The Underground Club 12

[Amethyst1]

The Underground Club 12 welcomes its prospective members. Admission is granted by ownership of one or more of the following machines:

• 12" iBook (any generation)
• 12" PowerBook G3 (any generation)

12" Aluminum PowerBooks are not welcome! These are most welcome over here

 

[Project Alice]

The Underground Club 12 welcomes its prospective members. Admission is granted by ownership of one or more of the following machines:

• 12" iBook (any generation)
• 12" PowerBook G3 (any generation)

12" Aluminum PowerBooks are not welcome! These are most welcome over here

Currently at work but; I have quite a few 12” iBooks.

I have my 12” 500MHz Dual USB that I have owned since I was 14, and was my first laptop. I am 27 at time of writing. I will post pictures of this one later perhaps.. It is in terrible shape and has been through a lot but it still works.

Other than that I’ve got a 12” 1.33GHz G4, another 500MHz G3, two clamshells (my newest Macs). I feel like there might be more in forgetting I’ll have to look lol.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Another club that I'm eager to join.

As with @Project Alice I have also have a 12" 500Mhz Dual USB G3 iBook (which I used as the lowest common denominator tester for my gaming thread) and 12" 800Mhz machine plus a parts machine because I've learned that it's often cheaper to buy a dead unit than to look for specific individual parts.

 

[swamprock]

12" Powerbook G4 1.5ghz and 12" iBook G3 800mhz. My 1.33ghz iBook G4 has unfortunately expired due to mold exposure.

 

[B S Magnet]

The Underground Club 12 welcomes its prospective members. Admission is granted by ownership of one or more of the following machines:

• 12" iBook (any generation)
• 12" PowerBook G3 (any generation)

12" Aluminum PowerBooks are not welcome! These are most welcome over here

But what about Kanga and Wallstreet PowerBook G3s with 12-inch displays? D:

Today, in “my eyes are tired”…

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Anyway, in “y’all’ve already seen these before,” some glamour shots of what you always see in my avatar.

If you’ve kicked it around here long enough, here are some familiar pics of my key lime iBook G3, which is currently tucked away in folded, upright resting position (much like the original Apple press pics) and doing stable, but boring duty as an IRC server and whose screen gets accessed via ARD:

I’ve had it since 2007. It’s been through quite a lot and it’s also travelled to lots of places, sometimes even doing double duty as an iTunes jukebox on long road trips (see next shot from July 2008, during a Timmies run in a small town/pit stop somewhere in northern Ontario).

It features a mess of off-the-book upgrades — the XGA display mod; the making of said display a glossy one with LED backlighting; the removal of the modem card for an eventual (and unique) mod I haven’t gotten around to doing just yet; the addition of an SSD; the upgrade to a tray-load SuperDrive which does write DVDs just fine; and removing the foil adhesive which Apple slapped on all clamshell iBooks as a last-minute design afterthought (in order to block light from the LED backlight diffuser from making the apple logo on the lid glow in its respective colour, somewhat visible below):

This iBook is the only Mac of any kind I’ve owned (which I think totals 16 in all) to manage reaching an uptime of over 365 days (I think the reboot finally fell around day 412). Which is all to say, I take a bit of pride in such an ancient, but dependable system which still gets plenty of use and remains my favourite colour of any Apple product or piece of tech, ever.

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Separately, I have a pair of recently acquired freebie 12-inch iBook G4s which appear to generally work — one an A1054 from ’04, the other an A1133 from late ’05 — and which are just beginning to undergo some clean-up and mild restoration. As well, I have spare parts from at least three other 12-inch iBook G4s which have long since been disassembled into pieces, and I also have spare parts from two donor clamshell iBooks (one an indigo, my first laptop going back to ’04, and the other a graphite). None of those are getting pics on here for now, though.

(I swear this is the last time I will post glamour pics of my dang iBook.)

 

[TheShortTimer]

I take a bit of pride in such an ancient, but dependable system which still gets plenty of use and remains my favourite colour of any Apple product or piece of tech, ever.

