Ask Jacob

The original Bondi Blue G3 iMac was a revolutionary computer and set Apple back on the proper track. Unfortunately this computer is limited in how expandable it is. The later iMacs with FireWire ports make them much more expandable via external hard drives and external DVD burners. This is not to say that your iMac will not do more, it just means that you are limited to USB 1.1 compatible devices for your upgrades or replacing internal parts.

CD burning will be your limit to optical drive upgrades because an average DVD is larger than your 4 GB hard drive. You could not even store enough data on your drive to burn a DVD. You can easily burn CD-R discs by replacing your internal drive. MCE Tech used to make a replacement G3 iMac CD drive and they may still have them in stock.

Here is the installation guide for that G3 CD drive, not tough but make sure you are OK with the process.

Beyond that the people over at Low End Mac can be a great resource on learning about you beloved “piece of history.” Of course any time you have a upgrade question just give us a call, we would love to help.

- Jacob

The Canon camera is probably the most Mac friendly camera of the three you are looking at. This could be because Canon does not make any competing computers with the Mac. Check out this Canon VIXHA.

Like many of these HD camcorders, the VIXIA has a decent still camera included in it, and comes with Mac specific software tools to get good images off the camera. It is also a full HD camera with the trusted optics from Canon. I own an Canon Digital SLR camera and am fairly impressed with the optical performance of their lenses. Most user reviews are positive on this camera and it seems to be built off some solid standards. It is often a good idea to avoid cutting edge sensors or recording formats. Otherwise you end up acting as a beta tester for the new technology.

This should be a solid HD camera for you ad your Mac computer.
- Jacob

The lower wattage of the MacBook Air power adapter will let your MacBook Unibody run. It will not recharge the battery with the MacBook running though.

Your MacBook has a 45-watt battery and that 45 watt adapter will just provide enough power replace the power that would have come from the battery, but that is it. To charge the battery you will need to have the proper 60 watt adapter or, completely shut down the system so all power can be used to charge the battery.

- Jacob

You should be able to swap that SATA hard drive between MacBooks. Make sure that you have the latest OS installed on the MacBook’s hard drive before you install it on the MacBook Pro, and be prepared to use the OS X install disk that came with the MBP. You probably will not need them but you can always do an Archive and Install if you experience any issues. Both the MacBooks, and the Unibody MacBook Pros, make it a trivial job to swap out hard drives.

Do not be too surprised if Windows needs some driver updates after the swap though. The Mac OS is portable but Windows often chokes on a hardware transplant. Have the Mac Boot Camp drivers handy.

- Jacob

You may need to repartition it through the Partition tab in Disk Utility.

To repatriation a drive, select the drive (not the indented Volume) that you want to erase and click on the Partition tab. Change the Volume Scheme popup menu from “Current” to “1 Partition.” Click the [Options...] button and set it to use the “Apple Partition Map.” Then give it a name and click on the [Apply] button. One more click to say that you understand all data will be lost on that drive and then it should work fine for your Mac computer.

It will not work on PCs after that though, it will be a Mac drive.

- Jacob

There is the chance that it is a Software related issue. If you boot up off the Mac OS Install DVD, you can reinstall the OS via an Archive and Install. Then run Software update to get your MacBook to the most recent version. Also make sure that your MacBook does not need a Firmware or SMC update.

If after that, you still have trouble, it may bee that the Bluetooth module needs to be replaced. If that is the case, any Apple Authorized service center can do that for you as part of the Apple warranty on your product. Use Apple’s Service Location Tool to find your nearest provider.

- Jacob

I am happy you asked before trying it. Mini sized CDs or DVDs should never be used in any slot-loading drive. This is true for Apple computers and car stereos. Really they are a terrible idea and should have never been produced. Currently only tray-based drives will accept them, and the tray has to have a special indent to keep the small disc centered.

This idea came out of the initial high cost of creating a full sized CD. Now that cost is pennies so making it smaller does not reduce the cost appreciably. The best way to get data off those disc, is to find a tray loading drive and transfer the data to a USB thumb drive or full sized CD-R.

Many service techs has had to extract those little discs from a drive, at great expense.

- Jacob

It is possible for the USB system to not allow devices to connect but still fail to register a problem on the AHT logic-board test. Here are two things to try.

– First turn off your Power Mac G5 and then hold the Power button down until you hear a long tone. Then let go and wait for the computer to reboot and test the USB.

– If that fails to fix the USB operation, then you should insert the OS X install DVD and set it as the startup device. Power down the computer and remove all extra PCI cards from the machine. With only a USB mouse connected, start it up and see if the USB ports now allow the mouse to function. Try all the ports, including the front port. If the mouse works from the Install DVD, then it could be a software issue and an Archive and Install of the Mac OS should work to repair the damaged system files.

- Jacob

Well you have many input device options with a Mac. Most USB keyboards will work with a Mac, in fact I have yet to find one that does not. So you should buy they keyboard that works well for you. If the Dell functions perfectly, I would recommend getting two of those. I am not kidding about getting two. Over the years I have seen how fast a good keyboard design is replaced. If you find something that works, just as you want it to, get its replacement now. Otherwise you will send your evenings trolling eBay looking for a exact replacement after the first one dies.

If you do not want to hassle with running Parallels, consider MacSpeech. It is built on the Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition engine.

I have yet to see a good mouse solution that is voice activated. Also, most mice or joysticks are difficult to use during hand tremors. Luckily the Mac OS comes with a feature in the Universal Access settings that could help. Under the Mouse & Trackpad tab is the ability to turn on the “Mouse Keys” feature. This turns the numeric ten-key into a mouse controller. There are sensitivity and speed settings that you can set to your specific needs. It works fairly well and gives you more precise movement than what you get from a standard input device.

- Jacob

Unfortunately Apple has done it again. They jumped into a new connector format without a thought about the Mac user who has older Mac equipment. The 24″ Apple LED display is a truly great companion to the new Mac laptops. Although they work on all new Macs, the 24″ display is a docking station for laptops. They provide power and a host of desktop features to give you two macs from one. A Mac Laptop tied to a 24″ Apple display is a perfect package, and I would like you to have that experience. Sadly that the new display will not work on your G4 tower. It may be better to just get a low end LCD display for the G4 and then use the 24″ LED display as your MacBook’s docking station.

Here is a nice one but there are many good sub $150 displays.

- Jacob

The FIrewire port is part of your logic-board, so replacing the logic-board would be the standard way to fix that problem. At this point the repair would cost more than your Apple computer is worth. You still have a USB port on your iBook and USB 2.0 is a fine way to connect external drives. Many drives are available with USB 2.0 connections. Lacie USB drives are very popular and would fit the bill.

- Jacob

You may be facing a issue that has more to do with software version you have, verses the limit of the drive format. If you are trying to just reinstall the OS, you will need to do an Archive and Install of the OS.

If you are trying to reformat the drive and remove all data from it, you will need to repartition it with the Disk Utility that is on the OS X install media. You will have to boot up the disc and then open Disk Utility and use the Partition tab to create one new partition on your Apple computer hard drive..

- Jacob

You can have any size 3.5″ SATA hard drive installed in the Intel iMacs. Your only limit it in what size drives are being made. You are limited to just one drive installed inside the iMacs. Apple computers can support many more drives externally via USB 2.0, FireWire 800, and Gigabit ethernet.

