Pretty Great Pismo Conquest

[Cory5412]

Mmh, Pismo.

I had one for a few years. You lucked out getting a Pismo instead of a TiBook. They make great Mac OS 9 machines and the main (only?) advantages of a PowerBook G4 for all intents and purposes is the slightly larger display. (For that, an 867 or 1000MHz version with the 1280x854 display is nice, compared to the earlier 1152x768 version.)

Back when I had the two giant NewerTech batteries in my Pismo and I was also hyper-miling it, I used to put a CF card in a PCMCIA reader (Sandisk used to make one that works well) or boot Mac OS 9 off of a USB stick, disable the internal hard disk, and turn the backlights off, then just type things into an AppleWorks document. The system got somewhere between 14 and 19 hours doing this. It was great at NaNoWriMo write-ins, unfortunately the hinges on mine got loose and the display developed some lines, plus one of the batteries randomly kicked the bucket.

I can't possibly recommend Mac OS 9 enough for that machine. It'll be faster, it'll be more secure on the Internet, it'll look better on the screen, and Mac OS 9 is a lot easier on the disk, making an SD or compact flash card in an IDE adapter a much more practical option than with Mac OS X.

 

[Schmoburger]

To date I still rate my Pismo as the single best laptop of any description I have ever had the pleasure of using... they are rugged, were quite fast in the day, and still quite usable now for everyday surfing and minor tasks, and the battery life available from the Lombard and Pismo is pretty much unrivalled... In it's prime, I could easily get 12 hours out of a fully charged set of batteries in mine. And the ease with which everything interchanges, the ease of disassembly and reassembly for servicing or upgrade is unmatched... and 15 years on, they are still beautiful, sleak, stylish machines that do not look in the slightest bit dated.

Definitely a product that has aged gracefully... and to get a 500mhz one for that kind of cash, you have done well.

 

[MJ313]

And the ease with which everything interchanges, the ease of disassembly and reassembly for servicing or upgrade is unmatched... and 15 years on, they are still beautiful, sleak, stylish machines that do not look in the slightest bit dated.

I just recently picked up a Pismo... it runs great but the palm rest area is kind of beat up. I haven't looked into replacing it, but it seems you say it's pretty easy to deal with if I want to replace it?

 

[CC_333]

Agreed. Pismos are nice machines. Mine started out as a 400 MHz machine, but I found a WORKING 500 MHz module with *512* MB of RAM for $5! I used it for awhile in 2010-2011 (secondary to my 2009 MBP), but then lent it to a friend for awhile. When I got it back, I couldn't really get back in the mood, mostly because it's now too slow (it was marginal in 2011 as it was; I tried using it last year at school, and it chugged along so slowly I couldn't stand it.)

Incidentally, I like collecting various models, but I have no particular favorite right now (if pressed, I suppose I'd say the G3 iMacs).

c

 

[Schmoburger]

I just recently picked up a Pismo... it runs great but the palm rest area is kind of beat up. I haven't looked into replacing it, but it seems you say it's pretty easy to deal with if I want to replace it?

It is pretty simple, but I would recommend downloading the teardown manual from PBMedic in any case just to be sure you don't accidentally break anything as it can be a little fiddly splitting the base unit open. 

 

[Knez]

Question: I'm considering putting a m-sata SSD/PATA adapter in this because I think this HD is on its last legs, has anybody tried this before? I've searched around, but it seems that the only confirmed successes are in Powerbook G4s.

I have one of these in my 1GHZ TiBook: http://www.ebay.com/itm/KingSpec-PATA-IDE-44Pin-2-5-64GB-MLC-SSD-drive-for-Desktop-Laptop-IBM-Asus-A6JC-/261504082711?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ce2dba317

Works great and the performance is very good indeed.

Comparison between the old Apple branded 4200rpm 60gb Fujitsu drive and the KingSpec SSD (done in Quickbench in Mac OS 9.2.2):

QuickBench™ 1.5 Test Results File

©2000 Intech Software Corp.

Test file created on måndag 13 april 2015 at 10.23.11

Test Volume name: TiBook

Xfer Size     Sequential Read   Sequential Write    Random Read      Random Write

1 KByte         3.411 MB/sec      2.426 MB/sec      1.857 MB/sec    312.061 KB/sec

2 KBytes        7.564 MB/sec      4.135 MB/sec      4.906 MB/sec    839.490 KB/sec

4 KBytes       13.255 MB/sec      6.229 MB/sec      9.009 MB/sec      1.542 MB/sec

8 KBytes       21.732 MB/sec     18.051 MB/sec     15.735 MB/sec      2.741 MB/sec

16 KBytes      32.363 MB/sec     22.642 MB/sec     25.173 MB/sec      4.574 MB/sec

32 KBytes      42.785 MB/sec     30.366 MB/sec     35.792 MB/sec     10.280 MB/sec

64 KBytes      50.751 MB/sec     33.986 MB/sec     45.415 MB/sec     14.562 MB/sec

128 KBytes     52.365 MB/sec     36.791 MB/sec     49.323 MB/sec     21.194 MB/sec

256 KBytes     55.020 MB/sec     39.262 MB/sec     53.337 MB/sec     28.463 MB/sec

512 KBytes     56.209 MB/sec     39.043 MB/sec     55.471 MB/sec     33.220 MB/sec

1 MByte        57.024 MB/sec     40.762 MB/sec     56.702 MB/sec     36.713 MB/sec

QuickBench™ 1.5 Test Results File

©2000 Intech Software Corp.

