Erase a Macintosh Powerbook 5300CS and Factory Refresh ?

[turkeydonut]

It's an old laptop that takes only floppies. and maybe some other ports on the back. I need to clean it to factory fresh but don't want to erase the OS because I have no install media. It's running MAC OS 8.5.1 from 1995. Thanks for any help. This is an entirely new computer to me as I've always been a windows guy.

 

[Macdrone]

If you don't have install media and another mac your kind of stuck.  You should be able to get an external SCSI drive pretty easy maybe, then get install media.  If thats too much trouble and no one has the stuff you can borrow I would leave well enough alone.

 

[Juror22]

There are a few ways to install an OS on this machine, but first you will need  the following:

1) an HDI-30 adapter (converts the scsi port on the laptop with the more standard centronics connector on most early scsi devices)

2) an external apple CDROM e.g. 600e, 300e (or my favorite if you have scsi external housings is to just get a 600i and put that into the housing)

3) a legitimate copy of the "Apple_Legacy_CD"

Write back once you have borrowed, bought, or otherwise manifested these pieces and we can get more specific on the installation steps.  

 

[turkeydonut]

Have one more question, thankyou for the above responses! I will be looking into those shortly.

I'm someone who's interested in running older software. That in which is not always compatible with newer machines.

Since this powerbook 5300cs is quite old does anyone know if software was made for it to produce, cgi/poly animations or electronic music ? or do newer macs have virtual machines the same way good spec newer windows computers are able to emulate and run old software ?