Andy’s PowerBook Problem

[3lectr1cPPC]

Sweeeet! A 170 without tunneling is a real treat, definitely one of my favorites. I’m surprised the hard disk is working! These usually at the very least need the rubber bumpers replaced or taped over, mine did.

This one should be the last PB. Famous last words, of course, but it is rather difficult to beat one of these!

I’ll give it a month this time. You don’t have a 5300ce yet! Or a 180c. Or a 2400. I’m careful not to fall into the same trap of “what’s next” and appreciate what I’ve got. You certainly should! Yet this is coming from the guy who has a 100 on the way, so I’m not the best example to follow

 

[AndyO]

Sweeeet! A 170 without tunneling is a real treat, definitely one of my favorites. I’m surprised the hard disk is working! These usually at the very least need the rubber bumpers replaced or taped over, mine did.

I’ll give it a month this time. You don’t have a 5300ce yet! Or a 180c. Or a 2400. I’m careful not to fall into the same trap of “what’s next” and appreciate what I’ve got. You certainly should! Yet this is coming from the guy who has a 100 on the way, so I’m not the best example to follow

I took the original 170 rather for granted, and ironically for me these days, never saw the point in it. I used it a few times on train commutes between Manchester and London, but the battery wasn't good enough so I tended to use a Cambridge Z88 instead. Far more useful for note taking and report writing on the move.

Admittedly, I might like a 180c... probably as well there aren't any that look worth buying! And, well, maybe a photo of your 100 might get me interested in one of those too. The sickness continues....

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Haha, yeah it sure does. I’ll be covering everything to do with getting my 100 up and running on this thread when it arrives: https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/here-we-go-again-powerbook-100-recap-restore.43014/

 

[beachycove]

Well if 7.5.3 runs about as fast as 7.1 on the Classic II, I may just have to give it a go. The key attraction for me would be the better AppleScript. Maybe the best thing would be to do a fresh installation and try to use it with System Picker, so that I could revert to 7.1.

The minor impediment a ce moment, mind, is that my CII is not working. The analog board needs some TLC.

 

[joshc]

The 170 will probably be a lot happier on 7.1 rather than 7.5 as well. Looks to be in nice shape!

 

[CC_333]

You could even try System 6 on it:

...since localized versions of System 7 were not yet available worldwide, the Japanese 6.0.7 KanjiTalk version of Apple's System software was modified to support all three new PowerBooks and released as version J-6.0.7.1.[2][3]As a result, this version was unofficially adapted for use with the standard 6.0.7 allowing many users to run System 6 on their PowerBooks...

Source.

I've tried it on my 140, and it works very nicely, almost like the first PowerBooks were meant to run System 6 originally. It's also a viable way of running a PowerBook with a dead or missing hard drive from a floppy drive, since even a basic System 7 install is too large.

c

 

[ArmorAlley]

There is this PB 145B (below) in Switzerland, if you are interested.
Too many are never enough.

https://www.ricardo.ch/de/a/macintosh-powerbook-145b-1214804174/

 

[AndyO]

The 170 will probably be a lot happier on 7.1 rather than 7.5 as well. Looks to be in nice shape!

I thought that too - the RAM overhead if nothing else. It does run quite well as it is though, which is surprising. Altogether a rather excellent PB 170 - I ran it for about 4 or 5 hours yesterday, and no tunnel vision problem.

You could even try System 6 on it:

Source.

I've tried it on my 140, and it works very nicely, almost like the first PowerBooks were meant to run System 6 originally. It's also a viable way of running a PowerBook with a dead or missing hard drive from a floppy drive, since even a basic System 7 install is too large.

c

That is good to know! It may be a good target system for some experimentation.

There is this PB 145B (below) in Switzerland, if you are interested.
Too many are never enough.

https://www.ricardo.ch/de/a/macintosh-powerbook-145b-1214804174/

Pretty sure I don't need help to be tempted! Nice looking 145B though... shame it's not more local to me!

 

[AndyO]

The 170 after about 5 hours continuous running yesterday while I was messing with it installing software. I don't see any real sign of tunnel vision, but there is s bit of fading in the top-left corner after a time. However, it seems to be running pretty well, and having tossed the '8-ball' in favor of a standard 100-series trackball, it is actually rather smoother to scroll around too.

Quite pleased.



Not sure why the SCSI2SD external was totally ignored by my 630CD when I was trying to move some installers such as PageMaker 4.01, but I was able to do this via the Lombard instead. My next adventure will be trying to replace the 8Gb spinner in the 630 with an IDE-SD device. The 630 is pretty quiet and runs very smoothly, so I should know better than to disturb it, but I have a history of doing stupid things so it's inevitable.

