Restoration of a '90s Apple Powerbook - Trash to Treasure

[@RMCRetro]

What would you put inside this Powerbook? My Patrons over at patreon.com/retromancave have pointed me in the direction of a reduced side SCSI2SD made to fit inside the Powerbook, it's not cheap but it's an option, or do we need the sound of a spinning drive inside here for the full experience? Let me know your thoughts and thanks for watching. Neil - RMC

[@HoboVibingToMusic]

SCSI2SD is better than HDDs cause, HDDs from that era die a lot.

[@markevans6790]

I'd second the SCSI2SD, I think I saw The 8-Bit Guy use one in a MAC.

[@marcusmayfield9499]

RetroManCave I have a SCSI2SD in my Performa. I do miss the rattle of the spinning drive, but I do not miss the loud whine. For functionality, I’d go with the adapter. You can configure it with up to 4 virtual drives.

[@turgin9098]

I think the SCSI2SD Powerbook version is the best bet as well. Perhaps an opportunity to work with the developer to add a speaker either on the board or via a header so the drive sounds can be simulated? That would be a great project!

[@Brianreese83]

I wonder if you could use an arduino or similar device as the go between for the sd card, since all other options are expensive. would take some programming I am sure... and is floppy emulation the same way but slower? I am sure someone has thought of the gotek option if it would be optimal. idk. sorry kind of a noob but I bet something could be made for it by someone smarter than me lol. The hundred dollar scsi2sd option that exists still seems better than the six hundred dollar option, especially since it can die at any minute, except for like historical restoration purposes or if you wanna be a purist and keep it stock. Gotta pick your poison I guess. I'd like to see what you come up with for it for sure though.

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

Nicely done on the restoration! For the hard drive, I'd go with the SCSI2SD -- there's a smaller 2.5" version available that's specifically designed to fit PowerBooks. I bought mine from Inertial Computing.

[@RMCRetro]

Thank you, great to see you here

[@ChristopherBushman]

I ended up using this with my PowerBook 165. This plus a 10mb memory expansion used as a RAM disk makes for a really slick classic mac

[@amberselectronics]

So you've got an extra motherboard? You could turn that into its own desktop PC, potentially. Reassemble it without the screen, it'll be like a little Apple II.

[@RMCRetro]

Hehe that's a fun idea! I've safely wrapped all the spares up and kept them safe so potentially a project

[@stevencarlson5422]

RetroManCave that be a cool fun project

[@stevencarlson5422]

RetroManCave also I might have a drive laying around I have a few of these old Mac laptops in the shed

[@bionicgeekgrrl]

You could turn it into an external SCSI hdd too if you can solve that hdd issue.

[@somervillearron]

@@RMCRetro or you could make the first apple car computer!have it fed into a 10 inch head unit

[@maditgeek7805]

I have a IBM H2172-S2 160MB SCSI harddrive with the Apple logo on it and everything. it does work it was pulled from a newer powerbook that had a 040 in it. that laptop is long gone and this HDD has been sitting in my spare HDD drawer ever since. I have no plans on using it it could use a new home...

[@EsbenH]

“This isn’t going to be as straightforward as I thought it was.” - the words we are all hoping to hear 😂

[@BodziuM]

"this apple is rotten "

[@dj_paultuk7052]

Said no man ever... lol. Isnt that always the case though. I just treat any job with expect the unexpected now and just go with the flo....

[@nickwallette6201]

I feel like this is my reaction to just about every project.

[@EsbenH]

@@dj_paultuk7052 Of course you are right - what I meant was that these are the words we want to hear Neil say, because it means that the project gets more interesting :).

[@MrDegsy69]

I was creaming my jeans when those caps 'came off'! 😂😂😂

[@stevew8513]

Ah, that takes me back. My first laptop was an old PowerBook 180C bought at an electronics street sale for $25 in the late '90s. It was old and slow but a lot of fun to fool around with.

[@nelsoncabrera6464]

I used to go dumpster diving when the school year ended to scrounge up stuff that was thrown out barely used (ink ribbons, books, composition journals, etc) and I remember finding one of these in the trash bins behind my high school, this was around 1994. It was in working order but was missing the power brick. The 10 or so minutes of power that were left on the battery were enough to deduce it was probably used by the administrative staff (apparently they didn't bother to wipe the hard drive). I actually still have it in a box somewhere, some day I'll get around to finding the power brick.

