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bringing my old pb g4 back to life.

H

hypermaster

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 22, 2007
7
0
i finally removed my old pb g4 frm some old top shelf,as i needed a basic laptop in my office.

specs....
pb g4 1.1ghz
256mb ram
15''
60gb
battery is ****..need to remove the battery and plug in to the mains for it to start up
no wifi
bluetooth is working
running 10.3.9

my problem.....
i have a dlink pcmcia wifi card..it detects it and an icon appears but cant start the card

i have a dlink usb wifi as well..it does not even powerup in either of the usb's.

my 1gb pendrive works, but 8gb does not even power up.


what i intend on doing....
upgrading ram to max

getting wifi working with pcmcia or usb

upgrading os

running windows xp


my questions/help needed......
1.can i upgrade to leopard?
2. where can i get drivers for dlink pcmcia wifi card
3.can i run windows xp..how fast will it be [i use vmware
on my mb with 2gb and its perfect]
4. can anyone suggest the cheapest online place to buy a replacement battery.

i am ready to experiment with any new software /method...i got nithing to lose....

any suggestions / experimentations will do...
thanks in advance
 
hypermaster said:
i finally removed my old pb g4 frm some old top shelf,as i needed a basic laptop in my office.

specs....
pb g4 1.1ghz
256mb ram
15''
60gb
battery is ****..need to remove the battery and plug in to the mains for it to start up
no wifi
bluetooth is working
running 10.3.9

my problem.....
i have a dlink pcmcia wifi card..it detects it and an icon appears but cant start the card

i have a dlink usb wifi as well..it does not even powerup in either of the usb's.

my 1gb pendrive works, but 8gb does not even power up.


what i intend on doing....
upgrading ram to max

getting wifi working with pcmcia or usb

upgrading os

running windows xp


my questions/help needed......
1.can i upgrade to leopard?
2. where can i get drivers for dlink pcmcia wifi card
3.can i run windows xp..how fast will it be [i use vmware
on my mb with 2gb and its perfect]
4. can anyone suggest the cheapest online place to buy a replacement battery.

i am ready to experiment with any new software /method...i got nithing to lose....

any suggestions / experimentations will do...
thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Sell it for $400 and buy a refurbed MB for $949. The money that you are going to spend on RAM, WiFi, OS and such will almost equal that of a new MB.

Save yourself the headache and get a computer that will last.
 
yeah.but sometime going from powerbook to macbook is like chalk and cheese.
i'm considering going back to the powerbook actually.
 
I have to admit that I feel kinda pissed at the thread. A 1 ghz powerbook is my main machine, not some backup just for fun project! :mad: :p ;)
 
I'm an old Powerbook G4 head and let me tell you, for the tasks you're about to undergo, you might as well get the macbook. You're going to be pouring a few hundred into a machine you'll eventually have to replace anyway. Unless you don't have the extra money to buy new or refurb at the moment, I think it would be wise to just buy the Macbook.

The resolution is so good on the Macbook, you won't feel like you got suckered into a cheap machine.
 
Running XP (VirtualPC) on a 1.25 Ghz / 1.5 GB / Powerbook G4 was too slow for me.

I would also suggest getting a refurb MacBook
 
UM, you can't (natively) run windows on a powerbook as it uses powerpc chips, not intel. No chance unless maybe you buy an old copy of microsoft virtual pc for mac someware. But I have a feeling that would be almost prohibitively slow on your machine.
 
Klaxons2012 said:
I'm an old Powerbook G4 head and let me tell you, for the tasks you're about to undergo, you might as well get the macbook. You're going to be pouring a few hundred into a machine you'll eventually have to replace anyway. Unless you don't have the extra money to buy new or refurb at the moment, I think it would be wise to just buy the Macbook.

The resolution is so good on the Macbook, you won't feel like you got suckered into a cheap machine.
Click to expand...

Boooooyaaaahhhhhhhhh!
 
I *really* wouldn't run Windows XP under Virtual PC - it's so slow it's almost unuseable.

It's not like Parallels / VMWare on Intel Macs which is a virtualisation layer. Virtual PC is an emulator, which means that it has to translate everything for the G4 CPU, which is why it's so slow.
 
brn2ski00 said:
Sell it for $400 and buy a refurbed MB for $949. The money that you are going to spend on RAM, WiFi, OS and such will almost equal that of a new MB.

Save yourself the headache and get a computer that will last.
Click to expand...

+1 to this, though he will need a battery too, that just about puts him in the range, if not past it.

OP: Get a MB, even if its refurb, you will have so much more than that PB will give you. I have a PB 1.67 it has a bad logic board. I was going to replace the board, but it will cost almost as much as a refurb MB. You have just about as much to spend to get that thing ready as I do.
 
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