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AssassyN · 02:42 PM

Originally posted by beanman:
Oh my god, oh my god....

Everyone....

I would just like to announce that I will now cease my bitching.

I am as giddy as AssassyN.

My PowerBook has left the airport in Taiwan.

Holy crap, my day is drawing near.

beanman!!!

Are you serious?! It has finally shipped out?!

Wow man, that is so awesome!! What's your estimated delivery date? Hopefully FedEx will RUSH your PB like they did mine and have it to you tomorrow to play with over the weekend!! So glad to hear yours is on the way, you deserve it! Enjoy it bro, I know it's already been amazing to me after only one day of usage, and it's killing me to be sitting in school right instead of on my PB (however, this FP iMac I'm on is rather nice)!!

And if you have any questions at all, feel free to PM me or email me at [email protected]

Cheers!

beanman · Apr 4, 2003, 02:27 PM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
beanman!!! :eek Are you serious?! It has finally shipped out?!

Wow man, that is so awesome!! What's your estimated delivery date?

Well...my estimated delivery date isn't nearly as cool as yours. It looks like Tuesday for me. But still, I'm just thrilled to see that it's on the way. My machine as home is a G3 of the beige kind...233Mhz and not something that I can do OSX in. So only a few more days and I'll be out of the world of OS9...am I happy about that?...I'm not sure. It's like putting your favorite pet to sleep. It shall be a sad day to leave the world of beige. Let's not forget, I've been using Apple's since I was 3...and that means 1981 mind you.

Damn straight you'll be hearing from me if I got me some problems. I should be able to handle it...I hope! And I just came into contact with a copy of Peak 3.0 for OSX. I'm so psyched!

.....AHHHHH!!!

AssassyN · Apr 4, 2003, 02:45 PM

Sweet deal man!

Yeah, I hear ya about leaving your G3 behind, but if your experience is anything like mine (and I'm pretty sure it will be!

) you'll be so astonished with your PB you'll never even look back!

I hope it arrives sooner than the estimated delivery date...mind you mine came a day early as well.

forcelite · Apr 4, 2003, 05:36 PM

heh, mine took over a week to get to texas,

Also I will be taking safari off my site very soon so those who I gave the address plz get it asap

Forcelite

AssassyN · Apr 4, 2003, 09:29 PM

Well this may be a slighty off-topic question, but is there any custom commands I can input in the command line of 3D games like Quake III and SoF II to get the game to run at a decent resolution FULL SCREEN (w/o those black bars on the side)?? Any help would rock, thanks!

seanyepez · Apr 4, 2003, 09:38 PM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
Well this may be a slighty off-topic question, but is there any custom commands I can input in the command line of 3D games like Quake III and SoF II to get the game to run at a decent resolution FULL SCREEN (w/o those black bars on the side)?? Any help would rock, thanks!

In Quake III, you will need to enable support for custom resolutions by typing "r_mode -1" into the console. Then, set "r_customwidth" and "r_customheight" to whatever you want. After setting your custom resolution, type in "vid_restart." The game will then restart using the new resolution. I play with "r_customwidth" set to 1280 and "r_customheight" set to 854 on my TiBook.

AssassyN · Apr 4, 2003, 09:42 PM

Originally posted by seanyepez:
In Quake III, you will need to enable support for custom resolutions by typing "r_mode -1" into the console. Then, set "r_customwidth" and "r_customheight" to whatever you want. After setting your custom resolution, type in "vid_restart." The game will then restart using the new resolution. I play with "r_customwidth" set to 1280 and "r_customheight" set to 854 on my TiBook.

Awesome!! Thanks a million man! I'ma give that a try right now!

AssassyN · Apr 4, 2003, 09:51 PM

Works like a charm man! But, is there anyway I can save this, to say, a .cfg file so that I don't have to retype those lines everytime I restart the game?

AssassyN · Apr 4, 2003, 10:38 PM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
Works like a charm man! But, is there anyway I can save this, to say, a .cfg file so that I don't have to retype those lines everytime I restart the game?

