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| Author | My Powerbook 1400c (Read 40943 times) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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djb21212
4 MB  Posts: 7 
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on: November 22, 2008, 15:59
It's been a while since I posted anything to the forums so I'm just going to jump right in. I mentioned when I introduced myself a few months ago that my powerbook 1400 was the fastest computer I owned. I wasn't satisfied and decided to make it even faster. After searching around, I found out from Lowendmac.com that it could support booting from a flash card (which was good since the old HD was starting to finally show it's age). I sent away to Addonics for their IDE-CF adapter, went to Staples to get a 2GB CF card, and went to work. At first, I thought I did something wrong since I followed the intructions and had it right side up. That only gave me the Sad Mac screen for the fist time since I owned it. I doubled-checked the connections and, to my surprise, the whoe thing was upside-down! (Oops!) After flipping everything over and trying again, the adapter plugged right in and the CF card slid in just as easily. I inserted my 7.6.1 CD and... SUCCESS!!! It recognized the card and was ready to format. I installed the system software, got the WaveLAN drivers from this site to go online, and after a while I did an actual road test. It really was much faster and there was the satisfying sound of silence. With that in mind, I personally recommend doing this to your old Powerbooks. All it cost me was $30 and a couple of hours. |
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #1 on: November 22, 2008, 17:35
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The PowerBook 1400 is one of the PowerBooks I have never owned(actually I have never even seen one in person). It is a very popular PowerBook in these forums. It is good to hear of your success. Do you have a working battery for your 1400 and if you do does your current setup give you improved battery life? bill
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dpaanlka
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1024 MB Posts: 1646
Reply #2 on: November 22, 2008, 18:04
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I did do it to my 1400. In fact, mine is not even a Compact Flash card in some kind of adapter, but rather an actual 2.5" Solid State IDE drive. I really don't think it's faster. I've run tests and have been unconvinced personally. It is, however, super quiet and slightly better on battery. Also less prone to damage.
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jjbomfim
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32 MB Posts: 55
Reply #3 on: November 22, 2008, 23:17
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My main writing machine is a 1400c with a CF card and a CF-to-IDE adapter too. I second Dan's opinion in that I didn't find it significantly faster than before. Maybe because it was running a relatively more modern HD (10Gigs, compared to the 1Gig drives that originally came with this model). Changing form a 1 Gig drive might give you more speed. The advantages are there though, as I went the CF route mainly to eliminate the HD noise, and also to be able to pick up the notebook while it is running and not have to worry about vibrations affecting the drive. I do have set up a good backup scheme though, as I understand that flash drives have limited read/write cycels.
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djb21212
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4 MB Posts: 7
Reply #4 on: November 23, 2008, 03:20
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Sadly, the battery life is only slightly better. Before, I was only going a little more than six minutes before the battery died. Now it goes almost ten. Unfortunately, I don't have the finances to have the battery repacked or to get a spare one. Oh well, it's better than nothing.
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #5 on: November 23, 2008, 05:23
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Quote from: "djb21212" Before, I was only going a little more than six minutes before the battery died. Now it goes almost ten. If you say that it is just 2 minutes shy of doubling your battery life it sounds more impressive.  bill
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Lichen Software
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128 MB Posts: 252 
Reply #6 on: November 23, 2008, 12:53
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I have a 2 Gb CF card in mine. I have also changed out the hard drive. There is a 30 Gb drive in now. I notice that the CF card is slower than the drive. My battery is dead so I cannot give power usage figures. What I have done is great a full system and archive of files on the CF. Then I can mess around with the main drive and have a drag and drop backup if required.
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djb21212
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4 MB Posts: 7
Reply #7 on: December 16, 2008, 04:45
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Quote from: "djb21212" Sadly, the battery life is only slightly better. Before, I was only going a little more than six minutes before the battery died. Now it goes almost ten. Unfortunately, I don't have the finances to have the battery repacked or to get a spare one. Oh well, it's better than nothing. Edit: I've been experimenting with recycling the 13-year-old battery and, to my amazement, I've gotten about twenty-three minutes of power out of it! Even after all this time, it just refuses to give up and I'm grateful since I do most of my writing on this machine.
