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MrPilot

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 30, 2013
316
23
hello!

New here, thought I'd register and make my presence known.

I've used macs since 2000 and never regretted it one bit :)

Last two macs were the last iMac 27" with optical drive and a MacBook Pro 17". Sold the iMac but kept the MBP. Anyhow, I also had in the closet a PowerBook 1ghz 15" with slight issues with logic board, so I sold it for 60USD and bought a newer 1.67 DLHR 15" PB G4 for 100USD. This PB has 2Gb and 5400rpm IDE/PATA HDD. I also had a FW800 HDD 7200rpm external laying around, so I use that as secondary drive for it.

My verdict on using the PowerBook 15" DLHR:

Amazing! I can't believe that after a month of using it, the only thing I can't do with it is using x-plane 10 flightsim, but x-plane 9 works perfect with this machine.

Web browsing: FULL (Webkit for Leopard and Stainless/Roccat)
This allows me to watch youtube normally and facebook, icloud, google drive etc.

Sites like Project Free TV and similar can be seen via XBMC using Navi-X streaming addon. Btw, XBMC is so good with flash that I can even watch video in 720p, even youtube!

I sync my Iphone with SyncMate (syncs my iphone/PBG4/MBP with icloud and google) and PhoneView.

The PBG4 has no built-in iSight but got an app for the iPhone called "iWebcamera" which allows me to use it as such for ppc version of skype.

I also have spotify using airfoil so that I can listen to music in the house wirelessly.

my OSX 10.5.8 has Dock set to 3D and magnify is on. Spotlight is also on and can't tell any difference when I toggle the settings. I have Also installed Mountain Lion theme and that makes this computer work and look just like the real thing.

Other neat apps are Glimmiblocker, iScroll, hacked flash 11.5 (waiting for 11.7 hack) and xslimmer

Perian for me has little or no meaning so far. I cant watch video through websites that divx. So I might uninstall.

Office 2008 has worked out GREAT for me with no compatibility issues.
I sometimes make music so Garageband or Logic are great apps that run very nice on this machine. (thanks to my former boss for the older universal logic app)

I bought stabilize video plugin, works fine for iMovie 6HD and the results are just as great as with newer imovie but with more rendering time though, lol.

I play mostly one game on my MBP, that's age of empires 3 online via Gameranger, and to my surprice both GR and AOE3 are univeral binaries and have great performance on the PowerBook thanks to the 128Mb GFX card. ATI 9700 something.

Video via airplay to my iphone hooked up via HDMI to the TV is no problem thanks to XBMC.

I can also connect the PBG4 directly to the TV via DVI -> HDMI adapter with perfect image and performance. I even set up XBMC to show up only on the TV and have the computer blank out it's screen. To move around the menues in XBMC then I use the magic trackpad using BT.

All in all, a GREAT machine, GREAT KEYBOARD... I just love typing on it! In fact, with EVERYTHING working perfectly on this machine ( Several hours of battery life) I can honestly say I HAVENT TOUCHED my MacBook Pro for almost a month!!

I have just a few issues:

1. I need to get split USB cable to power USB2 drives... can anyone confirm this will work?
2. When I connect an SD card reader to the USB it cant keep the device running, it keeps losing connection with the usual device removal warning. (Y split USB cable?)
3. 1080p video seems a bit too much for this machine, but it can be done provided I drop frames and skip all filters in VLC (only time I run it)
4. Divx videos in web sites cant be loaded. Tried Divx plugs like VLC etc, no go.
5. Clicktoflash (current ver. 2.7.7 I think) doesnt have a full screen button anymore. How to enable?
Should I get a SSD drive? I heard the PCMCIA slot is best suited for such drive.

Thanks!
 
Last edited:

Cox Orange

macrumors 68000
Jan 1, 2010
1,814
241
1. I need to get split USB cable to power USB2 drives... can anyone confirm this will work?
2. When I connect an SD card reader to the USB it cant keep the device running, it keeps losing connection with the usual device removal warning. (Y split USB cable?)
3. 1080p video seems a bit too much for this machine, but it can be done provided I drop frames and skip all filters in VLC (only time I run it)
4. Divx videos in web sites cant be loaded. Tried Divx plugs like VLC etc, no go.
5. Clicktoflash (current ver. 2.7.7 I think) doesnt have a full screen button anymore. How to enable?
6. Should I get a SSD drive? I heard the PCMCIA slot is best suited for such drive.

Thanks!

just a quick shot:
1. not sure whether I understand you, but you do need only one USB-to-USB cable. One end in the PowerBook, the other in the external USB-enclosure. Should provide enough power, at least on my ibook G4 (mid 2005), though I heard there are some drives that do not work via power over USB on Apple Laptops... also Firewire-drives work without additional power-chord. Though I prefer a separate supply of power from the wall plug
2. don't know.
3. is this a question. You might want to look for the video tutorial for PowerPC Macs in this subforum (google: PowerPC video Zenstate site:macrumors.com, this is one I remember. though there is more)
4. try perian? (though you said it has no use for you)
5. /
6. http://lowendmac.com/macdan/md10/powerbook-ibook-ssd.htm and this forum for answers.
 

MrPilot

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 30, 2013
316
23
just a quick shot:
1. not sure whether I understand you, but you do need only one USB-to-USB cable. One end in the PowerBook, the other in the external USB-enclosure. Should provide enough power, at least on my ibook G4 (mid 2005), though I heard there are some drives that do not work via power over USB on Apple Laptops... also Firewire-drives work without additional power-chord. Though I prefer a separate supply of power from the wall plug
2. don't know.
3. is this a question. You might want to look for the video tutorial for PowerPC Macs in this subforum (google: PowerPC video Zenstate site:macrumors.com, this is one I remember. though there is more)
4. try perian? (though you said it has no use for you)
5. /
6. http://lowendmac.com/macdan/md10/powerbook-ibook-ssd.htm and this forum for answers.

