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New (to me, of course) iBook G4. A few questions. [message #336540] Tue, 31 January 2017 10:35 Go to next message
Michael Moreau is currently offline  Michael Moreau
Messages: 1
Registered: January 2017
Karma: 0
Junior Member
Hey there guys and gals. I just picked up (for $8, the price of a power
adapter), an old iBook G4 in fairly decent condition. The battery still
holds a 3 hour charge and it boots and works well. It's an 800mhz with
256mb of RAM, a standard CD-ROM drive, and a 30gb hard drive. This is not
my first G-Series Mac, but I haven't had one for a LONG time. The last one
I had was a blue & white G3 tower and I loved that thing. Even at 300mhz it
was faster than the PCs I had at the time that were 800mhz or so.

Anyway, I'll get on with the questions:

1. Where can I look up what type of RAM this thing takes and how much it
will accept? I want to max it out.

2. I read that the battery life is supposed to be like 6.5+ hours, is that
true? If so then I guess I'll be getting a new battery since this one only
holds half of that.

3. Any known issues upgrading these to an SSD? I don't have any install
discs so I'd have to clone this 30gb HD straight to a 32gb SSD. (Not even
sure this thing is using SATA to be honest, haha!)

4. What are the best places to find software that will run on the G4
processor? I've managed to find lots of old versions of stuff, but it's
usually post-Intel switch.

5. This little laptop will mostly be for me when I'm writing, or for my
daughter to do some basic web browsing for school as we've already got tons
of other computers, phones, tablets, etc... Any other suggestions though to
make this thing as speedy and enjoyable as possible?

Thanks!

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Re: New (to me, of course) iBook G4. A few questions. [message #336541 is a reply to message #336540] Tue, 31 January 2017 11:52 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Charles Lenington[1] is currently offline  Charles Lenington[1]
Messages: 16
Registered: October 2016
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Junior Member
On 1/31/17 9:35 AM, Michael Moreau wrote:
> Hey there guys and gals. I just picked up (for $8, the price of a
> power adapter), an old iBook G4 in fairly decent condition. The
> battery still holds a 3 hour charge and it boots and works well. It's
> an 800mhz with 256mb of RAM, a standard CD-ROM drive, and a 30gb hard
> drive. This is not my first G-Series Mac, but I haven't had one for a
> LONG time. The last one I had was a blue & white G3 tower and I loved
> that thing. Even at 300mhz it was faster than the PCs I had at the
> time that were 800mhz or so.
>
> Anyway, I'll get on with the questions:
>
> 1. Where can I look up what type of RAM this thing takes and how much
> it will accept? I want to max it out.
>

everymac.com or down load Mactracker
> 2. I read that the battery life is supposed to be like 6.5+ hours, is
> that true? If so then I guess I'll be getting a new battery since this
> one only holds half of that.
>
> 3. Any known issues upgrading these to an SSD? I don't have any
> install discs so I'd have to clone this 30gb HD straight to a 32gb
> SSD. (Not even sure this thing is using SATA to be honest, haha!)
>
> 4. What are the best places to find software that will run on the G4
> processor? I've managed to find lots of old versions of stuff, but
> it's usually post-Intel switch.
>
> 5. This little laptop will mostly be for me when I'm writing, or for
> my daughter to do some basic web browsing for school as we've already
> got tons of other computers, phones, tablets, etc... Any other
> suggestions though to make this thing as speedy and enjoyable as possible?
>
> Thanks!
> --
> --

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Re: New (to me, of course) iBook G4. A few questions. [message #336546 is a reply to message #336540] Tue, 31 January 2017 14:06 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Bruce Johnson is currently offline  Bruce Johnson
Messages: 319
Registered: August 2012
Karma: 0
Senior Member

On Jan 31, 2017, at 8:35 AM, Michael Moreau <michaeljosephmoreau@gmail.com<mailto:michaeljosephmoreau@gmail.com>> wrote:


5. This little laptop will mostly be for me when I'm writing, or for my daughter to do some basic web browsing for school as we've already got tons of other computers, phones, tablets, etc... Any other suggestions though to make this thing as speedy and enjoyable as possible?


Here's a current PPC port of firefox: http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/ if you have at least OS X 10.4 on it. Classilla for earlier versions http://www.floodgap.com/software/classilla/

All PowerPC macs used IDE drives, IIRC. OWC sells SSDs for them https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/SS DMLP120/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shoppingengine& ;utm_campaign=googlebase&gclid=CLvjkv-I7dECFQYOaQodhb0BB w OWC has RAM, too https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/iBooks-PowerBooks/G4- iBook/

But that starts getting into a bunch of money for not a lot of computer...

