Recycled Computing

iBooks on TV, Hard Drive Swaps, and Using an iBook as a Desktop

- 2009.02.23

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I number of alert readers pointed out to me that the 1st generation iPod touch doesn't have a microphone connection through the headphone jack, so the only way to get audio into the iPod is to use a microphone through the dock connector. Fortunately, the Macally iVoice III is available, and it seems to work better with Fring if you wait until after Fring loads before attaching it to the iPod.

I am currently looking for a recording application to see if I can record from, say, another iPod or CD player. (The iVoice III has a stereo input on its base.)

Macs in Media

From the department of "Computers on TV and in the Movies": I was able to buy the first two seasons of Angel (a Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off) for peanuts. Right in the middle of watching the second season, I gasped in amazement. Cordelia Chase (Angel's sidekick and office manager) was using a clamshell iBook. Not just any clamshell, a gray one. Which means that it is the "Paris" iBook with FireWire. I would love to have one of those!

Cordelia Chase using a blueberry iBook in an episode of Angel.

Incidentally, this is why my wife loves me. If I see a pretty girl with a computer, I lust after the computer. Of course, thirty years ago . . . they didn't make iBooks.

Hard Drive Swaps

I am still in the planning stages of moving the hard drive out of the Pismo and swapping it with the hard drive in the G4 iBook that my daughter bequeathed to me from college. I figure that the first step will be removing the 60 GB drive from the G4 iBook.

This looks like the messy part of the entire process. After the long removal procedure, the G4 is going to have to sit for a while, in tiny pieces, while I clone the contents of the Pismo onto the 60 GB drive of the G4. I can remove the 160 GB drive from the Pismo (much easier than the removal of the G4's drive) and then install it into the G4. The 60 GB goes into the Pismo, and I can reinstall "Leopard" on the G4 with the 160 GB drive. I also have a 160 GB FireWire drive that I plan to use with Time Machine to back up the G4.

iBook in Desktop Duty

I still like the Pismo as my regular laptop. Since the iBook G4 has a thin stripe of pixel death, I will use it as a laptop hub for my wireless network at my home. At some point I'll pick up a monitor to use with it. I'd rather use a laptop as desktop, since there is always the possibility of disconnecting the laptop and using it as a laptop. (You can't disconnect a desktop and use it as a laptop!)

I also plan to use the iBook G4 to back up the Pismo every once and while by migrating my settings and files from the Pismo to the iBook. "Tiger" for the Pismo and "Leopard" - the nice thing about the two cats is that they play very well together

This weekend I'm going to "test" the iBook by hooking it up to the snake's nest of wires that hooks my accessories to my main computer.

Life is good, but wouldn't it be nice to have a "Paris" clamshell?

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Recent Recycled Computing Columns

Adventures in Intel Mac Land, Part 2, 2012.01.09. One big advantage of an Intel Mac is the ability to run Google's fast and easy Chrome browser.
Adventures in Intel Mac Land, Part 1, 2012.01.06. With its dual-core Intel processor, the MacBook rips music and video far faster than a G4 ever could.
Blackbird MacBook, 2012.01.03. The PowerBook G4 is dead. Time to go with a black 13.3" MacBook and enter the Mac's Intel Age.
More in the Recycled Computing index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: Mac IIfx, introduced 1990.03.19. This 'wicked fast' 40 MHz Mac trumped the 33 MHz DOS world.
February 14 in LEM history: 98: A perfect compact Mac - 00: Extended computer warranties worth the cost? - Making your PC work with your Mac - 01: Customize Microsoft Word - 02: Quadra revives a passion for computing - 03: Real world performance - DIY Pismo screen replacement - Best Mac for writing - 03: Fastest browser on the Mac - 06: 15" MacBook Pro - Impressions of a newly acquired Lisa - Finding and using free WiFi - Apple should liberate OS 9 - 07: New Mac mini cheaper than upgrading a Power Mac - 08: Falling in love with OS X
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