Figured I would start my own Conquest thread. I just made what is probably an impulse buy, but for the condition and the price I just couldn't resist. For $60 I picked up a working Powerbook 5300c. I know the bad rep this model has, but I decided to take a chance on it.
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MacFox's Finds
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Byrd
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They're great 'Books, the "C" models I honestly feel were made better than the passive grey and colour models. The active LCD is a joy to work on. You can overclock the 100 to 117Mhz pretty easily, boot off a CF card in a PCMCIA slot. It does make for one of the slowest PPC models made, and 68K emulation is pretty poor in tow, so you need to be choosy with your apps on the 5300C.
Computer arrived yesterday. The computer works, though I decided to change the OS on it. I appreciate that the seller took the time to do a clean install of OS 9.1, but I think this OS is overkill on this machine. I decided to downgrade it to System 7.5.5. It starts up a bit quicker now, it's not a night and day difference but it's pretty significant. Even better though, I now have more free disk space. The HDD is 800 MB and OS 9 took about half of that. With System 7, I now have about 600 MB free. I love the screen on this computer. Much better than the passive matrix one on my Powerbook G3 Main Street. I had the two laptops side by side because I needed to make System 7 floppies and the difference between the two screens is night and day.
The floppy drive works well with both 1.4 MB and 800k disks, so I might use the 5300c as my bridge Mac instead of the PB G3. I'm thinking about getting a CF to PCMCIA adapter and using the CF card to transfer files between my PC and my Macs. In the pretty likely event that I run out of space on this HDD, I might buy a second CF card for use as a second HDD. I think System 7.5.5 can read and write CF cards right? Or do I need OS 8 for that?
As far as programs go, it will be interesting to see what will run on here. Wolf 3D runs fine on here, but when I tried to install Word 5.1, the installer froze halfway through. I have Word 6.0.1 coming in the mail though, so there's that.
I guess I should get a SCSI CD-ROM too at some point. Should I be looking for an Apple CD-ROM drive or would a third-party drive work?
The floppy drive works well with both 1.4 MB and 800k disks, so I might use the 5300c as my bridge Mac instead of the PB G3. I'm thinking about getting a CF to PCMCIA adapter and using the CF card to transfer files between my PC and my Macs. In the pretty likely event that I run out of space on this HDD, I might buy a second CF card for use as a second HDD. I think System 7.5.5 can read and write CF cards right? Or do I need OS 8 for that?
As far as programs go, it will be interesting to see what will run on here. Wolf 3D runs fine on here, but when I tried to install Word 5.1, the installer froze halfway through. I have Word 6.0.1 coming in the mail though, so there's that.
I guess I should get a SCSI CD-ROM too at some point. Should I be looking for an Apple CD-ROM drive or would a third-party drive work?
Remember how I said things were going well with the 5300c? Well now they are not. The laptop randomly shuts off and I found out it has something to do with the solder joints surrounding the power supply connector on the logic board. I lack solder capabilities and this seems like a very easy thing to screw up, so for now the 5300c is out of commission.
I also decided to buy a Powerbook G3 PDQ with active matrix screen because the passive matrix Wallstreet I currently have is a pain to use because of the screen. I had to use it a lot to make 800k disks for my SE, so that's probably why I have become so bothered by it. I originally intended to make the 5300c my new bridge Mac (I would transfer files between the 5300c and my PC using a CF card), but I already stated what happened with that computer. Hoping the PDQ will work out better. It doesn't come with a charger, but I think I can use the Wallstreet's charger if I'm not mistaken.
I also decided to buy a Powerbook G3 PDQ with active matrix screen because the passive matrix Wallstreet I currently have is a pain to use because of the screen. I had to use it a lot to make 800k disks for my SE, so that's probably why I have become so bothered by it. I originally intended to make the 5300c my new bridge Mac (I would transfer files between the 5300c and my PC using a CF card), but I already stated what happened with that computer. Hoping the PDQ will work out better. It doesn't come with a charger, but I think I can use the Wallstreet's charger if I'm not mistaken.
