PowerBook Peripherals

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Craigwd_2000 Author

Level 4

1,315 points

PowerBook Peripherals

I currently own two vintage PowerBooks...: a PowerBook duo 270c and a PowerBook 1400cs.. I was just wondering if anyone else out there might be able to say for instance mainly just help me out with trying to figure out which if any of my PCMCIA cards that I already own might actually prove to be useful should I say for instance ever even manage to get my PowerBook 1400cs running correctly ever again too if you will. I have some vintage Xircom 10/100 Credit Card Ethernet adapters which are also Revision A. or Revision 1.0 versions of this vintage PC Card NIC.

I couldn’t help but wonder if the chipset inside of my Xircom 10/100 Credit Card Ethernet adapters is the exact same ones which were originally used by other PC Cards which are actually known to have Classic Macintosh OS device drivers available such as Farallon, Asante, Proxim and various other companies who were known to have actually included Classic Macintosh OS Ethernet drivers either from their Support sites or even on the media included in the box too if you will... I also thought that my Adaptec APA-160A and APA-1460B could possibly even have native SCSI Manager 4.3 device drivers so that I wouldn’t have to worry myself anymore about the unfortunate issue which plagues my PowerBook 1400cs’s HDI-30 connector involving certain types of external Fast SCSI II devices such as my External Sy-Quest SCSI SyJet.

I also need some help and assistance with trying to locate a reasonably priced North American locale PowerBook duo Mini Dock since I accidentally: i.e.: mistakenly bought an International locale version of the PowerBook duo Mini Dock and the only ones which are currently available on eBay right now are way overpriced or over-valued too if you will...

Posted on Jan 12, 2020 5:59 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

23,419 points

Jan 12, 2020 9:20 AM in response to Craigwd_2000

>trying to locate a reasonably priced North American locale PowerBook duo

Mini Dock since I accidentally: i.e.: mistakenly bought an

International locale version of the PowerBook duo Mini Dock

Would it be correct to assume that your PowerBook 270c is equipped with an internal modem card with a "domestic" RJ-11 jack? The "international" Apple modem card had a MiniDIN-8 jack in the same place (not to be confused with the Printer/External modem port of the PowerBook Duo), and required an additional (country-specific) external data access arrangement = DAA (a small box with an RJ-11 jack and a short cable with a MiniDIN-8M plug).

The Apple PowerBook Duo MiniDock could be equipped with either a "domestic" (RJ-11) or an "international" (MiniDIN-8) modem interface/adapter card. The international interface/adapter card was used with an external DAA.

In principle, I guess that it would be possible to replace an existing international MiniDock modem interface/adapter card by a US/domestic card. However, such a card may be difficult to locate as a separate item. Alternatively, you could of course just use an external serial dial-up modem (connected to the External modem port of the MiniDock) instead of the internal PowerBook Duo modem.

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Answer 2

Craigwd_2000 Author

Level 4

1,315 points

Jan 12, 2020 12:25 PM in response to Jan Hedlund

Yes Jan...; You are correct in thinking that my PowerBook duo 270c has an Express Modem with a RJ-11jack too. Also several months ago I decided to dissemble my International Locale PowerBook duo Mini Dock only to discover that it had issues with bulging capacitors inside upon further inspection too. This makes me think that it could possibly explain the weird behaviors and/or symptoms which we discussed in my other thread about troubleshooting the aforementioned PowerBook duo 270c which therefore eventually has led me to conclude that the International PowerBook duo Mini Dock is a lemon and it isn’t even worthwhile to fix it in general anyways.

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Answer 3

Craigwd_2000 Author

Level 4

1,315 points

Jan 18, 2020 6:31 PM in response to Craigwd_2000

I have also been experimenting with using mild solvents such as Crest Pro Health Mint Green tooth paste and the like for trying to clean off the Copper Orange colored oxidization which has thoroughly coated the International Locale PowerBook duo Mini Dock’s PDS Mating Connector which I assume my PowerBook duo 270c is designed to plug into and thus far I have only managed to clean the oxidization from the laptop’s PDS Connector but I am finding out the hard way too if you will that I am having mainly just an extremely difficult time with trying to find out which part of the toothpaste inside the tube is sufficiently aged not to mention strong enough to actually eat away at the much more stubborn oxidization on my aforementioned International Locale PowerBook duo Mini Dock anyway...

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Answer 4

Craigwd_2000 Author

Level 4

1,315 points

Jan 29, 2020 5:47 AM in response to Craigwd_2000

I also wanted to make you and everyone else aware that I currently own a Megahertz CruiseCard however I currently have absolutely no reliable way of knowing whether or not the 10-Base T Ethernet portion of this PC Card combination function card has device drivers available which might potentially be suitable for networking my old Macs together too if you will...

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Answer 5

Craigwd_2000 Author

Level 4

1,315 points

Feb 5, 2020 6:18 PM in response to Craigwd_2000

Based on my past experiences with my PowerBook duo 270c...: after reading several different vintage Macintosh books, related data sheets and of course Apple’s PowerBook duo related Developer Notes it has eventually started to dawn upon me that there’s a quite good chance that due to its internal IOPMMU essentially falling asleep that it might be having a very hard time seeing my aforementioned International Locale PowerBook duo Mini Dock too if you will...

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Answer 6

Craigwd_2000 Author

Level 4

1,315 points

Feb 18, 2020 9:04 AM in response to Craigwd_2000

I found a very useful Apple Support Article which explains in lots of details which Extensions and Control Panels are supposed to be present in a regular installation of System 7.1. I couldn’t of course help but notice that unfortunately my PowerBook duo 270c’s System Folder is missing quite a few Extensions and Control Panels which has made me wonder if this could actually be potentially somehow related to some of the problems I first mentioned in my other thread entitled Troubleshoot PowerBook duo 270c...

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