- Jacob

What you need is a KVM switch and there are two you should look at. The IOGear KVM switch is particularly nice for this kind of device switching. Many KVMs do not have audio switching or us DVI, but this IOGear Micro View KVM Switch will do.

Which ever unit you get should help with the monitor an speakers. The wireless keyboard mouse combo should work as long as it is the kind that uses the USB dongle attached to your current Mac computer. Otherwise you will have trouble pairing those devices with two computers. You may need to use the Keyboard and mouse that come with the Mac Pro until you retire the PC. After that a PC bluetooth keyboard/mouse will work well on the Mac.

- Jacob

There is no physical way to connect the screen of an eMac or iMac to another computer. They are hardware locked to the logic board of Apple computers. You can, however, use the built-in screen sharing feature of 10.5 Leopard to view and control the Mac Mini remotely. They both need to be connected to the same network and the Mini would need to be configured to allow remote connections. So it would need to be connected to a monitor and keyboard-mouse for the initial setup. You would also need to upgrade the eMac to Leopard to control the Mac Mini. After that it the eMac should be able to see the new Mac Mini as available for screen sharing in the sidebar of any Finder window. If this is just a matter of saving money, you can get an LCD display that will work on your Mac Mini cheaply. It will work two times better than Screen Sharing, perhaps ten times better.

- Jacob

There is no problem using your US bought Mac laptop’s power adapter overseas. All the Mac power adapters cover voltages ranging from 100 to 240 Volts at 50 or 60 Hz. You may want to buy the Apple World Traveler Adapter Kit though, to fit the wall plugs you have locally.
- Jacob

With any Mac computer, the boot up time depends greatly on hard drive speed. Most Intel Macs will boot the Leopard OS in under 40 Seconds of an internal drive. Solid state drives can speed that up some, and faster RAM can help too. You can slow that time down as well by connecting to a Wireless network on startup and other boot up add-ons. For the most part the Mac Pro will boot quickly, but I still leave most of my Macs running all the time. I hate waiting for the screen’s backlight to kick on, a personal flaw I have to admit to.

The RAM and video card will be easy for you to upgrade in the near future but the processor will not upgrade with exactly the same ease. It is a socketed processor and you can replace it, although wait until the Apple warranty period is over before you attempt it. You will not be able to convert the Mac Pro single processor, four core system, into a dual processor, eight core system. So make sure you get a configuration that will meet you upgrade needs. I have know people who upgrade their Mac Pros regularly with the latest processors, but most of those people are Intel employees. It should be fine for an experienced PC tech.

- Jacob

Most every AC to DC adapter I have seen from Canon has an input voltage range of 100-240 volts at 50/60 cycles. The CA-590 that comes with that camera should be no different. I would however suggest that
you use a 240 Volt to 110 volt converter if you travel often. That conversion cleans up the sometimes spotty power you find in other countries.

- Jacob

You will not only need a Blu-Ray burner to make HD video discs, but you will need some additional software. Here is a good article on the HD editing workflow. Toast 10 Titanium is great Blu-Ray burning software.

I only have one recommendation for an external Blu-Ray burner, the LaCie d2 Blu-ray drive. For internal use, I like the MCE Blu-ray kit.

- Jacob

It all depends on the application you are using. If the primary application you are running is multi-threaded then the 8 Core model is the best choice. It is also the right choice for any RAM hungry applications because you have twice the RAM controllers and slots. However, for older software that just needs clock cycles the 2.93 Ghz will help you more than extra cores and RAM in your Mac Pro.

- Jacob

You can upgrade your memory and hard drive yourself. Here is a link to Apple’s MacBook Pro RAM installation page.

The hard drive is just as easy, as you can see by Apple’s instructions on how to install a replacement hard drive.

If you use a none Apple drive in the computer, you will have to deal directly with the maker of the hard drive for drive warranty issues and most Apple service centers will want you to have a Apple hard drive installed for testing. For that reason it may be a good idea to keep the pulled Apple hard drive safely stored in a static bag, until you are out of the Apple warranty period.

- Jacob

My daughter has one of these G4 iBook. The only computer display port that you can use is VGA, an analog connection. You will need a Mini-VGA to VGA adapter cable to connect a VGA display.

The good news is that many LCD displays support both DVI and VGA connections, or have only VGA ports. Take a look at the 17″ LCD displays with VGA. You will be limited to a 1024 X 768 image, no mater how big the display, the iBook is set to only Mirror what is on the laptop display. That limit on your iBook is 1024 X 768 pixels, so do not over spend on a display.

- Jacob

Here is a handy little list of user recorded Mac system temperatures assembled to help others determine what is normal temperature for their Mac.

From the list, it looks like your iMac is in the proper range. As for RAM upgrades, you can go up to 3 GBs if you have a white plastic iMac or 4 GB if you have an Aluminum iMac released before 2009. Depending on what iMac you have, you can buy one or two of these 2GB stick. You only have 2 RAM slots so you will have to remove one stick of 1GB RAM for each 2GB stick of RAM you add.

The newest iMac introduced in 2009 can take up to 8GB of RAM using a 4GB RAM stick, but I would guess you do not have this version of the iMac.

- Jacob

I think a basic iMac would be a good choice for you. That is the kind of Mac my wife and I share and it makes a good home computer. This 20″ iMac model is excellent, it was recently replaced with a slightly different version of the same computer, so it is on sale. Any of the newer iMacs will give you power and performance to last many years. You can look at all the 24″ iMac as well.

The nice feature of the iMac is that it has the display and computer combined together in a single unit. So you really only need to worry about connecting the Keyboard/mouse and Power to get it running. If you have a high-speed internet connection at home, the iMac will have no trouble connecting. If you use dial-up internet, then you need to buy USB modem, like this Apple external modem.

- Jacob

Panasonic and Cannon do a great job in producing Mac computer compatible HD camcorders. Take a look at the Canon VIXIA HF11 Camcorder or the VIXIA HG20 60GB HDD Camcorder. Both could be good choices for you.

One thing to consider though, still image cameras are quickly adding HD video capture to their feature set. If you are also interested in picking up a good still camera, one of those hybrid cameras may be your best choice. The Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GH1 was recently announced and it has video people and photographers equally excited.

- Jacob

Other than making sure you are using a retail copy of the Mac OS released after the PowerBook was produced, 10.3 or higher, it would probably be a hardware issue. The problem is most likely with the cable or logic board. A replacement PowerBook hard drive cable will be cheap enough for you to test with it. I think this is the right cable for your computer but double check.

If that fails to work for you, then it probably is a logic board issue and you will need to weigh the cost of the repair against just upgrading your Mac.

Please let me know what the outcome is.
- Jacob

I would have to say that if you edit HD footage, that yes you want the 8-Core Mac Pro. Not only will the multithreading features of Final Cut Pro run faster on the Octal Mac Pro, but you will be able to install more RAM. As you probably know, the new Mac Pro likes its RAM installed in threes per processor. The forth RAM slot shares its channel with the third slot. So for peak performance in the Quad-Core Mac Pro you will be effectively limited to 6GB. In the 8-Core Mac Pro you can get 24 GB of highly efficient RAM. Although 12GB will probably do just nicely for most of your HD projects.

- Jacob

It has been some time since I bought a none Apple battery but when I did buy one last it was from BTI. They have long had a good reputation for making OEM replacements. This 15″ MacBook battery should work for you. But you can always go with the Apple 15″ MacBook original battery, which is not a bad idea. Both are going to perform about the same on your Mac computer.