[@6344Dragonkingon]

It's absolutely wonderful of you to actually tell us the soldering iron temperature, nobody else seems to do that on retro KZbin and I have a bunch of stuff I was afraid to work on because the iron was too cold!

[@markyoung01maccom]

I was at university as an undergraduate at the time when this machine came out. I remember going to the campus Apple store and drooling on one of these. Thank you for wonderful video.

[@RMCRetro]

I was playing LHX Attack Chopper on a monochrome laptop. My memory tells me it was the greatest experience ever but I daren't test that theory

[@markyoung01maccom]

RetroManCave laughs, memory is often very unreliable

[@serpentza]

Fantastic video, so happy to see you're almost at 100k subs!

[@RMCRetro]

Thanks mate, so close!!!

[@MakerBlaker]

These Trash to Treasure videos are absolutely outstanding! Great work as always.

[@RMCRetro]

Thanks Blake

[@bionicgeekgrrl]

I couldn't have said it better than Blake really I think. Great stuff Neil. The videos bring a mix of memories and nostalgia, but also curiousity

[@ericpykonen]

You brought back many great memories of being in high school being the school's Mac expert. Then a couple years later working for The Computer Store, an early Apple reseller, as a field service tech. We were still fixing the PB160s in 1997-98 and a bit further. The PowerBooks were great until the PB 190/5300 fiasco. ;-) Thanks for doing this video!

[@danielsatko-]

no pads preparing, no solder wiping, no flux. Man u r real "PRO"

[@travistaylor3186]

My first 90s computer was a PowerBook. It was so cool, it had a dock and large color crt monitor to turn it from a laptop to a desktop. It was my first Apple computer and started my love affair for Macs.

[@Mamiya645]

SCSI2CF boards ought to be a fair bit smaller, and from my field (old synthesizers and samplers) we've found CF to be more reliable with older systems than SD for some reason.

[@weirdmindofesh]

CF cards in my experience act more like traditional IDE harddrives. So much so, that on IDE systems, the converter from IDE to CF is mostly passive.

[@NeverlandSystemZor]

That was my thinking, too- A SCIS to CF or sd card or soemthing of that sort.

[@JeremyLevi]

CF cards are great for replacing IDE drives, but SD card adapters seem to be far more popular for SCSI replacements. Probably because the CF card using the IDE standard is of no advantage for adapting to SCSI and good industrial grade SD cards being far cheaper to buy than the equivalent CF cards.

[@tomypower4898]

Yes because Drednaw is water/rock. Yes ground.

[@bionicgeekgrrl]

SD cards are also serial in nature like SCSI is, ide like CF cards are parallel. You can convert SCSI to ide and vice versa, but it can be problematic as the adapter won't convert some of the SCSI commands a SCSI controller will expect and obviously a ide drive can't do a lot of those commands either. Interestingly, apple migrated to FireWire because of how similar to SCSI it is so was much easier to swap over. The same to some extent with thunderbolt I believe, though not quite as simple as SCSI-firewire.

[@Stjaernljus]

There is an improved powerbook version of the SCSI2SD, SCSI2SD V5 Powerbook Edition (2.5").

[@sberriman]

store.inertialcomputing.com/product-p/scsi2sd-v5-2.5-inch.htm

[@andrethib]

came here to say this. it's not dirt cheap, but reasonable compared to the alternatives store.inertialcomputing.com/product-p/scsi2sd-v5-2.5-inch.htm

[@Veeb0rg]

The link.. store.inertialcomputing.com/product-p/scsi2sd-v5-2.5-inch.htm

[@recademedia]

This is my vote...

