This is the last Miscellaneous Ramblings column of 2009. We'll
be back in January 2010.
To all of our readers, a very Merry Christmas - and a Happy New Year
as well.
Pismo Upgrades and Video Performance
From John Hatchett:
Charles,
Your column [1 GB of RAM
Gives Pismo PowerBook Another New Lease on Life] certainly wants me
to go out and buy some RAM for my Pismo! I am running Tiger 10.4.11 on the old girl with 512
MB of RAM. Of course, around Hatchett Manor, money is always tight, and
I need to pick up a set of batteries for the Pismo, and what with
Christmas approaching, the Secretary of the Exchequer has declared a
moratorium on computer spending.
I do have a couple of questions. Do the G4 upgrade and the gigabyte
of RAM improve the graphics at all? Occasionally my Pismo will display
the famous spinning beach ball of death when I am running multiple
applications. Of course, encoding video is a real drag.
But, of course, the keyboard is the best, and I still use it
daily.
Pismologically yours,
John
Hi John,
The G4 upgrade certainly improves performance across
the board, especially with applications that are optimized for AltiVec,
and video response is more lively, but the RAM upgrade to 1 GB has
yielded the most dramatic speed improvement of any hotrodding I have
done. I wish I'd done that first rather than last. The 5400 RPM hard
drive helps too.
Don't expect miracles, but I actually can use YouTube
with the Pismo without excessive frustration now that I have
broadband.
Charles
Pismo PRAM Battery and Startup Problems
From Mike,
Thank you for your reply. As
soon as I disconnect the AC adaptor, my Pismo loses the current date
and time. I assume you do not recommend my buying a PRAM battery
advertised as "brand new" on
eBay for $12.99? Does the PRAM battery have anything to do with
charging the main battery or with the startup chime? I am a "poor"
college student, so I really hate to start buying parts without knowing
if my money is going to be well spent. If you think a brand new PRAM
battery will help me, then I will certainly spend the money.
Hi Mike,
$12.99 is a very decent price for a new PRAM battery,
provided it is as advertised. A bargain, really.
The PRAM battery allows the computer to remember
certain important parameters when the power is turned off, such as the
current date and time. When the PRAM battery dies, it can possibly
cause system crashes and strange behavior in your computer, so it needs
to be replaced, although some folks say they can run their Pismos
successfully with no PRAM battery installed (obviously losing settings
when it shuts down). A bad PRAM battery shouldn't interfere with the
main battery charging.
There is a software utility called PRAM Battery
Checker from Polar Orbit
Software that appears to be freeware and is a small download that
could possibly help you determine whether your PRAM battery is
faulty.
Developer's blurb:
PRAM Battery Checker
1.02
PRAM Battery Checker is a program which will
inform you if your computer's PRAM battery has died. The PRAM battery
is a small battery on the computer's motherboard that allows the
computer to remember certain important parameters when the power is
turned off such as the current date and time. When the PRAM battery
dies it can cause system crashes and strange behavior in your computer
and needs to be replaced. This program gives you a simple way to
determine when that time has occurred. This is a problem will occur to
all Macintosh computers during their lifetimes.
System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 PPC, Mac
OS X 10.3.9, Mac OS X 10.4, IntelMac OS X 10.0, Mac OS X 10.1, Mac OS X
10.5, PPCMac OS X 10.2, Mac OS X 10.5 Intel, Mac OS X 10.3, Mac OS
Classic
However, from your description of the symptoms, your
Pismo may have other problems - possibly with the Power Manager Unit or
the motherboard.
Hope this helps,
Charles
YouTube Playback on PowerPC Macs
From André:
I read your answer about YouTube playback on PowerBook G4, and just
wanted to share a "hack" to play better videos on PowerPC Macs
Instead of going to www.youtube.com go to m.youtube.com. It is the mobile YouTube, at
least in my "now dead" iBook G3 800 MHz it made the difference.
Other alternative is saving the videos using 3rd party software and
playing it on VLC.
Hope it helps all the PPC users out there :)
André
Hi André,
I expect it will help some of them. :-)
Thanks!
Charles
Linux on PowerPC Macs
From Jesse:
Hello again Charles,
I just read the new article about further hot rodding your Pismo.
Pretty cool how you were running it upgraded and still found more stuff
to add. Great to hear Dan Knight sent you the AirPort Card - and a bit
jealous of that 1 GB of RAM.
In your response to my
letter last time, you were curious about my adventures with Linux
on my Macs. Well, let me give you a bit of a rundown:
G3 iMac: I started with a spare 400 MHz G3 iMac I had. I loaded it
with Ubuntu 9.04. The
little iMacs are a bit tricky, since they have the built in monitor and
it does not behave like a standard PC monitor. I had to switch to
Debian 5, which is a little bit
more forgiving. I did have to manually edit the Xorg file (video file),
but after that, it works great.
