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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: AmigaWun on September 21, 2003, 08:13:35 PM
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I need to vent guys and here I hope I find sympathy! I HATE MAC'S
Today I spent the good part of five hours helping a friend with a titanum powerbook put an 802.11 card in, she bought an apple Airport one. The first amazing thing comes when it doesn't fit in the slot, but a quick call to the apple seller and they tell me it has to go INSIDE THE MACHINE. My friend had opted not to get them to install it as it was an extra $20 fee, so he took it home and I got the job as I'm the "Computer Guy" and can generally help friends and family with there computer problems. I have never seen such a tragedy of design as the TiBook!
First I had to take the entire thing apart. This if youve been inside a laptop is not an easy trivial task. It needs the batteryu and case to come off, the drive and optical drive to come out, and apples STUPID design inside them mean I had to file away some parts as they were put in without obviously meaning to be taken apart again. Now I know computers are throwaway things nowadays but that's rediculous? We also had to use snips to cut some tiny pieces of shielding off to get to the right screws. I can see why they were charging so much to put the card in, she should have gone with that option! In the end finally I was able to lever up a part of the inside to push the airport card inside and click it in place. But that wasn't enough, an aerial cable then needed to be connected, and getting it out of its holder was another half hour of work where I had to pull the airport card out again!. Finally with it all back together it works. The inside I think is back where it should go *lall*!!. the back doesn't go back on how it should either and I think is a little bent.
I don't, I really don't, see how Apple can claim to be tops in design. Even my A600 was a dream to work on compared to this and it was pretty compact too!. Why they couldn't put it in an easily accessed slot like normal PC notebooks I dont know. Anyway Ive talked my friend into getting rid of her mac addiction, she will definately be buying a Dell next *LALL*
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AmigaWun wrote:
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Why they couldn't put it in an easily accessed slot like normal PC notebooks I dont know. Anyway Ive talked my friend into getting rid of her mac addiction, she will definately be buying a Dell next *LALL*
Perhaps because they 'thought different...' :lol:
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I've installed airport cards in my iMac G4 and my iBook G3-900 and it was just a case of removing the bottom plate on the iMac and clicking the card into place, and on the iBook you just push two levers at the back of the keyboard to lift it up, raise the metal holding bracket and put the airport card in, lower the bracket again and you're done.
Are you sure you followed the installation instructions properly?
Sounds like you tried to install the card by removing the case?
The instructions for installing an aitport card in a Titanium Powerbook G4 are here:-
http://manuals.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Manuals/powerbooks/0342010.Book.PDF
(page 67)
[Edit] You should just remove the bottom cover and the airport card slot is right there underneath.
You shouldn't need to remove drives or file anything away, or cut away any shielding.
I've owned 3 macs now and my next one will be the new 15" Powerbook. Only problem I've had was when my iMac had a dodgy hard drive. One call to Apple had the machine picked up the next day and it was returned the day after with a new hard drive fitted and everything re-installed. No hassle whatsoever.
I wouldn't go back to Wintel now if you paid me.
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It sounds like you were tring to make the shoe fit by cutting off the toes, but fogetting to untie the laces... so to speak...
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Uhh... Yeah... You went way out of the way mate! All you needed to do is remove the cover off the bottom and it goes in. Read the instructions. You just totaled her Mac in all respects for not reading the proper instructions. I've put in several cards for friends and I havent EVER had to do all that on a TI-Powerbook.
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I'm really not sure what you could have done. To put airport into a TiBook you have to take the bottom off (see http://www.danamania.com/temp/pbg4screws.jpg ) and then there's the slot, ready to just put the card in ( http://www.danamania.com/temp/pbg4card.jpg ). I don't see how you could have even removed the drive without taking the base off, unless you somehow went through the top, which makes me wince just thinking about it.
I think perhaps you've just done the equivalent of a wisdom tooth extraction, performed by going in rectally...
dana
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ha! ha! ...no just joking, that sounds like a really bad dream, man i bet you was sweating and everything. I do stuff like that all the time, better to laugh than cry.
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All I can say is RTFM. The instructions are even under the battery, as I recall.
The TiBook may be the most difficult installation of an AirPort card I've done. It took less than 10 minutes from start to finish.
You just trashed a TiBook for no good reason... it makes me want to cry.
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Edited by Argo: Personal Attack
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ajakeski, thats harsh, cold, mean, attacking his friends like that, they might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time but they didn't do it...
