A new GeForce GT 640 to replace my dead GeForce GT 520 in my HP Pavilion m7780n...

Situation:
The GeForce GT 520 in my upgraded HP Pavilion m7780n (from 2006/2007) died.  I still want to keep this computer because (at least with the right graphics card), it's STILL fully capable of playing games from early 2000 to today (with "Assassin's Creed 3" being my most recent game purchase).

So, I need a new graphics card that would have better longevity and reliability than the GT 520.  I have to emphasize that I'm not necessarily upgrading components to play upcoming game titles (eg. "Assassin's Creed 4") at maximum resolution, with all settings turned up to "high".  No matter what graphics card I put in, I already know and understand that it will absolutely be "bottle-necked" by the stock Intel Core2Duo (E6400) @ 2.13GHz (dual-core).  I simply want to squeeze-out a few more years of usefulness from this computer.  As of this writing (May 2013), I hope this computer will last at least another 3-4 years..... even if I have to convert it into a Linux machine somewhere down the line.

Constraints:

• The new graphics card will have to have better cooling technology (heat-sink fan) than the GT 520 (this means that the GT 610 is absolutely OUT OF THE QUESTION).
• Whatever the new graphics card will be, it has to either work with my stock 300watt power supply (PSU) or I'd have to upgrade the power supply to something better as well.
• I already know that the GT 610, 620, and 630 are out of the question since my local store that carries these cards only has the brand-models that require a separate PCI slot cover/plate.  And this store doesn't carry those covers anymore.
• My computer's relatively small case means that I have to make sure the PSU actually fits in it.
• The PSU also has to meet or exceed BOTH the wattage requirements AND the amperage (amp) requirements of the new graphics card.
• All of this shit's gotta be under $250.

The Upgrades:

• Thermaltake TR2 600W (Model#:  TR2-600NL2NC)  ~$65.00
• EVGA GeForce GT 640 2GB (Model #: 02G-P4-3645-KB)  ~$120.00

After my local sales tax, the total was ~$202.00.


Upgrade Report:
I managed to install both upgrades and they're both working fine.

I already knew beforehand that the GT 640 occupies TWO slots (one PCI-E and one PCI).  So, I had to sacrifice the adjacent PCI WiFi card in order to allow the GT 640 to fit.  I don't use WiFi on this computer anyway so I didn't have any regrets removing it.

I had the most difficulty installing the PSU compared to the graphics card.  While the PSU unit did slide into place, against the 3 guiding tabs in the chassis, the sheer bulk of the included cables looked like they would severely restrict the air-flow inside the case... it was a very tight fit.  So, I ended up grabbing a few zip-ties and gathered as many of the loose cables together in a tight bundle.  I then had to push them aside, further away from the motherboard to make sure that they didn't come in contact with the CPU's exposed heat-sink fan.

Though the performance improvements in my games were only MARGINAL after the upgrade (THIS WAS EXPECTED), my computer is noticeably more QUIET than when I had the GT 520.  This is because of the the larger heat-sink fans in both the GT 640 and the new PSU.

I'll update my blog if anything should happen to go horribly wrong with either component.  Hopefully, I won't have too... because if you hear nothing from me, that'd mean I would have actually succeeded in getting more STABLE years of RELIABLE use from this machine - which is the whole point of this upgrade.

Ubuntu 12.04 (LIVE CD) on an iMac G3 (slot-loading) and other PPC-based Macs...

(Please note that I'm fairly certain that these instructions to boot off of the Live CD would work similarly for Ubuntu 12.10 and the upcoming 13.04.)

To use the Ubuntu 12.04 Live CD on an iMac G3, follow my advice below.

1)  First, take note of your EXACT iMac G3 model by visiting http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/index-imac.html.

2)  Next, with your exact Mac model in mind, visit: http://mac.linux.be/content/xorgconf-files.  Take note of the Mac models listed there and find the one that most closely matches yours.  If you click one, you'll note that it opens up a page that lists at least one possible xorg.conf file that you could use for booting into the GUI; without it, you're essentially stuck with the text prompt.  Also note that the xorg.conf files are just text files (ex. imac2.txt, imac5.txt, imac10.txt, and so on).

