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thealterlion
8 MB  Posts: 8 I have a powerbook and a dream 
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on: April 04, 2021, 21:17
Just created my account after finding out about this site and lurking for a bit. I currently have no usable system 7 device, but an external usb floppy drive for my modern computer I'm going to buy and some updating should get my Powerbook 520c up and running. Amazing to see how many things can still be done with these computers |
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1176 System 7, today and forever
Reply #1 on: April 04, 2021, 23:08
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Welcome to the exclusive Classic Mac System 7 club, thealterlion  Your Powerbook 520c will really have a chance to enjoy all of the things available for it offline. The online stuff are just extra goodies! Do you recall how big your HD is and how much RAM your PB has? This will help determine your true Mac computing power and limits.
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thealterlion
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8 MB Posts: 8 I have a powerbook and a dream
Reply #2 on: April 04, 2021, 23:42
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Hi cballero. Yeah, the powerbook is working correctly. It has 12mb of ram, so it was the top configuration that apple sold you new, and has a 240mb hdd. A bit crippled compared to other system 7 computers but at least it's not the 4mb/120mb model. Sadly it has no MacTCP/is in italian/has a dead battery, but 2 of those problems can be easily fixed with a floppy drive and my 3 diskettes. I'm still going to try and get it online, mainly to get files. I've seen macintosh.garden is advancing well.
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1176 System 7, today and forever
Reply #3 on: April 05, 2021, 00:15
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I almost forgot to say, 'Felices Pascuas' What expansion slots does your PB have? Some came with a PCMCIA card slot which could make wireless networking possible w the right wifi card.
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thealterlion
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8 MB Posts: 8 I have a powerbook and a dream
Reply #4 on: April 05, 2021, 00:18
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Yeah I've checked and it only has the battery. I got myself an AAUI to ethernet cable for 5 dollars so TCP/IP software is the only thing missing
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1176 System 7, today and forever
Reply #5 on: April 05, 2021, 00:46
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That's excellent, you're definitely on your way to getting online! Which System 7 does it have? I ask because there's a network software selector program that comes with System 7.5.3 that lets you switch to TCP/IP and AppleTalk instead of MacTCP, which should get your Ethernet working with your router.
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thealterlion
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8 MB Posts: 8 I have a powerbook and a dream
Reply #6 on: April 05, 2021, 00:51
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It has basic 7.5. From what I understand MacTCP was an optional installation, and it seems previous owner did not bother installing it. The only options on the network control panel are LocalTalk and EtherTalk
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1176 System 7, today and forever
Reply #7 on: April 05, 2021, 01:51
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Got it. You'll need to get those pieces into a few floppies then, but it means more work. From what you've shared the easiest way of doing this is via your USB floppy on Windows. There is a version of Basilisk II for Windows that supports floppy drives, so you can install the pieces you need onto System 7.5 and copy them onto a floppy using your drive, unless you're lucky enough to have an old enough Windows computer that has a floppy drive. Note that that particular version of Basilisk II also needs to have GTK+ installed on Windows before you install it. Thankfully, System 7.5.3 is near enough to System 7.5 to copy the files from that OS version and the Macintosh Garden even has an image of that OS ready to use with Basilisk II. Start researching what you need and just shout out if you get stuck somewhere along the line
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thealterlion
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8 MB Posts: 8 I have a powerbook and a dream
Reply #8 on: April 05, 2021, 01:56
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I think Basilik II isn't needed. Ideally I will be able to use the usb floppy drive from my Mac OS 9 iMac G3, but if it doesn't work, a user in reddit linked me to a program that converts diskcopy 4.2 files to dsk, and dsk files can be written with the dd utility in Windows and then used in a mac without extra steps (I think). If that doesnt work I can also try one of the HFS formatting tools for windows I've found
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1176 System 7, today and forever
Reply #9 on: April 05, 2021, 02:19
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Perfect! The just grab the second archive that has all the system 7 images from the Garden: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/emulator-harddrive-images each image is an 80 meg disk image with several System 7 installs which should have all you need in it your G3 iMac should be able to mount it and your USB floppy drive should let you copy the networking files you need to some floppies.
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thealterlion
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8 MB Posts: 8 I have a powerbook and a dream
Reply #10 on: April 05, 2021, 02:40
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I'm probably going to reinstall the whole system from scratch, since I don't know italian and kinda understood the os thanks to knowing spanish. First of all I'm gonna make sure there is nothing of value in the drive from the previous owner. I think I'm going for 7.5.5 since I don't really see the benefits on 7.6 for a 68k mac. From what I understand, the best path taking in account I would be rewriting the same 3 floppies (so I want to use the least possible) would be: -Install System 7.5 with MacTCP and Netscape 3.0 via floppy disk -Download from this website the 7.5.3 update and install it -Dowload the 7.5.5 update and install it, then delete MacTCP and install OpenTransport
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1176 System 7, today and forever
Reply #11 on: April 05, 2021, 03:17
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Yes, that would work, and staying under 7.6 makes sense to conserve memory as well
Last Edit: April 05, 2021, 03:19 by cballero
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