DIY power adapter ok for Tiger, not for Leopard

[Bilunty]

I recently detailed (in another thread) how I’d made a power supply for my Pismo using a stereo plug, an RCA plug, and an old Dell powerbrick.
It’s still working fine, however when I installed Leopard on another partition the other day I noticed that there was an “x” in the battery icon and while the battery still powered the machine it wasn’t recognised by Leopard nor the power supply.
My theory is that Tiger may be more forgiving than Leopard in terms of power supply (the Dell brick only supplies 19volts, not the standard 24v), although this doesn’t explain why the battery still isn’t recognised even without the charger plugged in.
Maybe Leopard needs a good 24v kick to get the power circuit going properly—it works fine otherwise, just a bit clunky.
I have found and ordered a properly spec’d power supply which will arrive in the next week or so, so I’ll know for sure then.
I wonder if there are any other theories as to why the charging circuit works fine under Tiger but not Leopard?

 

[Bilunty]

My only thought is maybe Leopard is looking for something from the extra segment on the power pin found on later chargers. Maybe?

 

[Raging Dufus]

An interesting problem. I don't have solutions to offer, just a few observations.

First, IIRC Tiger was the last Mac OS to ship with separate binaries, meaning you could either have a PowerPC version or an Intel version - not both. So whatever code your PPC Mac is running in a Tiger installation is only PPC code. Leopard OTOH was shipped as a universal binary, meaning your PPC Mac is running fat binary code executable by both PPC- and Intel-based systems. No new news there.

However, the earliest Intel Macbooks - maybe all Intel MacBooks, I'm not sure, but certainly those that shipped with Leopard - have a System Management Controller (SMC) which automatically downclocks the CPU if a battery is missing. So something in the universal code is communicating information on the state of the power system to the hardware, which can result - purposefully - in adverse effects on an Intel Mac's performance. I suspect this is what's going on here: your PowerBook has a nonstandard power system and Leopard's power management detects it and doesn't like it; hence its refusal to recognize the battery. Leopard would probably slow down your computer if it could.

Another wrinkle is this is happening on a machine unsupported by Leopard. I don't endorse your "undervolting" the power to your Pismo, I wouldn't try that on such a sought-after and increasingly rare machine, especially one in working condition. But since you're already doing it, I can't help but wonder: how would the community builds of Snow Leopard for PPC, available in this forum, react to your nonstandard power system? Or, maybe the community builds of Leopard for unsupported Macs (also available here)? I don't necessarily expect anything different, I'm just curious. I'd also be interested to know if anything changes when you have the properly spec'd power attached.

Anyway, FWIW. Thanks for sharing this with us.

 

[Amethyst1]

First, IIRC Tiger was the last Mac OS to ship with separate binaries, meaning you could either have a PowerPC version or an Intel version - not both.

This applies to the client release. Tiger Server 10.4.7 is a universal release.

 

[Raging Dufus]

This applies to the client release. Tiger Server 10.4.7 is a universal release.

Wonder what would happen if he tried that UB Tiger Server? If his Pismo acted the same way with that, it's a pretty sure bet the behavior is specific to Intel-oriented code, and not something peculiar about Leopard. Hmmmm...🤔

 

[Hughmac]

My Pismo G4 dual boots to Tiger and Leo; with Tiger one or two batteries (2nd one in the optical drive bay), and both are recognised.
However, Leopard only recognises the battery in the optical bay, and if I only have the one battery in the left side it doesn't exist according to the system, but still actually works.
All the above have the same result with two separate Apple power supplies, so it seems to be a peculiarity with Leo, that was never designed to run on a PowerBook G3.

