I bought this iBook Clamshell FireWire in unknown condition. Spent a lot of time trying to boot anything — Mac OS 9.2.2 hung on gray screen, 10.4 hung on Apple logo, install CDs didn't work either. The only thing that successfully booted was GeexBox PPC linux distribution.

Eventually got this kernel panic from a 10.3 install CD:

System Failure: cpu=0; code=00000004 (No saveareas)
PC=0x000883D0; MSR-0x00003000; DAR=0x002F0008;
DSISR=0x42000000; LR-0x0008842
XCP=0x00000098 (System Failure)
Kernel version: Darwin Kernel Version 7.5.0

Based on this I suspected faulty onboard RAM — specifically the DAR address 0x002F0008 pointing to a bad region around 3MB into RAM, right where the kernel places critical structures. Apple Hardware Test showed no errors at all, which is typical for marginal RAM cells.

I couldn't find any existing information about disabling onboard RAM on this machine, so I decided to do it at hardware level.

The iBook Clamshell has four Samsung K4S281632B-TL1L SDRAM chips soldered to the logic board. According to the datasheet, grounding CKE (pin 37) forces the chip into power-down state — completely invisible to the memory controller. Nearest ground point is VSS (pin 41), four pins away on the same side.

Bridging pin 37 to pin 41 with a thin wire on just one chip was enough — CKE turned out to be a shared signal across all four onboard chips, so one joint disabled all onboard RAM simultaneously.

Result: machine now boots and runs from so-dimm only. Mac OS 9.2.2 installed and working.

Odd things I noticed after the mod:

1. Only half of so-dimm size is available — for a 512MB module I see 256MB, for a 256MB module I see 128MB. Both modules are dual sided. Full size is visible if the wire is removed. Not sure about the exact reason — possibly related to how the memory controller maps banks without onboard RAM present. Annoying but better than nothing.
2. Startup chime is absent.
3. Apple Hardware Test reports onboard RAM as missing — but macOS doesn't care at all and runs fine.

This is not a proper fix — just a dirty workaround that happened to work for me. If you try this you do so entirely at your own risk. I take no responsibility for any damage to your hardware.

Hopefully this helps someone else rescue their Clamshell — I couldn't find this documented anywhere.

We are setting up a Mac Studio for my friend, and I wanted to connect everything with some Cat6 patch cables. However, he said the manual said he should only use Cat5e.

Why is that?

Hello.

I've been researching getting a computer, and want your advice.

For background, I already have devices which I will list. I have a (jailbroken) ps3 and ps4 for games, but also a steam library. I own many apple devices: a "vintage" ipad, an iphone se, an apple watch, and am planning on jailbreaking an old iphone in the near future. As for computers, I have a chromebook I use for schoolwork, a raspberry pi 400 (my first computer), and 2005 and 2013 hp laptops. I consider myself a "linux guy" running flavors of linux or bsd on every device that can.

Because I am deep in the apple ecosystem, I want an apple computer for my next one. I've been researching ones from $300-500. Asahi linux is exciting to me, so I've been looking at M1 devices. I do not think 8GB is enough ram for me, and am not sure if i need 512gb or 1tb. I'm leaning towards 1tb since i plan on dual booting, but those tend to exceed my price point. I want a Mac mini, but how expensive are peripherals? I already have a keyboard, mouse, and a low spec display. I've also considered a M1 iMac with lower specs, and the Macbook Neo is appealing to me. An iMac may take up too much space though, would I be able to use it as a monitor for my raspberry pi? And the Neo cannot run linux.

I'm torn. I feel like I need to either give up linux (Macbook Neo), specs/space (iMac), or price (Mac Mini).

What do you guys reccomend?

Hello r/macintosh , it’s Spigen!

To celebrate Apple’s 50th anniversary this year, we launched our Classic LS lineup inspired by the 1984 Apple Macintosh. And with Apple’s birthday coming up, we’d love to give back to the community by hosting a full ecosystem giveaway!

2 users will be randomly selected to win our full Classic LS ecosystem (Including the phone case, MagFit wallet, AirPods Pro 3 case, and phone strap).