Completely new & up to date OS, and you can use lighter apps to
make better use of the limited power these machines have. Actually, you
can even use a simpler desktop for added speed. Its like using the
simple and fast Mac OS 9 look, but with it having OS X 10.6
under the hood. One could only dream!
G5 Power Mac: I really
liked using Linux on the G3, but I wanted to see how well applications
like GIMP, the Photoshop
alternative, worked on a faster computer with a bigger screen. So I
decided to load it on my G5 1.8 GHz dual processor Power Mac with my
19" monitor. I cloned and kept my OS X 10.5 Leopard install on my
FireWire external hard drive. Used Open Firmware option-boot to choose
between the operating systems.
I used a live Ubuntu 9.04 disc (bootable CD), and it worked perfect
on first boot. I had a working 64-bit operating system after the
installation. GIMP was very good, and so where apps like OpenOffice. Some may not look as
pretty as the Apple equivalents, but they are just as good and
useful.
There is only one little caveat for those with PPC Macs. Adobe Flash
does not work, because there is no official player for the PPC version
of Linux. You get some function with Linux equivalents. You can play
most YouTube videos, but Flash navigated sites don't work well. Then
again, those of us with older G3 Macs still experience this, and we
have an official Flash player.
The Ubuntu desktop was very nice looking and can certainly have its
share of eye candy for the Mac diehards that don't want it to look too
much like a Windows box. A quick Google search can get you screenshots
of some that look very Mac-like, down to having a working Dock.
I even changed the version of Ubuntu I was using, from regular
Ubuntu to Ubuntu Studio. This is a version made for creative-types,
especially music, digital video & 3D modeling. I find it more
comfortable for a Mac user, since we skew to the creative end.
Pismo: I have yet to try it on my Pismo, since at least for now
Tiger is still receiving security updates. Once these stop, I will load
Ubuntu on my Pismo for sure. I will check the forums, if it looks easy,
I might test it out for a while and see how it compares with Tiger.
G4 Power Mac: The Power
Mac might still get a G4 upgrade card and move up to Leopard. I did try
an old Ubuntu live disc once on the Power Mac, and it worked fine. But
it gets used by other people, so Mac OS X might still be more user
friendly.
Overall, I really like how easy and practical Linux is now. I really
don't see it as much in the realm of geeks and hackers. Any Mac user
who is willing to upgrade his (or her) own Power Mac should be okay
trying out Linux, especially one like Ubuntu. I have gotten pretty
comfortable in Linux and now switch back and forth from OS X and
Ubuntu. Since PC boxes are cheap, I might even build one new for
Ubuntu.
Merry Christmas,
Jesse
Hi Jesse,
Thanks for the interesting and very informative
report. You've given me the idea that at which point the Pismos become
impractical because of lack of up to date Mac OS support (browsers seem
to be the tipping point), Linux might breath new life into them.
Merry Christmas to you as well.
Charles
Flash Dropping Support for G3 Macs
From Michael Montalto:
In response to Adobe dropping
support for G3 PowerMacs:
Adobe is not necessarily to blame. I have a G3 B&W 400 MHz w/128 MB ATI
Mac edition Radeon (It's not that fast really), running Mac OS 9.2.2. I
also have a G4 DA 800
MHz (PowerLogix upgraded) and an AGP 350 with Rage 128 Pro,
both running OS 9.2.2) The speed in graphics of the AGP is phenomenal,
not to mention I've never run OS X on the G3 except for utility
CDs with a bootable version of OS X.
I understand G3 users feeling the squeeze in this, but really folks,
if you want to run OS X fast and have decent graphics performance,
go for a G4 with an AGP - or if you have a PCI only graphics card
option Mac, run Mac OS 9 or an earlier version of OS X and
don't complain. Adobe Flash is extremely power hungry, and even our
eMac USB 2.0 w/2 GB RAM
struggles on high media websites. My G4 DA with Nvidia Ti 4600,
OS X 10.5.8 even struggles a bit, but runs about as good as the
eMac w/10.4.11 currently.
To sum my opinion up: G3s are a Classic OS Mac, and there's plenty
available to keep them productive and more than useful. I've just
retired my G3 indefinitely for my recently acquired AGP 350 G4. It
smokes away the G3 in performance on Mac OS 9! I love it!
-Michael Montalto:
Hi Michael,
I agree entirely. I've made my peace with the fact
that OS X 10.4.11 will be the ultimate fully supported version of
OS X to run on my G4 upgraded Pismos, and that there will be
inevitable and increasing compromises involved.
In some circumstances, my old Mac Plus running System 6.0.8 can be
a perfectly adequate tool (and amazingly lively) within its
limitations.