3)  After you've burned the Live CD to a blank CD (or for more advanced users, if you succeeded in making a bootable USB flash drive with the Live CD image), boot off of it.  For CD users, all you have to do is insert the CD, reboot (or start the computer), and hold down the 'C' key on the keyboard until your Mac starts loading stuff off of it.  If you can hear your CD spinning and doing stuff, you can let go of the 'C' key.

4)  When you reach an error that talks about being in "low graphics mode", you may notice that your screen may freeze for a few seconds or even up to a minute or two.  After that amount of time passes, you will either be able to move your mouse around and see a cursor.  If you do, proceed to step 5 below.  If not, you'll have to reboot your Mac and try again.... sometimes, this can happen, but usually, after a reboot (or two), you would be able to proceed.

5)  Click OK on the error, wait a bit, and you'll find yourself at a black screen with a prompt.

6)  All you have to do now is use the 'wget' utility to download the appropriate xorg.conf file for YOUR Mac as described above.  In my case, I have an iMac G3/600.  When I go to the http://mac.linux.be site, I see that I need "imac10.txt".  So, all I need to do at the prompt is type in:

wget http://mac.linux.be/files/xorg/imac10.txt

This downloads the needed file to your hard drive (don't worry about what folder it's in).  If you have a different Mac model, simply use the wget utility as shown above, but make sure you use the xorg text file that pertains to YOUR Mac.

7)  Next, you'll need to move the downloaded file to the /etc/X11 directory by typing in:

mv imac10.txt /etc/X11/xorg.conf

This moves the text file into the /etc/X11 directory.... and at the same time, it renames the file to xorg.conf.

8)  Finally, all you need to do now is type in:

startx

If you did everything properly, you should now find yourself in the beautiful, yet sluggish, Live Ubuntu 12.04 desktop session (the environment is called "Unity").  From here, you can now double-click the icon on the desktop to install Ubuntu!

Can't play DVD movies on an iMac G3 with Linux...

If you're anyone who has a PowerPC G3-based Mac, equipped with an ATI Rage 128 video chipset, and use a modern distribution of Linux (as of 2013), you likely have discovered that you can't play DVD movies.

Basically it boils down to a few key reasons:

1. The performance of the Linux driver for the ATI Rage 128 is so poor compared to how the same hardware performs under OS X.
2. Decreasing numbers of G3 users in general as the years go by.  While not a reason on it's own, I believe it would certainly lead to....
3. ...open-source programmers who'd rather forget the Rage 128 and leave it into obsolescence.  (i'm shaking my head at the MESA project).
4. VLC (arguably the most popular video playback software package in Linux) is optimized and thus intended for G4's and newer, leaving us G3 users with few options:  compile VLC from source and making sure to disable Altivec, find some other open-source video playback program (good luck), or do what I did, which I'll explain a bit more, further down this page.

So what I ended up doing was to set up my iMac to dual-boot Mac OS X and Linux.  Essentially, I'm keeping Mac OS X just to retain the ability to play DVD movies.  While it is an obvious pain to have to reboot to switch between OSes just for the sake of playing DVDs, it is the -ONLY- solution I know of that works.  I divided my hard drive into 3 partitions in this exact order:

• Linux/Debian (MintPPC)
• Mac OS X (originally a Mac OS 9.2.2 system that I upgraded to 10.3.x, then finally to 10.4.11)
• File Storage

This was a major pain in my posterior because of all the hoops I had to jump through to get this to work properly.  But with the advice from PPC Ludite's blog post about installing Debian, I was able to get what I want.

All I had to do was:

