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The Road Warrior Mailbag - Plus From The Archive

Powerbook G3 3500/Kanga

From John Priddle

I too prefer the lines of the 3500 to the subsequent models!

Here in Europe modem certification issues meant that we had an Ethernet only card- this was a blessing in disguise as I could then fit a PCMCIA V90 modem. Later I got a MacWireless 803.11b PCMCIA card, and in 2004 I was fortunate to get a a 128MB memory module from the US at a bargain price to "max out" to 160MB.

My Kanga is now semi-retired, but still in regular use with external HDs to service a SCSI scanner, an ADB graphics tablet and, of course, to read floppy disks! It recently stood in for my wife's eMac when that was having a new motherboard under the "swollen capacitor" repair extension program.

___

Hi John;

Thank you for your note, and great to hear that you're still getting som useful backup service from the old Kanga. It seems that old Apple 'Books just go on and on. I've never been able to kill one.

Charles

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From The Road Warrior Archive - Pismo's Progress [Originally published March 20, 2000]

When the article below was first published in March, 2000, it was very early days for the PowerBook 2000 FireWire - AKA Pismo, which had been released at Macworld Tokyo only a month earlier, so notwithstanding the article's title, it hadn't had a chance to make much progress at that point.

The Pismo, which over the past nearly eight years has developed a well- earned reputation for being one of the most rugged and dependable Apple laptops ever, was, it seems, not without a few teething problems. At that juncture it was difficult to gauge just how serious these issues would turn out to be. In 20.20 hindsight we can say with assurance, "not very."

At the time, it would be 19 months in the future when I would purchase my first Pismo - which was a fairly late production (October, 2000) example, but I have subsequently purchased another Pismo, one of the first ones built in early 2000, which started out as a 400 MHz G3, and has been upgraded twice - first to 500 MHz G3, and recently to 550 MHz G4, and it doesn't appear to give anything away quality-wise compared with the later machine, so in this instance at least my apprehensions about buying version 1.0 were excessively cautious, I guess. Indeed, like the Lombard that preceded it, there was only ever one revision of the Pismo, although presumably some running tweaks on the assembly line were made during its nine-month production life.

However, I was right about one thing. In my closing comment, I predicted: "I trust that once the bugs cited above have been squashed, Pismo will rank as one of the great PowerBooks of all time." I nailed that one. Maybe THE greatest PowerBook of all time.

CM

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Pismo's Progress [Originally published March 20, 2000]

As regular Road Warrior readers know, I am a pretty enthusiastic fan of the new Pismo professional PowerBook. However, I'm not an early adopter either by philosophy or temperament, and am inclined to affirm the "never buy version 1.0 (or equivalent) of anything" as a good operative axiom, although I don't adhere to it religiously myself. For example, I have MacOS 9.0 running my PowerBook, and for me at least it's been an improvement in both performance and stability from OS 8.6.

One problem with the "never buy version 1.0" axiom is that in hardware especially, often version 1.0 is all there ever is, at least officially. The previous PowerBook, Lombard, for instance, received no official specification upgrades during its roughly nine month model life, although you can safely assume that there were a number of bugfixes and running changes made under the hood during its time in production. The last Lombards were no doubt the best ones built.

This WallStreet 233 I'm typing on is one of the second-generation "PDQ" models introduced in September, 1998, four months after the original WallStreets debuted. Mine was built in October, '98, and its trouble-free performance since purchase in January '99 indicates that the bugs that plagued some of the earlier WallStreets were pretty well wrung out by that point in the production run. My son and nephew also bought identical machines -- all three were built within a week of each other -- and all have been basically problem-free.

Its a virtual given these days that any new computer model will be plagued with early production bugs. Lombard and WallStreet were, and Pismo is proving to be no exception. It seems that as the performance envelope gets pushed farther and farther, it gets harder and harder to keep all the ducks in a row, so to speak, although I suspect that the adoption of lower-priced, PC-type componentry, and the battle to keep both weight and purchase prices down haven't helped out-of-the-box reliability either.

Macs used to be really robust and forgiving machines, and Apple's consistent spot at the top of user satisfaction surveys regarding reliability and service bore that out. There has been some slippage of late, presumably due to the reasons I cited above.

I like tough equipment that will absorb ham-fistedness and abuse and come back asking for more. Not that I mistreat my Macs. The fact that my PowerBook 5300 -- not noted for being the most durable machine Apple ever built -- has given three and a half years of trouble-free service is evidence of that. However, I would prefer that my computers not be finicky beasts that *require* kid glove treatment and holding your mouth right in order to get them to perform and keep performing.

Back to Pismo. How has it been faring in its first month in the real world? First some good stuff.

