$999 iBook Pros and Cons, Kanga Whine, FireWire Cards, WallStreet and OS X, and More

• Not recommending the $999 iBook?
• Kanga whine
• FireWire PC Cards etc.
• PowerPad High Capacity Laptop Accessory Batteries
• WallStreets and X!
• iBook hinge
• iBook hinge
• BlueChip ending
• Wireless PowerBooks
• LCD test
• It Works!

Back to all-Mac topics this week!

Not recommending the $999 iBook?

From anonymous

Charles,

Your Low End Mac article shows you are still basing it based on experiences you've had with less than 16 MB of VRAM machines. What 16 MB of VRAM machines have you run with Jaguar? Turns out 16 MB of VRAM is just enough for Jaguar. Carefully reading the text on this page <http://www.apple.com/macosx/jaguar/quartzextreme.html> will reveal that:

"Requirements:
Quartz Extreme functionality is supported by the following video GPUs: nVidia GeForce2 MX, GeForce3, GeForce4 MX, or GeForce4 Ti or any AGP-based ATI RADEON GPU. A minimum of 16 MB VRAM is required. "

While 32 MB is recommended, 16 MB is sufficient.

And so, I recommend you edit your article accordingly. Many people are running Jaguar just fine even on an 8 MB of VRAM iBook. Either your machine is having a technical issue, like when you said in Applelinks you set your partition too small, or you didn't archive and install and fix the permissions.

I wrote the FAQ on Mac OS X speed:

http://www.macmaps.com/Macosxspeed.html

Sincerely,
anonymous

Hi anonymous,

I'm fully aware that 16 MB of VRAM will provide minimum support for QE, but Apple has stated that *full* support requires at least 32 MB, and who knows what they will spring on us next?

As What to expect from Quartz Extreme? notes:

If you have a laptop computer, you need one of the following graphic cards: ATI Radeon Mobility GPU (while Apple first said that 32 MB of VRAM were required, they stated later that any laptop with 16 MB of VRAM would benefit of QE) There are mainly two reasons which will prevent you from using QE on your computer, and they are both hardware limitations of the graphic card you may have. Older graphic cards, such as the unfamous Rage 128 Pro which has been widely installed with older G3s and G4s doesn't support textures that are not sized as power of 2 (i.e. 2, 4, 8, ... 256, etc.) Since you don't expect your windows to be limited to power of two sizes, you can't expect to have QE enabled on these cards. Older graphic cards have as few as 4 MB, 8 MB to 16 MB of video RAM. This is very little compared to what QE needs. Let's do the maths.  A 300p x 300p in 32bits color depth window will need 300x300x32x2 = 5760000 bits (the latest 2 comes because of the fact that windows are double buffered in Mac OS X. Correct me if I'm wrong). 5760000b is equal to approximately 700kB. Now imagine that your Mac resolution is at least 1024 x 768, and that you have almost always about 10 windows, a lot of icons in your Dock, etc. and you'll understand why 8 MB is really useless for Quartz Extreme, and 16 MB is the minimum supported by Apple, but as the 128 MB minimum RAM required by Mac OS X, they are very inadequate. When VRAM is not available anymore on the video card, the same thing that happens when you don't have enough RAM happens for your video card: your computer swaps, everything goes so slow that you can take a nap before that window finishes resizing.

Emphasis mine.

I think my advice is sensible. With the $300 more expensive machine you not only get the full 32 MB of video RAM but also a combo drive, a 10 GB larger hard drive, and a 100 MHz faster processor. Seems like the good value for the money to me.

Charles

Re: Not recommending the $999 iBook?

From anonymous

Charles,

There is no doubt the $1,299 iBook is a good value, but let's take a look at it from this standpoint . . . the processor and GPU of the $999 iBook is the same* as was in the $1,599 iBook before. The only difference being the combo drive. The fact remains Apple is trying to get into the $999 market with notebooks for the first time. To outright dismiss those machines is to prevent them from getting into that market. They are great machines, and most anyone switching is going to switch to Mac OS X and avoid 9 altogether. Think at it from the standpoint of a switcher who loves the features of Mac OS X and will never run Mac OS 9 or Classic.

