TurboCube Mac OS

broken image


  • Turbo C for Mac OS X Installation Note: After copying the Turbo C folder to Applications, please right-click on the TurboC app in the Turbo C folder in Applications and select 'Open'. This needs to be done only when you launch the application for the first time.
  • Jan 25, 2017 - Looking for the latest gadgets and gift ideas? NEWKKO has you covered. Fast delivery, money back guarantee, shop with confidence.

Download and Run Turbo C on your macbook. Download From Here:- Tutorial Is Also Provided. Minimum processor state is 5%, Maximum is 100%. I found a workaround that enables full turbo boost speeds. It seems in bootcamp Intel speed-shift is not enabled. If I use Throttlestop to manually enable speed shift, then I can get the full range of speeds. I assume OS X enables speed shift by default.

I have a 2017 Macbook Pro with touch bar and i7-7920HQ @ 3.10 Ghz. I've noticed several issues in Windows 10 (build 1709) that relate to the CPU.


  1. Task manager shows base speed of 3.00 GHz instead of 3.10
  2. No matter the load, the CPU speed never goes above 3.0 GHz


I noticed in 2012 users were reporting a similar issue with turbo boost:


Using information from that thread, I checked and it appears the MSR multiplier is locked at 31. If I use Throttlestop I can set the MSR to 41 and the CPU then enters turbo boost with higher speeds.


This seems like bug that needs an EFI firmware fix. Does anyone have any other ideas?

Turbocube Mac Os X

MacBook Pro TouchBar and Touch ID, Windows 10, build 1709

Posted on Jan 19, 2018 9:36 AM

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The Low End Mac Mailbag

Dan Knight - 2008.07.11 - Tip Jar

Expectations for Future MacBooks

From Timothy Sipples:

Dan,

In addition to your excellent list of suggested MacBook and MacBookPro enhancements, here are some more suggestions for Apple:

  1. Apple could borrow an idea from the MBA and solder 2 GB of RAM ontothe Pro (1 GB onto the MacBook), giving the Pro a 6+ GB limit and theMacBook a 5+ GB limit. This likely lowers Apple's manufacturing costs,increases reliability (no DIMMs popping out), and increases profitpotential (as some buyers pay Apple's prices for memory upgrades).Also, Microsoft is going to have a tougher time clearing its 3.x GBlimit - 64-bit Vista breaks too many drivers and applications.
  2. Upgrade the Pro's optical drive to Blu-ray read/DVD write, at leaston the 17 inch, with an option for Blu-ray write. Upgrade the baseMacBook's optical drive to DVD write.
  3. LED backlit screens on the MacBook, at least on the high-endmodel.
  4. User access to the hard disk on the Pro, like the MacBook. OfferBTO upgrades up to 500 GB on the Pro (and 128 GB SSD) and up to 320 GBon the MacBook.
  5. Upgrade the iSight's resolution on the Pro, and allow a (more open)iSight BTO deletion on all models for the corporate security crowd. Addan iSight facial recognition logon feature.
  6. Add a LoJack-style theft recovery feature to all models, activatedwith me.com/.Mac subscriptions. Add true whole disk encryption to MacOS X.
  7. Remote Disk (from the MBA).
  8. Beef up the MagSafe power connector. I think the MBA got it aboutright.

Also, I wonder what Apple is going to do with the Intel Atomprocessors.

Timothy Sipples

Timothy,

I have a feeling that soldering RAM in place doesn'tsave Apple any money but is done as a space- and weight-saving measureon the MBA. It would be nice to see the Pro notebooks support 8 GBof RAM, while 4 GB should be adequate for the consumerMacBook.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Apple offering aBlu-ray option, but I suspect the technology is too new and expensiveto be a standard feature at this time.

Yes, LED backlighting all around. I think that onegoes without saying. I don't see much reason to give the iSight betterthan 1.3 MP resolution, as it's already pretty much full-screen on the15' MacBook Pro.

