Re: Spillage on keyboard - broken beyond repair?

2013-01-20 Thread Mac User #330250
Thank you all for your great suggestions and ideas!

I’ve reactivated my black Apple Pro Keyboard (M7803), which is the best 
alternative at the moment. I liked it very much before I bought the Aluminium 
version.

I also have a couple of white Apple Keyboards (A1048) but I hate them because 
keys have to be pressed very direct at an 90 degrees angle, otherwise the keys 
have a high resistance and more force is required to actually press them down. 
This is something I hate very much, as it influences the flow of typing. And 
yes, I confess: sometimes I hit a key on the edge, so this happens regularly!

I bought the Alu keyboard because I needed the black Pro keyboard for my other 
Macs very often. Now this is no longer the case as I don’t have that much time 
for that anymore.

Still, I will be buying a new one… when the time is right.
I was in an electronics store the other day and looked at the various models. 
Even though Microsoft keyboards look quite okay, I have to avoid them due to a 
decision I made a long long time ago: never ever will I buy a hardware product 
made by that software company! So, I’m left with any of those no-name vendors 
or 
Logitech or Cherry.

I’ll propably go for a Cherry keyboard. It will be my first. I’ve always had 
Logitech or OEMs… or Apple (which came with the Macs, so they’re sort of OEM…)

It’s so very hard to satisfy me: I really liked my keyboard before I spilled 
juice on it… Everytime I’ve found one that I like, I’d soon miss the eject 
key… of find, that I’d really miss the built-in USB hub…
Or the other way around: keyboards that have a USB hub and an eject key are 
nowhere near the kind of keyboard I look for…

As for the Aluminium: I’ll wash it and wash it and give it a real good time 
off… And if it still doesn’t work in a couple of months I’ll put it in the 
trash. It really is a question of how much time and efforts I’m willing to 
invest, just to propably find that the keyboard is broken anyway (or that a 
vital key still won’t work)… And I’m not really happy spending my time and 
money on it that much!


So, I’m very thankfull for your help on that matter!
You don’t need to read the whole message, just so much that you understand I 
merely wanted to express my gratitude for all your helpful thoughts!
THANKS.

Cheers,
Andreas  aka  Mac User #330250

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Re: G5 Graphics Card

2013-01-20 Thread Mac User #330250
--  Original message  --
Subject: G5 Graphics Card
Date:Thursday, 17. January 2013
From:Da'Birdman sa...@defalcos.com
To:  g3-5-list@googlegroups.com
 Do any of you know if a NVidia GeForce 7300GT video from a MacIntel Mac Pro
 tower will work in a G5 Quad Core tower (or, for that matter, any other
 non-MacIntel tower)?  Thanking you in advance.

I know you’ve already gotten your answer, but this seems noteably to me:

Intel Mac graphics cards have an EFI based firmware on them, so they are 
compatible with the EFI based Intel macs. Otherwise the graphics card is 
identical to a Power Mac or PC version.

Power Mac graphics cards have an Open Firmware based firmware on them.

And PC graphics cards have BIOS based firmware on them, or newer cards maybe 
also have an EFI-aware firmware as well. But it’s propably different from the 
one used in Intel Macs.


IF you can find an Open Firmware based firmware for that specific card, you 
can try to flash it. If none is available there is now way. And flashing is 
not so very trivial either.


One thing is interesting though: I’ve once used a PC version of a graphics 
card in a Power Mac computer. Due to the BIOS based firmware, the computers’ 
Open Firmware was unable to initialize it and the screen stayed dark. I booted 
into Linux (because that is what I used back then) and the Linux kernel 
detected this PCIe graphics card and loaded the appropriate driver and with it 
the card was initialized. So, once the operating system took over, it all 
worked even though it was the wrong firmware on the graphics card.

On Mac OS X the graphics driver will not work though, because it has built-in 
logic to check for certain Open Firmware variables (or EFI variables, if 
you’re on Intel). In other words, it relies on Open Firmware (or EFI on Intel) 
to initialize the card and takes over from there. Mac OS X will therefor never 
work with an identical graphics card that has the wrong firmware on it.


Just to make things more complicated, I guess…

Cheers,
Andreas  aka  Mac User #330250

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Re: Twitter on a G4 or a G5

2013-01-20 Thread Dan

At 3:11 PM -0800 01/19/2013, smac0031 wrote:

It unfortunately has come to this. It looks like I need to join Twitter.


LOL.  ug.  I know the feeling.  But I've actually grown to like 
Twitter sortof, via Adium, although I'm mostly just a lurker.


DA G4 with 10.411 or a G5 10.5 whatever. What do i need to run 
Twitter by spending the least amount of money possible.


Twitter primarily uses a web interface and JavaScript - just about 
any browser will do.  Don't be upset at its abysmally slow speed, 
it's usually slow, regardless of how fast your computer and network 
connection be.