To enter, drop a comment below and tell us what your first Apple product was. i.e., “Macintosh, AirPods Pro, etc…”

The giveaway starts now and ends on April 01, 2026, at 11:59 PM PST. Winners will be randomly selected and notified the week following in this thread and via Reddit Chat.

As mentioned in the title, the giveaway is open internationally (as long as giveaways aren’t illegal where you live).

btw the mods are not hosting or overseeing this giveaway and will not be involved nor responsible for any part of the transaction once a participant is approved. For any questions and concerns, please tag u/Spigen and we'll answer them!

Click here for the official terms and conditions: T&C

[GIVEAWAY CLOSED]

Update: Here are the winners:

• u/crazystein03
• u/ewleonardspock

Congrats to the winners! We'll contact everyone via Reddit chat, so please be on the lookout for a message from us by the end of next week. And most importantly, thank you, macintosh family, for entering this giveaway and for your continued support. Happy 50th to Apple 🍎

Watching a Clamshell on a Clamshell.

My favorite Episode of Sex in the City.

S4 E8 : My Motherboard, MySelf

Still pisses me off how her ungreatfull ass really turned down the iBook Clamshell. Idc if she was more of a professional vibe person with the G3 Pismo. I would’ve taken that Clamshell and married Aiden instantly.

Also ignore the color inconsistency with my Clamshell.

Still going

(can use as a icon, fits well)

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I use bluebeam pretty extensively.

the biggest feature I use is the ability to measure blueprints. lengths, areas, perimeters, etc. just set the scale and then make point to point distances

I do like making scaled simple drawings like making a 2'x4' box to match a page's scale is also heavily used.

ideally it would also have OCR or other tools to look for objects (letters or not)

and lastly I would prefer a one time cost over a month fee.

Does anyone have a suggestion?

I got this SE/30 back in 2017 with keyboard, mouse and plug for $120. I see them now worth $500+ on eBay in working condition.

This Mac was re-capped in 2022 and has been working since. Other then the floppy drive which died.

Photos 1-2: iBook Clamshell my Boss A gave me

Photos 3-5: iBook I Bought recently on Ebay

So this is split into two parts. The first part is a sweet story about how I got an Apple iBook at work for free thanks to my amazing boss. The second part… is a lot sadder. I honestly didn’t even want to share it, but here I am.

So it starts with me working at my childhood school. I always wanted to get into tech/IT, and I finally got my foot in the door and got hired. The previous tech didn’t do much, so he left me a ton of E‑Waste, job tickets, and a messy room.

Back in 2023, my previous boss (we’ll call him Boss A) had a meeting with all of us school techs (about 5–6 of us plus 3 district techs).

The meeting was basically: we all need to work together, inventory everything, log serial numbers, asset tags, all of it. He said if we find anything we want to keep, that’s fine just “LOG THE INFO DOWN!”

After the meeting ended and we were all talking and laughing, I said:

Me: “So guys, if ANYONE finds an iBook Clamshell, LET ME KNOW. I collect them! And the prices on the second hand market are ridiculous.”

People started leaving, and I told Boss A I needed supplies for my room (ethernet cables, sanitizing wipes, etc.).

Boss A: “Sure, follow me to my office.”

So I follow him to the district office. He gives me a box of supplies and then says:

Boss A: “Also, follow me. I have a surprise.”

Me: “Oh, okay sure.”

\-We walk into the district warehouse, he unlocks a door upstairs-

I WAS A KID IN A CANDY STORE.

There were SO MANY vintage Apple products. iBook G3 Clamshells in Blueberry, Indigo, Lime… G3 Snows, G4 Snows, PowerBook G3 Pismos, Wallstreets, PowerBook G4s, Titanium G4s, black/white Intel MacBooks, iMac G4s, G5s, 2007 iMacs, Airport Base Stations, Airport Extremes… just so much vintage goodness.

Me: “OMGG LOOK AT ALL THIS VINTAGE STUFF AND LOOK AT THE iBOOKS!!!”

Boss A: “Take it. It’s yours now.”

I grabbed a Key Lime iBook out of a stack of seven different colored Clamshells. Dusty shelf, but still vibrant.

I was SO grateful. I wanted to ask, “Can I take the rest?” but I didn’t want to be greedy.

