dmotion

...madonn!

It seems everyday that passes the less and less I can use my PowerBook G4.

I really believe that Apple left PowerPC users in the dark when they made the crossover to Intel.

Even when they went from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X 10.0 (which required a bit more RAM and some processor speed) they smoothed the transition at least to some extent.

In all actuality Apple was like, "Screw you PPC Users!"

More and more now updates and applications no longer support PPC and/or Mac OS X 10.4

Leaving those with highend Power Mac G5s highly screwed.

So not having the PowerBook G4's Supplemental Disk with Mac OS 9 files (it wouldn't be much use to me anyways for the following) and my CD/DVD Drive inoperative...

I can't use Classic applications, I can't load any applications, games, etc.

Plus the fact that my trackpad doesn't work, on it's 3rd (and last) charger and second battery.

I am left with a computer that can't really do much of anything--that I want...

Which is the chief reason for buying a laptop: to do what you want with it.

Although that is hardly true (at least with me) with computers running Windows Operating System it is or rather was true with Apple and it's computers.

Although recently, as I've written in my livejournal:

Apple's Product: 12' PowerBook G4 1.5GHz w/ 1.25GB DDR SDRAM and 80GB HDD has been leaving a bitter sometimes sour taste in my mouth.

Not just due to the recent occurences but also past occurrences when it went out of comission back two years ago in May.

I was forced to use my old iMac Bondi G3 running Mac OS 9.2.2 w/ 64MBs of RAM and an 8GB HDD(!)

Currently that particular machine is still running in excellent condition however with Mac OS X 10.3 and 384MBs of RAM.

Yet that computer, despites it's age hasn't given me the amount of problems my PowerBook has and it's eleven years old.

Here I have a computer half it's age that I can't do what I want with it...

Yeah...for a split second there I forgot that the CD/DVD Drive doesn't work in this blasted PowerBook G4...

So here I am waiting for it to boot from the DVD and...

*sound of drive spinning--DVD is ejected*

Freakin Madonn!

So now I am stuck with being unable to do what I want with this blasted Powerbook which is to re-upgrade it to Leopard--madonn!

I can attempt to try to downgrade to Panther but my initial intent wasn't to do that--it was merely afterthought.

Really detesting my PowerBook G4 right now.

I don't have Classic and I don't have Leopard.

If I at least had Classic I'd be slightly pleased but since I don't and I don't have Leopard, I am angered.

Re-upgrading to Leopard= Fail

(Really really hate my Powerbook right now--I am that much closer to breaking and literally burning it for a little bit and thereafter breaking it again. Madonn!)

I've been contemplating for the last few days--possibly about three of re-upgrading back to Leopard.

I've been getting highly annonyed by the small number of apps here and there that I've either updated and/or newly obtained that no longer support Tiger (10.4).

Sure it's a small number however small enough to bother me into re-upgrading back to Leopard.

Problem is that due to some moving I did about 6 months ago I have no idea at the time being where the disk is. I can't even find the 2nd disk to Tiger to install Mac OS 9 (Classic) since I lost all my stuff back in October...so yeah...

Where, oh, where could Leopard be...?

Madonn!

My PowerBook G4 is at again w/ it's Optical Drive problem.

This time it won't read or write a CD/DVD whether burned/unburned, etc.

The last time this happened I upgraded to Leopard and then fixed it by downgrading to Tiger...

Must I now downgrade to Panther?

At this point I am considering it.

Among other things wrong with my PowerBook G4 is the trackpad that has given up the ghost thus leaving me with strict usage of a wireless mouse.

Unlike some whom have a laptop and use it on a desk or a flat surface I use it on my lap. Believe me that usage of a mouse on one's leg or atop the laptop is as much a hassle as it is a balancing act once some minor fatigue sets in and you want to stretch.

Also I am on my third charger...if I have to buy another one I'll stop using the Powerbook because it won't be able to be used anyways.

Oh and it's a thrid party charger because I wasn't about to step into an Apple store to buy a third charger for a computer almost half the age of my iMac Bondi G3. (Even that computer has proved to be more formidable than my PowerBook G4). For if I did step into an Apple store or go to their website it would be to buy a new mac.

