Thread
Pismo - $100 - Jump?
400mhz is all I know about it.
Should I jump on it?
Should I jump on it?
Also - will a Duo power adapter work on a pismo? The connectors look similar.
It will but will not charge the battery while in use, it has to be shut off before it will charge.
Thanks -- this has no power adapter -- good to know as I have several duo adapters lying around.
You shouldn't jump on any notebook, it really doesn't do them any good!
I would say to go for it, Pismos are very capable machines, if the one you get is in decent configuration. you can take 'em to a gig of ram, put a 550MHz G4 in them, and get a whole lot of battery life, with the appropriate installation of two fairly new third-party batteries.
I don't think G4 upgrades for a Pismo are economical. Without a battery what good is a laptop anyway?
If the laptop is local go see it run, they do cost more on ebay but they also tend to be complete.
If the laptop is local go see it run, they do cost more on ebay but they also tend to be complete.
Yep it's local -- I'm going to check it out. Don't plan on upgrading it to heavily, maybe RAM but that's cheap.
The thing with laptops is if you need a g4 start off with a g4 laptops. HDs and RAM are easy to get, same with external cards. But the main guts are rare and pricey to upgrade, so is finding good batteries.
I don't need a G4 -- I have a MacBook Pro. I'd just like something secondary that I can carry around the house with me regularly and to class because of late my MBP has been tethered down by all its peripherals (cinema display, hard drives, etc. -- its basically a desktop machine).
my 500mhz pismo cost me only $75 shipped a few months back, but that was a really lucky shot. The auction was un-descriptive, and the photos were blurry, but I could tell what it was, as well as the specs. It was also pretty much stock, 12gb HD, 128mb RAM, airport, DVD, and battery.
My first Pismo, which I got last year, was a supposedly dead unit. It read as a 400mhz 64mb 6gb machine. It turned out to be perfectly fine upon supplying an AC adapter. I even got a charge out of the battery (which I now wish I had kept).
But, your mileage may vary. These days, a pismo should be going for less than $200 and in some cases, less than $100. But all macs have inflated prices. I have even seen B&W prices rise sharply lately.
It really is up to the buyer. Since YOU will be buying it, YOU have to justify the amount you spend on it. If YOU think it's worth that much, then go for it.
-digital
My first Pismo, which I got last year, was a supposedly dead unit. It read as a 400mhz 64mb 6gb machine. It turned out to be perfectly fine upon supplying an AC adapter. I even got a charge out of the battery (which I now wish I had kept).
But, your mileage may vary. These days, a pismo should be going for less than $200 and in some cases, less than $100. But all macs have inflated prices. I have even seen B&W prices rise sharply lately.
It really is up to the buyer. Since YOU will be buying it, YOU have to justify the amount you spend on it. If YOU think it's worth that much, then go for it.
-digital
A ton for a Pismo? If it's guaranteed working, bar the battery and PS, I'd say jump.
$100 is a good price for a Pismo if it works, even without a power supply. Unfortunately, without a power supply, you won't have any way of knowing if it does work or not unless you can provide a battery with a charge in it. You can still get $250 for a decent Pismo on ebay, so if I had a way to power it up to make sure it works, I'd get it.
I'm gonna bring a Duo power supply over when I look at it (probably tomorrow) which according to a few sources will boot it.
If it doesn't boot it first go, try removing the battery. If it's flat (which presumably it is) it might be trying to charge it and boot at the same time. Another thing to try is the reset button on the back (at least it's on the back on my Lombard)
PowerBook Duo power supplies come in two flavours: 24w and 36w, the latter being for the 280c and 2300c. There is a document on Apple.com that gives you the part numbers, the only way to know which is which.
A Wallstreet will boot and run from either of the two, but is happiest with the 36w one for charging etc. A Pismo should do likewise, but bring along a 36w adapter if you have one.
Pismos, however, have a reputation for needing functional backup batteries to boot (though this experience is not universal - it's not mine, anyway). This too you should check up on before "jumping" on anything, one informative discussion being here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=248158&tstart=946 .
I bought a Pismo a few weeks ago (with a dead 2400c) for around the price you cite. Mine turned out to have a broken hinge (which I fixed by cannabalizing some parts from a broken 12" display from a Wallstreet, which worked fine after a little filing and drilling). I suspect that the hinge broke long ago, as the machine turned out to be otherwise pretty much pristine; it was, I think, laid aside and left until I got it and bestowed a little TLC. It will now fulfil one of several roles I have for Powerbooks.
I used a Wallstreet for years, and long thought they were great machines; now that I have a Pismo, I can say honestly that it is a much nicer unit. And it will run OS8 and 9 - which some of us still prefer for some purposes to X.
A Wallstreet will boot and run from either of the two, but is happiest with the 36w one for charging etc. A Pismo should do likewise, but bring along a 36w adapter if you have one.
Pismos, however, have a reputation for needing functional backup batteries to boot (though this experience is not universal - it's not mine, anyway). This too you should check up on before "jumping" on anything, one informative discussion being here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=248158&tstart=946 .
