Best way to transfer data to 5300?

[spaceinvader12]

As a few of you may know, I just got a slew (well, three) Powerbooks fairly recently, consisting of a 5300, 190, and 190cs. the 5300 currently is running 7.5.5 perfectly and I'm trying to get software onto it and was wondering what the best method for this is. Of course, I can write 1.44 floppies from my new laptop through HFV explorer, but it's both slow and limiting what I can put on it since the files have to be small or sectioned off. I've heard networking the 5300 could help (possibly connecting to a file server) but I've not got any idea how and I don't have the hardware for actually connecting it to the internet. I've heard of using a raspberry pi to emulate modems, and I've got one of those, if that's of any use. I also know sneakernets are a possibility (zip drives? cd-roms?) with much greater capacity than a floppy disk. I'd also eventually like to upgrade to 8.1 but that looks like you need a cd drive for it.

So, I'm very happy with my new 5300 but I'd love to get some more files on it to really put it to work. I currently have a new (2015) laptop running linux as my main machine and a functional SE FDHD so if the transfer system works for that Mac too I'd be incredibly happy. This site has been a wonderful source of advice for someone relatively new to this hobby so anything you think could help me out would be much appreciated.

 

[Hrududu]

IMO the best option is an expansion card that gives you ethernet or wifi.  For my 190 I got an Orinico Gold card and found that it does a wonderful job of getting on my local Appletalk network where I can transfer  files much quicker than over the old LocalTalk or teletalk cables.  The card ran me less than $10 shipped.  It doesn't get much easier than that. 

 

[Byrd]

Another option would be a USB card reader + PCMCIA CF card for your 5300.  I believe you can also boot up off CF on the PCMCIA bus, making for a silent machine.

 

[toples50]

Or maybe use a SCSI Zip drive.

 

[bunnspecial]

Do you have a later PowerBook(up through the VGA TiBooks) or an early tray load iMac G3?

If so, AppleTalk over IrDA is probably the simplest since it "just works" and doesn't require any cables.

Otherwise, AppleTalk over a printer cable or even EtherTalk(use a crossover cable) to any other OWR Mac takes just a couple of minutes to set up.

Neither of these methods is exactly fast, but they work. The only potential hiccup with IrDA is keeping a line of sight.

 

[spaceinvader12]

Wow, thanks for of your help, guys.

A wifi card would be great but it'd have to connect to WPA2 wifi or I'd have to put up a new WEP network which is something I haven't done before. I'd also probably need to find a list of compatible cards as well.

My friend mentioned he has a PC card for data storage and a reader so I may play around with that if we go to his house to hang out. Maybe that's work, although I doubt his PC could read it if it's Mac formatted.

I don't have a newer Mac like the ones you've described. I have got a G5 iSight that's been daily used for a while so if that helps I've got it. AppleTalk could work if it'd be compatible with either the G5, a rPi, or a regular old Linux laptop. I may need a little help in getting that configured but it does sound doable (plus, it'd work in my SE, right?)

Again, thanks much for all your help. hopefully I'll be able to start getting big files to it soon.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

SCSI Disk Mode. There is no substitute.

< makes note to self to spec basic kit and lay variations out for pics in a new peripherals thread. >

 

[Elfen]

Another option would be a USB card reader + PCMCIA CF card for your 5300.  I believe you can also boot up off CF on the PCMCIA bus, making for a silent machine.

Correct on all counts.

My only concern if losing the file headers (File type & Creator attributes) on these files if you are using a PC. There are ways to get them back if you know the file's attributes. The program Utility Dog can do this as a batch job - set up a folder, set up the files with the same missing file attributes in that folder, set up the file attributes select the folder and files in it and click on go. If you set "click to verify" you would have to click yes or no for each file.

You can do the same thing with the 190s you have as well.

 

[spaceinvader12]

In a stroke of luck, a friend had a 4GB CF card with the PC card adapter and a USB writer laying around. He gave them to me and after backing up some stuff on it I got it formatted and running. I did a test boot of 7.5.5 on it, which worked perfectly. I basically cloned the System folder form the HDD. It all seemed to work fine.