As for identifying your laptop the proper name of it is MacBook Pro 15″ Core 2 Duo. The terms titanium, aluminum, G3, and G4 all refer to much older Mac laptops.

- Jacob

Although that machine is not of value for a work Mac computer, there may be collectors or other fans interested in buying it. You could post it on eBay or craigslist.org and see who is interested in it. I do not know of a good price though, so eBay without a reserve and a padded shipping charge would be a good idea.

- Jacob

USB base PC keyboards and Mice work perfectly both new Mac Minis and used Mac minis, although some special media buttons may not work. Getting a small 2-port KVM will make switching back and forth easy.

Look at this IOGEAR MiniView Micro Plus KVM switch if you have a VGA display or this IOGEAR MiniView DVI if you have a DVI display.

- Jacob

I would steer you towards the MacBook Pro for professional video work. This is mainly due to the advanced Graphics system that is used in the MacBook Pro. Final Cut Studio is not compatible with integrated Intel graphics processors, like the ones found in older MacBooks or MacBook Airs. Even the newer MacBook Airs, with the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, will feel a little under powered. Also the drive size and speed will be an issue for you, unless you bought the Solid State Drive (SSD). With the SSD option you will be set for speed but not space. The MacBook Pro is currently the only contemporary Apple laptop with FireWire. FireWire connectivity is probably a part of your workflow now and it could be
difficult to work without it.

Now if you want to use Final Cut Express on a MacBook Air, that would probably work fine. This is because you could transfer the the projects to Final Cut Pro later form heavier editing. Hope that gives you enough information to make a good choice based on your work.

- Jacob

I am sure that most people from NASA should not have a problem installing a new hard drive in a new or used Mac mini, so that would be the cleanest upgrade path. You will need a 2.5″ PATA hard drive. Any size drive should work so look at the 160GB model.

Here is a link to some detailed instructions on changing the internal hard drive on a Mac mini.

You can use the 10.5 migration assistant to recover your files from the last Time Machine backup. With a full backup, you should have no problem recovering your settings after the initial install of drive and the OS.

Jacob

Many reports I have seen say that you can go over 4GB of RAM in your Mac Pro but not to 8GB. People who have attempted putting 8 GBs in their MacBook Pros have had stability problems. 6GB seems to be stable. I would perhaps wait and see if there is an Apple firmware update for the Unibody 15″ MacBook Pro, allowing it to support a full 8 GB of RAM like the 17″ Macbook Pros can.

Jacob

There is no way to convert a PowerMac G5 into an Intel-based Mac Pro. Although the cases look similar, the internals are radically different. Fortunately PowerMax has a trade-in program that will let you convert your PowerMac G5 into credit towards a Mac Pro, or other Intel Mac.

Submit a Mac trade-in request and find out how close you are to upgrading to an Intel Mac.

I hope this helps
Jacob

For the best boot times and fastest game loads, I would recommend that you make your primary drive a 300GB 15k rpm SAS drive. That should make data and applications zip on that system, the hard drive is often the bottleneck of a computer. Your second and third drives can be 1TB in size. Make them a RAID 1 to protect your data if you have no other backup strategy. Remember Time Machine only backs up the primary boot drive.

Hope that helps,
Jacob

If you cannot get a CD or DVD to eject by the regular methods, PowerPC-based Mac users can use an Open Firmware emergency eject command. Here is a link to Apple’s instructions on how to eject a disc when other options don’t work. The important steps are below:

– Restart the computer.
– Immediately after the startup sound, press and hold the key combination Command-Option-O-F. Note: The Command key has the Apple and () icons on it.
– Release the keys when you see a white screen that says “Welcome to Open Firmware.”
– At the prompt, type: eject cd
– Press Return, then wait a few seconds. The disc drive should eject any disc that is present, and “ok” appears behind your command when the action is complete.
– Type: Mac-boot
– Press Return

If this fails to eject, you will have to open the case of the G4 iMac to gain access to the manual eject pinhole on the face of the optical drive. You may want to seek the help of a professional for that process.

Hope this helps,
Jacob

A new or used Mac mini will not be an overly compelling upgrade to your used G5 tower. It should be fast in terms of processor power, but it will be a little wimpy on graphics power. The Intel Mac Mini uses an integrated graphics processor, which is OK in most applications, but can be short on power for games and some design programs. The G5 has dedicated graphics card that will outperform the integrated graphics of the Mac Mini.

The included Rosetta emulator in OS X works well, and you will likely not even notice it is active. It works seamlessly in the background. The Rosetta emulation does have a performance hit but it will not be visible to you due to the speed improvements of the Intel Processor. Just do not be surprised if it is not significantly faster at running your application.

Also the 2.5″ hard drive in the Mac Mini is slower than the 3.5″ drive in the G5, which will cause some latency writing large files. For your work you probably will not notice the difference but it could be an issue for video work.

All the negatives in mind you will still probably want to go for the Mac Mini. It is small, portable, and your performance will improve as you upgrade your software to Intel native applications.

I hope this helps with the buying process.
Jacob

I would be interested in seeing that article, because to my knowledge there is no way to have two processors on an Apple laptop. Apple solders their processor directly to the logic board of the MacBook (Pro)s, which prevent replacement or exchange. I know some brave souls have removed soldered-on processors and reattached faster processors in the past, but it takes specialized soldering equipment. Modern Mac portables do not contain a socketed processor that a home tech could work on.

Perhaps the article was not about an Apple laptop but upgrading the processors on a Mac Pro. I once corresponded with a Intel employee who upgraded his Mac Pro with Quad Core processors before Apple offered the option.

Please send me the link to the article if I am completely wrong. Thanks!
Jacob

Well this is a new one for me, but I suspect that it has something to do with how OS X identified your keyboard. You can try to reset your keyboard’s identification by deleting the file that stores information about your keyboard. The file is called “com.apple.keyboardtype.plist” and it is located in the Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/ Folder. Find the file and drag it to the trash. Restart your computer and see if that fixes your “H” problem. If the keyboard assistant opens, just close it with the little red button on the upper left hand corner of the window.

If you are still having issues typing “H,” then try switching fonts. It could be a problem with the default font you are using. Open the Text Edit Application and use the [Command] + [T] key combination to open the Fonts window and try typing H in different fonts. If you find H to be working in other Fonts, then you may need to reinstall your default System fonts.

If the “H” is persistently displayed incorrectly regardless of font, I would next recommend you try using a different USB keyboard. It does not need to be a Mac keyboard, you can use a Windows USB keyboard to test with. See if the problem is identical on the other keyboard, if it isn’t, you may want a new keyboard.

I hope one of these things will work for you.
Jacob

Despite Apple’s most recent cut of FireWire as an included port in the Unibody MacBook line, FireWire is still considered a standard port on iMacs. The new iMacs even have a FireWire 800 port in addition to the FireWire 400 port. Currently it is only the MacBook and MacBook Air that are missing FireWire ports of any speed.

The ports look like this:

Hope that helps,
Jacob

When you are in Apple warranty it is probably a bad idea to upgrade the internal hard drive in an Apple laptop because you will have to put the original Apple drive back into it before you can mail it in for service. Swapping out the drive in MacBooks and new 15″ MacBook Pros are fairly fast, so warranty is less of an issue there. It takes a considerable amount of work to swap out your drive in the 17″ MacBook Pro.