--
Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group

Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs


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Re: New (to me, of course) iBook G4. A few questions. [message #336611 is a reply to message #336540] Wed, 01 February 2017 17:48 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Mike K. is currently offline  Mike K.
Messages: 19
Registered: March 2016
Karma: 0
Junior Member
* Michael Moreau wrote on 2017-01-31 15:35 +0000:
> Hey there guys and gals. I just picked up (for $8, the price of a power
> adapter), an old iBook G4 in fairly decent condition.

Great find. I wish I was as lucky!

> 1. Where can I look up what type of RAM this thing takes and how much
> it will accept? I want to max it out.

It takes PC2100 DDR SDRAM SO-DIMMs. It'll take a maximum of 1,152MB --
128MB soldered and a 1GB SO-DIMM. You can pick up these SO-DIMMs on
eBay quite cheaply in lower capacities -- eBay UK shows 256MB ones for
less than £5 -- but the 1GB ones are much rarer and much more expensive.
You'll be looking at paying three or four times what you paid for the
machine itself to max the RAM.

> 2. I read that the battery life is supposed to be like 6.5+ hours, is
> that true? If so then I guess I'll be getting a new battery since this
> one only holds half of that.

I used a later one, and with a fresh battery it got about 5.5 hours, 6
at a push. Pretty respectable, but nothing stunning. Running Tiger,
which I'd highly recommend, will maybe shorten it a little. Web
browsing is likely to hit that pretty hard too -- modern-day websites
are pretty heavy.

> 3. Any known issues upgrading these to an SSD? I don't have any install
> discs so I'd have to clone this 30gb HD straight to a 32gb SSD. (Not
> even sure this thing is using SATA to be honest, haha!)

It's IDE. You can pick up IDE SSDs, but they're generally either
expensive or complete trash, and you're looking at another reasonably
big outlay for little reward. A SATA-IDE converter and a cheap SATA SSD
might be a good shout, but again, it'll cost more than the machine is
worth.

> 4. What are the best places to find software that will run on the G4
> processor? I've managed to find lots of old versions of stuff, but it's
> usually post-Intel switch.

You could try eBay and Amazon. I think the software for these has
passed by the 'cheap and plentiful' stage and is now into the 'rare and
expensive' stage. A lot of people still holding software for these
machines will be probably holding it for their own use and won't be keen
on parting with it.

> 5. This little laptop will mostly be for me when I'm writing, or for my
> daughter to do some basic web browsing for school as we've already got
> tons of other computers, phones, tablets, etc... Any other suggestions
> though to make this thing as speedy and enjoyable as possible?

You've covered it all really: max the RAM, get a faster disk in there,
and don't expect too much. It's a nice little machine, and should be a
good little beater laptop.

--
Mike | <http://koralatov.com>
* 15" 'Penryn' MacBook Pro 2.66 * 27" 'Lynnfield' iMac 2.66 *
* 20" iMac G4 * 'Key Lime' iBook G3 466 * G4 Cube 500 *

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Re: New (to me, of course) iBook G4. A few questions. [message #336612 is a reply to message #336546] Wed, 01 February 2017 17:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Mike K. is currently offline  Mike K.
Messages: 19
Registered: March 2016
Karma: 0
Junior Member
* Bruce Johnson wrote on 2017-01-31 19:06 +0000:
> Here's a current PPC port of firefox:
> http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/ if you have at least OS X
> 10.4 on it. Classilla for earlier versions
> http://www.floodgap.com/software/classilla/

Good shout.

> All PowerPC macs used IDE drives, IIRC. OWC sells SSDs for them
> https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/SS DMLP120/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shoppingengine& ;utm_campaign=googlebase&gclid=CLvjkv-I7dECFQYOaQodhb0BB w

Didn't the G5s use SATA? Or did I imagine that? I know more about the
G4s than the G5s by quite a long shot, so I'm possibly mistaken.

> But that starts getting into a bunch of money for not a lot of
> computer...

Fair comment.

--
Mike | <http://koralatov.com>
* 15" 'Penryn' MacBook Pro 2.66 * 27" 'Lynnfield' iMac 2.66 *
* 20" iMac G4 * 'Key Lime' iBook G3 466 * G4 Cube 500 *

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Re: New (to me, of course) iBook G4. A few questions. [message #336617 is a reply to message #336612] Wed, 01 February 2017 18:16 Go to previous message
Bruce Johnson is currently offline  Bruce Johnson
Messages: 319
Registered: August 2012
Karma: 0
Senior Member

On Feb 1, 2017, at 3:50 PM, Mike K. <lists@koralatov.com<mailto:lists@koralatov.com>> wrote:


Didn't the G5s use SATA? Or did I imagine that? I know more about the G4s than the G5s by quite a long shot, so I'm possibly mistaken.

Yes, upon some googling they did. I've worked on so few of them and it was so long ago that I forgot.


--
Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group

Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs


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