• Do the partitioning with the Disk Utility on my OSX installation DVD.
• Create 3 partitions...
• ... Partition 1 = unallocated but intended for Linux (I gave this one the largest size of the 3 partitions)
• ... Partition 2 = formatted as an HFS+ (journaled); intended for Mac OS X (I gave this partition the smallest size of the 3 partitions)
• ... Partition 3 = unallocated but intended for shared file storage between Linux and OSX.  This partition is the remainder of the hard drive.  HOWEVER, I made sure it was larger than Partition 2, but smaller than Partition 1.
• Install Mac OS 9 on the 2nd partition.
• Reboot
• Upgrade the OS 9 installation to 10.3.x (because my 10.4 disc requires 10.3 to be installed first).
• Reboot again
• Upgrade to 10.4.11
• Reboot
• Run Software Update
• Reboot
• Run Software Update again
• Reboot
• Run Software Update again
• Reboot
• Run Software Update again
• Reboot...
• ... at this point, I'm cussing like I'm back in grade school...  stupid Java VM...
• Boot into the Linux install image (which I burned onto a USB flash drive) through the Mac's Open Firmware (hold Command+Option+O+F during startup)
• When I got to the screen that lets the user create, edit, and delete partitions, I deleted Partitions 1 and 3, while retaining Partition 2.
• Then, for Parition 1, I let the Linux installer "Automatically" handle the task of creating the swap, boot, home, and other "sub-partitions" needed to install and boot Linux.
• Then I proceeded to install Linux, making sure the installer would chose the LARGEST unused/free-space on the hard disk.  In this case, it is Partition 1.
• After Linux was fully installed, I booted into Linux from Parition 1
• After logging into Linux, I used GPARTED to make Partition 3 as a logical volume and formatted it as a FAT32 disk.  Both Linux and Mac OS X (and I believe Mac OS 9) can read AND write to FAT32 volumes.

And that's it.  The Yaboot boot loader comes up right after I power up my iMac and I have a few seconds to select between Linux (default), OSX, or if I want to boot off of a CD.  I don't even bother booting into OS9... i just rely on the "Classic" environment within OSX to handle my old OS9 applications.

I can imagine that it would be a very, VERY long time before a capable and WILLING programmer would come along and make the needed changes to the Linux driver and/or VLC to make DVDs play well under Linux on the iMac G3... or ANY PowerPC G3+ATI Rage 128 combination for that matter.

iMac G3/600 and Linux in 2013

I got my iMac G3/600 Snow off of eBay in 2010, and it came with a DVD drive and OSX 10.4.11 Tiger (but no OSX install DVD's or CD's).  It was pretty much maxed-out in terms of upgrades.... so it was all ready-to-go, right after I unboxed it.

Here are the specs:

Original Specifications	New, BAD-ASS SPECIFICATIONS
600MHz PowerPC G3	-no change
80 GB HDD @ 7200 RPM	-no change
16 MB ATI Rage 128 ULTRA (integrated AGP 2x video)	-no change
1.0 GB RAM	-no change
Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger	MintPPC 11 (1)
No extras	4-port USB hub (2)

1 = I use XFCE instead of the default LXDE environment because I feel this machine deserves just a little bit more "eye candy" in the GUI than what LXDE provides, out of the box.
2 = I got this so I can install my mouse and keyboard into the HUB and reserve the other USB port, directly on the side of the iMac for a bootable USB flashdrive, which I can boot into from the OpenFirmware screen.

---

Let me say that I actually LOVE MintPPC 11... but it's clearly not OSX... and without any dedicated developers and programmers to continue making great PowerPC apps and drivers for Linux, it likely won't EVER be a solid replacement for OSX.

So, as of Jan. 2013, there is no way I can get DVD's to play properly... and this isn't just in MintPPC11... it also won't play in Debian and Ubuntu.  I tried them all!  And while I can boot into Linux fine, the system log(s) indicate that my video hardware is always booting up in AGP mode set at "0x", which I believe to mean either 1) no 2d/3d acceleration, or 2) some 2d/3d acceleration... but just nowhere near what OSX can provide in comparison.

As such, with no graphics acceleration, any available solutions there currently are for PPC Macs like mine to play Flash content (ie. YouTube videos) will be either painfully slow or just not worth the hassle.

On the other hand, I now have a secure and up-to-date browser, a FREE Office suite that's compatible with MS Word and Excel documents, I can create vector images with Inkscape, and I have the most up-to-date version of GIMP (2.8.2) on this thing.... compared to people on OSX Tiger who are stuck with GIMP 2.6.x because of some limitation they have with an outdated X11.

And I'm totally digging the ability for me stream my favorite, local radio stations from within RadioTray!

Best part is, now my iMac G3 can network seamlessly with my HP Media Center, my V2000 notebook, and even the USB hard drive located on the LAN (which is also shared among all 3 computers)!

Compaq Presario V2000 Notebook in 2013

So I got handed a Compaq Presario V2000 notebook from 2005 and wanted to squeeze more life and usability out of it.

Here is what I started out with... compared to what I ended up with...