Outside of warranty, replacing the drive is a great upgrade option. Often you can get better speed out of a new drive, in addition to the increased storage space. The 320GB drive will cost you about $200, and a 250GB should be around $50 less. Both of those should be 5400RPM drives, the same drive speed as you already have from the Apple drive. Priced in between the two drives is the faster, and smaller, 200GB 7200RPM drive. The faster drives are better for reading and writing large files but there is a concern with heat. A 7200RPM drive can generate more heat than the 17″ MacBook Pro was designed to handle. If you go to the faster drive you will get better system performance, but you will constantly need to monitor the heat of the unit and not let it overheat.

If increased drive space is what you are after, I think the 250GB drive should be a good fit for you. I was born and raised in Seattle, so consequently I know those Seattle Mac Store people well and send my family there for service. They should treat you well.

Hope that helps,

Jacob

There are a few surfaces that can cause this kind of pointer-jump effect with optical mice on any Apple computer. This happens because the light that illuminates the surface under the mouse refracts the light beam and confuses the optical sensor. The sensor needs to have a steady image change to track the mouse movements. The main surfaces to avoid are, glass, fake wood, and glossy plastic. All these surfaces can bend the light and trick the mouse into thinking you are moving it around. Found in practically every office, the best neutral surface that is a white piece of paper. You can use the paper as a mouse pad to test whether it is surface substance alone that is causing your mouse issues. If it is a surface issue, try using a dark colored cloth-topped mouse pad.

If it continues to jump on the paper, it is probably a dirty optical lens on the bottom of the mouse. Use some compressed air to blow out any dust or debris from the sensor hole on the bottom of the mouse. This will often do the trick.

Hope this helps,

Jacob

Last year I reviewed just such a negative/slide scanner and I still consider the PrimeFilm Scanner a great product.

Take a look at it and see is it will work for you.

Jacob

There are a few drive adapter cases out there that will probably work well for you but I would suggest just getting a Universal Drive Adapter cable. This will not only work on your used iBooks hard drive but also let you use it on almost any other raw drive you come across.

I have one in my tool box and it is invaluable. If, however, you would rather have a full hard drive enclosure then look at this nice budget unit that will create a permanent home for your old Apple computer hard drive.

Hope that helps,
Jacob

In this case it may be easier to get a Floppy Drive for your G5 iMac, opposed to trying to connect your used Mac to this newer one. Fortunately Floppy drives are relatively cheap and will work for transferring files from the old system, in addition to allowing you to install this older application. I have been fond of the LaCie USB floppy drive and think you will like it as well.

Hope this helps
Jacob

A Mac Pro of nearly any generation should last you a considerable amount of time. Very few of them have made there way to service, which is a pretty good indicator of the quality of this generation of Mac. I also like to mention that an iMac can handle some of the pro photography tasks you are going to use your computer for. It may seem under powered for you, but I have had a good deal of success with a iMac as the workhorse of my office. It is essential that you get a color accurate external display for your iMac to, not only extend the screen real-estate, but to counter the color distortion of the glossy display.

Not many people have traded in a Mac Pro and few are returned as Open Box units, so deals are hard to come by. For expandability and overall performance, an entry 2.8GHZ Quad-Core Mac Pro should treat you well for many years.

I hope this helps but I am sure that you many need to spend some time on the phone with a PowerMax sales person to find the best value Mac Pro.

Jacob

Some of these off brand cameras are hard to deal with because they were never designed to work with Mac computers and they are so obscure that Apple did not build specific support for them into the Mac OS, as they do with more popular cameras. This is not to say that your camera will never work again, it is just not going to be easy to find specific info on your camera’s Mac connectivity.

This Emprex camera you are using charges from the USB connection. It could be this charging operation that is causing the problem. Not all G4 Macs had USB 2.0 ports on them and and that is likely going to be the requirement of this camera. Not that this camera needs the extra speed but a USB 2.0 port provides more power than the older USB 1.1 port. A good test would be to fully charge this camera from another computer that has USB 2.0, or a well powered USB port, and then check to see whether it properly mounts on the Apple Mac.

The other option would be to try removing the SD memory card from the camera and use a universal card reader to transfer the photos over to the Mac.

Hope this helps
Jacob

There was only one Repair Extension program for the G5 iMac that I know of and that covered the logic board and power supply. That program is over now but it would not have required the replacement of the LCD. You may be able to convince Apple that this is an unacceptable product lifespan for your iMac and would like them to consider other options, I just do not know how successful that will be. If the LCD work was done by an Apple Authorized service center you should have enough justification to a least start a conversation with Apple Support.

Sorry to hear about your problems and I hope it works out for you.
Jacob

You can absolutely use your old keyboard with your new Apple iMac. Some people even use the extra-compact G3 iMac keyboards with newer Apple computers, just for the convenience of the smaller size while retaining a 10-key. I understand the value of a good keyboard, though I have the opposite preference. I have replaced all my keyboards with the Aluminum Apple Keyboards because I type more accurately with the added key spacing. It is all about what works for the individual, so keep using the white Apple keyboard.

Hope that helps,
Jacob

There could be a few things potentially at the root of this problem but my first guess is that it is a RAM issue. A bad RAM chip would only trigger a crash when the system tries to write and read form that damaged part of the RAM stick. Depending on how many applications you open and what you are doing, your RAM will become fully occupied at different times. That is why it unpredictably locks up on you. If your eMac has two RAM sticks installed, I would recommend that you try to remove one and see if it still locks up. If it does, then put the pulled stick back in and then remove the other stick. Each time only starting up the Apple computer with one RAM stick Installed. Here is a link to the RAM removal and installation Procedures.

If you only have one RAM stick in the eMac, Start by removing that stick and then move it to the other, unused, slot. Start up the computer and see how it behaves. If the problem is still occurring then consider purchasing a new RAM stick. Even if it turns out to be a non- RAM related issue, you will still benefit from an extra stick of RAM installed.

If after all this you have eliminated the RAM as the culprit, I would next suggest that you look at doing an Archive and Install of the Mac OS from the Discs that came with your computer or the most recent Retail Install CDs you have.

Hope this helps,
Jacob

The answer is a yes and no answer. The eMac does support an external display via an Apple Mini-VGA to VGA adapter.

The Apple driver only lets you mirror what is displayed on the built-in screen of the eMac, you will not be able to extend your desktop as most would want to do. That being said, a clever fellow created an application that will allow you to unlock the Extended Desktop mode in some iMac, eMacs, and iBooks.

But check the list of supported Apple machines before you install and remember this is unsupported by anyone, especially Apple.

Hope this helps,
Jacob

In my experience that is probably a dead or low voltage PRAM battery issue. You
can test the battery on a Volt Meter to see if it is putting out 3.6 volts, if not you should replace it. If you replace the PowerPC PRAM battery on the logic board with a new one, I bet it will return to normal operation.

After replacing the Apple computers battery you should also reset the PMU on your Power Mac to make sure no corrupt settings are saved from your failed PRAM battery.

Hope that helps,
Jacob

Modern Apple computers do not come with built-in modems these days. This has a lot to do with the availability of broadband throughout the country. Most people are not using dial-up anymore so putting a modem in every Mac just adds needless expense to the majority of the Mac users. Modems are still available but as USB dongles that are purchased separately.

