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Powerbook 1400cs

They wanted $20 for it, but since they couldn't show me that it really worked, I offered $15. The machine itself had decent wear and tear, but still looked pretty good. Since the Yo-Yo that came with it looked practically mint, and I was all but certain that it was the exact same adapter the Clamshell iBooks used, I figured worst case would be that I gained a spare power adapter.

Once I got it home and plugged it in, it booted right up. Seems kinda cluttered with all manner of junk, which included old personal files... nothing identity theft-worthy or anything... just seemed frozen in time at the point where someone last made use of it. Not exactly what one would consider 'ready for sale' condition.

Has 7.6 installed, 12 megs of RAM reported, 750MB hard drive, CD-ROM module and a battery (though it seems the battery is either dead or in a coma right now... fair enough, considering the age of it). Seems the biggest bonus on this one is the installed software: MS Office 98 and Norton AntiVirus 5 were the first ones that caught my eye. It was practically packed to capacity, with something like maybe 20MB of free space (not much in terms of breathing room, but it did climb up past 150MB once I ditched a bunch of the former owner's personal documents).

At the moment, I'm thinking a full wipe and reinstall of the system software would be in order... but not before I can backup a whole bunch of the old-school System 7-Era programs that seem to fill this one's hard drive. With no floppy drive or Ethernet port to speak of (at least as far as I can tell), and that strange (25-pin?) SCSI port, I'm sorta stuck at the moment.

I'm going to have to research to see what I've really got here as far as what it's upgrade/expansion options are and what I can and will end up doing with it. Since I really have no specific knowledge of this era of laptops, I can't delve much further into things just yet. Time to hit the internet at large, I guess.

 
Nice find, the PowerBook 1400s are great machines to mess about with. One of the best upgrades I can recommend is RAM - I upped mine from 16MB to 40MB with a 24MB expansion card and the improvement was incredible.

The 1400 IMO is one of the nicest early PPC notebooks.

 
Probably the easiest way to transfer applications would be a serial cable between 2 Macs. Will be really slow though :-\

 
The 1400s are fine machines, especially if they are the later 'extended' models. Max. notional RAM is 64MB, which is a kindness to them, and allows the most compatible OS, 8.6, to run well. OS 9.1 is possible, but takes some hoodwinking of the NuBus architecture, and then the game proves not to be worth the candle. Whether you can reach 64MB depends on the factory-installed (base) RAM card: 8MB or 16MB. If you don't have the latter, you cannot exceed 56MB total because the RAM expansion cards come in 16, 24 and 32MB as 'piggy-back' cards, or a single (and scarce) 48MB.

With the 48MB you have room also for an internal video expansion card, or an ethernet card (also scarce). Ethernet capability is more easily and cheaply achieved with a (say) Farallon PCMCIA card, which also leaves room for use of a NewerTech 16-bit MAXview video card for mirroring to an external display.

CPU upgrades to to 466MHz are available, but not cheap. 233MHz is useful, but not as rewarding as 400/466MHz. However, an extended 166MHz model is zippy enough with OS 8.6 for most purposes, and works well with Mozilla 1.0.2 on all but graphics-laden sites, especially with a 5MB RAM Disk for browser cache. For non-Web activity the 1400s are fine machines, and not cursed with 'intelligent' batteries as the PB 500 series is. New, compact AC adapters are available on eBay for less than USD20.

Up to 12x CD-ROM modules and FDD modules are available. The cs (passive-matrix) screens are tolerable, but the TFT (c, active-matrix) screens are direct replacements and much superior, even if less common. The 30-pin HDI port that you mentioned is useful for connecting SCSI externals such as HDDs and so on, and, with a special cable, allows use of the 1400s in Target Disk Mode as long as the internal IDE drive is not larger than 4GB. This drive-capacity ceiling is an irremediable limitation in the PB's ROM.

May you enjoy your new companion.

de

 
With no floppy drive or Ethernet port to speak of (at least as far as I can tell), and that strange (25-pin?) SCSI port, I'm sorta stuck at the moment.
get yuor hands on one of the apple scsi cables for the PB taht allowed SCSI target mode thingy ;)

 
OS 9.1 is possible, but takes some hoodwinking of the NuBus architecture,
What do you mean? I installed 9.1 on my 1400, and it just installed, no problems at all. I know the x100 NuBus Power Macs required a full OS 9.1 install CD, rather than a 9.0 or 9.04 CD and the 9.1 updater, but i used a 9.0 CD + the 9.1 updater on my 1400, and it worked fine.

