Concord Digital Camera Review
From Russell
Thanks for the great review on Low End Mac
of a low-end camera! I was pretty much set to add one to my budget ASAP
until I came to the color cast concern. I'd rather not have to edit
photos if I can avoid it.
Please keep the reviews of other low-end products up.
-Russell
- Hi Russell,
Glad you found the review helpful.
As for the color cast issue, the examples I showed are probably close
to worst-case given the overcast day and the actual color of the
subject matter. In photos taken on a sunny day it is much less
evident.
Even with film images scanned into digital files (I'm in the process of
scanning 30+ years worth of slides into JPEG images), I rarely come
across one that has ideal color balance without correction.
Charles
Concord vs. Digitrex
From Peter da Silva
I went to the store to get a cheap Concord and ended up with a 3.2
Mpix Digitrex for $70! It's insane how cheap these cameras have
gotten.
Among other things, I've been taking pictures of clouds and making
them my desktop, and it's amazing how relaxing that is. I think I'll
try a screen saver yet.
- Hi Peter,
I'm not familiar with the Digitrex. What pixel depth does it
support?
Charles
Re: Concord vs. Digitrex
From: Peter da Silva
"I'm not familiar with the Digitrex. What pixel depth does it
support?"
8 bit color, 24 bit per pixel, at least that's the depth of JPG it
produces. I don't have the manual here.
Here's some reviews. The only annoyances I see with it are:
- No viewfinder.
- No AVI replay on the camera, which the Concord I got my son does
have. It might work through the TV connector, I haven't tried.
I like it, and it's cheap enough I don't feel worried about it.
- Peace of mind is worth a lot.
Charles
About the Sleep of Death Bug
From: Fish Jam
Hi Charles,
I had the same problem on my Power
Mac G4/867 with OS 9.2.2 (Traditional Chinese ed.) installed and tried
to search Apple's support knowledge base then found a document relate
to this topic:
https://web.archive.org/web/20030314054803/http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=30894
I will try step 6, "Reset the Parameter RAM," tomorrow see if it
works... :)
And there is another issue about USB sleep problem mentioned in the
document above:
https://web.archive.org/web/20030314062715/http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58645
I will try to remove "InputSprocket Extension" - maybe it conflicted
with my Quark Xpress 4.1* USB dongle... :)
(*) The last Ouark version of Traditional Chinese is 4.1
I wish these info. Can help you and others, have a good day...
Regard yours,
Fish
- Hi Fish,
Thanks for the information.
Charles
G3 Power Mac Question, Please!
From Tony Bass
Hello Charles,
I know one day I will purchase a G5 or G6, whatever is on the market
at that time, but I currently run a G3 blue
& white 400 MHz Power Mac with 128 MB RAM. Being a
pro-musician, I am looking to see how much productivity I can get out
of this machine for music production or maybe using it as a soft synth
using something like Reason 2.5 with a MIDI keyboard interface and/or
MOTU 896HD.
I have a copy of Cubase VST installed but haven't really used it
yet. Should I bother installing four 256 MB RAM chips for a whopping
1 GB?
Sincerely,
Tony Bass
- Hi Tony,
It depends a lot on whether you are running OS X or OS 9. With X,
I don't think it's possible to have too much RAM.
However, even with OS 9 I feel memory-constricted on a machine with
only 128 MB. I find that 256 MB or 384 MB is a nice amount of RAM to
have when running OS 9, but you probably wouldn't get a great deal
of cost/benefit advantage in moving to 1 GB with 9.
Charles
Re: GV PC Card Modem Problem
From Don Kolstad
Charles:
Thank you so much for the rapid reply [see GV PC Card Modem Problem]. I will try the
modem scripts that you suggest, and I will be ordering a new PC Card
Modem today.
In real terms I should be looking at a new computer, as the 1400 is also showing its age (screen
deterioration), but I like it so much despite the limitations of bus
and processor speed. I have been using a 128 MB CF card as virtual RAM
with excellent results. The card formats allowing 119 MB of useable
RAM.
You have carved out a very useful niche that is appreciated by many
Mac users. Thank you,
Don
- Hi Don,
I share your affection for the PB 1400. My wife and daughter still use
them as their main computers.
However, these old PowerBooks are getting long in the tooth and are
very sloooooow for Web work.
Happily, the 12.1" dual USB iBooks share the same ideal laptop
footprint (IMHO) and general form factor, and thus make an excellent
step up from the 1400.