Also, SoF II doesn't support 1920x1200 (my 23" HD Display's resolution) so I need to know what ratio aspect is Apple's 23" HD Display? I know it's not 4:3, so which is it, and what's a resolution that'll run fullscreen in that ratio below 1920x1200?

seanyepez · Apr 4, 2003, 10:43 PM

Try running your Cinema HD at a resolution of 960 by 600 pixels

In the Windows version of Quake III, all you have to type in to overwrite your default configuration file is "writeconfig q3config." Quake III for Mac OS X seems to use a hidden configuration file, though.

AssassyN · Apr 4, 2003, 10:52 PM

Originally posted by seanyepez:
Try running your Cinema HD at a resolution of 960 by 600 pixels

In the Windows version of Quake III, all you have to type in to overwrite your default configuration file is "writeconfig q3config." Quake III for Mac OS X seems to use a hidden configuration file, though.

Yeah, I was searching for that convient .cfg file like in the Windows version but couldn't find it. Ah well, I'm just estatic that Quake III runs at 1920x1200 on my HD Display FLAWLESSLY on my 17" PB! That nVidia's sure doing well enough for me on that!
BUT, it won't push RtCW at that resolution 100% of the time; during heavy explosions it lags just enough to be annoying, and the 960x600 is too grainy. Are there any good in-between resolutions that take up fullscreen or almost fullscreen on an HD Display?

dccski · Apr 4, 2003, 11:07 PM

ASSASYN look at the sticker under your battery. does it say 1.024 mb memory or 512. did you order with 512 or 1 gig

chrisutley · Apr 4, 2003, 11:10 PM

The public wants to see photos of your pimped setup!

AssassyN · Apr 4, 2003, 11:51 PM

AHG!!! HELP ME!!! What in the world is happening?! I had to use Ctrl + Open Apple + Power to do a hard reboot, and now it won't take me to my desktop, rather it takes me into some kinda DOS looking screen talking about Darwin login! What is this?! I just want it to work! HELP!

exca1ibur · Apr 5, 2003, 12:08 AM

Quake config file is here...

~/Library/Application Support/Quake3/baseq3/

Add the lines to the q3config.cfg there and you are set.

Enjoy...

AssassyN · Apr 5, 2003, 12:11 AM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
AHG!!! HELP ME!!! What in the world is happening?! I had to use Ctrl + Open Apple + Power to do a hard reboot, and now it won't take me to my desktop, rather it takes me into some kinda DOS looking screen talking about Darwin login! What is this?! I just want it to work! HELP!

Upon another hard reboot I can't even get past this blue screen! What in the world could be wrong?

chrisutley · Apr 5, 2003, 12:34 AM

Hold down Command-S while restarting and see if you can get back into Single User mode (the Darwin screen you saw).

Try issuing the command:
fsck -y

That will check your boot volume for problems. If it comes back clean try "reboot", and cross your fingers.

I've only had this screen come up once by itself, and that was using 10.1. Hopefully, just a disk glitch...

chrisutley · Apr 5, 2003, 12:35 AM

I almost forgot, if you do see errors running "fsck -y", keep running the command until it comes back with no more errors. If it finds a problem it cannot fix, it will become obvious after a few cycles that you are stuck.

AssassyN · Apr 5, 2003, 02:19 AM

Repeated attempts at that were in vain, Disk Utility was absolutely worthless, so here I am at 1:20am in dire need of sleep, but no, I'm being forced to reinstall an operating system and lose all of my data. Not good.

torifile · Apr 5, 2003, 02:37 AM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
Repeated attempts at that were in vain, Disk Utility was absolutely worthless, so here I am at 1:20am in dire need of sleep, but no, I'm being forced to reinstall an operating system and lose all of my data. Not good.

No!! Don't reformat. Just reinstall. All your personal data will be spared (that is, everything in your user folder.... you are using OS X properly, right? With all your stuff in your home directory???) If you just reinstall, your stuff will be safe.

gator · Apr 5, 2003, 02:56 AM

Yeah, just do the archive and install option... don't do the full fledged reinstall.

badnewsblair · Apr 5, 2003, 03:21 AM

I decided to start this here and spare the readers from a multitude of the same posts from different people. And plus, AssassyN is my boy!

