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That's really annoying. Remove the ad for crying out loud if the item has been sold. It's not difficult and it means people aren't misled or have their time wasted.
Annoyingly, he's now appeared in the "People You May Know" feed...
I'll give him another prod, then give up. I also saw a 4,1 for 40, but it's 80 miles away...
 
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Annoyingly, he's now appeared in the "People You May Know" feed...
I'll give him another prod, then give up. I also saw a 4,1 for 40, but it's 80 miles away...
He's replied, it's still available, but has vanished again before revealing wether he's still local to me, or up in the Smoke...
 
He's replied, it's still available, but has vanished again before revealing wether he's still local to me, or up in the Smoke...
Give him some time. Maybe he doesn't live in/on/with/by/for his computers like the weirdos who frequent here? 😜

My wife uses computers every day at work and at home. But annoyingly she checks her personal email only maybe 2-3 times a week. And I sit here in the next room waiting eagerly for her comment on my latest funny pic or joke - sometimes for days. Then suddenly I hear her laugh and comment. 😂
 
Very much the case, I fear. His profile has him as an avid cyclist, so indoors stuff definitely not high on his list!

I agree with @ToniCH - not everyone dedicates their lives to cyberspace as intensely as we do. :D

At one point I almost gave up on a FB seller who responded intermittently but persistence paid and I prevailed. When we met up, they apologised and explained that they had a lot going. Personally, I'd send a message with my cellular number so that things will be accelerated and save you having to wait till they next log into Meta/Whatever it's called this week.
 
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Doing a big downgrade day on my late 2008 MacBook Pro. While it did okay running BigSur, I was tired of the slower response and odd graphics behavior.

I have quite a few machines on current operating systems, and really don't need a currently supported copy of MacOS on that system anymore as I can run some ESR on Catalina still which runs far better on that system.

Next up is to replace my Mojave install with the last fully supported OS for that device, El Capitan.

I have also moved the system off my main Apple ID, onto a child account just in case the device gets compromised.

Honestly quite fun running some of the older operating systems to support equally old iOS devices, and use newer copies of iTunes on these intel machines. Still NOT a fan of managing old iOS devices or iPods in Apple Music / Finder. It's worse than using those devices on Windows!
 
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Finally took the time to get to grips with some SSDs from the time when they were still interesting, i.e. before September 2008 when Intel released theirs and demonstrated how to do it right.

What might these have in common? That they use SLC flash and are not quite what they seem to be at first glance.
IMG_1099.jpeg


First the SanDisk, straight from week 22, 2007. Eight 2GB Samsung flash modules on one side of the PCB...
IMG_1097.jpeg


...and another eight on the other side. Accompanied by a home-grown SanDisk controller and a Marvell 88SA8040 PATA-to-SATA bridge in plain sight. Yup.
IMG_1098.jpeg


Benchmark results show this not being a problem at all, but writes are only half of what they're supposed to be.
SanDisk_SSD_5000.png


Next the mighty Mtron from week 27, 2008. Sixteen 2GB Toshiba flash modules on one side...
IMG_1096.jpeg


...another sixteen on the other side. Accompanied by a home-grown Mtron controller, a cache module and a Marvell 88SA8052 PATA-to-SATA bridge. Yet again!
IMG_1095.jpeg


At least, it shows promising results for its time.
Mtron_Mobi_3500.png


This was probably the most boring post you've read all week, but I don't care ;)
 
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Very much the case, I fear. His profile has him as an avid cyclist, so indoors stuff definitely not high on his list!
Absolutely a countryside guy! Lives in a hamlet on the edge of Dartmoor, but I've been past it before, so not hard to find. 2.66QC single cpu, 667MHz RAM, so either 1,1/2,1/3,1. Will have to let it warm up and dry out a bit before testing, as it was left in an open porch for several hours, or possibly days. Otherwise looking good.
EDIT: Twin dual-core processors! That will make ipgrading easy! So a 1,1.
Can't wait to fire it up!
 
