iBook Clamshell upgrade

It won't fit. The logicboard inside those G3 iBooks is actually shaped the same as the computer & thats just that one part.

I wonder if there are other distros which can handle the clamshell specs? They are tiny by todays standards, and any flash is probably out of the question. Is it possible to log on to FB with alternative browsers like Dillo? The small lightweigth linux distros like puppy linux doesn`t come in powerpc version unfortunately. Lubuntu, Debian and mintppc would probably install, but how it will run I don`t know. Old hardware like this is not worth paying much for, if at all. If you are given one it might be fun to try though.

Edit; I just bumped into this; there might be hope. I have had equally old regular PC run all fine with different open source distros, but they tend to have double cpu and ram specs, I have never used a clamshell.

Buy your clamshell and forget osx..install mac os 9.2 (upgrade to 9.2.2)...then install classilla web browser...facebook away and impress your friends!

In case MacOS 9 isn't sufficient, you could go with Debian, run FVWM, and use Midori as your main web browser. It's extremely easy to configure through apt-get and I've used it on 192 MB of RAM and the performance was amazing.

Someone has modded the Clamshell... and here it is!

I'd seen youtube videos of a guy who was modernizing a clamshell, and thought it was interesting. He uses a MacBook Air innards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm_PC6yLvIU&list=PLTFQl8aMAxqwVhbxf8LcWAroqFA6lKphh&index=5

He's now selling them on eBay here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/iBook-G3-Cl...920?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19fef7c458

for 2,700 - NOT including the MacBook Air - which you must provide or pay for and he will purchase it for you.

Personally, I love the old clamshell. I got one for my son for his first laptop, when they first came out, and got a souped up one again when he was in HS for him to take to school with him. They were sturdy for that purpose, and he loved it, as well.

Yes, the screen was tiny, but ... for word processing and other schoolwork it worked fine. Now, I'm not tempted to buy this for this kind of price, but this thread peaked my interest, and I pulled the old clamshell out of the closet where all my old macs are stacked. And - it still feels pretty cool. Now to find the yoyo plug and see if it will power up ...

I actually use my Clamshell as a gaming laptop-albeit for older games(which are really the only ones I play).

It's plenty fast for programs designed to run on a 601 or 603 processor, plus has a ton more memory and better graphics than the computers that these were designed to run on. The screen resolution is a plus for the games that I play on it, as many old full screen games were designed for a 640x480 screen and the 800x600 screen reduces the "windowing" effect seen on higher resolution screens.

You can with a modest investment boost the display to 1024x768, which increases the range of software you can run. Some will just not work because buttons end up off screen if the software installs at all.

Darvadee said:

I'd seen youtube videos of a guy who was modernizing a clamshell, and thought it was interesting. He uses a MacBook Air innards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm_PC6yLvIU&list=PLTFQl8aMAxqwVhbxf8LcWAroqFA6lKphh&index=5

He's now selling them on eBay here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/iBook-G3-Cl...920?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19fef7c458

for 2,700 - NOT including the MacBook Air - which you must provide or pay for and he will purchase it for you.

Click to expand...

Ooo

This is interesting. The cost is too much for me though.