Learn your science! mac os. Dan

Why I Prefer Opera to Safari

From Matthew Reed:

I enjoyed Carl Nygren's article 'Safari 3.1 Is the Best Browser forMacs and for Windows'. In many ways, Safari is my favorite Windowsbrowser. Some have criticized the unusual (for Windows) font rendering,but I actually prefer it. But I still use Opera as my primary browserbecause it has one important feature: the ability to turn images on andoff on a page by page basis. Being able to easily disable images for apage can make the difference between being able to view it or not whenusing a slow Internet connection. Do you know if there is any way Icould achieve the same thing using Safari?

Although Low End Mac has been one of my favorite web sites for yearsand I read it every day, I probably don't fit your usual readerprofile. I haven't used a Macintosh since 1984!

Matthew Reed
http://www.matthewsworkbench.com

Matthew,

Thanks for writing - and for visiting Low End Mac as anon-Mac user. I didn't even touch my first Mac until 1986, and it wasabout 5 years before I switched.

I have been impressed with Safari 3.1, Firefox 3, andOpera 9.5. I have been using Camino for years, but since Firefox 3 leftbeta, it's become my default browser. I don't know just why, but Iprefer it to Safari, and I think that's because of Safari's braindamaged popup blocker - on or off with no site-by-site override.

I can see where dialup users would love Opera, as lotsof online graphics are huge. In Firefox, I have Flashblock installed,which prevents Flash-based content from automatically loading - a verynice add-on!

Dan

Thank you for your response. Thanks to Low End Mac, I have learned agreat deal about the Macintosh, both past and present. I work withWindows every day, so switching wouldn't be very practical, even thoughit sounds more appealing every day.

What I like about Low End Mac is the way your readers really seem tolove their Macs and want to keep using them, even though they aren'tthe latest and greatest. That is a far cry from the 'disposable'culture that permeates computing today. It is more like the spirit Iremember from the early days of microcomputing, something which I missa great deal.

Even though I can't make direct use of your website (lacking alow-end Mac myself), I enjoy it very much.

Matthew Reed

Matthew,

Thanks for your kind words. Mac users have always beenpassionate about their computers, and I suspect a far greaterpercentage of old Macs stay out of landfills and recycling stationsthan Windows PCs. We develop some strange bond with our hardware andwould rather have it sitting in storage than destroyed.

Low End Mac's focus has always been on value: If youcan use it productively and it isn't creating any bottlenecks to yourproductivity, keep using it. When you find a bottleneck, find the rightsolution - more RAM, a bigger hard drive, a different app or version ofthe OS (possibly even Linux), a better video card, a bigger display, ora newer computer. Note that I don't often recommend a new computer, butone newer than the one you've outgrown. That may be a used Mac, and ifit is new, we like buying refurbished from Apple - full warranty but a15% or so price reduction.

I don't like disposable. Use it. Use it up. Whenyou've outgrown it, pass it along, repurpose it, or store it as abackup. When it breaks beyond economic repair, salvage what you can andrecycle the rest. And avoid buying a new Mac unless you really need anew Mac.

Dan

Ubuntu 8.04.1 for PowerPC

Hey Dan,

I hear where you're coming from. Sometimes it's nice to disconnectand interact in meatspace. :-p But I tell ya, it's a funaddiction sometimes. LOL

Out of curiousity, I know that the Ubuntu guys have released arespin of Hardy with all of the updates since the original release. Theversion number is 8.04.1. There is a PPC version of it now (hopefullythey've fixed the buggy partition manager during the installation thistime around).

I'll be downloading this today and installing it soon on my iMac G5.I'm currently trying to build up a music production workstation usingfree software such as LMMS and Ardour using Slackware 12.1 on my AthlonPC, but I would like to get something going on the 64-bit side withUbuntu on the iMac G5. I'll let you know how that turns out.:-)

Good luck, and thanks for writing back.

Regards,
-Claudio

Claudio,

Thanks for the link. I tried Kubuntu 8.04.1 yesterdaywith no luck, and Debian keeps failing to load the yaboot loader. I'mdownloading Ubuntu 8.04.1 as I send this. It's getting a bitfrustrating.

Dan

More Power than Expected from CPU Upgrade

From Scott Cook:

Hey Dan,

I upgraded my PowerMac G4 from the original 466 MHz (7400?) to a 1530 MHz Gigadesigns7455. I have 1.5 GB RAM installed. I use this Power Mac to encode videopodcasts for a TV network I do work for. With only VisualHub running,encoding to H264 video podcast format, the Activity Monitor showed 512MB of RAM being used by the original 466 MHz processor. Now, with theGigadesigns 7455 processor, the Activity Monitor is showing 256 MB ofRAM being used. Do you think this is because of the larger cache in the7455 processor?