Charles
GV PC Card Modem Software
From Andrew Main
Charles,
GV modems, unlike others, require special software to work properly.
This may be what this fellow thinks he might have lost. Fortunately, GV
modem software is still available for download: http://www.globalvillage.com/support/softwarelocator.html
Andrew
- Hi Andrew,
Thanks for this link.
Forwarded to Don.
Charles
9.1 vs. 9.2.2 on WallStreet II
From R. Hirschfeld
Hi Charles,
What's your current take on Mac OS 9.1 vs. 9.2.2 for a WallStreet PowerBook? I've just upgraded
from 8.6 to 9.1 on mine (PDQ 300 MHz with 192 MB RAM), and I'm
wondering whether to stop there or go all the way to 9.2.2. I'm
confused by conflicting reports of better performance and stability on
the one hand vs. wake from sleep and USB card issues on the other. Is
there some sort of intermediate solution that provides the best of both
worlds, e.g., sticking with 9.1 but updating CarbonLib?
I can't seem to find release notes anywhere with a complete list of
differences between the versions.
Thanks for any advice,
Ray Hirschfeld
- Hi Ray,
I am running OS 9.2.2 on my WallStreet II 233 MHz, which gets used
about 2-3 hours most days. I last rebooted sometime in late May and am
up to "Untitled 400" in Tex Edit Plus documents.
That is with TE+, Eudora, iCab, Mozilla, Color It!, and some utilities
running throughout. This speaks profoundly to OS 9.2.2's stability. It
also seems a little livelier in 9.2.2 compared with 9.1, but that's
subtle.
I recommend running OS 9.2.2.
Charles
Patch for G3 233 Hz WallStreet and OS
X10.3
From Bill Pistner
Hello Sir,
I was wondering if you knew of a patch that would allow me to run
OS X 10.3 on my PowerBook
WallStreet.
I did try to install 10.3, but it comes up 'not supported'. Found
the information below on the net.
- I would like to install OS X on the machine but they say that Apple
did not support machines that did not ship w/USB.
If you read the system requirements in Apple's OS X 10.3 Panther
announcement last week, you probably noticed that support for G3 Macs
that didn't ship with USB ports has been quietly dropped. That means
that the Beige G3 desktop Power Macs, and the G3 series WallStreet
PowerBooks are no longer officially supported by OS X. OS X
10.2.8 Jaguar is the end of the line for these "Old World ROM"
machines.
http://www.macopinion.com/columns/roadwarrior/03/10/13/
Thanks for any help.
- Bill
- Hi Bill,
You need Ryan Rempel's
XPostFacto hack.
XPostFacto is a utility which helps to install and boot Mac OS X, Mac
OS X Server, and Darwin on certain unsupported systems. When Mac OS X
installs successfully, its stability on unsupported systems appears to
be excellent.
System requirements:
- Power Macintosh 7300 - 9600, equivalent clone, original PowerBook
G3, PowerBook 2400 or 3400, Beige G3, or Wallstreet PowerBook
- Mac OS 9 or higher
- Mac OS X 10.x, or Darwin 6.x or 7.x, to be installed
- XPostFacto is freeware
Charles
Re: Radeon Enabler
From Jeffrey Harris
Charles
On an iBook, Radeon Enabler does
absolutely nothing. All that works is info on the video card.
The display spanning
hack from Germany apparently does the right thing in terms of
allowing higher res on external display. I tried it some time ago,
though did not exercise the feature. But then my disk got corrupted, I
had to reload everything (had backup), so I have not tried
again.
cheers
JHH
- Hi Jeffrey,
I came to the same conclusion about Radeon Enabler by deduction, and
never did get around to installing it.
Thanks for the report.
Charles
Non-Dead iBook
re: Dead iBook
From Andrew Nagy
While, I was away, my dad called the support desk OSLT at the school
where he works, and was told to hold down the power button for
twenty seconds. Apparently that worked, after a few
difficulties.
He suspects heat damage did it. I'll have to be careful not to leave
it in the car like I did.
I didn't think about removing the RAM card. I'll try that when
something worse happens.
New quick question: Can any of the clamshell iBooks boot from a USB
flash drive? Maybe I should get one, to solve the problem of not being
able to boot OS 9 from the HD.
- Hi Andrew,
Glad to hear you revived your 'Book.
