Ultimate Duo 280c Project

[albrightct]

Hey everybody; new to the forums, happy to be here.

When I was a kid (I'm 26 now) i always thought Powerbook Duos were the coolest thing ever, but of course my parents weren't going to buy a 9 year old a $5000 laptop. Anyway when I got to become the cool young adult working in finance I got a macbook air, the current equivalent, but it just wasn't the same. Over the past few months i've bought different pieces to what I want to be the ultimate duo 280c system on ebay, which i'm going to pick up at my mom's house in 4 weeks (I'm an expat living in Guangzhou, China, didn't want to deal with having it shipped here). I want to ask some experienced 68kMLAers if I'm missing anything that's a must have for the system.

So far i've got

Powerbook Duo 280c

Max RAM upgrade

Couple batteries (i'll get rebuilt at batteries plus)

Duo Dock Plus (with AAUI adapter)

Apple 600e CD drive (with all the terminators, cables and powerbook scsi adapter)

Rasterops 24XLTV nubus video card with video in cables

Newer Ultradock 16SCE

Original CIV 2 68K version CD (BEST GAME EVER!!!)

Anything else I should be on the lookout for? I know the dock has two nubus slots, any advice for anything interesting I could put in the second slot?

Thanks for any good advice

 

[Brooklyn]

I think you can upgrade the 280c with a 2300c motherboard. But this would get you to PPC territory if you wanted to stay 68k.

 

[Byrd]

... you could fit a larger, faster 3.5" HD in the Duo Dock too. Keep it 68K, the 2300c board is slow at doing anything PPC.

 

[albrightct]

Good idea, but I really don't know how to swap a motherboard that's beyond my abilities. I would like a 2300c someday so I could play Diablo or Starcraft (which ran ok on my 6100 back then so I would assume the 2300 would be up for it) but I'll be happy messing around with the 280c for now. Wait for a really nice 2300c to pop or something.

I have no big preference of 68K vs. PPC but the cpu that made me impulsively start getting this stuff was a 280c. I haven't seen any of this stuff yet either, it's all just sitting in boxes at my house in the US. Gonna visit soon test it out and bring it back to China with me if it all works.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Interesting, you can get to the 68kMLA through the Chinese firewall?

 

[albrightct]

Yes sir, or actually maybe I can't. Most respectable expats in China use VPNs to circumvent the block, I'm at the office now so I can't turn it off but I'll check when I get home. Most forums aren't blocked unless they have sensitive content or certain words that trip the filter.

 

[beachycove]

You've basically got everything but a Power Monster scsi to cf adapter for the hd, but you might do well to get hold of the software utility Maxima, which allows for RAM doubling and a RAM disk. The RAM disk will have plenty of room for your system and a selection of applications if you stick with 7.1 and avoid 7.5.anything or above. Very fast way to run a 280c. I also recommend perseverance with the keyboard, i.e., keep thumping and it improves with use.

I used to use a 270c and it was also a great machine. Preferred it to the 280c because of better battery life -- the 040 is more thirsty than the 030 with its superb power management features.

Maybe an Apple printer, cabling, etc.?

 

[markyb86]

I figured liberation and army would be sensitive words for the firewall, lol.

 

[albrightct]

Yeah I saw something about those CF-SCSI things...anybody have any experience with those? sounds like a cool device but I dont wanna spend $200 and have it not work, plus installing it and getting it formatted might be a pain unless theres a hard drive in the dock (I'm not sure). Figure that the duo HD will probably be good enough for now to play Civ and run MS Office.

My technical skills for installing stuff are limited, I'd love to mess around and try to make something like that work, but if I screw it up my toy is broken because I can't readily get stuff shipped here.

I promise that at some point I WILL give an important presentation to the board or something in PPT 4.0 on the Duo; see if anybody notices.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

CF<->IDE is where the 2300c MoBo really shines. I've done a ton of real work on PowerDuo while it was still relatively current and on into obsolescence. When you've got apps that require a higher OS or a newer Proc for compatibility, you make do with what you've got and add a side order Illustrator in an older rev. for good measure.

 

[beachycove]

On the 2300c question: I had 8.6 and MS Office 2001 running on a 2300c (max RAM, CF drive) for a while, and it was perfectly usable as a writing tool. Leaner software programs like ClarisWorks 4 were actually very snappy.

So, as Trash says, the trick is to use the right software. A 2300c will never be a hotrod, but it is not a total dud either. Depends what you use it for.

 

[CelGen]

What's the going price for getting Duo batteries rebuilt?

 

[albrightct]

Not sure yet, I'll let you know.