The San Francisco Chronicle's Becky Waring faced a Pismo G3 500 MHz off against a Sony Vaio PCG-F490 (Pentium III 650 MHz with SpeedStep), and it acquitted itself very respectably.

Ms. Waring noted that either of these laptop units "can easily serve as desktop computer replacements, eliminating the need for two systems."

"Both machines are well designed," she wrote. "The PowerBook especially is a sleek and sexy performer. All the ports are hidden behind a door at the back, leaving its charcoal-gray exterior unbroken. It's also nearly noiseless and has a translucent keyboard a la the iMac."

She further observed that at 6.1 pounds, Pismo is no ultraportable, "but is about as light and thin (1.7 inches) as you can get for such a full-featured notebook with a big 14.1-inch screen," and in fact was some 1.6 pounds lighter than the Vaio (which did have a bigger, 15" screen).

Ms. Waring didn't like the Vaio's fan noise, but said that was mitigated by the fact that the fan kept the machine reasonably cool, while the PowerBook was uncomfortably hot. She gave the Vaio the edge in keyboard and trackpad performance. She thought the Vaio's screen was both brighter and easier to read than Pismo's as well. On the other hand, Ms. Waring thought Apple's built-in Ethernet, S-video out and multiple monitors support were cool.

In terms of battery life, the Vaio lasted only slightly more than half as long as the PowerBook (70 vs. 120 minutes) playing DVD movies at maximum brightness.

Apple claims that Pismo is the fastest laptop on the planet, Ms. Waring noted that in her own tests using Microsoft Word, Excel, Internet Explorer seemed equally fast on both machines, although she did find that Pismo had a 25 to 50 edge running Photoshop filter. On the downside, encoding MP3 files took five minutes with Proteron's EasyMP3 on the Vaio, and 6 1/2 minutes with Casady & Greene's SoundJAM MP on the PowerBook. The PowerBook gave significantly superior results in wireless networking performance, and had much faster hard disk performance -- more than three times faster copying the same file.

The Vaio comes with video editing software (Sony's DVGate and Adobe's Premiere LE) and image editing software (PictureGear and Adobe PhotoDeluxe) and Pismo doesn't. "We really think it's inexcusable that Apple does not bundle its consumer-oriented iMovie with the PowerBook," opined Ms. Waring. Many prospective PowerBook purchasers agree. With Apple touting Pismos with their built-in FireWire/DV support as "portable movie studios," expecting customers to pony up an extra $999 Apple's Final Cut Pro software seems disingenuous. One would think that Apple could at least throw in the iMovie software it bundles with the DV iMacs. For that matter, it's weird that Apple doesn't bundle AppleWorks with Pismo (although all reports about AppleWorks 6 I've read indicate that its inclusion would be a mixed blessing at best).

However, there have also been some issues with Pismo..........

What follows next is a summary of various teething bugs and problems that have cropped up with Pismo. Even though I've just provided an overview here, the summary is quite lengthy, so here is a list of issues covered in order of appearance, in case you want to scroll quickly through to a particular one:

• Startup Errors
• Sleep Memory Extension Bugfix
• Pismo Wakes From Sleep When USB Device is Connected
• "Lombard Batteries" in Pismo?
• Possible Modem Connection Problems
• Pismo Fails To Go To Sleep When The Lid Closed Issue
• Issue With FireWire Target Disk Mode
• DVD Skipping And Stuttering
• Hard Drive Corruption
• Do NOT Install The Password Security Control Panel From MacOS 9.0 On Pismo
• Conclusions

Startup Errors

Some Pismo users have reported bus errors, address errors, or Type 11 errors occurring at startup. Apple has acknowledged this bug in a Tech Info Library article and speculates that the problem is being caused by an issue with the SerialShimLib library, and as a temporary workaround suggests that users experiencing this difficulty:

1. Start up the computer while holding down the Shift key to disable system extensions.
2. Open the Extensions folder inside the System Folder.
3. Drag the file named SerialShimLib to the Trash.
4. Restart the computer.
5. Empty the Trash.

Apple notes that with the SerialShimLib file removed, the infrared (IR) communication, external USB modem, or some third-party USB-to-serial adapters (not including Keyspan adapters) will be disabled.

Apple plans to release an update that fixes this issue with the SerialShimLib before the end of March.

Sleep Memory Extension Bugfix

Apple says it has identified a bug in its system software which in very rare circumstances can prevent iBooks and Pismo PowerBook models from properly waking up from sleep, and recommends that all iBook and new PowerBook (FireWire) owners download and install their just-released Sleep Memory Extension software patch which eliminates this bug.