Cheers

Hugh

 

[Bilunty]

Thanks (Raging Dufus, Hughmac, Amethyst1) for your informative and detailed replies, I was surprised (and very happy) to find there are people with such enthusiasm for these older machines.
The Pismo was my first laptop and came after I'd owned several desktop Apple machines which I'd have to search out pictures of to recognise now. I do remember taking my first "portable" Mac, that I had to keep swapping disks in and out of, to the newspaper office I worked in at the time and being told to remove it immediately.
It was a bit of a risk trying to power the Pismo with the under spec power supply, but I'd already gone so far as to make a plug out of and RCA and stereo jack plug, so by that time I was ready for just about anything. I was very relieved when I found a properly spec'd power supply for sale though and look forward to it's arrival next week.
I'll be interested to see if it makes a difference, although having read Hughmac's experience I doubt it.
I may look out for a right-hand-side battery case to restore with new cells (which I've already done for the left-hand bay), as I just can't get comfortable with that "X" on the battery icon in Leopard.

Before it was packed away (fifteen or more years ago), I'd done a bit of work to the Pismo, including (from memory):

Bigger faster hard drive - which I've now replace with an even larger one, as the old one had died.
A NewerTech 500mhz G4 upgrade - for which I had to perform heart-stopping (at the time) surgery.
A new screen/backlight - I can't remember where I purchased it, but I'm so thankful now as the old screen had had its day way back then.
Upgraded DVD/CD burner slot-load drive.
Sonnet Aria Extreme card - which cost me an arm and a leg at the time, but for which I'm now truly thankful as I can have internet anywhere (with portable pocket-modem or phone hot-spot).

...and I have another 512mb RAM on the way - I think I nicked the extra one I had in there for something else...

Currently I have bootable 9.2.2 and 10.4.11 on one partition, and 10.5.8 on the other. Leopard runs ok, and I'll be interested to see what difference the extra RAM makes.

Do I need Leopard? Hmmm... It's always been about "perceived" need rather than actual need for me, that's how we got to the moon after all... so, we'll see.

I did try "Sorbet", and I do like the idea of a "better" Leopard (and yes, I've read pretty much all the commentary), but I'll see how I go with the "standard" Leopard which, as I said, works ok at the moment.

So, in summary, nice to meet you, thank you - I'll report back on my progress.

Any further advice or commentary is more than welcome.

Bill

P.S. TenFourFox is great, I've also started using InterWeb.

 

[Hughmac]

When I tried Sorbet in my Pismo it didn't make any difference in performance, and I therefore dropped back to stock Leopard with all the enhancements already documented on the PPC forum.
The biggest gain was from putting in a 128GB PATA (IDE) SSD

Cheers

Hugh

 

[Bilunty]

When I tried Sorbet in my Pismo it didn't make any difference in performance, and I therefore dropped back to stock Leopard with all the enhancements already documented on the PPC forum.
The biggest gain was from putting in a 128GB PATA (IDE) SSD

Cheers

Hugh

I didn’t run any proper tests but my experience was similar Hugh.
I’ve been looking out for a compatible SSD but no luck so far and the SD card interface I tried didn’t do the business so I’ll keep looking for an IDE SSD.

 

[Amethyst1]

I’ve been looking out for a compatible SSD but no luck so far and the SD card interface I tried didn’t do the business so I’ll keep looking for an IDE SSD.

Forget old and slow IDE SSDs. Use a m.2 SATA or mSATA SSD in an IDE adapter.

 

[Bilunty]

Forget old and slow IDE SSDs. Use a m.2 SATA or mSATA SSD in an IDE adapter.

Is there enough space in the Pismo for the adapter?
Thats a very impressive list by the way.

B

 

[Amethyst1]

Is there enough space in the Pismo for the adapter?

The SSD-in-an-adapter setup has the same dimensions as a 2.5-inch HDD.

 

[Bilunty]

Forgive me all, I’m still working through all the details of the above replies and I hope my appreciation is evident.
I will update.

 

[Amethyst1]

Forgive me all, I’m still working through all the details of the above replies and I hope my appreciation is evident.

I mean, nothing I said actually applies to your problem with the DIY power adapter.