I’ve got the kit to do this a couple weeks back, but haven’t had the time. Hopefully next week.
In the mean time here are some things to read up on for the project: Slashdot | Build Your Own PBX, Building Your Own PBX with Asterisk and
Kerry’s Bits of Wisdom
Permalink Comments off
Here is a another tip bit from my research. In Mac Forums – 1.5 vs 1.67 PBs – maccentral suggests little difference there was the following interesting comment by plinden about the relative performances of Powerbooks (and thus G4) vs IBM Thinkpad P-M:
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink Comments off
After the discussions I had with my friend, I realised that a iBook+Mini combination was the most effective. I figured that for the price of an 15″ Powerbook, I could get both a 12″ iBook for travelling (light and long battery life) plus a Mini for the desk at home.
So straight away on Monday I went down to Magnum Mac and got a Mac Mini/1.42GHz Combo unit and then combined it with a Viewsonic VG712s from one of my wholesale accounts. For almost a third of the money saved getting the Combo over the Superdrive I also picked up a external dual layer USD2 DVD+RW burner. However, it looks like the burner doesn’t work natively in OSX, so I’ll have to get some third-party software. It might only work out at only half as cheap. This actually is the Mini I was planning to get for my mother anyway to replace the PC that she uses. Since I’m not going to be around as much, I wanted to find something for her that doesn’t require as much admin work. Still its a good exercise for myself to learn if the Mac is really want I want.
Read the rest of this entry »
Some detail from Apple about External Monitors resolutions.
When the flat-panel display and an external video monitor are operating at the same time, each is allocated 32 MB of video memory in 64 MB VRAM systems or 64 MB of video memory in 128 MB VRAM systems.
Seems the desktop spanning is built in by default for the Powerbooks. The question is, does having only 32Mb allocated to each screen make a difference?
Update: According to this page:
WHAT ABOUT QUARTZ EXTREME? Some of my programmer friends theorized that the extra video memory should speed up Quartz Extreme functions. I disagreed. I argued that graphics processor speed is the key, not graphics memory size, since Apple’s documentation states you only need 16MB of video memory for Quartz Extreme functions.
I saw an interesting graph on Apple’s Quartz Extreme Page from a benchmark called “Window Move.” I was able to get a copy of a similar application that creates hundreds of buffered, semi-transparent windows in various sizes, shapes, and locations.
This test showed no difference.
Both these Ergonomic USB Keyboards with Intuitive Gesture and Pointing Builtin from TouchStream look like very clever. Plus there is a model, MacNTouch, for Powerbooks
Couple of discussions regarding the Powerbook vs iBook question:
* Apple – Discussions – PB 1.33 vs. ibook > noise & durability
* New PowerBook vs. iBook – The shootout.
Good summary in the later link:
* 12” iBook – it’s cheap and very good. If you can’t afford more, get this one.
* 14” iBook – it’s bigger, heavier, and more expensive than the 12”. I still trying to figure out why this is in production.
* 14” Super iBook – it’s bigger, heavier, and slower than a PowerBook. No idea why they make this one either.
* 12” PowerBook – it’s a really expensive, slightly upgraded iBook.
* 12” PowerBook w/ Super Drive – this is a nice model and you might need the Super Drive.
* 15” PowerBook – This is a great computer for the price.
Furthermore, there is some mention that the screen of the 14″ iBook can be blurry. Maybe both a 12″ iBook and a 15″ Powerbook is the sweet spot? 😉
Updates:
* Clamshell mode? – iBook likely to overheat with clamshell closed.
* 6hr Battery Life – Some reports of 6+ hour battery life. Impressive.
Here some tip bits on Powerbook batteries:
Update: A nice page at macintouch with much anecdotal stories about Apple Laptop batteries.
Permalink Comments off
A review of SNAP video drivers for Linux. SNAP are a set of commerical drivers for X11 from Scitech Software. The reviewer says these are useful in the event you need to get decent performance with one of the new ATI laptop video cards.
Permalink Comments off
From MacInTouch, here are a few additional notes from our initial examination of the 15″ PowerBook G4/1.67GHz:
* The screen is beautiful, with a big, welcome addition of space versus iBooks and 12″ PowerBooks. (The screen seemed a bit dim at first, until we found the autosensing brightness option.)
* In size, this laptop is not very different from a 14″ iBook but a little more rectangular in shape. It has far more expansion ports, however, from a PC Card/Cardbus slot to audio input and FireWire 800.
* As noted yesterday, AirPort performance was very disappointing in comparison to that of an iBook G4, iBook G4 or eMac. We finally got the PowerBook to connect a bit better by setting the AirPort Extreme Base Station to do 802.11b protocols only, disabling the faster 802.11g option.
* Bluetooth, with file-sharing, is enabled by default.
* In comparison to iBooks (or even better, a PowerBook G3 “Pismo”), this PowerBook’s trackpad button is unpleasantly stiff, although its click is quieter. We haven’t had time yet to explore the new trackpad features, and the trackpad “clicking” option (also available on other Mac laptops) gave us problems with unintended clicks.
* There appears to be no access to the laptop’s internals with the sole exception of memory slots, behind a door on the bottom of the computer.
* Despite its faster processor, the PowerBook is quiet, on par with an iBook or a Mini and a little quieter than an iMac G5.
* Running benchmarks with Energy Saver set to “Highest” performance, the bottom of the computer became too hot to touch, but the stop stayed fairly cool. (The ambient temperature was about 70 degrees F., and the PowerBook was sitting on top of its cardboard shipping box.)
* The operating system is Mac OS X 10.3.7 (7T62) with a Darwin 7.7.2 kernel. Mac OS 9 is an optional installation.
* iLife ’05 is pre-installed on the hard drive (with QuickTime Player 6.5.2), but there’s no AppleWorks nor iWork in the bundle. A QuickBooks “New User Edition” requires registration by phone with Intuit.
* The optical drive (SuperDrive) is a Matsushita UJ-835E, the hard drive a Fujitsu MHT2080AH.
* The Mobile Motion Sensor shuts down and re-enables the hard drive quickly and may cause some data loss in the event of strong vibration.
* The PowerBook can be run closed with external monitor, keyboard/mouse and power supply.
* We encountered one hard freeze, with the SuperDrive spinning and AirPort operating, and we had to hold the power button down until the system shut off, because reset keys didn’t have any effect. The same CD mounted fine after the restart.
Also some insight as to why some people prefer Macs.
Permalink Comments off
Very detailed Mac Mini Review. Includes some facts about DYI upgrading the HDD and memory.