iDismantle

On Monday, my wife's iBook abruptly died. One second she was browsing with Firefox, the next she was watching inexplicable patterns morphing on her LCD. We took it to the Mac store and they diagnosed it: "99% sure it's the logic board". (I think that when Mac people say "logic board", they're trying to say "motherboard" but it comes out wrong, every time.) $400 for another new logic board - it was just replaced two years
ago. This is a G3 800, and not worth $400 more, we decided.

So we just picked up another G3 800 for $300 today, in better shape, from a friend. But since we needed the old data, I set about removing the hard drive from the old iBook so I could use my handy-dandy 2.5-3.5 IDE converter to read the data. Thankfully, I found a very precise and helpful guide (PDF) before I set about dismantling the old iBook. So, after removing the keyboard, the airport card, 32 screws of various sizes and types, the bottom of the case, some shielding, some tape, and some little greasy springs that help out the battery contacts, I managed to remove the hard drive. Now, the iBook looks like this.

I plugged in the adapter, set the drive gently in a test box on my network, ran 'mount -t hfsplus', and rsynced everything very nicely to my fileserver.

Then, I realized I could replace the 12GB drive in my own laptop - a PIII Compaq M300 running Ubuntu - with this neat-o 30GB drive from the iBook. Unable to find good instructions on taking the M300 apart, I dreaded the perils...but I took out three screws, popped off a small side panel, and extracted the hard drive. Now why couldn't the iBook have been that easy? Granted, it's awfully slick how the iBook has so few visible screws -- are there any at all? But seriously, folks, we sent it in last time and it came back with little gouges around the edge where they pried the case apart. It seems like they could save themselves some time and preserve the aesthetic beyond the first repair by designing in some well-placed screws.

My operating system has just finished rsyncing to my new 30GB drive, so I'd best go try the laptop out.

Pullman: Better than I thought?

I just finished The Amber Spyglass and I have more good things to say about Pullman than I did last time. Coincidentally, I've also started reading The Broken Bridge, which I like just fine so far and may have more to say about later since the main character is named Ginny, just like a very respectable Rowling character we all know. Is my Rowling-Pullman character-naming theory shot through with this new revelation?!? I'm inclined to guess not, but I need to finish The Broken Bridge before I comment further.

Unfortunately for this post and for my progress in reading delightful fiction, I also have a paper due Tuesday and so must spend my time expositing about what Pierre Duhem might say about the type of theory that a "softer science" than physics, namely psysiology, ought to pursue. If you think that sounds interesting, that's because it is interesting. If you don't, then be glad I'm done writing here for now.