iBook Clamshell

[Dude.JediKnight]

How did you install OSX 10.4.11 on the original iBook. According to MacTracker, OSX 10.3.9 was the max.

EveryMac.com lists 10.4.11 as the max OS for the Clamshell SE with FW, but only 10.3.9 for the earlier non-FireWire models.

I had 10.4 installed on my 466MHz Clamshell SE (with FireWire), but it’s been a while since I’ve actually used it. As far as I remember, my burnt copy of the 4-CD Tiger install set worked fine on the FW Clamshell. The internal display is still only 800x600, and you have to tweak some of the more graphically intense settings, but the rest ran well enough for me with max RAM.

As I recall, 10.4 will technically work on non-FireWire models, but the media itself blocks installing directly. I believe either cloning an existing install onto the internal HDD of a non-FW Clamshell, or swapping in a HDD with 10.4 already installed will work. Hardly a speed demon, but with some tweaking, should certainly be useable on the earlier non-FW models.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I’ve got Tiger on my blueberry - XPostFacto will allow you to bypass the install check as well.

 

[Forrest]

Thanks - I’ll try XPostFacto

 

[dan.dem]

A remark about red tinted back lights.
My clamshell has about 22 000 hours (all by myself as the first owner), so has the back light. When I switch it on, it's almost a deep shade of purple but improves within seconds. Look at the photos, taken after around 5, 30, 50 seconds and after 10 minutes.



It was steadily worsening until I stopped using it as my first computer in 2006, from then on it degraded very slowly, being in this condition for about 10 years now. The iBook got probably only 1000 hours of use in this last decade. BTW, this is MS Office 2004 on the last picture, mind how Word has to truncate its menus for fitting it to the 800 pixels wide screen .

More install options for MacOS Tiger: One of the software "gardens" has hacked Tiger installer-CDs which accept early clamshells.
However, I just cloned the already installed OS from an external disk to my second hard disk partition. The iBook was started from its first partition and SuperDuper did the cloning.
Tiger works flawlessly with old iBooks, just a little slower than Panther, which I always considered astonishingly quick. It clearly helps if you have more memory. My 1st generation iBook is maxed out at 544 MB (576 MB is max on second generation).

BTW: @3lectr1cPPC complained he had to pay 140$ for 2 clamshells. I paid 3000 Deutsche Mark (about 1500 Euros) for just one, and this was after a hefty discount. Time was of course early 2000 when the first revision iBooks with 32 MB of soldered RAM was replaced with an otherwise identical version with 64 MB of soldered RAM (hence the discount on the 32MB model).

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I wasn’t complaining about paying $140 for my pair, I was complaining about how that will only get you a beat up one that’s missing the logo and leaf nowadays! My $140 parts lot came with an EXTRA leaf!
Must have been nice having one when they were basically new.

On the topic of patched CD images, I’ve never had any luck with those. Either still said my system wasn’t supported or it gave some other problem. XPostFacto has thus been the way for me.

 

[MacUp72]

A remark about red tinted back lights.
My clamshell has about 22 000 hours (all by myself as the first owner), so has the back light. When I switch it on, it's almost a deep shade of purple but improves within seconds. Look at the photos, taken after around 5, 30, 50 seconds and after 10 minutes.
View attachment 56595 View attachment 56596
View attachment 56597 View attachment 56598

It was steadily worsening until I stopped using it as my first computer in 2006, from then on it degraded very slowly, being in this condition for about 10 years now. The iBook got probably only 1000 hours of use in this last decade. BTW, this is MS Office 2004 on the last picture, mind how Word has to truncate its menus for fitting it to the 800 pixels wide screen .

More install options for MacOS Tiger: One of the software "gardens" has hacked Tiger installer-CDs which accept early clamshells.
However, I just cloned the already installed OS from an external disk to my second hard disk partition. The iBook was started from its first partition and SuperDuper did the cloning.
Tiger works flawlessly with old iBooks, just a little slower than Panther, which I always considered astonishingly quick. It clearly helps if you have more memory. My 1st generation iBook is maxed out at 544 MB (576 MB is max on second generation).

BTW: @3lectr1cPPC complained he had to pay 140$ for 2 clamshells. I paid 3000 Deutsche Mark (about 1500 Euros) for just one, and this was after a hefty discount. Time was of course early 2000 when the first revision iBooks with 32 MB of soldered RAM was replaced with an otherwise identical version with 64 MB of soldered RAM (hence the discount on the 32MB model).

yes, I noticed that, too, the red tint goes away when it runs a minute after bootup..but when it just sits there unused for a few minutes more or after sleep/ reboot it's red again..so for me the replacement of the backlight with that of a newer one from a 12" PB was a solution even if that isnt perfect now..

 

[dan.dem]

I wasn’t complaining about paying $140 for my pair, I was complaining about how that will only get you a beat up one that’s missing the logo and leaf nowadays! My $140 parts lot came with an EXTRA leaf!
Must have been nice having one when they were basically new.

On the topic of patched CD images, I’ve never had any luck with those. Either still said my system wasn’t supported or it gave some other problem. XPostFacto has thus been the way for me.

Quoting you, @3lectr1cPPC , about the 140 $ was joking, sorry if I didn't make this clear enough.
Actually, since I used my clamshell later also for work, people made fun of me because of my "strange laptop".