At one point I was so dissatisfied with my Mac that I thought of just buying a Windows Computer--no, not even running a bootcamp on Mac or installing Mac OS X on a Windows machine...

Just buying a Windows Enabled Computer (Ha! As if it was enabled to do things without first giving you headaches...lol).

One reason being is that after having lost all of my games I am reluctant to re-install all my games on my Mac for two reasons:

One, because I can't--or not easily as I have no optical drive. (Sure I can hook up my External CD Drive but what then of those on DVDs...huh?) Two games I'd like to play I'd have to get another computer and/or find a port of for Mac.

So yeah...having problems with the drive...

They just don't code them like they used to.

Madonn to that.

Gracious--I am fed up with every browser I currently have...

Ever since my Hard Drive was wiped cleaned I've been using Safari, Firefox, Minefield (a test version of Firefox), and Camino.

Every single one of them crashes at least twice in a span of an hour and/or stalls to the point where I have to force quit the thing (that's CTRL-ALT-Delete for those working on Windows Whatever) insomuch that I go through the three browsers at least twice...

I am completely fed up with it--to the brim.

Camino being chief among them giving me the most problems, Firefox second and Safari coming in at third.

Firefox has become bloat...and that's coming from someone who has been there when Firefox was Firebird--oh, what I would give to have something like Firebird...

Fond memories have I of Bon Echo, a remotely recent test version of Firefox which I lost to the wiping of my Hard Drive. It reminded me so of Firebird--more stable for me than the current version of Firefox or even Minefield.

Firefox/Camino have now come extremely close to giving me as much problems as Internet Explorer gives me when I actually use a Windows Whatever...

Freakin' Madonn--I hate having to deal with browser issues. I deal with it so much.

Can someone please code a dmotion browser that won't give me any problems--or at least only a few?

I used Netscape and Opera as back ups before--I guess I should bring them back into action here.

I just hate having to switch browsers so many times during the course of an hour--sometimes even less than 20 minutes go by and here I am force quitting or closing a browser because it just doesn't work.

Oh and gracious--I have to sometimes change browsers when I enter flash sites or attempt to watch a flash video due to rendering issues.

It's simply insane sometimes what I have to do just to surf the web nowadays...

My Hard Drive is deleted...

I lost everything--11 years of files transfered over 3 computers that was currently residing on my Powerbook G4 are all wiped clean off the Hard Drive after a dual boot installation of Linux went awry...

I've spent the last hour trying to fix what took less than a couple of seconds to do.

Only about, I'd say 75% of my Hard Drive was actually backed up. However that 75% includes only things going as far back as October 2007.

The 25% that wasn't backed up was what mainly took up my Hard Drive: Tons PDFs & TXTs going back 11 years, PSDs of my artwork, Select JPGs, TIFFs, RAW images, recorded audio/video from December 2007 till the Present, IRC logs, etc.

Then there are the biggies my 17GB Music Library which used to be on my 20GB iPod but it's Hard Drive died so the only remnant of this library lies on my 1GB iPod Shuffle.

Game Files:

The Sims, The Sims 2, Myst V, Uplink, Fallout 2, Splinter Cell...

Oh gracious, I'd rather not even think about it.

Basically I've been wiped clean...

So whilst I've been writing this I had the Software Update downloading...and now I am going to restart...with nothing...

After exactly 8 months of having Mac OS X Leopard installed on my 1.5 GHz PowerBook G4 it's gone.

At 12:10AM EST on the 29th of June I popped in: Install Disc 1 of the PowerBook G4 and began an Archive and Install of Mac OS X Tiger



...all that is now left of Leopard is the folder entitled: "Previous System 1."

I haven't felt like this since the day (October 28th, 2007) I actually installed Leopard.

Since my installing of Leopard, which went without a hitch, I began to collect my individual problems with Leopard. Chiefly in regards to my Optical Drive and it's abilities.

Thereafter I had began to have problems with my Airport dropping Wi-Fi Signals, Not Being able to Connect, and Not even Seeing Wi-Fi networks.

Other problems included the PowerBook heating up immensely--I didn't have it heating up before when I had Tiger on it.

Also just starting applications took considerably more on Leopard.