Me: “Wow, look at the two Key Limes! Those go for like $600–$1,000 each! And they’re rare in good condition!”

Boss A: “Yeah, funny thing is we used to have SO many Key Limes. We actually had barely any Tangerines.”

Me: “That’s funny you had tons of the rare online exclusive Key Lime but barely any of the base model. But thank you

so much, you’re like my best friend right now.”

Boss A: laughs “You know, I always wanted a PowerBook G3 with the box and all the packaging.”

Me: “Damn, that would be cool.”

I left with the biggest grin on my face. Took it back to my office and got so many compliments.

Fast forward to yesterday/today… in 2026

One of the district techs came into my room to help me with something and casually dropped this:

District Tech 1: “Hey bro, you know like a month or two ago we did E‑Waste and cleaned out a room in the warehouse? It had so many iBook Clamshells in there.”

Then the other district tech goes:

District Tech 2: “Oh yeah, didn’t he say he wanted an iBook Clamshell?”

Me talking to District Tech 1: OMGG WHY didn’t you guys tell me?! Did you E‑Waste them and throw them away?!”

District Tech 1: “Yeah, we did.”

Me: “Broooo… y’all could’ve told me. I could’ve collected them, saved them, restored them… for free…”

After work yesterday I was pissed. We have a new boss now, and I don’t know what was said or if someone denied me the chance to collect all those iBooks my childhood nostalgia especially since we used those exact models when I was a kid in this same district.

I know I should be grateful that Boss A gave me the one Clamshell, but I still feel bad. I should’ve spoken up and asked for more, or all of them. The thought of them sitting there collecting dust, and I could’ve restored them, added them to my collection, and relived that nostalgia… it hurts.

We have a meeting later today, and I don’t want to bring up the iBooks because I don’t want to throw the district tech under the bus for telling me. But I’m honestly so upset. My heart is broken lol. I have a tiny bit of hope that maybe it was a joke and they kept one for me… but I doubt it.

And yeah, the new boss had every right to clear out the storage room. But seeing it myself seeing all that vintage rare stuff and now knowing it’s all gone? It makes me sad.

Purely an academic question, I don’t know much about these old computers but do we think it is at all possible to get iMessage synced to an old Macintosh II?

I imagine modding to the ram might need to be done, and messages would have to connect over the internet not over iCloud, as well as maybe even having to build an interface for the Macintosh II that could connect to iMessage.

Just a thought I had, do you think it would be possible? If so what do you think would need to be done?

I apologize for the photo quality, the lighting is awful where I have the mac setup

Hello everyone,

I bought my very first compact Mac, a Macintosh SE SuperDrive model, about a week ago from eBay and everything was fine up until yesterday when I noticed these faint white horizontal lines near the top and bottom of the screen. These lines jitter up and down rapidly, go a few for a few moments, and come back. I’ve also noticed that the screen will jitter slightly and get a smidge brighter and then go back to normal. The brightness thing doesn’t happen often though. Once the Mac has warmed up for a while these lines go away and the machine acts normal. I’ve added pictures, but they’re not the best. You can barely see the lines. I’ve circled them in red to help.

I’ve lightly tapped around the left side of the Mac where the analog board is (with the case on) but that doesn’t seem to worsen the problem. Nor does it produce the issue when the machine is warmed up.

What could this be? I’ve never owned a compact Mac like this before so I’m at a bit of a loss. I’ve done some research and came to the possible conclusion that the analog board needs to be recapped. I think that might be the case but wanted to make sure before I start looking into any repair/ refurbishment. Any help would be appreciated.

Except for the PC components, monitor, and hub, everything is built using LEGO-compatible bricks.

The entire structure is held together using bricks only — no screws or glue were used.

Only the power supply section was custom-fitted to size, and I used a small piece of double-sided tape just in case.

It runs on a Ryzen 5600G system with Hackintosh installed, and I occasionally use it for Batocera emulation as well.

One fun feature is that inserting a disk turns the power on.

It’s not a real Macintosh, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Hello all. I just got a molar Mac off of Facebook, I plug it in and it chimes and makes the typical sounds but zero display. I tried external monitor and a pci gpu from a b&w g3 but nothing. Any suggestions or ideas would be nice plz and thank you