So here goes...

I was out with my roommate on one of our Friday afternoon jaunts. He needed to get his long board repaired and I wanted to go to the Apple store (of course). So we stopped by the board shop and headed to Tyson's to go look at all the pretty screens. I go there and decided to check the list for the 17-inch. Bad news. The guys I talked to said that they hadn't been getting many in and that the shipments has turned into a "trickle". But the good news was that he says my 17-inch should be shipping soon considerring my order date.

First I gotta say, "Gee thanks, cause I haven't gotten that from any other Apple sales rep". But he offered to go get the list and see where I would be if we put my name on it today. So I agreed. He needed to get the key from the manager to get to the list (pretty tough security for a list don't you think?) so he waited.

"What do you need?" the manager asked the other guy. That's when I stepped in. I told him my plight so far with Apple and asked him around when I would be getting call from them if I put my name on the list today. Well he told me, "Well, I think we are up to date on our list. Meaning that we have 6 or so in the back with names on them, but at the end of today if they aren't claimed, your name goes on one".

Well, I don' think I need to tell you guys how I felt at that moment so I will spare you. Well, I immediately called the people with the proper power (as this Powerbook is my graduation present from college). And the deed was done. The online order is cancelled and the crucial credit card is traveling my way tomorrow. Here's the best part...

So I am driving home and I have just gotten onto 495 to head back home. I'm thinking, 'Sweet! It no one claims one tonight, I have a Powerbook tomorrow or some time this week". That's when my cell phone rings and I answer. It's the Apple store. There was the same name on two different 17-inchers. "So your name is officially on one now". Yeah! Definitely rad. So, come noon time around tomorrow, I will have what I've been waiting for for just a bit under 7 weeks now!

I promise lots of pictures for all of you since too many of these reviews are missing them!

PS - AssassyN, don't worry about your toubles so far. It will be alright. You're in good hands with these guys.

OSXFreak · Apr 5, 2003, 06:21 AM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
Repeated attempts at that were in vain, Disk Utility was absolutely worthless, so here I am at 1:20am in dire need of sleep, but no, I'm being forced to reinstall an operating system and lose all of my data. Not good.

AssassyN! Come back to us man!!

Just received shipping notification this morning on my 17" and I want to hear some good news from you!

urrl5201 · Apr 5, 2003, 08:12 AM

Actually I am kind of surprised the 17" is still a rarity. I mean, I put my name on the list a two or three weeks ago and that same week I had one in my hands. I may go to the Apple store in my area (Miami) to have my cd drive aligned. Then I'll ask how plentiful they are down here. Maybe I was just lucky.

OSXFreak · Apr 5, 2003, 08:17 AM

Originally posted by urrl5201:
Actually I am kind of surprised the 17" is still a rarity. I mean, I put my name on the list a two or three weeks ago and that same week I had one in my hands. I may go to the Apple store in my area (Miami) to have my cd drive aligned. Then I'll ask how plentiful they are down here. Maybe I was just lucky.

Yeah, I think that there's a big difference in Apple's treatment of different international markets. It's clear that Apple definitely gives priority to the US market.

AssassyN · Apr 5, 2003, 09:38 AM

Originally posted by OSXFreak:
AssassyN! Come back to us man!!

Just received shipping notification this morning on my 17" and I want to hear some good news from you!

I did the Archive & Install option, and it STILL won't let me login. So here I am 2 days after getting my machine and FINALLY having everything possible setup (minus getting mp3s in which I was transferring onto it) and now instead of playing with it this weekend, I'm reinstlling everything. Wow, fun.

It's only aggrivating b/c a simple hard reboot should not have this drastic of an effect, my Wintel machine froze as well in the transfer, yet it rebooted as if nothing happened.

AssassyN · Apr 5, 2003, 11:17 AM

Man MacNN has been having some serious issues all through the night, lol, and during the time I needed help the most!

