The Apple Hardware Test: A Blast from the Past

As I boot up my Mac and enter the Apple Hardware Test, I'm transported back to a time when computers were still relatively new and exciting. The classic Mac OS platinum interface on a modern Intel flat screen Macintosh is a far cry from the sleek and minimalist design of today's operating systems. But as I navigate through the test, I'm reminded of the nostalgic value of this old technology.

One of the first things I notice is the old-school iconography. The barber pole and tabs are a relic of a bygone era, but they still evoke a sense of nostalgia and familiarity. And then there's the platinum loading bar - a classic Macintosh design element that seems almost otherworldly in its simplicity. It's amazing how much character these little details can add to an otherwise modern machine.

As I proceed through the test, I'm struck by the sheer breadth of specifications that are still supported on this old machine. The number of cores, the type of processor, and even the amount of RAM - it's all still here, waiting to be explored. And for a moment, I forget that this is actually a modern Intel Core 2 Duo machine, rather than the original Pentium-based model that I remember from years ago. It's almost as if the hardware has been frozen in time, preserving the essence of the Macintosh experience.

Of course, it wouldn't be an Apple Hardware Test without the obligatory mention of Windows. And indeed, there's a partition for the Windows XP operating system - a testament to the fact that computers have come a long way since the days when compatibility was a major concern. But even with all this nostalgia on display, I'm still surprised by just how much has changed in the world of personal computing.

As I continue through the test, I find myself reminiscing about my own computer history. This machine was my first real computer - the one that sparked my passion for technology and inspired me to create a life's work around it. And now, as I look at this old Macintosh sitting in front of me, I'm filled with a sense of pride and accomplishment.

I remember using iMovie for the first time back in 2007. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before - a simple, intuitive interface that allowed me to create beautiful videos with ease. And then there were the games - Pong, Xeyes, Xclock - all tucked away in the depths of the Mac OS, waiting to be discovered. It's amazing how much fun can be had on a machine that's so... straightforward.

But even as I'm having fun exploring this old machine, I know that it's not without its flaws. The Apple Hardware Test is still running an old version of X11 - and let me tell you, it's a bit of a trip down memory lane. And then there's the infamous 50-minute render time for my iMovie tutorial - a testament to just how far technology has come.

As I wrap up this journey through the Apple Hardware Test, I'm left with a sense of wonder and awe. This old machine may not be the most powerful or sophisticated computer on the market today, but it's still capable of bringing a smile to my face. And as I reboot and shut down the test, I know that I'll always treasure this moment - a reminder of where it all started, and just how much has changed in the world of personal computing over the years.

And for those of you out there who may have your own computer nostalgia stories to share, I'd love to hear them! What's your favorite memory from your time with a particular machine? Was it a first computer that sparked your passion for technology? Or maybe a special moment in history that stands out in your mind?

Whatever your story may be, I invite you to share it with the world. Leave your comments below, and let's get this conversation started!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Well you can'tspell Setup Assistant withoutass now can you?Safari can't verify the identityof the website Apple.com.Well that's a bit of an issue.The old Front Row carouselinterface with sound effects.Let's have a look.(carousel gong)Oh my gosh, that is amazing.I'm getting so much nostalgia.Enjoy that old icon.Look at the platinum loading bar.