Pismo manual and "What does that do?"

[*old-guy*]

Two questions for the price of one.
Hurry! Hurry!! Hurry!!! before they all go
Has anyone got a clue as to where I can get a manual for this laptop? I have searched on Mac sites and through Google with no luck.

Secondly, with the Pismo book open I see 5 things close to the hinges. Two are speakers, there is a power "on" button, the word Powerbook in white and a small clear plastic errrrrrrr, thing, that looks as though it is made to show a light of some kind. All I know so far is that it does not light up when the power cable is charging the laptop and nor does it light up when connected to the web. Of course, it may be meant to do either of those jobs but has just died over the years.
Any definite answers as to what it is?

Cheers,
Steve

 

[jodelli]

Try here, I believe the pdf manual for yours is at the bottom of the page.

 

[*old-guy*]

jodelli ..... You're a star. I may also get to find the answer to the other question by reading through those 2 files.

Boom, boom. Found it.
That little light thing is a "Sleep Indicator" so I guess that when you return to your Mac, you know it is already switched on and just having a bit of a kip, lol

 

[belvdr]

Looks like a sleep indicator. By the way, why do they call it Pismo instead of PowerBook (Firewire)? Was that an internal name when it was developed?

EDIT: Well you beat me to what it was.

 

[lcgraham]

Why Pismo?

Several series of Powermacs had mascot "code", ie Leopard, Tiger, Jaguar, Gazelle etc... G3 Pismo was named after Pismo Beach, CA. I do not know if it is close to the Apple HQ.

 

[sysiphus]

As a follow up on the Powerbook internal naming:

First G3 Powerbook, based off of the 3400 design, was codenamed "Kanga"
Second G3 PB design, the first one with the rubber/plastic curvy case, was "Wallstreet/Mainstreet/PDQ," depending on the revision.
Third design, which shares a form factor with yours, but has SCSI, lacks Firewire, and lacks an Airport card slot, was codenamed Lombard.
Finally, yours is a Pismo.


The naming was not isolated to that product line...the G4 towers started off as Yikes, Sawtooth, Mystic, Quicksilver, etc...In fact, nearly all the Apple products through the Powermac G4 had a unique codename...everything from Blackbird (the flaming Powerbook) to Ray Ban, my first Mac, the IIsi. If you go to lowendmac.com and look through their index, you'll see the name listed for nearly every Mac...

 

[claimjumper]

It appears that not just computers but most all Apple products had code names. Just last week I learned that the 3 models of Quicktake cameras (100, 150, 200) were codenamed Venus, Mars and Neptune. As for the Powerbook G3 FW "Pismo", I have both a 400 and 500. The 500 being my primary laptop and still serving me well after 7 years. Finest powerbook I have ever owned.