George
Offline
Cambridge UK

OK, this is not really chipmusic-related, but I figured you guys would be able to give me a few tips from personal experience.

I've got a Lombard Powerbook (G3 333 mhz, 128 mb ram, 2GB HDD) I want to use solely as a typewriter.
I already have a more powerful clamshell iBook running Debian + fluxbox I've been using for that, but the battery is completely dead- which spawns a lot of clock-related errors upon booting- and the fan is getting increasingly noisy, and I now get more and more errors upon booting which makes me believe it's bound to die on me anytime soon.

The Lombard is already running Debian (Lenny), but without a GUI, because, well, 2GB HDD.
I could always swap it with the clamshell's (10GB), but cracking that beast open is a bitch, and I'd probably have to fix some stuff in Debian anyways.

Basically, I'd rather avoid messing with the hardware and want the simplest option possible - I only mean to use it as a typewriter anyways (I'm a writer, I have chronic tendinitis in both forearms and those keyboards are the ones that inflict the least pain BY FAR and it does make a difference between being able to type for only an hour or 3-4).

Here are the options I'm considering :

-Older version of Debian + fluxbox or blackbox
Pros+cons : my OS of choice, but installing it on a PPC always requires more work and I'm dealing with a French keyboard which always makes it a bitch in console mode (special characters like pipes and tildes aren't printed on it, you have accented characters instead) and harder to map properly. Also, not sure older versions are available on Debian servers (haven't checked).

-Mac OS 9
Seems like the instinctive choice, but would mean having to learn how to deal with it since I've never used it.

-Mac OS 10.1 or 10.2
Wondering if it'd be slower than 9.2.
Would probably be the easiest ones to use out-of-the-box for me since I've used 10.4.11 a bit.
And then...if I go for 10, should it be 10.1 or 10.2? Or even 10.3?! 10.4 won't run.

Thoughts/ideas/insults?

arfink
Offline
Minneapolis

Hmm, well, if you must keep the lombard you must. And I will concur, the keyboards on there are fairly good as laptops go, though I have my personal favorite for a typewriter computer:

I would suggest going with Debian if you can swing getting a brand new HDD for the Lombard. If you're looking for parts I can quite possibly hook you up with some stuff or people who do have it. For an older PPC I would not suggest 10.1 or higher, it's just too painfully slow, though I have not tried it on a Lombard of course. So I would say 9.whatever if you can't do Debian. However, I will also suggest something else for you: ask the helpful fellows over at the 68kMLA forums. There are a ton of PPC nuts there who can give you ideas for what to do about OS9/10 if you decide not to get into Debian, or who would sell you a drive.

EDIT: forgot the link http://68kmla.net/

Last edited by arfink (Nov 17, 2010 4:39 am)

George
Offline
Cambridge UK
arfink wrote:

I would suggest going with Debian if you can swing getting a brand new HDD for the Lombard.

George wrote:

I could always swap it with the clamshell's (10GB), but cracking that beast open is a bitch, and I'd probably have to fix some stuff in Debian anyways.

Basically, I'd rather avoid messing with the hardware and want the simplest option possible

hmm

arfink
Offline
Minneapolis
George wrote:
arfink wrote:

I would suggest going with Debian if you can swing getting a brand new HDD for the Lombard.

George wrote:

I could always swap it with the clamshell's (10GB), but cracking that beast open is a bitch, and I'd probably have to fix some stuff in Debian anyways.

Basically, I'd rather avoid messing with the hardware and want the simplest option possible

hmm

I did rather think you'd meant the clamshell's hdd was hard to remove. How about the lombard? Because you could just get a new HDD and not deal with the clamshell.

However, my suggestion to talk to the guys on 68kmla still stands, they'll be the ones who are most helpful with vintage mac stuff.

George
Offline
Cambridge UK

I won't put any money on it : I got it for free.
This guy http://lowendmac.com/ed/moore/08cwm/bes … rbook.html recommends OS 9.
He says 10.3.9 runs very slow (duh!) but says nothing on 10.1 or 10.2 hmm
I only ever used OS 9 for a few minutes on a G3 iMac and didn't like it much, I'd much rather use OS 10 provided it's not EXTREMELY slow.

Waiting for registration to be approved by admins to be able to post on that board.

arfink
Offline
Minneapolis

George- put $5 on it for a new HDD. Just do it.

EDIT: if you are worried about slowdown, just try it out and see. No harm in that, you can reformat if you hate it.

Last edited by arfink (Nov 17, 2010 6:50 am)

akira^8GB
Offline
New York City
George wrote:

-Mac OS 10.1 or 10.2
Wondering if it'd be slower than 9.2.
Would probably be the easiest ones to use out-of-the-box for me since I've used 10.4.11 a bit.

