Barnaby12345
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Need to know if there's a firmware update for iBook G4

After reading some webpages here and there about firmware updates for the iBook decided that needed more knowledge than I've gathered for making a decision; that's the reason for asking here. The specs for the iBook follows:

 

Model Name: iBook G4

  Model Identifier: PowerBook6,3

  Processor Name: PowerPC G4  (3.3)

  Processor Speed: 800 MHz

  Number Of CPUs: 1

  L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB

  Memory: 1.12 GB

  Bus Speed: 133 MHz

  Boot ROM Version: 4.7.7f0

 

Hope that the above is enough for knowledgeable people here can discern if there's one or more update for the firmware or not. Thanks!

Mac OS X (10.5.2), 1.2 GB RAM ; no Bluetooth

Posted on May 9, 2015 10:56 AM

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Barnaby12345

Q: Need to know if there's a firmware update for iBook G4

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  • by tom_older,Helpful

    tom_older tom_older May 11, 2015 8:02 AM in response to Barnaby12345
    Level 1 (14 points)
    May 11, 2015 8:02 AM in response to Barnaby12345

    As far as I know firmware updates for the iBook  referred to a requirement when updating from Mac OS9 Classic to Mac OS10 as covered here https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT1395   Your own computer did not need one. There is no mention of such being a feature in the specs description here http://www.apple-history.com/ibook_g4  and I would have expected a mention if such had become necessary.

  • by Barnaby12345,

    Barnaby12345 Barnaby12345 May 11, 2015 8:01 AM in response to tom_older
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 11, 2015 8:01 AM in response to tom_older

    Thanks for replying, tom_older!

     

    I've already seen this page (first link you provide, above) and if you look carefully you'll notice that that it looks contradictory. First, at the beginning of the section for the G4s it says that "no update needed"; at the end of the same section it states that there's an update available (doc # 75128).

     

    My question here is if it is safe to try it and let the system decide if it will be updated or not? My quest for trying to dual-boot this iBook (OS X & Lubuntu) have led me to a situation where I need to repartition the only HD I have (30 GB) for making room for the new OS; apparently, this task can't be done in my present situation (tried it but never completed; also, somewhere I read that with the tools for repartitioning the HD that I have the data on the partitions touched by the process will be lost = meaning it's a destructive process). I've used gParted under linux before and in those occasions no data was lost = everything was moved in accordance with my needs for room. Here comes the need to update the firmware as mentioned somewhere in the web...

     

    Is there the possibility of downloading an app for repartitioning the HD that is not destructive? Is there a gParted version for running on Apple hardware and under OS X 10.5.2?

     

    Thanks in advance for any info on the above! I was tempted to mark this thread as solved but I'm the kind of person that prefer definitive situations instead of moderately finished ones...

  • by tom_older,Helpful

    tom_older tom_older May 11, 2015 9:50 AM in response to Barnaby12345
    Level 1 (14 points)
    May 11, 2015 9:50 AM in response to Barnaby12345

    Sorry, I can't go confidently further here. My own googling which you have probably done yourself came up with something called partitionmagicmac but that seems to say basic requirement Intel PowerPC G3 (I didn't know Intel ever featured with G3) and I've no idea of its price. Thanks for the points.

  • by a brody,

    a brody a brody Jun 3, 2015 7:17 PM in response to tom_older
    Level 9 (66,889 points)
    Classic Mac OS
    Jun 3, 2015 7:17 PM in response to tom_older

    Intel never made a G3.     

    However, there are (now defunct company) OrangeMicro cards that have Intel CPUs that can be outfitted in the PCI slot of G3 Macs.   

    That allows hardware based running of PC operating systems that could run on the CPU of the OrangeMicro card in a dual boot system.