[@xXRedyzXx]

Thanks for giving us details about how long/how hot you're applying heat, this is going the extra mile and I really appreciate it! Cheers

[@rolaroli]

A while ago I repaired a Powerbook 145B (pretty much the same machine). You can get an SCSI2SD Powerbook edition which is smaller and has a more appropriate connectors there. I installed mine in the battery compartment by gluing nylon standoffs to the case and then just screwing in the module there. The battery was dead anyways, and the thing works beautifully. Plus I can easily remove the SD card. Just open the battery compartment and get the SD card out. Also... the plastics in these machines really are horrible. Small cracks everywhere. Mine even had them on the hinges where the display is screwed on. So the LCD doesn't quite fit together like it should. But luckily it's only a cosmetic issue for now.

[@LtKernelPanic]

Very cool repair. Reminds me of my first PowerBook a 230. It was a nice little PB that I picked up for pretty cheap in college. Ended up getting a 270c about a year later and that thing still had one of the nicest screens I've ever used. Going to have to get them put again as it's been awhile since I last fired them up.

[@fredthemagnificent]

Good on you,, I repaired many of these back in the day. I hated them, took so long to disassemble and reassemble. The display ribbon cable was the most frequent problem. Plus the screen plastics frequently broke during disassemble. Thank you superglue, but never told the customer.

[@gallowsgryph]

As soon as I saw the moving SCSI emblem, I thought "Target Disk Mode". Good to know that feature's been around since the old days.

[@akkudakkupl]

Soak your desoldering braid with flux, it will wick out solder 100x better.

[@RMCRetro]

Nice tip thank you

[@threepotMR2]

@@RMCRetro Make sure you buy "Servisol Soldamop No-Clean" desoldering braid. I've tried loads of brands, but nothing mops up solder anywhere near as good as Servisol No-Clean. It's impregnated with some kind of dry flux powder.

[@StephenBlower]

I just thought the solder wick I had was crap, so I started doing that. Then I got some recommended stuff, nope, still had to put flux on it to make it work more effectively.

[@Jamal_Tyrone]

I think Big Clive runs a flux pen over his before using it.

[@SidneyCritic]

The cheap ebay stuff you have to flux or it barely wicks, but if you have original Goot braid it's pre fluxed and works amazingly well. That being said the GOOT is pretty expensive, ie, $7 to $1, so I have some amazing DeoxIT/Caig flux that can turn any bad braid to brilliant in an instant - ebay fluxes don't hold a candle to it -.

[@NicholasBryantBonzaiSequoias]

I was given a 160 a while back, mistakenly left it outside in bin bags through winter.. it still works!

[@Lirio2u]

All about these retro Apple videos👍🏼 gonna have to watch this one twice

[@Fifury161]

4:55 - worth pointing out this was an issue from new! The plastics were always brittle and we usually replaced the bottom case along with the I/O flap as the daughter card & cousin cards (no really that's what Apple called them!) needed to be secure otherwise you could get system errors! (The boards tended to lift up due to heat & vibration). We did try melting them back in place with a soldering iron, but it made an awful smell and ruined a few tips!

[@ronhutcherson9845]

I agree - my PB 160 had plastic bits break even when just a few years old. It has a crack on the bottom from when I put in the RAM expansion; space was really tight.

[@Ragnar8504]

Thanks for the lovely video! Reminds me of the time when I got a ratty PB 145B with a broken trackball, worn hinges and a dead screen. I ended up swapping the entire topcase with screen and keyboard for one from a 170 with a dead logic board, which gave me a much better screen than the original 145B. That must have been around 2010 I think.

[@kjamison5951]

Nice! I have quite a few classic Macs and PowerBooks in a collection. They all need looked at

[@johnDingoFoxVelocity]

You should talk more about the luggable and the explosive design flaw

[@AstAMoore]

Ah, things brings up memories. I used to have a PowerBook 170. Same form factor, but it had an active matrix 1-bit black-and-white display.

[@Dragonblaster1]

Another thing you can do if your soldering iron isn't playing ball is to see if you can fit a bigger bit in there. Ideally, you want the biggest bit you can fir onto the joint, to get the heat in quickly before the temperature starts to rise, traces start to lift and PCBs start to delaminate.

[@RMCRetro]

Good tip thank you. Sometimes I'll resort to the desoldering gun for solder duties with its huge tip, it can be very effective!