Others might have seen those images before but I hadn't and I thank you for sharing them. The computer has certainly held up well and is a testament to when Apple (and the computer industry generally) built their products to last. There's an episode of ER in which one of these machines survives being flung from a table by a troublesome patient. I'll have to look for the DVD and produce some screenshots for the Mac spotting thread.

(I swear this is the last time I will post glamour pics of my dang iBook.)

No, please do not hold yourself to such a pledge!

 

[B S Magnet]

Others might have seen those images before but I hadn't and I thank you for sharing them. The computer has certainly held up well and is a testament to when Apple (and the computer industry generally) built their products to last. There's an episode of ER in which one of these machines survives being flung from a table by a troublesome patient. I'll have to look for the DVD and produce some screenshots for the Mac spotting thread.

Sometime around 2013, this laptop fell from my desk onto a hardwood floor and, most prominently, the impact broke one of the hinge assemblies (the Mac was running and it kept running, despite the impact). These hinge assemblies in the clamshell iBooks are fairly robust in size (and heavy, considering), but they’re still die-cast metal.

Because by this point my indigo clamshell had long since died, it served as a donor for that hinge. But in the process, I came to see how the impact did some damage to the plastic area on the bottom case near where the hinge broke, as well as some of the screw holes in the centre clutch cover. So that’s been a key part (along with that crumbling centre clutch cover) which I lack because they’re both colour-specific and thus tougher to find than a turkey’s teeth or a clam’s legs.

While these machines were built to handle what was then believed to be kids toting them around, they do have their delicate aspects, especially with the photo-ageing of the polycarbonate getting brittle and losing its structural integrity over the course of many years.

What this means is: between all the components I’ve upgraded and all the parts I’ve had to replace (or an waiting to replace), this iBook is destined to become its very own Mac of Theseus.

No, please do not hold yourself to such a pledge!

Maybe eventually I’ll come up with some new pics worth sharing, but for now, the above will just have to do!

 

[micahgartman]

Can I join? Here's my 12-inch Wallstreet:

She's a total cherry, complete with a Sonnet Crescendo 500MHz upgrade:

 

[Amethyst1]

Here's my 12-inch Wallstreet:

Active or passive-matrix LCD?

 

[micahgartman]

Active or passive-matrix LCD?

Passive. And a whopping 800 x 600 pixels of real estate.

I think all the 12-inch Wallstreets were passive.

 

[ahurst]

I have a 12” iBook G3 (600 MHz) that I’ve had since high school that’s been retrofitted with one of those 32 GB PATA SSDs. Definitely needs some TLC (and a new battery), but it’s one of the last iBooks to boot OS9 natively so it’s worth restoring.

I also have a 12” iBook G4 (800 MHz) I picked up a few years ago as part of a lot that’s also missing a battery and has a *very* yellowed keyboard (any ideas?), but is otherwise in pretty good shape apart from the usual case scuffs.

I’ve got an Indigo Clamshell I picked up working e-waste in High School (the boss paid us irregularly under-the-table but let us take whatever old junk we wanted), though those are so big I usually don’t think of them as 12” machines. Mine’s missing the Apple logo but runs runs OS9 smoothly on a crunchy 8 GB IDE drive I dread the thought of replacing.

I’d post pictures, but my cat’s asleep on my chest right now so that’ll have to wait

 

[ahurst]

I have my 12” 500MHz Dual USB that I have owned since I was 14, and was my first laptop. I am 27 at time of writing. I will post pictures of this one later perhaps.. It is in terrible shape and has been through a lot but it still works.

Another 27-year-old classic Mac nerd here, reporting for duty! How did you get hooked on these old machines? For me, it was a 15$ Classic II I picked up at a yard sale in 3rd grade, plus a wide array of 68k-to-G4 Macs around our elementary school (we’d all play Bugdom on the iMacs when we were rained/snowed out at recess) that they were in the process of upgrading and tossing out during my last year there (picked up a free decommissioned Quadra 700 from there, had no idea its value until years later).

I also occasionally need to recover old 90’s Mac documents for work that need arcane 68k-era programs to open (old scientific research), so that helps keep the flame alive too.

