Two More Laptop Cooling Suggestions
From Nancy,
Dear Charles,
Thank you so much for this column (7 Tips for Keeping Your Laptop [Uh, Notebook]
Cool). Like you, I've collected all sorts of solutions to the
hot laptop issue. I used the LapBottom, which is no longer made,
and when my Titanium G4 PowerBook functioned as my desktop
computer, I used the Griffin iCurve, which I loved.
I've long had a Podium CoolPad and love that, too. However,
living in Georgia with temperatures routinely near 100 degrees F
and high humidity, heat is an issue. So to augment the internal fan
on my new 12" PowerBook G4/1.5 GHz,
I use an Antec Cooler with USB-powered fans. It seems similar to
the Targus ChillPad.
However, for use on my lap, I needed something different. And I
found a product called the Lapinator.
Again, it seems similar to the Xpad, which I just ordered for my
son's iBook. The Xpad hasn't arrived yet, so I can't speak to how
it works, but the Lapinator is great. It feels sturdier and more
solid than the LapBottom, and my sense is that the Thinsulate
insulation works better, too.
Just thought you might like to hear about another
alternative.
Best,
Nancy Butts
Hi Nancy,
Thank you for your comments.
I agree that in your Georgia summer heat, an
active cooling pad is advisable. The Lapinator looks like another
good solution where passive cooling will suffice.
My review Xpad just arrived today, and I'm quite
impressed with it. Nice standard of finish, and surprisingly light
in weight, with lots of insulation.
Charles
Cheap Laptop Cooling, OS 9.1 Problem
From Tim Conroy
The prize winning letter in a recent UK MacFormat was for a cheapskate
solution using a 12" HELIX aluminium ruler and two helix ru
. . . err, erasers that slot into the groove in the ruler
and give the PowerBook an incline on the desk.
I have also used a book holder: This enables me to get the
1400's screen at eye level and allows
me to use my trusty Nimitz extended keyboard. Only drawback: You
have to lift the 1400 up to access the CD bay, but this does not
apply to a WallStreet.
Finally can I ask: Is there any known snag with OS 9.1? After a
clean install, it will crash after a reboot, saying system error,
hold down Shift - this produces a bus error.
This happens on both the WallStreet and a black 5400 + Sonnet 300 MHz G3 accelerator.
It is driving me insane.
Regards
Tim Conroy
Hi Tim,
Thanks for the reports on the innovative laptop
stand solutions.
As for your OS 9.1 issue, it's not something I've
heard of or experienced, and I've installed OS 9.1 on a lot of
machines.
If the issue were not manifesting on two different
computers, I would be inclined to suspect a hardware problem.
Could it be a defective or corrupted installer
disk?
Charles
Re: Cooling laptops
From Tim Conroy
That's crossed my mind. I'll have to see if I can find my
original geeenewine OS 9 CD - no easy task given my
clutter.
Must say I've enjoyed and appreciated your columns at LEM and
elsewhere down the years. The first Mac I worked on was a IIsi. I do like my black 5400/300 + 40 GB HDD,
and the WallStreet I got for £120 is in good nick. Having
been redundantised some years ago, I can't just go out and pony up
for a nice new Mac Intel or whatever (much as I'd like to).
Thanks for taking the trouble for an individual reply.
rgds - Tim
Thanks for FireWire OS X Install Article
From Scott Schuyler
Thank you sooooooooooo much for your column on installing Tiger
on older 'DVD challenged' Macs (see Installing
OS X 10.4 'Tiger' on DVD-challenged Macs Using FireWire Target Disk
Mode). I am trying to install it on an original dual USB iBook with the 10 gig HD.
Yikes!
Anyway, my first thought was to install via my PB using FireWire
Target Disc Mode, but the iBook wouldn't let me boot from the DVD
in the PB. I thought all night long trying to come up with a way to
do this - the only thing I could think of was buying an external
DVD, which I didn't need!
