any mac os 7 users using VINTAGE mac laptop powerbooks?

[supernova777]

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook/specs/mac_powerbook5300c_100.html

just found this old powerbook for sale.. from 1995!!!
says it originally came with os 7.5.2

anyone know anything about these old machines??
has a PowerPC 603e cpu

im trying to find a 68k mac laptop (powerbook)
like these 95 models:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook/specs/mac_powerbook190_66.html
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook/specs/mac_powerbook190cs_66.html
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook/specs/mac_powerbook550c.html

[coboconk]

5300 (603e) was generally slagged on at the time of release for a number of issues.
1400 (603e) might be better choice for that era.

The wallstreet/pismo was when they really knocked it out of the park.

Try avoid passive matrix screens like the 190cs

for 68k powerbooks at the moment I have 145, 180, Duo230, 520, 540 in various states of repair that I used for live sets in the past.

so just issues in general I've had with old powerbooks :

Any battery will be long past useful. You can find *new* batteries for as far back as g3 from china. Better to run it without it inserted, but don't bump the power cable.

at least one key will be stuck

screen may drop out. if you press on the side of the bezel or on body near hinge where video connector attaches, might fix it.

vertical / horizontal ghosting, banding, burn of single pixels across the whole display can be common with the passive matrix displays.

Also will need to replace CMOS on mobo at some point for time/date stamp.

you can rip a 540 in half & onto concrete into the audience & it will basically survive.
Those things are tanks. it still works with RGB adapter.

still figuring out midi to serial on Duo as it has a unified modem/printer port which seems to cause issues.

//

finding a 550 in North America is about as fun as finding a 2400.
both super popular in Japan.

Didn't even know they had an 040 laptop with an FPU. neat.

//

Just quit working in games & film for a long time. finally have time to repair / boot
the macs I've collected over the years.
Including some weird stuff like a full media composer 9600 suite (12 powerplugs).
Also most media related nubus cards.

So this website is the best thing ever.

[supernova777]

ive read that the duos were some of the best performing in regards to midi & sysex

[coboconk]

Had most success with 520, but I'll go back & try Duo230 with MIDI again.

Write an article or something.

[supernova777]

Had most success with 520, but I'll go back & try Duo230 with MIDI again.

Write an article or something.

520.. from 1994 - looks great!!!!! of course this came out after the article i quoted which was from 1993
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook/specs/mac_powerbook520.html

re: the article i was quoting
article here: http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=2715.msg16513#msg16513
and here: http://cara.gsu.edu/courses/MIDI/midimac.html

Macs for MIDI

Some PowerBooks (140, 145, 160, 165c, 170, and 180) with their disposition
for imposing serial-port blackouts can be frustrating MIDI platforms, and
even Apple doesn't recommend them for MIDI. But a combination of using the
PowerBooks in Don't Rest mode and keeping AppleTalk on may help keep MIDI-
data loss to a minimum. However, on single-serial-port PowerBook 100,
AppleTalk interferes with the printer port and must be off for MIDI use. As
mentioned earlier, MIDI Manager automatically disables the PowerBook's Rest
mode.

Reportedly, the Duos 210 and 230 have no problems with MIDI. Tests have
established that the PowerBook 100 is fine at MIDI speeds - just. However,
the PowerBook 100 may fail with special high speed interfaces. The
PowerBooks 140, 145, 160, 165c, 170, 180, and 185c can do easy MIDI chores
such as simple record and play-back, but falter when receiving large
amounts of MIDI data. In one series of tests conducted on a PowerBook 140,
a great quantity of input MIDI data was lost, not just long sysex dumps as
Apple maintains (a sysex dump is a continuous, high-speed data dump from a
MIDI device to the Mac.)

[coboconk]

ah thx.

was trying to find the duo referencing article off google

I can totally test this between the 3 models (145/230/540).

[supernova777]

id love to hear more about the powerbook 520

PowerBook 520
Year Released: 1994
CPU: 25 MHz MC68LC040
Original Price: $2,270

Power Book 520
Why It’s Important: The PowerBook 520 revitalized the PowerBook brand with a number of new features, including built-in stereo speakers, Ethernet, and PC Card slots. But more important, it was the first laptop in the world to include a touch-sensitive trackpad in place of the earlier trackball.
The trackpad’s central position, similar to that of trackballs before it, also set the standard that most laptops follow today. Overall, Macs proved especially influential in laptop pointing devices over their PC counterparts due to the fundamentally graphical nature of Mac OS, as opposed to MS-DOS.

featured in this article:
http://www.macworld.com/article/1142924/five_most_important_laptops.html