Macintosh / Apple blog

various | March 20, 2005, first day of Spring | 'Civ

[SunkenCiv]

I've heard that *some* of the iMacs will take the 512mb in both slots (I think over on http://www.LowEndMac.com/ ) but have been reluctant to take this apart. I have the book "My iMac" which shows how to take apart and put together for RAM and hard drive upgrades, and presumably for Harmoni, which is getting cheaper suddenly. A couple of companies made internal CD burners for the "mezzanine", tray-loading iMacs such as I have, and a few months back I found a source of at least one type.

Probably the best bet is to upgrade the PowerMac 7600 across this room. Sonnet makes an 800 Mhz G4 upgrade, and I found an online source which is selling it with a Firewire, or FW/USB adapter, as a bundle. I want to use the ADS Dual Drive case (which got hard to find all of a sudden; it is FW/USB and comes with Mac software) and plunk in a DVD burner, probably from Sam's. Backing up drives won't be such a chore then.

[SunkenCiv]

:') Since it's likely that each of the ports will be needed in a different locale, it would probably be cheaper and more practical to just get some separate extensions. However, it wouldn't be as pretty. ;')

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks!

[Hoplite]

it is not for platform wars

You just need to trade up to better equipment, rather than ruling out discussions which will ultimately come down to your need to reboot.

[antiRepublicrat]

You havn't tried KDE then

I've tried KDE, nowhere near OS X.

[xcamel]

I have OSX - Fedora core 3 and a well tuned system kicks everything apple can throw out - including dual G5's

I'm freeping on a dual opteron 250, with 2GB memory, full smp, and not hindered a bit.

[antiRepublicrat]

I have OSX - Fedora core 3 and a well tuned system kicks everything apple can throw out - including dual G5's

But it's not as cohesive and user-friendly as OS X. BTW, that's one smokin' system.

[SunkenCiv]

CD (not DVD) slot-loading burner for original iMacs:

http://www.mcetech.com/imacrw.html

http://www.technowarehousellc.com/incddrivfori.html

DVD burners for your iMac:

internal:
http://www.mcetech.com/dvdrwimacsl.html

external:
http://store.mcetech.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=SD16FWUSB2-D&Category_Code=STORFWCDDVDRW&Product_Count=2

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=93862

[solitas]

cool! thanks - I'll check 'em out.

I'm looking for a slot-loading DVD reader for the iMac 'cause I already have a NEC ND-2510A dual-layer burner (was a $80 stealdeal from outpost.com(?) a few months ago, via dealmac) in a firewire case (too bad media is still big $$$ for these).

[SunkenCiv]

Good idea, checkin' DealMac. Also, the LaCie website has a garage sale section that has a lot of stuff go through, some new but discontinued (model end), some refurbed but warrantied.

I've got my eye on the ADS dual USB/FW case, but I think I said that before. It's about $64, comes with Mac software, and I can throw any IDE device in there.

[jpsb]

Is OS X system 5 or BSD based? Either blow the doors off Linux.

[solitas]

Hey - check it out: http://www.vr-3.com/vr3_fmmod.html

I picked one up at Costco yesterday for $24.59. Wanna see how well it plays from a USB keychain-drive (an unusual and noteworthy feature for anyone who doesn't own an MP3 player yet OR doesn't want to always drive with it).

[SunkenCiv]

heeeey, nice...

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[solitas]

How ATA security functions jeopardize your HD data
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1376364/posts

[antiRepublicrat]

Is OS X system 5 or BSD based? Either blow the doors off Linux.

FreeBSD on a Mach kernel.

[jpsb]

Mach kernel, wasn't that the kernel that NextStep used in there OS? Never got to play with a Next box but I heard all kinds of good stuff about it.

I am not yet sold on micro kernels as opposed to a monolithic kernel, but then OS's is not my thing.

[antiRepublicrat]

I am not yet sold on micro kernels as opposed to a monolithic kernel, but then OS's is not my thing.

Microkernel architectures are usually more robust, and generally a more elegant architecture, but there can be a performance hit. One cool thing is that the Mach kernel was born on multiprocessor machines, and that coupled with the G5 chip's "mother" being originally designed for multi-core, multiprocessor setups means the Mac is one hell of an SMP box.

[jpsb]

I am going to have to get myself a mac. I've got a PowerPC RS6000 that I haven't used in well over 5 years. OS, is obsolete (Aix 1.25) and Aix is up to 4.xx something or other. Sad to see it sitting unused in my closet, I'll bet with a good OS it would still be a useable computer. That could run my web server if nothing else. I liked Linux years and years ago, but it's pretty much a bloated, OS these days and dog slow on the computers I have, P1s. I once put Linux on a old Sun box (Sparc 1+) and totally ruined it. FreeBSD might be OK, tried a couple of times to get a download to put on one of my old P1s, but never could find a PC install.

I'm happy Mac decided to go Unix for an OS, that puts Macs back on my radar screen and thier $500 box is in my price range too.

I'll get mac one of these days.