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First of all, the video card was a 2 MB card -- not enough to show millions of colors at 1024 x 768. iTunes visualizations wouldn't display smoothly at all, although I was surprised that QuickTime movies seemed to display fine. The video card could be upgraded to 6 MB, but I felt that wasn't really enough. There was always the option of a newer PCI video card, but that runs into money.
The beige G3 didn't have USB or FireWire, which prevented me from using both my iPod and my USB webcam (which I couldn't even use on my 12" PowerBook, since the webcam doesn't support OS X, or my Dell, since it doesn't support Windows XP, either). I thought about adding a PCI FireWire/USB card, but they don't "officially" support the iPod, and I didn't feel like playing around to try to make it work.
It looked like what I needed was a machine of about the same speed with built in USB and FireWire, as well as a better video card. Everything seemed to point to a blue & white G3.
I
managed to do a trade for a 350 MHz blue G3 tower with a Zip drive as
well as a SCSI card installed. I had already upgraded the RAM in the
beige G3 with a 256 MB module and the hard drive with a 40 GB Maxtor,
so I moved both over to the blue G3 and started it up.
It hung on the startup screen, so I reseated the RAM. This time it hung just before the login screen. I left it for few minutes, and when I came back into the room the screen had shown up. I logged in, and everything seemed normal. I opened some applications, and then it hung again -- for about 30 seconds or so.
I restarted, and it gave me a system error. Restarted again, logged in, and the second partition didn't show up on the desktop. After the next restart half my files were gone or had names like &@x~y3."
I knew the hard drive didn't have corruption problems on the beige G3, but I moved it back and booted that machine just to be sure. It worked fine. I opened the b&w G3 again and looked at how the drives were set up inside. Like the beige G3, the blue G3 has two hard drive controllers, one for up to two hard drives and the second for the CD-ROM and Zip drive.
"Why do I really need a Zip drive?" I thought, remembering that I had used the one in my beige G3 only once. I disconnected that, and, using a spare hard drive bracket, set up the hard drive in the space above the CD-ROM drive (Apple suggests not using the Zip drive bay for hard drives). I set the hard drive to master and the CD-ROM to slave and then connected everything up using a longer IDE cable from an old PC.
It booted and ran perfectly.
The Rev. 1 Problem
Of course, I was curious as to why my hard drive had given me problems with the other controller, so once I got the machine up and running, I went online to find out. Apparently, revision 1 b&w G3s have a hard drive corruption problem if you use certain drives with the built in controller. I guess my 40 GB Maxtor was one of those drives.
This reminded me of the problem I was having with my dad's 400 MHz b&w G3, where half the time the newly installed 80 GB drive wouldn't be recognized, data would disappear from it, or it would ask to be reformatted. I'll bet his is a revision 1 and the drive would work just fine if he connected it to the other controller.
In terms of performance, the blue G3 is definitely faster. Even QuickTime movies, which seemed to play fine on the beige G3, play more smoothly on the blue G3. I'm now able to use a standard VGA monitor without an adapter, and the video card supports high resolutions -- so I chose to use the 19" CTX monitor from my PC. Startup time is about the same, but general responsiveness is quicker.
I don't plan on running OS X on it just yet -- maybe at some point in the future, as it's nice to know that 10.3 is supported on this machine. Right now I've got everything just the way I like it in OS 9, so I think I'll keep it that way for now. After all, it's what about half of all Mac users are still using.
Good-bye to a Good Friend
Also, I'd like to mention my friend Matthew Hunt, who died last
Wednesday at 18 years of age. He was a Mac user, a Web designer, a
photography enthusiast, and just generally an awesome person to be
friends with. I'll miss him greatly. Check out his site, The
Lost Asylum: Fairfield Hills State Hospital, an unfinished
documentary on the Fairfield Hills mental hospital in Newtown, CT.
His girlfriend, Sable, and I plan to finish it in his memory.
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Recent Apple Archive articles
- iPods, notebooks, and other modern electronics more readily replaced than repaired, 12.07. Whether it's an intermittent failure or a broken display cable, more often than not it's cheaper to replace a broken electronics device than repair it.
- Options for replacing your older iPod, 11.19. Whether you've run out of space on your old iPod or want features it doesn't have, here are your options in new and used iPods.
- Could the $200 'green' PC with gOS Linux become a threat to Apple?, 11.14. The low cost, low power Everex desktop comes with a customized version of Ubuntu Linux, has a Mac-like Dock, and sells for $400 less than the Mac mini.
- Leopard different, a bit buggy, but worth the upgrade, 11.02. Leopard on a Power Mac G4 and a MacBook Pro: It runs well on both computers, but each has some odd bugs, and some of the changes are a step backwards.