I donno of any direct clients for it, that run on Tiger.  But for 
Leopard... Check out Adium.  It's a wonderful free open-source 
multi-IM client.  Version 1.4 added Twitter support.  Every Mac gotta 
have The Duck.


http://trac.adium.im/wiki/PreviousReleases

HTH,
- Dan.
--
- Psychoceramic Emeritus; South Jersey, USA, Earth.

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Re: Spillage on keyboard - broken beyond repair?

2013-01-20 Thread kex

I no longer panic when I or a family member spill on a keyboard.
Best action to take is to immediately unplug the keyboard and
flush with water, preferably pure water or distilled water and
blow the water out with compressed air.

Unless the keyboard is brand new, there will be dirt inside from
use. This dirt could retain water long enough to cause the water
to conduct electricity and possibly short out the keyboard,
so . . .

Here's my regimen for rescuing a favorite keyboard:

0. Immediately disconnect from computer and
1 Pour a modest amount of liquid dish soap over the keyboard.
2. Flush with (preferably) pure water until it drains clear and
free of soap bubbles.
3. Use cold, oil-free compressed air (less than 25 PSI) to blow
out the water that is inside.
4. Slowly disassemble the keyboard as completely as possible without
breaking anything: beware of tiny flying springs that may launch.
Lay the parts out on paper towels in an organized fashion
that will enable reassembly.
5. Make sure that the parts are all dry and clean. If there were any
lubricants, replace with the same or similar type. Be conservative
in reapplying any lubrication.
6. Leave parts in a warm, dry place for at least a day.
7. Reassemble and test.

When you can buy used keyboards for a few dollars this strategy may
not be a good use of your time and effort. I've bought keyboards at
thrift stores for cheap and I am still using the nice ones; others are
stored for backup.

To repeat in shorthand:

0. Immediately disconnect.
1. Add liquid soap.
2. Flush spill and soap away.
3. Blow out with compressed air.
4. Carefully disassemble and lay parts out.
5. Clean and air dry all parts; reapply lubricants if necessary.
6. Reassemble and test.

Don't use detergents or cleaners on the parts.
Take photos during disassembly if you are not sure you can
remember where things go.

Most keyboards have flexible plastic membranes to protect
the electronics and conductors, but some have one for
every key. Keep track of every part. Most keyboards do not use
lubricants because lubricants collect dirt.

Similar techniques can be used to clean spills from inside
desktops and laptops, but laptops are best left to professionals
since construction varies widely, even within the same laptop.
Just remember to disconnect power as soon as possible after
a spill.

On 01/20/2013 05:40 AM, Mac User #330250 wrote:

Thank you all for your great suggestions and ideas!

I’ve reactivated my black Apple Pro Keyboard (M7803), which is the best
alternative at the moment. I liked it very much before I bought the Aluminium
version.

I also have a couple of white Apple Keyboards (A1048) but I hate them because
keys have to be pressed very direct at an 90 degrees angle, otherwise the keys
have a high resistance and more force is required to actually press them down.
This is something I hate very much, as it influences the flow of typing. And
yes, I confess: sometimes I hit a key on the edge, so this happens regularly!

I bought the Alu keyboard because I needed the black Pro keyboard for my other
Macs very often. Now this is no longer the case as I don’t have that much time
for that anymore.

Still, I will be buying a new one… when the time is right.
I was in an electronics store the other day and looked at the various models.
Even though Microsoft keyboards look quite okay, I have to avoid them due to a
decision I made a long long time ago: never ever will I buy a hardware product
made by that software company! So, I’m left with any of those no-name vendors or
Logitech or Cherry.

I’ll propably go for a Cherry keyboard. It will be my first. I’ve always had
Logitech or OEMs… or Apple (which came with the Macs, so they’re sort of OEM…)

It’s so very hard to satisfy me: I really liked my keyboard before I spilled
juice on it… Everytime I’ve found one that I like, I’d soon miss the eject
key… of find, that I’d really miss the built-in USB hub…
Or the other way around: keyboards that have a USB hub and an eject key are
nowhere near the kind of keyboard I look for…

As for the Aluminium: I’ll wash it and wash it and give it a real good time
off… And if it still doesn’t work in a couple of months I’ll put it in the
trash. It really is a question of how much time and efforts I’m willing to
invest, just to propably find that the keyboard is broken anyway (or that a
vital key still won’t work)… And I’m not really happy spending my time and
money on it that much!


So, I’m very thankfull for your help on that matter!
You don’t need to read the whole message, just so much that you understand I
merely wanted to express my gratitude for all your helpful thoughts!
THANKS.

Cheers,
Andreas  aka  Mac User #330250



--
You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for 
those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs.
The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette 
guide is at