However, 8.1, the OS I want to use, throws a bus error when it tries to boot. It gets to the "Welcome to Macintosh" and throws the Bus error. Holding shift made no difference. For reference, I cloned the OS off another hard drive that worked fine inside the same powerbook. I can't work out why it's doing this. I'd like to keep 7.5.5 on the HDD with 8.1 on the card, but if they're incompatible what would I have to do to get it going on 8.1? I have install files for 8.1 and 8.0 that work fine. I'm writing to the card directly from Linux Mint, which sees it natively. 

What am I doing wrong here?

 

[Cory5412]

It sounds like OP went with PCMCIA, which for a machine like this is a fine choice.

SCSI Disk Mode. There is no substitute.

On a machine with as many ports and internal drive bays as a 5300, there are plenty of substitutes. There's even an uncommon 3.5-inch magneto optical drive for the 190/5300. The possibilities are nearly endless, because the 5300 has as many or more (what with pcmcia) options for data transfer as a normal desktop Mac from the era.

PCMCIA is the way I personally do bulk file transfers on my 1400, and after having had 7.6.1 on my 1400 for a while, I'm considering moving that machine to 8.1, which should do a better job with "PC" formatted cards. I'd like to get another 32-gig card or two and format them in HFS+ format for use between my Mac mini and the 1400, and then perhaps, if I can find one, a new small card for use as a fat/fat32 formatted card to move data from the 1400 to my PCs.

You can put network cards into the 5300's pcmcia slots and use AppleShare over AppleTalk (netatalk2) or AppleShare over IP (netatalk 2 and 3). There are also localtalk/ethertalk bridges, for which you'd need either macipgw or an appletalk based appleshare server, such as netatalk2, asip, or the one included with windows nt4/2000/2003.

Long term, I'll be setting up a proper vintage mac file server. (Probably Windows 2003) and just storing most or all of my vintage Mac relevant data on there.

 

[spaceinvader12]

Yep, the CF card seems to be a good storage solution and for file transfers. Not needing a program to read it is also great. However, I've run into an issue. I put a 7.5.5 install on it and there wasn't any problems. Now, with the Hard drive on 8.1, I upgraded the CF card to match using a clean install. It completes fine but when it tries to boot of the Card it throws the following error.

http://imgur.com/a/WGWRW(copied a link because the picture is quite large)

I know the card booted fine under 7.5.5 and it was also good with the 8.1 installer when I used it to upgrade the hard drive. Booting with extensions off made no difference and I couldn't find any topics on it. What should I do? If it's not fixable, I can always downgrade the Card back to 7.5.5 but I'd like to keep 8.1 as it runs nicely. does anyone know what could be causing this?

 

[jsarchibald]

Sounds like my spare TAM.  Whenever it boots, I get to the Welcome to Macintosh screen, and just as it is about to go to the desktop, it freezes and comes up with any number of Address Bus errors (from memory, one was -97).  Have yet to get to the bottom of it, mainly due to time but also not overly keen to start disassembly!  One day...

 

[spaceinvader12]

Yeah, that does sound similar, except I never get to loading extensions or the like. It's just right after the welcome screen. However, I did some more poking about with different keywords on google and discovered a few things, mostly from this old thread of macrumors:

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/powerbook-5300.149689/

I read somewhere else that 8.5/6 fix the booting issue, but I can't remember where. The thread I linked argues that 8.5/6 also better on certain powerbooks due to not having to emulate 68k code. How valid is this? I have 40Mb of ram, which is above the 16MB stated to be desirable for running it. What experience do you guys have in various OS installs on 5300s? Would 8.6 be a desirable choice for it? Or should I downgrade back to 7.5.5, what it was originally running when I got it?

I have various backups of the CF card and hard drive on my new PC (wow, this card is useful) to save me the trouble of reinstalling OS (always slow, copying from pc is much faster) so I'm thinking I'll temporarily drop a clean install of 7.5.5 back on it so I can boot it then I can choose what OS to put on the drive and the card?

I guess I'm just wondering what OS is the best for a 5300cs as I'm not incredibly knowledgeable. Thoughts?