Picked up nice powerbook 170

[imactheknife]

So far so good.. installing os 7.5 on it from floppy.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Nice! Think I saw that one on eBay. Good pickup, hope it doesn’t have Tunnel vision

 

[imactheknife]

Nice! Think I saw that one on eBay. Good pickup, hope it doesn’t have Tunnel vision

So far, been on an hour, reinstalled 7.5 on it in english and so far so good

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

sweet... 170's a great one to have. awesome display.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Only monochrome active matrix PowerBook. Only one electrolytic in the system, THT on the inverter board. Don’t know the value

 

[imactheknife]

After 16 floppies.. all looks good

 

[croissantking]

If you don’t have tunnelling then you’re one lucky son of a gun.

 

[imactheknife]

If you don’t have tunnelling then you’re one lucky son of a gun.

Have two unicorns.. the pb170 and the 540 with no tunnel vision.. knock on wood

 

[croissantking]

Have two unicorns.. the pb170 and the 540 with no tunnel vision.. knock on wood

They’re like the offspring of a unicorn with a flying pig.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Ehh, they aren't THAT rare. I'd say 90% have the problem to some degree, with only 50% of those being bad enough to have a major effect on use. That's just my made up numbers though, could be way off.
My 170 is completely unaffected, and my 540 has it, but it's pretty minor.

 

[imactheknife]

They’re like the offspring of a unicorn with a flying pig.

Funny thing is that I bought the 540 as it was labeled 540c. Found out it was just a 540 display and was annoyed for a bit. I love it now as it is such a crisp display so no color isn’t a big deal. Have my 180c and a 520c (which isnt great looking) if I wanted color.

 

[croissantking]

Funny thing is that I bought the 540 as it was labeled 540c. Found out it was just a 540 display and was annoyed for a bit. I love it now as it is such a crisp display so no color isn’t a big deal. Have my 180c and a 520c (which isnt great looking) if I wanted color.

The 520c screen isn’t great, but it’s better than the 1400cs, which is just awful to use.

 

[imactheknife]

The 520c screen isn’t great, but it’s better than the 1400cs, which is just awful to use.

I have a mint 1400cs 166, dont mind the screen. Can you upgrade it to a 1400c screen?

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Yes, with the proper LCD and cable. Inverter board should be the same between them.

 

[croissantking]

The 1400c screen is very nice. It was night and day when going from the cs. However, going from a 520c to 540c actually wasn't that impressive – my active matrix panel is made by Sharp and I find it kind of grainy. I know there was one other manufacturer so maybe the alternative panel is better.

Both my active matrix screens above have ghosting, which I thought was bad caps but I've recapped the 1400c display and it still does it (most visible when opening a menu and scrolling through; artifacts are visible going left to right across the whole display).

 

[croissantking]

Yes, with the proper LCD and cable. Inverter board should be the same between them.

If he just gets a complete display including housing it will be a straight swap.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

However, going from a 520c to 540c actually wasn't that impressive – my active matrix panel is made by Sharp and I find it kind of grainy.

For the record: https://macdat.net/extras/powerbooklcdindex.html
There’s a list of a bunch of LCD P/Ns. The other panel is a Toshiba, which is the one I have in mine. I’ve never seen a Sharp panel in person, but the Sharp display on my 180c at least looks very nice. The Sharp one in the 540c has a bunch of caps, the Toshiba doesn’t.