Original Specifications	New, BAD-ASS SPECIFICATIONS
1.5 GHz Intel Centrino Mobile (aka "Pentium M")	-no change
60 GB HDD @ 4200 RPM	-no change
32 MB Intel 852GM/855GM (integrated video)	-no change
512 MB RAM (yes, that's MB) (1) PC2700	2 GB RAM (maximum) (1) PC2700
Windows XP Professional (Service Pack 3)	Linux Mint 13 XFCE (2)
Stock Battery 10.8V / 4400mAh (2-3.5 hour battery life) @ 12 oz. (0.34kg)	Upgraded Battery 10.8V / 8800mAh (6-7 hour battery life) @ 27.2 oz. (0.77kg)

1 = Subtract 32 MB from the total because the integrated video chipset actually uses the system RAM (which totally sucks, of course)
2 = I installed LXDE on top of XFCE, but I only use it when I really need extra horsepower and less of a hardware footprint... XFCE has better support for transparent effects and other eye-candy.

---

I now have an ultra-responsive notebook to fall back on, and with the power efficiency to save me some serious dough on my electric bill!  And I didn't have to shell out >$2000 for a new computer!

HP m7780n Media Center PC - playing games in 2013?!

22 January, 2013

I have an HP m7780n Media Center PC with TV tuner card (stock), which I bought in 2007 and have made the following upgrades to it over the years (from oldest to most recent):

*Netgear GA311 Gigabit Ethernet card - I got this because the on-board network hardware didn't work with OSx86... I was just curious to see what the performance of OSX was like, compared to Windows Vista... on the same hardware.  The inability for OSX to recognize the on-board ethernet (without the GA311) was actually quite sad.


*RAM.... upgraded from 2GB to 4GB.

*PNY Nvidia GeForce 520 GT - The stock 7600 GT was showing its age, not being able to play many game titles that have come out since 2007 and later.  Read my review below!!!

*Antec TriCool 92mm (Part # 761345-75121-6) - The stock Foxconn case fan (PV902512L-G) (HP Part #: 5188-3722) was making a horrible buzzing sound (Nov. 2012-Jan. 2013).  Sure, I could've cleaned it with compressed air and lubricated the inner parts with some WD-40... but I didn't want to run the risk of the thing sparking from too much friction build-up due to a potentially worn-out ball-bearing.  The TriCool 92 seems to be working just fine on it's lowest setting (out of 3 fan speeds; selectable with a hardware switch on the fan's cable).  I booted into the BIOS and made sure to see what kind of RPM's the older Foxconn fan was putting out and it read around 600-700rpm.  With the Antec fan, I set it to the lowest setting of 1200rpm, and the thing is STILL quieter than the Foxconn fan, while blowing the same amount of air from the CPU case (if not more).  The only difference with the new fan, I found, was that in order to get it moving, I had to connect it to a vacant molex plug in addition to the 3-pin socket on the motherboard... without the additional power from the PSU, the fan refused to start.

Review:  As of January 2013, I'm still able to watch TV, record HD over-the-air (OTA; ATSC) TV shows, play ALL of my old game titles form my Windows 98-XP days.  I can now even enjoy my newer favorite titles:

*Mafia 2 - 800x600, with all graphics settings set to low
*Assassin's Creed - 800x600, with all graphics settings to maximum.
*Assassin's Creed II - 800x600, with most graphics settings to medium
*Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - SAME as ACII
*Assassin's Creed: Revelations - Same as ACB, but with slightly more graphics settings set to low
*Assassin's Creed III - 800x600 with all graphics settings set to low


The whole point of me even bothering to play these games in their low resolution is that I CAN still enjoy them all on the same computer I've been using to record all my TV shows on.... and I didn't have to build an entirely new PC from scratch, nor did I have to shell out another $1,000-$2,700 for a totally new PC.

And believe it or not.... but at least for me, ALL of these games look great with the above settings!  I guess I'm not as "spoiled" so many of you who boast and brag about being able to play the latest and greatest titles at maximum resolution...  Not that I'm jealous... I'm just practical.

I guess I can squeeze out even more performance and even more years of use out of this machine if I installed Linux and ran all my Windows games (and apps) in WINE.... but for now, everything is working exactly how I want/need them to work.  I'm quite happy with that!