Pismo Wakes From Sleep When USB Device is Connected

Apple that Pismo will wake from sleep when a USB device is connected or disconnected from it, and that if you are using an external display to extend your Finder desktop, you should:

1. Connect the external display or other cables necessary for use.
2. Open the PowerBook clamshell.
3. Connect any USB devices.

When you are finished using the PowerBook, follow these steps when disconnecting the display and USB devices:
1. Disconnect any USB devices.
2. Close the clamshell.
3. Wait for sleep indicator to pulse.
4. Disconnect the external display and any other cables.

Apple explains in their TIL article on this topic that "if you connect a USB device while an external monitor is connected and the clamshell is closed, the PowerBook will only use the external display. This is because it woke from sleep with the clamshell closed and thought you wanted to use the computer in closed clamshell mode.

"Because USB devices can be connected while the PowerBook is powered on, there is no risk of damaging either the PowerBook or the USB device by connecting the USB device after the computer wakes up."

An aside; note the use of "clamshell" terminology in describing the PowerBook's open/closed modes. This is "Pismo" after all (named for a California beach noted for its clams).

"Lombard Batteries" in Pismo?

There has been some confusion regarding supposedly "Lombard batteries" being shipped in new Pismo PowerBooks. Actually the Lombard and Pismo batteries are physically identical, although there are different part numbers which were implemented only for internal tracking purposes on replacement units in order to determine if one machine or the other was experiencing more battery failures

Apple has explained that "The PowerBook G3 Series (Bronze keyboard) and PowerBook (FireWire) batteries are the same except for the PowerBook model name on the label."

Possible Modem Connection Problems

Pismo comes with an internal 56K modem based on the V.90 specification. If the modem won't connect at all in V.90 mode or the connection is dropped after a few minutes, the phone lines may be too noisy to support V.90 or there may be too much interference to sustain a connection at speeds above 33.6 kilobits per second (Kbps). The http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n86014 workaround is to use the Apple Internal 56K Modem (V.34) modem script, which forces the modem to connect at 33.6 Kbps or lower speeds. This type of connection is more reliable in situations where the phone line quality is questionable.

To use the Apple Internal 56K Modem (V.34) modem script, follow these steps:
1. Open the Modem control panel in the Apple menu.
2. Make sure the "Connect via" pop-up menu is set to Internal Modem.
3. Open the Modem pop-up menu and choose Apple Internal 56K Modem (V.34).
4. If necessary, set the Sound and Dialing options.
5. Close the control panel.
6. Click Save.

Pismo Fails To Go To Sleep When The Lid Closed Issue.

Some software settings may prevent Pismo from going to sleep. The screen may dim, but the sleep indicator light does not pulse, indicating that it is not sleeping.

One culprit can be the Palm Desktop HotSync function. To turn off the HotSync function, open Palm Desktop and choose Setup from the HotSync menu. Then click the Disabled button and make sure the "Enable HotSync software at system startup" checkbox is not selected. You will have to turn on HotSync when you want to synchronize with your Palm device.

Having the Configure pop-up menu in the TCP/IP control panel set to "Using DHCP Server" may also prevent Pismo from sleeping if a Web browser or e-mail application is open or a file server is mounted on your desktop. Apple advises quitting these applications and dismounting file servers when they are not being used.

To allow Pismo to sleep, you must also disable FAXstf's auto-answering. To do this, open FaxBrowser and choose Settings from the Edit menu. Then choose the FaxModem icon and select Never from the Answer On pop-up menu

When the IrDA method of infrared (IR) communication is selected in the AppleTalk control panel and AppleTalk is on, Pismo will not go to sleep automatically.

And I love this one. Apple warns "When the computer is waking from sleep, do not press the DVD-ROM drive button. This will cause unexpected behavior." Who writes this stuff anyway? What sort of "unexpected behavior?" Oh. I guess they mean the DVD drive tray might pop open in a startling fashion because the admonition concludes: " If this happens close the DVD drive tray." Crisis averted!

Issue With FireWire Target Disk Mode

Some users have reported problems getting Pismo to mount on another Mac in FireWire Target Disk mode. In the Tech Info Library article on this topic, Apple notes that the host computer must be running Mac OS 8.6 or later and FireWire 2.3 or later. One small problem: pre-Pismo Macs didn't ship with FireWire 2.3......

Workaround: transfer the FireWire 2.3 driver from Pismo to the host Mac via Ethernet or email, and try again.

Apple plans to release a new version of the FireWire extensions to fix this issue by the end of the month. These extensions, once installed on the host computer, should allow FireWire TDM to work properly.

DVD Skipping And Stuttering

Pismo uses a different mode of DVD decoding than Lombard or Wall Street did, and many users think that it is no improvement. Complaints include sluggish response and a tendency for the video and audio stream to break up.

