Getting back to life a PDQ Wallstreet without CDROM drive

[WillyWonka]

Hi,

I've just acquired a Wallstreet PDQ G3 in quite good condition and even with Spanish keyboard (which is an extra point for me as it is what I'm used to). It boots and even the battery lasts for 30 minutes 

It has a 30GB IDE disk which is a bit noisy but I think it'll work for the moment. It came already partitioned in two partitions which might be useful. I want this thing to be in working condition and maybe use it with iTunes to play the music I have stored in my NAS as I did before. I've always loved the simplicity of iTunes 2.

There's just one little problem. Instead of the CDROM drive (it's even labelled as it came shipped with it, but the RAM has been updated also) it has a floppy drive. I want to erase previous owner's installation (as it is full of software and extensions I'd like to get rid off) and I don't know how to do it.

How can I do this? Is this beauty able to boot from the network?

I have an image of Spanish OS 9.2.2 from the garden but it is non bootable. I tried a Disk Tools PPC 8.1 floppy image from Apple downloads but it refuses to boot, it says I must use a newer version. My original idea was copying the contents of the installer in the second partition, boot from the disk tools floppy and install Mac OS 9 in the first partition, erasing everything before install. Is there a Disk Tools image that can boot from this machine?

My last resource is taking the HDD and putting it in a screenless Titanium PowerBook, hook an external screen and install OS 9.2.2 on it, then transfer the disk back to the Wallstreet. But hey, I'd rather leave this laptop untouched. Also the TiBook has been powered off for years... so i want this option to be my last resource.

I know other options would be buying the CDROM drive, I've seen some for €55 on eBay, but that's even more than what I paid for the actual PowerBook.

I don't know if this thing is able to boot from a USB disk on a PCMCIA USB card, and if it's still posible to find Mac-compatible cards these days. I'd buy a PCMCIA card as i have no ADB mice available, so it's actually money I have no problems to spend.

Any other ideas will be appreciated. It's been quite a while since I have a fully supported OS 9 Mac. Previously I ran it on a 12" G4 which finally died

Regards,

Willy

PS: I also have an external Imation SuperDisk USB drive. Does anybody know if the unit inside the enclosure is electronically compatible and can be used to replace the original floppy disk drive? At least I'd have 120MB media to store and transfer stuff. Even a Mac OS 9 system folder can be fitted into one of them, as I booted the Titanium Powerbook from it years ago. 120MB disks made a difference... good old 1.44MB floppies are... quite small haha. I also own a Leopard PowerMac G5 which currently has no Classic mode, but a Tiger partition can be restored in minutes if it helps.

[ioguie]

Hi there —

I'm a big fan of the Wallstreets.

This model has the interesting and useful ability to boot off PCMCIA.  So, it is totally possible that if you have a PCMCIA <-> Compact Flash adapter, and a compatible Compact Flash card (recommended 8 GB or less), that you could put a workable system (or two) onto it.

Keep in mind one golden rule with this era of PowerBook/Mac:  keep your system drives within the first 7-8 GB of the drive you're using.  So:  if you want to dual boot OS 8.6 and OS 9.2.2, for example, you'd want to have two partitions below the 7 GB or 8 GB barrier -- one for 8.6 and one for 9.2.2.  What you do with the rest of the disk is up to you.  What would work would be 2 GB for 8.6, 2 GB for 9.2.2, and then the rest of the space for data or applications or whatever.

My recommendation would be to try to get the PCMCIA - Compact Flash adapter, get a 4 GB or 8 GB CF card, and test out if the PDQ recognizes it in Finder.  Not all CF cards are compatible with this setup.   

If you find a CF card that works, then you can partition & format it on the PDQ, and then take it over to some other computer where you can access media.  Or, use it to transfer OS install media (like a .img file) from a newer computer to the PDQ, and then install off the CF card.  You may want to get the more recent Disk Copy versions, like 6.3, and beyond, including that beta version that requires 9.1+ and can access .dmg files.  The CF card should work fine in any standard USB CF card reader on more modern computers.  Just make sure you format its partitions with Mac OS Extended, not Mac OS Standard, otherwise some recent Mac OS versions won't be able to write files to it.