(sonar pings)(upbeat techno music)Hey guys, how you all doing?Really, that's just great.You know, I'm doingpretty great today, too,because we're goin' on abig nostalgia trip today.Yeah, it's really just nostalgia for me,but I want you to come along with me.This is not just your everyday Intel iMac.And not only was this one ofthe earliest Intel Mac computers,this was my first Intel Mac computer.In fact, it was my firstMac after I switched backfrom Windows as my daily driver for years.This was my gateway backinto the Apple world.This was the first computerI ever cut video on.This was the first computerI ever used iMovie on.I explored a lot aboutmy creative intereston this exact computer.And I've cleaned it a few times,but there's still a lot ofbarnacles and crust on thereand some old user accountstuff and all that.So what I'm gonna dois I'm gonna restore it withthe original software disks.And a lot of the stuffthat came on these disks,which I don't even remember allof what came on these disks,is not even on here anymore.So it'd be cool to get all that stuff backand go back to Mac OS 10.4 Tiger.It's currently running Lion,but it'd be cool to flash back to Tiger.The first first to MacOS X I've ever used.So this is gonna be a nicelittle time travel trip.Time to boot this baby up.Now one thing I reallyliked about this computerwas the sound it madewhen you turned it on.Just the quick rush of the fan spinningand then the hard drive kicking in.I just liked it.(fan whirring)(startup chime)And the super drive,hearing the super drive kicking in.Oh yeah, that was a thing.And then of course, the startup chime.You gotta love that.Yes there is a WindowsXP partition on here,but I'm not going to touch that.That is running some legacyWindows software and gamesthat I don't wanna get rid of,but I do want to refresh all ofthe Mac parts of this computer.So we have two disks here.For Mac computers, MacOS X install disc one.In you go.Hang on, hang on a second.The super drive issoundin' a little cranky.Let's eject for a sec.All right, so that's kind of okay.I'm gonna reinsert the disk.Just listen to this.Tell me if this is normal.(buzzing and whirring)Okay, admittingly thatwasn't as bad soundingas it was a little while ago.Maybe it just needed to warm up.Okay, let's hold down command vand go into the install disk.So we get verbose modewhich is way more fun,'cause it takes a whileto load off the CD.So you might as well entertain yourselflooking at the kext, the Mach kernel,and the unique device identifier,I forgot what UUID stands for.And we're at the blue screen.That was actually quickerthan I thought it would be.Ah, the old beach ball,and the old aqua interface, yes.Oh that's another thing that'sgonna be a huge throwback here.Look at the chrome and the aqua,the barber pole, beautiful.Ah yeah, Spotlight and Dashboard.Those were big new featuresfor Tiger, the old OS X logo.Oh man, I'm having so much fun already.Oh this is great.About Installer 215, cool.All right, let's go to Utilities,Disk Utility, that's what I want.Oh we got pinstripesgoin' on in that menu.Oh yeah.Mac OS X, there we are.Again, we're not touchingWindows XP or the MATSHITADVD.I didn't need to know that.I'm gonna go to Erase.Yep, we'll keep OS Extended Journaled,Mac OS X, the old pill buttons.The pill shaped buttons with the aqua.Oh, so beautiful.Erasing a volume willdestroy, very deadly.Destroy all information on the volume.Yes, time to erase, time to start fresh.And go back in time from Lion to Tiger.Back at the installer.Continue, Continue,Agree, I read every word.Obviously we can'tinstall it on this volume.Oh it actually says it'sWindows NT, it knows that.Very smart.Options.I guess we could have done anErase and Install from here.But I like Disk Utility.Disk Utility is my bitch.Click Install to performbasic installation.Okay, the software you'reinstalling requiresMac OS X Install Disk 2.Yes, before the days ofthe app store and the cloudwe had DVDs.What am I talkin' about.It's not a very old technology.Anywhozal, I do have disk two ready to go.Again, I don't reallyremember what came bundledwith this system and it's been a long timesince I've really used Tiger at all.So this will be fun.Let's see Printer Drivers.I think we can skip that.I'm not gonna be printing anything.Fonts, yes that'd be great.Language Translations, noI'm just speaking English.Essential System Software is good.X11, we definitelyshould have X11 on here.It's fun to mess with the X Window system.Bundled Applications.Okay, this is what I'm interested in.CPU Help Files.I have no idea what that is.OmniOutliner, oh man I haven'ttouched that in forever.Comic Life, oh I remember experimentingwith this on this computerlike way long ago.I didn't use it too much.Big Bang Board Games, yes.I, yes, playing chess and checkerswith the sun and moongoddess, god and goddess.It's