• Hello MLAers! We've re-enabled auto-approval for accounts. If you are still waiting on account approval, please check this thread for more information.

Search results

  1. sutekh

    Powerbook 180 dead display?

    I was glad to benefit from some of your extra parts as a result :) One point of clarification though: Greyscale active matrix screens don't have capacity issues. The color screen in the 180c has many, and all of mine were in sad shape.
  2. sutekh

    Improving a PowerBook Duo keyboard

    Very interesting! I love my 280c, but its keyboard is terrible. Anxious to give this a try!
  3. sutekh

    Powerbook 180 dead display?

    Be oh so very careful with that ribbon cable! Ask me how I know... Caps may be on the back if you remove the display from the back cover. That's how to access them on a 180c anyway... Do you get any other signs of life? Power-up chimes? Disk activity? What power adapter are you using and can...
  4. sutekh

    Basket Case PowerBook 180c

    I hadn't thought about having one fab'd, but why not? I've used Oshpark a few dozen times for various FR4 prototypes, but didn't know they did flex. That's awesome! Now I'm wishing I hadn't been so quick to slice-and-dice my original cable. I'll save all the bits just in case... I did get a...
  5. sutekh

    Basket Case PowerBook 180c

    Well, all is not yet well I'm afraid. After buttoning it up post LCD recap, I noted two things: ~1/3rd of the keyboard didn't function. Prior to this point, I hadn't done any typing whatsoever, so I imagine this was a pre-existing condition. I removed and inspected the keyboard, ribbons...
  6. sutekh

    Basket Case PowerBook 180c

    I still have it apart pending today's delivery of my Mouser order for a re-cap, so here's a pic of the LCD with cable. Unfortunately I can't really measure the length with any accuracy without pulling it all apart, removing the hinge, and disconnecting the cable--not something I'm super anxious...
  7. sutekh

    Basket Case PowerBook 180c

    Thanks! I did some testing on a sacrificial section of cable, and as OleLila mentioned, it'll delaminate if too hot for too long. I ran my iron cooler than I usually would for the Sn/Ag solder I was using at 350° C. After scraping off the insulation with a hobby knife, I pre-tinned the stripped...
  8. sutekh

    Basket Case PowerBook 180c

    Boom! Works like a champ. Clear and crisp with all colors reporting for duty. Here's the other half of the splice with a bit of the original end below it. After stripping away the insulation, fluxing, and tinning, I landed the conductors, then covered the solder pads with a thin coat of UV...
  9. sutekh

    Basket Case PowerBook 180c

    Thanks! Yours is one of the threads I reviewed and alluded to above. Thanks for posting and providing inspiration. It's hard to tell in my first image, but I added additional conductors for the two largest power / gnd traces on the left side. 3 and 2 respectively. I did not, however, double up...
  10. sutekh

    Basket Case PowerBook 180c

    This is from a 68-pin UW SCSI cable, but the conductor pitch is the same as those 80-pin U-ATA cables. I used this vs. any of the U-ATAs I had in my box owing to this particular cable's flexibility (very finely stranded 30AWG wire) and because I have dozens of them laying about from my server...
  11. sutekh

    Basket Case PowerBook 180c

    Yeah, I had to call it for the night after doing the first half. Gotta space the misery out a bit! While contemplating cable routing, I think I've decided to take a page from Duo's book. No doubt in response to the issues with PB 1xx, Apple routed the Duo's LCD cable around the hinge to...
  12. sutekh

    Basket Case PowerBook 180c

    Although every bit as tedious as I'd imagined, it's going pretty well thus far :)  Thankfully the copper is plenty thick and the first half is done with each conductor metering clean with low-resistance. I ended up chopping apart two SCSI cables, the first having solid conductors where I'd...
  13. sutekh

    Basket Case PowerBook 180c

    Well, I officially need my head examined. I threw a low offer out on an untested "parts" PB 180c, and to my surprise it was accepted and arrived today in one piece. It's a wreck though. Its installed aftermarket NiCad has leaked and was fused in place. Plastic at the hinges is of course broken...
  14. sutekh

    Duo Two-Button Mouse - Power Click

    While researching battery utilities for my Li-Ion thread, I ran across a very old duo FAQ (from 04/18/94) that referenced a nifty utility called "Power Click". Despite what I've read elsewhere, the Duo's mouse buttons are wired separately! <blockquote> * PowerClick: A neat shareware...
  15. sutekh

    Duo Li-ion Battery

    Some progress this weekend, if measured. I ordered an external charger off the auction site for bench testing and reverse engineering (I really don't want to wreck my Duo), only to discover when it wouldn't charge that there are apparently two versions of said unit. Come to discover that P/N...
  16. sutekh

    PowerBook external SCSI CD not working.

    I'd definitely crack them open to find out. SCSI controllers are not all created equally, and some are much more forgiving in my experience. For instance, I recently opened up an external SCSI CDRom drive that had been working on my XT but was behaving badly only my LCIII, to discover that it...
  17. sutekh

    PowerBook external SCSI CD not working.

    Definitely sounds like a termination issue. Several potentially questions: How long is the cable (may need active termination). If using an active term, is anything powering it? Have you verified the jumpers on the CDRom are correct (e.g., parity, unit attention, etc.)? 
  18. sutekh

    Duo 230c Heating up - battery short?

    *** BE ADVISED ***  I provided some bad info above. Caps measure 6.3mm, 5mm, and 4mm in diameter, not 8mm, 6.3mm, and 4mm as previously stated. Need to read my notes more carefully...
  19. sutekh

    Duo 230c Heating up - battery short?

    They're not too bad really. The display cover comes off with just two screws (above the hinges under the little gray, square stickers) and aside from the fact that you have to peel off a couple pieces of tape to remove the shield around the screen, they're readily accessible. Here's a couple of...
  20. sutekh

    Duo Li-ion Battery

    Well, shame on me for making bad assumptions about the sophistication of the charging circuitry in the Duo. It appears to be software controlled and current limited. Unless it detects a valid battery in the voltage range of a depleted NiMH pack, it doesn't engage. Probably also has some other...
Back
Top