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System777
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32 MB Posts: 45 
Reply #8 on: January 23, 2009, 18:48
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Hi guys, I just bought 3 used PB 1400's and am trying to get them all fixed up nice for regular use. I have a few questions about this flash card idea. Can someone tell me where to find detailed instructions for doing this mod? Also, I think I've read somewhere that flash drives in general can only handle a limited number of read/write cycles until they die. That is why they have not been traditionally used as hard drives. Are you using a special kind of CF card or do you just replace it when it goes out? Or maybe you're not using them enough for it to be a big deal (?) Finally, does the flash card go into a special mount inside the case or just into one of the PCM slots? Thanks!
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DaveRhodes
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32 MB Posts: 43
Reply #9 on: January 23, 2009, 23:19
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Quote from: "System777" Can someone tell me where to find detailed instructions for doing this mod?Not much to do... to get to the hard drive, slide the plastic mesh above the keyboard to the left, then remove it. The keyboard lifts right out, and the hard drive is beneath the keyboard in a little tray on the bottom left. You only need a screwdriver to take the hard drive's tray out. A CF card and adaptor fit right in where the HDD was. My 1400 didn't have a tray, so I cut a wooden dowel to size (to prop up the keyboard and keep pressure off the adaptor) and it works just fine. The only "guide" I've really found is here. Quote from: "System7.77" Also, I think I've read somewhere that flash drives in general can only handle a limited number of read/write cycles until they die. That is why they have not been traditionally used as hard drives. Are you using a special kind of CF card or do you just replace it when it goes out? Or maybe you're not using them enough for it to be a big deal (?)I did this to my PB 1400 with a 4 GB card in an Addonics adaptor back in March, then I used the PB 1400 daily all summer, reading and writing as normally as System 7 does. I did turn off Virtual Memory to reduce writes. The card's still completely fine. I'm sure there are other people who have run theirs for longer. Yeah, I'm sure the number of writes sounds pretty low, but with the ages of the HDDs you'd be putting in the 'Book anyway, I'm sure the CF card will last longer than any of those. Besides, I'm pretty sure that once you're out of writes, you can still read the card as much as you want, so you can copy everything to a new card no problem. Let's see an HDD do that! Quote from: "System007" Finally, does the flash card go into a special mount inside the case or just into one of the PCM slots?You can use a PCMCIA adaptor and the 1400 will boot off of that just fine, but a more permanent and nice-looking solution is to get an Addonics (or a much cheaper one, if you don't mind rolling the dice) adaptor for the hard drive bay.
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sierraredd
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128 MB Posts: 212
Reply #10 on: January 31, 2009, 05:26
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We have a place in town called Batteries Plus, they can replace batteries in pretty much any thing. I had them rebuild the battery for a 1400 for $30. I get about 4 hours out of it. I also do the monthly cycleing on them.
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DaveRhodes
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32 MB Posts: 43
Reply #11 on: February 09, 2009, 21:46
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Quote from: "sierraredd" We have a place in town called Batteries Plus, they can replace batteries in pretty much any thing. I had them rebuild the battery for a 1400 for $30. I get about 4 hours out of it. I also do the monthly cycleing on them.my Batteries Plus quotes me $96 for a 1400 battery rebuild and tells me there's "no way they rebuilt a NiMH battery for $30" Did you have it rebuilt as NiCd, or is the guy lying to me?
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sierraredd
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128 MB Posts: 212
Reply #12 on: March 02, 2009, 04:42
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I had them rebuild it with what was in the battery originally. According the husband he says I had a coupon for 50% off rebuilds. I had it done xmas'07. So he may not be quoting you high.
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