10.1 is a slow piece of shit. Never consider it.
10.2 ran fine in my 600Mhz G3. Perhaps it runs decently on your Lombard. I remember many people installing it in those machines and it ran fine. the Lombard is a very, very good machine.

OS9 is a laughable OS.

Lazerbeat
Offline
Tokyo, Japan

How about puppy?

chunter
Offline
Brunswick, GA USA

I suggest running the OS that came with it because upgrading a Mac OS (especially without giving it the appropriate hardware resources) invites pain.

I find that the nature of classic Mac OS was to build a computer that does exactly what you want well, and then you keep that computer for ten years, never to be upgraded or modified- and in the process it becomes your favorite computer.

I hope you're getting appropriate therapy for the tendinitis. The key to controlling it is not just choosing low-stress surfaces, but also remembering to introduce variety into the way you use the muscles, to avoid the repetitive stress. Stretch often, and try to have alternatives to typing available, like dragonspeak or paper. I had problems for much of the 90s, it took about four years to get to a point where I don't worry anymore.

It still hurts to play piano for more than 20 minutes, though. sad

kineticturtle
Offline
Matthew Joseph Payne

Run OS9, and put your word processor in the startup folder. You'll hardly have to touch the "laughable" OS at all, since this is the only thing you intend to use it for.

InactiveX
Offline
England

I urge you to try out BeOS. It was billed as "the media OS" when it came out in the '90s, and was released for Intel and PPC.

Unfortunately, several factors forced Be Inc out of business, but the OS still lives on.

The last official release (R5) would be a perfect fit for your Mac.

BeOS is so intuitive. You'll love using it. The app suite GoBe Productive is a really good Office alternative for your typing needs.

The OS is very lightweight, solid, intelligently designed and lightning fast (it was built from the ground up for media stuff, unlike Windows, OSX, Linux and the others which have it bolted on afterwards). Try it - I'm sure you won't be disappointed and your lappy will feel brand new again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeOS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobe_Software

akira^8GB
Offline
New York City

BeOS is discontinued and probably far more useless than OS9.

If you seriously just gonna use it ONLY as a wordpro, keep OS9.

ant1
Offline
uhajdafdfdfa

"BeOS is discontinued"

os9 is discontinued
old versions of debian are discontinued
smile

i say os9 too though

InactiveX
Offline
England
akira^8GB wrote:

BeOS is discontinued and probably far more useless than OS9.

If you seriously just gonna use it ONLY as a wordpro, keep OS9.

Probably far more useless? I beg to differ! Haiku is keeping the BeOS alive as OSS, although it's still at alpha. Have you used Gobe Productive ever? It's an amazing suite, very innovative, way better than anything I can think of for general stuff.

Not to mention BeBits.com for all your free and open source software needs...

Do you know anything about BeOS to make such a definitive sounding statement? I'd say BeOS is way more useable than OS9 - but I'd never advise someone on OS choice and present things as statements of fact.

Give it a try!

http://www.haiku-os.org/

http://www.bebits.com/

Last edited by InactiveX (Nov 18, 2010 7:40 pm)

arfink
Offline
Minneapolis

Just because of hat inactivex, I'm going to look at BeOS. Looks quite nice, and I'm surprised I never knew about it before.

George
Offline
Cambridge UK

Although I have an interest  in alternative OSes, this is meant to be a FUSS-FREE TYPEWRITER.
I do not want to have to go through the hassle of learning how to use an OS just to use a text editor.

Updates :
-I tried to install 10.2, but the installer was WAY too slow. (It took about 30 minutes just to get past the language selection), so I dropped it.
-When I tried installing 9.2 a very weird thing happened.
So, I selected to boot from CD from Yaboot.
I heard the cd-drive read the CD a few seconds, then Open Firmware came up with two options (IIRC it was "Type 'mac-boot' to boot from CD or 'shutdown' to shutdown" or something like that) but, within 1-2 seconds, before I can type anything, an error comes up "CANNOT FIND METHOD DRAW-RECTANGLE" + an error number. The cursor is frozen, I can't do anything. Pressing and holding down the power button doesn't even do anything : I had to pull the plug on it (thanks for dead batteries). I tried a 2nd time and the exact same thing happened. Yelling at it "JUST SKIP DRAWING THAT STUPID RECTANGLE YOU BIG DUMBFUCK" didn't help. I don't know what is spawning that error : Open Firmware or 9.2's installer. :-/

Last edited by George (Nov 19, 2010 12:26 pm)