Hi all,
I have a G3 iBook Tangerine with OSX 10.3.9 on it (with 256mb of RAM) I've noticed that there are some weird issues with OpenGL with the ATI card. Some programs will not recognize it. I've seen that there are some mods for the early ATI cards on simmilar laptops (wallstreet laptop with ATI RagePro) does anyone know of any bug fixes for the ibook's openGL system?

OpenGL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenGL

G3 iBook:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/ibook/stats/ibook.html

ATI Rage Mobility circa 1999
http://ati.amd.com/products/mobility/features.html

ATI has never "done" OpenGL half as well as Nvidia. The "issues" you are seeing is the combination of a poor driver and a limited amount of video memory. As far as I know there is no "fix", not bad for it's time, software requirements have simply moved on.

Some *thoughts* on the state of running a ATI Rage on OSx here:
http://lowendmac.com/musings/01/1224.html

There are some driver tips/hacks here:
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/OSX/osx_ragepro_driver_tip.html

I understand what OpenGL and an ibook are, thank you; even what the ATI Rage is. I always was an ATI guy until lately (past few years).

What I was wondering if there are any open source communities that have created 'fixes' for this issue. The link you gave was just some guy 'belly-achin'' over apple's reluctancy to do anything about it.

Post updated with some tips/hacks.

The "feeling" within "the industry" is:
If you purchase a computer that is a un-upgradeable "lump", be it a laptop, or iMac, it is not a "computer", but a "commodity", something to be discarded (like a tube of toothpaste) when it's "useful" life is over. Personally, I don't buy into this train of *thought*, but I don't buy laptops, or iMacs, either. There are worse examples (as in unsupported hardware) of this in the PC industry.

You are still on Panther and iBook?!?! You seriously need to upgrade!! Thats how you fix it, Panther is long out of support and even open source developers dont use it so either create your own fix or suffer.

Well smarty pants, maybe I don't feel like it.
It's not like an OS upgrade is going to help it, think about it; look at the specs, if at all, it would hinder it.

Many ibook clamshell users tend to stick with 10.3 or 10.4 because of it (depending on RAM and HDD size).

I simply use the ibook for fun, to tinker, toy and mess with, to get into the nitty-gritty of OSX without the fear of ruining it if I goof up anything.

the ibook is old and slow but you know what? It works for what it needs to do; papers and basic browsing if it needs to do it.

What urks me the most is when someone who is comepletley ignorant about computers, sits down with their newly spent $1,200 computer; dual core, high end graphics card,d 1080p resolution monitors with 5.1 surround sound speaker system just to do a paper and for its entire life, it will do nothing more than just papers and web browsing. It's a waste of resources and money. That's why I'm all for refurbishing an older computer to save a college student money or using a cheap netbook with decent HDD space; see those netbooks are fantastic. Small, lightweight and with just the right amount of hardware to get the job done right. Anyway; rant about having the newest and best thing ALWAYS no matter what. That's for all of you consumer freaks out there.