MAC OS X Question

[n_maher]

Ok macophiles, I've got an OS X question for you. The laptop that I'm currently using is a Powerbook G4 w/ 1GHz processor and a piddly 256Mb of RAM. It's using OS X 10.3x9 which I believe is "Panther" or some such nonsense. Basically what I'm trying to do is upspec the laptop to the point where it can use the Duet. I've got a 1Gb RAM stick, but it was unstable when I first installed it. So my thought is to try upgrading the OS to Tiger (10.4.11, I think) and I'm wondering what I have to do to do this? Can I just download the upgrade from Apple? Can I purchase a used copy? Other thoughts or suggestions appreciated. I'm trying to limit my investment here since it's really just going to be used to test some Duet cables.

[hYdrociTy]

I would stay with panther on a g4 processor imo.

which one of these do you have?
one of these or this one

[n_maher]

Don't know how to tell which one it is, suggestions?

And if I stick w/ Panther, no duet.

[EdipisReks]

is it light silver or dark silver with a light trim?

you'll have to buy Tiger. Apple won't let you upgrade form Panther to Tiger for free any more than Microsoft would let you upgrade from Windows 2000 to XP. ygpm.

[mirumu]

I've got a similar Mac. It's an iBook G4 1.06Ghz but it has 768MB RAM and an ATI Mobility Radeon 9200. Tiger ran fine on it, and Leopard runs even better. It does have a 7200RPM hard drive in it which will help matters. It's not worth spending too much on an older Mac like this, but they're still perfectly usable for many purposes. I have a Leopard family pack myself so had spare licenses.

Generally speaking Macs won't detect or enable RAM that doesn't support the memory timings required by the computer so if that 1GB of RAM was outright bad I'd expect the OS to still only show 256MB even with the 1GB SODIMM installed. There is RAM out there though where the DIMM's SPD is programmed with timings that the memory chips are not always capable of achieving. In this situation MacOS will enable the RAM, but it will be unstable. I have seen this happen myself with some lesser brands of RAM. Since the EFI bios doesn't allow the user to override the memory timings then in that situation the only option is to put up with less RAM, the instability, or simply buy a better stick of RAM.

[n_maher]

Well I reinstalled the RAM and ran some memory tests, all of which passed and the machine has been stable so far (knocks on wood). If all goes well this week I'll have a go at installing Tiger at the end of the week.

In other news I finally sorted the issues that I was having with the available VGA connectors. Indra's cable will be the first to be tested by someone else so hopefully she can post impressions when it arrives.

[JBLoudG20]

Hey nate, might you let me in on how you solved the issue? I may want to remake a certain cable

[n_maher]

Sure, no secrets here. I cut the retention tabs on the front of the connector flush with the face of the plug. There's enough of the connector left to hold the flange of the plug so that it doesn't feel loose but it allows the plug to fully seat in the duet and the screws are finally able to grab the embedded fasteners. This picture shows it as well as it can be shown.


click for larger version

[JBLoudG20]

Thanks buddy.

[n_maher]

Well crap, the laptop has gone unstable again. Firefox keeps crashing with the same error, before I put the RAM in it never crashed. So, any suggestions for where to buy "good" RAM?

[tkam]

What ram did you get and what ram type does that laptop take?

[Pars]

I always liked Crucial for RAM. Back when we used to use Macs at work, we did alot of business with Technology Works, but I'm not sure if they are even around anymore. Our director made us switch to Windoze a number of years ago...

[n_maher]

What ram did you get and what ram type does that laptop take?

The salted peanut sent me an old stick that he had used in one of his computers. It uses PC2700 type RAM and there was some past discussion of the topic here - http://www.head-case.org/forums/gene...erbook-g4.html - and Stephen's link to RamJet seems like the best lead. Just sucks that older, slower memory is about 2x as expensive.

And truth be told I'm not 100% sure which G4 I have (Titanium vs. Aluminum).

[EdipisReks]

does it look like:



or this:

[n_maher]

does it look like:

DING DING DING

[thrice]

That's the aluminum. Also, the Titanium takes PC-133 RAM, the aluminum takes either DDR PC-2700 or DDR2 PC2-4200.

I think you mentioned PC-2700 RAM in the other thread as it was the module that was in the computer when you first received it.

[n_maher]

I based the PC2700 assumption based on the 1Ghz processor speed. I'll confirm it tonight from the system specs, it should say DDR or DDR2. But based on everything I've read they never made a 1Ghz notebook that used DDR2.

[grawk]

check dealram.com, or just go to macsales.com

[tkam]

NewEgg is your friend

[n_maher]

NewEgg is your friend

My concern w/ NewEgg is not knowing what qualifies as a reliable choice.

Dan, thanks, I'll check those two and see what they have to offer.