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Great story. I do not think I have ever taken more than 5 minutes to install an Airport Card into any Mac. Did you try to install RAM through the CDROM too? Do you pump gas into your car through your brake lines? Read the directions next time. It does not take a rocket scientist to install the card, just a little bit of reading or looking at pictures if that is more your taste.
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Right so much for "community Support" then anyway the keyboard has no clips there are screws that don't turn very far, there's no warning for that and they could be easily broken, but I managed to defeat that. I don't think Lando that there's anything simple about it, as the first thing underneath there is I think RAM slots. I could complain another whole hour about RAM too, the computer is always having RAM problems and has no setting to increase swap so she can get more, and already has no RAM slots free, filled with Apple RAM. I planned to add some more in, I have some PC simms but there's nothing like normal RAM in there.
All I'm saying man is its nothing like as easy as the manuals might sound. Maybe that PDF would have helped if I could find it but there's no way you can get around that apple help site, and anyway I really don't think under the bottom cover looked like that once I got that far. The card was on the right hand side. Whatever, even if it was simple to put in and took me ten seconds I still wouldn't recommend a mac to anyone!
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@ajakeski
5% You mean like the 5% who ride the short school buses?
Stick with your PPC junk. You ain't fit to own a Wintel box. You stick to stuff you understand like Etch-a-sketch.
I no longer use an Amiga daily but there is no way I'd stoop to owning a Mac.
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Take the battery out. The instructions are right there.
I suppose it is having ram problems considering how you butchered it.
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AmigaWun wrote:
the keyboard has no clips there are screws that don't turn very far, there's no warning for that and they could be easily broken, but I managed to defeat that.
That screw is the lock for the keyboard. It is only supposed to turn a little. Lock and unlock. That is it. You must have really screwed her computer. Great job. Why was it so hard to look online to see how to install it the correct way?
PC SIMMs? Are you trying to put SIMMs in a modern laptop? Try and put your SIMMs in a PC laptop. I am sure you will fit them in somehow. Maybe if you snap them in half. The SODIMM in the Powerbook is standard RAM that every laptop these days have in them. You could buy RAM for that Powerbook at Walmart for crying out load.
Please at least ask for help next time to try to do something more complex then opening a jar.
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Okay, that's enough. No more picking on this guy. I suppose none of you have tried to do someing with out instructions or being able to find decent ones and ended up with one hell of a time.
Simple advice: If it doesn't look right and/or the instructions don't seem to make what you have, then seek assistance and advice. Maybe even suggest footing the $20 for the pros to do it. If it's under warranty always have to pros do it. No need to void your warranty and end up with an expensive paper weight.
As such, This topic is locked.
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I don't think this is just an Apple problem. I won't buy a computer from Best Buy or CompUSA that is put together (with exception of a laptop) because they use non-standard case designs and power supplies and motherboard integration makes them less upgradeable..
As far as Macs go I own 3 of them yes, they are easy to work with and have a lot of digital media products available for them, but if you have a modern PC the superiority lines are fading since MacOS is now Unix, which some would argue if you go to the Mac's Terminal Shell command prompt (yeah it has one hidden in system folders) that this command line is a lot more difficult for first time people.
I actually think DOS is easier (if not less functional because you don't have to SU CHOWN CHMOD etc..) but not nearly as scriptable of functional.
The next point I'd make is the Mac isn't a USER serviceable product.. It's not intended to be.. They don't want the Mac hacked into something crazy
like most pc owners do to their machines. So you get caught in expensive upgrade cycles.
I took apart an old IMAC for a friend and dang if it wasn't the most difficult thing to do. It took over an hour. But it is an easy to use box with the mac interface.. It's just technician hell and I cut myself like 4 times on it (and it's mostly plastic)..
As far as Mac applications go, I have been using a mac with photoshop since photoshop 2.5. It's very easy to use even with older models, but things like applications and games seem to be a half year to a year behind their PC releases. Making the machine half as functional to me. The same version of
DreamWeaver MX for instance seems to have less database support. All in all, I couldn't move to development on it although I'd like to because I'd be just a little behind the curve..
. Microsoft came through finally on a great office version for it and it even comes bundled now with PC emulation and a copy of windows XP that runs flawlessly for running PC apps. I can't wait to see what Mac owners do if Windows ever sees the light of day for PowerPC :-) CPUs.. Remember they went there in the past with NT, why not now :-)
ya gotta wonder..