 

[B S Magnet]

I also have a 12” iBook G4 (800 MHz) I picked up a few years ago as part of a lot that’s also missing a battery and has a *very* yellowed keyboard (any ideas?), but is otherwise in pretty good shape apart from the usual case scuffs.

Yes. Carefully pop out the keys (and scissors assemblies). Fill a plastic container with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and a bit of water. Expose to UV light/sunlight for a couple of days (i.e., retrobriting).

I did this last year with iBook G4 keys which had also yellowed, and the retrobriting worked out wonderfully. I used sunlight, because its angle was high at the time.

I’ve got an Indigo Clamshell I picked up working e-waste in High School (the boss paid us irregularly under-the-table but let us take whatever old junk we wanted), though those are so big I usually don’t think of them as 12” machines. Mine’s missing the Apple logo but runs runs OS9 smoothly on a crunchy 8 GB IDE drive I dread the thought of replacing.

Hold onto that gem, even if the apple inset is missing. There’s still a lot you can do with it (see above).

I’d post pictures, but my cat’s asleep on my chest right now so that’ll have to wait

You are doing the right thing.

 

[bobesch]

I have a beautiful "translucent" iBook G3 Snow with acrylic-case.
What a pity, that I cannot share it's smell ...

 

[ahurst]

Yes. Carefully pop out the keys (and scissors assemblies). Fill a plastic container with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and a bit of water. Expose to UV light/sunlight for a couple of days (i.e., retrobriting).

I did this last year with iBook G4 keys which had also yellowed, and the retrobriting worked out wonderfully. I used sunlight, because its angle was high at the time.

Glad to hear it worked for you! I've thought about that myself, though the plastic on the plastic bits beside the arrow keys is also yellowed so I may need to just get a UV light and stick the whole keyboard under it for a week or two. It might be a better idea anyway since I think I've read the hydrogen peroxide can make the plastic more brittle, although it makes the process a heck of a lot faster.

Anyway, I took my iBooks out of the closet to get some photos! The lighting isn't great, but here's my white iBook G3 next to my clamshell:

Here's my iBook G3 and G4 (note the yellowed gross keyboard):

And finally, here's Huey, who got curious about what I was doing and then claimed both iBooks for himself:

 

[Romain_H]

And finally, here's Huey, who got curious about what I was doing and then claimed both iBooks for himself:

Well, body language clearly tells us Huey‘s the boss ?

Got a 700 MHz iBook G3 and 2 Clamshells. Or parts thereof. One is in working condition, though the case is broken. Some day I intend to fix it…

 

[B S Magnet]

Glad to hear it worked for you! I've thought about that myself, though the plastic on the plastic bits beside the arrow keys is also yellowed so I may need to just get a UV light and stick the whole keyboard under it for a week or two. It might be a better idea anyway since I think I've read the hydrogen peroxide can make the plastic more brittle, although it makes the process a heck of a lot faster.

Those two plastic rectangular pieces above the left and right arrow keys are also removable and can also be retrobrited. When I did mine, they were in a water-diluted solution. I mostly let the UV light (the sun) do most of the work over the span of a day or two. For keys, their structural integrity appears to be perceptually unchanged from prior to the retrobriting.

About the only exposed plastic pieces which can’t be removed (though if you’re careful, could still get them with hydrogen peroxide (the cream-based stuff, at least) are the spring-loaded latches at top.

Anyway, I took my iBooks out of the closet to get some photos! The lighting isn't great, but here's my white iBook G3 next to my clamshell:

View attachment 1958101

I remember a million years ago when my indigo looked that nice. I used that one incredibly intensively, and by the time I shelved it for an iBook G4, several of the keys lost their labelling and they had also yellowed. Then again, I pushed that laptop really hard in my first year at uni and, like the key lime which followed, used it on road trips and many late nights at diners. I used it so much that the blue silicone on the bottom case de-laminated from the polycarbonate.

Here's my iBook G3 and G4 (note the yellowed gross keyboard):

View attachment 1958102

Yeah, that looks about par for the yellowing. They ought to clean up nicely.

And finally, here's Huey, who got curious about what I was doing and then claimed both iBooks for himself:

View attachment 1958103

Those were never your iBooks, human. Huey made sure this was never in dispute.

