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Powerbook 1400 gem...

S

sohosid

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 29, 2006
68
0
Portland
Hey all, relative newbie here!

I've recently had the hankering for a few old classic Macs, and went a little Ebay-happy the other night. I bought a Powerbook G3 Lombard (got for $85, not bad, but RAM was low and HD only 4G. Worked fine on booting for 2 days, then it looks like the PMU has gone tits up...ah Ebay!! New PMU on the way along with more RAM and larger HD and a wireless card.)

The bargain of the week though was a PB1400. I actually bought 2 though, a 1400CS (got for $20) and then I also nabbed another, mainly for parts later on, which was said not to work...

Upon arrival, it indeed did not work. So I flicked the reset switch....Bing!!! Looks like it's also got a dodgy PMU, but otherwise not only does it work, but it's RAM is maxed AND it's got a Nupowr G3 card in it too!!! Bonus!

I've got an Orinocco wireless card on the way. At the moment it's got OS 9.1 installed, but I'm planning on getting an 8.5 disc from Ebay. I'm also going to drop in the 4GB drive from the G3 when I get the new 20GB drive for that one installed.

Couldn't be happier if I were twins!

Now then...any PB 180's going? How about a Duo??!

Mike.

PS...the 1400 with the G3 card I got for the princely sum of $15!!
 
Haha. Those are all nice machines. How much did you pay for the G3 1400? And which make is it? New ones at 466MHz are $300!

I wish I could upgrade my TiBook but I have the very top end one. I can only add more ram but getting 512Mb PC100 SODIMMS is not cheap.

I might have to buy a Pismo at this rate...the TiBook is so delicate!
 
Hi,

Just edited my post to add price for the G3 1400.....$15!!

It's the Nupowr G3 card. I've no idea if it's the best, or how much faster it really makes it, but it was one hellova surprise to see it loading when it booted up!

Mike
 
Allotriophagy said:
I might have to buy a Pismo at this rate...the TiBook is so delicate!
Click to expand...


I know what you mean. I'm on my 2nd TiBook, and it's looking very tatty. The Lombard seems more robust (as long as I can get it working).

I do somehow feel that the Lombard buy was a bit rushed though, and given the price I'm going to pay for RAM / HD / wireless card I maybe could / should have got a Pismo in the first place....ah well, Ebay ain't going anywhere...maybe next week!

Mike
 
The 1400's have the great interchangable covers for the lid, Iv'e got a very strange wooden cover on mine. Bought it like that, complete and boxed from eBay, bit of an odd one!
 
sohosid said:
Thanks for the link...actually already been and had a poke around! Got some great stuff there.

I'm not sure yet if I'll go with 7 or 8 on the G3 1400.... thoughts anyone?
Click to expand...

Well of course, I always give the nod to 7. Is this a NewerTech or Sonnet G3?
 
Newertech NuPowr G3.

Really not sure how much faster it makes it, but it's pretty zippy. It came with 9.1 on it, but I know it'll be a bit nicer with 7 or 8 on it.

Currently about to mess with my Orinocco card that just came in the post!
 
Yup. Already downloaded and burnt a copy of the G3 drivers.

Biggest headache right now is trying to get the damn thing running wireless!

The Orinocco software can see the card. It can see my network name...BUT it's showing zero signal (even sitting right next to the router) and won't actually let the network start...

Grrrr...
 
Update..

Well, it's up and running! Surfing the web...kind of.

Still can't connect to *my* network, but for some reason it does like one of my neighbors networks...which is un-encrypted! I tried turning off encryption on my network but it still didn't like it.

Who cares? As long as my neighbor continues to offer me free wireless for this old beast I'm a happy man!

Currently using Communicator with CSS off, pretty zippy, looks crap but hey, this *is* 9 years old!

Mike.
 
Well, it *still* won't connect to my network, with or without encryption turned on.

It is running very nicely though (and quiet) off of a CF card! And it's also got a spacious 4GB harddrive now too, donated by the (still not working) G3 Lombard that I also bought.
 
