VOGONS


iBook G3 466 game demon

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First post, by swaaye

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😁 😳 😳 🤣

Look at this heinous device that I've been given for free. At least there are a few cool games. Like say the best version of Dark Forces, and Super Wing Commander, the amazing WC1 remake.

Specs!
-PowerPC 750CX 466 MHz (Apple's "G3")
-576MB of SDRAM (somebody maxed this baby out)
-10GB HDD
-ATI Rage Mobility M3 (aka Rage 128!)
-Gimpy 12" 1996-esque 800x600 LCD
-Toilet seat aesthetic
-Patented one button flush touchpad
-A single nearly worthless speaker
-Airport 802.11b (sorta works with WPA sometimes for a bit in OSX 10.4)
-10/100 ethernet
-one USB port
-firewire port
-DVD-ROM (impressive for this vintage notebook)
-Goofy puck shaped power adapter that I had to repair power wires for

I've been installing all sorts of OSs on this beast for the past few days. OS 9.2.2, OSX 10.3, 10.4, Ubuntu 10.10 PPC. I'm settling on OS 9.2.2 + 10.4 because 9.2.2 is what games need but 10.4 can browse the web a zillion times better. Ubuntu was horrible slow with screen redraws (Rage 128 driver sucks methinks).

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Last edited by swaaye on 2011-05-09, 18:47. Edited 3 times in total.

Reply 1 of 27, by SavantStrike

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I would totally geek out with that thing...

The styling though. Man, I swear. Toilet seat. That's the first thing that comes to mind.

Reply 2 of 27, by Mau1wurf1977

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SavantStrike wrote:

Toilet seat

🤣 nice one!

swaaye wrote:

Super Wing Commander, the amazing WC1 remake.

Hey that would be a good topic for a video / YouTube review of that game!

Reply 3 of 27, by swaaye

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It's the first notebook that I've seen that has no external monitor connection. How is that a good design? 😉 Also, no cardbus slots which is equally strange for that time.

Yeah I bought Super WC and am waiting for it to arrive. I don't know how I would record it playing on the iBook but I could do something via emulator...

Btw I too see the toilet seat now. Lol

Reply 4 of 27, by Pippy P. Poopypants

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swaaye wrote:

-Annoying one button touchpad without tap-clicking

Seriously, what is up with that and their notebooks? I get very annoyed by this every time I use my friend's MacBook, tapping the touchpad and expecting something to happen. I don't even think that even the most recent MacBook Pros have the tap-clicking feature.

Oh well, these things are for rich folks who don't enjoy tinkering with their systems anyway. I'll stay in the PC camp and use my Hackintosh if I need to work stuff out under OS X.

Reply 5 of 27, by GXL750

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Did you go through the options? I don't remember but I'm pretty sure the PowerBook G3 I had way back when had tap clicking.

Reply 6 of 27, by Pippy P. Poopypants

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If it's disabled by default, then I must have missed it. But still a nuisance nonetheless.

GUIs and reviews of other random stuff

Вфхуи ZoPиЕ m
СФИР Et. SEPOHЖ
Chebzon фt Ymeztoix © 1959 zem

Reply 7 of 27, by Dominus

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Macbooks DO feature tap clicking, people just need to spend a second in the settings. Nuisance? Only if you aren't able to figure things out...
Of course I don't know how that od thing behaves... Toilet seat to play WC... 😉

Reply 8 of 27, by Mau1wurf1977

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swaaye wrote:

I don't know how I would record it playing on the iBook but I could do something via emulator...

No emulator please 🤣

Just grab a digital camera with a video recording function or a webcam. If it's HD that will really help.

The quality doesn't have to be spectacular, it's more about the authentic experience...

Reply 9 of 27, by SavantStrike

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swaaye wrote:

It's the first notebook that I've seen that has no external monitor connection. How is that a good design? 😉 Also, no cardbus slots which is equally strange for that time.

Yeah I bought Super WC and am waiting for it to arrive. I don't know how I would record it playing on the iBook but I could do something via emulator...

Btw I too see the toilet seat now. Lol

No external monitor connection? What was Apple smoking?

But hey, firewire! Actually at the time manufacturers made a lot more peripherals that used firewire, now it's all USB and some eSATA with a few exceptions (usually firewire costs a bit more).

I'm reading right now about some convoluted way to use another computer as a monitor with a mac called screen mirroring. No idea though if it requires a second mac or not, nor if the 1st gen iBook models support it. It might be something to look into though if it's at all possible.

Reply 10 of 27, by sliderider

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Just don't ever plan to upgrade it. Opening those things up and putting them back together again is a nightmare. At least you got the 466mhz model, which was the end of the road for the clamshell models so not much upgrading should be required.

Reply 11 of 27, by swaaye

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Yeah I read that it's about 40 screws to get at the HDD which is horrifying, an innovation in upgrade prevention. Since it already has max RAM and the HDD seems to be working fine I doubt I'll open it up.

The 800x600 screen along with the goofy chassis makes it feel like a kid's budget toy. A notebook made in 2000 using a 800x600 LCD? Yuck. It is terrible for web browsing because of that.

I have to investigate the supposed option to enable touchpad tapping though. It didn't occur to me that it might be an option because I can't remember ever having to enable it before.

Reply 12 of 27, by SquallStrife

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That must have been pretty much the last iBook in that design.

This is what my iBook G3 500Mhz looks like:

g3-717789.jpg

VogonsDrivers.com | Link | News Thread

Reply 13 of 27, by nemesis

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SavantStrike wrote:

I would totally geek out with that thing...

The styling though. Man, I swear. Toilet seat. That's the first thing that comes to mind.

Frankly, I wouldn't put that on my toilet, it's probably only compatible with about 5% of 'em.
That said, it's pretty cool that you got that for free. Looks like it could be fun to-... umm... whatever it is you do with a mac 😉 .

Reply 14 of 27, by swaaye

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Well to me a Mac feels like the true home of SimCity and SimCity 2000. At least that's what I used them for during Junior High and High School. 😉

And like I said there's also the 640x480 edition of Dark Forces (how dare LucasArts make it a Mac only thing) and Super Wing Commander which is only otherwise available on low-rez choppy 3DO. Apparently the Mac was the dev platform for 3DO games so it makes sense that some of its games went there too.

It's interesting to browse the Mac game archive sites out there. Some interesting stuff if you ignore the ports.

Last edited by swaaye on 2011-05-10, 18:33. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 15 of 27, by retro games 100

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swaaye wrote:

... there's also the 640x480 edition of Dark Forces ...

DF is my favourite shooter. I would love to play this game in 640x480. I guess the next best thing for me to do is to play the remake that came out a couple of years ago...

Reply 16 of 27, by swaaye

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RG100, allow me to direct your attention to
http://xlengine.com/

Reply 17 of 27, by retro games 100

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Thanks a lot! 😀

Reply 18 of 27, by nemesis

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Funny you should mention dark forces, I just got a copy of it the other day, still in box with everything inside (for PC).
Though I tease my Mac using friends, I really do respect the older ones for what they contributed to the computer world... I just don't think I could ever replace my PC with a mac as my main computer.

Reply 19 of 27, by swaaye

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They were innovative certainly. But I think it gets a little out of hand at some of the fanboy sites... 😉 I think they were most interesting when they had unique hardware but now they are just Intel boxes. OSX is just a super refined but now proprietary BSD.

I would go Linux PC before Mac. I just don't dig the Mac aesthetic and I know that's a big part of the appeal for the fans. But there's no denying that they are quality computers and they get the job done.

Last edited by swaaye on 2011-05-10, 20:37. Edited 1 time in total.