Thank you for your reply! Will see if I can get perian to correctly play divx content.

I already use FW800 external drive.... its fast and great but both USB2 drives I've tried, didnt work. Not enough juice out of the USB port.

Thanks again :D

edit: Checked out zen.state but it's not relevant, as his posts are from 2011 and things have happened since :)
 

MrPilot

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 30, 2013
316
23
I have tried it on a PowerMac G4 but not powerbooks.
I like to use QuickTime.
I use MacTubes for youtube.

Aha, see I asked because overclocking GPU wont make a difference in video playback since the player must take advantage of it. I thought maybe you used a player which could use GPU power as well. I know that VLC and XBMC both use altivec optimizations for playback, not the GPU afaik.

Launch VLC or XBMC and set CPU speed and mem speed to -40% and you wont notice a framedrop. I used XBMC for testing since it can output to the screen current FPS (frames per second) and CPU load.

cheers!

----------

If you want to melt the PB.
I think it will corrupt display output with artifacts and flickering before melting it. However videoplayers afaik don't use GPU
 

ihuman:D

macrumors 6502a
Jul 11, 2012
925
1
Ireland
Aha, see I asked because overclocking GPU wont make a difference in video playback since the player must take advantage of it. I thought maybe you used a player which could use GPU power as well. I know that VLC and XBMC both use altivec optimizations for playback, not the GPU afaik.

Launch VLC or XBMC and set CPU speed and mem speed to -40% and you wont notice a framedrop. I used XBMC for testing since it can output to the screen current FPS (frames per second) and CPU load.

cheers!

----------


I think it will corrupt display output with artifacts and flickering before melting it. However videoplayers afaik don't use GPU

Figure of speech ;) and some video players might not use GPU acceleration but other software and video players might.
 

Cox Orange

macrumors 68000
Jan 1, 2010
1,814
241
However videoplayers afaik don't use GPU
This. Though we know this, some PowerMac G5 users were recently discussing, that some can't play youtube/flash at HD resolution and others can. Those that can said they have either a Geforce 7800GTX or Quadro. Though I do know to less about the programming side of that, there must be something to it.
 

rabidz7

macrumors 65816
Jun 24, 2012
1,205
3
Ohio
If you want to melt the PB.


Nothing can be damaged by overclocking without overvolting.
Things however can be damaged by heat, which is a byproduct of wattage, which overclocking increases.
BUT
Overclocked wattage increases very slowly in a linear pattern.
ALSO
Before anything is permanently damaged by heat it will shut down.
AND
With careful and reasonable overclocking no thermal shutdowns wll occur.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I am assuming you are using a video accelerated player.
 

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
Nothing can be damaged by overclocking without overvolting.

You must have never tried to overclock a Northwood P4. Those suckers would burn out as soon as you went 100Mhz above their stock clock and most of the time they'd never work again. This problem wasn't fixed until the last stepping of them and was completely fixed in the Prescott P4. There are also many stories of people burning out their GPU by trying to overclock it. Heat output was the same, they just turned up the clock and fried the GPU.
 

MrPilot

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 30, 2013
316
23
Which would be?

yes, that's the question that drives me....that gives me purpose... ;)
No video players so far have displayed performance drop when lowering clock and mem speeds on the GPU even down to -50%

Maybe coreplayer? I heard it was discontinued without being released publicly first. suckers :(

----------

essencially it looked as if he "Cleared History" all over his heatsink

That one passed me at flight level 600. (High above my head) I take it he modded the powermac?
 

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
yes, that's the question that drives me....that gives me purpose... ;)
No video players so far have displayed performance drop when lowering clock and mem speeds on the GPU even down to -50%

Maybe coreplayer? I heard it was discontinued without being released publicly first.

That one passed me at flight level 600. (High above my head) I take it he modded the powermac?

Rabidz7 may be talking about a video player that uses CoreVideo, like NicePlayer. There's no way you'll ever get CorePlayer. The company that was selling it stopped and each copy is tired to a Mac's serial number, and it hasn't been crack as of now. The infamous thing we're all referencing is that rabidz7 once redid the heatsink grease on a PowerBook. He put on far too much so that it looked like he iced a cake. Oddly enough, it was ArticSilver which is highly conductive. He probably shorted out that Powerbook because it got squeezed out.
 

MisterKeeks

macrumors 68000
Nov 15, 2012
1,833
28
Here is a photo of it:

attachment.php


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video player that uses CoreVideo, like NicePlayer.

CorePlayer?
 

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
CorePlayer?

CorePlayer as well, but its power comes mostly from AltiVec and less from CoreVideo. I believe VLC also uses CoreVideo to some degree as does QuickTime. But QuickTime's implementation of it is odd and slightly slow.
 

MisterKeeks

macrumors 68000
Nov 15, 2012
1,833
28
CorePlayer as well, but its power comes mostly from AltiVec and less from CoreVideo. I believe VLC also uses CoreVideo to some degree as does QuickTime. But QuickTime's implementation of it is odd and slightly slow.

So is Niceplayer the player for those who didn't get Coreplayer before it was gone?
 

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
Not really. It doesn't do very well with h264. It does work well for AVI and non-h264 mpeg though. A good alternative to CorePlayer would be MPlayerOSX (the PowerPC one from 2006) or VLC.
 
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