Anyway, I'm about to try your method, and I sincerely appreciate
the logic of your solution. I'm actually kind of ticked with myself
for not thinking of it!!!
Have a great weekend!
-Scott
Hi Scott,
Hope it worked well for you. It certainly proved
the charm for my DVD-less iBook.
Charles
Any Problems with OS X Install Using FireWire
Disk Mode?
From Alex Wenzel
Charles,
After I read your article, I was glad to have found a way to
solve my installation problem to get OS X on my Pismo. I have a Pismo with a broken DVD
drive and a G3 iBook with a working Combo drive (quite the contrary
to your case).
But now (I haven't tried it yet) I'm in doubt that this way of
installation is correct. Most OS installers install
customized versions of the OS for the hardware of the
respective machine. I don't know much about the innards of
OS X, but that's certainly true for Windows and the Classic
Mac OS. If the installation of Tiger is tailored to the hardware of
the machine the installer is run on, you get an installation that
is suitable only for the machine with the DVD drive, not the target
machine with the "FireWire drive", which is the machine you really
want to install OS X on. In your case, e.g. you wouldn't get
the drivers for the iBook's video card onto the iBook.
Could you clarify this?
Regards,
Alex
Hi Alex,
I'm not an authority on this topic, but based on
experience, the installation of Tiger that I did on my 700 MHz G3 iBook using the DVD drive in my
Pismo PowerBook has been completely successful over the past 14
months. I've had no video card support or other hardware
issues.
I also have a copy of OS X 10.3.9 installed on an
external FireWire hard drive. I can't remember if I installed it
using the iBook or the Pismo, but it happily boots and runs them
both - and my 17" G4 PowerBook and
my daughter's 1.2 GHz iBook as
well.
All four machines have different video cards, but
there seems to be no difficulty in that regard.
I can't say categorically that there are no
potential issues associated with doing the FireWire Target Disk
Mode install, but I haven't observed any.
Of course, there is always the risk of possible
problems with any unsupported procedure.
Charles
Flash Player and iCab
From Tom Gabriel
Hi Charles,
Recently there have been letters (including one of my own)
commenting on the difficulty of getting Flash Player to recognize
iCab and install a plugin for it,
including one which offered a "work around". I decided to go to the
source, emailed Alexander Clauss of the iCab development team, and
this is his answer:
"This is not the fault of iCab, because iCab can't
do anything to force the installer to recognize iCab as a browser.
The installer just looks for exactly the three browsers: Netscape,
IE and Opera and will only install the plugin into the private(!)
Plugin folder of these browsers. Since Mac OS 8 there's a
special 'Internet Plug-ins' folder in the System Folder, which is a
public folder where all browsers (with the exception of the old
Netscape browser) will look for plugins. This is the folder where
all plugins should be installed (but even years after Apple
introduced this folder, Macromedia still didn't know about this
folder and insists on using the private Plugin folder of the
browser).
"Fortunately under Mac OS X, Macromedia has
learned about the plugin folder of the system and will finally
install the plugin into the right place where all browsers will
find it and where there's no need anymore to install a private copy
of the plugin for each browser that is on the disk.
"So the only way to install the Flash plugin under
'classic' Mac OS so that iCab can find it is to install it first
for Opera, IE or Netscape and then move the Plugin from the private
Plugins folder of this browser into the public 'Internet Plug-ins'
folder of the system folder."
Seems to work, thus making a very good browser that much
better.
God Bless,
Tom Gabriel
Hi Tom,
Thanks for the report and forwarded explanation
and tip from Alexander.
I'm still an iCab fan, although I tend to use
Opera and SeaMonkey most of the time these days.
Charles
Advice for eMacs
From Clyde Kahrl
Where do I get advice for eMacs? Even though there are more
eMacs out there than anything, there seem to be no eMac lists.
Hi Clyde,
Try these forums:
MacNN
Forums
Mac Owners Support Group
Forum
Charles
Editor's note: The eMac is also covered in
Low End Mac's iMac List.
dk
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