Imitation batteries

[heebiejeebies]

Has anyone used non-Apple replacement batteries such as this:

http://tinyurl.com/2lfces

:?:

And are they any good? Do Apple even make batteries for these old machines anymore?

 

[Bunsen]

There's no reason why it shouldn't work - the G3 batteries don't have any "smart" internal management like the 5x0s. Assuming their cells and workmanship is up to scratch.

 

[Dan 7.1]

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/powerbook/batteries/

i've always gotten replacement batteries from those fine folks and i've yet to have a dud. the one i got for my TiBook has been working wonderfully.

 

[tomlee59]

There's no reason why it shouldn't work - the G3 batteries don't have any "smart" internal management like the 5x0s. Assuming their cells and workmanship is up to scratch.

Rechargeable lithium packs need smarts to prevent "rapid uncontrolled disassembly" . I haven't cracked open a G3's pack, but it would surprise me not to find additional smarts inside. But it is fair to say that the 5xx powerbook smart batteries were not very smart. They certainly were/are frustrating!

 

[heebiejeebies]

Thank you gentlemen. I bought it before I saw Tomlee's answer so I hope it doesn't fall to pieces. Should be alright I'd say. I can't find real Apple batteries anywhere anyway.

OK, one more question - I wanted to put a wireless card in it, and maybe USB, but I presume you'd need to find a very specific type that works with OS9. Presumably there aren't generic drivers that you can use with the common or garden cards you find on eBay?

 

[LCGuy]

All modern laptop batteries have "smarts", even my 1400's NiMH battery does!

 

[wgoodf]

OK, one more question - I wanted to put a wireless card in it, ... I presume you'd need to find a very specific type that works with OS9. Presumably there aren't generic drivers that you can use with the common or garden cards you find on eBay?

well there are bound to be more than this small list - but orinoco, wavelan and farallon cards should work.

but there should be more - especially if you start thinking about chipsets rather than brands.

it was a while ago, but i think i was able to use my farallon card under win XP as it was really a 3com card.

 

[heebiejeebies]

Thanks! I've read conflicting things about whether the Wallstreet supports 32 bit cardbus or not - Apple says yea, others say nay - so I'd prefer to just get a 16 bit rather than taking the risk. Does anyone know how to identify which ones are 16 bit cards?

 

[wgoodf]

non-16bit go by the name cardbus.

if memory serves

 

[heebiejeebies]

That's right, but not saying Cardbus is no guarantee that it's 16 bit. I've found one that will work anyway; just as long as I don't get outbid. It's an Orinoco rebadged as a Dell, oddly.

 

[wgoodf]

i think the guy who did the original page on using a pb1400 and wifi, did indeed use such a card - pen computing - i think the site was called. about three or four years ago when he did that page.

helped me get my pb1400 go wifi.

 

[JWG Design]

I am not sure about this particular generic battery, but I've got two of the aftermarket batteries that OWC sells - a 6600mAh and a 7200mAh for my Pismo. They work very well. The 7200 I bought new, and the 6600 I just got used last week. The 6600 had not been used in a while, so I had to insert it several times before it would be recognized. Now from a full charge it runs the Pismo down to about 50% power and then the Pismo falls asleep. No warning or anything. I guess it just needs to stretch its legs.

I have a WaveLAN Gold card that gets used in my Wallstreet. All of the WaveLAN cards (Lucent, Proxim, Orinoco, DELL TrueMobile 1150, etc.) are 16-bit, which is why they will work in the older Powerbooks that are not CardBus compatible, such as the 190.

 

[cangrande]

I have a Dell Truemobile 1150 and it works with Orinoco drivers and I've used it with a 3400, Kanga, and Wallstreet fine. It was cheap (~USD10) on eBay.

Here's the pb1400 wireless page (excellent!):

http://www.penmachine.com/techie/airport1400.html

 

[heebiejeebies]

The battery works really well so far. The control strip tells me 4 hours from a full charge, sometimes 5. Probably won't last the full 4 hours but it still gives me that kind of figure after an hour's use. Hopefully the battery lasts and doesn't blow up after a year's use or whatever.

I wish I'd known all those other cards were 16-bit as well - then I would have looked for one with an antenna. Don't know what sort of reception I'll get out of the Dell. Anyway it's supposed to be arriving tonight so I'll find out.

 

[heebiejeebies]

Appears to be really good reception so far. I was sitting in Australia on Collins shopping centre (which is gaining a reputation for the best free wireless in Melbourne) and I picked up signals from about 8 open networks.

Couldn't do anything with any of them though. I presume I just go into the TCP/IP control panel, select "connect through Orinoco", then "connect via DHCP server" and leave all the settings blank? Anything else I have to do?

 

[The Macster]

I think so - if you use DHCP then that takes care of sorting out all the other settings (IP address etc) for you.

 

[heebiejeebies]

So I don't have to enter a DHCP client name or anything? It didn't work when I just set it to DHCP. When I open the TCP/IP control panel, it keeps saying “TCP/IP is not active, do you want to make it active when you close this control panel?” Of course I say yes, but it still doesn’t work. Maybe I need to reinstall Open Transport.

 

[wgoodf]

very often open networks in malls and such actually require a pass key to use - open a browser and see if the home page chamges to a pass page.

 

[heebiejeebies]

It doesn't bring up anything. It just says "looking for www.whatever.com" for about a minute then says it can't find it. From what I've heard, the locations I tried are completely free and open and don't require any access pass sort of gear at all.

I'm surprised by the number of networks the thing can find. You even get what are obviously peoples' private computers popping up (e.g. before I got one called "Ellie_45" or something.)

I'm impressed by the number of Macs. It always seems to be 50/50 in the trendy inner-city sort of areas. [8D] I've caught a few Mac users with straying eyes having a perve at my Wallstreet - the BEASTS! They're probably recent switchers who've never seen anything that can run the Classic OS before. It's nice to stand out. I was going to try the card in my 190cs and take that out in public but I can't be bothered.