But anyways, I'm BACK!!!! So I've had my first spill w/ the Mac, but it's all live & learn and so now if it happens again I'll know better what to do...my only option (and the one I hadta take) was to Erase & Reinstall Mac OS X, and as much as I HATED to do it, I had to. I believe there was some sort of conflict on the LAN between the Mac & PC networking, and though that's no excuse, I bet that's the culprit. The only downside is now I'm afriad to try to transfer all that music (and yeah, I was doing small peice-by-peice transfers to begin with) to my PB.

But anyways, it's all good, I'll figure that out somehow...I'm about halfway through reinstalling all my programs and customizing my PB back the way I had it, and although I'm so tired I'm about to fall outta this chair, I'm still gonna try to spend today doing as much testing and tweaking as I can do I can have the review I promised you guys by Sunday/Monday.

And trust me fellas, after this fiasco, I'm just smiling and viewing it as something that life tossed at me in which I learned someting from, and if I had the option to trade this PB back....notta chance.

torifile · Apr 5, 2003, 11:35 AM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
But anyways, I'm BACK!!!! So I've had my first spill w/ the Mac, but it's all live & learn and so now if it happens again I'll know better what to do...my only option (and the one I hadta take) was to Erase & Reinstall Mac OS X, and as much as I HATED to do it, I had to. I believe there was some sort of conflict on the LAN between the Mac & PC networking, and though that's no excuse, I bet that's the culprit. The only downside is now I'm afriad to try to transfer all that music (and yeah, I was doing small peice-by-peice transfers to begin with) to my PB.

Weird. That's all I can say. The likelihood that it was some sort of a LAN conflict is really low though. People do that sort of thing all the time.

Well, glad you got it working again.

AssassyN · Apr 5, 2003, 11:57 AM

Originally posted by torifile:
Weird. That's all I can say. The likelihood that it was some sort of a LAN conflict is really low though. People do that sort of thing all the time. Well, glad you got it working again.

Yeah, I'd say so too...I think it's some evil Wintel spirit or something out to get me.

But I'm also perplexed at how such a basic operation (file transfer) could do such damage. But I know it was from that, b/c it locked up numerous times while doing that, but about the 8th time it was gone for good.

gator · Apr 5, 2003, 01:41 PM

If you had a Windows share and were using the Connect-to-Server in OS X, I find that it's stability is spotty at times, though I don't think it would've caused as bad a result as you had, at worst it should force you to restart, but outside of that no huge damage.

OSXFreak · Apr 5, 2003, 01:45 PM

Just glad to see that you're back on track. Enjoy and hurry up with that review!

dccski · Apr 5, 2003, 01:47 PM

i used move 2 mac with the cable supplied by them to transfer all my music and files i could to the mac (15 gig in all 40 minutes). no problems what so ever. 55 bucks at apple store but sounds like i made the right choice. sorry iy happened man. love this 17 incher though. computer that is. not gay (not that there is anything wrong with that)....... seinfeld reference for those that dont know

quadgrande · Apr 5, 2003, 01:53 PM

OS X does a lot of things behind the scenes during boot.

This explanation doesn't have much fact to it, but I've found that if you give the machine enough time, it will eventually present you with a login screen. If you just have blue screen while booting, give it 30 minutes or so next time to see if it will recover.

Maybe transfer your files via FTP to be safe if you feel PC interaction was the problem. You can start your FTP server in System Preferences-->Sharing. Then use any FTP client from the PC to connect.

With future Macs

, you can use Target disk mode to xfer files in between, which allows you to mount the hard drive from one mac on another mac if they are connected to each other via firewire. Essentially it makes one machine act like a Firewire hard drive. I transfer my files that way often, and at 400Mbps, you don't have to wait long!

AssassyN · Apr 5, 2003, 01:59 PM

Originally posted by gator:
If you had a Windows share and were using the Connect-to-Server in OS X, I find that it's stability is spotty at times, though I don't think it would've caused as bad a result as you had, at worst it should force you to restart, but outside of that no huge damage.

