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Whither the power icon?
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: May 2002
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Notice that little circle with a vertical line through the top of it... kind of like this:<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1"face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial">code:</font><HR><pre><font size=1 face=courier> _ | _
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\_____/
</font>[/code]You see it on the power button of all your PowerMacs, going back I'm not sure how many years. I've also noticed that other computer hardware today uses a very similar icon on their power buttons, changing it only by moving the vertical line down:<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1"face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial">code:</font><HR><pre><font size=1 face=courier> _____
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\__|__/
</font>[/code]So I was wondering: can anyone remember when Apple began using their "power button" icon, or if there was ever a Mac that didn't use it? Is this icon an industry standard now? Did Apple "invent" it?
Not terribly important, but I'm terribly curious the more I wonder about it.
[ 05-16-2002: Message edited by: mblase ]
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Jul 2001
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Dells use the one with the line through the top of the circle. I dunno about other computer manafacuteres. IT might be a standard, maybe not.
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Actual conversation between UCLA and Stanford during a login on early Internet - U: I'm going to type an L! Did you get an L? S: I got one-one-four. L! U:Did you get the O? S: One-one-seven. U: <types G> S: The computer just crashed.
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Florida
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I think that sybol, both up and down, is used in a lot of places. I'm pretty sure it represents an open circuit (the circle) with a switch to close it (the line). And closing the circuit, turns the power on, so it's become the power button symbol.
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-- SBS --
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Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2002
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I have a UMAX SuperMac with the first of those symbols. My NEC monitor and my HP printer have it, too. It seems like a standard symbol.
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self = [[JeffBinder alloc] init];
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Scotland
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I remember pre-iMac machines using the second version (with the line in the middle of the circle). For instance PowerMac 8xxx and 9xxx series machines had it on power button on the back of the machines. Maybe it was something they switched to with the iMac?
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MI5 doesn't do evil. Just treachery, treason and armageddon.
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Moderator  Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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It's an I for on and an O for off, superimposed in two different ways. Two sides of the same coin, so to speak.
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The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: USA
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I have a old Power Mac 7200 that has the 2nd one...all my new Mac stuff has the top one
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Florida
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I should have said this before...
That symbol is on my QuickSilver, my Viewsonic Monitor, my PC, my HP printer, and most of my friends' computer stuff. Seems to be a standard, but it only appears on computer equipment.
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-- SBS --
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Vallejo, Ca.
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My g4, cinema display, sony monitor, and lexmark printer have it.
Somebody set us up the bomb.
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In a realm beyond site, the sky shines gold, not blue, there the Triforce's might makes mortal dreams come true.
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Senior User
Join Date: Mar 2001
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Ok -- lots of macs use it -- so do lots of other electronics. As mentioned before, it represents an open and closed circuit -- it is an industry standard and was not invented by apple.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Boynton Beach, Florida, USA
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I heard that in the early days of electronics/computers when only supergeeks worked with them they used the term "initiate" instead of on to make it sound more technical. The symbol would then be a capital letter "i" with a circle around it. The other symbol was a capital "o" for off. The circuit idea does sound much more plausable though.
[ 05-17-2002: Message edited by: davidflas ]
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2.7Ghz 15" Mid 2012 MBP 16GB RAM 7.2k 750GB HD anti-glare display|64GB iPad4 ATT LTE|
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Jul 2001
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If yu look for a while, you realize its origin: it's a sexual image!
That's right! Make life with a small phsyical motion!
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Actual conversation between UCLA and Stanford during a login on early Internet - U: I'm going to type an L! Did you get an L? S: I got one-one-four. L! U:Did you get the O? S: One-one-seven. U: <types G> S: The computer just crashed.
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Vallejo, Ca.
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Eeeeeewwwwww... you sicko.
It just means open circuit/closed circuit. Sometiems 0 and 1 are the values of power, etc, my older monitor has a 0 and a 1 on either side of the power button.
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In a realm beyond site, the sky shines gold, not blue, there the Triforce's might makes mortal dreams come true.
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Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: San Diego, CA, USA
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Working as an engineer for an international company, I can tell you that it is a requirement of ISO-9002 that power switches have a '1' and a '0' to indicate on and off as this is pretty much understood by most people on earth.
The symbol is just a prettier way of displaying this while maintaining 'international' understanding.
Andrew
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