Re: TiBook 667 ID and wifi reception

2004-10-19 Thread John 
Dan K wrote:
I was intrigued by this thought, so went down to my basement shop and 
looked over a pair of TiBooks, a 500 mHz and a 1 gHz (just shells 
actually) to see if there was any discernable difference between the 
antenna arraigements.

Honestly, I can't see anything that looks to be significant. While the 
antenna boards are not the same parts, they have the same circuitry (such 
as it is!) and location, the later boards being slightly smaller than the 
early ones. Also, there appears to be the same absence of anti-EMI 
coating under the plastic edge where they reside.

I think the main problem with TiBook reception is the antennae location, 
down low at the sides of the case where it's easy to block them with your 
hands or other radiation blockers. I have big hands that tend to flop 
over the side edges, so maybe reception problems are worse for those 
folks with larger hands, or those who rest their hands over those edges 
at any rate? OTOH . . .

Interestingly, just last night I rebuilt _another_ 667 DVI and it seems 
to have much better reception than did my old 667 DVI on its built-in 
antennae. Maybe I'm just dreaming . . . perhaps I better do some 
scientific tests to see what's up!
So I've narrowed my choices down to either a DVI TiBook, or G4 iBook 
(14"). Since my home is a smaller one level wood framed house, the 
furtherest I ever get away from my Sawtooth basestation isn't really 
more than 20', and I rarely use Airport outside the house. If I take it 
down to my shop, I have an iPAQ connection point that I don't get more 
than 30' from with no walls to interfere, so maybe Airport reception on 
the tiBook wouldn't be a real big deal. I have an external wifi card too 
if needed. And TiBooks have been around long enough to know what typical 
problems there are with them. OTOH, the G4 iBooks are still fairly new, 
so the jury is still out on those, but even used would likely still have 
a warranty and be eligable for Applecare. Tried and true versus new and 
unknown. Pretty tough call!
Opinions? Recommendations? First hand experience with the G4 iBook?
Also, other than eBay or the swap list, where would be a good place to 
look for a good used DVI TiBook?

JR
--
G-Books is sponsored by  and...
Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com  | Refurbished Drives |
-- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks  |  & CDRWs on Sale!  |
 Support Low End Mac 
G-Books list info:  
 --> AOL users, remove "mailto:";
Send list messages to:  
To unsubscribe, email:  
For digest mode, email: 
Subscription questions: 
Archive: 

---
The Think Different Store
http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com
---

Re: TiBook 667 ID and wifi reception

2004-10-19 Thread Dan K 
gianfranco sciacca wrote:
>> I had asked a similar question some time ago and what I gathered from 
>> the replies was that the airport issue was fixed with the 867/1000 
>> Titanium iteration. Maybe also the 800 was mentioned but I think the 
>> problem still existed in the 667.

MTH <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> replied:
>The airport range may have been improved in later models, but it is 
>still crap in all ti-books. You can get acceptable reception by getting 
>a third party wifi card with an external antennae.

I was intrigued by this thought, so went down to my basement shop and 
looked over a pair of TiBooks, a 500 mHz and a 1 gHz (just shells 
actually) to see if there was any discernable difference between the 
antenna arraigements.

Honestly, I can't see anything that looks to be significant. While the 
antenna boards are not the same parts, they have the same circuitry (such 
as it is!) and location, the later boards being slightly smaller than the 
early ones. Also, there appears to be the same absence of anti-EMI 
coating under the plastic edge where they reside.

I think the main problem with TiBook reception is the antennae location, 
down low at the sides of the case where it's easy to block them with your 
hands or other radiation blockers. I have big hands that tend to flop 
over the side edges, so maybe reception problems are worse for those 
folks with larger hands, or those who rest their hands over those edges 
at any rate? OTOH . . .

Interestingly, just last night I rebuilt _another_ 667 DVI and it seems 
to have much better reception than did my old 667 DVI on its built-in 
antennae. Maybe I'm just dreaming . . . perhaps I better do some 
scientific tests to see what's up!

dan k

.
http://macdan.n3.net/
carracho://dankephoto.dhs.org:9700
hotline://dankephoto.dhs.org:9500
.


-- 
G-Books is sponsored by  and...

 Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com  | Refurbished Drives |
 -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks  |  & CDRWs on Sale!  |

  Support Low End Mac 

G-Books list info:  
  --> AOL users, remove "mailto:";
Send list messages to:  
To unsubscribe, email:  
For digest mode, email: 
Subscription questions: 
Archive: 



---
>The Think Different Store
http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com
---

Re: TiBook 667 ID and wifi reception

2004-10-19 Thread Frank P. Eigler 
On Tue, 19 Oct 2004, gianfranco sciacca wrote:

> >> Just to add my experience... I have both an 800MHz 15" Tibook and a
> >> 12" 867MHz AlBook using AP and AP Extreme respectively. I live in a
> >> duplex apt with 6" concrete floors and cinder block walls. I can take
> >> these books to any part of the house, upstairs or downstairs and I
> >> have all the arcs showing full reception. I'm using a Belkin wireless
> >> router as the transmitter and everything has been functioning without
> >> drops or loss.
> >
> > So IOW, it may not be a problem at all? I seem to recall reading
> > something about these along time ago, in reference to something inside
> > that gets dislocated that could cause poor reception too. Maybe the
> > antenna? As I remember, you could put whatever it was back into the
> > proper place and reception would be much improved. I think I might do
> > some googling on this..
>
> I had asked a similar question some time ago and what I gathered from
> the replies was that the airport issue was fixed with the 867/1000
> Titanium iteration. Maybe also the 800 was mentioned but I think the
> problem still existed in the 667.

I have the 867 myself and, though I have only my desktop G4 w/Airport for
comparison, I've not experienced any problems or signal weakness. Albeit
I'm not any where near pushing the 300 ft (?) limit. I'm in a 2nd floor
apartment and have been able to get  my signal (2-3 arcs) both in front
and out back. Shold I have a problem I'll likely resort to some of the
"shifting" or tapping" (?) tactics discussed elsewhere.

BTW - I too use a Belkin wireless router.

-- 
Non Illegitimi Carborundum

-- 
G-Books is sponsored by  and...

 Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com  | Refurbished Drives |
 -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks  |  & CDRWs on Sale!  |

  Support Low End Mac 

G-Books list info:  
  --> AOL users, remove "mailto:";
Send list messages to:  
To unsubscribe, email:  
For digest mode, email: 
Subscription questions: 
Archive: 



---
>The Think Different Store
http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com
---

Re: TiBook 667 ID and wifi reception

2004-10-19 Thread MTH 
On Oct 18, 2004, at 8:11 PM, gianfranco sciacca wrote:
Just to add my experience... I have both an 800MHz 15" Tibook and a 
12" 867MHz AlBook using AP and AP Extreme respectively. I live in a 
duplex apt with 6" concrete floors and cinder block walls. I can 
take these books to any part of the house, upstairs or downstairs 
and I have all the arcs showing full reception. I'm using a Belkin 
wireless router as the transmitter and everything has been 
functioning without drops or loss.
So IOW, it may not be a problem at all? I seem to recall reading 
something about these along time ago, in reference to something 
inside that gets dislocated that could cause poor reception too. 
Maybe the antenna? As I remember, you could put whatever it was back 
into the proper place and reception would be much improved. I think I 
might do some googling on this..
I had asked a similar question some time ago and what I gathered from 
the replies was that the airport issue was fixed with the 867/1000 
Titanium iteration. Maybe also the 800 was mentioned but I think the 
problem still existed in the 667.

cheers, gianfranco
The airport range may have been improved in later models, but it is 
still crap in all ti-books. You can get acceptable reception by getting 
a third party wifi card with an external antennae.


700MHz iBook G3
640MB Ram
OS 10.3.5
"Laugha while you can monkeyboy."
  Dr. Lizardo(Bukaroo Bonzai)

--
G-Books is sponsored by  and...
Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com  | Refurbished Drives |
-- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks  |  & CDRWs on Sale!  |
 Support Low End Mac 
G-Books list info:  
 --> AOL users, remove "mailto:";
Send list messages to:  
To unsubscribe, email:  
For digest mode, email: 
Subscription questions: 
Archive: 

---
The Think Different Store
http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com
---