I bought a Pismo a few weeks ago (with a dead 2400c) for around the price you cite. Mine turned out to have a broken hinge (which I fixed by cannabalizing some parts from a broken 12" display from a Wallstreet, which worked fine after a little filing and drilling). I suspect that the hinge broke long ago, as the machine turned out to be otherwise pretty much pristine; it was, I think, laid aside and left until I got it and bestowed a little TLC. It will now fulfil one of several roles I have for Powerbooks.
I used a Wallstreet for years, and long thought they were great machines; now that I have a Pismo, I can say honestly that it is a much nicer unit. And it will run OS8 and 9 - which some of us still prefer for some purposes to X.
I like my wallstreets, currently in the back yard under the shade browsing the web with one. It could stand to be a little lighter, so a pismo or lombard would be nice.
Laptop prices are all over the place on ebay.
Laptop prices are all over the place on ebay.
Thank you -- great info. I have 3 duo adapters -- I'll check the part numbers now. Looks like (from the Apple discussions link you sent me) the *quick* fix for the PRAM battery problem is to just disconnect and reconnect. If it doesn't boot tomorrow when I check it out I'll offer him something much lower and take a stab at it.
Score! Typing on it right now.
It was actually a Lombard, but I got the following for $80:
400mhz G3
256mb RAM
6GB HD (might upgrade), 10.3.9
DVD Module, zip drive module, two imation "superdisk" modules.
Power adapter
WORKING battery (I am amazed -- it's the original battery as far as I can tell and the menu bar estimates 3 hours with a full charge -- ive been running it battery only for about 45 minutes so far and its at 77%
No Airport card but im considering buying a 3rd party one.
Overall, a success!
It was actually a Lombard, but I got the following for $80:
400mhz G3
256mb RAM
6GB HD (might upgrade), 10.3.9
DVD Module, zip drive module, two imation "superdisk" modules.
Power adapter
WORKING battery (I am amazed -- it's the original battery as far as I can tell and the menu bar estimates 3 hours with a full charge -- ive been running it battery only for about 45 minutes so far and its at 77%
No Airport card but im considering buying a 3rd party one.
Overall, a success!
Lombard is nice, especially if you have older non-network, none-PCI macks around - I've used mine for getting stuff from USB sticks to Zip disks that my LC III can read, for instance.
Just FYI you can't install an airport card in the lombard... it doesn't have the slot...Score! Typing on it right now.
It was actually a Lombard, but I got the following for $80:
400mhz G3
256mb RAM
6GB HD (might upgrade), 10.3.9
DVD Module, zip drive module, two imation "superdisk" modules.
Power adapter
WORKING battery (I am amazed -- it's the original battery as far as I can tell and the menu bar estimates 3 hours with a full charge -- ive been running it battery only for about 45 minutes so far and its at 77%
No Airport card but im considering buying a 3rd party one.
Overall, a success!
You can, however, use a 3rd party card...
That's an impressive haul for $80, especially with all those addons.
Yep I'll have to buy a third party one. Can someone point me in the right direction for those, what to search on eBay, etc. Would "PCMCIA airport card" work (I found my PCI wireless card that way for my G4 -- i only looked at ones advertised as being airport compatible).
What I am most impressed with is the battery!!
What I am most impressed with is the battery!!
for Mac OS X, Linksys WPC54G, Revision/Version 3 is the type I have.
For OS9, it pretty much has to be a Lucent WaveLan, or compatible card. If you plan on dual-booting, i'd go ahead and buy both cards, because it's not as easy [as it should be] to get one working in both.
And, unfortunately, the Linksys card flat-out will not work on OS9, at all.
Congrats on the Lombard though, still definitely a decent machine.
For OS9, it pretty much has to be a Lucent WaveLan, or compatible card. If you plan on dual-booting, i'd go ahead and buy both cards, because it's not as easy [as it should be] to get one working in both.
And, unfortunately, the Linksys card flat-out will not work on OS9, at all.
Congrats on the Lombard though, still definitely a decent machine.
That machine would make one hell of an OS9 machine, any reason it must run OSX?
It doesn't have too -- I grew up on 7, then 8, then 9, then X like most people here, but I'd like a reasonably modern browser, Apple's Mail.app, and Adium, as well as the easy networking capabilities with my other OS X macs. It runs Panther very well. I'd have to upgrade the RAM before putting on Tiger though, I think.
Found it on Buy.com for around $40 -- doesn't list it as being OS X compatible -- does it show up as an Airport card or are there special drivers?
I bought a cheap lombard on ebay, kind of a shot in the sark because i dont know much about if, we'll see if it works, just waiting for her to come in the mail.
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180257777105&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=008
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180257777105&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=008
Because it can? A G3 400 or 500 will run Tiger, although Panther would probably be better. My Wallstreet runs Jaguar nicely so I don't see why a Pismo wouldn't be a good OS X machine. I have seen reports of Leopard with a G4 upgrade, but I think that's really pushing it with the weak graphics.
Tiger ran decently on my 500 Pismo with 512 MB of RAM...