Way back in early 2006 I bought an iBook G4 and used it for advanced composting for my Video Toaster Windows product Military & Aircraft FX. The laptop served me well and I clocked many hours on her for the intended task. Two or three years ago the wife convinced me to give her away to my sister-in-law. I did that but regretted it when MorphOS came out with a version for the iBook. Low and behold the sister-in-law brought her back this week and she was very slow and Mac OS X seemed ready to give up the ghost. I reimaged her with MorphOS 3.2 and she is purring like a kitten again. I now have a portable MorphOS machine to take with me anywhere I go.

:)

[ Edited by discreetfx 19.08.2013 - 01:45 ]

Great reunion story

I was scared my iBook baby died a horrible death today. She would not boot up no matter what I tried. I was ready to blame old hardware not MorphOS. Then the sister-in-law gave me the bad news that this iBook was checked in Airline luggage not carry-on when she flew to see us. Airlines love to throw around bags!

:(


After a little troubleshooting good news, the iBook did not like the wireless USB mouse being attached during bootup. It's fine once the OS is running. Strange but I'm glad the machine is fine. I'll burn it in for another 2-3 weeks making sure it's okay then register my 3rd MorphOS system. Might swap the old HD out for a SSD before registering. Sure is nice having a portable MorphOS system, I'll use it more.

I'm currently looking for a Ibook 12" myself since my Powerbook is a little too big to carry around all the time. I need something smaller (when I need power and speed I use my G5 anyway).

I have read that wireless USB mouses can have that effect on AROS, and I guess they do on MOS as well then.

Yup, now we know. iBook is nice and small, a totally portable MorphOS system.

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My Powerbook 5,6 died a few months back. Tonight I just bought this.

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Changing hdd in ibooks (at least the 12" models) is said to require a retty calm hand and a good memory where exactly every screw has to go again. Not discouraging, just saying (no 1st hand experience though).

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Nice price! Hope you can get it working. :)

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I bought a 5v IDE to mSATA adapter and an mSATA SSD from ebay for a very good price that I have installed in this PowerBook 5,8. It saved me a fair bit of cash compared to buying a PATA SSD, so you might want to check prices where you live to see if you can get a good deal.

It works really well and is lightning quick. Boot up time hasn't decreased by very much though, but opening and closing applications is much much faster.

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This might help.

http://www.ifixit.com/Device/iBook_G4

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Thanks, looks like just the hard-drive has died ("Ws working fine, now makes a funny noise on startup then won't boot past <question mark> screen").

Also. iFixit rules when it comes to Powerbooks etc.

[ Edited by boot_wb 25.08.2013 - 11:14 ]

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I put a 5v mSATA to 44pin IDE adapter with a 64GB Crucial mSATA SSD in my PowerBook 5,8 and it's very fast and battery life has gone right up. Try to do the same rather than fit an HDD if you have the money. It's really worth it and cheaper than buying a PATA SSD too.

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Got it delivered today (finally).

Switched it on. Got the Apple sound. Will have to do something about that later.
Got the <question mark> screen as described, and booted no further from the hard drive.
Inserted the MorphOS 3 install CD. Boots fine. \o/
System monitor tells me it's actually a Powerbook 5,6, although just like my last one it is the variant with 128MB VRam. That's two for two so far, so I guess the 128MB variant isn't that rare after all, at least in the UK.

I'm putting off replacing the hard drive for another day so it could potentially still be the HDD controller, but looking good so far..(HDD replacement on the Powerbook requires some minor surgery which, as I'm covered in bitumen paint and slate dust after working on a roof, is probably not a good idea atm)

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That is most definitely on my list, but I just want to get it up and running first so suspect I'll just plug in my previous laptop's HDD for now: I miss my laptop like I've lost an arm.

That's a great find indeed.

I imported my 5,8 from the US for $100+$50 postage, then £40 import duty.

I had to replace the 2x512MB SODIMMS with a 1GB stick as the upper slot was flaky and then replaced the dodgy HDD with a SSD, plus the licence fee for MorphOS.

Not cheap when all added up together but it was worth it as it's a great little machine and has been my main computer for the last 3 or 4 months.

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Hard drive replaced, and I'm now posting this from my new (clean, shiny, and actually in better condition than my previous) Powerbook 5,6.

Total cost to replace the old one: £42 + p&p (so £58 total). I doubt I could get a replacement A1200 for that these days.

Just waiting on the new license key.

[ Edited by boot_wb 06.09.2013 - 01:31 ]