This is exactly what I was doing...I'll try that FTP option as well, thanks man!

Originally posted by quadgrande:
This explanation doesn't have much fact to it, but I've found that if you give the machine enough time, it will eventually present you with a login screen. If you just have blue screen while booting, give it 30 minutes or so next time to see if it will recover.

Nada. After using the supplied Disk Utility to "Archive & Install", I gave the computer FIVE HOURS to get past the blue screen, and it wasn't budging...something was SERIOUSLY wrong, probably the worst I've ever seen considering I've never rendered a computer "non-bootable" by my own actions until this time...scary!

AssassyN · Apr 5, 2003, 02:02 PM

And one other question, since I scraped the stuff on the HD and reinstalled OS X clean, I no longer have QuickBooks in my Applications folder, although I was planning on deleting it, but my concern is: is there any OTHER programs/files/etc. that may have been usefully installed at Apple in which I wouldn't have got back by doing a complete re-install? I left off Classic in the re-install, in which I wanted to do to begin with, so I guess that was a blessing in disguise, but I just wanted to know if there are any pre-installed apps aside from Office Trial, Quick Books, and Classic that would be omitted when reinstalling. Thanks!

real · Apr 5, 2003, 02:47 PM

on the software reeestore in the all the apps that came with your PB in the installer there is options on what to install classic apps and OS X apps or just one or the other. I have been trying to figure out how to install those with out having to install all of them but no luck. Hope this helps
REAL

Congrats on the PB everything will be alright, I reformat and install on every new machine I get just so I know whats on it(pet peeve).Your PB is fine.Good luck.

badnewsblair · Apr 5, 2003, 03:25 PM

I would just like to inform all of you that have listened to my whining the past few weeks, that I am now typing this post on my new 17-inch Powerbook. Thanks for all of the help. I have lots of pictures to share. Thime to change the profile!

pinkpanther · Apr 5, 2003, 03:28 PM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
Awesome!! Thanks a million man! I'ma give that a try right now!

Hi, I wanted to be able and do the fullscreen in SOF2 so that my Power Book utilized the widescreen...I did everything the instructions said, however, the black bars didnt disapear. The font in the console went huge though... Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

penmanila · Apr 5, 2003, 07:34 PM

use a freeware program like pacifist (look for it on www.versiontracker.com) to extract only the programs you need from your installer CD or DVD.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by real:
[B]on the software reeestore in the all the apps that came with your PB in the installer there is options on what to install classic apps and OS X apps or just one or the other. I have been trying to figure out how to install those with out having to install all of them but no luck. Hope this helps

OSXFreak · Apr 5, 2003, 07:48 PM

Assassyn: Does RTCW run as well on your new Al17 as it does on a high end PC? Do you get any slowdown at 1440x900? Is there any perceivable lag on the LCD screen?

beanman · Apr 5, 2003, 09:42 PM

Just curious...I'm in Iowa and my 17" left Indianapolis last night around 11:30pm. Does this mean this sucker could be at my door on Monday morning? FedEx web site says Tuesday by 10:30, but I'm thinking it'll be here sooner than that!

And it can't be soon enough. My keyboard is crapping out on me and this ccccccccccccccccccc key keeps sticking down.

AssassyN · Apr 5, 2003, 11:36 PM

Originally posted by OSXFreak:
Assassyn: Does RTCW run as well on your new Al17 as it does on a high end PC? Do you get any slowdown at 1440x900? Is there any perceivable lag on the LCD screen?

At 1024x768 (there's black bars, however) it runs beautifully with details/options maxed out. I haven't ran it at 1440x990 however, but I will give that a shot and give full gaming reports of Quake III, RtCW, and SoF II in my review that's shaping up to post tomorrow, so keep an eye out for it!

AssassyN · Apr 6, 2003, 12:09 AM

Originally posted by beanman:
Just curious...I'm in Iowa and my 17" left Indianapolis last night around 11:30pm. Does this mean this sucker could be at my door on Monday morning? FedEx web site says Tuesday by 10:30, but I'm thinking it'll be here sooner than that!