[@Dragonblaster1]

@@RMCRetro I was quality manager of a company that had its electronic products made in China. I am also a qualified electronics engineer. So I spent 18 months in China (fly out for a month, back for a couple of days, then back to China) to sort out the company's issues. They had problems with delamination, lifted pads, solder balls, excess solder flow through the via, and when I watched them, it was easy to see why: they seemed to think that tiny little soldering iron bits were somehow more "professional", and they had no idea how to solder. They would melt a bit of solder onto the iron and try to persuade it to make a solder joint. First thing was, I showed that doing it right was way quicker than doing it wrong: wipe the soldering iron every joint, tin the bit, have the soldering iron on the opposite side of the lead than the solder... then I taught everyone how it was done, including supervisors and managers, so they could see if someone was having trouble. We got Metcal irons so there was no temperature know to fiddle with, the biggest bits that would fit, and we videoed the training and had it subtitled in Chinese, to be shown to all new starters. Eventually, when I had sorted out all the company's quality problems, my company hired a Chinese resident to take over, and I was made redundant (thanks, guys, £20,000 was nice, but it was still a rotten thing to do). But just a year ago, the ops manager, who hadn't been to the factory for the seven years since I did the training, called me up to say he'd just been over there, and it was mesmerising to see row after row of workers, soldering perfectly in accordance with what I taught. That at least was a boost after the redundancy.

[@8BitRetroJournal]

Very informative..just got a PowerBook 180 and it has a 120MB disk in it. Didn't realize it's SCSI.

[@danilko1]

I have a few PowerBooks, from the early 2000's, which still run Mac OS 7.5 - 9.2, but they are not the 68K series CPU, of course. The first Mac laptop was the model 100. I recall working for my college bookstore, and we were selling 140 and 170 models, at the time. That and the LCII, and Color Classic, among other higher end models. It was a great time and Macs were aspirational to own, over PC.

[@kenfagerdotcom]

Today I learned about how important that Pin 1 on that SCSI cable is. Thanks mate!

[@SidneyCritic]

Maybe he should've cut the wire and put a switch in there, that way it can do both.

[@leadedsolder]

The 2.5" SCSI2SD seems like the best ticket forward for me. Also note that you shouldn't hot-swap ADB devices; if you're unlucky you can blow a fuse on the motherboard. Most newer Macs had polyfuses, but ADB hubs and earlier Macs are going to make you break out the soldering iron.

[@RMCRetro]

Thanks for the tip on the ADB, I wasn't aware of that

[@davidczepanski1359]

@leaded solder - did that ever happen to you??? I'd heard exactly the same thing back in 1997 when I purchased my first PowerBook 150 (not nearly as capable as this machine). I went on from tinkering on Macs to working with them full time. In all those ABD years I never had (or heard of) any Mac die as a result of hot-swaping ADB. I'm not suggesting you do it, just relaying my experience and keen to hear if anyone actually had an issue.

[@leadedsolder]

@@davidczepanski1359 I blew a port out on an AppleVision 1710 monitor by hot-swapping a Gravis game controller. The PowerBook might have a little bit of magic since I would assume they'd expect people to be hot-swapping all the time.

[@davidczepanski1359]

@@leadedsolder owch. and of course there's even more reason not to try it now these machines are so old! SO thankful for USB when it came along!

[@leadedsolder]

@@davidczepanski1359 Yes - USB is a huge blessing. It could always have been an ESD failure, too - I never did take the monitor apart and confirm the death of a fuse.

[@StevenSmyth]

SCSI2SD V5 from personal experience. About $85 USD for the PowerBook version. You will need the modified Apple HDSC setup utility. The one on your 7.5 CD will only initialize discs with an Apple EPROM. That can be found at most Apple abandonware sites. Also, if you’re going to break out to a monitor, you can use a DB15 to VGA adapter so you can use any VGA monitor.

[@abhitron]

I have exactly the same Powerbook and SCSI CD drive sitting on my desk at work. It was found while an old lab was being cleared out (I work at a university). Neither will power on, and the laptop is missing the hard drive, otherwise the condition of both is pretty good. I might put it up for sale so an enthusiast/hobbyist can have a go with it.

[@kingklump]

I wish I had known about your channel years ago. I actually had one of these laptops in almost perfect working order before it developed issues I couldn't fix. I would have gladly sent it to you.

