CC_333

That is very clever! c

If the goal were to make it compatible with a modern Mac or PC, rather than an iPhone, it might be practical and feasible, if @bigmessowires thinks he can do it somewhat easily. Probably, but making it for an iPhone would likely be close to impossible because iOS is so closed down that it's virtually impossible to write software for it that reaches that deep into the system, possibly unless you jailbreak it (and even that has also become increasingly difficult in recent years due to Apple's clamping down hard on the practice). Unless I'm missing something, and this newfangled USB Mass Storage support has facilities for one to write a third party filesystem driver? But at least one can somewhat easily write an HFS driver for that. In fact, such a thing (FuseHFS) has existed in some form since Snow Leopard was released. And if I'm not mistaken, it's open source, so one could theoretically update it to support newer versions of OS X/macOS (as I recall, it worked okay on Snow Leopard, was rather buggy beginning with Lion or Mountain Lion, and flat out stopped working beginning with either Mavericks or Yosemite, primarily because nobody bothered to update it). c

Agreed. A more interesting challenge, I think, would be to try plodding along with a midrange G4 (like, say, a Quicksilver@933 MHz or a PowerBook@867 MHz, both with max RAM) if going Mac, or an early-ish Pentium 4 for PCs (believe it or not, P4s can still work! The early ones are miserably slow, but even at that they can do almost anything a modern PC can, and with patience, one can still daily drive it). c

@olePigeonMaybe, but wouldn't most be NOS at this point? If so, they could have the same problem. The good thing there is that most would likely be quite a bit newer than any original part, so the odds of finding some intact and usable are better, and with the benefit of experience (knowing how and why they fail), measures can be taken to preserve and prolong their useful lifespan. And maybe, if there's enough demand, some enterprising person could contact some Chinese factory and have new replicas made using all new materials. Such things have been done before (eraser's IWII color ribbons, BMoW's DB19 floppy port, etc.), so there is a precedent. c

It basically just cuts out, like the PCM forgets to open up the idle control valve or something (it behaves similarly, but of course much more extremely, when I unplug that valve). Most often when taking off at a traffic signal, it'll hesitate briefly and then just die. Fortunately, 99% of the time, it restarts quickly like nothing happened, so we have never been stranded in the middle of an intersection. It's a 1998, and it was doing this as long ago as 2001, so basically almost from new (I'm pretty sure we got a lemon, as we've had exceptionally bad luck with it over the years; I think the only thing that *hasn't* gone wrong with it would be the seats-- they're very comfortable ) c

I think 7.5.x had it too, but as I recall, it would only work on certain machines with certain monitors (the version introduced either in 7.6.x or 8.0 was more universal, and supported anything the individual control panels did). What I always found kinda odd and inconsistent is that beginning with Mac OS 9, Apple did away with Monitors & Sound and went back to having individual control panels for those functions. What I've never been able to figure out is why! c

I haven't really had the time to try setting up an older Mac to see how far i can push it for doing modern things, but last summer I did try using a 2006 15" MacBook Pro for a bit. While it worked decently well for offline stuff, even with max RAM and an SSD, it was quite slow for use online (I've since sold it, because not only did I already have a decent Late 2007 MBP I use for watching videos, I also found a much better Late 2007 MBP with a gorgeous HiRes 17" display). c

8 track??? I thought I was the only one here who liked such obscure audio formats! Does your 8 track record as well as play back? I never thought there was such a thing as an 8 track recorder until I bought one by chance a couple years ago, so they must be exceedingly rare, given how uncommon regular players are. As for browsers, have you tried ArcticFox? It's pretty much a straight port of Pale Moon, a Firefox fork for Windows, with a few TenFourFox bits thrown in to make it work. I haven't tested it very extensively, so I don't know how compatible it is with things like YouTube, but it'll be much more up to date security-wise than Chrome 45, if that matters. c

Interesting conversation re: PCMs awhile back! Ford also uses that nomenclature (at least it did in the 90s and early 2000s; I've no idea what they call them nowadays). Which brings me to our Ford Windstar minivan. I'm fairly certain the PCM is failing, because it will behave very erratically when driving. The last time I drove it, it started out okay enough, though shifting seemed a bit sluggish (it's an automatic, and is controlled by the PCM), but after about a half our (20 miles), it began to shift very erratically, and eventually, it was bouncing between all the gears randomly, which rendered it almost undriveable (I barely made it home!) The engine also has a tendency to die at random, or if I quickly accelerate while turning hard in one direction (or sometimes if I accelerate at all). *Every* mechanic we've taken it to has said they can't find anything wrong (mechanically, it's in fine shape), but most of the mechanics around here don't know how to diagnose PCMs aside from reading off the trouble codes. I've become so profoundly frustrated that I've basically given up on it. c

That's a neat find! You really do need to consider getting it recapped, though. That will probably help with the extra 5% of video issues (I suspect the sound is weak as well; have you checked?), and it will prevent other things from breaking. At the very least, give it a good scrub with some rubbing alcohol and a toothbrush, and then let it dry for a day or two before reinstalling it. c

I'm by no means an expert in these matters, but maybe the ROM is corrupted or damaged somehow? Was the SIMM you used compatible? Flashed with the proper ROM? There also could be broken traces between the ROM chips/ROM SIMM and the CPU. c

EDIT: Sorry, thought this was the Trading Post! Never mind c p. s. If you do decide to sell any of these, let me know!

No! It is not!! Using a PowerBook 165 adapter may work temporarily, but there's a good chance that doing so will cause damage to the power circuits on the Portable's logic board. The reason for this is the Portable is designed to run only off the main battery, and the proper Portable adapter is, in effect, a trickle charger for the main battery so it maintains a full charge while the Portable is in use. This is why they won't power on without a functional main battery installed, even if the (proper) adapter is plugged in. That being said, it is strongly recommended that you use ONLY the proper adapter and fully charged battery (which is easier said than done, as many original batteries are now dead and need to be rebuilt with new cells). c

Very nicely done! Is the one that doesn't work the free Plus for which you need a flyback? c

I probably have a flyback somewhere, if you'd like? Just pay me for shipping c