been a long time.I'd like to have that on here.Front Row, something that doesn't evenexist on Mac OS anymore.And since this is Tiger this isthe old turntable style Front Row.Not the newer one like whatthe Apple TV had when it first came out.This was the old turn style interfacewith the cool, or the carousel interfacewith the cool sound effects, (bleep) yeah.Oh man Photo Booth, so many fun memoriesmessing around with that.Oh yeah, Trial software.This did come with a trialsoftware, that's right.iWork 06 Trial, why not.iWeb, all the old iMovie app,or the iLife applications.iMovie, the first software I cut video in.This looks great.So far so good.GarageBand demo songsfor GarageBand, why not.Sounds and jingles, probablyfor GarageBand I would imagine,and iMovie.And then the Office 2004 test drive.Yeah, this was back when Apple includedmore third party stuff.They don't really do that anymore,which I appreciate.It's a little less bloaty that way.But yeah, you got anOffice 2004 Test Drive.Dude, let's freakin' do it.Install this shit.Yes, I have disk two ready.Continue.Checking your installation DVD.I don't know why it did that.What did that actually do?Zero percent complete.Well, I'm gonna press thespace bar and skip that.And commence the next part,Preparing for installation.And what I'd like to do, asI usually like to bring upthe installer log justto see what's happenin'.And we're gonna go from showerrors only to show everythingas it's running the BSDsubsystem thinga majig right now.And here you go.Now you can see all theshit it's installing.And if you want you can scrolland see these very longlines if you'd like.A system part one, the aquais starting to fill up.Oh and the part I'm really excited for?The intro video that playedwhen you installed this system.Do you remember that?That was Apple's coolest intro video.And for some ambient calming sounds,I now present the soundsof the super drive.Enjoy.(static and clicking)Ah, majestic.Wasn't that relaxing?Anyway, we're extractingfiles now it looks like.95% Base System Part 1.Oh now it gives me anestimated time remaining,an hour and 20 minutes?Installing Essentials.Holy shnikeys.I mean that's not terrible,but man it's so much faster nowadays.I mean, if you have agood internet connection.Once the download is donethe install is really fast'cause it's all solid state, but yeah,to download over the cloudyou should have a decentinternet connection.Ah, trade offs.Well we're down to 56minutes, so that's good.And we're on Java.I just saw it say it was installing iCal.Yeah, I remember that.That used to be the name ofthe calendar application.Now it's just called Calendar.And now we're on Safari, yes.Built-In Web Browser and the Dictionaries,that's cool.The Mac having a built-in dictionaryhas always been a super useful feature.Hey, hey, X11 time.We're gonna have some fun with that.Basically, that's just a wayto run the X Window systemin Mac OS X.And it's rebooting, automagically.I forgot it actually does doa reboot between the two DVDs.(startup bong)Bong, there we go.Out you come, Install Disk 2, in you go.Here we go, phase two.Oh, and there's another fun thingI just remembered about these disks.On there it says, well I dropped it,but on there it says AHT version.That was Apple Hardware Test.So the hardware diagnostic softwareis actually on these disks,and that actually might bewhat I used these for in the past,but nothing else.I do want to experiment with thatbecause if I remember correctly,the interface for that looksvery OS nine platinumy.(laughing)Which is kind of funnyseeing on an Intel machine.So yeah, we'll experiment with that later,the Apple Hardware Test.Right now we're installingthe iWork '06 Trial.Yeah, Apple changed thatstuff quite a bit recently.There was a trial,and then you could payfor the full version,and now it's just all free.All of Apple software is freeexcept for their pro apps,which is pretty awesome.Times have changed.And what's that?I see a little proxy sitting up here.Let's see where you are.You're in the variable folder,database I'm guessing that's what stands,that's what that stands for.And then .AppleMultiCDInstall.dist.Yeah, .dist, distribution I'm guessing.I never really saw that file type before.Pkgs for like packages,yeah, but .dist, no sir.Installing iWeb.That was the first programI ever made a website in,and I actually used it for a long timeto make Computer Clan websitesbefore I switched to Adobe Muse,which hey, Adobe is now killing off.