Re: TiBook 667 ID and wifi reception

2004-10-18 Thread gianfranco sciacca 
Just to add my experience... I have both an 800MHz 15" Tibook and a 
12" 867MHz AlBook using AP and AP Extreme respectively. I live in a 
duplex apt with 6" concrete floors and cinder block walls. I can take 
these books to any part of the house, upstairs or downstairs and I 
have all the arcs showing full reception. I'm using a Belkin wireless 
router as the transmitter and everything has been functioning without 
drops or loss.
So IOW, it may not be a problem at all? I seem to recall reading 
something about these along time ago, in reference to something inside 
that gets dislocated that could cause poor reception too. Maybe the 
antenna? As I remember, you could put whatever it was back into the 
proper place and reception would be much improved. I think I might do 
some googling on this..
I had asked a similar question some time ago and what I gathered from 
the replies was that the airport issue was fixed with the 867/1000 
Titanium iteration. Maybe also the 800 was mentioned but I think the 
problem still existed in the 667.

cheers, gianfranco
--
G-Books is sponsored by  and...
Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com  | Refurbished Drives |
-- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks  |  & CDRWs on Sale!  |
 Support Low End Mac 
G-Books list info:  
 --> AOL users, remove "mailto:";
Send list messages to:  
To unsubscribe, email:  
For digest mode, email: 
Subscription questions: 
Archive: 

---
The Think Different Store
http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com
---

Re: TiBook 667 ID and wifi reception

2004-10-18 Thread John 
dan_A wrote:

Just to add my experience... I have both an 800MHz 15" Tibook and a 12" 
867MHz AlBook using AP and AP Extreme respectively. I live in a duplex 
apt with 6" concrete floors and cinder block walls. I can take these 
books to any part of the house, upstairs or downstairs and I have all 
the arcs showing full reception. I'm using a Belkin wireless router as 
the transmitter and everything has been functioning without drops or loss.

So IOW, it may not be a problem at all? I seem to recall reading 
something about these along time ago, in reference to something inside 
that gets dislocated that could cause poor reception too. Maybe the 
antenna? As I remember, you could put whatever it was back into the 
proper place and reception would be much improved. I think I might do 
some googling on this..

JR
--
G-Books is sponsored by  and...
Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com  | Refurbished Drives |
-- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks  |  & CDRWs on Sale!  |
 Support Low End Mac 
G-Books list info:  
 --> AOL users, remove "mailto:";
Send list messages to:  
To unsubscribe, email:  
For digest mode, email: 
Subscription questions: 
Archive: 

---
The Think Different Store
http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com
---

Re: TiBook 667 ID and wifi reception

2004-10-18 Thread dan_A 
On Oct 18, 2004, at 11:11 AM, Laurent Daudelin wrote:
Well, I can't really comment on Titanium PowerBooks since I've never 
used
one, but it's been widely mentioned that the Titanium alloy they used 
was
kind of blocking the WiFi reception.

Now, it seems that Aluminum doesn't have this problem. I have been 
using a
17" for about a month now and I find the WiFi reception as good as the 
one I
was getting on my previous PowerBook G3.

-Laurent.

Just to add my experience... I have both an 800MHz 15" Tibook and a 12" 
867MHz AlBook using AP and AP Extreme respectively. I live in a duplex 
apt with 6" concrete floors and cinder block walls. I can take these 
books to any part of the house, upstairs or downstairs and I have all 
the arcs showing full reception. I'm using a Belkin wireless router as 
the transmitter and everything has been functioning without drops or 
loss.

dan_A
--
G-Books is sponsored by  and...
Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com  | Refurbished Drives |
-- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks  |  & CDRWs on Sale!  |
 Support Low End Mac 
G-Books list info:  
 --> AOL users, remove "mailto:";
Send list messages to:  
To unsubscribe, email:  
For digest mode, email: 
Subscription questions: 
Archive: 

---
The Think Different Store
http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com
---

Re: TiBook 667 ID and wifi reception

2004-10-18 Thread Laurent Daudelin 
On 18/10/04 10:32, "Marcin Wichary" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>> As others have mentioned, the wifi reception is poor in all the TiBook
>> models.
> 
> Why is it so? Are AlBooks substantially better, better, or similar in
> this regard?

Well, I can't really comment on Titanium PowerBooks since I've never used
one, but it's been widely mentioned that the Titanium alloy they used was
kind of blocking the WiFi reception.

Now, it seems that Aluminum doesn't have this problem. I have been using a
17" for about a month now and I find the WiFi reception as good as the one I
was getting on my previous PowerBook G3.

-Laurent.
-- 

Laurent Daudelin Developer, Multifamily, ESO, Fannie Mae
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Washington, DC, USA
 Usual disclaimers apply ***


-- 
G-Books is sponsored by  and...

 Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com  | Refurbished Drives |
 -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks  |  & CDRWs on Sale!  |

  Support Low End Mac 

G-Books list info:  
  --> AOL users, remove "mailto:";
Send list messages to:  
To unsubscribe, email:  
For digest mode, email: 
Subscription questions: 
Archive: 



---
>The Think Different Store
http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com
---

Re: TiBook 667 ID and wifi reception

2004-10-18 Thread Roger Shufflebottom 
At 4:32 pm +0200 18/10/04, Marcin Wichary wrote:
Why is it so? Are AlBooks substantially better, better, or similar 
in this regard?
I have heard so - and I hope so as I'm replacing my TiBook with a new 
a aluminium model next week! Wireless reception on my TiBook varies 
considerably, depending on position or even rotation. This has been 
discussed many times here.
--
With best wishes,

Roger Shufflebottom
--
G-Books is sponsored by  and...
Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com  | Refurbished Drives |
-- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks  |  & CDRWs on Sale!  |
 Support Low End Mac 
G-Books list info:  
 --> AOL users, remove "mailto:";
Send list messages to:  
To unsubscribe, email:  
For digest mode, email: 
Subscription questions: 
Archive: 

---
The Think Different Store
http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com
---

Re: TiBook 667 ID and wifi reception

2004-10-18 Thread Marcin Wichary 
As others have mentioned, the wifi reception is poor in all the TiBook
models.
Why is it so? Are AlBooks substantially better, better, or similar in 
this regard?

 Marcin Wichary
e:\> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
w:\> www.aci.com.pl/mwichary >> Attached
w:\> www.aci.com.pl/mwichary/GUIdebook >> Graphical User Interface 
gallery
w:\> www.10yearsofbeingboring.com >> 10 years of Being Boring
w:\> www.usability.pl >> Usability.pl

--
G-Books is sponsored by  and...
Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com  | Refurbished Drives |
-- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks  |  & CDRWs on Sale!  |
 Support Low End Mac 
G-Books list info:  
 --> AOL users, remove "mailto:";
Send list messages to:  
To unsubscribe, email:  
For digest mode, email: 
Subscription questions: 
Archive: 

---
The Think Different Store
http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com
---

TiBook 667 ID and wifi reception

2004-10-18 Thread Dan K 
was "Re: iBook going back to Apple"

John <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>I have the chance to buy a 15" G4/667 Powerbook with Airport, DVD, 20Gb 
>drive, and 512mb RAM, but the seller doesn't seem to be familier with 
>Powerbooks and can't tell me what particular model this is, and I have 
>to admit that I'm not all that familier with them either. He does 
>mention some slight paint chipping around the optical drive slot on the 
>front, but it's otherwise in great condition, and the screen has no bad 
>pixels. Would it be new enough to be an Albook, or would it be a Ti? I 
>can get it for about $900. Does that sound like a reasonable price?

With a 20GB drive, it's probably a second generation TiBook (Onyx 550/667 
non-DVI):


Easy way to tell pre-DVI 667 from DVI 667 is to open the back flap and 
check for the video out type connector, VGA or DVI. Also, the pre-DVI has 
an infrared port on the back, DVI does not. The DVI model is worth more, 
its 133mHz bus, L3 cache and faster video chip add considerable speed.

US$800-900 is about the going rate for a pre-DVI 667 TiBook, per the 
market-maker eBay. The AP card is itself worth ~$100 these days so your 
deal is decent though not super-cheap. But as with all items of this 
nature, the vendor's warranty, support and reputation are the most 
important things.

As others have mentioned, the wifi reception is poor in all the TiBook 
models. I got so fed up with the useless wifi in my 667 DVI I added a 
pair of antennae swiped from a clamshell iBook. Looks pretty crappy (and 
the antennae stick out rather inconveniently) but the reception is 
outstanding!:


dan k

.
http://macdan.n3.net/
carracho://dankephoto.dhs.org:9700
hotline://dankephoto.dhs.org:9500
.


-- 
G-Books is sponsored by  and...

 Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com  | Refurbished Drives |
 -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks  |  & CDRWs on Sale!  |

  Support Low End Mac 

G-Books list info:  
  --> AOL users, remove "mailto:";
Send list messages to:  
To unsubscribe, email:  
For digest mode, email: 
Subscription questions: 
Archive: 



---
>The Think Different Store
http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com
---