Test file created on söndag 12 april 2015 at 19.24.30

Test Volume name: PowerBook G4

Xfer Size     Sequential Read   Sequential Write    Random Read      Random Write

1 KByte       159.380 KB/sec      4.083 MB/sec     70.915 KB/sec      3.804 MB/sec

2 KBytes        9.051 MB/sec      8.906 MB/sec      8.747 MB/sec      7.936 MB/sec

4 KBytes       15.440 MB/sec     14.944 MB/sec      7.124 MB/sec     12.724 MB/sec

8 KBytes       24.293 MB/sec     24.809 MB/sec    722.198 KB/sec     21.945 MB/sec

16 KBytes       8.864 MB/sec     32.230 MB/sec     17.853 MB/sec     31.157 MB/sec

32 KBytes      16.304 MB/sec     44.270 MB/sec      2.438 MB/sec     43.223 MB/sec

64 KBytes      21.526 MB/sec     49.631 MB/sec      4.941 MB/sec     51.781 MB/sec

128 KBytes     16.207 MB/sec     52.605 MB/sec      7.980 MB/sec     52.064 MB/sec

256 KBytes     16.026 MB/sec     10.666 MB/sec      9.076 MB/sec     20.633 MB/sec

512 KBytes     15.742 MB/sec     18.357 MB/sec     12.177 MB/sec     11.653 MB/sec

1 MByte        16.050 MB/sec     16.498 MB/sec     14.389 MB/sec     12.243 MB/sec

 

[Superdos]

I've been thinking about getting one of these for my Alu G4 15" HR, or something similar. my only issue is drive space-- I have a LOT of programs installed on that 10.4.11 install from when the Alu started life as a TiBook 500. I will never ever regret trading the one for the other. ever.

Something along the lines of the 128GB model, also a Kingspec drive, goes for $75. as I'm not made of money I can only dream about this.

I have a WD2500BEVE scorpio blue drive I've been meaning to wipe and reinstall something onto since the laptop it was in is no longer relevant, and I'd want to drop that in the G4 first, I think. I really like my G4 and it has really good battery life. 

on a more topic-appropriate note, I have a Wallstreet PDQ 233 with 512MB of RAM that I dropped a 60GB fujitsu into, just because it was what I had laying around. 9.2.2 is amazingly fast on it.

 

[jmgk]

I put a really cheap chinese pata ssd in my pismo last week and it works great. It was on ebay for £27, shipped. The brand is Zheino. And only £3 more than the pismo cost me!

 

[AichEss]

I used a generic Asian mSATA-to-PATA adapter to put a 64 GB Micron mSATA SSD in a Pismo. (The SSD from the 'Bay might well be a rip-off - say 50/50) I just basically assumed everything would work fine and it did. Initialized and partitioned the drive with OS 9.1 and installed the OS. The restart went flawlessly and Oh, So Quietly. Restarted again with the OSX 10.4 Install CD, installed same, restarted and went thru' all of the Apple hoops without a hitch. Again, Oh, So Quietly. 

After a bit of use for the OSs to figure themselves out I have not done any benchmarking but the 'Book seems much more responsive in either OS 9 or X.

FWIW, YMMV,

AichEss

 

[jmgk]

The silence of an ssd is amazing. Before the chime, you have that anxious second wondering if the beast has in fact powered on.

One advantage of an ssd would be warranty. They usually come with 3 years or more. Though whether a warranty based in hk is worth anything here, i don't know.

I see someone is selling batteries for the lombard and pismo through amazon at the moment-- the price doesn't seem too crazy, though still more than double what the whole computer sells for :-/

 

[Yeager]

Thank you all for the input! I had to put this project on hold for a bit, but as I sell off some of my desktops, I might start gathering parts to start upgrading it.

 

[Yeager]

To date I still rate my Pismo as the single best laptop of any description I have ever had the pleasure of using... they are rugged, were quite fast in the day, and still quite usable now for everyday surfing and minor tasks, and the battery life available from the Lombard and Pismo is pretty much unrivalled... In it's prime, I could easily get 12 hours out of a fully charged set of batteries in mine. And the ease with which everything interchanges, the ease of disassembly and reassembly for servicing or upgrade is unmatched... and 15 years on, they are still beautiful, sleak, stylish machines that do not look in the slightest bit dated.

Definitely a product that has aged gracefully... and to get a 500mhz one for that kind of cash, you have done well.

Thank you very much, I definitely agree! I wish apple would make another in the same form factor with new internals, but I suppose that that would be a pipe dream

 

[Bunsen]

You could always make one yourself

 

[rezwits]

We need to make a 68k/PPC SSD upgraded thread.

I just recently put an SSD in my PowerMac G5 2.5 Quad, and it is AWESOME!

So quiet too.

I am going to go ahead this year and get as many of my machines on SSDs even the 68ks with SCSI2SD.

It's going to be fun...

(Think about a Pismo with SSD, headgapmac (or whatever) has an SSDs and macsales.com does too.)

edit:  for IDE PATA I mean.