Dual 2.5GHz PowerMacs Shipping

[dlastmango]

Current shipping times?

So I ordered my DP 2.5, 160GB HD, 9800XT, 1GB RAM, systems last wednesday. Apple says it should ship on or before Nov. 19th. How accurate is their estimate? I hope they over exadurate their ship times to make the customes feel like they are lucky by receiving their new systems early!!!

Thanks for everyone input..

Chris

Oh... and to make matters wose, I have my 20" LCD arriving Monday...
WHAT A GOOD LOOKING PAPER WEIGHT!!! but hopefully not for too long.

 

[Garamond]

A little font bug notice

I received my G5 (dual 2.5GHz, 9600XT) last wednesday and have been busy copying and installing. It's easy to say it's the best computer I've ever used, brilliant speed and the noise level is extremely low for a powerhouse like this!

Anyway, I just wanted you people to know about a little bug I've come over in 10.3.5: in my case, using Suitcase X1 (11.0.2), the font Zapf Dingbats didn't show up in QuarkXPress 6.1 at all. At first I thought it was a font corruption problem, but after reading Apple's support forums I learned that to remedy this I had to downgrade to 10.3.4! The discs delivered with the G5 had 10.3.5 on them, so I had to borrow the 10.3.4-version at work. I made an Archive and Install btw. Well, now I'm happy to say that the font bug is gone, and everything seems to work as it should be!

And to all of you still waiting for the "baby", hang in there. It's worth the wait!

 

[relimw]

Well, for those who are interested in seeing my setup :

http://mac.goaly.net

now off to bed, cu guys

Nice curtains klaus

Even nicer system pics
How's the 23" monitor? That's actually my next purchase(replacing a 19" crt), hopefully I'll have one for Christmas

 

[klaus]

thx, my monitor rocks! there is one stuck pixel (green) somewhere in the middle, but I only saw it once, when dvdplayer showed a black background briefly before playing a movie. Otherwise, you can't see it. I'm extremely happy about this monitor. I had 2 19" crts before, and this thing blows it away, less space, brighter, sexier, better, and so on

oh and ps : those curtains my folks chose them, not me

 

[Ge4-ce]

Hehe.. Nice setup Klaus.. Mine will look about the same! I also have that type of design of a Lacie external HD. Is your Lacie Drive also a bit noisy? Mine beats my powerbook by 5 times I guess.

Someone said something about avatars in this forum.. When can you add it? I was looking for that lately..

Update on my G5: Still waiting and nothing is certain. november 1st it will be officially 4 months!!! for a stock machine..

 

[klaus]

Ge4-ce, well, that lacie isn't extremely quiet, and it's louder than my G5, but I only put it on when I need to transfer or backup files, It doesn't bother me a lot, and the speed is magnificent, copying huge folders and files over on fw800 flies in comparison to usb 2.0

about that avatar, in your profile, you can upload a custom avatar if you reached 500 posts or something.

gl with your mac, hope it's not too long anymore

 

[Ge4-ce]

Well seems to me maybe I will receive my Mac when I get my Avatar!! You need to have 500 posts.. I only have 179 now..

that means.. if I post 321 times today.. I will have my G5 tommorow!!! OK, everybody.. Here I go! post 1 T-minus 178 (just kidding)

ps, Klaus, You're right about the Lacie drive.. I also shut it down a lot. But everytime I boot, it launches with the computer. Then I have to drag the icon to trasch everytime I boot! That's a lot of work to do every day! Or I can select the drive and press cmd-E that's better, but EVERY DAY!! ?? and I hate pulling out the cable... Goddamn I'm lazy!

 

[danhaupt]

Fans/heat dissipation

I mention the following not as a recommendation for how to treat your 2.5, but rather as an observation on the efficiency of the cooling system.

I got drenched coming in to work on my bike this morning, so I've been using the fans on the back of my 2.5 to dry my clothes for the ride home tonight.