(laughing)Yeah, I still have my domain file, though.I can't open it, though,because I have nothing to run iWeb on,but I have this computer now.It may be fun to install iWeb 09and open up that domain file to seeall of the old websites I used to make.Oh my gosh.That might be somethingfun for another day.Installing Other iWeb Page Templates.Well, good.Other.And that was iMovie HD that just blew by.The program that started it all for me,in terms of video editing.Now we're on to iPhoto,which doesn't exist anymore.Yeah, iWeb doesn't exist anymore,iPhoto doesn't exist anymore,iDVD doesn't exist anymore.GarageBand and iMovie werethe only ones that made it out alive.And we just finished.The installer will quit in 26 seconds.Now we can speed thisup by pressing Close.Yes of course we will do that.Out comes the disk, like.Oooo, nice and toasty.All right, let's reboot, Ithink into the Setup Assistant.And let's see what's up.I haven't seen a Tiger Setup Assistant in,I don't even remember how long.Oh boy.Just right into it.(light music)Oh yes, we can sign upfor a .mac membership.I remember that.That's what evolved into Mobile Me,and now that is what we know as iCloud.Yes, they used to costmoney back in the day, yes.Good times.Oh the cube animation,oh my gosh, that's hot.I can just do this all gosh darn day.Don't transfer my information.I don't have any information.But I do have a UnitedStates so we'll choose that.Hmmm, someone nearby must have justinstalled some Spectrum wifi thing,'cause I've never seen that before.I bet one of the guards just got a routerand didn't change the name on it.So we'll go with the governmentsanctioned, Deep 13 router.Enter your Apple ID.I do not want to put one in.And yeah, it's gonnamake me do this bullshit.It used to make you always do this.You could skip it in,I think you can skip it in,I don't even think itasks you in new versions.You are an asshole.Well, you can't spell Setup Assistantwithout ass now can you?10 Stories Underground.Hopefully it'll accept that.Okay, where will youprimarily use this computer?Is there an option for10 stories underground?No there is not, wellit's basically my homeso I'll say home.What best describes me?Psychopath, sociopath,I don't think any of those are in here.We'll just say retired.And no, I do not want to stay in touch.Go away.Create Your Account.Well, my name's Krazy Ken,short name Krazy Ken.I don't need a password.Connecting to Apple.An account picture.Wat best describes me?Well I am doughy so gingerbread.Let's do that.Is there even dough in a gingerbread?I don't even know.Don't forget to register.I thought I did that.Enjoy your Apple computer.Okay, I will do that.Blue screen.(bell chiming)And the aqua interface.Ah, the old wall paper, oh my gosh.The brushed metal, hello.You remember this shit?I mean it was cool, brushed metal, aqua,the menu bar, roundedcorners in the menu barto simulate that CRT feeling.Maniac Mike and I wereactually just talkingabout that in a recent episodewith the first developerpreview in Mac OS X.That's a good one, go check it out.Hey, a software update popped up.There are things,oh there is a lot of things.iPhoto, Airport, Front Row,X11, Pages, Keynote, Java.Wow, lotta good stuff.I'm gonna close that for now.And let's take a look atwhat we got down here.Oh we got the Dashboard.Oh yeah.Cupertino, calendar, the clock.Now this is still a feature in Mac OS,it's just kinda hidden becausewe have the notification center now,but you can turn it on still.And you can just drop thesethings in and watch them ripple.Yeah, oh, I'm gettin'so many flashbacks now.When I was like first using thisI was like wow, it animatesit, it's so pretty.And you can hold downshift and like, here wait,I think you can hold down shiftand it morphs in slow motion,look at that, and then(explosion), ripple.Yeah, all the Dashboard,good times man, good times.We got iPhoto, iMovie,iDVD, iTunes, GarageBand,iWeb, iCal, Apple, Mac OS X,which was a thing you clickon and you go to the web.Safari can't verify the identityof the website Apple.com.Well that's a bit of an issue.Well it probably doesn't knowwhat this type of certificate even is.It's a very old version of Safari.But yeah, it brings youto the Mojave page now.Look at that.Oh yeah, I can't resizethe window from the edge.I gotta go down to this thing.I think it's called the thumb.Oh yeah, take a look athow that renders webpages.Oh shit.Oh that's just beautiful.This is what, Safari three or two?Two, this is version two, copyright 2005.Wow that goes back.The pinstripes in the menus, oh