Ideas!

[WillyWonka]

Hi there —

I'm a big fan of the Wallstreets.

This model has the interesting and useful ability to boot off PCMCIA.  So, it is totally possible that if you have a PCMCIA <-> Compact Flash adapter, and a compatible Compact Flash card (recommended 8 GB or less), that you could put a workable system (or two) onto it.

Keep in mind one golden rule with this era of PowerBook/Mac:  keep your system drives within the first 7-8 GB of the drive you're using.  So:  if you want to dual boot OS 8.6 and OS 9.2.2, for example, you'd want to have two partitions below the 7 GB or 8 GB barrier -- one for 8.6 and one for 9.2.2.  What you do with the rest of the disk is up to you.  What would work would be 2 GB for 8.6, 2 GB for 9.2.2, and then the rest of the space for data or applications or whatever.

My recommendation would be to try to get the PCMCIA - Compact Flash adapter, get a 4 GB or 8 GB CF card, and test out if the PDQ recognizes it in Finder.  Not all CF cards are compatible with this setup.   

If you find a CF card that works, then you can partition & format it on the PDQ, and then take it over to some other computer where you can access media.  Or, use it to transfer OS install media (like a .img file) from a newer computer to the PDQ, and then install off the CF card.  You may want to get the more recent Disk Copy versions, like 6.3, and beyond, including that beta version that requires 9.1+ and can access .dmg files.  The CF card should work fine in any standard USB CF card reader on more modern computers.  Just make sure you format its partitions with Mac OS Extended, not Mac OS Standard, otherwise some recent Mac OS versions won't be able to write files to it.

Ideas!

Hi ioguie, thank you very much!

I've seen brand new Transcend CF cards and PCMCIA adapters on Amazon for €13 adapter and €18 an 8GB card, which apart from this G3 stuff will come in handy with other projects. Have you ever used this brand? Were they good? I've only had SD cards for my camera.

I think I'll be buying it tomorrow. I also found an Apple CD300 in a craiglist-like site here, but it has no cables and it was sold "as is" so I'll better choose the CF option... or maybe I finally try to get the CD300 just for having an actual CD drive for this thing, who knows.

[Philgood]

Where are you located, WillyWonka?
Not that i could help you at the moment but i'm just curious and maybe we can help eachother in the future.
I guess you already saw we are quite a lot from Spain. Even two core members of this forum are spanish.
I'm living in Málaga.

[WillyWonka]

Where are you located, WillyWonka?
Not that i could help you at the moment but i'm just curious and maybe we can help eachother in the future.
I guess you already saw we are quite a lot from Spain. Even two core members of this forum are spanish.
I'm living in Málaga.

Hi, I'm living now in Zaragoza. Didn't realise there were so many Spanish here... I always thought this was more US-based. Glad to see I was mistaken!

[Philgood]

As far as CF media i can recommend SanDisk as i have now 3x ones working in 3 different Apple products.
16GB in an iPod mini 2nd generation.
64GB in an iMac G3
and 128GB in an 12" PowerBook 1.33Ghz.

I also got an external SCSI CD-ROM drive from Apple some time ago but it is in need of some re-capping. That is something you have to consider if you are going to buy stuff from that era.

[WillyWonka]

Finally got a Trascend CF card and adapter. Everything worked fine (apart from downloading first a "corrupt" Mac OS installer).

Thank you for your help!

[ww2_1943]

How did you get the Wallstreet to boot from the CF Card adapter?

I have a PDQ and I bought a CF Card adapter. I am trying to boot off of that. I inserted the card and held Cmd-Opt-Shift-delete at start up. Nothing happens

[FBz]

You have a working CD drive from which to boot, format and install the OS onto the CF card?
OR you have done this format and OS install via another Mac before placing it into your PDQ?

If you have formatted and installed the OS onto the CF, then hold down only the option key at boot.