I find this fascinating - My Power Mac is actually faster than I wasexpecting by the way. I didn't know if I'd really see three times thespeed, but it's probably more than that, at least for videoencoding.

Scott Cook

Scott,

The 466 MHz and 533 MHz Digital Audio models were thelast G4 Power Macs to use a backside cache, which usually runs at halfof CPU speed. The 7455 not only has a faster cache (full CPU speed),but also a wider data path - 256 bits. Even though the 256 KB cache isa fraction of the 1 MB cache of the original CPU, it runs at about6x the speed.

No idea why an app would use 512 MB with a 466 MHz CPUbut only 256 MB with a 1.5 GHz one. Maybe is uses a bigger internaldata buffer when coupled with a slower CPU to avoid choking on diskI/O.

Dan

The Value of Flashed Video Cards

From an anonymous reader:

Hi Dan

In general I do not approve of flashed cards and such things but themere fact that they exist indicate a failing market.

have far more reasonable performance/price ratios - 140 dollars foran ATI 7000 is pure insanity, as that amount will get you a G4 towerthat includes a ATI 128 AGP card..

Thanks for your email. Applemacanix has been flashingPC video cards for use on the Mac and selling them for quite a whileand has 99.2% positive feedback. We've linked to him before, and thisis probably a better way to buy a PCI or AGP video card than picking upa used one.

I don't have any issues with flashed cards, as thebuyer is paying for the hardware and using flashed software that canonly run on that hardware. $40 for a flashed Radeon 7000 makes a lotmore sense than $140. I'll be sure to add them with the next updates tothe Power Mac G3 and G4 price trackers.

Dan

Hacking Leopard for G3 Power Macs

TurboCube

From James Little:

Hi Dan,

Another update regarding Leopard on Beige G3 (G4 upgraded) - it'snow running 10.5.4 with sound and power management functions workingproperly.

There seemed to be a problem that whenever I updated the Beige from10.5.0 to a newer version it would always restart with a kernel panic,stating 'unable to find driver for platform 'APPL,Power MacG3'. Theonly way I could get 10.5.0 working on it was to install 10.5.0 over aworking Tiger 10.4.11 installation. Using a 'fresh install' of 10.5.0,adding back relevant kernel extensions always result in the same erroras above.

However, thinking that the solution must lie in the kernelextensions I managed to get a fresh copy of 10.5.0 working by figuringout the differences between an installation of 10.5.0 over 10.4.11 anda fresh 10.5.0 install.

The kexts (apart from the ones XPostFacto installs) that weremissing from 10.5.0 were:

  • AppleCuda.kext (handles ADB mouse and power management function andsound)
  • AppleGossamer.kext (Platform expert for Beige G3, B&W andYikes! G4 - i.e. the platform driver)
  • AppleHeathrow.kext (driver for the Heathrow chip which handlesIDE/ATA)
  • AppleGracklePCI.kext (driver for the Grakle chip which handlesmemory management and IDE/ATA and PCI slots)
  • HeathrowATA.kext (driver for the ATA controller section of Heathrowchip)

By experimenting with the working installation of 10.5.0 over10.4.11 I determined that out of the available kexts versions I have(Tiger versions, WWDC 2006 versions, and 10.5 beta-build a527 versions)that the following combination worked. Where possible I used the latesta527 versions, as these were the most recent, with the exception ofAppleGracklePCI.kext, which was only available in the WWDC 2006.IOGraphicsFamily.kext from a527 exhibited the same crash as the oneincluded in 10.5.0, so the one from WWDC 2006 was used.

