Treating my PB like a desktop. . .

Well, if you have a keyboard with the power button on it, and it doesn't work, I don't think you'll get it to work any other way. I think the real question is: why do you shut your PowerBook down? Just put it to sleep. As soon as you connect a USB device (eg, keyboard, mouse, ect.), the PB will wake up. It's actually better to leave the system "up", as opposed to shutting it down frequently. My PB has had an uptime of 25 days now. Sorry I don't have a direct solution for your problem, but I think letting the PB sleep is your best bet.

yeah his solution will be the best way to access the lid closed operation. i dont even think the old powerkey keyboards boot new macs, i tried it on my g5 and it didnt work.

iJon

Originally posted by DigiHal
This may be a stupid question, but why is it bad to shut down my mac all the time?

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OS X is UNIX based, and being such, functions better when left on. OS X builds up caches which help it run faster after being on for awhile.

Powerbutton keyboards do not work on new Macs. I tried it today with my B/W keyboard connected to my MDD PowerMac.

Re: Treating my PB like a desktop. . .

Originally posted by DigiHal
I just bought a sweet desk and I want to take advantage of it fully.

I also have a nice monitor coming but I have one question. . . how can I hook up a keyboard and a monitor to my PB, and turn it on without cracking open the beauty and doing it manually.

I have tried it with an old monitor and I bought a mac keyboard at CompUSA that has the power button on it, but nothing. . .

I know this may be a silly request, but I am curious on how to do this. . .

And, as if you didn't know, I am a noob. A switcher as a matter of fact.

Thanks for all the help.

Best, DH!

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It's basically just as easy as plugging your stuff in and turning the monitor on. You'll need to plug the laptop into A/C power though...if memory serves me correctly, you cannot run in "screen-closed" mode with just the battery power. As others have said, the power button on the keyboard won't work--just leave it in sleep mode instead.

why not power down

Well, powering up a laptop or desktop computer is like coming back from sleep. All the hard ware is off (basically), but coming back from sleep your are to your desktop in a matter of seconds instead of minutes waiting for the full boot up. Use the sleep mode when in travel too. Then when you reach your destination, open up and go.

Yeah my powerbook is almost never shut down unless I'm cleaning it which I usually do around the same time I have to restart due to some software update. The only other times I have shut it down is when I'm not going to use it for more than a day or two, and I can only think of one time that's happened. Plus it pays to leave it on to allow the self repairs to happen at 3am daily, 4am saturday morning weekly, and 5am on the first of each month. If your computer is off at those times, you won't get the benefit of the repair utilities (unless you reschedule them in your crontab).

Why work with the lid down on the powerbook when you can increase your screen space with montior spaning?

I set my eMac's display to go off in one minute (but leave the computer on) at night, so it can do the Folding@Home stuff while I'm asleep.

Although it just occured to me that maybe I should leave it on one night without the Folding so that it can do the maintenance stuff..

Oh crap...what if the maintenance stuff IS happening but is being screwed up by the folding!

Originally posted by neoelectronaut
I set my eMac's display to go off in one minute (but leave the computer on) at night, so it can do the Folding@Home stuff while I'm asleep.

Although it just occured to me that maybe I should leave it on one night without the Folding so that it can do the maintenance stuff..

Oh crap...what if the maintenance stuff IS happening but is being screwed up by the folding!

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Maintenance and folding will work together just fine.

I like the idea of using both your external monitor and your built in to get double the space. You might as well, you paid for both monitors. I used to have that set up when I had an external monitor, and it was really nice to have. Oh, and for those of you that are worried about your computers not running the repair utility, I hear ya, I sleep my tibook at night to save electricity so the repairs never got done until I figured out a way to do it manually. You can use terminal or get a little app called Macjanitor that will cause the computer to run the repair utility anytime you like.