Closing the lid on my G4 Powerbook ....

[MrVegas]

I know that when I close the lid on my Powerbook that it parks the heads on the hard drive.

I like to use the Powerbook at work to stream audio (my main computer is a PC at the office). It would be nice to be able to close the lid on it without parking the hard drive.

Is there an easy way to alternate between (a) closing the lid and not turning off hard drives, and (b) closing the lid and turning off hard drives?

 

[jeremy.king]

I've heard if you connect an external display and keyboard, youre pb won't go to sleep.

 

[blodwyn]

I've heard if you connect an external display and keyboard, youre pb won't go to sleep. Furthermore, the powerbook isn't really designed to be used with the lid closed, the keyboard is used to exhaust heat...So running it closed for any significant amount of time could be troublesome...

Actually the Powerbook is OK to run with the lid shut. The iBook is the one that exhausts through the keyboard and needs the lid open.

 

[grapes911]

Actually the Powerbook is OK to run with the lid shut. The iBook is the one that exhausts through the keyboard and needs the lid open.

Correct. The PB was purposely designed to operated with the lid closed, assuming you have all external devices needed to operate a computer.

 

[emw]

Is there an easy way to alternate between (a) closing the lid and not turning off hard drives, and (b) closing the lid and turning off hard drives?

If you don't have an external monitor, which it sounds like you don't, it's a little more difficult.

If I understand correctly, you would like to run the audio program while your PowerBook is closed. To do this, I think you can set up the PB to automatically login and run the audio app at startup, hit the power button to start up the Mac, then quickly close the lid. I believe it will start up and launch the audio program for you even with the lid closed.

If it's awake and you close the lid, I don't think there is any way to prevent sleep. Although you may be able to plug in and unplug a USB device like a mouse and the Mac will wakeup while closed, but I don't know if your app would start/keep running.

 

[Aliquis]

Just go to macupdate.com and search for (or go to versiontracker.com) and search for no sleep or something like that - I don't remember what it's called. There are a few free little apps you can download that will let you close the lid without your 'book going to sleep.