Well, after 5 solid years of use, and now 4 months of hard travel through Southeast Asia, our Titanium Powerbook has finally bit the bullet. It may be the PMU, it may be the internal battery, or it may simply be a bad power adapter, but the computer will no longer take a charge. It sits lifeless.
We bought the laptop in college at San Francisco State University in 2001, where it served us well through numerous note taking sessions and papers. After college, it became an administrative workhorse computer for Crux Studio, the design firm I helped found. Before leaving on our trip, Julie’s cousin Trevor—a mac guru of the finest sort—generously reinvigorated the computer, essentially swapping the brains into a new shell and giving it an all-around tune-up. The computer is admittedly slow—being a first generation Titanium Powerbook it clocks in at only 400mhz. However, Julie and I have both been through a lot with the computer, and there’s definitely a sentimental attachment.
Needless to say, the computer has proved extremely important on our trip as well. With it, we are able to easily download photos, catalog them, back them up, and generally manage the now over 5,000 images taken thus far. Second, the computer is essential in our ability to maintain and update this website. We write all our posts, process the images for each post, perform updates to the site, etc., on the laptop. Doing all this work on public computers just isn’t feasible. As such, updates on the blog will be considerably shorter – and with far fewer photos – until we have figured out a solution.
We are still in Semporna (more on that later, but suffice to say the diving has been incredible), and will be flying to Johor Bahru on Monday, July 24. From Johor Bahru, we’ll take a quick bus ride down to Singapore, where we figure we have the best chance of getting the computer fixed. We’re trying to remain optimistic, ignoring how implausible it may be to to find the parts needed to repair a 5 year old Apple laptop in this part of the world. Best case scenario would be that battery charger has simply gone out and we can purchase a new one. Worst case scenario is that some of the internals will need to be replaced. If such is the case, we may have to scrap the computer all together. Getting parts shipped here takes a good while, which would mean having to stay in a place like Singapore or Kuala Lumpur upwards of a month waiting for the parts to arrive.
If we’re unable to get the computer fixed, we will take a look into getting a new laptop—most likely the new Apple Macbook. There are two problems, however, with purchasing a new computer. First, it’s expensive. As we’re living on a pretty fixed income, purchasing a new computer will put a serious dent in our budget for this trip and knock off a few of the countries we wanted to see. Second, the Macbooks—the first generation of Apple computers to use Intel chips—require new versions of software to accomodate the change. This would require us purchasing all new versions of the software we use, which is nearly as expensive as purchasing the computer itself. It gets worse. Many smaller companies have already updated their software to run on the new chips, however, larger companies such as Adobe have yet to do so, as their product development cycles are considerably longer. Of primary concern for us is Adobe, and specifically, Adobe Photoshop, which we use to perform all our image editing. Adobe has publically stated that they won’t be supporting the new Intel chips until October 2006 at the earliest. This basically means no Photoshop until then. There is a feature in the new Macbooks called Rosetta, which allows previous generation software to run on the new machines. We’ll have to do some more research, but early reports seem to indicate that performance is severely limited.
We’ll keep you updated.
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- Where have we been?
- Friday October 12, 2007 / Comments [6]
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- Thursday February 1, 2007 / Comments [27]
- Semporna Revisited
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We can get you the employee discount and I may be able to answer some rosetta questions for you via email – or we can make you a screaming deal on my old TiBook 800 – I don’t know how much longer it will hold up though :-/
there are also refurb ppc powerbooks still available that we should get discounts on as well – let me know if we can help…
Of course, it goes without saying, I’m always here for any tech support you need, whenever you need it!!!!! Good luck – GV
Hi guys. So sorry about the computer. Hugh was just visting me on Friday and had bought himself the new Apple Macbook. You can boot it up as windows or Mac, but can’t run the two systems together. I know George might be a little busy. I could of course help by purchasing the computer and loading all the software that I can get my hands on, whatever is currently available for the new chip. The real hard part is where to ship it. I can’t imagine what shape Kai will be in after days and days of gin and tonics in Singapore. Love, Dianne
Kai’s been a bit shaky and pale the last few days, suffering from severe withdrawl. A Singapore Sling, at the Raffles Hotel (where the drink was invented) should fix things up and hopefully we’ll be able to sort out our computer blues soon. And if that doesn’t work we’ll be sure to call George… maybe he can use it as a planter box.
We’ll keep you posted on our progress.
I am dying to tell (and show) everyone about diving hopefully this doesn’t take too long.
Hi Bun—I will miss our google chats. I was wondering where you went.
:`(
Bisous.
Dare I say it, but maybe the computer blues will be a good thing? As much as I look forward to your updates and new pics, maybe some computer-free time will afford you some greater relaxation and time to just be. But this is coming from someone who shuns her computer when on vacation or away from work… I know you guys have a very different relationship with your computer. :)
Awe, sorry to hear about that. Whatever is wrong with it, getting it fixed sounds like a hassle. That laptop has already died and been resurrected a few times. I hope it has a little more life left in it.
JULIEKAI I MISS YOU! Poor Titanium. Get a MACBOOK! It’s fun! It does Photoshop fiiiiine. you read too many blogs. remeber to get me something pretty while you’re out there!