Recently, a friend sent me a link to the following Ebay auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250066165449
Wherein the seller claims to be able to modify a clamshell by placing down a G4/800:
"And if you want faster, I can custom solder a G4 ZIF processor for you, however...that's a pricey maneuver...inquire with me seperately if you want to turbocharge this model of laptop to up to 1.2GHz speeds. I have successfully modded my Graphite iBook to a 800MHz G4 processor.
Comes with a USB port but NO Firewire port. It also comes with a headphone port for audio streaming (non A/V module -- add an extra 40$ for an A/V module). 128MB - 64 upgraded, 64MB onboard all at 100-133MHz speeds. I can stick in 576MB and max out the machine for an extra 60$USD."
Well, this is interesting, I thought. I had a hard time believing it, as to the best of my knowledge, G3CX processors arent pin compatable with the G4 CPUs you would use to get 800 MHz (7440 - different number of pins if I read the silkscreens correctly). So, I emailed the guy and asked about his hack.
Among other interesting tidbits we talked about [stuff in brackets are my comments for clarity]:
"I picked the Clamshells because the CPU is part of the bus. If I change the CPU, the bus is also going to be affected. So I can crank up to any speed I feel like going without causing trouble with the other board resources. I don't use daughter boards, they just wouldn't fit. Plus, that would totally mess up the Clamshell design. I have a micro-welding iron and a bunch of hand designed, machine made parts: it's all I need. The commercial world is in the dark ages when it comes to technology."
"I haven't fully tested all of my upgrades, but the 800MHz G4 Clamshell I have hasn't given me a problem so far. In fact with it's 800MHz bus...it kills most Intel Core Duo machines at a lot of stuff...under 5 minutes for video encoding a movie about three hours long in iMovie!"
"Sure I could shoehorn a G5 in there [to a clamshell] , Mac never switched over from ZIF and mini-ZIF to anything else. Once you have a ZIF controller you can put any ZIF chip you want and reprogram the whatever size ROM you wish to use on your controller. "
"I can also increase the resolution to at least 1024x768 [for a clamshell]. I've invented somewhat of a SVGA to XGA converter. I've done a circuit to do it for the Clamshells. It's a pain in the arse to reprogram the ATI video card (because ATI is so nice as to NOT give me the diagram for an obsolete design), but it allows you to put in a 12"/13" screen (chop up the sides a bit...I can't stand 12", but 13" isn't much better anyways) and enjoy up to 1600x1200 pixel resolution (don't quote me on it, I've only had the patience to program up to 1280x1024)."
"I can add RAM to your board my friend [to a clamshell]. I can desolder those memory chips and put them on your board, and yup, they'll register as a base 128MB. Not bad huh? The iBook I sold last week had an onboard 128MB, the buyer now can fit in up to 512MB + 128MB = 640MB. Not the biggest I've made though. I can fit up to 256MB onboard."
"Nope, I've done it [install mac OS X on a PB 1400), X requires a larger RAM partition than 64MB, everything else is just software. X doesn't care if it's NuBus or PCI, as long as the firmware can load the root values of the kernel. A PCI bus was a convenience because it didn't require a bridge bypass from the bus controller. The NuBus controller IS the bus architecture in older Macs and will usually respond at the speed of the CPU or bus itself, and is therefore faster but maniacally smaller and not tolerant for many devices (likely 2-3, I forget...). "
Some of this stuff is just plain goofy as far as I can tell, but I am no expert. Is this guy the Solder Gun Messiah, or just plain nuts ?
Mad Dog
Mad Dog
everyone knows on that G5 comment, that he can't do that. Plus, NO ONE has even a G4 running on an 800Mhz Bus. I also know that you can't encode a 3 hour movie in 5 minutes. Not even with a G5. Be wary of this person, and I would report him to the eBay personal. this guy is gonna leave someone high and dry, unless he can provide absolute proof (and a LOT of it) that he has done this, and he would most likely get slashdotted for this.
Seller is no longer a registered user on ebay.
Baloney meter was right off the scale on this one.
Now, if the seller had been Chuck Norris, I would have believed anything he said.
Aside from the ridiculous claims, what techie worth his salt actually identifies himself as a "computer scientist?"
First off, the pictures were of an indigo iBook, which immediately set off alarm because of being described as graphite. The greatest quote was "a custom added non-functional FireWire port was added for cosmetic purposes" - Why would you do that? Sounds like the computer equipment of slapping a Type R sticker on the back of your Geo Metro. No matter how great the sticker looks, your Metro is not a Type R.
This guy is full of more frijoles than a Mexican restaurant. Needless to say, I LOL'D.
I would have to agree with eeun on the point about if the seller had been Chuck Norris. I could go on a rant about random facts about Chuck Norris, but don't feel that this is really the place for that.
The more I talk to the guy the more I wonder if someone hijacked his account ? There is someone with his email address at the university with that name, but he says just enough not-crazy stuff to make me wonder... and enough crazy stuff to make me wonder.