[@RMCRetro]

No worries I appreciate the thought

[@edwinmoney619]

I remember working on those in the 90's, usually installing RAM upgrades for friends. Then I got a job as a computer tech for a couple years (CFST, A+) after graduating in `92, some of the later Powerbooks and other models needed a special RAM module pulling tool or you could damage the mother board; there were about 5 or 6 different ones to make it more frustrating......

[@UpLateGeek]

Nice work! It's interesting to see how much simpler these early Powerbooks are to work on than more modern Mac laptops. My only other experience was replacing the lower casing and screen on my Powerbook G4 back in the day. I actually just rang up the local authorised Apple repair centre and told them I was from the IT department of , told them "we" had a dented Powebook G4 that was out of warranty, and asked if they had a replacement lower case for that model that "we" could purchase. I guess they thought they could get some business from us, because they said they did and I could have it for free! (After implying I was "qualified" to repair Apple hardware...) When I showed up they said they had a spare screen I could have if I needed it (which I obviously took, since the hinge was dented as well). I do wish I hadn't sold it to pay for my next Mac laptop; I've since added another example of the same model to my collection, but it's in much worse condition than I left mine (clearly had the screen repaired internally rather than replaced). Anyway, I've also got a Powerbook 1400C which needs some TLC. It only booted a couple of times when I bought it, and I'm not sure if I've damaged it or the power supply trying to charge the dead battery, because it won't turn on anymore.

[@tiagodeaviz]

Hi Neil, this video gave me some good 'ol memories. I had a PowerBook G3 that had the same case as the 3400. It too had the SCSI cabe, which I used to plug more stuff like external hard drives, a Zip Drive and a Jaz drive. Interesting to see that the keyboard layout stayed the same. I remember the arrow keys were just like your PB160. Excellent video, keep'em coming! Cheers from Brazil! Tiago

[@cheaterman49]

Great preservation job as usual Neil, bravo! I particularly liked the kapton-foil trick for heat insulation, very inspiring!

[@locnar1701]

So sad, I surplussed so many of those machines in 1997 when I got my first job in College. I can say I personally removed at least 100 of those SCSI drives and had them shredded for data security. Those and the powerbook duos were great fun to use right before we "retired" them. The Quadras of that era made for a great fort in the break room, due to the fact they were great plastic bricks, and that we had 200 of them.

[@memadmax69]

I used to lust for these laptops in a big way back in the day.

[@ScreaminJoeBlade]

I have been told that someone had put a RaSCSI drive into a Powerbook 520. This would be an awesome option - it's basically a SCSI chain being run by a Raspberry Pi Zero. It allows for a few virtual 600mb drives to be mounted as well as emulating a SCSI ethernet connection via the Pi's Wifi connection.

[@vsevkrawczeniuk8019]

Inertial computing sells an external SCSI2SD adapter that takes a micro SD card and I think is less than half the size of the one you have. It comes in a 3D printed case, but you can take it out. It has an external SCSI connector, so you'd have to figure out an adapter, or change the connector. That might work. Or just use it external like I do.

[@snootster]

I love the strip down and restore vids, great stuff 👍

[@dj_paultuk7052]

Not sure if you watch @BigClive 's channel, but he has an excellent soldering tutorial video. After watching that i solder like a pro now !. Hes a master at it. Trick is to apply the solder tip to the joint for about 2 seconds, then apply the solder directly into the joint. Leave 1 more second so it flows around the entire pad then remove the iron tip from the joint. Do not apply solder to the tip first..... Clive would be doing lots of FacePalms if he saw this. hehehe.

[@guithompsonmedvet]

My daily serotonin drop finally arrived

[@mrmcguru163]

Amazing! I cant believe how nice of a job you did with that solder job, I could never do that

[@trainingtheworld5093]

Yes you could..practice on junk boards.

[@danielsatko-]

@@trainingtheworld5093 u did not see the irony?

[@trainingtheworld5093]

Daniel Satko Eh the PowerBook 100 isn’t junk. Practice on something useless that everyone hates like a printer mainboard.