Sincerely,
anonymous

* Editor's note: The GPU in the new $999 iBook is not the same as in the just discontinued $1,199 and $1,499 iBooks. The older models had ATI Mobility Radeon, but the newer ones have ATI Mobility Radeon 7500, the same GPU used in the just discontinued DVI PowerBook G4.

Hi anonymous,

I don't disagree that if all your budget can stand is the $999 for the base iBook, it's a lot better then getting no Mac at all. I just think that if one can manage the extra 300 bucks, the 800 MHz machine with the combo drive, bigger hard drive, and twice as much video RAM is a lot better long-term value.

The better video performance afforded by the 32 MB of video RAM should be particularly appealing to OS X users.

Charles

Kanga whine

From Dan Finegan

Hi Charles -

My daughter is spending the school year in China. I'm forwarding you an email she sent me concerning her G3 Kanga PowerBook, hoping you or you readers might be of assistance.

Many thanks.

Dan Finegan

Don't know if it's the dust in a fan (I've been trying to keep Kanga clean!) or a speaker feedback problem, but Kanga is making the most horrid whiny screeching sound out of the right hand speaker whenever it's turned on! muting or turning volume down does nothing.

I taped a wad of tissue on top of it before piercing any eardrums, but it's still pretty wretched. Any clues? I tried blowing any dust out; one person suggested disconnecting the speaker, but I don't dare try...

Just playing a Radiohead album on top of it to sort of mask the screeching...

Hi Dan,

Beats me. Disconnecting the speaker would get rid of the noise if that's really the source.

Charles

FireWire PC Cards etc.

From Ross Cottrell

Charles,

I have just installed an IBM Travelstar 40 GB GNX in my 300 MHz PowerBook. It is much quieter and somewhat faster than the 20 GB Hitachi that it replaced. The quietness is what I really like about the IBM drives. There is no sleep wake up problem in Jaguar. So far there has been only one sleep failure while booted into OS 9.1 out of about 8 attempts. It sure is nice to have some extra quickness injected into the old 'Book. I've maxed out the RAM at 512 MB, too. Jaguar needs all the help it gets, but I find it usable and stable.

So it's a great drive and worth the $147 I paid to Googlegear.com. Second day FedEx was 50 cents.

Here's my problem though: OS X 10.2.1 won't recognize the FireWire drive I just assembled with the old Hitachi. It's a new OWC Mercury Express enclosure. The drive is recognized in OS 9.1 and works perfectly, but Jaguar can't see it at all. I have a Newer Firewire-to-Go CardBus, which has been suggested to me as the potential source of trouble. The card does work in Jaguar in that I can import DV into iMovie 2.

Do you or any of your readers know of problems with these cards and Jaguar external FW drives? Any recommendations on a 2-3 port FireWire card that will work in a non-bus powered situation? I am considering the SmartDisk and OrangeMicro cards. Thanks!

Regards,
Ross Cottrell

Hi Ross,

I'm not aware of any PC Card FireWire adapter that will support bus-powering. I suspect that the problem is a combination of Jaguar and the PC Card not talking to each other successfully, since it works in OS 9.

Charles

PowerPad High Capacity Laptop Accessory Batteries

From Bob Friede

Charles,

Considering how many of us are still using older Macs, I thought you should know about this...

Though I understand you might just be a wee bit partial to helping out Canadian companies (!), US reseller retail prices for new Electrovaya external laptop batteries are considerably lower than those bought directly from Ontario-based Electrovaya. For example, at provantage.com (where I bought mine) the 120-C is selling for US $330.70 and the 160-C for US $441.74, compared to Electrovaya's $429 and $529, respectively - a significant difference. Also, CompUSA will be selling the batteries soon, so maybe prices will fall even further.

Cheers,
Bob Friede

Hi Bob,

Nope, I go for the best price! Free trade, y'know. Thanks for the info.

Charles

WallStreets and X!