We still list the modem as not installed because some of our older systems will include internal modems and a few of our customers are looking for that feature.

Hope that clears things up,
Jacob

The best solution for Apple computers that can’t use an internal modem, like your Intel iMac, is to use the Apple V.92 Data/Fax USB Modem.

The only requirement is that you have Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later, and a free USB port. As the name implies, this will work for faxing as well as Dial-up internet access.

Hope that helps,

Jacob

It is best to use Mac-specific PCI hard drive controllers, although some generic PC cards will work. These days I recommend that you but a PCI SATA controller card for drive expansion. Not only are these available with Mac support, but your investment in hard drives will be transferable to your future Apple computers. I am fond of Sonnet Tech adapter cards for older Macs and I think this SATA card would work well for you.

When ordering a hard drive for this configuration, make sure it has both Legacy and Serial ATA power. Otherwise consider getting the Sonnet Serial ATA Cable Kit.

Low End Mac has a great G4 Power Mac Upgrade Guide with loads of information specs relating to G4 Power Mac Upgrades.

That G4 iMac should be able to take any PATA (AKA ATA or IDE) hard drive even this 750GB Seagate hard drive.

Here is a take apart for that G4 iMac.

Consider also replacing the optical drive with a newer MCE Internal Super drive, if you have it taken apart it is a natural upgrade in addition to the hard drive.

There are relatively few choices for upgrading your video card on a first generation used Mac Pro but that doesn’t mean that you can’t get a great card. The NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT is a spectacular upgrade card and quite the improvement over the 7300 GT card. There is also the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT card, but users complain of noise and relatively low performance on high-end applications compared to the 8800GT card.

The cheapest fix is to get a USB Ethernet adapter and use that for your network connection.

This Belkin Gigabit network adapter is for people with USB 2.0 and 10/100 USB 1.1 computers.

Drivers for OS 10.2 and up are found at the Belkin gigabit USB product support page.

The LCII came with a 40MB or 80MB hard drive and many of those older drives just do not hold up well over time. Fifteen years is a long time to keep spinning the same steel platter. You could be lucky and just need to reinstall the Mac OS. It will take Mac OS 7.0.1 to 7.5.5 and you can find system updates for that computer at Apple’s Older Software Downloads page.

If you do not have a copy of the Mac OS for your system, you can download system 7.5.3 from Apple’s Index Of Older Systems and put them on Floppy disks. Here are some good instructions on making boot floppies from OS X.

Hope this helps, If the drive is dead you will have some issues finding a suitable replacement, but it can be done.

You can replace the MacBook’s drive yourself but it would be better to have an Apple Authorized Service center do it for you. The replacement part will likely cost you $200 to $300 but should only take a half of an hour to replace it. Using a Service center will also give the tech a chance to see if the drop did more damage than just the Optical Drive.

If price is overly concerning to you, Searching Google by the drive model number will bring up some budget options. You can also go with an external USB Super drive until you want to fully replace the drive you have. Eventually there could be a Blu-Ray drive upgrade for your MacBook. That way you will get more for your upgrade dollars.

The alternating “?” and Folder Icon indicates that your computer cannot find a bootable Operating system. Not all B&W G3 towers could handle bigger drives, so that may be what is causing the problem. The Rev A G3 Logic board couldn’t handle large drives but the Rev B logic boards can take up to 120 GB drives. Look for the Apple copyright information printed on the logic board and below it will be a string of characters in one of the following two configurations XXX-09XX-A or XXX-10XX-A. The “X” is used in place of unimportant information. 09 indicates that it is a rev A logic board and the 10 means that it is a rev B.

If you have a Rev B Blue and White G3 logic board, then you need to make sure that the drive is set to Master and is the only drive in the computer. It may also be that a more advanced version of the Mac OS is on the drive than what the G3 can handle. You should also download any G3 Firmware updates needed to run OS X.

If you have a Beige G3, and not a Blue & White one, then you are running into the 7 GB boot volume limit. OS X has to be installed on a partition of less than 7.4 GB and that partition must also be on the Master drive on the IDE cable.

Your best option would be to reformat the drive and then reinstall a copy of the Mac OS. To move over your old data you will need to put that 6 GB drive into an external enclosure, like this Macally Storage Cabinet, and use Firewire to bring it over to the B&W G3 or put the 6 GB drive into the Beige G3 as a second drive to copy over the data.

These Wi-Fi to ethernet adapters, like the Belkin unit you have, are great for connecting older Apple laptops and Apple computers to a wireless network. Because you have both PCs and Macs you have two options. You can program this Belkin Wireless Ethernet Bridge via your Dell with the setup wizard included on the CD that came with in the box. Connect the device to your Dell with an ethernet cable and use the setup wizard as if you were going to use it to get your Dell on the network with the adapter. Once you have the Dell online via the Wireless Ethernet Bridge, disconnect it from the Dell and plug the ethernet cable into the G3 Apple computers ethernet jack.

Then it is just a matter of setting the G3’s TCP/IP settings to use DHCP.

If you do not want to use the Dell for this or you have problems, you can use a web browser. First you have to set your G3 computer’s TCP/IP settings to Manual, and set the following settings.

IP address: 192.168.2.200
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Router: 192.168.2.199

Save those settings and then open a browser and type this IP address into the browsers address bar: 192.168.2.225

That should get you to the router’s web interface to finish the setup based on the users manual. After you configure your adapter you will have to change the TCP/IP settings on your G3 back to DHCP.

Here’s a link to your Belkin G Gaming Adapter downloadable user manual.

The best way to charge your laptop battery is inside of your laptop, so what you really need is an outlet in your car. To get a house-style 115-120V AC plug into your 12V DC car, you’ll need a DC to AC inverter.

This 375 Watt Tripp Lite PowerVerter would be a great choice to charge your laptop and other devices.

As a used of G4 apple laptops“>Apple laptops you could also make due with this smaller Tripp Lite PowerVerter 150-Watt Ultra-Compact as well.

The 0.2 GHz difference between the 1.8 and 2.0 GHz Mac computer Intel processors is not overly significant for Audio tools. The more important consideration is with regards to whether it is a Core Duo or Core 2 Duo processor. The newer Core 2 processors support 64-bit processing and have better efficiencies.

If you are thinking about a used Apple G5 system, then either the 1.8 or 2.0 GHz processor would be good choices. The main thing to do is make sure that Pro Tools supports the hardware on the Operating System you are looking at.

The problem with side mounting a Mac Pro is that it is a little too tall to fit in a 19″ rack on it s side. The feet make it over 20″ tall. Most racks have more than enough room horizontally for the Mac Pro once you are past the mounting rails, so it is possible. In order to sideways-mount the system you will have to have side access to the rack. Then you just need a 19″ wide shelf.

It is not as convenient as having front removal/installation access to the Mac Pro but it will fit in just 6Us of rack space.

I would certainly not call the loss of FireWire a common issue, but I have seen it before. The B&W G3 had many FireWire issues because it used an add-on card that suffered power surges. Throughout the years I have seen FireWire fail on the logic board, and there is little that can be done to revive it. Before you write off the FireWire ports, check Apple’s Support pages and see if there is a Firmware update for your system. This is the software on the logic board and it can often resolve these issues. You should also test whether it is a software issue by trying to use some of the FireWire features that do not rely on the operating system on your hard drive. If you have another Mac computer, boot up your problem Mac holding down the [ T ] key. This will boot it into Target Disk mode - which makes your Mac into a FireWire hard drive. Connect the two Mac computers with a FireWire cable and see if it shows up on the other computers Desktop. If it does not work, then it is probably dead FireWire, but if it does, then you may need to reinstall your OS on the problem Mac.

