[volcano]

I recently purchased an iBook for a friend. It's not the "latest and greatest" model, but I think it's still respectable. It's the first model that featured a G4 in it - 800MHz G4, 256RAM, 40GB HDD (upgraded), and a Combo drive.

I just received it in the mail this morning, and it works flawlessly. It's in great shape, and I got all the restore manuals that originally came with it - even the original box. Unfortunately, it came without an Aiport Extreme Card - but that should arrive within the next day so I can install it for her.

I have a few questions:
1. It has Tiger installed - but I didn't receive the disks for it. To make things even more annoying, the account that's setup on the machine (just a basic account with the name 'User' for it, with admin priveledges) is password protected, so if I wanted to change anything - say add an account, password protect an account, etc - I can't. I thought to myself "Well, that's simple, I can just re-install Tiger and I can start from scratch." This was before I realized that there were no Tiger disks included - just the original ones that came with the computer. So my question is this: until I purchase an official version of Tiger from Apple, can I just reinstall the OS with the disks provided? And if I do, what version of OSX will I be getting? I'm guessing either Panther or at the very least Jaguar, but I'm not positive. This model was introduced in October 2003 and was discontinued in mid-2004 (April, I think) if that helps any. Also, is there a good place I could purchase a legal version of Tiger from that would be cheaper than Apple? I know eBay - but I'm a little hestitate about purchasing software from there.

2. I have the latest iBook, and I absolutely love my scrolling trackpad. As you know, this was the first iBook with that feature - but I know there are third-party programs out there that can do the very same thing. I've heard about iScroll v2, but I've also heard that it's buggy/sticky/jumpy, etc. What are your thoughts on it, and do I have any other viable alternative?

3. Last but not least - the buyer included the "power brick" for the unit - which works just fine, but it doesn't have the lovely three-prong extension that I received with my iBook. Will I have to purchase a new power adapter all together or should I try and find that extension on eBay?

Help is appreciated.

[megasad]

For #1, this thread should help you out. Just wipe the current account out of existence and make it like a shiny new Mac. Once you've got it all set up you could even repeat the process so that your friend can have the shiny new experience herself.

As for #2, I used to use SideTrack in Panther and found it good and reliable. Haven't bothered with it in Tiger, so can't offer more up to date advice.

Is this what you mean, when you talk of a "three-prong extension"? If it is, I don't think you can buy them on their own, but as you can see, eBay has them just waiting for you.