Dont get me wrong, I wouldnt buy a popsicle from this guy without proof, but I want to beleive some of what he claims.
Mad Dog
The "solder more memory on the motherboard" bit is probably doable, but just about everything else is pure lunacy.
(A G4 upgrade is is also within the outside realms of possiblity, but not for some weirdo working in his garage. *If* the iBook used the "old" G3 CPU form-factor, which I *think* at least the old (300Mhz) clamshells did, you could make it an up-to-500Mhz G4 using a BGA rework station. *It's not a soldering iron job*. Any faster G4 or if it *does* use one of the newer G3s then you'll be needing a pin adaptor board sandwiched in there.)
I do have to give him credit for knowing how to push every crazy Mac Fanatic "I really desperately want to believe I can do this" hot button. OS X on a Powerbook 1400... brilliant!
--Peace
People who do theoretical computer science?
Given what he says his skills are though, I don't think he really knows what it means.
Soldering the RAM should be easy, and I would it , except I dont know which capacitors also have to go on the board. I dont know why Apple left 4 spots open...
The G4 updrade for the 300 and 366 model should be easy - its what Daystar and other companies do, but as far as I know you top out at 500 or 550 Mhz. I dont know if you can upgrade the FW models which use a different CPU
I ought to post more quotes - hes been getting insulting now that I ask for proof. : )
Tom
There have been some more exchanges (I ought to post the whole set just for laughs).
Here are a few more humdingers:
"I didn't try, I succeeded [running OS X on a 1400]. I put the maximum addressable size on the 1400...but again...useless. 11" is just atrocious. X ran faster than on a MacBook, 12 seconds to load. The library files needed to run on an Old World firmware, are like in 2-3KB
pages...it's why Pocket PC's are hitting the market big time these days. You wait at
most a second for Windows CE or Portable to be up and running even though the processor
is like 200MHz."
"I can do whatever I want with an iron and circuit board. If I want it [making a NuBus machine] to recognize 4GB or RAM , I can do that."
This is getting priceless.
Tom
his ignorance and foolishness is just making him even more and more of a laughingstock. I am glad i don't know him in real life, otherwise i would want to have an insult war on how smug he is
If he can do all that, why isn't apple asking him to join them and fix some of the issues they are having right now with all the bugs they have in some of their systems? Maybe he should put a Xeon into a intel-mini and sell that! Boy, that system would sell like hotcakes...
Sure, up til now nobody has been able to get OSX running on any nubus machine, but maybe, just maybe, this fellow is the one who has been able to do what herds of smart, savvy folks have been unable to accomplish. And another thing, maybe y'all were soooo convinced that nubus machines had no firmware, but I suggest you're all just jealous he's shown the error in your small-minded thoughts. And another thing . . heh, I ain't got all night to address each and every high point of this guy's accomplishments.
I say give the bloke quite enough rope, we'll see how well he survives the logical leaps . . .
dan k
PS: I've got OS X running on my '85 VW Golf's CIS-E Jetronic FI computer once I soldered on 128MB RAM replacing the original 4KB chip. Takes awhile to load though, and now the car doesn't run quite right . . . I'll have to rewrite its firmware again.
Kind of believable if he's a tech at a university or corporate lab with access to some serious hardware, cheap or stolen pin adapters and chips and way too much free time/no life:
Not believable at all or exTRRREEEmly doubtful:
Actually the "computer scientist" bit is way off mark too. Comp Sci people do theory and maths, not board reworks.
My guess is he's a sociopath with a really weird line in low-grade scams.
I think he is thinking along the lines and hoping to get others follow with the theories:
"There ain't nothing a hammer, glue, and duct tape won't fix!"
or, the hacker's motto:
"If it won't fit, I will *MAKE* it fit!!!"*
*(Or "If it doesn't fit now, it will when I am done with it!)
EDIT: In my computer class, we talk about how ANYTHING will fit with the *right* persuasion....
Generally screwdrivers, hacksaws and a bunch of other various tools will get mixed into the conversation.
It scares me that most of the people in the class that can't put together a machine in the class and make it boot on the first try, will be working on other people's machines when they get their job at a computer store.
Some more quotes. This guy continues to open mouth, insert foot:
"Ok wait a second, you're telling me that "Chip Quick" "melts" hahahaha, oh my goodness, now so sci-fi...this is the department joke of the year.
It may lower the melting point, but that wasn't what I was focusing on. You have an alcoholic cleanser to remove excess reactants/products. Chip Quick is only useful if you don't clean the mess it creates (ironic...making it useless). It does remove copper traces, and corrodes the ones you can't see. Alcohol is only good in vehicles, and Chip Quick to clean ceramic from copper traces."
[Chip Quik is a remelting alloy used for SMT work - quite useful]
I wont boe you with all the stuff. He is trying to talk chemistry and failing in a lot of his "post".
Tom