If your FireWire ports are in fact dead, then you can buy a LaCie 107355 FireWire 400 PCI Card to replace the internal ports.

Both are great questions. It is my recommendation to spread your RAM configuration out to fill as many slots as possible without restricting your future upgrade needs. Filling the first four RAM slots evenly is a good idea. If your budget is geared to 4GB of total RAM, then four 1GB sticks is the way to go. Later you can put four 2GB sticks in the system and move the 1GB sticks to the higher slots. Here is a link to Apple’s Mac Pro RAM compatibility chart.

A Mac computers RAM setup is a lesser issue than the Graphics card. You need that bigger card for Motion. In some tests of the 2600 XT vs. the 8800 GT card, the 8800 GT card is nearly twice as fast. It will be the best $150.00 upgrade you could buy and a necessity for your graphics work.

Practically any FireWire or USB drive would work for you. You could go with a stackable drive and hub combo that looks like it is part of your Mini, like this NewerTech 160 GB MiniStack Hub. Or you could get a slickly styled one (I own this one) like this LaCie 500GB Hi Speed USB 2.0 Drive.

I would also recommend that you upgrade to Leopard, if you have not done so already. Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard’s Time Machine feature is the perfect background backup utility for you. Every hour your Book will be backed up and you could go back to a previous version to recover deleted chapters.

Yep, we think the screen on the 24 iMac is better than the 20″ iMac, and not just four inches better. The display is brighter, by close to a third the brightness of the 20″ iMac. This is important with glossy screens because it can counteract glare from overhead lights or a window, while still providing sharp color. Also the display has a greater viewing angle, 178° verses 160°. What this means is that you will have better color representation across the screen as your eye moves around. The lower the viewing angle the more washed-out images look from the corners of your eyes.

On a much more anecdotal note, I have yet to hear anyone complain about their 20″ iMac. Whatever you’ve heard could just be the number of 20″ iMacs sold compared to the 24″ iMac, but still, of the rare complaints I hear regarding iMac screens, all are about 20″ iMacs.

One of the wonderful advantages of the new Mac Pro is the ability to reconfigure the system over time. Drives can be easily added, optical drives can be added, and video cards can be upgraded or added. The NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT video card can be moved to PCIe slot #2 down the road to make room for the NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600. The only concern with adding extra video cards in a Mac Pro is that the PCIe bus supports 300 Watts. The 8800 draws 110 watts, combine that with the 175 wattdraw of the FX5600, and your video cards will eat up most of the PCIe bus’s power.

Currently the aftermarket FX4500 or FX5600 cards are not Mac compatible. There is much discussion about flashing a PC Nvidia card with Mac compatible EFI ROM but that is a little risky. You can also get the service part version of the card (PN 661-4461) but at an inflated price, apposed to buying it in a Mac Pro. If you don’t think you will need the better graphics card for six months, then waiting for a Mac FX5600 upgrade card to be produced may work for you. There are no guarantees that such a card will ever be produced but it may be worth the risk to wait and see. If you know that you must have this card in a few months, then you should just “bite the bullet” and order it in a Mac Pro now.

With the introduction of the Quicksilver G4 Apple stopped including a CD/DVD eject button on the face of the computer. Apple had switched to using a keyboard base eject button and with the proper extension in OS 9, that button would eject the CD tray. IF you do not have an Apple keyboard with the Eject button, then pressing [F12] will work in its place, but only under OS X. In OS 9 you had to use a script that is hard to find these days.

Apple included an eject script in the Eject Extras folder on original Quicksilver OS 9 install. This script would eject the CD/DVD tray when clicked on. There is also an eject button in the OS 9 version of iTunes that can be used. If all else fails, you can restart the computer holding down the mouse button and that will force the CD/DVD drive to eject. Here are Apple’s instructions on how to mechanically eject a disk from the DVD drive on a Power Mac G4.

If the drive has failed or is a CD-RW only drive, then you should upgrade it with an MCE internal 20X Power Mac upgrade.

Please also consider that if your copy of Tiger is gray in color, it may be hard coded to the computer it shipped with. Black-labeled OS X install discs work on most Macs, but gray-labeled Apple media is intended to restore computers to original factory condition.

The addition of Firewire 800 was a significant upgrade to the Aluminum iMac line. FW 800 opened up a large number of pro peripherals for use with the iMac, making it an alternative to the Mac Pro for some. Although there is one FireWire 400 and one FireWire 800 port, they do share the same bus. In most cases this is not an issue but it could be if your device requires the entire bus to function properly. That is a situation that would call for a Mac Pro with an extra FireWire card dedicated to your bus-hungry device.

It is difficult to be certain, but what you describe sounds like a Backup / PRAM Battery issue. The same issue would also manifest in your clock being reset after you remove all power sources from your computer. Newer Technology makes a replacement battery for your system, part number NWTBATPG3WS. Consider replacing this battery as part of the troubleshooting process.

The other possibility is the sleep reed switch magnet, that indicates that the lid is closed, was not installed properly after the hinges were replaced. This is less likely but it is possible. Damage to the sleep reed switch, or misalignment, could cause a variety of sleeping issues.

Displays, in general, often are not worth the cost to repair. This is true for not only Apple displays, but for any brand of monitor. Three years is the longest that Apple will cover a display’s repair costs and that requires the purchase of AppleCare for the display. Without AppleCare, it is covered for the Apple standard of 1 year. Sometimes Apple identifies higher than average rates of failure in certain products. When that happens they will extend the repair warranty on a product. Those products and conditions are listed on Apple’s exchange repair page.

Of course class action law suites are not listed on that page. This is the link to the Apple 17″ Display Lawsuit you mentioned, which has already ended. The settlement covered a yearly decreasing dollar amount for the repair covering to that three-year mark. As it stands the display can still be fixed if it is just an inverter board, like what is described in the lawsuit. That part (when you can find it) costs about $70 and Labor could run another $45.00 to install the part. The product is marked as “vintage” and that designation could make it difficult for you to find the parts in stock.

It may be better to invest that money in a newer Acer 19″ display.

I assume (ha!) you are using the Mac Pro wireless upgrade kit to add 802.11n to your pre-N MacBook Pro. In that case there is sometimes an “extra” antenna cable. There are two things to remember when dropping one antenna from a three-cable wire harness. The first is that you want to cap the metal end of the unused antenna cable. The second is that you want to use the black and blue cables with the new card, and cap the grey cable. If the cables are not color coded, the middle cable is the right one to cap.

Glad to hear you are joining the Mac community! Unfortunately the current 20″ iMac can’t have its base removed easily. The process would require the complete dismantling of the iMac, and there would be no way to stand the Mac up once the base was removed. The 24″ iMac is able to have its stand removed and it can be mounted to a VESA compliant mount kit.

If the new 24″ iMac is short enough without its stand, this may be a good option for you. You could buy a VESA wall mounting plate and attach it to the back of the roll-top desk. The iMac would connect to the plate with the adapter above.

It is not exactly what you hoped for, but perhaps it is just the excuse you need to buy that bigger iMac.