As for booting from a USB Flash Drive, I can't say for sure, but these
resources don't indicate much promise:
•
http://fmi.compusa.com/attach/9115b97f-ba8e-44e8-b399-e27639c423f3.pdf
•
http://www.microbits.com.au/support/files/peripherals/stordrive/mobile-disk/mobile-disk-manual-v2.0r1.pdf
• http://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/2004/02/msg00121.html
Charles
Cranky B&W G3
From Seth Lewin
Hello, Charles,
Since you invite email, I'd appreciate it if you'd indulge me.
Perhaps this problem suggests something to you. I'm somewhat befuddled
by it and am thinking of obtaining professional help (for the Mac, not
for me).
Blue G3 Rev 1 (early production; early
1999) with PowerLogix G3/800, Radeon 7000, Acard ATA133 card, Adaptec
4300 FW card, Adaptec 2930 with nothing connected to it , 768 MB RAM,
Zip, LiteOn 52x CD-ROM, three hard drives - a 27 gig Maxtor on the
motherboard's IDE line, a 10 GB and a 200 GB on the Acard. None of this
is recently changed or added. Running 10.3.4. ADB keyboard, USB mouse,
LaCie FW CD-RW, Sony GDM F400 monitor. Firmware updated to 1.1f4.
Problem is sometimes the machine won't boot; it will start in
response to the power on key of either an ADB or USB keyboard but will
not chime and will not complete the boot sequence - no video, nothing.
Sits there with drives spinning, fans running, but no further
action.
Until recently, a simple command-control-power sequence would get it
to restart chime and run, but that's becoming less and less frequently
possible. I've gotten to the point where sometimes the only way to get
it running is the pull the PRAM battery and disconnect the power for
awhile, discharge the power supply by pushing the front panel reset
switch, hold the CUDA switch awhile, and then try again. Sometimes it
works, sometimes not.
Sometimes pushing the reset on the front panel a half dozen times
will get it to chime and run.
I've taken the machine apart and stripped it down to its basics -
literally pulled out every card, including video, and disconnected all
drives including Zip and CD and all USB, FW, ethernet, etc. leaving
just one RAM module (tried it with several different ones, in different
slots) - same problem.
When it starts w/o chiming, I do notice that the two LEDs near the
USB controller fail to light; when it starts correctly they eventually
do. The power on LED and the one near the ATA connector do turn on in
synchrony.
Sometimes the only way to try to restart it will be to use the
restart switch on the motherboard itself; it sometimes ignores the
power button on the box itself altogether. When it does chime and boot,
it may stick part way thru loading Panther, either at the gray Apple
screen (the gear icon freezes and that's it; then won't reboot without
going thru the bit with the PRAM battery and whatnot) or sometimes
further along in the process.
Once it gets running, it runs fine - until the next time I have to
restart.
I don't have the old 400 MHz ZIF handy anymore; I put that in a
beige G3 at work and am reluctant to shuffle it back, though perhaps
that might be worth a try. PRAM battery is good: 3.61 volts. The
front-panel restart and interrupt buttons sometimes do nothing when it
is acting up; at other times they function.
The question is whether this is a bad logic board or something else.
This situation came to a head following a freeze that occurred while
surfing with Safari and has persisted ever since. I know I can get a
Rev 2 logic board for maybe $200; but wonder if that's the way to go
with this. I suppose I can buy another B&W for about $350 and
upgrade that one with my components.
As of now, I've left the machine on for about ten or so days
straight - it works fine; I'm writing this on it now.
Does this remind you of any common syndrome? Should I perhaps
serially zap the PRAM three times and then boot into open firmware and
try cleaning out the NVRAM that way - if it will boot at all?
I know this is an old machine, but when it's running with its
various upgraded components it meets my needs completely.
Any insight anyone can offer or any advice would be very much
appreciated. FWIW, this machine has been a little flaky in terms of
reboots and reluctance to boot from CD since day one, leading me to
suspect the logic board's failing now, but I'd like a little
reassurance before blowing $200 on another one.
Regards,
Seth Lewin
- Hi Seth,
These sorts of symptoms are tough to diagnose, even hands on.
You have covered all the usual troubleshooting bases and then
some.
The behavior you describe sounds very similar to a malaise that
afflicted my 604e Umax S900 tower.
After a hair-tearing six month battle with it, the problem turned out
to be a bad (new) Seagate Barracuda hard drive. I replaced the Seagate
with a Quantum drive, and the boot issue disappeared, never to
return.
One thing to consider. Did the problem start manifesting soon after you
changed something, e.g., after you upgraded to OS 10.3.4 or added a
piece of hardware or a peripheral?
Of course it could also be the mobo.
Charles
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