[@10MARC]

Not a bad little refurb job. I remember renting these out from the Computer Store I worked at back in 1994/1995. They were pretty good machines. I have not seen a real SCSI 2.5" hard drive in over 20 years now. I suppose I used to sell them, but back in the day I only used SCSI in file servers and on my Amiga 3000.

[@TheFrugalAudiophile]

This was a cool video. I always wanted a power book when I was a kid but could not afford one. I finally got an iBook around 2002 after college.

[@kpetree10]

Great video, just picked up a PowerBook 160 on FB marketplace that I'll need to recap as you did. You've got a new sub!

[@Fifury161]

6:05 - yes 2.5" SCSI drives stopped being manufactured during the lifetime of the later laptop models. Apple still had to honour warranty so they provided a very clumsy 2.5" IDE hard drive with an IDE to SCSI interface as way of a replacement. We bought their entire stock of 2.5" SCSI drives they didn't know they had (as they where a different part number for the LaserWriter range!) Also with the correct cable & keyboard combination you could turn the PowerBook into an external SCSI hard drive! It supported up to 7 SCSI devices which where daisy chained (not just 4 you mentioned!). Also worth noting that this was the first PowerBook model that supported 8 bit colour (with a proprietary connector of course!). You could also plug a monitor into the SCSI port...

[@sirseriously]

What's the difference between the scsi this device uses and the 2.5" scsi drives on eBay for less than $100? The connectors look similar, but I assume there are different generations similar to sata revisions.

[@Fifury161]

@@sirseriously I don't know what SCSI drives you are referring to? The SCSI interface types are High Voltage Differential (HVD), Low Voltage Differential (LVD), and single-ended. as long as you don't mix LVD & HVD you can use most SCSI devices on the same bus (the bus will operate in single-ended mode which will impact transfer speeds). You can find that detail on Google. Perhaps more importantly (and as I mentioned in a previous post) 2.5" SCSI drives ceased being manufactured in the late 1990s. Any 2.5" SCSI drive you purchase now will be at least 20~25 years old! Worth bearing that in mind - given the use case you may find a SCSI to IDE or SD might be a better option.

[@RetroGamesCollector]

Useful video thanks. I have a 145b that I am going to tackle soon, essentially the same laptop from the looks of it.

[@Schule04]

I also have an old Sharp LCD, it is part of a very expensive portable (high end 386 laptop from 1991). Sadly the caps inside leaked too and destroyed the color TFT layers and connections...

[@mstandish]

The phrase 'washing up liquid' made me chortle. This is a cool restore that I haven't seen before. I love it.

[@katrinabryce]

That's what we call it in Britain, or "Fairy Liquid". Fairy is the most popular brand of washing up liquid.

[@MeBeTheDB]

I still have my three Mac 100 series Laptops -- the first was a 145b. All of 100MB of hard drive. Oy vey (!) compared to 2020. Loved it -- loved them all ... and was introduced to the WorldWideInterNetS on them mid-90's when I got this noisy screechy thang called a Modem. All of 14.4 BTS. Got my AOL account on it and wowza .... time flies. Back in the day, as a screenwriter, I was asked to be a Beta Tester on a new fangled screenwriting program called, 'FINAL DRAFT' (which became the industry standard). D.A.

[@ErebosGR]

Apple and proprietary cables. Name a more iconic duo.

[@carlosfandango2419]

You mentioned the Amiga 1200, the point at which I entered the Amiga market, also added a hardrive. Lasted me all the way to the PS1 but couldn't survive the arcade power offered by this console.

[@RDJ134]

Great video, the only option for me looks like the SDCard version, but to be honest is think there will be a smaller version that willd fit out there in the wild.

[@paulrippcord506]

It depends on how original you want to keep the insides. You could probably trim down the existing hard drive bracket and put the adapter there.

[@boatofcar3273]

Great video Neil! I think at some point you should do a full on James May-style Reassembler video, where you start will all of the parts of a computer laid out on a table, and you put it all back together whilst telling witty stories 😄

[@VectraQS]

As a Portable owner, I hate those surface mounted caps. But I probably don't have the skills that I should have to repair it. Ended up damaging a couple pads but it still works enough to give a power manager error.