I dig it.So I know there's some other applicationsthat got bundled on here.So yes we do have Comic Life,the Big Bang Board Games,holy shmoley, I think we have a free trialof Microsoft Office '04.Yes we do, holy cow.These icons man, Word, Entourage,I don't even know whatfrickin' Entourage is.Excel, PowerPoint.Let's open up PowerPoint.Yes, evaluation copy, I agree.I did not read, I'm sorry, but I do agree.Microsoft, oh my gosh look at this.Installing fonts onto your hard disk.Dude.It says test drive likeall over the splash screen.Just in case you forget.Oh my gosh it expired.Oh, I just installed it you asshole.Fine.No fun Freddy son of a bitch.Okay, we'll ignore that.The Big Bang Board Games.This is what I was talking about.Oh, we got Tic-Tac-Toe,Chess, Checkers, Backgammon,Mancala, or is it Mancala?I really don't even know.All right, let's do Tic-Tac-Toe.(sinister music)Oh shit.Oh hang on, volume.Tiger is not quite used to this keyboard.Oh how do I turn up the frickin' volume?I guess I'll just go up here and do it.(popping)Ah, the old sounds.Okay, Solo.(intense music)Okay, so I shall play.I don't know what Hot Seat means.I'll play the sun side.So I can kick Luna's ass.Yes we shall play a gameand I'm gonna kick your ass.Just because you're a goddessdoesn't mean you can do everything.This is gonna be a stalemate.It's just like War Games taught us,there's no way you can win this game.The only winning move is no to play.(dramatic music)Oh such dramatic music.It's Tic-Tac-Toe, how can youlose unless you're an asshole?- Bye bye.- Bye bye.I did not say that, thatwas like in the game.Just a heads up.Yeah, oh my gosh Reversi,Steve Ballmer would beso happy about that.I suck at Chess.4 In A Row?I'm gonna beat the Moon Goddess.Oh it's curved, I don'tknow if I can handle this.(gentle dramatic music)(voice distorted)Mmhmmm.I'm sorry.But I win.The sad thing is I couldn't even tellI was gonna win with that move becauseI'm not used to playing itin such a 3D perspective.It kind of confused me, butI kicked your ass, Luna.Suck a big one.I'm just kidding.That was rude of me.Ignore that.I'm so sorry for justbursting out of my anger.Anyway, Comic Life, hell yeah.You remember this shit?So yeah, I mean I never really used this,but it came with the system.But yeah, you could makelike comics and shit.Like you could put pictures in here.I don't really have any but if I didyou could put 'em in here.And lettering and all the old sheetsthat curved like that.Hang on, let's undo that.I think there were sound effects there.- Oooooo.- Oooooo.(laughing)That is delightful.There are sound effectslike all over this software.But yeah, you could put bubblesin there and everything.Yeah, this was a nifty little program.I don't know if this is still made.Oh that is a sock puppet mascot?Yeah, that's not scary at all.I think I just, I didn'tneed to sleep tonight anyway.Oh Sherlock, that's right,this was still in here.This was a thing.I think this is the last versionof Mac OS X to come with it.I don't even know,I don't even know what to freaking do.In Mac OS eight and ninewhen this software was newerthere were like big buttonsyou could press and stuff.But now it's likeuuuuuhhhhhhhh, what do I do?I really don't know.Add.I have no idea how to evenfrickin' use this thing.That was really exciting.And iWeb, oh my gosh, allthese iLife applications,so cool.That's right, you could publishto a .mac account, that's right.I'm gonna close that though.But yeah, you can make your own websites.Again, I have some old files.I'm not gonna load 'em up right now,'cause I think I need iWeb 09 to do that,and this is probably 06.Oh yeah, version one, yeah 2006.But yeah, I used to buildthe Computer Clan websiteand all of that stuff in iWeb.But hey, it was pretty cool forincluded software, you know.It was built in.You can choose a template and go to town.New QuickTime Tutorials at this link.Yeah, I bet it still works.Yeah, no freaking way.That was discontinued a long time ago.But thank you for your interest.No, I did not mean to minimize you.You get back up there.I meant to zoom.Our Trip to Tuscany.So yeah, this was iWeb man.Good times.All right guys, now it's timefor the moment I'vereally been waiting for.Aside from the simulated CRTaperture rounded corners,there's something else Ireally like about this system.The old Front Row carousel interface withsound effects.Let's have a look.(light music)Oh my gosh, that is amazing.I'm getting so much nostalgia.'Cause I remember playingwith this when I was kid.I was like oh my gosh,you can watch videos onyour big screen monitor.