However I really enjoyed the Leopard operating system, so in spite of my problems I kept using it.

Then about two weeks ago I began to contemplate downgrading back to Tiger.

The turning point came when my younger Brother came to visit me and used my PowerBook and stated: "This thing is sooooo slow...man! Don't you have like a little over a Gig of RAM on this thing?"

Indeed it was slow and indeed I have a little over a Gig of RAM--1.25GBs of RAM to be precise.

That was late afternoon on June 28th that my Brother had commented on the state of my PowerBook.

So hours later I came to downgrade to Tiger.

My PowerBook G4 runs noticeably faster and programs load much quicker than before and even my internet connection is faster on Tiger.

Leopard is gone...Tiger is back.

So continuing on with the ordeal of my not being able to Burn DVDs I went to the Apple Store...

Actually I have gone a total of about 4 different times weeks apart.

This last visit served only to demonstrate to me that Apple Geniuses are Some Geniuses All Right...

Each time I have presented my situation as I have written it ending with: "The error that it stated was that it failed to calibrate the optical drive."

Apple Geniuses' supplied answers:

"I believe that it is due to the optical drive and it's failure to calibrate itself."

Did I not just tell you that. If I wanted the error to be repeated to me I would have attempted to burn a DVD; not drive, suffer through traffic, waste gas and time.

"When you installed Leopard some core system files failed to copy over. You should attempt to reinstall Leopard again or attempt an archive and install."

First of all if it had been a core file I would have not been able to run Leopard for as long as I have been. Doing a reinstall/archive and install of Leopard is actually a good idea I have not yet had time to try. That was the only viable advice I got, however I knew this already.

"Leopard isn't supported on your current Mac and/or doesn't meet the system requirements."

I have a PowerBook G4 w/ 1.5 GHz PowerPC G4 and 1.25GB DDR SDRAM. To which he replied, "Yes, but it's not a MacBook or a MacBook Pro"

Apple says: "Mac computer with ... PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor, 512MB of memory"

"Yeah, usually when that happens I just advise people to purchase a new Mac."

Yes, this guy was very serious when he said that.

"When you installed Leopard did you shake or let the computer go to sleep?"

Wow, I don't think he knows that if I would have actually done that it wouldn't have finished installing...

"Your optical drive is not for a Mac."

Wow...it is stock from Apple.

"Well, the best thing for you to do is to schedule another appointment, drop your Mac off and we'll see what the problem is..."

Another one? Ha! I was supposed to be resolving this already...oh, that's right the solution is buying a new one...madonn!

...I had to express my frustration to my friend who was with me in Spanish.

Mind you Apple says:

"Who works at the Genius Bar?

Mac Geniuses — selected by Apple — are the most knowledgeable Mac people. Trained at Apple’s California headquarters, the Geniuses have broad expertise and know virtually all there is to know about your Mac or iPod."

Wow I'd be surprised if these guys knew the difference between mac and windows, ha! I'd be surprised if they actually knew their names and colored between the lines....

They always ended the nothingness that they did with, "Sorry we couldn't help you today, you can always try to schedule an appointment with another Genius to see if they can help you."

They wanted me to leave my Mac with them...(?!) With those kinds of answers I am surprised they let them work at all.

Apple Mac Geniuses are Some Geniuses All Right...

Ever since I've gotten Leopard on my PowerBook G4 I have been unable to burn anything whether it's CD or DVD. If I connect the external CD Burner I have via USB that works but the internal stock CD/DVD Burner from Apple is rendered as unknown or it throws an error stating that it cannot be calibrated...

I got Mac OS X Leopard on the 28th of October...

This is highly frustrating to me and it has been the only problem that I have had with Leopard and I have heard other people have had various other problems.

I Can't Burn DVDs...that sucks a lot.

Talked about 'fried circuits' it seems that, "the bottom left corner of the screen managed to somehow catch on fire, in turn toasting the entire left side of his notebook. Oddly enough, it doesn’t seem that this problem was caused by an overheating battery."



My question is, Was this an isolated incident or one that can or will happen again?

First it was due to laptop batteries now it's screens(?)

I wonder what he had on screen prior to it catching on fire.

