[DM-MUG] Introduction

[Ann & Paul Neeley - DSL]

Hello

  My name is Paul Neeley, - I reside in Eagle Grove, Iowa - I feel somewhat 
isolated here as my last residences were Chicago Ill and Rockford, Ill.
In Chicago, I had access to the installation group that established the 
Macintosh at our plant (GTE - Automatic Electric).  By the time that the 
plant operation moved 50 miles to Genoa, Ill., we had given up the Macintosh 
but a few of the die-hards remained and we had Stateline Mac User Group in 
Rockford, Ill.  I never became a mavin with the Mac, - I was an "old school" 
activist, and our use was limited at work because of recent introduction and 
then our change-over to PC.  I have grown comfortable with Mac, and in the 
inevitable comparison with my wife's Hewlett Packard PC, I do not care to 
change my allegiance.
  My difficulty lies in the fact that my current (!!!) Mac is an 8500 that I 
acquired from the plant when the changeover to PC took place.  I have 
installed an 350 mhz processor from XLR8, - I am running OS 8.6  I feel that 
I am beginning to outgrow my unit.  I have wishes and desires that are not 
in keeping with the 8500 capabilities.
  My wishes are to take some of the possible 1500 78 rpm records that I have 
(both 10 and 12 inch) as well as early monophonic LP's and put them onto 
CD's.  I have all of the electronic gear as I started collecting it back 
when 'high fidelity' was still spelled out.  In anticipation of upgrading, I 
rushed out and bought "soundsoap" to help remove noises.  I am looking for a 
unit that will take advantage of this program (It indicates it needs OS X)
 - However, I currently have Office 98 on my 8500 with several files in 
Excel, one of which is 3500+ lines that is my inventory of music on my 
records and their boxes/locations.  Furthermore, over the years, I have 
utilized MacDraw Pro to generate many drawings of various cases, house 
modifications, and projects I would not like to readily lose.
  I therefore wonder what form of magical Mac I should be in search of  -   
should it be one that will operate in both OS X and OS 9 {I've heard that 
this is bad (?)}.  Does anyone know if 9 is compatible with the old 
MacDraw, - Is there more sanity in just keeping the old 8500 for the 
cuniform history and go with OS X?  -  And in connection with this, what is 
the general feel of the pentium-powered Mac?
  I wish to someday get down to Des Moines for one of your meetings, things 
have not been working in that direction for me.
  Thanks for anyone wading through all this. - Have a great day.

  Paul Neeley

--
Sent using goldfieldaccess.net Webmail