[@amerigocosta7452]

I borrowed a Powerbook 160 for quite some time at the end of the 90's-early 2000s, it was an already old machine but surprisingly pleasant to use. Overall, a smoother experience than the Win95 486 laptop I also had. And that trackball was really something.

[@tetsujin_144]

I don't think I would have been interested in it at that time, but these days it's like a whole corner of retro computing I just didn't experience the first time around. I'm especially interested in trying out a Compact Mac

[@jirkazima1126]

What is really interesting on the external monitor output is how apple managed to have it in this PowerBook. There is a NuBus-ISA converter and a standard low-cost off-the-shelf VGA chipset (WD90C26, no acceleration) with 512KB of its own memory (Apple's own chipset didn't support external screens at all). Due to this design, it is possible to use both internal and external screen together in the extended desktop mode. This was not possible on PC laptops back then.

[@EzeePosseTV]

I know some one who has a few of these sitting in storage. I'll see if I can get a hard-drive for you.

[@The_Studioworkshop]

I have 2 working SCSI hard drives. You’re welcome to one of them. SCSI drives can’t be that hard to find I working condition!

[@RMCRetro]

Thanks Ed, I've kindly been contacted and accepted an offer of a working one so hopefully we can have a follow up video soon

[@The_Studioworkshop]

Fantastic. It may also be interesting to re build the internal battery using ni cad cells. I’ve done something similar with a few of my PowerBooks!

[@tetsujin_144]

Nice, I just got a Powerbook 145, good shape overall but it's got a problem with the display - every 4th column in the top half of the display is not working. My first thought was it was probably a break in the display cable, but that seems fine. My best guess at present is that capacitor leakage in the display has damaged one of the display data lines for the top half of the display. Hopefully when I recap the thing I'll be able to identify the damaged trace and repair it.

[@paspax]

As regards that HDI30 cable... Might have been an idea to strip the insulation and install a switch into the relevant wire rather than clipping the pin. That way the one cable could serve both functions.

[@jaimecosta2966]

Excelente vídeo.... Defenly useful.. Wish you well

[@RMCRetro]

Cheers Jaime!

[@jgbarrymore]

Use a Raspberry Pi storage mod. there are ways of converting a Raspberry Pi into essentially a hard drive or storage device. once converted, you can use the Raspberry Pi and storage module with an SD card and just completely replace the hard drive causing it to act slightly similar to an SSD. probably would need to do some multi conversions with it but it's possible.

[@tetsujin_144]

It's a pretty economical option ($30ish for a midrange Pi plus maybe $10-$20 to put together a level-shifter board for it) but something just feels kind of wrong about replacing a computer's hard drive with another computer that's like a hundred times more powerful than the host machine...

[@kennypitts4829]

I love the form factor of my 165c. If it were modded and had a new clear screen, it would be a pleasure to write on.

[@Charlesb88]

Just so you know but they sell on eBay SD to SCSI cards that have more of rectangle shape that fit in 2.5” and 3.5” drive bays. They are available in eBay for around $100 U.S. The ribbon cable connector and power connector are on the side on these cards so you would need to find a way to get the SCSI ribbon cable to make a 90 degree turn since the old drive had these ports on the back.

[@teamatlas1896]

I have a Powerbook 150 and when I plug it in it makes the booting up sound but no image appears, what would you suggest?

[@bionicgeekgrrl]

What you mention about 2.5" scsi HDD is of interest as I have 2 Sun SPARCstation Voyager "luggables" . They also use the same size HDDs, but annoyingly really hard to find proprietary memory modules, but have 16mb as standard. I really need to dig them out and see if I can get any life from either. If I can get one working I may put a rPi in the other that is known to not currently work and put a colour screen in it for a unique retro machine (another idea was a miniITX system, but fitting it in might well prove difficult).

[@ExtersGameplays]

if you do not find a sd to scsi converter that fits inside the MAC, an alternative option is an external one with the cable if it is nicely boxed, but I would also prefer to have the device in the machine.

