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PowerLogix Releases G4 1GHz Upgrade Cards
danamania writes "PowerLogix have announced their PowerForce G4 800Mhz and 1Ghz upgrades for existing G4 systems. Versions for the 100Mhz bus G4s (including the Cube) are available now, with 133Mhz bus versions coming later." PowerLogix also recently released a G4 upgrade to the "Pismo" PowerBook G3.
I've seen this one floating around a bit and nobody's bothered to answer it. The short answser, Apple made it a bit tougher to upgrade the Pismo Powerboooks (And probably the G4s as well if they require a mail-in) by putting the system rom chip on the same daughtercard as the proc. (Check out the ram installer guide of trans intl memory retailers, [transintl.com] for some good pics of the mem daughtercard of a pismo g3 powerboook).
That ROM is one of the ways the OS IDs the system and knows you're installing OS X on a Pismo Powerbook as opposed to a new iBook or a Blue and White G3 tower. So in order to upgrade you have to send them the whole unit (with a charged batt) so they--Powerlogix or NewPowr) can remove the ROM, slap it on the new G4 board, install it and fire the whole assemblage up for a quick spin through your pr0n collection before mailing it back. Thus you have 300 bucks for the total package. That's hardware, bench testing, a quick turn around guarantee and free return delivery. Not too bad for us Pismo owners dying for some Altivec goodness but just not able to swallow purchasing a Powerbook G4 and giving up our far more versatile (and proven durable) Pismo chassis.
I haven't checked out the info on the new G4 upgrades, but if it's just a PCI drop in with new ROM already onboard then it should be a breeze to install for the home user. Disabling the existing proc would be interesting but I'm sure the software included has some kind of OpenFirmware hack to tell your Mac which G4 to use and which one to cook hotdogs on. I'll have to dig around for some pix on the Cube upgrade...those puppies aren't built to be spacious on the inside.
cheers.