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Powerbook G3 Pismo

Dronecatcher

Dronecatcher

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jun 17, 2014
5,278
7,940
Lincolnshire, UK
I've finally got my hands on a Powerbook G3 Pismo at a decent price - it's the 400Mhz model, 576MB RAM, 40GB drive, Airport and best of all, a battery with 4 hours life in it!
I'm amazed how capable it is - that 1MB L2 cache really makes a difference, it's good for Spotify, online radio, DVDs and as shown here, Youtube streaming and movie playback via Mplayer....had to show The Matrix, as it's of the G3's era :)

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arkitect said:
Oh my goodness! I came over all teary with a huge nostalgia overload. :)

I have so many fond memories of using that model…

Did you also get the Aluminium carry case they came with?
Click to expand...

It's certainly a workhorse model (or rather would have been in it's day) with all of it's I/O and modular options.
No, didn't come with a case, don't think I've even seen the Aluminium one you refer to.
 
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Excellent machine, mine's my go-to old Laptop although it has problems booting. The little reset switch round the back has to be held down for a bit before it will chime. Probably a PRAM issue, does this one here need 'encouragement' to start up?
 
YYsMD said:
Excellent machine, mine's my go-to old Laptop although it has problems booting. The little reset switch round the back has to be held down for a bit before it will chime. Probably a PRAM issue, does this one here need 'encouragement' to start up?
Click to expand...

No, it boots fine so far and the PRAM battery appears fine at the moment.
 
CooperBox said:
Nice find! This encourages me to give my own Pismo an airing, and make a few researches for a similar case (love it) this side of the pond.
Not unlike the G4 TiBook, with their keyboards, these Pismo's are sheer delight to type on.
Click to expand...
Yes. They were really great to type on. Just the right balance in softness, tactile feedback; and sound.
 
Dronecatcher said:
I've finally got my hands on a Powerbook G3 Pismo at a decent price - it's the 400Mhz model, 576MB RAM, 40GB drive, Airport and best of all, a battery with 4 hours life in it!
I'm amazed how capable it is - that 1MB L2 cache really makes a difference, it's good for Spotify, online radio, DVDs and as shown here, Youtube streaming and movie playback via Mplayer....had to show The Matrix, as it's of the G3's era :)
Click to expand...

Wow, the Pismo is in a great shape - congrats!
As for me, I do not fancy the G3-Powerbook-series, since the books remind me to my 2003 Acer Travelmate 800, which design had been "borrowed" from those G3 Powerbooks (4 years later haha).

When it comes to the replacement of the HDD, all those old PPC-books sport a crazy design, since you nearly have to dismantle the whole unit...
- for the G3 Powerbooks you have to repaste the CPU
- with the Clamshell one has even to remove the screen in order to keep all parts and the magnetic-shield without damage
- the white G3/G4 iBooks have to be completely opened from bottom and top-side, with dozens of screws to be removed
- the 12" G4 Powerbook is also a hassle.
Only on the 15/17" Powerbooks it's likewise easy to get access to the hard drive but one has to be careful no to break fragile parts off the edge of the top-case.

Compared to that, there only had to be two screws to get access to my Travelmates hard drive. Unfortunately it does not run any OS X ... so all lost effort :D
So watering the thorns for the blooming rose ...

For the reason of easy accessibility of drive and other parts my favorite intel-book still is the 13" MacBook alu from late 2008 ...
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CooperBox said:
Nice find! This encourages me to give my own Pismo an airing, and make a few researches for a similar case (love it) this side of the pond.
Not unlike the G4 TiBook, with their keyboards, these Pismo's are sheer delight to type on.
Click to expand...

Do you need some replacement-keys or spare parts for your Pismo. I bought a tile of dismantled parts only in order to get the original Panther Disks that came with the parts ...
But AFAIK a QUERTZ-keyboard!? (I need to have a look at the attic)
 
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bobesch said:
When it comes to the replacement of the HDD, all those old PPC-books sport a crazy design, since you nearly have to dismantle the whole unit...
Click to expand...

I think the Powerbook G3 is so simple for access - lift the keyboard and Airport, RAM, PRAM battery and HD are all there with a few screws to undo, no having to remove screws front, back and sides, prize open the case, pop off fragile motherboard connectors etc
 
Dronecatcher said:
I think the Powerbook G3 is so simple for access - lift the keyboard and Airport, RAM, PRAM battery and HD are all there with a few screws to undo, no having to remove screws front, back and sides, prize open the case, pop off fragile motherboard connectors etc
Click to expand...
The guy, who wrote the guide for HDD-replacement removed the CPU-board in order to replace the drive, which makes it necessary to replace the thermal paste...
Obviously that seems to be not necessary, as some comments do mention (I've seen that a few minutes ago, when re-reading the ifixit-guide...)
Anyway, the Pismo looks pretty tidy under the hood!
 
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Dronecatcher said:
Thanks :) Wish I'd found the Mplayer stdin function earlier!
Click to expand...
I'm really confused about different versions of Mplayer app beeing around.
Could you tell more about you secrets about "Mplayer" and "stdin function"?
... and I must not look to that nice Pismo-picture to often - otherwise I fear to be tempted at least ;)
 
bobesch said:
I'm really confused about different versions of Mplayer app beeing around.
Could you tell more about you secrets about "Mplayer" and "stdin function"?
... and I must not look to that nice Pismo-picture to often - otherwise I fear to be tempted at least ;)
Click to expand...

As far as I know. there are 2 versions to choose from (as included in my TonVid archive) - the svn version is more contemporary but can be problematic, hence you have to try what works best on your machine. As Mplayer isn't a clickable app, it has to be invoked by another app/script/Terminal command but that's what makes it more efficient. Stdin is one of the many (and there are lots) command line options for youtube-dl which is applicable to compatible players, in this case, directing a video stream from Youtube (via youtube-dl) into Mplayer.
I can't elaborate as I'm not a programmer - I just learn what I need to know to get something to work :)
 
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Dronecatcher said:
As far as I know. there are 2 versions to choose from (as included in my TonVid archive) - the svn version is more contemporary but can be problematic, hence you have to try what works best on your machine. As Mplayer isn't a clickable app, it has to be invoked by another app/script/Terminal command but that's what makes it more efficient. Stdin is one of the many (and there are lots) command line options for youtube-dl which is applicable to compatible players, in this case, directing a video stream from Youtube (via youtube-dl) into Mplayer.
I can't elaborate as I'm not a programmer - I just learn what I need to know to get something to work :)
Click to expand...
Thanks! After posting my question I went through the list of postings this nice morning and finally found your thread about all the stuff about video-streaming. Completely forgot about it...
Now I've bookmarked the thread not to forget it and gonna give it a try on my Clamshell today or tomorrow! :)
 
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