[HN Gopher] Ode to the Clamshell iBook G3 - a.k.a. "The Toiletseat"
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Ode to the Clamshell iBook G3 - a.k.a. "The Toiletseat"
Author : GuyNumberFive
Score : 51 points
Date : 2021-09-06 19:37 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (lunduke.substack.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (lunduke.substack.com)
| CTOSian wrote:
| I highly recommend the forum : http://macos9lives.com/ there are
| custom ISOs that you can install and -directly-boot MacOS 9 on
| unsupported models.
| codezero wrote:
| I still own mine and it still boots and works well. I did have to
| replace the battery, but surprisingly it's still available from
| third parties.
|
| It blows my mind a little that I can plug it right into my
| network and access my modern synology NAS without any special
| configuration on either side.
|
| It was the first device I owned that had WiFi but I never used it
| back then and sold the airport pcmcia card. The screen resolution
| was decent for the time, and it was as expandable as PC laptops.
| pavlov wrote:
| The toilet seat iBook is a cute retro object, but it wasn't very
| popular at the time. It was bulky even for a 1999 laptop.
|
| When the "iceBook" replacement finally shipped in 2001, the new
| rectangular, lighter and thinner design was universally praised
| as much better:
|
| https://lowendmac.com/2001/12-500-mhz-ibook-g3-dual-usb-mid-...
|
| I remember this 2001 iBook was the first Mac for a lot of people
| who wouldn't have considered buying an Apple product previously.
| The Titanium PowerBook G4 with Mac OS X had started creating some
| interest in the new Apple, but it was way too expensive. The
| $1,299 iBook was a much more reasonable entry into the world of
| Unix Mac.
| LeoPanthera wrote:
| Unless my memory fails me, this was the first laptop with built-
| in wi-fi. (Which, at the time, Apple called "Airport
| Networking".)
|
| They were incredibly robust, the claim was that they were made
| out of the same plastic as crash helmets. I don't know how true
| that actually was, but they did seem to be able to withstand
| knocks pretty well.
|
| A great laptop for people who actually travelled around with them
| rather than using them as desktop replacements.
| seltzered_ wrote:
| "the keyboard just flips up after pushing on two tabs."
|
| This allowed for third party keyboards to be installed -
| https://web.archive.org/web/20060216223326/http://www.finger...
|
| I get that they removed this feature to facilitate a unibody
| design later (weight/thinness), but I sorta wish they brought it
| back so one could possibly 'detach' the keyboard for desk /
| laptop stand use.
| AdamJacobMuller wrote:
| I had a later Macbook which had that same feature.
|
| Beyond the ability to swap in an alternate keyboard the ability
| to pull out the keyboard and clean it well was amazing. The
| amount of junk which came out of that keyboard when you removed
| it and tapped it on the table was equal parts fascinating and
| disgusting.
|
| Overall I don't lament the old laptops too much. While they
| made it easier to clean, the newer laptops seem to catch far
| less stuff.
|
| Plus, the power cable on that generation of computer was...
| Awful. This was pre-magsafe and the center pin of the cable,
| which looked like a headphone connector, would break off INSIDE
| the computer. It was a huge hassle resulting in multiple
| returns until someone from the apple store figured out a trick
| with a toothpick and some super glue.
| flemhans wrote:
| It had a crazy battery time. 10+ hours.
| jeffbee wrote:
| Everymac lists its battery life claim at 6 hours. I don't
| remember it being that great, despite the fact that these old
| books weighed as much as three modern laptops.
| don-code wrote:
| I got to liquidate a broken stack of these back in the late
| 2000s. For some reason I couldn't get one of them to power
| off, so I pulled the power cable and waited. Then I went to
| class.
|
| Four hours later, I came back home, and the thing was still
| running.
|
| You could argue that it was just sitting at the folder-
| question-mark icon and doing nothing useful, but I'm assuming
| that it also meant no power saving features were enabled by
| the kernel (at least, that's how it works in the PC world - I
| was quickly disparaged of the notion that running DOS instead
| of Windows 98 just for my text editor would give me better
| battery life).
| 1MachineElf wrote:
| I'm amazed. I recall the mid-2012 Macbook[0] also had 10 hours
| of battery life, but I didn't know the same feat had been
| achieved by earlier Apple laptops.
|
| [0] https://support.apple.com/kb/sp584?locale=en_US
| forgotmypw17 wrote:
| I have one of these in my testing stable, including Mac IE. It's
| quite usable on many websites which are simply built.
| 1MachineElf wrote:
| I didn't get much experience with these aside from playing
| Bugdom[0] on them, which was a lot of fun.
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugdom
| mattl wrote:
| I have one of these (Key Lime). I'm using it to watch the videos
| for my WebObjects training course while I complete the classes on
| my Aluminum PowerBook G4.
|
| https://twitter.com/mattl/status/1432507439929303042?s=20
|
| Working optical drives in these older machines is an issue.
| BuildTheRobots wrote:
| Possibly off topic, but does anyone remember a very similar
| looking laptop but with a black and white lcd screen which was
| potentially touch screen too? I've got half a memory of them from
| around Y2K but I'm now I'm thinking that I'm mashing together a
| clamshell G3 with a Palm Pilot in my head and it might not of
| existed.
|
| I do miss the colourful, cutesy but extremely capable Mac's of
| the G3/G4 era. I'm sure it's rose tinted glasses on my part, but
| computing seemed much more fun and positive back then :/
| dunnevens wrote:
| Definitely the eMate. The clamshell Newton. I very much wanted
| one back in the day but could never really justify it. Settled
| for a Palm + folding keyboard combo.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMate_300
| mattl wrote:
| Yeah the Apple eMate?
