Toodle-Dos and Free iMac RAM

[hrj]

Movie night, check. Bike ride, checkity check check check. We did the route in 2 hours of actual biking time (ca 24 miles) -- don't recall how that compares to last time, particularly since I dawdled over gadget and grocery shopping afterwards last time. (The fancy bike odometer gadget is capable of tracking riding time -- and hence average speed -- for only those periods when the wheels are revolving.) It looks like I'm well enough matched with thread_walker to be a good training partner after all.

Of course, "2 hours of actual biking time" doesn't include the 35 minutes between when I left my house and arriving at Orinda BART (must remember that I can leave 10 minutes later than I've been budgeting and still make my train with time to spare). And it doesn't include the hour spent getting from Concord BART back home (including a stop-off at Arizmendi Bakery for late breakfast). And it doesn't include the hour basically crashing and showering and changing. And it doesn't include the hour finally having breakfast and reading things on-line. But, hey, I made lots of progress yesterday on item 3 (slide show for costume lecture) and I've still got 8 or 9 hours of working time in the day. (Well, minus a grocery shopping trip at some point.)

The weekend accomplishments have also included Freecycling some assorted office supplies and electronics (printer ink for printers I no longer own, Palm keyboard for model I no longer own, portable CD player that has long since been replaced by iPods). I have one more item to get rid of which I'll offer here first.

1 GB RAM for Apple iMac G5 (the full part description seems to be "1GB DDR400 PC3200 DIMM"). Not the current silver-tone iMac but the previous white plastic model (if it matters, which I think it does). Brand new, unused, still sealed in packaging. The deal is that the original chip in my machine had to be replaced but I decided to upgrade to 2GB instead (which is a single-unit replacement rather than simple adding a second 1GB chip), but by warranty they still had to give me the replacement for my bad original ... even though I didn't need it. The thing is serving no earthly use sitting on my desk, so if anyone could use it, let me know. It's light enough I'd even be happy to ship it. And, yes, I know I could probably get some cash for it (the box seems to indicate it has a $300 list price) but that would require a great deal more effort on my part ... which means it could be another year before I get to it.

Comments

[ajodasso.livejournal.com]

Is there any way it could be used in a G4, or are the G5 parts now completely different?

[hrj.livejournal.com]

I have no idea, I'm afraid. (That's why I supplied what I hope is the full description -- so people can figure out for themselves whether it would be compatible.)

[ajodasso.livejournal.com]

Now that I've done some poking around, I think it should be: this is, after all, an iBook part, not a MacBook part. Tell you what: send it along, and if for some reason I can't use it in Pearl, I promise I will put it up for free just as you did!

(Although I am in the UK, so should shipping prove a hardship, I wouldn't mind paying you for that.)

[hrj.livejournal.com]

The chip is for an iMac (desktop) not iBook (laptop) and I think there may be significant size/shape differences even for the same specs. I've been trying to do some research on the topic and keep getting bogged down by the cheap memory vendors coming up top in all the keyword searches. (It's also becoming clear that the street market for memory is lower than the "genuine Apple part list price" suggests, so maybe I'm not being quite as profligate as I thought.)

[ajodasso.livejournal.com]

...hmm, right, never mind then. I hope it finds a home, though!

[scotica.livejournal.com]

I know it won't go in a PowerBook G4 -- I had first dibs but, alas, it was no use. My uber-geek friend Rob (yes, I have friends geekier than me) kindly found the necessary info for me (because I was also having trouble with keyword searches) and indicated that for such memory compatibility questions a combination of Wikipedia and the Apple Support site (for confirmation, once you know the precise thing to search for, 'cause, well, Wikipedia) seemed to be the most efficient method of figuring things out.

[stitchwhich.livejournal.com]

The Concord BART station... there's a trip down memory lane! I used to be stationed at the Weapons Station there and ride the BART into Oakland. I haven't thought about it for over 30 years but your post reminded me of one trip on the week that the Raiders were facing down the 49ers - that was a tense trip!