From Scott Strungis

Hi Charles

Just wanted to follow up with you on my emails. I finally got my WallStreet from Wegener Media and am tapping this out on a fresh 10.1 installation as we speak. It is a really nice machine and should serve me well for a while. I do have a bone to pick, as the machine was shipped without an AC adapter, battery, or invoice. Luckily, my PowerBook 2400c's AC adapter works really nicely. The installation went off without a hitch.

My question for you is: Which of the two PC card slots is CardBus compliant? Or are both of them? Can I do wireless?

Thanks!
Scott Strungis

Hi Scott,

Glad the WS is a success.

Both slots are CardBus compliant.

Charles

iBook hinge

From Basilio Gonzalez

Hi Charles,

This is in reply to Tom Raworth's email about the iBook's (dual USB) hinge problem. Unfortunately, TiGlide does not work if it is applied externally. Removing the iBook's cover and then applying the TiGlide to the hinge seems to cure the problem. I did this two months ago when I replaced my CD drive with a combo drive (which, by the way, is not an easy procedure due to the many screws involved) and so far all is well - knock on wood.

B. Gonzalez

iBook hinge

From Scott Newman

Mr. Moore,

Regarding iBook (dual USB) hinges, what worked for me was going to a bicycle shop and buying a nonpetroleum-based lubricant. It will probably be wax-based and for use on bike chains in dusty environments.

Anyway, lube the hinges using that, and it should work. I don't think there is any way to overlube them to the point that the screen won't stay up. It worked best to stand the iBook on one end and lube one hinge so that the lubricant could drain down into the hinge itself. Then turn onto the other side and lube the other hinge.

I did this about two months after buying a new dual USB iBook in June of 2001 and the hinges still function perfectly today.

Regards,
Scott Newman

BlueChip ending

From Aron Nelson

Hello,

This is a in reference to the PowerLogix BlueChip problems mentioned in the following link:

http://www.macintouch.com/powerlogixblue.html

Thanks to Other World Computing (Larry in particular), many of the people that I have been in contact with did receive replacement units. Some of the replacements worked correctly, and I am happy for the people that did receive working units.

Unfortunately, others are still waiting, and others have written me saying they are "giving up." For the people waiting, they are receiving the same answers as detailed on the above link.

I hope that the remaining people (that are still waiting) do receive replacement units.

As for myself and a few other people, we have "working boards," but unfortunately the boards are incompatible with previously working RAM. In one case, a customer paid Apple certified technicians to find any RAM that would work with the BlueChip board, only to find all RAM tested to be incompatible.

So now I have a board that "works" but is incompatible with my RAM. Even though this RAM has worked with previous PowerLogix boards and still does work with the original Apple board, PowerLogix says my RAM is "all of a sudden" incompatible.

I think, if anything, the replacement board I received is "incompatible" not the RAM.

As of 10/15/02, the bluechipbad@mac.com email address will be closed due to the .mac deadline.

I wish everyone the best and hope that the remaining issues get resolved.

Aron

Wireless PowerBooks

From Andrew

Hey there,

After seeing your mention of a new wireless card for PowerBooks, I thought I should mention this site which has wireless drivers for many many wireless cards that don't normally have Mac drivers:

http://ioxperts.com/prod.html

I got their driver for my (cheap) Linksys wireless PC card a few weeks ago and it works like a charm, and it lets me just swap the card between my Lombard and my Dell laptops without having to shell out for an AirPort card. Super handy, but it was a fluke I found that page; no one seems to know about it.

thanks,
Andrew

LCD test

From Peter Monaghan

LCDtest link is now at <http://www.ekimsw.com/lcdtest/>

It Works!

From Lorne Shapiro

Mr. Moore,

How are you? I just wanted to thank you for passing along that last suggestion; it works! I bought the camera (Canon A-40), bought the SanDisk PC Card Adapter for CompactFlash, and I can now slip the camera card into the PC slot through the adapter and get my pictures onto my computer. Of course, one day I hope to have some kind of USB port to take full advantage of my camera's functionality, but the most important thing right now is to get those pictures. Many thanks. The only service that I can offer you in return is that if you ever need some kind of music question answered, just ask.

Thanks again,
Lorne Shapiro

Go to the Miscellaneous Ramblings Mailbag index.