Introducing the Racer Cinema Productions Intel Swamp Years Challenge! (A yearly challenge to use early Intel Macs for most everyday modern tasks)

PowerRCP-G3

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Racer Cinema Productions Intel Swamp Years Challenge




Hello there and welcome back.

The MacYak PowerPC challenge was proven to be a success and, I decided to come up with my own challenge involving Macs that are also nearing obsolescence. For those of you who don’t know, The Swamp Years of Intel Macs is a term coined by me that refers to any Pre-Penryn Mac that was made until Early 2008 with the exception of the Mac Mini which was produced until 2009 and the 1st-gen Apple TV which was produced all the way up to 2010. The name itself is taken from the 2002 Muppets movie called Kermit’s Swamp Years which is about Kermit the Frog’s early life in the swamp before he became famous according to Muppet lore. This challenge is also for the budget-conscious users that can’t afford to do the PowerPC challenge cuz of most are PowerPC Macs hiking up in price and/or they want to use a powerful gaming computer, but can’t really afford to spend two or three grand on one of the latest gaming PCs. It can also be for people that just want to relive some memories made using their Intel Macs. I understand that not everyone can afford to buy a Quad-Core Power Mac G5 and that makes sense considering their demand and rarity. However, a Woodcrest Mac Pro can still be pretty expensive depending on where you look. My goal for tis challenge is to bring awareness to the early Intel Macs the same way as PowerPC Macs and to have them do most of the tasks that the latest Intel Macs or M1 Macs can do. Although, if you use discord often, it’s best to use use your phone if you want to. These early Intel Macs are also nearing obsolescence the same way the PowerPC Macs are. In my opinion, the idea for the PowerPC Challenge was great and proved that even a 17 year old PowerBook G4 can still do most modern every day tasks. And yes, the 1st generation Apple TV is also eligible to compete in this challenge due to it having an Intel processor and some people modifying them to run Mac OS X. Like the PowerPC challenge, you should keep a daily log of what you have done on these machines. If you are interested in taking part of this challenge, please feel free to comment. Let’s all band together and show people that these old Intel Macs still have some life left in them!





The rules of this challenge are as follows.

1. No PCs allowed, only Macs. That also means no Hackintoshes. If you have a PC that runs Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger for example, it’s not gonna work. It’s still gonna be illegible. It has to be a Mac.

2. Only 32-Bit Macs and Pre-2008 64-Bit Macs are allowed. If you wanna use a Pre-2008 Mac Pro as your budget gaming PC, go ahead, go crazy with it! And yes, the 1st generation Apple TV is eligible to compete as mentioned previously. As mentioned before, the 1st generation Apple TV has an Intel processor and some people have modified it to run Mac OS X. Well, that is if you are a glutton for punishment and brave enough to use a 1st-gen Apple TV as your main computer. The Mid-2007 Mac Mini produced until early 2009 is also eligible to compete since it was introduced in 2007 and still counts as a Pre-Penryn 64-Bit Mac. Also, no processor upgrades are allowed. The computer must have the original processor that it shipped with. But, RAM upgrades, hard drive upgrades and, optical disc drive upgrades are still allowed.

3. Any OS is allowed. You can the maximum supported version of Mac OS X that the iMac 2006 for example runs or you can run Linux on it or you can even run Windows 10 on it. And, you can do some crazy stuff with it. Just be sure to find a Linux distro that is compatible with these early Intel Macs.

4. You must be able to use the Mac every day up until Sunday. That is the whole point of the challenge after all. You must be able to use it for one week.





This challenge will start on April 18, 2022 and will end on April 24, 2022. Meaning, that you almost have a whole week to prepare and get ready for the challenge. And yes, it’s recommend you submit these entries during that week. But, I’m sure entries will get submitted late depending on how much time you have in real life which is understandable. Get ready to use those old Intel Macs and prove that they are still worth using, naysayers!





If you have any questions about this challenge, please let me know. Just be sure to use the hashtag: #intelswampyearschallenge if you plan on uploading a video for this challenge.


Also, here is the Intel Swamp Years Challenge logo if you want to use it in one of your videos. A secondary link is also here just in case if you prefer to click the download button as opposed to right-clicking or pressing control and then clicking to save it.


Racer-Cinema-Productions-Intel-Swamp-Years-Challenge-logo — ImgBB (ibb.co)

And, here is the introductory video to the challenge itself.

Introducing the 2022 Racer Cinema Productions Intel Swamp Years Challenge! - YouTube
 
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PowerRCP-G3

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Jan 31, 2022
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This is the 1st entry into this challenge that I made up. Although, it was submitted two days later because it took awhile to render on my Intel iMac. Not nearly as long as the PowerPC Macs. But, still longer than my M1 MacBook Pro. Also, this is proof that you can’t use discord on any vintage Mac. Feel free to submit your entries if you want.

 

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Also, this is proof that you can’t use discord on any vintage Mac.
Dos Dude's discord lite works well on vintage macintosh. I run it on my Leopard PowerPC macs daily. Per his github, it works on old and modern macs alike, although admitingly I have utilized his app to bring discord to my PPC macs only, so nothing Intel at this point as my earliest late 2008 Intel macs currently in service all run El Cap and with that have current supported discord. His DL is below, so maybe you can give his client a whirl on your 06 education imac. Best of luck to you.

 
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PowerRCP-G3

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Jan 31, 2022
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Alright, I made a fully daily blog of what happened while I used my 2006 iMac last week. I also managed to upload videos like I did on my iMac G5. It was pretty cool you were able to do this on q computer from 2006. If you have had any experiences on one of these early Intel Macs, please feel free to share me your daily log.

My Racer Cinema Productions Intel Swamp Years Challenge Daily Log

Day 1

I installed the Intel version of InterWeb for the first time and got around to surfing the web on a computer from 2006. I also started filming my video on the 1st day of using this computer for the whole week. I tried using discord on it and it crashed. It just goes to show you can't use discord on any Vintage Mac. I then did some stuff on Facebook and Instagram.

Day 2

This is the day I started editing my video on my iMac using another old version of iMovie. It can render 1080p videos. But, it still took 3 to 5l4 hours to render. Not as long as my iMac G5. But, still pretty long. Not much as happened on this day. I also watched YouTube on it and, it was still slow. But, it was watchable this time. It's amazing what you can do on these old computers. I also started writing a comic script using an old version of Microsoft Word on that day.

Day 3

The 1st day of my entry into this challenge was finally uploaded. I planned on uploading more videos on this computer. Not much else has happened on this day except for me continuing to write my comic script.

Day 4

I finished part of my comic script. There wasn't much I did with this computer on that day other than browse the web and finish up a comic script.

Day 5

Not much has happened on this day either. Although, I started filming one of my videos that I intended on editing today, but got caught up with other stuff.

Day 6

I finally got my video fully edited and finished. I also installed Paintbrush on this computer. After days of dealing with real-life problems, I got the video loaded onto my computer. It had to upload it tomorrow night cuz not only was it movie night. But, it took a long time to render as well. My goal was to get the video finished and uploaded on the computer and I succeeded in the first goal. I'm very proud of my what I did on iMovie.

Day 7

The video started uploading on YouTube. I succeeded in my goal of finishing the video and then getting it uploaded. And, I also made a thumbnail via an old version of Paintbrush. I succeeded in my goals and this proved that an old computer from 2006 can still do the job. I loved using my low-end iMac that was originally meant for classrooms for the whole week. Now, it's time to say goodbye. It's time to say goodbye to the old streaming and video making machine. It was a fun experience while it lasted and I learned to tinker around more. The Intel iMac week had come to an end.