To get 10.5.0 working:

  1. Installed 10.5.0 from DVD using a Digital Audio G4 to a 7.7 GBpartition.
  2. Copied (from a527): AppleCuda.kext, AppleGossamer.kext,AppleHeathrow.kext, HeathrowATA.kext intoSystem/Library/Extensions/
  3. Copied (from WWDC 2006): AppleGracklePCI.kext,IOGraphicsFamily.kext (deleted existing 10.5.0 one)
  4. *Important* used BatChmod programmeto set permissions on all kexts to owner: system, group: wheel, readand execute only. Doing a permissions repair on the kexts withDiskUtility does not set the permissions properly.
  5. *Important* deleted files in System/Library/Caches/ and file:System/Library/extensions.mkext andSystem/Library/Extensions/Caches/
  6. Booted into OS 9 and used XPostFacto to install all missing kernelextensions for the Beige and to enable booting into Mac OS X on an OldWorld system.
  7. Restarted and boot went well.

Trying to update this to 10.5.4 resulted in the same error, soinstead I used the Digital Audio to install a fresh 10.5.0 onto apartition and then ran the 10.5.4 combo updater, repeated the stepsabove and had success!

In 10.5.4 even the internal Rage Pro works, without causing a kernelpanic on startup - the key to this is to make sure that theRagePro.kext isn't in the extensions folder. Installing 10.5.0 over10.4.11 meant that this was there.

The B&W and the Yikes! G4 should all work the same, except youwill need the additional kexts installed, which are missing or do notwork from 10.5.0:

  • AppleFireWireFamily.kext (10.5.0 version doesn't loadproperly)
  • CMD646ATA.kext (missing from 10.5.0 - ATA driver)

Sorry it's a bit long-winded, but hope it's of interest to all thoseG4 upgraded beige G3s.

Regards,
James

James,

Thanks for all the detective work you've done - andespecially for sharing it. I wonder if these same steps might not helpthose with G4-upgraded WallStreets and Lombards as well.

Dan

ADB/Serial-to-USB Adapter

Free solo mac os. From Fletch Brendan Good

Dan,

The adapter/converter that Mark Arelt is looking for to make hismodified webcam work did used to exist. Back when people were gettingused to transitioning to the USB iMacs and still wanting to use theirADB and serial peripherals, a few companies made all-in-one converterboxes. Unfortunately even a used one probably won't help him.

One wasCompucable, they made two such devices. The 'gDock' was actually shapedto fit the contour between the handles on the top of the blue-and-whiteG3 - which meant the serial ports and ADB port (and four more USB portsfor good measure) faced out from the right side of the computer, whilea floppy drive faced out from the left. You could even swap the floppydrive out of its bay for an ATAPI or SCSI adapter or a flash cardreader. A similar product was the iDock, which was a support stand thatswiveled and went underneath an iMac.

As you might imagine, the problem Mr. Arelt would probably have isthat I bet these boxes needed a power adapter to work. Something hewouldn't be able to get around out in the field doing moon shots. Also,the support of these devices under OS X is in doubt.

I always wanted one of these, but then I got a USB Wacom Graphiretablet, eliminating the need for my ADB ArtZ tablet, and I got over therest.

Fletch Brendan Good

Fletch,

Thanks for the info and the trip down memory lane.

It's amazing how quickly we sometimes abandon oldtechnology. I had to buy a USB floppy drive to read some 3.5' diskswith recipes when my wife's Windows PC died and I moved here to aneMac. I've only used it once since then, and she now stores her recipeson a flash drive.

I bought a couple Kensington Mouse-in-a-Box One ButtonUSB/ADB mice a year or more ago, and today was only the second time Iused one with an ADB adapter. (I had to dig out my Beige G3 to checkout something. Only later did I realize that I have a USB card in thecomputer!)

680x0 CPUs, NuBus, SCSI, floppy disks, Apple serial,ADB, Apple's DB15 video connector, PC Cards, PCI and AGP, PowerPC CPUs- I wonder what technology we'll abandon next.

Dan

I worked for a TV station until spring of 2007 that was still usinga Power Mac 7100-basedvideo editing system called the TurboCube. (At this same station, asthe only graphic artist, I had to make due from 1998 to 2000 with aPerforma 6115 that IG3-ized myself (including dremeling out the hard drive sled to makeroom for a fan), and then from 2000 to 2006 with an iMac 350. Finally I got a G5.)Anyway, we once bought out CDW's supply of those Kensington one-buttonmice because they kept dying mysteriously after only a few months use.I have plenty more stories where those came from.