I have been a fan of the Addlogix USB Wi-Fi adapter. It will work with Mac OS X 10.3 or higher, on an open USB 2.0 port. The USB 2.0 port is there requirement and I have heard mixed reports of it working on some USB 1.1 ports. Your best bet would be to get a USB 2.0 PCI card to add wireless to the G3 tower.

I am a big proponent of using your Mac for TV watching and recording. Most times I recommend the EyeTV 250 Plus because it has a hardware encoder for recording analog video. In your case you want to watch TV on the road, (figuratively; not when driving I hope), and for that I would recommend using the ultra portable EyeTV Hybrid. It has many of the same features as the 250 Plus but is about the size of a pack of gum. You will not have the internal hardware encoder but the EyeTV Hybrid is USB powered and would work in many remote places.

Both units ship with the EyeTV software, which makes all the EyeTV products shine in the Mac TV market. Both units will need a cable connection or an external antenna. Most TV antenna will work for Digital TV over the Air signals with the EyeTV system but you should look for one that will travel well.

There is no internal disk drive for the MacBook Air but you can get a Macbook Air SuperDrive.The other option is to use the disc-sharing feature to “borrow” the optical drive of a computer on your network. The data does not stay on the computer with the optical drive but instead gets relayed over the network to the MacBook Air. It is a cool feature and works well. Macs that are going to share their drive have to enable “DVD or CD Sharing” in the Sharing section of System Preferences. After that, the MacBook Air can request to use that computer’s optical drive.

Unfortunately these direct to DVD video cameras are not Mac-compatible, nor do I consider them good cameras. I lost a full wedding's-worth of footage on one of those cameras and swore never to use one again. Years prior, someone filmed my wedding on another direct to DVD camera, I had to make an analog version of the video and then re-digitize it to edit my wedding.

No upgrade to your iMovie will help resolve this connectivity issue. The claim-to-fame for these cameras is that you do not need a computer to edit the footage and trying to put a Mac into the process is a near impossible.

There is a type of failure, on the combo analog/optical audio ports, that causes it the unit to think there is always an item plugged in. This happens because the port senses that a non-metallic item has been inserted. This is supposed to indicate that an Optical audio jack is in use.

You can try blowing compressed air into the port - but I have seen few reports where that solves the problem. In most cases, replacing the affected ports is the solution.

The best way to get Mac Serial connectivity from a New Mac is to use a Keyspan USB Twin Serial Adapter. There is also this option for PC style serial connections.

It is important to know if the printer you are using has modern print drivers for Mac OS X. The connection is just 50% of the printing equation.

I have always held the opinion that any Intel iMac is the sweet spot for most Mac users. It uses a modern and fast processor, so the next system upgrade is years off. It has more than enough power for basic computer but that allows users to expand and do more, which is why we have Macs.

Have you considered using the Mac Pro’s internal SATA ports via this eSATA extender cable adapter from Newer Tech?

This product works on all Mac Pros and allows you to use the internal SATA ports sitting dormant in your Mac Pro as two eSATA ports. I think this will get you the stability you want without the chipset worries.

A lot of time has gone by and Apple does not seem to have any intention of dumping the glossy “iPhone like” iMac screen. I have heard many complaints about this and I only have two practical solutions. The first would be to buy one of our Pre-Owned Intel iMacs, pre-Aluminum. The other option would be to get a smaller-screened 20 inch iMac and a 23″ Apple Cinema HD Display and run them together. I do this at home and extended desktop works perfectly on iMacs. Make the 23″ display the primary and the iMac with its screen can be the pallet monitor.

Mull it over I think it may be the right solution for you. Remember that you will need an Apple Mini-DVI to DVI adapter cable to connect the two together.

Sometimes this can be caused by faulty hardware so you should run the Apple Hardware test that came with your computer on the gray labeled discs. You may also want to make sure you have run all the fan-related firmware updates. Search the Apple support site for “G5 fan” and then sort by downloads. It is also just as possible that the thermal sensors are mis-calibrated. The loud fans of some G5 units can be reduced by re-calibration so they do not run constantly. Unfortunately this is something that has to be done at an Apple Authorized Service center. It should be just the cheapest possible charge for labor only.

Well the display blacking out could be a few things. The system could have gone to sleep; you can wake it by pressing the space bar. The battery could have run out of charge. Press the button on the bottom of the battery to check the charge indication lights. If only one light flashes than it is not charged up. You could have also turned the display brightness down. Turn the brightness back up via the larger of the two “Sun” keys. The big and small suns will be printed on two of the function keys.

It could also be a failed backlight in the display, which is a big problem. You can test that by shining a flashlight on the display and seeing if you can see items on the display but darkened.

It is true that many new Macs have an optical audio in/out port. This is activated by the use of a special cable that has a plastic headphone jack on one end and a Toslink connector on the other end. It's called a Mini to Optical Toslink cable.

You can tell if you have this feature by looking in your System Profiler utility. In the audio section look for a S/P-DIF in and out notation. If you have that, then you can use the above cable.

As for file sharing to the whole hard drive, you need to make sure that you are logging in as an Administrator on the box you are connecting to or you can use a utility to give full access to any user account on the system. The application is called SharePoints.

The Apple TV is a special device that connects to HD TVs allowing you to view your iTunes and iPhoto content from your TV. The correct way to connect your MacBook to the analog ports on your TV is with the Apple Mini-DVI to Video Adapter and the S-Video cable and mini stereo jack to RCA cables you mentioned. You may also use an Apple Mini-DVI to DVI Adapter with a DVI to HDMI cable to connect to the HDMI port on your HDTV, if you have one.

I have looked around and did not found any residual support for upgrading the G4 iMac's processor. I remember when this process came about and it involved you sending back your old logic board to be upgraded or exchanged. I was never that fond of this because, unlike other processor upgrades, this required the old processor to be unsoldered and a new processor soldered on; risky business in my book. If it is not a socketed processor, it is not upgradable by my standards.

Even without a processor upgrade that is a good computer for the basics.

This is a wonderful question, one I wish more people would ask. I have found that many parents put little thought into their children’s computer usage. Often the result of this structureless approach is one of two extremes. Some parents choose to keep their kids completely away from computers altogether. Which causes the child to be unskilled with, what has become, a basic tool of our American lives. When the child is final introduced to computing they make judgment mistakes that their more computer savvy peers have already learned to avoid. For instance giving out personal information to stranger online.

The other extreme is the parents that choose to give full access to a computer to a child with absolutely no oversight or support. The best-case scenario for this child is if they destroy the computer before getting into massive amounts of trouble online.

The reason that Parents have these problems is due to the absence of computers from their own childhood. For better or worse we parents tend to draw from our own childhood to guide us in our parenting. Most parents today did not have computers until much later in life and possibly have yet to develop a functional understanding of computers. This is not an option for children living in the industrialized world. So parents need help with the digital side of raising their children. If you are willing to be that person for your nephew’s sake then I would say you are not stupid at all for wanting to get him a computer.

Getting a computer is only the first step. You need to be willing to be the administrator of the computer, or teach the parents. I would recommend sending a computer with Leopard on it so that you can screen share over iChat and make changes from across state lines. Also I would have you make one Administrator account that you use for his parents and your remote administration. Your nephew will have his own user account that you will put the Apple built-in parental controls on. Start with very few privileges. As the child to demonstrate proficiency with the Mac, you can slowly start to open the privileges up on his user account.