 
Nice. Is it a 117mhz or 133mhz?
I thought it said 117mhz, but I'd have to check to be sure.

Since I already have a couple SCSI Zip drives laying around, I'll probably just go with the SCSI adapter cable.

I found it quite interesting to see how much you can do with one of these... including wireless internet. The more I read about it, the more I realize that this was a truly great find.

EDIT: This just keeps getting better. It seems this one has something extra installed in what I guess is its expansion slot. The plug for it sticks out the back of the machine, behind the secret door with the other plugs, but it isn't labeled like the others are. I don't recognize the plug shape (narrow rectangle with a tab sticking out inside it), so I don't quite know what to make of it just yet.

I read that some of these machines had the option of having video or ethernet installed in its expansion slot. Could that be what this mystery port is on this one? Some sort of aftermarket (or maybe built-to-order) option? If I had to guess, I'd say some sort of dongle plugs into it, giving me one or the other. I guess I'll have to nose around the machine more to find out for sure.

 
Well, should the mystery D shaped slot be .71 inches or 18 mm wide with a PCB 14 contact finger tab, it's likely the video card output connector to an external adaptor cable made by Apple, mine is marked 590-0831-A. The other end of this cable is a DB-15 female for monitor connection. With this you can either mirror the LCD display, or position additional screen area adjacent as you like.

 
Ayup, that'd be a video card. The ethernet cards had a standard RJ-45 port on the board, rather than on a cable like what PCMCIA cards have, so its definately video, not ethernet.

 
What do you mean? I installed 9.1 on my 1400, and it just installed, no problems at all ...
Perfectly true. A 1400 with enough RAM can install, boot from and run OS 9.1. I should have written 9.2.x at that stage of my post, since functionality of 9.1 is a given. The point remains, however, that any flavour of OS 9 is of little reward, even with the full 64MB of RAM, except to say that one has done it. Neither do OS 9 flavours have the verve or élan that OS 8.6 has on a 1400, as well as having a larger footprint in RAM.

de

 
Well, should the mystery D shaped slot be .71 inches or 18 mm wide with a PCB 14 contact finger tab, it's likely the video card output connector to an external adaptor cable made by Apple, mine is marked 590-0831-A. The other end of this cable is a DB-15 female for monitor connection. With this you can either mirror the LCD display, or position additional screen area adjacent as you like.
Ayup, that'd be a video card. The ethernet cards had a standard RJ-45 port on the board, rather than on a cable like what PCMCIA cards have, so its definately video, not ethernet.
That's what I figured, but it's always nice to know for sure.

 
I thought it said 117mhz, but I'd have to check to be sure ...
It will not matter greatly before you wish to upgrade the CPU or the RAM, but just be aware that the original 117MHz variant of the 1400 PowerBook was the least empowered model in speed, RAM, ROM and display.

de

 
I remember reading a report about someone's experiences and benchmarking of various systems on the 1400 and the general consensus was that System 7.6 was the best compromise of speed and functionality. Certainly 7.6.1 works fine on my 1400cs, it boots quickly, doesn't use much RAM and does everything I need it to. Really depends on your requirements though as OS 8.6 may be better suited for more modern and demanding applications (with upgraded RAM).

 
Indeed...on a 1400/117 with little RAM, i probably wouldn't go much further than...8.1. However, a 1400 with a quick enough CPU (either a 166 or a G3) and enough RAM can easily handle newer OSes...i have 9.1 on my 1400c/166, and unless i start browsing the web, or something else as CPU intensive, it really runs very nicely, no complaints at all. My only real complaints with the 1400 are the slow video, and the fact that Mac OS 9 doesn't support WPA secured WiFi networks.

 
Although it's now 18mo. since last I did so, and the times they have a-changed, a PB1400/400MHz/64MB was still adequate—under Mozilla 1.0.2 (using a RAM Disk for browser cache) and dial-up from the boondocks—for last-second bidding and winning on eBay.

When not thus living dangerously, it's still a mighty fine portable companion. Two other PB1400/233MHz/64MB in the house make fine portable writing instruments.

de

 
Yeah...a 1400/G3 would have no problems at all with the WWW...i was referring to PB1400s which still have a 603e (mine does)

 
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