My new toy! A PowerBook 140

cosmo

Well this is my new toy sporting 4MB of ram a 40MB harddrive and a 16mhz processor.



What can i do with this machine? I updated it to system 7.1 and i want to take it to 7.6.1 (i don't think it can hadle any higher) but i have yet to find a download. It came with MS word 5.1.



What software should i be looking for? and where can i find 7.6.1?



Also does anyone know what kind of ram i need to buy to upgrade this machine (i want to max it out at 8MB) and how much it would cost.



Any other comments r appreciated

wyntir

MS Word 5.1 is supersweet. It's my favorite version (the last one that ran halfway decently on my IIci). It would be fun to port it to OS X



The Apple help pages (KBase) say that the type of RAM used in the 140/160/180 series is 100 or 85ns Apple proprietary RAM. They don't give any kind of specification numbers, and I spose ebay would be your best bet for new RAM (<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2000887022"; target="_blank">here's</a> an auction for a 6MB module (only $0.99 so far!).



<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2000768739"; target="_blank">This</a> might be the easiest way to get a 7.6.1 update. You'd have to attach a CD-ROM drive somehow, or put the installers onto disks, though.



Have fun with your new piece of hardware

agent302

NOOO!! Stay with System 7.1. Man, talk about nostalgia. My "first" computer (ie, my parents bought a new one and gave me this one) was a Quadra 605 running 7.1 and I used Word 5.1 to write all of my papers from Freshman year of high school till I got an iMac my senior year. Throw Netscape 3 on the puppy, and you're all set!

1seaside1

Wow, this brings back memories of my first mac, a PB 160, which my brother handed down to me. I've only owed PowerBooks since.



Word 5.1 is a great start; it's the best version of Word, ever. Another application to look for is PageMaker 4.1, by Aldus (sp?), before it was bought by Adobe. Wow, isn't amazing how small application were?



..the days before a trackpad...



[ 02-09-2002: Message edited by: 1seaside1 ]</p>

1seaside1

Just to add something else...do you realize that considering how old your PowerBook is, that it's still better designed than most laptops today? I have friend who just bought a Vaio and it has cheaper plastics than a 160 did...actually, it was the 100 series of PowerBooks which changed the way laptops were designed, practically overnight.

cubit

You are a lucky person Cosmo. Definitely stick to 7.1 and 5.1 and you can use it for ever.



I broke into lap tops with a PowerBook 100, actually built by Sony and even had an Acid battery. What a baby it was, but it was small, light, and very easy to use, but just had too little disk space, so I began to fiddle with it and finally messed it up, forcing me to move on to the PB 5300. I passed mine on to a niece with writing ambitions and she only put it aside a year ago for an iBook. I wish I had it back to take photos! Never thought to do that.



The 140 is fun and it is a real Apple! <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />

ybot

FOR THE LOVE OF PETE! This URL is being mangled! So I put it inside a text file and you can download that at <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/ybotdelicio/link.rtf"; target="_blank">http://homepage.mac.com/ybotdelicio/link.rtf</a>;



The link to the 7.6.1 update is there. And as I always say, any PowerBook is better than no PowerBook. There's tons you could do with that machine!



-Y



[ 02-10-2002: Message edited by: Ybot ]



[ 02-10-2002: Message edited by: Ybot ]</p>

cosmo

Hmm for now i'll stick with 7.1.

Can someone tell me the differances between 7.1 and 7.6.1? I don't know older mac os very well, considering i was 7years old when this machine was released. :-) I know 8-10.1.2 quite well, but the only thing i remember about pre os 8 is playing with kid pix on my old LC 475.



Also would instlaling that ram be difficult?

agent302

Yeah, 7.1 is great. From what I recall, 7.5/.6 was pretty bloated. I know that my Quadra 605 (with a 25 Mhz (?) 680LC40) booted up in about half the time of my parents Performa 6400 (with 200 Mhz 603e and 7.5.3)



Edit: Just a mention, don't be surprised when you click and let go of a menu and it disappears. Part of the fun of Pre-OS 8 systems was trying to navigate through nested menus without messing up.



[ 02-10-2002: Message edited by: agent302 ]</p>

jeremiah rich

Wow. I only remember 7.1 from grade school, when I (very stupidly) hated macs.. At that time, I really had no other option, as my dad ALWAYS used a PC and I did not have the money to buy one myself, and I did not have a way to see what was truly out.I DID use 7.6.1 or whatever a few days ago, though, and it brought back memories of my old school days.

little newton

I owned one of these new and kept for 4 years. Really liked it a lot. Ram Doubler works nicely with it as the max is low enough to be a pain. I ran Word Perfect, Civilization, and word 5 all very well. Mt internal 2400 baud modem struggled with AOL but other than that was a great travel mate.

thinkingdifferent

I luv that trackball

wrong robot

dude that powerbook has a trackball!

thats such a ****ing good Idea...I'm not a fan of touch pads...but I love trackballs!

wow! that would be a cool BTO feature...but it would be a niche thing(most people just say"i'll buy a mouse" or "I'll adjust to the touch pad"



I love seeing old as compouters that WERE totally amazing back in the day....I also Love finding really old webpages made when the internet was only a few years old(mass internet) when a 14 .4 kbps modem was insane!

fobie

Whoa, when I read this thread I remind myself about my PowerBook 180, gotta get a power adapter for it..



Running old Macs really gives you a huge nostalgic kick



Oh, man.. this i sweet..



There really should be more threads like this, instead of the neverending G5 threads..



I might post some pictures of my old machines.. just.. gotta.. get.. home.. from.. school.. argh!

thinkingdifferent

[quote]Originally posted by fobie:

<strong>



Running old Macs really gives you a huge nostalgic kick

</strong><hr></blockquote>



That's how I feel everytime I turn on my IIe.

wagnerite

hey, you can OC that sucker up to 25mhz. the equivalent of a pb170. i had a 140, the person i bought it from had it oc'ed, i dunno where to look for the hack, but i know it's out there. good luck. btw, how do you like the modem?

blizaine

[quote]Originally posted by Wagnerite:

<strong>hey, you can OC that sucker up to 25mhz. the equivalent of a pb170. i had a 140, the person i bought it from had it oc'ed, i dunno where to look for the hack, but i know it's out there. good luck. btw, how do you like the modem?</strong><hr></blockquote>



here is the only Mac Overclock - "How to" site that I know of... no info on PB140 though



<a href="http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~t-imai/maine.html"; target="_blank">http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~t-imai/maine.html</a>;



Blizaine

pb g3

Heh...the PB 140 was the first of my many Powerbooks...I sold it to some woman who thought that it ran on 4 AA batteries

allenchristopher

The old trackballs were great, but they inevitably led to thicker machines, and interfered wih the battery. If you take the battery out from a new iBook, you can see it's right under half the trackpad button. Personally, I'd go with the slightly thicker design i I were in charge. The weight would be the same...