in town, and then the rest of the SoD just thrashes everything.

AIs are far less dangerous than competent human players.

RM1(SS) (ret) said...

Eric said...
Civ4 is super crack. I still have civ2 and 3 but they are nothing like the addictvie gameing crack that is civ4.


Concur. I loaded Civ 4 back onto my computer last week. Haven't done much in the way of constructive things since....

[Hey - a pronounceable word-verification! Pulanox - sounds like soume kind of horrible disease.]