Replying to Ben Martin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> in DuoDigest - Number 253, Article 22: Let me apologize in advance for any misinformation herein. But that's one of the risks of running mostly on fading recollections. Fortunately, there are plenty of people here who will happily correct my course. >I opened the case back up and messed with the trackball for half an hour >and now it works beautifully. I'm not sure if I'd want to replace it >with a trackpad, but this list has got me thinking about upgrades and >customizations. Try a trackpad before you get serious about this. I've always loved the thumb ball on the Duo. I haven't used the trackpads on Macs enough to judge them, but I have used a variety on Windows machines and despised every one of them. I never could get the sensitivity set to keep from sending inadvertent mouse-down and mouse-up events (Just imagine these two events accidentally triggering while you're moving the mouse across the screen. The havoc that is wreaked will make you disable the device immediately! Text and folders dragged and dropped arbitrarily, into other documents, folders, etc.). Now I know some Mac folks who love their trackpads (I try to avoid Windows folks! :-) ), so the problem may be me, my impatience in twiddling the settings (although I wonder why the default settings would err on the side of catastrophe), or the fact that Mac hardware and OS are so well integrated. It can't be as bad as I've experienced, or people would be tossing their laptops in the garbage or throwing them against walls! >I've been a desktop IBM-compatible person most of my >life Then maybe you have PC trackpad experience that counters my own. Or maybe not and that why you've now enterred the Mac camp. >and I never realized how standardized a computer could be (-: Can >I just take a 2300 motherboard and put it in my Duo 230 case? Can it >really be that simple? It would seem a little weird to me, mostly >because a 230 only has a couple holes for things like serial ports, but >maybe that's how all Duo's are. Like I said before, my experience with >Mac's is very limited (-: You can't just stick in a new board. Things are not as standard as they might seem. I'm not sure about board compatibility. Apple made a 230-to-2300 upgrade board, but it may differ from the the 2300c board. The result of the upgrade certainly differs from the 2300c. You don't get color, of course. (Wouldn't that be something, if you did!) And you don't get a PCMCIA port. I do know that there is some physical incompatibilty. The bottom of the case is changed when you do the upgrade. I don't think that this was to accomodate different ports or ease the assembly. I recall that the new case was thicker. I may be wrong here, since I don't see how that rectifies with the fact the upper case was the same and the old batteries still fit. Speaking of batteries, the upgrade included a new AC adapter, and a warning that the old adapter *might* not work reliably. I had the feeling that adapter incompatibility was merely with the new (Type III) batteries, although the warning was stronger than that. [Aside: Apple put out inconsistent info on use of Type I and II batteries in an 2300 upgraded. The upgrade notes explicit said it was okay. Apple SOS tech support insisted the Type III's be used. IN case you haven't guessed, I had battery problems after the upgrade.] If you can get a *new* upgrade kit, and have an Apple certified technician install it, you get a full warranty on the machine. I.e., warranty-wise, it's like you've just bought a new 2300. At least that's how it was when Apple was making the board. I wouldn't think you could get a new board this late in the game. Apple probably wishes all Duos would just die and go away. They pretty much made its architectures orphans (one of the reasons we all meet in this forum! We are doubly orphaned, since Apple orphaned not only the architectures, but the whole Duo concept. However, the class action suit has at least brought many Duos back under Apple's tech support umbrella.). Moreover, upgrading a 230 to a 2300 further orphans the unit (Triple orphans are us!). Now if you ever need an old 230 board, casing parts, or batteries, give me an electronic buzz. I have a couple of sets of those things. (Hmmm. Maybe I should advertise them explicitly.) BTW, the 230-to-2300 upgrade board was one of the least robust (and most infamous) pieces of hardware to come out of Apple. Everyone I know that went this route needed 2-3 board replacements before getting one that worked. The "good" news was that failure was immediate. So you could rapidly iterate through boards until one worked (another reason to leave the task to a certified technician although you might have to camp on his/her doorstep to reduce travel between iterations! :-) ). ---------- Duo/2400 List, The friendliest place on the Net! A listserv for users and fans of Mac subportables. FAQ at <http://www.themacintoshguy.com/lists/DuoListFAQ.shtml> Be sure to visit Mac2400! <http://www.sineware.com/mac2400> Dr. Bott LLC | Get a LapBottom with new �GRIPPIER� gripper pads! | http://www.drbott.com/prod/lapbot.html $23.00 Midwest Mac Parts <http://www.midwestmac.com> | After-market parts for Macs. Fix your ticking dock for $59 w/ trade-in of PS. 888-356-1104 PowerBook Guy is | Click here! Everything PowerBook! | http://www.powerbookguy.com
