Powerbook 5300

[im_to_hyper]

I pulled a PowerBook 5300 out of the closet (didn't even know I had it... musta picked it up two years ago at a school district sale) the other day just to check it out. It has 32 MB RAM and is running OS 8.5. Does anyone know what kind of network card would be compatible witht this so that I can install the 8.6 update? It doesn't have any built-in ethernet or a CD-ROM.

Or of course, if someone wants to buy it from me, that works too!

 

[5300cs]

I pulled a PowerBook 5300 out of the closet (didn't even know I had it... musta picked it up two years ago at a school district sale) the other day just to check it out. It has 32 MB RAM and is running OS 8.5. Does anyone know what kind of network card would be compatible witht this so that I can install the 8.6 update? It doesn't have any built-in ethernet or a CD-ROM.

...

The ethernet card I use is a TDK LAK-CD021BX, see if you can get one off eBay or something. It works with the 5300cs perfectly.

As for the OS, I would recommend OS 7.6 or 8.1. While 8.5 will run, I find it really slow (personal preference.)

Hope that helps

 

[RacerX]

As for the OS, I would recommend OS 7.6 or 8.1. While 8.5 will run, I find it really slow (personal preference.)

Actually, as long as you have enough memory, you don't want to run either 7.6 or 8.1 on a 5300.

Both 7.6 and 8.1 are full of 68k code that has to be emulated on a 5300 that 8.5 and 8.6 would run natively. The 603e (specially at 100 MHz) is one of the slowest systems when forced to emulate 68k.

So unless you have 16 MB of RAM or less, 7.6 and 8.1 are not good choices for a 5300.


And if we are talking about 7.6 compared to 8.x, there is no comparison. 7.6 is just too painfully out of date. Apple introduced partial memory protection and multitasking with Mac OS 8.0 (both were advances that came from the Copland project).

As someone who has had both a 2300c (running 8.1) and a 5300c (also running 8.1) sitting next to my Quadra 950 (running 8.1), I can tell you that in common tasks my Quadra felt faster even while running on a 68040. Why, because the 2300c (just like the 5300) was using a 603e at 100 MHz and trying to emulate major parts of the operating system (which the Quadra wasn't having to do).

I use my 2300c (currently running 8.6) as my primary school system (after I bumped the RAM up from 12 to 56 MB). It runs great and I would never even consider crippling it by running an OS on it that it would have to run large amounts of in emulation.



People may not remember this, but when Apple released Mac OS 8.5 they had a slogan... "It is like getting a whole new computer for $99.00."

That was aimed at people with slower PowerPC systems who would see a performance bump by moving from systems like 7.5.x, 7.6, 8.0 and 8.1 to 8.5... people like us who own systems like the 2300c and the 5300 PowerBooks.

Again, unless you have restrictive amounts of memory (16 MB or less), there is no good reason to move backwards from 8.5 to 8.1 or 7.6... and a major reason why you should stay at 8.5 (and even consider moving up to 8.6).

 

[im_to_hyper]

The ethernet card I use is a TDK LAK-CD021BX, see if you can get one off eBay or something. It works with the 5300cs perfectly.

As for the OS, I would recommend OS 7.6 or 8.1. While 8.5 will run, I find it really slow (personal preference.)

Hope that helps

So is that a 16-bit PC Card? I have two 32 bit cards, but neither seem to want to click into place... so I don't know if its an issue with the card slots or what.

 

[5300cs]

more info

I'm not sure off the top of my head; I'm at work now, but I can check the box when I get home. It may say something...

The card is supported under windows 95, 98, NT, CE, Novell, OS Warp(!), MacOS 7.6 and up and even my Newton! 16 bit then, maybe?

Edit: If I remember correctly, the update to 8.6 corrected minor problems including a potential filesystem one. Other than that though, there weren't many things different? Perhaps sticking with 8.5 would be best.

RacerX knows more than I do, err, take his advice

 

[im_to_hyper]

Yeah, I figured out that the computer does have a 16 bit card slot.

I have a wireless card that is 16 bit, but I can't find any drivers. There is no web browser on the system and I have no CD-ROM, so I am going to have to download an old Netscape distribution (1.0) and from there download 3.0 since 1.0 cant handle downloads larger than 10MB, and from there download Netscape 6 or so.

Once that is done, time to upgrade to 8.6 and hope there is a version of MSN Messenger for 8.6!

 

[5300cs]

Yeah, the 5300 series is from the era when CD drives were optional. At that time it wasn't such a problem, but for collectors nowadays it can be a real pain.

I bought an Apple CD 300(?), a SCSI 1x CD rom drive. It may be slow, but it worked with my PB 150, 2400, 5300, etc. I used it to install OSes. Run the installer, then get a cup of tea or fire up your favorite game

It may still be an option. Check eBay, and if you do decide to get one, make sure it has the connector for PowerBooks!!

There are also probably a lot of PCMCIA drives that will work with the 5300. I doubt they're expensive these days ...

