Topic: UA-5 > iBook???

[quantegy]

I'm looking to buy a iBook in the next few months and was wondering if there is a problem using the UA-5 USB out into the iBook. Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks!

[John Kelly]

I ran it for a while with Spark XL and never had any problems.

[quantegy]

good to hear, thanks.  

[quantegy]

What did you do to power the iBook? The only reason I ask is because a friend was using an iBook for a little bit and had problems having enough power for a whole show. He had two batteries. And he tells me that he was using OS 9 and OS X uses a lot more power and there would be no way to get a whole show with OS X. Any thoughts on this?

[John Kelly]

Since the UA-5 was powered by an external battery, I only ran the iBook from it's internal battery.  It usually lasts me 4+ hours, so I never had a problem getting a whole show.  Did a couple of DMB shows like this, around 3 hours each - no battery problems.  

Now I have a Valence NCharge, which gives me around 10 hours of use - but since I run the 410 powered from the firewire bus I get about half that for recording.

[quantegy]

So you got 4 hours from one iBook battery? Thats a big difference from my friend. Hmmmmm. What OS where you running? What version of iBook?

Thanks a lot John for the responses.  

[John Kelly]

Mac OS X, I think I was still in 10.2.x.  How old is his iBook?  If he's running a 500 or 600 his battery life could've just diminished by now...

[quantegy]

Yeah it is a 500 or 600 and I want to say 500. Seems like its always been that way but I cant say for sure. Anyway, nevermind about that, I believe you and that makes me even more excited about getting one since I wont have the extra $300 to buy an external battery.

Thanks again!