About the custom Tiger-CDs. I never tried them myself. Interesting to hear that they are making troubles, since I planned to use them for a future reinstall of my iBook. I once found instructions what to change in the install script to make it accepting clamshells. I should compare these changes … someday.
Probably is overclocking causing you these issues? I understand overclocking is a fun exercise in tinkering, but may cause strange issues. For me longevity and stability is most important, and I am afraid the additional heat makes components age more quickly.
As I wrote, I made no regular install of Tiger but cloned an external disk to my iBook. For me being able to clone boot disks already configured to my likes is one of the main advantages of the Mac. Sadly with newer OS versions this advantage has gone. Gone as many properties and technologies which made Macs so convenient to deal with (old-timer's laments, sorry).

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Ah, understood.
Also, none of my clamshells are overclocked.

 

[dan.dem]

I noticed that, too, the red tint goes away when it runs a minute after bootup..but when it just sits there unused for a few minutes more or after sleep/ reboot it's red again..so for me the replacement of the backlight with that of a newer one from a 12" PB was a solution even if that isnt perfect now..

Yes, after the power saver had switched off the screen it will be red tinted again for a few seconds.
But it's good enough for me. And actually I am not brave enough to rip the brittle plastic casing of my iBook apart. It was a major undertaking in 2005 when I upgraded the hard disk, and even more so now since parts have aged not so gracefully. It has many cracks as all clamshells I've seen recently. And it didn't suffer from rough handling or dropping.

But has anyone this issue?
On my iBook the orange rubbery coating is separating from the hard plastics. It started when I rested my hand (for years) at the right side of the iBook until the rubber coating started to separate next to the optical drive door. It now has also partially separated from the front and the underside.
Problem is, any not perfectly applied glue, even a transparent one will produce ugly strains and visible patterns shining through the coating.
Probably a spray adhesive will look better?
Any suggestions very welcome.

 

[Dude.JediKnight]

But has anyone this issue?
On my iBook the orange rubbery coating is separating from the hard plastics. It started when I rested my hand (for years) at the right side of the iBook until the rubber coating started to separate next to the optical drive door. It now has also partially separated from the front and the underside.
Problem is, any not perfectly applied glue, even a transparent one will produce ugly strains and visible patterns shining through the coating.
Probably a spray adhesive will look better?
Any suggestions very welcome.

My Clamshell SE FW had that same problem with the rubber on the bottom. Taped it in place with some clear packing tape for a while, but over time, it just peeled worse and worse. Eventually went the Band-Aid route and just yanked it off completely.

Still have it stored with the machine itself, but never looked into or tried to glue it back on. It honestly looked a bit stretched out, though not sure if that was part of the cause, or the result of having yanked it off.

Not sure if strips of clear double sided tape would work or if they would stand out like you were talking about with glue.

Are the similarly-colored Apple logos on the back of the screen made of the same material? What do people use to stick those back on?

Wish I had better answers for you, but at least you’re not the only one it’s happened to.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

The logos are a clear plastic, not rubber. I used superglue on my tangerine and double sided tape on my blueberry as I wanted something less permanent there (may swap the display plastics in the future). But those have a coating on the bottom so any uneven glue isn’t visible. The rubber on mine has been trouble free, although it has yellowed a bit. Didn’t realize how much until I saw MKBHD unbox a NOS blueberry a few years ago…

 

[dan.dem]

Thank you for your sympathy, @Dude.JediKnight . I will try the spray adhesive ... someday.
The orange coating is stretched on mine too, about 1 cm without any attaching efforts, strange. I'm wondering if I could shrink it back with some heat. But I believe even if it would shrink it wouldn't do so evenly to its original size and shape and may end wrinkled.
However the orange parts of the upper shell must be another material. No damage there.

About the yellowing @3lectr1cPPC mentioned: It is even more visible on the clear hard plastic parts on my clamshell. Also the transparency looks different now, but difficult to describe. And I think the clear parts have shrunken a bit, hence the cracks and the brittleness.

All in all it looks what it is: heavily used, with this detaching rubber even a little tatty. But it still works, even the optical drive, longer than any Mac I had. I didn't expect this. Actually the opposite. I remember having read that Apple announced that they started to use more standard PC parts for this model as a cost reduction measure. Probably this was a good idea.

 

[MacUp72]

On my iBook the orange rubbery coating is separating from the hard plastics. It started when I rested my hand (for years) at the right side of the iBook until the rubber coating started to separate next to the optical drive door. It now has also partially separated from the front and the underside.
Problem is, any not perfectly applied glue, even a transparent one will produce ugly strains and visible patterns shining through the coating.
Probably a spray adhesive will look better?
Any suggestions very welcome.

I noticed that on mine,too..exactly like you described at the area next to the CD bezel. I guess when they were coating it onto the hardplastic shell in production the soft colored rubber was kinda heat pressure applied and stuck to it. Over 20 Years now and after being toutched and moved it separated. The area still fits but it is not attatched any more, I guess there are non-aggressive transparent rubber glues to fix that, or a strong, double sided clear tape.

 

[dan.dem]

This fault reminds me on the white Unibody MacBooks of 2009/10. They have a clear transparent "rubber" coating on the underside also infamous for separating.