Re: How do I evaluate which UPS for my office?
Would an older APC BackUps Pro 280 be adequate? I lucked into a few of them for almost free, and after a few years I've only had to replace one battery. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to g3-5-list-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: How do I evaluate which UPS for my office?
On Apr 29, 2009, at 9:48 AM, Paul wrote: Would an older APC BackUps Pro 280 be adequate? I lucked into a few of them for almost free, and after a few years I've only had to replace one battery. I meant to write earlier - sorry. Look on APC's site or on the side of the box. Choose your UPS based on the power requirements of your setup. DO NOT plug your printer into the UPS, as its power requirements are way too high for a UPS. Use a surge strip instead. You'll have to look around to see the voltage required for different devices - you have to add CPU+monitor+peripherals, etc. Altho the box will give you a general idea. I always did get a device that provides battery backup constantly so when power dips, the battery kicks in. It's my understanding that little brownouts put stress on the motherboard, so you don't want your computer experiencing them. This is more of a problem than surges in the power. There's a huge debate on lists that has occurred because some users believe the UPS is not necessary, and a waste of money. So it's not necessary to start that up again! I merely put forth my experience that most of my machines have needed very little maintenance until very old age as my reason to keep purchasing UPS's. BTW, for a home office tower or iMac, you don't need to spend more than about $150. For a top of the line graphics system or video setup, most likely more. Hi, Bruce! waving Anne Keller Smith Down to Earth Web Design Beautiful Web Sites that Work http://www.downtoearthweb.com --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to g3-5-list-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: How do I evaluate which UPS for my office?
On Apr 29, 2009, at 6:48 AM, Paul wrote: Would an older APC BackUps Pro 280 be adequate? I lucked into a few of them for almost free, and after a few years I've only had to replace one battery. for a desktop + monitor + a few low powered peripherals, that will work. This is the beige box one right about 4x6x20 ? We've got a bucketload of them in service for desktop systems. As Anne says NEVER plug a printer into one. -- Bruce Johnson University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Information Technology Group Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to g3-5-list-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: How do I evaluate which UPS for my office?
Thanks all for help on this topic--as I scrutinize my needs and budget, I'll let you know if the APC BackUps Pro 280 would work. Again, I so appreciate the collective, cheerful wisdom of this group. cheers, Anne On Apr 29, 2009, at 8:48 AM, Paul wrote: Would an older APC BackUps Pro 280 be adequate? I lucked into a few of them for almost free, and after a few years I've only had to replace one battery. Anne Brataas, M.S., M.En.S. President The Story Laboratory Science Writing Curriculum Development The University Club Building Suite #307 420 Summit Avenue St. Paul, Minnesota 55102 Cell: (651) 270-2706 Office: (651) 493-2454 email: annebrat...@mac.com Web: http://www.thestorylaboratory.com --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to g3-5-list-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: How do I evaluate which UPS for my office?
Thanks for this on the UPS aspect of creating a maximally happy computer. How do I evaluate which UPS is best for my office? I'm in a 100-year old stucco tudor building with irregular everything--never had a disaster, but it's a distinct possibility the way this place is held together with baling twine and beer tabs--and really I think I only truly care about the citizens of this list, the old 1.8 GZ/2GB/80 iMac, and the 1.0 GHZ/1.5 GB Quickbook dual processor, 2002, and the non-citizen of the list, my new 3.06GHZ/4GB/ 500 iMac. The office has two non-Macs we made, and I'm willing to have them fend for themselves. And the PowerBook 1.25/1.5 GB/ I will take care of with proper battery management, once I get its new hard drive in, correct? Thanks! Anne On Apr 27, 2009, at 10:54 AM, Bruce Johnson wrote: On Apr 26, 2009, at 7:09 PM, Anne Keller-Smith wrote: The reason to do this would be that if you back up the System every day, would you not be backing up whatever errors have crept into it, thereby rendering the backup problematic when a problem occurs? This is a separate issue entirely. Errors do not 'creep into a system'. Computers are not organic things; when they fail, they fail in knowable ways due to deliberate activities. They may fail in subtle, difficult to identify ways, but in general when computer systems fail they fail because: Buggy software has been installed. Hardware is failing. With OS X the first is relatively simple to identify. If a problem is not noted by a different user on the system, or cannot be reproduced in Safe mode, then the issue is most likely buggy, third party software or corrupted caches. Caches get corrupted when there's problems writing or reading to/from disk (either from disk hardware problems or abrupt shutdowns). Clearing these (starting in safe mode, dumping browser caches, or running AppleJack to 'deep clean' things) often fixes the problem. This partially solved a nagging slowdown problem I had been having with my laptop, along with getting Flash crap under control in my browser. Hardware problems will increasingly become the issue with computers germane to this list...the very newest of them (the last G5 towers) are now approaching 4 years old, the oldest (the BW G3) are ten years old. I'm tempting the LEM endless idiotic UPS thread curse here, but one of the best investments you can ever make for your computer system is a good, professional-grade uninterruptible power system, one that also conditions the power (you'll spend $120-$400 for one of these) Completely aside from the issue of protecting against power surges, they provide clean, design-spec power to the system. Electricity is the fuel for a computer, clean fuel == fewer problems. I've seen them work over 15 years as an IT professional. All this said, OSX is a remarkably stable and robust OS. I'm convinced that many of the problems people experience with OS X are the result of excessive tinkering, insufficient testing of new software (don't go installing three new pref panes and four new drivers at once.), too many 'switch off the power to shut down instead of shutting down properly' incidents and poor power leading to hardware faults. I know this because my own systems rarely experience the issues we see here, and mine are hardly pristine state of the art systems: an upgraded G4 that lived through a flood (The boot drive has been with me since my computer was a Beige G3 running 10.2), a frankebook, half 867Mhz/half 1Ghz TiBook, with bits of my old Pismo installed, and an old first-gen Intel iMac. The desktops both live off of APC UPS'es, (A laptop's battery and power brick system comprise, in essence, both parts of a power conditioning UPS) I maintain current backups via Time Machine and that's it. I do no other 'system maintenance' whatsoever: I don't run DiskWarrior, Repair Permissions, Onyx, AppleJack, etc etc etc. As I said, OS X is robust. Leave it the heck alone and it usually runs pretty well all by itself. -- Bruce Johnson University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Information Technology Group Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to g3-5-list-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: How do I evaluate which UPS for my office?
On Apr 27, 2009, at 1:40 PM, Bruce Johnson wrote: APC's SmartUPS ones are the most expensive, but give you the best protection. One SmartUPS 1000 or 1200 may run you $400-$500, but it will protect all your computers. These have active voltage regulation. I have a 1200 smartups and a 1100 smatups... I like to use one for my desktop system (MDD 1.25 Samsung lcd 24 monitor) and the other one for macs I'm working on and external stuff. I bought them both brand new in sealed box with full warranty on ebay for around 125-165 each. They are really great units and the batteries are cheap on ebay as well (35 plus shipping). Just my personal experience. What I find most amazing is how folks will spend upwards of 2000 on a new apple desktop but won't even consider UPS protection for a miniscule fraction of that? go figure but to each his own. Jeff --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to g3-5-list-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
