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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Use Ibook to Interface G4 Tower

rsj - Sep 15, 2006 - 5:22 pm

I NEED to figure out how to use an old IBook (the really nice original white one) to "interface" with a G4 Tower.

I want to use the keyboard, trackpad, and monitor on the I-book to navigate the G4 box, which will be behind the couch.

The i-book is really nice but functionally far from great, whereas the tower and requried screen keyboard and mouse are not appropriate, but the tower will integrated into and transform the entertainment complex in the living room.

I don't want to use the puny processor, slow harddrive and low ram on the cute machine, so I need to hook-up the screen via VGA, the keyboard and trackpad via USB.

Any help/naysaying would be great before I waste a lot of time ripping apart a truly beautiful little machine.
thanks

- Sep 16, 2006 - 5:36 am

Hi rsj,

You have one basic solution to your problem. You can use VNC. VNC is a way of tunneling control and screen to your iBook. This works over a network connection. You could either buy a patch cable and directly hook the two together via ethernet, or use wireless, which has a good level of freedom on where you are when you control the computer. I must note that VNC is pretty much like refreshing a picture every quarter second (or less), and consequently, 3D-intensive applications, or even video files, will not work. Also, sound is not transmitted over VNC.

To show you how to enable VNC, I'll need some more information. Do you know what operating system your G4 Tower is running? How about your iBook too?

Once I know that, I can give you detailed instructions on how to get set up.

Have a great day!
Joey Lange
MacOSX.com Volunteer

rsj - Sep 16, 2006 - 8:01 am

sounds good, i could get a little router to connect the two computers since the ibook has no wireless card ($$ for that old model), and I will want the tower to be connected to the internet.
Both machines are running 10.3.9.
Thanks a lot
RSJ

bobw - Sep 17, 2006 - 5:05 am

Hi RSJ

You said;

I want to use the keyboard, trackpad, and monitor on the I-book to navigate the G4 box,

and;

I don't want to use the puny processor, slow harddrive and low ram on the cute machine

If you connect the machines together using VNC or Apple Remote desktop, this is exactly what you'll be doing.

You'll be using the iBook's processor, ram and hard drive to run the G4.

bobw
http://www.macosx.com

- Sep 17, 2006 - 7:53 am

sounds good, i could get a little router to connect the two computers since the ibook has no wireless card ($$ for that old model), and I will want the tower to be connected to the internet.
Both machines are running 10.3.9.
Thanks a lot
RSJ

- Sep 17, 2006 - 7:57 am

isn't that the same as a firewire hard disk?
there's a faster processor, more ram and way better bus on the tower, i can't use the slow little cutie.
can i get a vga connector and usb to patch the keyboard trackpad and monitor through to the tower?
thanks
rsj

bobw - Sep 17, 2006 - 8:05 am

RSJ

To use the G4 in Firewire Target Disk Mode, you would only be mounting the G4 disk on the iBook, not running the G4 through the iBook. It would be like having an external disk connected.

The only way to use the full power of the G4 would be to use the G4. If you're running it through the iBook, no matter how you're doing it, you'll still be running on the iBooks processor, memory, etc.

bobw
http://www.macosx.com

- Sep 17, 2006 - 12:24 pm

isn't that the same as a firewire hard disk?
there's a faster processor, more ram and way better bus on the tower, i can't use the slow little cutie.
can i get a vga connector and usb to patch the keyboard trackpad and monitor through to the tower?
thanks
rsj

- Sep 17, 2006 - 1:19 pm

isn't that the same as a firewire hard disk?
there's a faster processor, more ram and way better bus on the tower, i can't use the slow little cutie.
can i get a vga connector and usb to patch the keyboard trackpad and monitor through to the tower?
thanks
rsj

- Sep 17, 2006 - 1:22 pm

The goal is to use the G4 through the ibook without using the real guts of the ibook.
can i connect the monitor to a vga connection?
can i connect the trackpad and keyboard to a usb connection?
i guess i can figure this out once i break it open, maybe, but would like to know if there is any source for real information about the insides.
thanks
RSJ

bobw - Sep 18, 2006 - 3:07 pm

RSJ

You really can't do what you want to do. Won't work this way.

bobw
http://www.macosx.com