TiBook peripheral HELL

[solrac]

Ok it's not hell, but still.... very annoying.
Three things:
1) USB port
2) Ethernet port
3) Firewire port

each provides an interesting set of pitfalls, caveats, and challenges.

1) USB port...
Plugging in OR unplugging a USB device will wake the system up from sleep! Annoying!! What's with that? Especially annoying when you close the TiBook, then start pulling everything out the back. Ethernet (ahhhckk see #2 below), firewire, power cord, then USB....... system wakes up while the TiBook is closed! Then it goes right back to sleep again ... because it's closed! Sometimes this makes it hang for 5 seconds though. And everytime you forget about this it pisses you off!!!!!

2) Ethernet port...
Is it just me, or is pulling out an ethernet cable from the back of your TiBook just about as easy as pulling out a loose tooth with your toes?? Even if you can grab a hold of the depressor switch to release the lock, you have to push it down as hard as humanly possible, until the shape of the ethernet connector is etched into your thumb for the next hour, then yank that shit out! Even worse are the ethernet cables with rubber padding on top of the depressor switch....... aaaaaaaaaagggggghHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes the only way to get it out is to put TiBook on it's front-side and surgically precisely pull it straight out while arching your back and craning your neck to see it.

3) Firewire port...
One day I thought firewire plug-n-play was a joke, false advertising. Whoa... then I finally found out why none of my drives or devices would load unless I restarted my computer! You don't have to restart the computer! You just have to unplug the firewire from the back of your computer and plug it back in.... RIGHT? WRONG!!!!!! Of course I tried that! It's more complicated. You have to unplug the firewire cable from the back of the attached DEVICE, THEN plug it back into the device. NOW the system should pick it up. Plus, you have to do this for every device in your firewire chain. (If they've been off.)

Final Complaint:
My screen looks nice when it's on... the TiBook has a majestic screen in fact, but when it's off (and black) it looks like CRAP. Like grime and dust and scratches all over! And keyboard marks!!! Does NOT wipe clean. How to fix this?????

-solrac-

 

[jc658]

As for cleaning the screen, I have been able to get all those marks off, though it takes a little patience. First you can buy certain cleaners made specifically for laptop screens although I haven't found that these take off the really strong lines that look like the keyboard imprinted on the screen. For those lines I've used Windex (using the same very soft cloth that came with the screen cleaner, be careful the screen will scratch unless you use a very soft cloth) which takes them right off, then I follow up with a water-dampened cloth. I don't think Apple recommends using Windex but it is the only thing I've found that takes off the keyboard grime.

 

[symphonix]

The USB wake-up thing I've noticed, though it usually doesn't bother me since I tend only to swap things around when I'm actually using the computer.
From what I've seen the Ethernet port locking-clip is a little harder to get at on a TiBook than on my iBook, but I can tell you that that squishy rubber-boot thing usually slides back along the lead to let you at the lock.

 

[adambyte]

Ah... The USB plug and unplugging thing while TiBook is asleep.... I hate to use an old saying, but "It's not a bug, it's a feature."

On my PowerBook G3, what always used to annoy me was that things like my iMate or other USB peripherals would NOT be recognized if I plugged them in while the computer was asleep, and then I woke it up. I would have to plug things in WHILE it was awake, making it so that I couldn't do things in the order I wanted, or in my own time.

Now, the TiBook is smart enough so that when it's closed, it recognizes something there, wakes up, starts keeping track of it, and then goes back to sleep... Instead of just staying asleep, and then not recognizing the device when it is woken up....

I LOVE this feature... my USB peripherals now work as promised. But maybe that's just me. :-D

 

[kenny]

Originally posted by jc658
I don't think Apple recommends using Windex but it is the only thing I've found that takes off the keyboard grime.

I'm pretty sure that Apple should be recommending AGAINST using Windex on LCD screens. I don't know what the formulation of the anti-glare layer is, but I've seen ammonia-based cleaners completly *uck up displays by eating into the coating and fogging the surface. VERY ugly, and (in the case of the TiBook) very expensive damage. Please be careful.

 

[bebox]

Yes Yes yes!....I am also annoyed by the same weird stuff that happens with USB on a Ti Book and OSx 10.1. Last night I put my laptop to sleep and went to bed asnd then this morning I went to pull everything out of the back to take it to work and after I pulled out Ethernet (yes it is hard to get out) and the power cord I pulled out the USB and then the trouble started. For some reason there seems to be a particular set of circumstances where if you pull out the USB you just cannot get the computer back up and running without pulling out the battery and rebooting.

I had a bunch of stuff I was workign on last night and could not in anyway get the screen to come back up again without doing what I just mentioned. It is very weird....The computer is still running but there is no way that I can get it to wake up.

USB still seems to have a few nagging problems and of course if you have an external Firewire drive plugged in and then change you USB and it does it's little wake up thing then the firewire gets powered up to for a few seconds and then gets shut down again which can;t be good for it.

Overall OSX is getting better and I use it as my everyday OS but it still ainl's snappy enough for me...but that will come I am sure ) soon hopefuly )

CYA