Powerbook 5300CS Gaming Computer ?

[retrogamerzach]

Wondering if anyone here knows a way to use a SD card with Powerbook 5300cs for purpose of loading up old games on the SD card to be played on the laptop. Or have heard rumor of CF cards working. Than could it be hooked up to a regular CRT TV for video output while playing old games? Noticed it has alot of interesting ports on the back of it.


Any advice, suggestions appreciated.

 

[weckart]

You could try an SD to CF adapter and then put that in a CF to PCMCIA adapter to read from.

Some SD adapters are Cardbus, which might not work or Windows only, such as the Panasonic ones meant for car use.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

I've booted my 5300 from a Memory Stick using a standard Memory Stick-to-PC Card adapter, as well as a Smart Media card on an SM-to-PC Card adapter. Any PC Card adapter for any standard type of memory card should work fine.

But... Compact Flash is basically the exact same format as PC Card, just in a smaller card, so CF-to-PC Card is generally the "most compatible" card type with PC Card. (CF, and flash memory PC Cards, are just using the standard ATA bus over a smaller connector, and Mac OS has support for it built in.)

 

[weckart]

Any PC Card adapter for any standard type of memory card should work fine.

Sadly not, as I have found out to my cost. The 5300 needs PCMCIA as its cages won't accomodate the slightly thicker Cardbus cards and its slots only support 16 bit compatible cards, anyway. Some adapter cards are strictly Windows only as they require a driver to work. For safety's sake, the CF to PCMCIA is a straight passthrough solution so will work. Any other type of memory card adapter needs to offer Mac support explicitly.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Yes, I suppose the terminology is confusing. I was referring specifically to a "PC Card" or "PCMCIA" card. "CardBus" is, as you say, not compatible with the 5300. PCMCIA was the original name (technically of the standards body even, not the standard itself,) and was later rebranded as "PC Card". The later standard was "CardBus".

 

[bunnspecial]

I'm going to be a bit of a stick in the mud and say that unless you specifically need portability, you'd be better off finding a desktop from the era.

The 5300 comes from the days when laptops truly were a compromise.

Even a 6000 series Performa will be at least as fast if not faster and will generally give you a CD-ROM drive.

Move up to a PowerMacintosh(I'd suggest either an 8600 or 7300) and you PCI slots. Running a new enough OS(8.6 or later) you can drop in a USB card and then read files directly from a flash drive. Alternatively, you can even hit sites like Macintosh Garden and download stuff directly to the computer. If you're doing something more GPU intensive or just want at least semi-modern displays(i.e. high resolution and 32-bit color through a VGA or DVI port), you can drop in a PCI video card. Put in an ATA card and you can get(relatively speaking) large amounts of inexpensive storage and you(physically) have a place to put it.

Plus, with desktops, you get a DB25 SCSI port so don't have to mess with a dongle like you do on PowerBooks.

 

[weckart]

I suppose on the basis of cost, this trying to make use of something OP already has (a 5300) rather than spending more money on something he doesn't need. The 5300 does rejoice in its reputation as Apple's worst notebook range ever but it is still somewhat quieter and less obtrusive than the PowerMacs of yore.

 

[bunnspecial]

Fair enough on what he already has, and also the size.

Some of the upgrades being suggested, though, are not inexpensive. This is one area where towers are advantageous in that you can often get away with using commodity PC components(cheap or free if you look/ask).

If the 5300 is what the OP has, though, there's a lot to be said for making it work. I am just trying to mention that may not be the best solution.

(Says the guy who does most of his old gaming on a Cube, albeit with an 800mhz processor, Geforce 3, and an ADC CRT to make downressing nice).