(whooshing)The sound effects.Music.(light music)You had music.(whooshing)Photos.(camera clicking)All the nicesound effects, man.(whooshing)Scene 1 apple (1A) take 1,common mark.(slate clapping)Got a little slate(tongue clicking) sound.And then the DVD.(light music)Probably the coolestsound effect in the thing.So that was the Front Row interface.Yeah, the nice animations and everything.They just did a lot of fitand finish with this bad boy.Cool, another fun thing thatis bundled with this systemthat is not currentlybundled with Mac OS is X11,which this particularapplication runs the X Window,or excuse me, not necessarilythe X Window environment,well, I guess yeah, theX Window environmentinside of Mac OS X.Yeah, the X Window system.Look at that.So we could run programs like X eyes,and have a lot of fun with that.Check that out.Not as freaky as the ones I madein the Hannah Montana Linux episode,but still pretty crazy, right?We could do X clock.Huh, or maybe not.All right well let's do emacs.I'm (bleep) up everything.Hang on, let's just abort this.Try again, emacs.There we go.We can load up a game like Pong.Oh yeah that's right, inTiger it just supportedan ASCII art version of Pong,not a very graphical version.Let's see, I think there's somebuilt-in applications here.Xlogo.The X manual, terminal.I mean, let's see Xcalc I think is, yep.So you can just run all these,I guess X window system programs.I'm not really sure whatexactly they're called,but yep, they're here.And there you go.So that was built in asan optional part of the installation.So now for the grand finale,we're gonna boot intothe Apple Hardware Test.And you're gonna enjoy theclassic Mac OS platinum interfaceon a modern Intel flat screen Macintoshbecause the interface inthe Apple Hardware Testwas still using the old design.So let's reboot and hold down the d key,d as in delta,to boot into diagnostics.AHT, Apple Hardware Test.Here we go.Enjoy that old icon.Look at the platinum loading bar.Look at this man.English, platinum buttons.Let's do it.Look at that.The barber pole, the tabs.This was the Apple Hardware Test.It came with your install DVD.Product, iMac, iMac 5,1, Core 2 Duo,number of cores, two, hmmm, good to know.Glad we figured that out.I don't think I've ever reallygone through this before.It has all of our specs, which is nice.And there's a RAM.Yeah, I think thisoriginally came with one gigwhen we bought it years ago.But it has been upgraded to four since.But I think it can onlyfully address three gigs.See I check out that old interface.Apple Hardware Test, 3a11, 2000 to 2006,pretty awesome right?That's how you get platinum.All right, reboot.(computer gonging)You know, it is reallycool to have this restoredto its former glory.I mean, aside from theWindows XP partition,this is how the computerwas when I received it.And it's given me likea huge nostalgia attack.I made a lot of old videosnot just on this thingbut about this thing like thefreaking iMovie tutorialI made back in '07.I had to do this on a videothat was only five minutes,and it took a whole whopping50 minutes for the thing to render.And then I'm running off of a2.16 gigahertz Intel Pentium.Yeah, I talked like I had aclue about what I was doing.(laughing)I said there was Pentiuminside this thing.There isn't a Pentium inside this thing.It's a Core 2 Duo.I don't know why I said Pentium.I was so dumb, well I still am dumb,but I was dumber back then.I remember having friends over,and we'd record movies withthe iSight camera in iMovieand edit them together.We'd mess around in Photo Booth.Man, a lotta memories.Yeah, that was so much fun.And just everything wasright here in the dock.I could just go downand click on somethingand learn about it and make stuff.And I guess it was that simplicityof the creative tools that reallysold the Mac experience to me.So yeah, this is prettymuch where it all started.The Mac was my first personalcomputer I ever used.I actually have a computer history videothat talks about that stuff.But I was really young.I didn't really know what it was.And then I used Windows for many years.But this was the computer thatbrought me back to the Mac,and I've been with it ever since.I think everyone has theirown computer nostalgia storiesand I'd like to hear yours, too.They're really fun to hear about.So share down below and there'smore to come on Krazy Ken.Thanks for sticking with me,catch the crazy, and pass it on.(upbeat techno music)\n"