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Granite's iBook G3 Clamshells

GraniteTheWolf said:
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Its in! Its working great! (beyond OS9 troubles)

I have since already taken it apart and removed the old and VERY LOUD 6gb hard drive that was in it. Put in my 60gb and installed a fresh copy of os9 on it.

SADLY my fricken OSX 10.3 panther install discs didn't end up right. I cant boot from the first disc. I really want panther on this laptop :(

My Os9 troubles:
I cant get it to update. Its 9.0.4 and i have downloaded the 9.1, 9.1.1, and 9.1.2 updates and none of them will launch. Obviously they have to be done in order but it just isnt letting me update. Gives an error code of type -39 :(
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Holy jeebus. Thats a darn purdy sight right 'dere. Hope you have buckets of fun with it.
 
to install the os9 updates you will need the correct country specific ones. Mine is a UK installation. ( UK disks etc) but i needed the international os9 updates otherwise i would get the same error codes that you are getting.
 
OP, you might also want to have a look into the "OS 9 lives forums" and ask for help there.

I remember I had problems back then.
Is the 9.0.4 CD from a Clamshell (or did I forget that they came with OS 8?) or seperate retail version? OR WAS IT FROM ANOTHER MODEL.

My iMac G3 OS 9 install wouldn't let itself upgrade properly, heard that from others, too.
I also had a problem with the 9.2.0 Upgrade on the iMac G3 itself and I even used the Apple Upgrades (german, though).
I then took a 9.2 retail CD and upgraded that to 9.2.2.

The OS 9 lives forums will also "help" you with a 9.2.2 ;)
 
Thanks for the info guys. I managed to get my OSX 10.3 install working and i now have a 50gb partition for panther and a 10gb partition for os9 :)

Panther seems to use up almost all 320mb ram at an idle desktop, so I already ordered up a 512mb stick. Should help speed her up in OSX a lot.

I also have Wifi A/B/G on it! Using my netgear WG111V3 usb wifi dongle and the included osx drivers (10.3.9 or newer supported) so its online and able to connect to my WPA2 network! :)
 
GraniteTheWolf said:
Thanks for the info guys. I managed to get my OSX 10.3 install working and i now have a 50gb partition for panther and a 10gb partition for os9 :)

Panther seems to use up almost all 320mb ram at an idle desktop, so I already ordered up a 512mb stick. Should help speed her up in OSX a lot.

I also have Wifi A/B/G on it! Using my netgear WG111V3 usb wifi dongle and the included osx drivers (10.3.9 or newer supported) so its online and able to connect to my WPA2 network! :)
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How is OS X with the low-resolution display?
 
Altemose said:
How is OS X with the low-resolution display?
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If you make the dock nice and tiny (which is what I do in osx no matter the resolution) there is a decent amount of screen space. There probably is a way to make the icons smaller as well but I dont know about it.

Its not bad, but it feels better then OS9.
 
GraniteTheWolf said:
If you make the dock nice and tiny (which is what I do in osx no matter the resolution) there is a decent amount of screen space. There probably is a way to make the icons smaller as well but I dont know about it.

Its not bad, but it feels better then OS9.
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Just right click in the Finder and hit "Show View Options". You can change icon sizes there.
 
I never found the clamshell display that terrible; it does get annoying having to side-scroll on nearly every webpage, many images have to be compressed to view them fully in Preview, etc., but these are minor issues that you get used to fairly quickly. I guess I was just never bothered enough by these things to call it a "bad" screen.
 
Today I recieved my 512MB stick of ram for my old iBook Clamshell! Panther runs way better on 576MB ram compared to the last 320mb I had.

Love this old gal. Just needs a new battery and I can actually take this places and use it!

Down the line I think I'm going to keep an eye out for a good 466 mhz DVD model.

*is posting from his iBook now, connected to his WPA2 networking using his USB netgear wifi dongle*
 
GraniteTheWolf said:
Today I recieved my 512MB stick of ram for my old iBook Clamshell! Panther runs way better on 576MB ram compared to the last 320mb I had.

Love this old gal. Just needs a new battery and I can actually take this places and use it!

Down the line I think I'm going to keep an eye out for a good 466 mhz DVD model.

*is posting from his iBook now, connected to his WPA2 networking using his USB netgear wifi dongle*
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What Netgear dongle did you use? Glad that you are enjoying it and I hope you turn some heads when you pull that out at the coffee shop.
 
Altemose said:
What Netgear dongle did you use? Glad that you are enjoying it and I hope you turn some heads when you pull that out at the coffee shop.
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I'd like to know this as well. Or, I tape a my WiFi->Ethernet adaptor and look like a anti-social hacker.
 
Altemose said:
What Netgear dongle did you use? Glad that you are enjoying it and I hope you turn some heads when you pull that out at the coffee shop.
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I use a very old Netgear WG111V3 i got way back in around 2009. Its wifi A/B/G. I have modified the case it sits in so it fits in the recessed usb hole of the clamshell.

Out of all 3 of my usb dongles (the other 2 have osx drivers but their 10.3 ones don't work at all on the usb 1.1 of the clamshell.) The old netgear is the only one that actually works.

I wish I could find a tiny one that worked, something smaller that doesn't stick out so far.... but hey I'm happy I can connect to modern wifi anyway!
 
GraniteTheWolf said:
I use a very old Netgear WG111V3 i got way back in around 2009. Its wifi A/B/G. I have modified the case it sits in so it fits in the recessed usb hole of the clamshell.



Out of all 3 of my usb dongles (the other 2 have osx drivers but their 10.3 ones don't work at all on the usb 1.1 of the clamshell.) The old netgear is the only one that actually works.



I wish I could find a tiny one that worked, something smaller that doesn't stick out so far.... but hey I'm happy I can connect to modern wifi anyway!
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As long as it works...
 
So I finally got around to doing a mini photoshoot with my good camera :)
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So despite how well it ran, I got tired of the lack of software support for Panther.

My Tiger cd's came in yesterday and I just got done Using Xpostfacto to install it. So far it seems to run just as well as Panther did with maxed out ram and a newer 60gb hdd I have in it.
 
GraniteTheWolf said:
So despite how well it ran, I got tired of the lack of software support for Panther.

My Tiger cd's came in yesterday and I just got done Using Xpostfacto to install it. So far it seems to run just as well as Panther did with maxed out ram and a newer 60gb hdd I have in it.
Click to expand...

Tiger and Panther were about equal in terms of resource usage. Many people state that Tiger runs at least as well as Panther did and most say it is even better!
 
Wow, I wish my blueberry Clanshell was in half that good of shape - mine has a lot of cracks around the Apple logo that sits just below the screen on the interior, as well as all around and through the handle. Add that to the fact that it still has sticker residue and permanent marker serial numbers on the bottom from whatever business/school it came from, not to mention that the display one day decided it wanted to be very grainy and fuzzy for some reason, and well... I'm jealous. :p

I remember I paid $160 for mine around six years ago; of course, prices dropped until they were just under $100, IIRC, and then started climbing back up. Last time I checked, they're back up to what I paid all those years ago. :D
 
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