[@Rip-Van-Tinkle]

Apparently there are some Amiga lovers in the audience?.... (Looks at room full of Amigas)... hmmmm, you may be right! 😁 I've always loved Trash to Treasure, since you first started doing them, and the A500 one cost me an absolute fortune, and hours of grief and... why do I like them again? 😂 Brilliant work dude, as always 👍

[@Lion_McLionhead]

Lions will always regret not having enough money to keep its Powerbook 145, but that's just the result of choices in younger age. It worked perfectly except for difficulty booting up, probably because of a cracked solder joint. Those old active matrix, 2 color screens looked unique to their time. It's a good example of the kinds of consequences which happen 40 years after the decision to slack off.

[@Kumimono]

Add some external power to that cracked screen, frame it, and voila! Art!

[@RMCRetro]

I like it!

[@6581punk]

I remember booting Mac OS from a Zip disk. I was running Shapeshifter on the Amiga and didn't have space for a Mac partition.

[@Ragnar8504]

Yup, that was slow but it worked!

[@solitairepilot]

You could have a large cable running to a briefcase which has the external hard drive and a large spare battery in it, no one would suspect anything

[@HabadzaKalfa]

Got a Powerbook 140 in queue for repairs with rather similar (and for what I've understood, typical for the series) issues: a dead HDD, screen that needs recapping and a battery which was about to leak. Too bad my model doesn't yet have that external display connector. Such 30-pin SCSI adapter cable was also relatively hard to find, and wasn't familiar about that pin thing, so it was nice to know. Been considering plugging a normal 3.5" size HDD into the laptop with a 2.5" SCSI adapter, but maybe that would be too inconvenient apart from just testing. A SCSI2SD would be an obvious choice, although in a way feels silly that those would cost several times the price I paid for my stale Apple. However, it wouldn't be the first (or last) time when a vintage computing device having gotten half-free would eventually get its total price tag multiplied by several times.

[@thedungeondelver]

I had a powerbook 130 that I bought as a gift to my mac-fan Mother-in-law, but I've no idea what she did with it. I know she was using it as a "portable" word-processor, around the house (battery was dead so she'd save her work, then find another outlet when she'd want to move)...but alas, it's gone now.

[@lactobacillusprime]

Very nice repair!

[@NikeaTiber]

Holy damn. I didn't know that target disk more existed back when the PB160 was released.

[@TheGodfather2504]

Great Video and a lot of information thanks for the effort

[@GadgetUK164]

Great job =D Was going to suggest SCSI2SD but it's too large =/ I wonder if there's anyway to fit it if the SCSI connector was replaced with a cable soldered to the PCB where the IDC socket was - I doubt it, probably still to large in its length and width.

[@shankthebat8654]

There are now much smaller SD2SCSI units you can get. The one in my Beige G3 is a third the size of the one you have. A smaller one might be able to fit in the drive bay.

[@BAZFANSHOTHITSClassicTunes]

I see an Astro wars in the background. Still have mine from 1980/81

[@HappyCodingZX]

I think you should be able to find a smaller SCSI to SD adapter than the one you have there, and with some skill you may even be able to deconstruct / reconstruct it a little in order to make a more suitable shape.

[@bundesautobahn7]

I used to have one of those. Brings back memories

[@jameslewis2635]

For most people a SCSI to SD converter would make a lot of sense (if you could find one small enough to fit) but I would be looking for a SCSI to SATA converter. If you can't make it genuine, you had might as well make it an upgrade.

[@mattelder1971]

If you come across one of those SCSI to IDE adapters, I've got an Apple branded 4GB 2.5" drive you could have. Last I checked it was working.

[@rudder3084]

Would love to see it running with a scuzzy to SD converter but something a little smaller but nice work on the restore!

[@amdintelxsniperx]

compact flash is a must on these

[@jamesbaum4523]

Can we have an Atari Falcon restoration next in the cave please? There appears to be four of them on ebay at the moment, all at eye watering prices!

[@linoxyard]

If the traces were not in the way I guess you COULD potentially slim down the SCSI2SD board with a dremel until it fits, but it's very hacky, so yeah...

[@HK_808]

Funny coincidence I just started working on a powerbook 520 yesterday

[@paulfwsjones]

Super vid!! Thanks very much

[@petritimonen9941]

Retro laptop. Video Thanks.!!!

[@larrywilliams8010]

I like the scsi2sd option. But I would ask the designer to make a smaller version, or look for a smaller/better fitting alternative