Several Powerbook 540 Questions

[equant]

My Belgian/French 540 is alive!

[1] It has 7.5.3 on it, and I can't figure out how to change the bit depth. I want to set it to 1 bit so I can play Dark Castle. There is a bit depth file in the control strip folder, but it doesn't exist on the control strip. The monitor control panel says it's not usuable with the mac model I'm using. Any ideas?

[2] What would people say is the best system for the 540? It has 20 Megs of memory in it. I'm more interested in stability and speed over features.

[3] I see several files in the system folder that make reference to PC Cards. I don't see any PC Card slot. These laptops require a PCMCIA adapter in the left battery bay to use PCMCIA Cards right? Are the adapters hard to find? (they seem to be)

The keyboard is a nightmare. If it wasn't for the left shift key being an extra key further to the left than normal _and_ the comically small return key, it would be useable.

Thanks,

Nathan

 

[The Macster]

Yes, the adapters are apparently very hard to find, so you probably won't be using PC cards... OS 8.1 should work well with 20 MB memory, I tried installing it on mine once but it refused because I have only 8 MB and apparently 12 MB is required as a minimum, though 7.6.1 should be lighter if you'd rather go for older but slightly faster. Isn't there a Control Panel called something like "PowerBook Display"? (as an aside, if you have control panels that are incompatible with it, it sounds as though someone's done a "Universal install for any Macintosh" on there, which will mean there's lots of unnecessary stuff slowing it down and wasting the disk space, so a fresh installation of "68k software for this Mac" (or whatever exactly it's called in the Installer) would be recommended.

 

[beachycove]

Best system for speed is going to be 7.1.1 (the original), which flies on a 68LC040.

 

[equant]

Thanks for the info. I'll have to try 7.1.1 since my 7.6 disks seem to be kaput.

 

[beachycove]

I also rather like 7.5 (plain-Jane), and have found it to be very stable on 68k hardware. It won't be as fast as 7.1.1 but you avoid the vexed problem of system enablers with the later version.

 

[The Macster]

What is the advantage of running 7.5 with no updates? I would have assumed that 7.5.5 was just patches etc, nothing that would slow it down, so wouldn't that be like running Windows XP with no service packs or anything (for instance) where you would get roughly the same performance but without the benefits that pacthes bring?

 

[beachycove]

I think it's about 15 extra floppies, and these are certainly not just patches. 7.5 is very like 7.1, with a few add-ons and some early ppc code for the new ppc Macs. They and it did not go well together.

 

[Bunsen]

7.6.1 should be stable and fast and give you a much more stable networking stack.

 

[equill]

OS 7.6.1 can run elegantly on a 68030 PB160/180 (25 and 33MHz) with 14MB (max.) of RAM, so a PB5x0 with an LC040 and 20-36MB can do at least as well. However, OS 8.1 is their limit. There is a wide choice of system software to use with a 5x0, not the least of which is System 7.1 upgraded to '7.1.3' and retrofitted with elements from 7.5. The System Enablers come en bloc with System 7.1 Update 3.0, or from Apple. There are also the 603e (100 and 117MHz) daughter cards which, although uncommon, turn up from time to time. LC040 daughter cards are common and cheap if you come to need one.

The Rev. A and B PCMCIA card modules are for the 68k 5x0s, as opposed to the henstooth-class Rev. C module that is obligatory for use with a PPC processor. A second battery is more useful most of the time than a PCMCIA module. An AAUI/RJ-45 adapter is a perfectly useful alternative to a PC-card for ethernet, and much more easily implemented.

You are more likely to have difficulties with the 'smart' (Hah!) NiMH batteries of the 5x0s than with their logic components, and working AC adapters are also getting scarcer as time passes.

de

 

[conceitedjerk]

Hate to be an opportunist, but this thread has inspired me to post my rev C PCMCIA module for sale.

http://68kmla.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=34482#34482

I'm likely never going to finish my PB540 project, so hopefully someone can give it a good home

 

[equill]

Don't be concerned. I long ago dismissed the Rev. C module from my thinking for the reason above, but there are others who will bless you for the opportunity to get one. After all, when the Rev. C was current, batteries were also, but the life of batteries is shorter than that of the module. Keeping my batteries (seven for three PB 5x0s) alive is a full-time job, for which that second bay is too important to 'waste' on a PCMCIA module when I also have AAUI/RJ-45 adapters aplenty.

de

 

[conceitedjerk]

Keeping my batteries (seven for three PB 5x0s) alive is a full-time job

That's essentially why I canned my 540c project

Believe it or not, it has been superseded by my Powerbook 5300 project...

 

[Flash!]

So the batteries (which were never that good anyway!) are stuffed.... why is it so important? I'm just curious is all...if it were up to me I'd throw the batteries and put cages on both sides, and insert as many cards as i could ;-)

 

[conceitedjerk]

if it were up to me I'd throw the batteries and put cages on both sides, and insert as many cards as i could ;-)

I thought the cage only worked in the left battery slot..?

Having four PCMCIA slots would be cool... imagine 3 x 4Gb+ compactflash cards and a wifi card..?

 

[equant]

I thought the cage only worked in the left battery slot..?

Yeah, but not if it was 'up to' Flash. If it was up to me it'd run off gumdrops and unicorn dreams and have a death-ray.

Nathan

 

[equill]

At least one main battery that is capable of reaching full terminal voltage is a desirable goal, for reasons that have been well-and-truly rehearsed in these forums. The battery may not then hold enough total charge for you to take the PB 5x0 off the AC adapter, but it ensures that the rechargeable backup battery also becomes charged, and the main battery also acts as a quasi-capacitor for input DC supply smoothing.

And yes, conceitedjerk, there is but one PCMCIA cage connector, and that only in the left battery bay.

de

 

[Flash!]

I forgot about the whole 'no cage in the right bay' thing.... *heads off to eBay looking for 68k death-rays*

 

[conceitedjerk]

I forgot about the whole 'no cage in the right bay' thing.... *heads off to eBay looking for 68k death-rays*

Let me know if you find a PPC death-ray. I could have used one for my 5300 during an attempted mugging a few years ago.

Powerbook + skull = ouch }