Decisions, decisions... (How to allocate parts in 5x0 series)

[Anonymous Freak]

I have three Blackbirds.  I can make two "good" Blackbirds out of the parts, plus one "pretty crappy" one.

• I have two good physical condition cases, one pretty beat up case. (screen side latch snapped so it doesn't stay shut, pretty big chip in the front bottom plastic at the very front where the battery slides in, display lower bezel ("Display Access Cover" in Apple-speak) bottom clips broken, so it doesn't stay on well.) Note that when I got them, each of the three had some problems, I moved all the "bad looking" plastic parts to one chassis.
• Two 520c passive matrix screens, one 540c active matrix screen.
• One 16 MB add-in RAM card, one 8 MB add-in RAM card (which means one machine can be at 20 MB, another at 12 MB, the last at built-in-only 4 MB.)
• Two 250 MB hard drives (which means one system goes without.)
• One PowerPC 603ev/133 MHz CPU card, two stock 68LC040/33 MHz CPU cards.
• Two decent-condition (re-celled in 2010) batteries.
• One RevB PCMCIA Expansion Module.
• Two internal 19.2k modems.

Right now, I have the active matrix display with the 20 MB RAM and the 68LC040 CPU, and one passive matrix display with the 12 MB RAM and the PowerPC.  Mostly because I see the 5x0 series as the "ultimate 68k laptop," so I see no reason to have the PowerPC-upgraded model be the top-of-the-line in my collection.  The "beat up case" has the other 68LC040, no expansion RAM, no hard drive.  (It does have one of the modems, though, solely because I didn't feel like digging it out and swapping it into the PowerPC-equipped one.)

The PCMCIA module sits in the 540c/'LC040/20MB RAM, simply because the PPC won't work with it inserted (pesky RevB cage!)  I usually keep one battery in the 540c and one in the PPC 520c.  (And yes, I do have an 'expansion bay cover' to cover up the open bay whenever needed.)

So, does that sound like a good setup to the peanut gallery? Or would you all suggest putting the PowerPC in the good screen/high RAM system?

(And if anyone has a spare RevC PCMCIA cage they're not using....... I'd happily trade away my RevB plus my 'spare parts' 520c, plus more if need be.)

Oh, and as for OSes, the 540c/040 is running a bone-stock original 7.1.1 from original 520/520c/540/540c branded floppies (plus my PowerCD driver since it's the CD-ROM drive that looks best with it.)  The 520c/PowerPC Is running 8.1 at the moment with an assortment of addons. (RAM Doubler, Speed Doubler, etc.)

 

[tjjq44]

Keep your 5xx as they actually are! A powerPC upgrade isn't big interest... If you like PPC powerbooks, there are a lot that are native

I have 4 5xx in my collection:

My best one, a 540c with a CF powermonster from artmix fed up with a 2Gb card in place of the original HD which is shot and I don't own any PCMCIA card cage... It has 36Mb of ram, the maximum

A second 540c with a 230Mb HD and 20Mb of ram, excellent condition too!

A 520 with a 120Mb HD and 8Mb of ram in rather good condition

To finish a crappy 520, no HD and 4Mb of ram in poor condition... It still boots up with floppy or external SCSI lol

 

[Paralel]

My Blackbird is pieces from a bunch of different machines to make one great 540c. 550c CPU daughterboard, Rev. C PCMCIA Card Cage, WiFi Card (With external antenna), 36 MB RAM, CF SCSI HDD. Can't really improve it any further.

 

[Elfen]

As  long as it boots up, and keyboard & mouse/trackpad works, I would not consider it crappy. I have a 520c (thanks to somebody on this forum, I think it was Englishsmith or somebody I bought some machines from). They said there was some cosmetic damage, but otherwise works. I never had a problem with it and it only has a few scratches... I worked for the NYC School system, so I've seen some pretty beaten up systems in my time! As far as I cared, scratches and marks, as long as it works, are the battle scars it had during life.

 

[Elfen]

Keep your 5xx as they actually are! A powerPC upgrade isn't big interest... If you like PPC powerbooks, there are a lot that are native

The PPC Upgrade never worked as intended. So it gave PPC Software accessibility - big deal. I had such a board in my Q950 and one of my former students had one in his LC 475, it actually ran slower than the 68K machine! There is a lot of 68K and 68k/PPC Fat software that will work on the 68K machines. and PowerPC Checker software can remove the PPC Code from the FAT coding and shrink the program by more than 1/2 and it will load and run faster! After it was stripped, PS 4.0 runs great on my IIci with the DayStar 040 and 24Bit Video in it

 

[techknight]

PPC chip was a necessity at the time if you wanted to run Office 98, and If you wanted to run anything newer than IE4. I remember needing Office 98 on several occasions because the PC world had moved to Office 97, and there was a file format change at that time. So Office 4.1 on 68K which contained Word 6, would not deal with anything created in Office 97, which was everywhere! So when I was in school, I quickly needed to obtain a system which would run O98. Kinda like we deal with today with DOC vs DOCX.

I remember coming at a fork in the road with the internet in the late 90s, Websites were updating rapidly with flash, scripting, etc.. .and older browsers were slowly starting to break. Making it hard on a 68K even back then to browse the web. CSS went big and was being implemented at a rapid pace and 68K browsers did not deal with this well at all. Not to mention websites were getting so content heavy the rendering was taking longer and longer as years went by. 

IE5 even though it was a pig, would browse the web without problems. Just slow of course. Sure you really needed a G3 to run it confortably but I was using IE5 with a 7200/120, and a 6100 back in the day and it was usable. Of course I was still on dial-up at this point too so it didnt matter. 

So, I remember the burning sensation of wanting a PowerPC so I could browse the internet relatively comfortably without CSS issues and scripting issues, etc.. Oh, then of course it was the beginning of the MP3 era, and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world to download a song and play it on a computer at the time, and of course 68K was out! Most if not all the MP3 playback software I found needed a PPC or better. 

Fast-Forward until now: Having a PPC in a 68K mac these days considering anything under 9 without classilla will barely touch the web, its not worth it. Since the machines are moving out of the usability sector and into the collectability sector, it doesnt matter anymore. 

 

[TheWhiteFalcon]

That's why I never bothered tracking down the PPC card for my Q700. I'd rather have a fast 68k than a slower than dirt PPC. So I agree, leave the 68k cards in the active matrix machines.

 

[tjjq44]

As  long as it boots up, and keyboard & mouse/trackpad works, I would not consider it crappy.

Yes but even the case is in very poor condition

 

[Elfen]

Yes but even the case is in very poor condition

Battle scars! Just handle with care, its been through a tough life.

 

[Carboy7]

At least the case plastic isn't as bad as the 5300/190. shudders

Just remember to keep the batteries out, they can leak.

 

[Elfen]

At least the case plastic isn't as bad as the 5300/190. shudders

I REPRESENT THAT REMARK!!!! (I am a happy 190 and 5300 Powerbook Owner...)

On the subject of plastics an laptops, the best/worst I found is on IBM ThinkPad Series, 560 to be precise. Great little laptop, it is what I think the G3/G4 12in iBooks/PowerBooks came from; but one drop and though the plastic it still holding together, it has a million micro-fractures an any little flex to it and something falls off. Damn I swear!

 

[Carboy7]

The thing must be like a piece of china! You can't break it unless you don't want it to break! :lol: