Retro Skills: Clean Out Your Mouse

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Ammon

Image via Wikipedia

Over the years I’ve acquired quite a few valuable technical skills. Many of them are as useful today as they were back when i learned them.

The art of de-gunking a computer mouse is not one of those skills, sadly, and has not held its value.

For my kids’ sake (in the event that they should ever find themselves trapped in the past and the only way to get back to the future is to perform an intricate series of mouse clicks and the darn thing just isn’t responding), below are detailed instructions courtesy of an old 1990s Macintosh Classic factory manual I found several months back.

It’s amazing that so much care went into describing such a mundane and now obsolete process. That’s part of what made Apple’s culture the way it is today.

What’s the most irrelevant technical skill you mastered? Sound off in the comments below.

All images are from my flickr, unless otherwise noted.

10 Awesome Accessories Featuring the Vintage Apple Logo [RAINBOWS] (mashable.com)
Weekly Photo Challenge: Wonder (slightlyinsightful.com)
Retro Mouse Merges New Technology with Old-Timey Wrist Pain (techland.time.com)

Weekly Photo Challenge: Wonder

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Ammon

This weekend we helped my wife’s sister move into her new home. Instead of unloading boxes and furniture, however, we were brought in to clean the place up.

The previous occupants left a hideous mess which needed to be removed. Yet, within the debris something special caught my eye!

I couldn’t believe it—a real honest to goodness, old school Macintosh Classic! Were my eyes deceived? Had the former tenants left in such a hurry that they’d neglected to retrieve their priceless treasure?

And then, I thought to myself…

“I wonder if this thing works!?!?”

At that moment, I knew I had an entry for this week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge.

So, I grabbed the Mac, it’s keyboard, mouse, and cables, hooked them up and plugged it in.

As I waited with gleeful anticipation for the familiar Macintosh startup chime I was greeted instead with what sounded like a dying dial–modem and the smell of burning plastic.

Unfortunately, there was a reason that this particular Macintosh had not been brought with its owners.

This Macintosh Classic has passed on. It is no more. It has ceased to be. It’s expired and gone to meet its maker. In short, it’s run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible.

No longer did I wonder whether or not this Mac would run. For I knew that this was an ex-Mac.

Want to participate in the challenge? Head on over to The Daily Post and follow the instructions below.

1. Each week, [they] provide a theme for creative inspiration. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog anytime before the following Friday when the next photo theme will be announced.

2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “Weekly Photo Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use a “postaday2011″ or “postaweek2011″ tag.

3. Subscribe to The Daily Post so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements. Sign up via the email subscription link in the sidebar or RSS.

Now, take a picture that captures this week’s theme and post a link to it in the comments below.

All images are from my flickr, unless otherwise noted.