 

[joshc]

That display looks amazing, very sharp and bright!

 

[AndyO]

That display looks amazing, very sharp and bright!

I had honestly forgotten what a 170 display was like to work with. I was not a big fan of laptops back then when my original one was new, so I didn't really make use of it all that much, but set against the displays I was seeing at the time, it was pin sharp. This one is amazingly good. A new favorite!

 

[Paralel]

A small amount of fading is probably an indicator of a very nascent case of TV. But, if there is that minor, I would expect it to take a very long time to progress, if it does at all.

 

[AndyO]

A small amount of fading is probably an indicator of a very nascent case of TV. But, if there is that minor, I would expect it to take a very long time to progress, if it does at all.

I thought this too. It's going to get some usage every day, so I'll keep my eye on whether it changes.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

As long as it stays in a non-humid environment, it shouldn't get any worse. 5 hours though for it to show? That's nothing man! I've never even ran my 170 continuously for that long.

 

[AndyO]

As long as it stays in a non-humid environment, it shouldn't get any worse. 5 hours though for it to show? That's nothing man! I've never even ran my 170 continuously for that long.

I have at least one vintage Mac running all day on workdays - most recently that's been my 630CD, but the 170 will make a great alternative now I've got it set up.

I have been lucky with tunnel vision for sure!

 

[AndyO]

The 165c floppy drive is bad too...

Actually, not. I was using it yesterday - or rather, just messing about with it - and discovered that the floppy drive works. The flap is missing and the internal carrier seems crooked, but it reads and writes. It even ingests disks properly, but needs a bit of help ejecting them. I managed to install Claris Works 4 on it from my floppy set, and then move files to and from it.

 

[AndyO]

The sickness continues... though for a very good reason (in my estimation). Due soon, a PowerBook 180c, which honestly I couldn't refuse resist. Apparently in good working and physical condition - except for the hinges, which are failing, but still functional, if only just.

Pretty sure I'll have to repair the hinges, for which if I am not mistaken, I'll need a couple of 3D printed blocks, a little plastics removal from the panel behind the display, and appropriate glue. It doesn't sound too hard, though in my dexterity-challenged state, that might prove wishful thinking. I looked for a suitable video of this repair but couldn't find one (yet).

However, a 180c... just hoping now that UPS haven't run the package through their crusher!

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Ok, gotta warn you, you've absolutely got to recap the screen on one of those. Like seriously, those caps will be failing and using the computer with them in place will cause them to leak further and corrode away at the fragile LCD ribbons that can't be repaired if they break. I'd send it off to whoever recapped your Classic before using it if I were you, the caps on my 180c were pretty nasty.

Here's the proper 3D printed parts for the color 100 series laptops:

PowerBook 180c Hinge Repair by halkyardo

Repair your wobbly PowerBook 180c screen hinges! These blocks are designed to be glued in place of the original hinge mounts that inevitably break, shaped so that they are easy to align. Note that you will need to cut away the original hinge mounts and their support webbing, in order to fit...

www.thingiverse.com

 

[AndyO]

That looks like the right part, thanks! Not got a 3D printer, but I think I can find someone who does!

I really don't want to do disassembly/reassembly work if I don't have to since I have very little feeling in the fingertips of my right hand, but this PB is worth getting right, so I may have to store it away for a while until I think I'm better able to work on it, particularly since I found the full-sized parts of the Classic hard enough to work with! It is worth getting right though, for sure.

That said, it's been in 4-5 hours a week plus use for years, so I'll give it an outing to test it first when it gets here - if for no other reason than that I have never seen an actual 180c before.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

The 180c is a nice system. The screen looks great on these when properly working, expect to see some passive-matrix-like artifacting around open windows though due to those bad caps. Main limitation on these is the RAM, 14MB max isn't much, but mine only has 4! It still makes a nice games system though, and isn't that slow with a BlueSCSI instead of spinning rust. You'll know if the caps are leaking badly if you smell a fish smell around the LCD after it's been running for a few minutes.

I really don't want to do disassembly/reassembly work if I don't have to since I have very little feeling in the fingertips of my right hand, but this PB is worth getting right, so I may have to store it away for a while until I think I'm better able to work on it, particularly since I found the full-sized parts of the Classic hard enough to work with! It is worth getting right though, for sure.

Yeah, these laptops do take a lot of tinkering to get right. It really stinks that that kind of thing is difficult for you. I've had to do a lot of recapping on mine, and you probably will have to as well at some point soon. I'm shocked your 145B display is still going! It's unfortunate but it's the way things are now with these old systems.