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.

I would stay with panther on a g4 processor imo.

which one of these do you have?

one of these or this one

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

And if I stick w/ Panther, no duet.

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.

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.

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

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

Thanks buddy.

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?

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

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...

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/general-sale/3496-wtb-mac-ram-powerbook-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).

does it look like:

DING DING DING

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.

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.

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

NewEgg is your friend

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.

ram is ram, no matter what brand your buying there's only about 3 or 4 companies that make the actual memory chips. besides most ram these days has a lifetime warranty and the rma processes with the bigger brands are pretty painless.

corsair, kingston, crucial are the biggest ones that come to my mind.

ram is ram,

That's what I would have thought, but I've read all sorts of stories about Mac's being incompatible with certain types of RAM. Seemed like bullshit to me until I installed this chip and had things go south.

corsair, kingston, crucial are the biggest ones that come to my mind.

Ok, I'll roll the dice and see what happens.

ram is ram, no matter what brand your buying there's only about 3 or 4 companies that make the actual memory chips. besides most ram these days has a lifetime warranty and the rma processes with the bigger brands are pretty painless.

corsair, kingston, crucial are the biggest ones that come to my mind.

Crucial is part of Micron, which last time I checked did make RAM chips (they were the last US fab that still did dynamic ram). I used to work for Mostek, which is where Micron's founders came from.

Ok, I'll roll the dice and see what happens.

Only use RAM that Steve Jobs has been in the presence of.....always.

Only use RAM that Steve Jobs has blessed.

FTFY.

ram is ram, no matter what brand your buying there's only about 3 or 4 companies that make the actual memory chips. besides most ram these days has a lifetime warranty and the rma processes with the bigger brands are pretty painless.

corsair, kingston, crucial are the biggest ones that come to my mind.

Everything you said is true, but the company actually making the DIMM still has the chance to screw things up unfortunately. I've seen far too many memory chips driven beyond their capabilities by optimistically programmed SPD chips. The SPD is a small flash chip that you'll find on every DIMM or SODIMM which holds information on what speeds and timings it's memory chips supports. It's read by the bios and the computer will use the information it contains to determine the speeds at which it accesses the memory chips. The problem is that a perfectly good memory chip that for example is 100% stable at 533Mhz might run fine at 667Mhz 99.99% of the time, and some companies save money by shipping modules claiming to support those higher speeds (and program the SPD to say so) when they are not completely stable.

The reason to pay more for a name brand is purely for the peace of mind that the RAM is fully capable of sustaining the speed claimed. The companies you mention like Corsair, Kingston and Crucial are always conservative with their SPD timings and from my experience most of the overclocker brands like OCZ are as well since they cherry-pick the fastest memory chips and have to be seen to support higher speeds.

It is actually possible to reprogram the SPD chips on the DIMMs and bring them back into line with the official specs of the memory chips. I've even seen software capable of doing on the fly in a live system although usually it requires a dedicated DIMM programmer like one of these.

Usually though changing SPD values is a bad idea unless you're trying to slow it down.

Only use RAM that Steve Jobs has been in the presence of.....always.

x2