 

[ahurst]

Well, body language clearly tells us Huey‘s the boss ?

Got a 700 MHz iBook G3 and 2 Clamshells. Or parts thereof. One is in working condition, though the case is broken. Some day I intend to fix it…

Honestly? One of the friendliest and most easygoing cats ever. You can pick him up and rock him in your arms like a baby, he'll just relax and purr loudly. If you put your head down to his level and call him, he'll trot over and bonk his head against yours affectionately. He's usually pretty good about electronics except for chewing on wired headphones and jumping up on workbenches. Now our other cat, Trillian, she's magnetically drawn to laptops and constantly claims them, open or closed, if I'm not actively using them. Unlike Huey, she really doesn't like to be disturbed once she's settled, so unless it's urgent I usually wait it out. Here's a potato-level photo of her on my clamshell a few months back (her jet-black fur makes her a little tricky to photograph):

If you ever get to repairing your iBooks, 1) be sure to use all the exact screwdriver bit sizes even if a slightly smaller one fits and catches, because those screws can strip easily and it's a big pain when they do, and b) be sure to organize your screws really well during disassembly, because there's a ton of slightly different sizes and it's easy to mix them up if you're not careful! I wasn't expecting the complexity the first time I tore my iBook G3 apart and it was a huge pain to get it back together again.

Those two plastic rectangular pieces above the left and right arrow keys are also removable and can also be retrobrited. When I did mine, they were in a water-diluted solution. I mostly let the UV light (the sun) do most of the work over the span of a day or two. For keys, their structural integrity appears to be perceptually unchanged from prior to the retrobriting.

About the only exposed plastic pieces which can’t be removed (though if you’re careful, could still get them with hydrogen peroxide (the cream-based stuff, at least) are the spring-loaded latches at top.

That's very encouraging! I guess the first step is tracking down some UV lights (I've seen people buy flexible strips of them which seems ideal). I also have a 14" iBook G4 with a similarly yellowed keyboard and a range of 68k Macs in need of similar treatment, so it should be worth the investment.

I remember a million years ago when my indigo looked that nice. I used that one incredibly intensively, and by the time I shelved it for an iBook G4, several of the keys lost their labelling and they had also yellowed. Then again, I pushed that laptop really hard in my first year at uni and, like the key lime which followed, used it on road trips and many late nights at diners. I used it so much that the blue silicone on the bottom case de-laminated from the polycarbonate.

The blue on the top case has yellowed into a sort of aquamarine (I wonder if I can UV-treat that too) but overall it's in good shape. People get excited whenever they see it in the background when I'm on a Zoom call, it's such a distinctive and fun design...

 

[Romain_H]

Dammit, how I love cats. And iBooks. Club G-Fur, anyone?

 

[B S Magnet]

Honestly? One of the friendliest and most easygoing cats ever. You can pick him up and rock him in your arms like a baby, he'll just relax and purr loudly. If you put your head down to his level and call him, he'll trot over and bonk his head against yours affectionately. He's usually pretty good about electronics except for chewing on wired headphones and jumping up on workbenches. Now our other cat, Trillian, she's magnetically drawn to laptops and constantly claims them, open or closed, if I'm not actively using them. Unlike Huey, she really doesn't like to be disturbed once she's settled, so unless it's urgent I usually wait it out. Here's a potato-level photo of her on my clamshell a few months back (her jet-black fur makes her a little tricky to photograph):

View attachment 1958172

Awwwh yeah Trillian looks like good mischief. I can also tell Huey is a good kid, as well.

Since we’re on with 12-inch iBooks and cats, I’ll re-post an incidental shot from a while back of my cat, Frida, on my lap, with the iBook running in the background.

She’s a very good kid, and she has her many rituals.

In the first couple of years after she adopted me, she had a real liking for magsafe cable insulation and chewed through something like seven or eight of them (which became very costly, and I’d have to tuck them away lest I forgot). One day, I came home to find the magsafe light on my MBP had stopped working again, but what I found instead was what looked like a tiny bit of scoring around a telltale bite mark on the thick cable extension (the one which runs full voltage from the mains). I can only deduce she got the shock of her life when she did that, because she’s never tried to chew on any cord of any kind ever since. I’m just glad she was okay.