G3 Macs still have lots of useful life in them running
appropriate operating system versions and software, but it's
unreasonable to expect support for every contemporary technology. Most
current browser versions require at least OS X 10.4 - and often
10.5. Two of my favorites - Chrome and Stainless - want an Intel processor,
as does
MacSpeech Dictate, which I wouldn't want to be without, although I
still use MacSpeech
iListen on the Pismos in a pinch.
Charles
Good Source for Inexpensive ATA Notebook Hard
Drives
From Peter:
Hello, Charles,
Longtime reader, first-time contributor here.
Your Mailbag column included two requests from readers for whom I
have suggestions.
- For Ed Harris, who was seeking
inexpensive hard drives for G3 notebooks, I recommend to check the
Seagate
outlet page. They have a sale approximately every three weeks, with
deep discounts on new, discontinued, or refurbished products. Last week
there were some 60 GB OneTouch Mini III drives (external portable USB)
for US$19.99 each. Inside the case, these are Seagate Momentus ATA 5400
rpm drives. Note that the next generation OneTouch Mini IV used SATA
drives.
- Reader Stephen wanted to supply a new-user experience by running
the welcome movie and setup app.
This happens when the OS fails to find the file ".AppleSetupDone". I
refer you to http://hackint0sh.org/forum/showthread.php?t=51379
for detailed info how to remove the file.
Thanks
Peter
Hi Peter,
Thanks for the tips. Great prices on those hard
drives.
There are some good deals around where you find them.
My daughter just told me that one of her friends picked up a 400 MHz
Pismo in good shape for ten bucks, with a good battery no less!
Charles
Recreating the Clean Install Experience
From Jordan
Hi Charles:
I was reading through your most recent mailbag (12/16/09) and
noticed a reader asking about rerunning the welcome video for a G3 iMac
after he gives it to a new user. He might want to check out the
following link at Mac OS X Hints, An
AppleScript App to Force Setup Assistant to Run, which provides an
AppleScript to "clean" the machine of setup accounts and home folders
and get the Setup Assistant to run again on the next boot, thereby
acting like the machine is brand new or has a fresh install on it. This
way the reader can install all of the software and updates and still
have the machine go through initial setup.
Thanks for writing for LEM!
Jordan
Hi Jordan,
My pleasure, and thanks for the excellent tip!
Charles
Spaces and Browsers Usage
Hi Charles,
Thanks for all the tips on
how you go about your stuff. Quite a few browsers you got there. I too
am a browser junky, and despite it not having the prettiest interface I
use Opera to pull through my
painfully slow & erratic Internet service.
Bikalpa
Nepal
Hi Bikalpa,
Opera 10's Turbo feature was a great advance for folks
with slow network connections, and it certainly made my life easier for
those last few months before I got broadband.
Charles
Extended Warranty for Used iBook?
From John:
Hi,
I just purchased the following laptop for $239: Apple iBook G4 12.1"/1.33 GHz/512
MB/40G/CM/APX M9850LL/A. The total came out to $316 including
taxes, shipping, and 1 gig of memory I purchased
from OWC.
Do you recommend purchasing an extended warranty from Squaretrade.com to cover the laptop?
The price is $40 for one year or $60 for two years.
Thank you.
Hi John,
As a rule, I'm not a fan of extended warranties. For
example, I've never purchased AppleCare coverage for any Mac I've ever
owned.
However, with iBooks I might be inclined to make an
exception, especially with two of them having failed in my family's
fleet over the past 12 months. The dual USB iBook is perhaps the least
dependable laptop model Apple ever produced, and the prices you cite
for extended warranty coverage seem very reasonable.
I would go for the two-year coverage.
Charles
Safari Default Zoom
From Matthew:
Hi Charles,
Just a quick tip for people using low-resolution Macs: I found this
article [Set
Default Zoom Level in Safari Using a CSS File] helpful in
instilling a default zoom level on Safari such that websites can be
viewed without side-scrolling or having to "cmd -".
I used nano within terminal to make the .css file, and it's been
working wonderful. Combine this with Click2Flash, and you've
got a snappy, native browser for your G3 Mac. :)
- Matt
Thanks for the tips, Matt.
Charles
Greetings from Snowy London
Enjoy your break; here a few
centimetres of snow have London in chaos mode....
All the Best - Tim
Hi Tim,
Thanks, and Merry Christmas/Happy Christmas back at
you.
I was watching the chaos in the UK caused by the snow
on the TV news tonight. Even worse in Europe I guess.
Looked like a middling typical snowfall for here,
although ironically we've had very little snow on the Eastern Shore of
Nova Scotia so far this winter. Haven't had to shovel the driveway yet.
:-)
Charles
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