- More in the Apple Archive index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: Mac mini Core Solo, Feb. 2006 - The only Mac to use a Core Solo CPU, this model ran at 1.5 GHz, has integrated graphics, and includes a Combo drive
- Group of the Day: SuperMacs is for those using Umax SuperMac clones.
- November 24 in LEM history: 98: Microsoft's heavy hand - 00: Looking at the iMac - 04: The best Mac for the holidays - Picking the right replacement for a dead mouse - Better battery for 15" AlBook
- Support Low End Mac
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Pismo WiFi Networking Issue Finally Solved?, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.24. It turns out the problems wasn't the Pismo, the Buffalo WiFi card, or Mac OS X 10.4. It was the Wireless G router - Linksys to the rescue!
- Mini VGA to S-video Adapter a No Go for eMacs, Dan Bashur, Apple, Tech, and Gaming, 11.24. You might think that Apple's Mini VGA S-video adapter is a cheap way to connect your eMac or G4 iMac to your TV. You would be wrong.
- Google Calendar with iPhone or iTouch Is Great for Scheduling, John Hatchett, Recycled Computing, 11.24. Web-based Google Calendar allows access and updates from any computing platform, including Mac, Windows, Linux, and iPhone OS.
- Why Spaces is My Favorite Leopard (and Snow Leopard) Feature, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.23. Spaces, a feature introduced with OS X 10.5, is like having several monitors on your Mac without the cost and space of using multiple displays.
- i5 iMac Benchmarked, Mac mini 'Shouldn't Be Overlooked', Twitter Client for Classic Mac OS, and More, Mac News Review, 11.20. Also why Apple leaves the low end to others, 10.6.2 fixes video playback problem in 27" iMac, 3D Leopard and Snow Leopard performance, and more.
- Apple's Tablet an End Run Beyond Netbooks, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 11.20. Whatever Apple has planned will leverage existing technologies while going beyond what its competitors can offer.
- Apple #4 in Reliability, Apple Tablet a Gadget for All?, HP's i7 Notebook Outdoes Mac Rivals, and More, The 'Book Review, 11.20. Also Flash 10.1 improves video on Hackintosh netbooks, thin-and-light notebooks impress, Windows XP finally on the way out, and more.
- NASA Chemical Sensor for iPhone, Smartphone Death Match, iPhone Earrings, and More, Ian R Campbell, 11.20. Also mobile phone dangers, new apps, GPS solution for iPod touch, new iPod and iPhone cases, and more.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best G4 iMac Deals, 11.24. Used 15" 700 MHz CD-RW, $150; 800 MHz Combo, $229; 1 GHz, $289; 17" 1.25 GHz, $200; 20" 1.25 GHz, $509.
- Best MacBook Air Deals, 11.24. Used from $899; refurb from $1,099; new 1.6 GHz/120 HD, $1,150 after rebate; 1.8/64 SSD, $1,150 a/r; 1.86/128 SSD, $1,350 a/r; 2.13/128 SSD, $1,694 a/r.
- Best PowerBook G3 Deals, 11.24. Used 233 MHz WallStreet, $75; 266 MHz, $160; 400 MHz Lombard, $199; 400 MHz Pismo, $289; 500 MHz, $350.
- Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.23. Used 867 MHz SuperDrive, $348; 1 GHz Combo, $379; SD, $519; 1.33 GHz, $529; 1.5 GHz Combo, $549; SuperDrive, $609.
- Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.23. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 4-core. $1,919; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.93 8-core, $4,999; new 2.26 8-core, $2,290.
- Best Time Capsule and AirPort Deals, 11.23. Used 802.11g AirPort Extreme, $49; 500 GB Time Capsule, $150; new, $190; 1 TB dual-band, $280; 2 TB, $469; 802.11n AirPort Extreme, $170.
- Best eMac Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz Combo, $100; SuperDrive, $269; 1.25 GHz Combo, $119; SD, $319; 1.42 GHz Combo, $289; SD, $498.
- Best Mac OS X 10.6 and Mac Box Set Deals, 11.18. "Snow Leopard", single user, $25; 5 users, $45; Mac Box Set, single user, $139; 5 users, $180; Server, $414. Shipping included.
- Best Xserve Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz dual G4, $649; 2.3 dual G5, $795; 3.0 4-core Xeon, $1,899; refurb 2.26 4-core, $2,499; new, $2,888; refurb 8-core, $2,999; new, $3,449; more.
- More deals in our archive.
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©2000-07 by Adam Robert Guha.
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