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Powerlogix problems: overheating and kernel panics
If you have upgraded your Mac using my semi-cracky How-To you may have also upgraded your Powerlogix CPU Director software as time went along. Recently I updated to CPU Director 2.3b2, and when the drop down menu in System Preferences > Energy Saver > Options > Processor Performance disappeared, I was worried. My CPU was no longer dynamically changing speed up and down from 1GHz to 2GHz and was staying solidly at 2GHz.I eventually did what my father always told me: "When all else fails, dig the manual out of the garbage." I went to the Trash and grabbed the READ ME FIRST.rtf.The readme for the newest CPU Director includes this pithy statement:Note: DFS and Power Management functions require Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later, and require a PowerLogix 7447A CPU card. If you purchased a PowerLogix 7447A CPU card prior to July 27, 2005 your card requires CPU Compatibility Updater, which will be sent to existing customers. (If you have a PowerLogix 7447A CPU card and the thermal pane does not appear in CPU Director, or Processor Performance does not appear in the Energy Saver System Preference, you need the CPU Director Compatibility Updater.)I dutifully emailed Powerlogix support to ask for the CPU Director Compatibility Updater. They sent me the program, I ran it, and System Preferences > Energy Saver > Options > Processor Performance reappeared. The problem is, since this upgrade my machine systematically overheats when I tell it to choose Processor Performance: Automatic. My G4 has not had problems this bad (and subsequently caused kernel panics) since the update to 10.4.3. The ultimate solution to this problem would be dynamic CPU switching but also failsafe temperature monitoring that allowed CPU Director to force the computer down to the lower speed if overheating becomes imminent. Apparently this exists for some of the Powerlogix CPUs but it sure doesn't show up in my CPU Director software (I have the Powerlogix 7447A).There has been no word yet from Powerlogix about this issue and I'm going to have to step back in CPU Director versions. Hopefully the CPU Director Compatibility Updater won't make my setup incompatible with previous version of CPU Director. If anyone else has had similar issues and/or has a solution, feel free to post in the comments.
Rig of the Day: Me and the cluster
It's just another day at the office. That is, an office that houses two racks bulging with Xserves. Here you'll find Flickr user el frijole standing next to 42 Xserve G4s, 5 G5 Xserve cluster nodes and 1 Xserve G5. We'd call that a pretty decent rig, wouldn't you?"Me and The Cluster" posted by el frijoleIf you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. We'll select an image every day to highlight.
G4 and G5 optimized Firefox 1.5.01 released
Beaknik Pad has released his G4 and G5 optimized recompiles of Firefox 1.5.01 for your pleasure. This puts the release in line with the official Firefox release.Remember, these are unofficial releases of Firefox so they can't use the icon and the name (so it is called 'DeerPark'), however, the application is exactly the same with the exception that it is optimized for either the G4 or G5.
Crazy Eastern European G4 Car Mod
If there was ever a doubt about Eastern European Mac fans, let that shred of uncertainty be squelched. Today on MacMod one of the most amazing car installs of a Mac I have ever witnessed was posted after being translated [from Czech?].Jiri Jirout first created a custom housing with waterproof-yet-breathable Gore-Tex ports for his 450MHz G4 (codename Sawtooth). The Sawtooth model is near and dear to my heart, I am writing this post off my 400MHz Sawtooth which was upgraded to 2GHz with a Powerlogix CPU. Next, he modded his Eastern European Tatra brand car to include: An ethernet network Wifi for hotspots GPRS to internet for the car in cases where one is too far from Wifi GPS with a Garmin module and Route 66 mapping software Custom front end software written in Cocoa for car data Custom movie player software Scripts for iTunes so that back seat passengers can listen to different music than in the front And much more... The fact that the original article from which this is translated dates from the winter of 2003/2004 makes this mod all the more amazing. Huge props to Jiri Jirout and his crew of microcontroller designing and software writing friends.
Optimized Firefox with OS X form goodness
Sure, there are G4 and G5 optimized versions of Firefox 1.5, but neither can compare to the new OS X-style infused version. The BeatnikPad Journal picked up on the efforts of a Mozilla forum user by the name of Pu7o to build a version of Firefox 1.5 that includes the far more attractive form widgets (no, not Dashboard widgets) of OS X. This brings Firefox one (tiny) step closer to at least looking like a true OS X app, as the BeatnikPad notes that these kinds of changes might not come straight from Mozilla until Firefox 3.0. As of this writing, only a G4 build is unofficially available from the BeatnikPad post; a G5 build is coming soon.Another bonus from this modified and optimized version for all you OS X-theme users out there is that this version of Firefox actually makes the browser use the form widgets default to OS X. This should allow your theming app of choice, such as Unsanity's Shapeshifter, to finally apply its style to Firefox.
G4TV vs MTV for gamers
Here at Joystiq, we've already talked about G4TV's attempts to catch gamers' attention and MTV's tentative forays into games television. GamerGod have gone one further and put the two head-to-head, with the resulting conclusion leaving MTV as the winner. Music television beating out a games channel? It seems so.One of MTV's strong points, identified by GamerGod, is the small amount of scheduled programming dedicated to games as opposed to a full-time 24/7 gaming channel. While it's true that gamers usually prefer to game rather than watch TV, it seems that this signifies the death of dedicated gaming channels as a concept, something that channels like G4TV would rather not hear.[via /.]
Engadget upgrades a Sawtooth G4
The folks at Engadget have posted an exhaustively thorough article on an upgrade they performed on a 400mhz Powermac G4. Specifically, they replaced the stock processor with a PowerLogix PowerForce47 G4/2.0GHz, with 512K 1:1 L2 Cache per processor. In the process, they came up with more comprehensive set of instructions than the rather anemic list that shipped with the PowerLogix processor. After a short trip into the wonderful world of firmware, they've got their Sawtooth purring along happily with its new 2.0GHz heart intact. Check it out.
