Re: OS 9.22 Pismo 4.1.8 Firmware update?

In article <1irm6ef.dedbb9pizwn6N%mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Mark Shapiro) wrote:

In article <1irljd8.1bjhjjmxqez5sN%mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Mark Shapiro) wrote:

I have a Pismo OS9.22 I'm keeping that way.
(Have another Laptop for OSX)

Bored, I did a softwre update and for the
first time in a year, there was an update.
Firmware Update 4.1.8 for Pismos - kind
of an OSX support. Will it break my OS9.22
machine in any way if I install it. Or, if I'm never
running OSX on it, is there a reason to install it?

Have you tried a Google search for "Powerbook Firmware Update 4.1.8"?

Yes, and I did not find anything for someone that uses
9.22 only on Pismo.

You're kidding me, right?

The very first hit you get when you search for that is Apple's own
technical note about Firmware Update 4.1.8:

<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75132>

I'm not sure what would make you think this technical note doesn't apply
to your Pismo.

One, Apple only mentions "Mac OS 9.1" because that happened to be the
current version when the technical note was written. It naturally
applies to 9.2 as well since 9.2 was mostly an update for compatibility
in the Mac OS X "Classic" environment.

And two, in the technical note, Apple states:

"Firmware Update 4.1.8 includes improvements to Firewire target disk
mode, network booting, gigabit networking (on systems with gigabit
hardware), and system stability. This update also adds support for
additional security options which allow the Open Firmware to be password
protected. "

Nothing in this says this is "kind of an OS X support" to me. If your
Pismo has Firewire ports, open firmware, networking ports, and runs a
system, it seems to me it's likely this update applies to your computer.

Had you read the technical note thoroughly you'd know this, and I
wouldn't have to copy and paste parts of web pages for you.

Also, had you bothered to follow the *second* link on the search results
page, you'd have read a page where the following tidbits of information
about Firmware Update 4.1.8 are available:

--------------------
"The Apple 4.1.7 and 4.1.8 firmware updates incorporate a number of
fixes that dramatically improve system stability and performance. The
update also includes a new check that validates whether the installed
memory in the machine is compatible. This check was added to help
alleviate random crashes and stability issues. The new memory test
disables memory DIMMs that are found to be out of specification and
DIMMs that cannot be determined to be compatible. As a result, some
third party memory that was recognized by previous versions of firmware
may no longer be recognized after the updates."
Todd
Apple Support Discussions"
--------------------

--------------------
"At the weekend I tracked down the problem with a PC100-222 DIMM in my
PowerBook G3 and firmware 4.1.8, and fixed it. The information in the
Serial Presence Detect (SPD) EEPROM on the DIMM did not conform with the
PC100 standard, in particular, there were no settings for CL3 mode, only
CL2 mode. I was able to fix this by getting the specs for the chips on
the DIMM (from the web site of the chip maker), and reprogramming the
SPD EEPROM with settings for both CL3 and CL2 mode. The DIMM is working
just fine now.

The SPD EEPROM can be reprogrammed from software, but I will need the
details from some more problem DIMMs and more details on other hardware
before I can put together a program that anyone can use to do this. I
have a program called DIMMCheck available from my web server. It dumps
the contents of the SPD EEPROM and it should identify problem DIMMs. If
people with problem DIMMs can run this, copy the results, paste it to an
email, and send it to dimms@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, I will see if I can put
together a fix this weekend.
Glenn."
--------------------

--------------------
" After all the warnings, etc., I broke down and FINALLY updated my
G4 firmware. I have a 450AGP. I checked RAM before and after (1.5GB from
OWC), and it's all there. I was interested in seeing if FW performance
improved, since the newer G4 533s achieve higher FW speeds with the same
drive when I use it in the DV editting suite.
In a word, WOW.

I was getting writes of about 5.5-6MB/sec on both my OWC
(compucable) portable 20GB (hitachi 4200rpm) and my OWC (macally)
standard sized 80GB (Maxtor 5400rpm). I was getting slightly better
reads with the large case drive, of 7MB sec, while the portable had
reads at or below 6MB.

After the firmware update (4.1.8f5):
Portable (20GB): read 8.7MB/sec, write 7.6MB/sec
Larger (80GB): read 8.7MB/sec, write 7.1MB/sec

That's an AMAZING improvement, and on par with the speeds (for the
portable) I was getting with the G4 533s. As always with me, these are
real world speeds copying very large files and folders of DV files. I
take the file or folder size (380MB for the file, 1.8GB for the folder)
and divide it by the number of seconds it takes. Then I average the two
numbers, though they were all within .2MB/sec this time. Before the
update, the speed fluctuated within .5, so looks like FW is faster AND
more consistent.

I have even achieved speeds of 5.5MB/sec copying from the portable
20GB to the larger 80GB, which is pretty damn good I think, compared to
before.

And none of these drives have been optimized, defragged, whatever.
They are both 75% to 80% full, as was the internal ATA/66 7200rpm Maxtor
drive I was using. I would imagine that if the drives were clean, the
speed might even go up more.

I will see if this combined with the QT5.0.2 fixes the batch capture
FW issues I was having when capturing from the DV deck to a FW drive.
Mike Kramer"
--------------------

--------------------
" Last night I installed the Firmware 4.1.8 update to my PowerBook
G3 400mhz (PISMO). When I bought it at ClubMac, I had the free 128mb
upgrade they installed so I had a total of 192mb of memory. After
installing the update, only the original 64mb was recognized. I am not
sure of the speed of the upgraded memory.
Christopher Messineo

(I asked for ram details and he wrote)

I am not sure of the brand, but the 128mb module is detected by
TattleTech. According the TattleTech factory installed 64mb is a
PC100-222-622 SDRAM. The module ClubMac installed when I bought my
PowerBook is a 128mb, PC100-222-622 SDRAM. I updated the firmware under
MacOS 9.1

This is the exact output of TattleTech:

RAM Size = 67,108,864 Bytes (64.0 MB)
[ Key->size,type,volts,pins,width,speed,part#,mfg date,ser# ]:
+ Module 1 = 64MB, PC100-222-622 SDRAM, 3.3v, 168,
128, 8.0ns (2-2-2), 8LSDT864LHG-10EC5 , 0/0,
13576960
+ Module 2 = 128MB, PC100-222-622 SDRAM, 3.3v, 168,
128, 8.0ns (2-2-2), ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ, 15/FF, -1

I hope this helps narrow it down. "
--------------------

....and so on...

So, to recap, it seems a single Google search pretty much answered all
of your questions. But because you failed to do the tiniest bit of
reading, it's all lost on you, and I'm having to hand feed you this
information.

This is a perfect illustration of why people use the phrase "RTFM". I'm
not your secretary - so, please, RTFM.

--
Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me.
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM
filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting
messages through their servers, I often ignore posts from Google
Groups. Use a real news client if you want me to see your posts.

JR
.

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