| robertoandred wrote:
| > I do miss the colourful, cutesy but extremely capable Mac's
| of the G3/G4 era.
|
| The new M1 iMacs bring that back a bit. Wouldn't be surprised
| to see it spread to the MacBook Air.
| bluedino wrote:
| I thought of these things the same way as the original iMac.
| Cutesy, but underpowered and nothing to get real work done on,
| especially with the low screen resolutions.
| jeffbee wrote:
| Indeed, the contemporaneous PowerBook G3 "Pismo" was the better
| machine all around. It was faster, more expandable, more
| upgradeable with the CPU on a daughter card, and even with the
| larger 1024x768 display it weighed 1 pound less than the iBook.
| Of course, it also cost $900 more.
| dylan604 wrote:
| This was from a time period of an upside down logo. That one
| always made me wonder who at Apple allowed that, or why nobody
| noticed that when the lid was open the logo is upside down.
| Ultimately, it came down to the imagery of when someone was
| carrying by the handle I guess.
| rob74 wrote:
| Which neatly fits the toilet seat analogy - you generally can't
| see the back of a toilet seat lid when it's open, so images
| printed on toilet seat lids have the same orientation as the
| Apple logo on the iBook G3 lid.
| adzm wrote:
| That way the logo was the correct orientation when you look at
| the laptop to open it up!
| sircastor wrote:
| The thing that I remember about this computer is Steve Jobs
| demoing the WiFi by passing a hula-hoop around it. He was a great
| showman.
| Lammy wrote:
| "Boom." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iTNWZF2m3o&t=904s
| bri3d wrote:
| A coworker gave me one of these awhile ago, and I spent some time
| setting up OS X 10.4 and TenFourFox on it as well as OS9 and
| Classilla. It runs surprisingly well for the timeframe and specs
| - TenFourFox in particular was a ridiculously impressive porting
| effort to keep around.
|
| These had pretty fun power adapters too - they were round and the
| laptop-side cord looped around the adapter itself. I miss the
| days of Apple adapters having built-in storage for the laptop-
| side cord - they seem to have dropped this functionality with the
| switch to USB-C.
|
| The keyboards on every generation of Apple computer with under-
| keyboard memory were atrocious though - like truly amongst the
| worst keyboards of all time.
| zitterbewegung wrote:
| Huh I was using Camino during the PPC 10.4 days.
| titzer wrote:
| Both generations of magsafe adapters were by far superior to
| USB-C. I feel like both ends are pretty fragile now.
| [deleted]
| codesnik wrote:
| but now you can switch them. twice the longevity! just
| kidding, I recently wrapped both ends in shrinking tubes,
| seem to stop fraying (for now)
| nextos wrote:
| I loved the keyboards from the first Intel MacBooks. In my
| opinion, even better that classic ThinkPads.
|
| Great feedback, spring-like feel and good travel.
| johnzim wrote:
| I loved lugging this computer to school. Definitely made good use
| of the rubberized edges with a few "drop tests".
|
| The only bad part of the design was in the power chord, which
| like many of those era's cables, suffered from fraying at the
| point of connection.
|
| It was particularly great to be able to save school work to an
| FTP server (or run one yourself from the iBook) and then print
| from the network computers in the lab. No floppy, no problem
| prvc wrote:
| >These machines were... magical. Heck. Still are.
|
| He never bothered to explain why he thinks so. Apple fans are a
| little too fond of describing their favored products using this
| word. Counterpoint: like most other technology, they actually
| work (or fail to work) according to laws which are known, and do
| so in comprehensible (in principle) ways. Enough with the
| "magical", already.
| dm319 wrote:
| I have similar feelings for some things. My old Amiga. My early
| experience with Linux. Maybe even my time on OS9 and selecting
| the background wallpaper seen in the article.
|
| It must be a combination of the delight when I used them, a
| quirkiness which means I don't experience it anymore, and
| nostalgia. But I think I know what Lunduke means when he says
| magical, so I'm ok with that.
| ffhhj wrote:
| > He never bothered to explain why he thinks so. Apple fans are
| a little too fond of describing their favored products using
| this word.
|
| Learned programming in an Apple IIc, and I still remember how
| much I liked the Apple's and Macintosh computers. Anyway my
| second computer was an IBM PC, because I wanted to keep up to
| date with tech. Never liked the colorful clamshell, the lamp,
| or the fish bowl. But looking at the pixaleted rainbow apple
| logo in the UI brings the magic back.
|
| How fast we moved from a world of computers are our friends, to
| computers want to spy and take money from us.
| sneak wrote:
| https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/je_ne_sais_quoi
|
| It's not simply a placeholder, but refers to a very specific
| Apple-ness which most are insufficiently articulate to describe
| in detail.
|
| You know it when you see it, even in non-Apple products (like
| DJI, for example).
| adwww wrote:
| Telsa, Fuji cameras, Italian bikes...
| prvc wrote:
| In that case, let them say "je ne sais quoi", which has a
| different meaning than "magical". Don't discount the effect
| of priming (how many times has Apple used "magic" in their
| product names or ad copy?). If they're trying to make a
| reference to the hoary old nerd quip, "Any sufficiently
| advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", then
| I'd counter that it doesn't reach that threshold for me.
| inspector-g wrote:
| I promise I'm not trying to be terse, but... I think the entire
| article was his explanation for why he felt them to be magical?
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(page generated 2021-09-06 23:00 UTC)