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PowerBook 1400c Internet access possible?
- Thread starter mvallance
- Start date
I don't see why not?, Much earlier and less WWW capable Macs have crossed that threshold. I was using my 1400c RoadWarrior (AKA "Beater") as my primary WWW machine as recently as twelve years ago. That ended with my post-hospitalization acquisition of HP_Mini, but maybe it's time to revisit that time and place? Folks have SE/30s connected to WiFi, your 'Book is many times more capable than that Mac IIcx AIO. [}
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I mean, yes, though depends to a certain extent what you want to do with it. Modern web stuff, maybe not. Intentionally retro websites, sure. FTP and SSH and IRC and downloading files over HTTP? Very much so.
You even have multiple options as to how to go about it
- You can get an Ethernet PCMCIA card. MacOS-compatible ones of these are reasonably well-available, and if all else fails there's a hacked driver for some variants on the 3com 3c589 which is pretty eBayable IME. This will just let it talk IP as a normal Ethernet station, you can do DHCP, it should Just Do It.
- You can actually get WiFi cards that are compatible, too—some of the Orinoco cards are. But these are slightly painful to get working (if my experience is anything to go by), they don't speak modern encryption standards, and you can't reliably do AppleTalk over them, so I tend to avoid using mine.
- You can connect via serial and a pretend modem type thing. There are several options for this and I don't know about any of them
- You can use LocalTalk and a LocalTalk->Ethernet gateway if you have one/can find one and talk MacIP - this is IP tunnelled over AppleTalk, and you need something running to translate to/from "proper" IP. @mactjaap's MacIpgw can do this and will run on a r-pi or a virtual machine—but an r-pi can't do LocalTalk so you still need something to do the link-level bridging. This will work but is perhaps better reserved for network nerds like me and/or Macs that can't do Ethernet.
The first is probably the easiest/simplest and is what I tend to do with mine except when I'm trying to make my own life arbitrarily interesting/frustrating
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You're in Japan? Hit a Hard Off or similar recycle shop and dig through the bin of PC cards (most locations have one back in the junk section). You may luck into an Orinoco card, but otherwise you're looking for a Buffalo AirStation WLI-PCM-L11 and it shouldn't cost you more than 300 yen for one. This card is 802.11b and should support up to WEP encryption. I believe the AirStation Install Disk is still available directly from Buffalo. Make sure you get the correct model because any of the later cards with WLI-CB in the model number will not work in your computer at all (they're CardBus and your computer is not compatible).
While you're digging through the PC Card bin, the TDK LAK-CD021AX and CD031 Ethernet cards should also work for you, as should some of the specific 3Com cards mentioned above. Just be sure to find the dongle too.
While you're digging through the PC Card bin, the TDK LAK-CD021AX and CD031 Ethernet cards should also work for you, as should some of the specific 3Com cards mentioned above. Just be sure to find the dongle too.