Not that it matters really but it would be interesting to find out.

Ha, so now with this WiFi Router w/ 160GB HD you can download a bunch of movies and whatnot via BitTorrent--plus run an iTunes server and then stream all this stuff across a network.

However this was not my idea but Boing Boing's

No more UMD movies?

All right so I knew that some studios had stopped...or were going to stop releasing films in the UMD format...and that there were some Target stores that were taking UMD movies off their shelves and sending them back to Sony--somewhere along those lines but I couldn't verify that.

Sony discontinuing the UMD movie format and relying solely on a Memory Stick for 'movie portability'...?

Okay so I did see some advertising for such a thing--wherein one would buy a DVD and then a code was provided wherein one could rip/download the DVD to the memory stick.

Yet the question is brought up--"Why would consumers pay for an additional copy of their favorite movies in a UMD format if they already own the DVD to rip and transfer to their PSPs?"

The answer: People don't want to be dealing with renaming of files, bit rates, long encoding times--sometimes in excess of 2 hours, decrypting of DVDs, VOB files, Video_TS Files, un-fluid video, lapse of audio in sync with video, crummy video quality, etc.

My Brother and I both have a PSP--both have a 512MB Memory Stick, which has about a 483MB Formatted Capacity.

I have a 1.5 GHzPowerbook w/ Mac OS X Tiger and 512MB of RAM and (un)fortunate to also have a PC w/ an AMD Athlon Processor and 512MB of RAM.

On the Windows Machine it takes my Brother depending on which program he uses--anywhere from 2 to 4 hours, give or take with something like an 10 to 18 minutes to decrypt a DVD--again the decrypting of the DVD is dependent upon the program. Be it DVD X Copy or PSP Video 9 w/ DVD Decrypter or another decryption program depending on the DVD.

On the Mac it takes me anywhere from 3 to 4 hours again give or take with something like a 18 to 20 minute to decrypt a DVD with Mac the Ripper if I use iPSP. If I use Instant Handbrake I don't need to decrypt a DVD but again the encoding can take anywhere from 3 to 4 hours give or take on either program. Instant Handbrake is freeware yet iPSP is not and cost like $25 to register. If not you can only convert like 10 minutes of anything--be it a file or a DVD.

Also both on the Windows and Mac 1 in 10 DVDs will be rendered with either a lapse in audio, a problem with fluidness, a crummy picture, no audio at all, or on a rare occasion audio in a different language in spite of having configured it to be in English or all of these.

It is extremely frustrating to have waited anywhere from 2 to 4 hours to be met with such results.

With a UMD movie you just go to the store an buy it. At times it'll be around the same price of a DVD or just a slight bit more but still in the range of other DVDs.

Now, Memory Sticks--someone tell me the price of a Memory stick--the price tag is on average $30 to 40 bucks for like 512MB, $80 to 100 for 1GB, $120 to 140 for 2GB.

They're going to be selling movies on Memory Sticks?

The physical size of a Memory Stick for the PSP is about the size of quarter yet much thinner. I can't imagine carrying around a bunch of these Memory Sticks with movies on it. They'd more than likely have a high rate of getting lost.

But going back to: buying a DVD and then having a code provided wherein one could rip/download the DVD to the memory stick which I said in the beginning. It would still take some time if it involved a computer--and most likely with no Mac version if there is an in between. So if they're going to do this--the memory stick should come preloaded with the movie.

Yet again one has to remember--how much does a Memory Stick cost? This would no doubt raise the price of the DVD drastically to accommodate the cost of manufacturing of the Memory Stick.

So as far as Sony discontinuing the UMD movie format and relying solely on a Memory Stick for 'movie portability'...it's a very bad idea as far as cost and making a profit. If Sony is discontinuing the UMD format due to sales suffering they're only going to suffer even more on the Memory Stick. That is unless they lower the price of Memory sticks. This is the only way that this is possible.

Ha,--Virtual PC for PPC is now free!

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx

Ha,--since Intel Duo Core Macs have BootCamp so they don't need Virtual PC. Plus they just got an update. And no one knows what it does heh lol.

Mircosoft is feeling the sting of Apple, Mac OS X and BootCamp. lol.