 

[RacerX]

I bought an Apple CD 300(?), a SCSI 1x CD rom drive. It may be slow, but it worked with my PB 150, 2400, 5300, etc. I used it to install OSes. Run the installer, then get a cup of tea or fire up your favorite game

A bootable external SCSI CD-ROM drive is one of the best investments that anyone getting into collecting older systems can make. Even the slowest is way faster than swapping floppies... or installing an OS via localtalk (which I've done a number of times on Duos and early Quadras).

Edit: If I remember correctly, the update to 8.6 corrected minor problems including a potential filesystem one. Other than that though, there weren't many things different? Perhaps sticking with 8.5 would be best.

I go to 8.6 out of habit... I have all these operating systems set up in my collection of CDs (about 40 at last count) that I carry with me when I go to see clients, so I have forgotten everything that was updated in 8.6. I mainly do it for Carbon compatibility.

But I seem to recall that 8.5.1 was the one update for 8.5 that you really should install. On 8.6 you'll want to download and install Font Manager Update 1.0

I have a wireless card that is 16 bit, but I can't find any drivers.

I have a friend who has a wireless card in her 5300... I'll ask what she is using the next time I see her.

There is no web browser on the system and I have no CD-ROM, so I am going to have to download an old Netscape distribution (1.0) and from there download 3.0 since 1.0 cant handle downloads larger than 10MB, and from there download Netscape 6 or so.

Well, Netscape Communicator 4.8 works nicely... and Netscape 7.0.3 also works in 8.6 but is a little processor intensive for a 603e/100. Netscape 6 was more processor intensive (slower) than Netscape 7 so you may want to skip that one. I've installed Mozilla 1.2.1 on a couple 5300s and it runs about the same speed as Communicator 4.8. There is also Internet Explorer 5.1.7 which runs pretty nicely on that system.

Once that is done, time to upgrade to 8.6 and hope there is a version of MSN Messenger for 8.6!

There is a version for Mac OS 9... but 32 MB of RAM would be pushing the limits and Mac OS 9 is quite buggy compared to Mac OS 8.6 (I, personally, won't run Mac OS 9 on any of my systems).

 

[5300cs]

Well, Netscape Communicator 4.8 works nicely... I've installed Mozilla 1.2.1 on a couple 5300s and it runs about the same speed as Communicator 4.8. There is also Internet Explorer 5.1.7 which runs pretty nicely on that system.

I'd go for Mozilla since it's a lot more compatible with current websites. I have it on my Kanga and it lets me get onto MR. Communicator doesn't support CSS, which nixes out a lot of the web right there.

IE is pretty compatible, but some people complain that it puts things in the Preferences and Extensions folder.

To each his own.

 

[Forced Perfect]

Apple CD 300(?), a SCSI 1x CD rom drive.

Not nitpicking, just a mostly useless fact, Apple CD-ROM drives are named after the number of kilobytes per second they can read at. The 300 is a 2x drive since a 1x reads at about 150 KB/sec.

 

[840quadra]

I'd go for Mozilla since it's a lot more compatible with current websites. I have it on my Kanga and it lets me get onto MR. Communicator doesn't support CSS, which nixes out a lot of the web right there.

IE is pretty compatible, but some people complain that it puts things in the Preferences and Extensions folder.

To each his own.

An other to add to the list ( it was listed before) is iCab. it is supported on 68k and PPC systems of the old days.

I can get onto and post here on Macrumors with my 68040 Quadra 840av, and I am in the process of getting it to run on my LC. In the world of obscure non standard Internet browsers, I really like icab, and it has a low memory, and Disk space footprint when compared to IE. It has it's share of bugs, but it does support most current web pages.

 

[840quadra]

Actually, as long as you have enough memory, you don't want to run either 7.6 or 8.1 on a 5300.

Both 7.6 and 8.1 are full of 68k code that has to be emulated on a 5300 that 8.5 and 8.6 would run natively. The 603e (specially at 100 MHz) is one of the slowest systems when forced to emulate 68k.

Thanks for the review on this subject!

I really like OS 8.1, but I keep forgetting the points in Mac Secrets, and what was taught to me in classroom sessions in regards to the internals of OS 8.5. I have quite a few of slow 603 machines that I bet would run much faster if I actually did my home work and installed 8.5.

Thanks again for the tip!

840
Actually posting with the Quadra today

 

[5300cs]

URL addition

Not nitpicking, just a mostly useless fact, Apple CD-ROM drives are named after the number of kilobytes per second they can read at. The 300 is a 2x drive since a 1x reads at about 150 KB/sec.

No nitpicking at all, thanks for the correction.

I have 2 CD 300s. I tried to sell one, but no one wants them anymore!!

840quadra Thanks for reminding us about iCab. Most people seem to forget it's there. Last time I checked, there were about 10 browsers available for OS X alone! By the way, if anyone is still on 10.1, iCab and Camino will still run

edit: There's a picture of a CD 150 here. It looks just like the CD 300. (Sorry, the page is in German.)