The blue on the top case has yellowed into a sort of aquamarine (I wonder if I can UV-treat that too)

I doubt it. The indigo dye in the silicone is not exactly colourfast, as my bottom case, the one which laminated, turned a bluish-greyish-golden-brown and lost a lot of its saturation. I’ve even seen a few indigo iBooks whose lid silicone had faded or colour-shifted in similar ways, suggesting poor lightfastness. I’ve also seen key lime silicone fade, but not really shift to another hue. I’ve definitely seen the graphite silicone shift slightly brown or yellow on some well-used examples.

Similarly, the coloured hard plastics in the key lime iteration (like clutch and hinge covers, the eject button assembly, and possibly the trackpad button, given enough time) tend to be notoriously brittle, whereas their indigo and graphite counterparts tend to hold up remarkably well. I’m guessing this probably has to do with the chemical properties in the bright green dye used in that plastic being more reactive to, I’m guessing, UV light and, thus, not nearly as lightfast.

 

[Amethyst1]

I think all the 12-inch Wallstreets were passive.

My 12” PDQ was active-matrix. And boy, was Jaguar fun on it — with a whopping 32 MB RAM.

 

[LightBulbFun]

The Underground Club 12 welcomes its prospective members. Admission is granted by ownership of one or more of the following machines:

• 12" iBook (any generation)
• 12" PowerBook G3 (any generation)

12" Aluminum PowerBooks are not welcome! These are most welcome over here

this must only be a sub-surface Underground 12 inch club on a Metropolitan line platform somewhere

because I must be deep underground on a Northern line platform given the PowerBook 3400 is given nary a mention!

oh and while I had them out (as I was re-organising my fluorescent tubes) bonus triple shot

 

[micahgartman]

this must only be a sub-surface Underground 12 inch club on a Metropolitan line platform somewhere

because I must be deep underground on a Northern line platform given the PowerBook 3400 is given nary a mention!

Subwoofers!!!!!

 

[TheShortTimer]

this must only be a sub-surface Underground 12 inch club on a Metropolitan line platform somewhere

because I must be deep underground on a Northern line platform given the PowerBook 3400 is given nary a mention!

As regular traveller on the Northern and Metropolitan lines prior to the pandemic, I appreciate that analogy.

 

[ahurst]

Awwwh yeah Trillian looks like good mischief. I can also tell Huey is a good kid, as well.

Since we’re on with 12-inch iBooks and cats, I’ll re-post an incidental shot from a while back of my cat, Frida, on my lap, with the iBook running in the background.

She’s a very good kid, and she has her many rituals.

Frida looks like an absolute sweetheart. Such lovely markings! Glad she eventually learned that MagSafe cables aren’t snacks.

The indigo dye in the silicone is not exactly colourfast, as my bottom case, the one which laminated, turned a bluish-greyish-golden-brown and lost a lot of its saturation. I’ve even seen a few indigo iBooks whose lid silicone had faded or colour-shifted in similar ways, suggesting poor lightfastness. I’ve also seen key lime silicone fade, but not really shift to another hue. I’ve definitely seen the graphite silicone shift slightly brown or yellow on some well-used examples.

Similarly, the coloured hard plastics in the key lime iteration (like clutch and hinge covers, the eject button assembly, and possibly the trackpad button, given enough time) tend to be notoriously brittle, whereas their indigo and graphite counterparts tend to hold up remarkably well. I’m guessing this probably has to do with the chemical properties in the bright green dye used in that plastic being more reactive to, I’m guessing, UV light and, thus, not nearly as lightfast.

Ah, that’s too bad. Can’t wait until 3D printing arbitrary shapes/colours/materials and 3D scanning get good enough that we can just reproduce time-worn parts like that, Trek replicator style. So many little wear pieces that are near-impossible to find (e.g. rubber feet for iBooks and PowerBook G4s, the power buttons that get brittle and break on old beige Macs)...