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The Macbook pro is running well on El Cap. Not as much of a boost in speed as I was hoping as compared to previously installed Big Sur. It boots leagues faster, and settles down faster after boot, but basic operation of apps after everything is running is only slightly faster. Am enjoying the older OS for various reasons including Native iTunes support, and more reliable ability to do graphics switching.

Arctic Fox is running decent, and am able to YouTube, and VLC things fairly well. Working on building a new MP3 based iTunes library for my 5th generation iPod Classic (ipod with video) on this machine.

Screen Shot 2024-11-30 at 1.31.54 PM.png


Need to replace the battery on this (only for the 2nd time since I purchased new on Launch day in 2008!), afterwords I will feel more comfortable using the 9600M GT.



Scraped the dirt off the label, and...
A1186, EMC 2180, 2X3.2GHz, it's a 3,1!
Solid machines for sure.

screenshot-2024-11-27-at-12-49-46-pm-png.2456366


Potential some inspiration, a lower spec model of the same vintage with some upgrades, but far from maxed out as you can take things a bit further. Just be aware that the processor's lack of AVX can cause some stability issues in some instances if you upgrade past Monterey.

Quite a few threads in the Mac Pro forum regarding these systems, memory upgrades, video cards, and OS upgrades using Open Core or other methods.
 
Speaking of A1181 MacBooks, I'm feeling stymied by my lack of options in hunting down a replacement keyboard for the BlackBook I picked up earlier. My eBay replacement still doesn't work properly, and I've had issues with trying to resolve things with the seller. Postal service issues aside, the eBay options I've seen aren't looking great either.

Anyone in Toronto, ON got a spare A1181 topcase they'd like to sell me? :confused:
You can purchase them here…

 
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This one?

That seems quite all right. Go for it, its still quite usable in many jobs. 👍
Yup. Has some sort of Geforce GPU, probably an 8800. 12GB RAM. I've stuck a 7200rpm 500GB drive in for now, and trying to boot various installers. So far, they to about 60%, then nothing. But I'm probably rushing it, hasn't been powered up for years before today.
 
ElCap: nope. SL: nope. Messed with RAM, dusted the GPU, and made sure of some airflow. Got it to boot MX Linux to a live desktop. So far, the only macOS that has got past recovery is patched Catalina. Installng now.
 
ElCap: nope. SL: nope. Messed with RAM, dusted the GPU, and made sure of some airflow. Got it to boot MX Linux to a live desktop. So far, the only macOS that has got past recovery is patched Catalina. Installng now.
There is a slight chance that it might need an original GPU for initial MacOS installation. Hope you get it running without too much of hassle. 👍
 
There is a slight chance that it might need an original GPU for initial MacOS installation.
The 8800 GT was optional but original.

So far, the only macOS that has got past recovery is patched Catalina. Installng now.
… without graphics acceleration. If things go downhill after installing patches for that, I‘d say the GPU has had it.
 
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Maybe the first time in 7 or so years, the 2008 Unibody MBP is out in the wild. Needs a battery for long term operation, but is doing well so far. Working on my old iTunes library at a brewery my friends own in Saint Paul. We talked classic Mac computers and iTunes reconstruction for about an hour!

IMG_1328.jpeg


Yes the brewery is a grain bin. Specially built to be a brewery!

::Fun Fact::
Brewery audio system is a twin set of Sound Sticks with typical jellyfish subwoofer. With the acoustics in here it is PLENTY of audio and sounds amazing! Brewery is 100% apple products for tech, iPads for POS, Macbook for music library, and both owners have iphones.
 
Next job on the cMP is a strip, clean, and repaste the processors. Time to dig ou the long screwdrivers!

Edit: quick check on iFixit says that the 3.2GHz CPUs have special heatsink and cpu coating, not standard thermal paste. Is this really so important ? Thermal paste is much better now than in 2008, so my plan is to use Arctic Silver MX.
 
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