 

[im_to_hyper]

Hey, 5300cs, do you still have one of the CD-ROM drives? Would it work with my 5300cs... I am trying to upgrade to OS 8.6 but that is hard with no ethernet.

 

[5300cs]

I do, but I'm afraid I don't live in the US. Shipping would be astronomical. Sorry

You want something like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-Macintosh...QcategoryZ11149QQtcZphotoQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[jamesW135]

Actually, as long as you have enough memory, you don't want to run either 7.6 or 8.1 on a 5300.

Both 7.6 and 8.1 are full of 68k code that has to be emulated on a 5300 that 8.5 and 8.6 would run natively. The 603e (specially at 100 MHz) is one of the slowest systems when forced to emulate 68k.

So unless you have 16 MB of RAM or less, 7.6 and 8.1 are not good choices for a 5300.


And if we are talking about 7.6 compared to 8.x, there is no comparison. 7.6 is just too painfully out of date. Apple introduced partial memory protection and multitasking with Mac OS 8.0 (both were advances that came from the Copland project).

As someone who has had both a 2300c (running 8.1) and a 5300c (also running 8.1) sitting next to my Quadra 950 (running 8.1), I can tell you that in common tasks my Quadra felt faster even while running on a 68040. Why, because the 2300c (just like the 5300) was using a 603e at 100 MHz and trying to emulate major parts of the operating system (which the Quadra wasn't having to do).

I use my 2300c (currently running 8.6) as my primary school system (after I bumped the RAM up from 12 to 56 MB). It runs great and I would never even consider crippling it by running an OS on it that it would have to run large amounts of in emulation.



People may not remember this, but when Apple released Mac OS 8.5 they had a slogan... "It is like getting a whole new computer for $99.00."

That was aimed at people with slower PowerPC systems who would see a performance bump by moving from systems like 7.5.x, 7.6, 8.0 and 8.1 to 8.5... people like us who own systems like the 2300c and the 5300 PowerBooks.

Again, unless you have restrictive amounts of memory (16 MB or less), there is no good reason to move backwards from 8.5 to 8.1 or 7.6... and a major reason why you should stay at 8.5 (and even consider moving up to 8.6).

Do you think that 7.5 would be a big speed difference at all, I have A 540c running 8.0 and its still pretty fast.

 

[zen.state]

As for the OS, I would recommend OS 7.6 or 8.1. While 8.5 will run, I find it really slow (personal preference.)

agreed. when I used to have a 117mhz powerbook 5300 ce I mostly ran 7.6.1 on it. runs snappy compared to any version of 8.

 

[applemacdude]

7.6 buggy
8.6 best damn classic release

 

[RacerX]

Do you think that 7.5 would be a big speed difference at all, I have A 540c running 8.0 and its still pretty fast.

When I was still using my 280 (same speed as your 540c) with 32 MB of RAM I was quite happy running 8.1 on it. And I was running 8.1 on my Quadra 950 for years before I upgraded it to a PowerPC 601 without any issues (I got the 950 in 1998 and upgraded the processor in 2003).

The only thing to keep in mind when running Mac OS 8.0/8.1 on a 68040 (or 68LC040) is the amount of RAM you have. Those systems work better with more memory (my 950 has had 136 MB for most of the time I've owned it).

agreed. when I used to have a 117mhz powerbook 5300 ce I mostly ran 7.6.1 on it. runs snappy compared to any version of 8.

Odds are that the difference has more to do with the amount of memory in your system than the OS itself.

If you only had 8 or 16 MB of RAM 7.6.1 would seem faster than 8.6, but at 32 MB of RAM or more 8.6 would be much better considering that almost all of 7.6.1 has to be run in emulation.

My 2300c (a PowerPC 603e at 100 MHz) runs great with 8.6... but then again, I have 56 MB of RAM in my system.

 

[im_to_hyper]

I ended up trading this laptop to reberto, who I believe ended up selling it. Now all I have are couple of PB 150s. Ah, my vintage collection is deteriorating!

 

[Anonymous Freak]

How to move large files...

If you have OS 8+, you can use a PC Card flash memory card reader (Compact Flash, Secure Digital, Memory Stick, whatever you want,) and the Mac OS will read it just fine, even DOS-formatted. That's how I move large files back and forth to my PB 5300c's. I put my Memory Stick into my USB reader plugged into my eMac (Running Tiger,) copy the files over, then put the Memory Stick into the PC Card reader, put the PC Card into the PowerBook, voila.

And if you can find an old 'WaveLAN' PC Card (Marketed either as Lucent or Orinoco,) it will work with the PowerBook and Apple's own AirPort drivers! (In OS 9, of course. You need to find the original WaveLAN drivers for OS 7-8.) This card even works on an ancient PowerBook 520 running System 7.5. (If you have the PC Card adapter.)