To increase the heat, I set the processor performance to Highest. Then I ran StatView in Classic mode, which for some reason hogs almost 100% of CPU B just displaying the opening splash, without a database open or anything. Then I added in iTunes visualizations to max out both CPUs continuously, and hopefully warm up the 9600.

The CPUs are running in the 180s Farenheit, but the fans are barely making any sound, nothing compared to the full speed hardware test experience.

This is despite extremely poor airflow caused by my clothing hanging on the drying rack, I mean the AirPort antenna. My clothes are drying better than I hoped, as well.

It's been stable for several hours now, although I am keeping a close eye on the temps.

-Dan

 

[Kairy]

CD & DVD mount time

just got word from my reseller - "... should be comming in by the end of the week."

(ordered June 16th)

I've been working on a DP 2.0 lately and noticed that it takes quite a while (more than the usual on a G4) for Panther.5 to mount CD's and DVD's via Built-in SuperDrive.

Has anyone encountered this problem ?


-Hey Klaus, I think I've seen your name in like every page of this thread. I'm so glad you finally got your Mac. - enjoy it man.

 

[DarylF2]

Shell (tcsh) Script to Back Up Home Directory to a Compressed Disk Image

I put together this script for my own use, and thought others here might find it useful:

#!/bin/tcsh -f
# 
# Backup_Daryl_To_Storage_DMG (tcsh script)
# version 1.0.1 (2004-10-15)
#

#
# Embedded copy of /Users/daryl/Scripts/setdatetime.
#
set TEMP_DATE = `mktemp -t setdatetime-date.XXXXXXXXXX` || exit 1
set TEMP_TIME = `mktemp -t setdatetime-time.XXXXXXXXXX` || exit 1

date '+setenv DATE %Y-%m-%d' > $TEMP_DATE
date '+setenv TIME %H:%M:%S' > $TEMP_TIME

source $TEMP_DATE ; rm $TEMP_DATE
source $TEMP_TIME ; rm $TEMP_TIME

#
# Script code to create the DMG file from user home directory.
#
set SRC_USER = "daryl"
set SRC_DIR  = "/Users/${SRC_USER}"

set DEST_DMG = "/Volumes/Storage/-Backup/${DATE} ${SRC_USER}.dmg"
set DEST_OUT = "${DEST_DMG}.out"

if ((-e "${DEST_DMG}") == 0) then
    sudo hdiutil create -srcfolder $SRC_DIR -fs HFS+ -format UDZO -imagekey zlib-level=9 -volname $SRC_USER "$DEST_DMG" >&! "$DEST_OUT"
else
    echo "Output file '${DEST_DMG}' already exists; aborting."
endif

Of course you'll need to change the SRC_USER and DEST_DMG variables to hold values that make sense for your system. A little creative editing can very easily change this script to backup any directory to a compressed disk image.

I made it owned by "root.system" (chown root.system FILENAME) and set its permissions to "-rwxr-x---" (chmod u+rwx FILENAME; chmod go-rwx FILENAME; chmod g+rx FILENAME). I also added it to my system crontab (Cronnix makes this simple) so that it runs automatically every Saturday morning at 4:00AM ("0 4 * * 6 root FILENAME").

Be careful to limit ownership and write access if you have it run from the system crontab, as it will run with root (!) permissions (necessary in my case since some of my application's preferences cannot be read with a regular user account, for security reasons). If you don't have these issues, you can run it from your regular user crontab and skip the chown (and possibly chmod) steps.

EDIT: My backup disk image fits on a DVD (barely...) so I back it up to DVD every Saturday as well.

 

[wdlove]

Seeing that script scares me, clueless. That is why if and when I get a G5, prefer to get ProCare and have a Mac Genius do the transfer and setup.

 

[j79]

FINALLY!

The 6800 arrived today!! It was left at my door (even though I specificially requested the item be left at the main office..)

*SIGH*

Anyways, I haven't had a chance to install. I'm afraid to.. The item was clearly returned -- Anti-static bag was wrinkled and the original sticker was already torn. PLUS, there was scratches and marks from use..

*SIGH*

Oh well. Hopefully everything will be fine!