680x0 CPUs, NuBus, SCSI, floppy disks, Apple serial,ADB, Apple's DB15 video connector, PC Cards, PCI and AGP, PowerPC CPUs- I wonder what technology we'll abandon next.

Turbocube Mac Os Update

..and Apple's own AAUI connector thatrequired a transceiver to use ethernet. But I'm trying to decide if I'mgoing to place my bet in the office pool on hard drives, FireWire, orLCD screens.

Talk to you later (or sooner maybe),

Fletch

Fletch,

I've heard of AV Quadras being used for productionwork, as they are a great tool for adding text to video. (So I'm told -I've never done it.)

In my opinion, AAUI is better forgotten, along withApple's ADC video connector.

Dan

Old QuickCams and ADB

From Clae:

Dear Dan,

Mark Arelt wrote to you about his need to convert an olderLogitech/Connectix QuickCam to a USB Mac. Problem being that itconnects to both the ADB and the serial ports.

I'd be willing to bet that the ADB connection is used only to powerthe camera. If Mark can find a way of supplying a regulated +5V DC ataround 500mA to the appropriate pin on the camera's ADB plug, he mayfind that a USB to serial converter is the only other device heneeds.

A simple way might be a set of four AA NiMH rechargeable batteries(4 x 1.2V = 4.8V, which should be close enough) and a female ADB plugscavenged from a dead keyboard or Mac. S-Video uses the same plugs, sohe may find an electronics store with a plug to suit.

The pinout for ADB is here: http://pinouts.ru/Slots/apple_adb_pinout.shtml

Mac

From James Little:

Hi Dan,

Another update regarding Leopard on Beige G3 (G4 upgraded) - it'snow running 10.5.4 with sound and power management functions workingproperly.

There seemed to be a problem that whenever I updated the Beige from10.5.0 to a newer version it would always restart with a kernel panic,stating 'unable to find driver for platform 'APPL,Power MacG3'. Theonly way I could get 10.5.0 working on it was to install 10.5.0 over aworking Tiger 10.4.11 installation. Using a 'fresh install' of 10.5.0,adding back relevant kernel extensions always result in the same erroras above.

However, thinking that the solution must lie in the kernelextensions I managed to get a fresh copy of 10.5.0 working by figuringout the differences between an installation of 10.5.0 over 10.4.11 anda fresh 10.5.0 install.

The kexts (apart from the ones XPostFacto installs) that weremissing from 10.5.0 were:

  • AppleCuda.kext (handles ADB mouse and power management function andsound)
  • AppleGossamer.kext (Platform expert for Beige G3, B&W andYikes! G4 - i.e. the platform driver)
  • AppleHeathrow.kext (driver for the Heathrow chip which handlesIDE/ATA)
  • AppleGracklePCI.kext (driver for the Grakle chip which handlesmemory management and IDE/ATA and PCI slots)
  • HeathrowATA.kext (driver for the ATA controller section of Heathrowchip)

By experimenting with the working installation of 10.5.0 over10.4.11 I determined that out of the available kexts versions I have(Tiger versions, WWDC 2006 versions, and 10.5 beta-build a527 versions)that the following combination worked. Where possible I used the latesta527 versions, as these were the most recent, with the exception ofAppleGracklePCI.kext, which was only available in the WWDC 2006.IOGraphicsFamily.kext from a527 exhibited the same crash as the oneincluded in 10.5.0, so the one from WWDC 2006 was used.

To get 10.5.0 working:

  1. Installed 10.5.0 from DVD using a Digital Audio G4 to a 7.7 GBpartition.
  2. Copied (from a527): AppleCuda.kext, AppleGossamer.kext,AppleHeathrow.kext, HeathrowATA.kext intoSystem/Library/Extensions/
  3. Copied (from WWDC 2006): AppleGracklePCI.kext,IOGraphicsFamily.kext (deleted existing 10.5.0 one)
  4. *Important* used BatChmod programmeto set permissions on all kexts to owner: system, group: wheel, readand execute only. Doing a permissions repair on the kexts withDiskUtility does not set the permissions properly.
  5. *Important* deleted files in System/Library/Caches/ and file:System/Library/extensions.mkext andSystem/Library/Extensions/Caches/
  6. Booted into OS 9 and used XPostFacto to install all missing kernelextensions for the Beige and to enable booting into Mac OS X on an OldWorld system.
  7. Restarted and boot went well.