Sounds like you picked up some great deals. The PB 1400c and G3 powerbooks are cool machines. It's especially cool that you got a G3 upgrade in it. Have fun with OS 7 on it, should be pretty speedy :)
 
WHERE DO YOU PEOPLE FIND THIS STUFF?! Trust me, I look ALL over ebay, and I find absolute and complete crap! I would LOVE to have a G3 Powerbook, even pre-G3. Oh, I find them, but at a premium price. *Grumbles* back to eBay...
 
Cassie said:
WHERE DO YOU PEOPLE FIND THIS STUFF?! Trust me, I look ALL over ebay, and I find absolute and complete crap! I would LOVE to have a G3 Powerbook, even pre-G3. Oh, I find them, but at a premium price. *Grumbles* back to eBay...
Click to expand...

I like to look for all kinds of variations, and possible mispellings:

"Power Book 3400" will show different results than "PowerBook 3400c" (which is the actual correct spelling)...

Power Book 3400
Power Book3400
PowerBook3400
Power Book 3400c
PowerBook 3400c
Apple PowerPC 3400c (a lot of times people list "PowePC" as being the model name)

Etc...
 
I've had one of those laptops (PowerBook 1400cs) sitting around for 2+ years. Didn't realize what I had. Just plugged it in and it works just fine. Would this be a great computer for my kids to surf around Cartoon Network and other child friendly sites? To the original poster did you ever get your wireless card to work? Would I be ok picking up a Linksys wireless card and installing it?
I apologize for asking so many questions. I'm still extremely green when it comes to Mac's.
 
littlemissGTO said:
Would this be a great computer for my kids to surf around Cartoon Network and other child friendly sites?
Click to expand...

No, it wouldn't be. Internet is terrible on all classic Macs, especially slow ones. Those do run Microsoft Office 98 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) really nicely, as well as old games, ClarisWorks/AppleWorks 5 (but not 6), AIM 2, 3 or 4, and for a real treat, try System 7 (which works with everything I mentioned, including the wireless cards below). There is also a ton of other software at that linked site, which happens to be run by me :D that will run fine on a 1400c.

littlemissGTO said:
Would I be ok picking up a Linksys wireless card and installing it?
Click to expand...

Nope. You'd have to find one of the discontinued 16-bit Lucent WaveLAN or Proxim Orinoco 802.11b cards. You can tell the 16-bits from the 32-bits because the 32-bit cards have a gold plate on the end.
 
dpaanlka said:
No, it wouldn't be. Internet is terrible on all classic Macs, especially slow ones. Those do run Microsoft Office 98 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) really nicely, as well as old games, ClarisWorks/AppleWorks 5 (but not 6), AIM 2, 3 or 4, and for a real treat, try System 7 (which works with everything I mentioned, including the wireless cards below). There is also a ton of other software at that linked site, which happens to be run by me :D that will run fine on a 1400c.



Nope. You'd have to find one of the discontinued 16-bit Lucent WaveLAN or Proxim Orinoco 802.11b cards. You can tell the 16-bits from the 32-bits because the 32-bit cards have a gold plate on the end.
Click to expand...
Thanks for all of the info. Looks like the hunt begins for a network card.
 
The internet will be fine on that system. I run all over the internet on my LC575 (A 68K mac) with an older version of Netscape, CSS turned off, and for the most part, Java Disabled. It loads and processes pages quite quickly, and doesn't take too much memory. The PowerPC Powerbook will do much better (run at speeds closer to my Powermac 6500).

The wavelan cards are quite common on eBay, and you can sometimes find them on sites that support older PC laptops as well as Macintosh systems. These same cards can be used as airport cards in iBooks that support internal Airport.
 
840quadra said:
The internet will be fine on that system. I run all over the internet on my LC575 (A 68K mac) with an older version of Netscape, CSS turned off, and for the most part, Java Disabled. It loads and processes pages quite quickly, and doesn't take too much memory. The PowerPC Powerbook will do much better (run at speeds closer to my Powermac 6500).
Click to expand...

I was considering from the point of view of the poster's children. Of course, browsing in old Netscapes with CSS turned off is fine for us in most cases, because we understand what is happening and why it is happening, and are willing to sacrifice modern browsing for the thrill of using our old systems. However, the OP's children, who likely want to view flash-laden children's sites, will be sorely disappointed in the performance of a 1400c.
 
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