Off to install this beast (it's HUGE!!!)

 

[klaus]

Anyways, I haven't had a chance to install. I'm afraid to.. The item was clearly returned -- Anti-static bag was wrinkled and the original sticker was already torn. PLUS, there was scratches and marks from use..

Hmm, if I were you, i'd call apple and tell them about this. I wouldn't like to receive an opened item when you purchased a brand spanking new one. It's not like you purchased a refurb or something!

Good luck!

 

[DarylF2]

Seeing that script scares me, clueless. That is why if and when I get a G5, prefer to get ProCare and have a Mac Genius do the transfer and setup.

Ack! That wasn't my intent. To be honest, my first Mac was in college (an original Mac II) and had an 80GB drive (astonishingly HUGE for its day) with 78GB allocated for A/UX (Apple's UNIX back then). So, I cut my teeth on UNIX many years ago. I started my professional career programming on SGI workstations, so I got more UNIX experience there.As a result of all this, a lot of UNIX stuff is fairly second nature to me.

If you (or anyone else) is interested, I can comment the script line by line to help in understanding it. Honestly, it isn't really hard to understand at all once you know a few UNIX tcsh shell scripting basics.

 

[theROZ]

2.5 and 6800 rating....

so far, very happy with this beast....I give it a serious..9.5

yes!

 

[DarylF2]

so far, very happy with this beast....I give it a serious..9.5

yes!

I feel the same after using mine for a little over two months now. It's very stable, astonishingly fast, and remarkably quiet.

 

[iriejedi]

Maybe we did get referbs - but doubt it

Maybe we did purchase referbs with the 9600 free deal and 6800 later deal - although I do not know where they would get a supply of used ones - so I'd call them slightly used instead of referb - MAYBE they were tested first to identify if they contained some specific bug that killed the yields that in turn caused the BIG BIG dealy! Otherwise maybe there were many G5s + 6800 produced on the production line that were downgraded and we got the guts.
My bag was krinkly and that was about it the rest of the packaging was pristine. It could also be a reused bag (why they would do that??? who knows) - but for the record my performs flawlessly and my new favorite game on 1920 X 1200 resolution is Homeworld 2 - stunning and fluid with everything graphically set as high as humanly possible! If you like RTS games and science fiction - go get this game!

And my Marine Aquarium v2.0 screen saver gets 400+ FPS (impulse buy at Apple Store)

Iriejedi

PS - Klaus - those curtains are awesome!

Hmm, if I were you, i'd call apple and tell them about this. I wouldn't like to receive an opened item when you purchased a brand spanking new one. It's not like you purchased a refurb or something!

Good luck!

 

[klaus]

Photoshop fan behavior

Hi guys,

Just something that I wanted to share, my machine is very quiet, and never goes high in fan noise for a long time, but I notice it especially when I'm coding a website and switching back to photoshop cs, not to do special filters or anything, just to measure some selections. By doing that (going to ps cs and staying there for a while) my fans go remarkably louder for a few seconds and then they go silent again. It's a bit annoying, as the tower is right next to me.

I bet this is software related, that somehow the dual 2.5's are programmed to revv up faster than a dual 2.0 for instance, cause I didn't notice this behavior while testing my nephew's dual 2.0.

Do any of you guys have this? that some applications tend to revv the fans up and making a lot more noise, and then slowing down?

But this machine still is truly remarkable, in speed and design!

lol, lots of comments about the curtains, you guys should be checking out the apple equipment, not my folks' curtains!

cu guys

 

[D2.]

Hi guys,

Just something that I wanted to share, my machine is very quiet, and never goes high in fan noise for a long time, but I notice it especially when I'm coding a website and switching back to photoshop cs, not to do special filters or anything, just to measure some selections. By doing that (going to ps cs and staying there for a while) my fans go remarkably louder for a few seconds and then they go silent again. It's a bit annoying, as the tower is right next to me.

I bet this is software related, that somehow the dual 2.5's are programmed to revv up faster than a dual 2.0 for instance, cause I didn't notice this behavior while testing my nephew's dual 2.0.