Trying to update this to 10.5.4 resulted in the same error, soinstead I used the Digital Audio to install a fresh 10.5.0 onto apartition and then ran the 10.5.4 combo updater, repeated the stepsabove and had success!

In 10.5.4 even the internal Rage Pro works, without causing a kernelpanic on startup - the key to this is to make sure that theRagePro.kext isn't in the extensions folder. Installing 10.5.0 over10.4.11 meant that this was there.

The B&W and the Yikes! G4 should all work the same, except youwill need the additional kexts installed, which are missing or do notwork from 10.5.0:

  • AppleFireWireFamily.kext (10.5.0 version doesn't loadproperly)
  • CMD646ATA.kext (missing from 10.5.0 - ATA driver)

Sorry it's a bit long-winded, but hope it's of interest to all thoseG4 upgraded beige G3s.

Regards,
James

James,

Thanks for all the detective work you've done - andespecially for sharing it. I wonder if these same steps might not helpthose with G4-upgraded WallStreets and Lombards as well.

Dan

ADB/Serial-to-USB Adapter

Free solo mac os. From Fletch Brendan Good

Dan,

The adapter/converter that Mark Arelt is looking for to make hismodified webcam work did used to exist. Back when people were gettingused to transitioning to the USB iMacs and still wanting to use theirADB and serial peripherals, a few companies made all-in-one converterboxes. Unfortunately even a used one probably won't help him.

One wasCompucable, they made two such devices. The 'gDock' was actually shapedto fit the contour between the handles on the top of the blue-and-whiteG3 - which meant the serial ports and ADB port (and four more USB portsfor good measure) faced out from the right side of the computer, whilea floppy drive faced out from the left. You could even swap the floppydrive out of its bay for an ATAPI or SCSI adapter or a flash cardreader. A similar product was the iDock, which was a support stand thatswiveled and went underneath an iMac.

As you might imagine, the problem Mr. Arelt would probably have isthat I bet these boxes needed a power adapter to work. Something hewouldn't be able to get around out in the field doing moon shots. Also,the support of these devices under OS X is in doubt.

I always wanted one of these, but then I got a USB Wacom Graphiretablet, eliminating the need for my ADB ArtZ tablet, and I got over therest.

Fletch Brendan Good

Fletch,

Thanks for the info and the trip down memory lane.

It's amazing how quickly we sometimes abandon oldtechnology. I had to buy a USB floppy drive to read some 3.5' diskswith recipes when my wife's Windows PC died and I moved here to aneMac. I've only used it once since then, and she now stores her recipeson a flash drive.

I bought a couple Kensington Mouse-in-a-Box One ButtonUSB/ADB mice a year or more ago, and today was only the second time Iused one with an ADB adapter. (I had to dig out my Beige G3 to checkout something. Only later did I realize that I have a USB card in thecomputer!)

680x0 CPUs, NuBus, SCSI, floppy disks, Apple serial,ADB, Apple's DB15 video connector, PC Cards, PCI and AGP, PowerPC CPUs- I wonder what technology we'll abandon next.

Dan

I worked for a TV station until spring of 2007 that was still usinga Power Mac 7100-basedvideo editing system called the TurboCube. (At this same station, asthe only graphic artist, I had to make due from 1998 to 2000 with aPerforma 6115 that IG3-ized myself (including dremeling out the hard drive sled to makeroom for a fan), and then from 2000 to 2006 with an iMac 350. Finally I got a G5.)Anyway, we once bought out CDW's supply of those Kensington one-buttonmice because they kept dying mysteriously after only a few months use.I have plenty more stories where those came from.

680x0 CPUs, NuBus, SCSI, floppy disks, Apple serial,ADB, Apple's DB15 video connector, PC Cards, PCI and AGP, PowerPC CPUs- I wonder what technology we'll abandon next.

Turbocube Mac Os Update

..and Apple's own AAUI connector thatrequired a transceiver to use ethernet. But I'm trying to decide if I'mgoing to place my bet in the office pool on hard drives, FireWire, orLCD screens.

