Hey all you people,
As you may or may not know, I've recently acquired a 800MHZ PowerBook G4 Titanium from a fellow forum member. It's become my PowerPC "project" to restore this computer, which I call pigpen for it's war-like appearance. So, I thought I would share my plans for the restoration and hopefully bring this guy back to it's former glory.
1. 1GB of PC-133 RAM
I'm still in the process of getting this, I get paid soon so hopefully I can find a 512MB set of sticks that's not being shipped from Hong Kong so it will actually get here soon. This 'Book should be flying on tiger, but it acts like it's been thrown out a window and subsequently mauled by honey badgers. I really hope the 1GB will up the ante versus the current 512MB I have in it.
2. New Bottom Pan w/Bottom Frame
The one that pigpen came with is scuffed, missing paint, and bent in really odd fashions. I've found a new pan with a frame attached online for $9 shipped.
3. New Battery (preferably OEM)
This one doesn't really have to be explained, as many of use know a battery from a 2001 notebook computer never holds a charge unless the planets align and there's a blue moon. Mine has absolutely no charge, so I'm stapled to the wall if I need to use pigpen right now. I'm going to get one from Ebay for $30, and it's new OEM, if they even have good new-old stock batteries lying around (which I doubt for obvious reasons).
4. New Keyboard
Yeah, this one is my fault mostly, as one of my rituals for getting a used computer is cleaning out the keyboard, and most have some type of infected maggots in it or something. Mine had human hair and some weird orange buildup similar to cheato dust. As I was taking off the keys and their respective keycaps, I broke some of the attachment hooks underneath the keys (the little black tabs). Since it's hard as hell to find individual keys, I'd rather replace the whole keyboard. It's about $7 shipped.
5. New upper case with trackpad
Now if pigpen got it's name for it's appearance, this would be why. It looks as though someone tried to repaint the case without sanding off the old paint first, so it looks like house primer on a car. Luckily they didn't cover up the airport antenna, but there are obvious scratches that are near impossible to get out of the trackpad and keyboard bezel. So again, I'm saying "F&*# it", and buying a new upper panel. They're currently going for $25 each.
6. a USB 2.0 PCMCIA card
One of the TiBook's many restrictions in a modern technology view is the slow as molasses USB 1.1 ports. I DESPERATELY wish you could somehow make these USB 2.0, but only in dreams, eh! So to cure my woes I'm going to buy a Mac compatible USB 2.0 PCMCIA card. Transferring my music and other files will actually be possible then.
7. I don't know, maybe more
Now, there's a logical part of my brain that says "Man, why the actual hell are you investing so much money in this?", because at the end of the day, it's a 800MHZ G4 and a Radeon 7500, and running leopard is fairly out of the question. But hey, us PPC users don't do stuff because it's logical, we do it because we're committed, and damn you if we can't use our 15 year-old computers for modern applications!!
Sorry for the long post, and you got eye strain from this, you've got yourself to blame XD.
As you may or may not know, I've recently acquired a 800MHZ PowerBook G4 Titanium from a fellow forum member. It's become my PowerPC "project" to restore this computer, which I call pigpen for it's war-like appearance. So, I thought I would share my plans for the restoration and hopefully bring this guy back to it's former glory.
1. 1GB of PC-133 RAM
I'm still in the process of getting this, I get paid soon so hopefully I can find a 512MB set of sticks that's not being shipped from Hong Kong so it will actually get here soon. This 'Book should be flying on tiger, but it acts like it's been thrown out a window and subsequently mauled by honey badgers. I really hope the 1GB will up the ante versus the current 512MB I have in it.
2. New Bottom Pan w/Bottom Frame
The one that pigpen came with is scuffed, missing paint, and bent in really odd fashions. I've found a new pan with a frame attached online for $9 shipped.
3. New Battery (preferably OEM)
This one doesn't really have to be explained, as many of use know a battery from a 2001 notebook computer never holds a charge unless the planets align and there's a blue moon. Mine has absolutely no charge, so I'm stapled to the wall if I need to use pigpen right now. I'm going to get one from Ebay for $30, and it's new OEM, if they even have good new-old stock batteries lying around (which I doubt for obvious reasons).
4. New Keyboard
Yeah, this one is my fault mostly, as one of my rituals for getting a used computer is cleaning out the keyboard, and most have some type of infected maggots in it or something. Mine had human hair and some weird orange buildup similar to cheato dust. As I was taking off the keys and their respective keycaps, I broke some of the attachment hooks underneath the keys (the little black tabs). Since it's hard as hell to find individual keys, I'd rather replace the whole keyboard. It's about $7 shipped.
5. New upper case with trackpad
Now if pigpen got it's name for it's appearance, this would be why. It looks as though someone tried to repaint the case without sanding off the old paint first, so it looks like house primer on a car. Luckily they didn't cover up the airport antenna, but there are obvious scratches that are near impossible to get out of the trackpad and keyboard bezel. So again, I'm saying "F&*# it", and buying a new upper panel. They're currently going for $25 each.
6. a USB 2.0 PCMCIA card
One of the TiBook's many restrictions in a modern technology view is the slow as molasses USB 1.1 ports. I DESPERATELY wish you could somehow make these USB 2.0, but only in dreams, eh! So to cure my woes I'm going to buy a Mac compatible USB 2.0 PCMCIA card. Transferring my music and other files will actually be possible then.
7. I don't know, maybe more
Now, there's a logical part of my brain that says "Man, why the actual hell are you investing so much money in this?", because at the end of the day, it's a 800MHZ G4 and a Radeon 7500, and running leopard is fairly out of the question. But hey, us PPC users don't do stuff because it's logical, we do it because we're committed, and damn you if we can't use our 15 year-old computers for modern applications!!
Sorry for the long post, and you got eye strain from this, you've got yourself to blame XD.