I recently bought a 1998 Powerbook G3 DVD-ROM Expansion module used in the original box for $25. It came with the DVD Video PC Card thankfully (the card by itself goes for like over $60 on ebay these days.) No drivers to install, just swapped out the CD-ROM and replaced it with the DVD-ROM, inserted the included PC Card and viola! I used this on my PDQ and the picture and sound is good. Did I need this upgrade? No, but I felt it was appropriate for the machine. I have many devices that can play DVDs. Some DVDs I have have trouble playing on my PC, I wonder if these will play better on my PDQ? Wouldn't that be something? A 1998 Mac laptop being better at playing DVDs than my 2017 PC? That would be pretty funny.
Well, I thought I would update this thread since I have since added two computers to my collection. First, is a Compaq Deskpro EN. It's a P3 1.0ghz with 384 MB of RAM and a 20 gig HDD. I go it because I figured since I have old Macs why not have an old PC? It's got Windows 98 SE, my favorite Windows OS. I'm mainly using it for Windows exclusive games. Might upgrade it to a DVD-ROM/CD-RW at some point and maybe add a video capture card because these are things I always wanted back when 98 was my daily driver, but never got.
More recently, I added a Classic II to my Mac collection. It's got 4 MB of RAM and a 40 MB HDD. Main reason for getting this was because it was already recapped and it has a superdrive. At some point I may upgrade the HDD and max out the RAM and see how 7.5.3 runs on it (I like experimenting with different system/OS versions on my computers). It currently has 7.0.1 on it, a version of 7 I hadn't used before. It's pretty much the same as 7.0 to me and the Classic II runs 7 faster than my SE did when it had 7 on it. Both my SE and Classic II have the same amount of RAM.
More recently, I added a Classic II to my Mac collection. It's got 4 MB of RAM and a 40 MB HDD. Main reason for getting this was because it was already recapped and it has a superdrive. At some point I may upgrade the HDD and max out the RAM and see how 7.5.3 runs on it (I like experimenting with different system/OS versions on my computers). It currently has 7.0.1 on it, a version of 7 I hadn't used before. It's pretty much the same as 7.0 to me and the Classic II runs 7 faster than my SE did when it had 7 on it. Both my SE and Classic II have the same amount of RAM.
I liked Windows 2000. I used it on a IBM ThinkCentre which managed my music collection back in the late '00s. It's a good Windows OS.
Good catch on the DVD card, I rarely ever see those in the original box. They don't pop up too often by the card itself. I always wanted the WallStreet when I was much younger; always thought the design was so classy and well defined. It's insane to think how much they were worth brand new at the time!
Thanks. My Wallstreet/PDQ actually plays DVDs better than the 2017 Lenovo laptop I am currently typing on. I have DVDs from 15+ years ago where the video stutters on the Lenovo, but plays just fine on the PDQ.
I recently bought a Power Macintosh 7500/100. It was an impulse buy. I was interested in it due to the AV input and the aesthetic of it. The thing that frustrates me is that the plastic broke and fell inside the machine. The power button broke off too. Must have happened during shipping because no plastic was broken in the auction pictures. I'm weary of turning this thing on, so what I think I'm going to do is just salvage the drives and the RAM. I paid $60 including shipping, which I consider a bargain in today's world where every old computer is considered "rare".
I just received a 1999 Power Macintosh G4 AGP Tower in the mail. It has an upgraded CPU (1.5 ghz) with 1 GB of RAM, a SCSI card, DVD-Rom, internal ZIP drive and two HDDs. It's pretty awesome! I'm typing this post from it right now via TenFourFox on OS X 10.5. Only thing not awesome about it is the rust on the vent covering the fan. I also can't seem to install OS 9 using my retail 9.2.1 CD that I use on my G3s. Was kind of hoping to install OS 9 on the second HDD. Is there a way to do this?
Pretty happy with this machine overall though.
Pretty happy with this machine overall though.