Talk to you later (or sooner maybe),

Fletch

Fletch,

I've heard of AV Quadras being used for productionwork, as they are a great tool for adding text to video. (So I'm told -I've never done it.)

In my opinion, AAUI is better forgotten, along withApple's ADC video connector.

Dan

Old QuickCams and ADB

From Clae:

Dear Dan,

Mark Arelt wrote to you about his need to convert an olderLogitech/Connectix QuickCam to a USB Mac. Problem being that itconnects to both the ADB and the serial ports.

I'd be willing to bet that the ADB connection is used only to powerthe camera. If Mark can find a way of supplying a regulated +5V DC ataround 500mA to the appropriate pin on the camera's ADB plug, he mayfind that a USB to serial converter is the only other device heneeds.

A simple way might be a set of four AA NiMH rechargeable batteries(4 x 1.2V = 4.8V, which should be close enough) and a female ADB plugscavenged from a dead keyboard or Mac. S-Video uses the same plugs, sohe may find an electronics store with a plug to suit.

The pinout for ADB is here: http://pinouts.ru/Slots/apple_adb_pinout.shtml

Cheers,
Clae

Clae,

Thanks for the suggestion. I've forwarded your emailto Mark. Click da banana mac os.

Dan

VHS to Mac via FireWire

From Chris Kilner in response to VHS to Mac:

Dan:

Since many older Macs lack USB 2.0 but have FireWire, a FireWirevideo converter would be the solution for pre-USB 2.0 Macs.

I've used a Canopus model and a Dazzle Hollywood DV-bridge. . . as well as analog pass-thru on a MiniDV camcorder. I'vealso found that B TV from www.bensoftware.com is a good viewingapp.

The Dazzle devices usually go for <$100 when they come up oneBay.

Chris Kilner

Chris,

Thanks for the tip. I don't know how old a Mac DaveStein has, and I wasn't familiar with the Dazzle Hollywood.

Dan

Why Not Compile Snow Leopard for PowerPC?

From John:

Dan,

You have said in the Low End Mac Mailbag that 'Mac OS X 10.6 willuse technologies present in Intel's Core architecture that simply don'texist in PowerPC Macs'. Which technologies are you referring to? And,if that is the case, why are all of the Core Solo and Core Duo Macsstill supported by the Snow Leopard developer preview? Despite theirname, those CPUs are based on the older P6 architecture. The Corearchitecture was first introduced with the Core 2 Duo CPUs.

If you are talking about instruction set differences, those arehandled by the compiler and not by a developer. Also, removing PowerPCcode from universal binaries may save a small amount of disk space, butit does not affect performance at all on Intel Macs (they don't evenexecute that code unless you force an app to run under Rosetta).

John

John,

Maybe I'm misunderstanding things, but it sounds likeApple is involved in a lot of low-level work with technologies likeGrand Central, OpenCL, and QuickTime X - the kind of optimization theoriginal Mac design team was required to do to get System 1.0 runningwith 128 KB of RAM and 64 KB of machine code tweaked ROM.

We're looking at an operating system that candistinguish multiple cores on one chip from multiple CPUs and allocateresources accordingly. Why go to the bother of porting that over toPowerPC when only the last generation of G5 Power Macs had dual-coreprocessors, and only one of them had two CPUs with two cores?

It also sounds like QuickTime X is being writtencloser to the hardware that usual to take full advantage of Intel'sarchitecture and whatever GPU is present. Ditto for OpenCL, which willbe able to offload tasks to the graphics processor (a trick Pixelmatoralready uses). At this level of work, it's a lot more than just tellingthe compiler to create code for PowerPC, and Apple may be usingdevelopment tools for Snow Leopard that are optimized for x86 and don'teven support PowerPC.

As far as the P6 legacy goes, Yonah was a step towardthe Core microarchitecture and introduced SSE3 and a Level 2 cacheshared by both cores. According to the editors of the Wikipedia,Intel's Core microarchitecture 'is based around an updated version ofthe Yonah core and could be considered the latest iteration of theIntel P6 microarchitecture, which traces its history back to the 1995Pentium Pro.' What sets Core 2 apart is 64-bit support.

