Anyone here use a PowerBook 150 with a CompactFlash card?

[Huxley]

Hi all,

A person in my neighborhood is selling a nice-looking PowerBook 150, but it shows the dreaded blinking question mark indicating a failed hard disk. From what I understand, the PB150 uses a very early implementation of the IDE specification, and it's not as simple as just popping an IDE-to-CF adapter in and formatting it.

Do any of you have any tips on how to make a CF card work in this machine, without going to the point of replacing ROM chips or anything quite that extreme?

Thanks!

Huxley

 

[Byrd]

Yes, using a generic 2.5” to CF adapter and smaller sized CF card (256/512/1GB), really isn’t much else to it format as usual

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Just to warn you - the 150 has really bad plastics. The other 100 series models get a bad rap, but they're actually not brittle - the plastics shrink a bit which causes the screwposts to crumble as the plastic can't shrink around the metal screw threads. Because of this, it's easy to restore one with a 3D printer and they'll be solid after that. The 150 on the other hand IS brittle, and has to be treated much more carefully.
Do not use the hinges at all until you've replaced the hinge mounts with 3D printed replacements. As soon as they fail, the screw wells in the front bezel that hold it down to the rear housing will shatter, which is a huge pain to repair. You'll also lose half the clips. This doesn't happen right away on the other 100 series models since they're not brittle.

 

[croissantking]

Yes, using a generic 2.5” to CF adapter and smaller sized CF card (256/512/1GB), really isn’t much else to it format as usual

And using a small card is critical because you cannot create custom sized partitions using the Apple supplied formatting utilty specific to the PowerBook 150. 1GB or less is ideal, 2GB is the absolute maximum but only if you are using System 7.5.3 or above. Anything bigger is a bad idea.

 

[Huxley]

This is great info guys - thank you! Given that the seller is being pretty unpleasant + the fragility of the system and its quirky storage requirements, I think I'll focus my attention on just getting some of the other 100-series machines I have in storage working. I appreciate the info though - there's probably a 150 lurking in my storage somewhere and I'll eventually put this knowledge to work!

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I have a 1GB drive in my 150 - it must be pre-formatted in another Mac, otherwise the 150 format utility fails.

 

[Fizzbinn]

I have a 1GB drive in my 150 - it must be pre-formatted in another Mac, otherwise the 150 format utility fails.

Interesting, I never tried that since was able to find a CF card that the 150 format utility, "Internal HD Format", was able to work with:

Transcend CompactFlash ULTRA 2GB Industrial


I had first tried with 512MB SanDisk and 1GB Kingston neither of which would work with the utility although I wonder if they would have worked if formatted in another Mac. At the time I thought the PB150 (and Internal HD Format) need CF cards that identify as fixed disks which my understanding is one of the differences between regular and Industrial CF cards.

I know the PB 150 is not exactly loved but I think its weirdness makes it really interesting!

 

[Byrd]

I don’t mind the PB150, its simplicity is a plus these days and the passive LCD is much better in overall quality than older 1x0 displays. And the CF option is really handy but as noted you might need a few different CF cards on hand to find the best one.

Plastic quality is poor however I had to Frankenstein three into one good some time back. Two had this odd shearing plastic casing issue which I’ve not come across (long splits in moulding not pressure related).

 

[Fizzbinn]

I don’t mind the PB150, its simplicity is a plus these days and the passive LCD is much better in overall quality than older 1x0 displays. And the CF option is really handy but as noted you might need a few different CF cards on hand to find the best one.

Plastic quality is poor however I had to Frankenstein three into one good some time back. Two had this odd shearing plastic casing issue which I’ve not come across (long splits in moulding not pressure related).

Yeah, mine is the combination of the best parts from two PB 150s… and reinforcing JB Weld epoxy around the standoffs…

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

My 150, despite a (admittedly poorly installed) 3D printed hinge fix, has completely split plastic around both hinges. Mind you, that’s the entire housing split, not just the standoffs. Had to blob epoxy on like crazy to keep it was falling to bits. I need a plastics donor badly.

Note that the 1GB drive is a mechanical hard drive, not a CF card. It was formatted in a PowerBook 1400c.

The 150’s LCD is better in resolution than earlier PBs, but I find the actual quality of the screen to be far worse compared to my 100 and 145.

Still love the machine though, because of its faults more than in spite of them.