And it can't be soon enough. My keyboard is crapping out on me and this ccccccccccccccccccc key keeps sticking down.

If it did like mine, they yep! Keep a close eye on your tracking #, you may get a pleasant surprise!

beanman · Apr 6, 2003, 05:04 AM

Ok, this is weird. I get the time zone differences, but why did my Powerbook leave Indianapolis twice? Did they really break it into two pieces??? Thoughts?

Left FedEx Sort Facility/INDIANAPOLIS IN 04/05/2003 18:13 _
Left FedEx Sort Facility/INDIANAPOLIS IN 04/04/2003 23:40 _
Left FedEx Ramp/C.K.S. INTL AIRPORT TW 04/04/2003 20:27 _
Left FedEx Sort Facility/ANCHORAGE AK 04/04/2003 15:18 _
Arrived at FedEx Ramp/TA YUAN HSIANG TW 04/04/2003 15:15
Left FedEx Origin Location/TAOYUAN CITY TW 04/04/2003 11:23
Picked up by FedEx/TAOYUAN CITY TW 04/04/2003 11:15

AssassyN · Apr 6, 2003, 10:09 AM

Originally posted by beanman:
Ok, this is weird. I get the time zone differences, but why did my Powerbook leave Indianapolis twice? Did they really break it into two pieces??? Thoughts?

Left FedEx Sort Facility/INDIANAPOLIS IN 04/05/2003 18:13 _
Left FedEx Sort Facility/INDIANAPOLIS IN 04/04/2003 23:40 _
Left FedEx Ramp/C.K.S. INTL AIRPORT TW 04/04/2003 20:27 _
Left FedEx Sort Facility/ANCHORAGE AK 04/04/2003 15:18 _
Arrived at FedEx Ramp/TA YUAN HSIANG TW 04/04/2003 15:15
Left FedEx Origin Location/TAOYUAN CITY TW 04/04/2003 11:23
Picked up by FedEx/TAOYUAN CITY TW 04/04/2003 11:15

Don't worry bro, somehow or another my PB arrived at Raleigh, NC BEFORE it left Indy!! LoL! Some of the #'s are off a bit, just pay attention to the most recent one.

AssassyN · Apr 6, 2003, 10:11 AM

Originally posted by pinkpanther:
Hi, I wanted to be able and do the fullscreen in SOF2 so that my Power Book utilized the widescreen...I did everything the instructions said, however, the black bars didnt disapear. The font in the console went huge though... Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

As you can read in my fully featured review that will post *LATER TODAY!!!*, hehe, SoF II, unfortunately unlike Quake III and games using its engine, cannot be played fullscreen on a widescreen display. However, if you'll read my review, I include pointers on what to do to still get the most out of the game...look for it by this evening right in this forum.

CheesePuff · Apr 6, 2003, 10:36 AM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
As you can read in my fully featured review that will post *LATER TODAY!!!*, hehe, SoF II, unfortunately unlike Quake III and games using its engine, cannot be played fullscreen on a widescreen display. However, if you'll read my review, I include pointers on what to do to still get the most out of the game...look for it by this evening right in this forum.

Oh, I forgot to ask you about SOFII... what type of frame rates do you get? The game port was very poorly made and even on a brand new Dual 1.42 GHz the game would lag in almost every scene.

AssassyN · Apr 6, 2003, 12:07 PM

Originally posted by CheesePuff:
Oh, I forgot to ask you about SOFII... what type of frame rates do you get? The game port was very poorly made and even on a brand new Dual 1.42 GHz the game would lag in almost every scene.

It'll be in the review that'll be posted later this evening...working hard on it as we speak

beanman · Apr 6, 2003, 12:49 PM

Oh I'm not worried. But it just struck me as funny.

No change as of this morning. Keeping my eyes glued close though!

OSXFreak · Apr 6, 2003, 01:18 PM

Hurry man! I'm in the UK and it's getting dark! I need another review fix!!!!