Greetings from an iBook G3/900 user

[scarasyte]

Hi everyone. I recently bought a decently working ibook g3 900mhz 14'' on ebay going for parts and repair for $60. To re-experience the software and games I used during my late school years in the 90s. I guess you can say I'm in my second childhood. I used to use a Powerbook 180 back in high school till it took a slide to the front of a school bus and hasn't worked since. I still had all my documents and software backed up and was able to load it into the ibook.

The ibook came with panther installed and OS 9.2, as well as 640MB ram. I upgraded panther to tiger to use TenFourFox since its more up to date than Classilla, but I find myself using 9.2 more often because it uses less memory and it feels more nostalgic. I know what some of you are thinking, hey if it was being sold for parts and repair it probably had something wrong with it. Only one major thing. Even though the battery holds a charge and is in relatively new condition, for some reason the computer shuts off randomly in battery mode.

The only other thing wrong was the smell of the keyboard. It smelled like armpit sweet and stale beer. I found out it was because of the adhesive used to glue the instructions to the bottom of the keyboard. Heres where things kinda went wrong for me for a little while. I peeled the instructions off and tried my best to rub off the remaining adhesive with a scrub pad. It got rid of it but the smell remained because the keyboard had years to marinate in the stink.

So I tried using some cleaning supplies. I knew beforehand that you can easily short out keyboard keys if you get it wet, so I tried to be extra careful and only scrub the key caps. However I still managed to short it out. So I ordered a replacement keyboard for about $7. I'm using it now, but it stinks too. Anyone here had better luck? I tried placing a car air freshiner under the keyboard but that only made things smell like testosterone and fruitiness. I don't want people thinking that's me... lol

So far other than those issues I am very much enjoying this. And for anyone concerned about my old Powerbook 180, I keep it safe in a closet until I can fix everything wrong with it. It has a crashed hard drive and wont recieve power. I tried 2 different power adapters. I ran system 7.5 on it when it worked.

[reader50]

Don't use water for cleaning. Use rubbing alcohol. If you want to be super cautious, pull the keyboard out before cleaning.

After a week of drying, you might try the original keyboard again.