It would be best if you could configure the computer completely before sending down south. Test it out logged in as your nephew and make sure that it looks simple and secure. Remember to set the auto login account as his account and make sure his parents do not give him the Administrator user account password.

When it comes to finding a proper computer for him I would discourage you from choosing a laptop. Cheap Mac laptops are great for older children that are allowed to have computers in their rooms. This is because you have to confiscate the computer from time-to-time and this is easy with a laptop. My teenage daughter has a G4 iBook and I have to take it away when she breaks the rules. Younger children need computers with replaceable mice and keyboards. They will get trashed and smaller hands need smaller mice and keys. There are many small input devices available that work well for young children. Any computer given to a young child needs to be kept in a public space, so there can always be adult supervision. An iMac or Mac Mini would be a good choice. A used G5 iMac is close to your price range and the G4 iMac 1GHz would also work for you on the lower end of your budget.

There is much more to think about in regards to rules and instruction for your nephew but this should get you started.

You do not have to be in a war zone to have lost a laptop screen to an accidental drop. Most often, I hear about this happening with systems used in schools, but this scenario can bite anyone. There are several positives in regards to Macs with broken screens. In most cases your computer can still be turned on into what is known as Target Disk mode. Hold down the “T” key when you start up the computer. After 30 seconds or so you can let go of the key. After that, you just need to connect your damaged Mac to a working Mac via a FireWire cable. In a way, the Target disk mode turns every modern Mac into an external hard drive.The good news is that when you start a new Mac, you are given instructions on putting your old Mac into Target Disk mode. Once the computers are hooked together, it will automatically move all your old data over and setup the new system just like your old one. Even if your computer can’t boot into Target Disk mode, you can put the drive into an external drive enclosure, or another similar Mac, and move the data over as if it were on your used Mac. I have done this many times and it makes switching Macs as easy as changing a shirt.The other nice feature of your MacBook is that even with a broken screen you can use it with an external keyboard, mouse, and display. This will turn your laptop into a desktop, which is still better than tossing it away. Your MacBook will need an adapter cable to work with a display, and the cable you use depends on the connection on the display. Typically DVI displays are better and they use a Mini DVI cable adapter. Another option is a VGA display adapter.You can use any USB keyboard and mouse you like. I personal like the new Apple Aluminum keyboard and a Logitech wheel mouse.

Even though the Intel switch has changed the efficiency of virtualizing a PC on the Mac, virtualization's RAM needs have remained the same. Just like using Parallels or VMware, Virtual PC needs a ton of RAM. The truth is that you can never have too much RAM for increasing the performance of a virtual machine. However, a general guideline would be double the RAM you would want in any one of the operating systems you are running. If your Power Mac runs well by itself with 2GB of RAM, look at taking it up to 4GB to comfortably run the Windows OS next to the Mac OS.

You can use less, but in general that will get you to the optimal position. Use no less than 1GB of RAM to run a Virtualized system on your Mac.

Most external hard drives will work with older versions of the Mac OS, as long as it can connect to the computer. Some drives are only USB 2.0 drives and about half the used eMacs are equipped with USB 1.1 ports. You often can use an external USB 2.0 drive with a 1.1 port but it is slower than what you probably want. Firewire 400 based external hard drives are best for PowerPC Macs like yours. You may have a drive with both. Any time you get a new external drive, you should erase it with the OS X Disk Utility on the computer you intend to use it with. This will make it compatible with whatever version of the Mac OS you are using.If it the drive has FireWire (AKA IEEE 1394) ports or your eMac has USB 2.0, then open that drive and erase it. After that you should be able to start moving your archived files to the drive.

The slowness you are experiencing is the product of your computer's limited processor and RAM, as well as your internal hard drive being full.
The hard drive is the only thing left to upgrade, and it is something you will have to take into an Apple Authorized Service center. A 120GB PowerBook hard drive can be installed into your iBook to replace your current internal drive. You may have to pay extra to the service department to move the data over, but you could also clone your drive using Carbon Copy Cloner and your external drive.

Almost all your problems stem from your internal hard drive (aka Startup drive) being full. In general, you need to have twice the available hard drive space as RAM installed in the system. For you, that would mean having 640 MB X 2 empty space on your hard drive at all times. You can delete the old “System Folder” used by classic and the “Applications (OS 9)” folder if you do not use Classic applications. That may be a good starting point.

Your PC seems newer, and by processor power it probably is over twice the speed of your Mac, but the Windows OS does slow down a system if it's not well maintained, so your actual benefit from switching to the PC could be lost.

Sadly, no, the Aluminum 20-inch Apple Cinema Display will not work with your Pismo G3. It is a shame because the Aluminum 20-inch Apple Cinema Display is a beautiful display, I am working on one as I type this.

The problem is not just your video card and processor, but the type of external video connection the Pismo came with. You have a VGA connection on your Laptop and you need a DVI connection to run an aluminum 20-inch Apple Cinema Display. You would also need a better video card with extra VRAM. It is probably not the best choice for older Macs. There are many LCD displays that will work with your VGA connection.

Resetting the PMU is a good first step in trying to resolve a system sleep issue. Here is the link to the Apple’s support site PMU reset procedure for most of the PowerPC Mac towers.

If resetting the PMU fails to resolve your problems you should then remove any added PCI cards you have installed. Some USB/Firewire cards will prevent a computer from sleeping properly. If you still have issues with your system sleeping, try removing all non-Apple RAM and peripherals, as this may interfere with the system’s ability to go into the low power mode of sleep.

It’s not certain that you have a hardware failure that would require a new logic board. You could just as easily have a operating system issue that can be fixed. If you have a Mac OS install CD, then you can boot up off of that and see if the Disk First-aid can fix your boot drive. Also a reinstall of the OS could help resolve your issue. It is a safe bet that if you computer will not startup from a Mac OS X CD that it is a hardware failure. At that point you will need to find a new system that supports PCI cards so that you can move your drive over to the new system. You will need to determine what kind of interface your SCSI drive uses.This Adaptec SCSI card has both types of connectors but it may be more than what you need.I have never used this Startech SCSI card before but it could be an economical solution.Unfortunately I do not know of a good USB/FireWire SCSI drive adapter. Internal is probably your best option.

The Apple Cinema Displays have many cables combined into one connector. Each has DVI, USB, and power wrapped together in a single cable and plug. Although it is a wonderful reduction of clutter, this can create problems.

The first place to check for problems is with the pins in the connector. Look and see if any pin is bent or missing… with that many pins it is possible for one to get misaligned. Provided that the pins look intact, you should next reseat your video card by removing it and then reinserting it. Every feature that runs through the ADC connection also goes through your video card and its connection to the logic board.

If the problem persists, then it could be a short in that ADC cable. See if you can cause and then fix the problem by manipulating the monitor’s cable. If moving the cable has no effect, it is most likely a faulty USB hub in the display. I have seen this before but not too often. In the case of a bad USB hub, it is best to use an available USB port on the computer or get a desktop USB hub

All iBooks, and most PowerBooks can go Wireless with a simple upgrade card. What you need is an Apple Airport card. There are two versions of airport card for the iBook - you’ll need a G4 iBook Airport Extreme card, or a regular G3 iBook FastMac Airport card.With iBooks, you just flip open the keyboard and plug in the card. Inside your iBook there is a built-in Airport antenna that attaches to the back of the Airport card. After the battery, Airport is the most user-accessible installation on the iBook.