Apple notes that Other Open Applications may periodically access the hard drive while they are open even if they're idle, and suggests quitting all other programs before watching a DVD. Another culprit may be the Network Time Server. Apple suggests turning this feature off in the Date & Time control panel before watching a DVD movie.

If your TCP/IP control panel is set to connect to the Internet using a DHCP server, and you aren't connected to the Internet or the DHCP server isn't available, Apple says that your machine may exhibit a brief pause every five minutes or so which will cause the DVD video to stutter. To prevent this from happening, temporarily you can make TCP/IP inactive in the TCP/IP control panel.

In some cases virtual memory can interfere with DVD playback. Apple suggests that you try turning virtual memory off in the Memory control panel.

Other helpful suggestions from Apple include using Extensions Manager to reduce your extensions set, and decreasing the displayed bit depth 256 grays (the movie will still play in full color and will not be affected by this setting).

I have a helpful suggestion for Apple: rewrite the DVD decoding software so users don't have to spend half an hour turning things off and messing with settings before they can watch a movie without hiccups.

Hard Drive Corruption

The above issues are relatively minor glitches and bugs. The so-called "flashing question mark" hard drive corruption issue is much more serious, and can result in catastrophic data loss. This is not just a Pismo problem, and has been reported in iBooks as well for several months (see this thread on MacInTouch: http://www.macintouch.com/ibookdisk.html). Apple seemed to take its sweet old time addressing the issue, but has now acknowledged it.

In certain cases, when available memory is low, putting a Pismo or iBook to sleep with the "Preserve memory contents on sleep" feature enabled can cause critical file system data to get overwritten, resulting in a flashing question mark greeting you the next time the computer is awakened. If this happens, and you try booting from the system CD, the hard drive will not mount, and Disk First Aid will report problems which it cannot repair. It is likely that the hard
drive data will not be recoverable and the only remedial option is to initialize the drive.

One obvious implication here is that owners of these machines should back up any important data religiously. I suppose problems like this are part of the price paid for the ROM in RAM concept.

Apple says it has identified a software solution which it believes will correct the problem. The software fix is being worked on, and Apple says it should be completed and available by the end of the March.

In the meantime if you own a Pismo or iBook, "and are concerned with losing data," (Duh -- who isn't?) Apple recommends unchecking the "Preserve memory contents on sleep" option for both Battery and Power Adapter settings in the Energy Saver Control panel. To do this follow these steps:
1. Open the Energy Saver control panel
2. Click the button labeled Advanced Settings at the top of the window
3. Uncheck the top-most option labeled "Preserve memory contents on sleep"
4. If the Settings pop-up menu was on Power Adapter, move it to Battery.
If it was on Battery, move it to Power Adapter
5. Again, uncheck the "Preserve memory contents on sleep" option

When this option is off you will notice that the pulsing sleep light comes on immediately after choosing sleep or shutting the lid.

Of course, turning off this feature means that your will no longer return to the state in which it was left in if the battery is fully depleted during sleep (not a big worry for most users.

An Apple Tech Info Library article discusses this topic:
http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n25130

Do NOT Install The Password Security Control Panel From MacOS 9.0 On Pismo

Even worse hard drive trouble may be your fate if you try dragging or installing the Password Security Control Panel Mac OS9.0 (and which was originally part of OS 8.6) on Pismo, which uses Mac OS 9.0.2. Doing this will also probably result in the flashing question mark, but in this instance you won't be able to fix it even with a reinitialization. The PowerBook will have to be shipped back to Apple to have the drive replaced.

Apple notes that "if you require this kind of security feature for any PowerBook running Mac OS 9, you can set up and assign a password in the Multiple Users control panel. This feature allows either password or voice verification."

Conclusions

None of these problems is a fatal flaw, but it would be nice if early adopters of new Mac hardware didn't have to serve as de facto late beta testers. The last largely trouble-free PowerBook releases were the rock-solid 3400/3500 and 2400 series in 1997, but those were relatively expensive machines. My suspicion is that at the price points Apple is selling its portables for these days, some corners must be getting cut at the development end.

Nevertheless, the 400 MHz Pismo especially, has to represent the best cost to value ratio of any laptop computer ever built, selling for about the same price as a PowerBook 1400 was two years ago, but with 10 times faster performance, DVD, and roughly five times more standard RAM and hard drive space. I trust that once the bugs cited above have been squashed, Pismo will rank as one of the great PowerBooks of all time.



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cmoore@macopinion.com


Provisionally, you can access The Road Warrior Archive to Jan. 16, 2006 by clicking here.

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CM