Do any of you guys have this? that some applications tend to revv the fans up and making a lot more noise, and then slowing down?

But this machine still is truly remarkable, in speed and design!

lol, lots of comments about the curtains, you guys should be checking out the apple equipment, not my folks' curtains!

cu guys

i've had two 2.5's that did this and it drove me nuts... spoke to 3 specialists who sent my Capture Data info and Hardware Monitor screen shots to engineering who finally said (after 3.5 weeks) that this is normal for the 2.5. i ended up trading it in for a rev B 2.0 and am very happy that i did....the 2.0 is silent....big time.

don't get me wrong, the 2.5 was fast and stable... just too noisy for me. with the $500 i got back, i plan on getting the 6800 or X800 card. anyone got a 6800 in a 2.0?

 

[Kairy]

Ack! ... If you (or anyone else) is interested, I can comment the script line by line to help in understanding it.

DarylF2 - thanks for the script.

I would very much appreciate a commented one, If you are willing to post one, and any other useful system maintenance scripts as such.

thanks.

 

[CeeGee]

don't get me wrong, the 2.5 was fast and stable... just too noisy for me

You must not have owned a MDD G4. Loud as hell even after apple's "fix".

This 2.5 w/6800 is by far the quietest tower that I have ever used. The only thing that is quiter IME has been the iMac line.

 

[wdlove]

The 6800 arrived today!! It was left at my door (even though I specificially requested the item be left at the main office..)

*SIGH*

Anyways, I haven't had a chance to install. I'm afraid to.. The item was clearly returned -- Anti-static bag was wrinkled and the original sticker was already torn. PLUS, there was scratches and marks from use..

*SIGH*

Oh well. Hopefully everything will be fine!

Off to install this beast (it's HUGE!!!)

That definitely is not correct, the delivery person is suppose to get a signature prior to leaving the item. You should call Apple and let them know about this situation.

From the descripton of how your G5 it almost sounds like it might be a refurbished model. I would still expect that Apple would repack a refurbished, just as they would a brand new. If you didn't purchase a refurbish model then I would call Apple to let them know prior to setup. There may have been a mistake in shipping.

 

[wdlove]

Ack! That wasn't my intent. To be honest, my first Mac was in college (an original Mac II) and had an 80GB drive (astonishingly HUGE for its day) with 78GB allocated for A/UX (Apple's UNIX back then). So, I cut my teeth on UNIX many years ago. I started my professional career programming on SGI workstations, so I got more UNIX experience there.As a result of all this, a lot of UNIX stuff is fairly second nature to me.

If you (or anyone else) is interested, I can comment the script line by line to help in understanding it. Honestly, it isn't really hard to understand at all once you know a few UNIX tcsh shell scripting basics.

Thank you DarylF2, I appreciate the offer. In my case will have many other issues that need to be corrected also. First I need to decided rather to order or not. The Mac Genuis guy at my local Apple Store said that I could bring my G4 in, they would try to correct some issues. When I backup data I do it manually. Never could get a program like backup express to work.

 

[si-valleyguy]

Apple Store - Refurb 2.5 GHz's w/ 1-2 Day Shipping!

Well, this is a first, at least on this model! The Apple Store is offering (at this moment) 2.5 GHz machines with standard config for $2799. OK, only $200 off but with a shipping time of 1-2 days!!! This has gotta be of interest to some lost souls out there. Click quick if you're interested because I don't think they'll last long.

My post is at 10 AM PST.

 

[grebo]

Let the buyer beware

Well, this is a first, at least on this model! The Apple Store is offering (at this moment) 2.5 GHz machines with standard config for $2799. OK, only $200 off but with a shipping time of 1-2 days!!! This has gotta be of interest to some lost souls out there. Click quick if you're interested because I don't think they'll last long.

My post is at 10 AM PST.

CK438H18QPS is a lemon! It's going back to the refurb pool next week! My replacement has finally been received in Holland is will now make a hasty retreat to the UK.

Will keep you posted...