The thing with Intel is that there are very few giantsteps between processors. There are incremental improvements, a fewrevolutionary changes (such as abandoning NetBurst for multiple cores),and new features here and there. P6 and Pentium M both sprang fromPentium, Core 2 is very rooted in that tradition, basically addingdual-core and quad-core support with a shared L2 cache, and theforthcoming Nehalem architecture will expand that to 8 cores.

We'll know a lot more in early 2009, when Nehalem CPUsshould be on the market and when Snow Leopard is getting closer torelease. (Steve Jobs said 'about a year' for Snow Leopard - but thelast time he said that, Apple moved the timetable forward 5 month.) Ithink it's going to be a revelation for those with Intel-based Macs,especially the Core 2 models.

And PowerPC users will still have their 'plain'Leopard.

Dan

Moving to Fewer Macs

From Jeffrey Kafer:

Dan,

Thank you for your rather lengthyreply. I really do appreciate your time and energy.

I've also been exchanging some emails with Charles Moore on roughlythis same subject, from a slight different perspective.

As for the future, I plan in some respects to just wait and see. Inother words, I do not plan on buying a new or used Mac until I feelthat the dust has settled on this issue. However, I am so skepticalthat I will like the situation when the next Mac OS comes out that I amalready selling off some PPC Mac equipment before it drops further invalue, so that I can afford some non-Mac x86 replacements that can runLinux.

A used non-Mac x86 machine costs around half of what I can get for aused PPC Mac today, at a similar level of performance. I know thatanything I purchase that way will be well supported by future Linux OSreleases and applications for a long time to come. If I maintain oneMac and a couple supporting Linux machines, I can support fewer OSversions than what I would have to deal with in the future if I stayall Mac.

The reality is, I prefer Mac for some things, but I do not need MacOS for everything. And given a choice between Linux on old Macs andLinux on comparably priced non-Mac x86 machines, I can get greatercapability at a lower cost going the second route. Just like future MacOS releases, Linux supports x86 better than PPC. I bought Macs in thepast mainly for the software, not the hardware. If I am not going touse a an old Mac OS, I really have much less use for an old Mac.

In a nutshell, this means that I've chosen a path where I'll bespending no money on Mac hardware, at least in the near term, and lessmoney on Mac software (e.g., no Family Pack) in the future than I havein the past, for the reasons I have listed. Apple sells a Family Packfor three machines. But I do not think that most Mac users can affordto buy three new Mac in less than four years. They've cut things offtoo quickly in the past and are planning to do it again, and I am goingto plan so that I am not a victim of it next time.

I find it ironic that the reason that Apple was successful intransitioning to x86 was because they intentionally choose to developan OS that could be made to run on multiple platforms. That was becausethey learned a hard lesson from the 68K days that developing only forone chip could be limiting and risky. Now the reason they want to stopsupporting one of them, even though G5s are not inadequate, is so thatthey can run on only one chip. So much for lessons learned.

Jeffrey

Jeffrey,

Just as some are still productive with their 680x0Macs and the Classic Mac OS today, many will continue to be productivewith G4 and G5 Macs and Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 five and even tenyears hence. Here's my perspective on it:

Every Mac ends up able to run an operating system withcapabilities that the computer didn't have when it was introduced.Apple actually improves the value of older Macs every time a newversion of the Mac OS is introduced that runs on them.

New and updated software is introduced that runs onolder Macs, further improving the capabilities of these computers. Noworking Mac is ever less capable than the day it was produced, andthanks to software and hardware upgrades, most become significantlymore capable over time.

Some see an empty glass - Snow Leopard won't supportPowerPC. We see an overflowing glass - Tiger gave G3 Macs capabilitiesthe Classic Mac OS never had, and Leopard gives G4 Macs far morecapabilities than the version of Mac OS 9 or X that they came with.

Rest assured that Apple is not going to kill ofLeopard when Snow Leopard ships. Since the introduction of MacOS X 10.3, Apple has continued a policy of providing securitypatches and similar updates for the final revision of the previousversion of OS X. Expect no less with Leopard once OS X 10.6comes to market.

Dan

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Dan Knight has been publishing LowEnd Mac since April 1997. Mailbag columns come from email responses to his Mac Musings, Mac Daniel, Online Tech Journal, and other columns on the site.

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