Hi listers, I was thinking on perhaps extending life on a Powerbook 540c I have so I'd ask you all to share your thoughts on these subjects, please?
1) cpu upgrade. My pbook has 100 mhz ppc 603e (Apple brand) with additional 8 mb memory as someone explained. How wise would it be to upgrade that to 167 MHz NewrTech or, possibly to 183 MHz. I notice that, under QuickTime 4, the computer is rarely able to play movies with sound. I presume this would change with a faster CPU (after all, 167 is 67% faster than 100). 2) OS upgrade I currently have 8.1 installed. What would I gain if I got 8.6 on it. I notice that many programs require 8.6 or later and I know that things haven't changed much from 8.6 to 9.2.2. I do have 40 megs of ram installed and that ought to be enough even for 8.6, right? 3) hdd upgrade I noticed that there are no scsi 2.5" drives larger than 1 gb available and those are quite expensive and someone suggested a IDE-SCSI converter. As I see it the computer now hosts a 2.5" hdd 17mm high. So, I found this: http://www.caldrives.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=Caldri ves&Product_Code=CHB25-INT which is 6 mm high and that leaves enough space for a 2.5" IDE hdd in super slim profile (9.5 mm). Assuming this works, what would the suggested hdd drive be and in what size? I was thinking on having several OSes (7.5.5, 8.1, 8.6 and some flavour of Linux) and at least one data partition. I guess that the PowerBook ROM does not support huge hard drive sizes, right? 4) pcmcia card cage I finally found a company that sells the M2995LL/C (a.k.a PC card cage rev C) but for an outrageous amount of $250. Check http://www.icni.com/Apple%20Parts/pb540c.htm under part number 661-1060. Apple used to sell this for $219 so $250 is not that much more, I guess... Oh, and if someone has a PC card rev B and wants Apple to upgrade it to a rev C (they did this for a while) forget it. Apple discontinued that service. 5) PCMCIA cards If I decide to go for a PC card cage, what can I plug in? I know it's a 16bit slot but I also know that at those times (early 90's) all PCMCIA cards were 16bit yet still managed to get everything done. A faster modem is an probably an option, also the cellular PC card modem. I remember reading on the net that someone plugged a 802.11b card into it and connected it to an AirPort base station (see http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2034915372 ). What else can be done with it? I can't imagine that it would accept a graphic card or a USB controller. Maybe a CompactFlash reader, maybe more, I have zero experience with 16bit pcmcia cards. Thank you for your thoughts, Boris -- PowerBooks is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PowerBooks list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/powerbooks.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/powerbooks%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
