I suspect that 20MB of RAM in the 2300 is barely enough to run 8.1, let alone 8.6 (8.5 is buggy, and 8.6 is a free upgrade). As Duo RAM is near impossible to find, I would second beachycove's suggestions; to first check the HD, free up some space if it's a bit full, and defragment. Then if performance doesn't improve enough, try 7.6.1. That will also install Open Transport for you. system7today will have more information about updating the version of OT once it's installed, and other useful upgrades.

OT should have been installed with 8.1; you may have to tick a box in a control panel to choose between OT and "classic" networking. Also check Extensions Manager to see if it's been unticked (ie moved to the Disabled folder).

While you're in EM, see if there are any extensions and control panels present for the SuperMac card. Depending on the model, it may just not like OS 8.1. See lowendmac.com/video

I also agree that upgrading the internal hard drive is worth a shot. Note that if you use a drive larger than 4GB, there is a bug in the firmware for SCSI Disk Mode (ie docking the Duo to another Mac as an external SCSI drive) which can corrupt a larger drive if you use it. I have read reports that it works fine as long as you partition a larger disk so the first partition is less than 4GB, but I haven't tried it myself. If you never use SCSI Disk Mode or if your drive is

Any reasonably fast, recent Compact Flash card is likely to be as fast as the internal IDE bus. You gain some in battery life (if your battery works that is) and end up with a silent Powerbook

You might also consider a Microdrive (CF sized hard drive)

Relevant thread is relevant

Also

3. You are not going to be able to connect to a share over IP from the localtalk port

Click to expand...

Au contraire, mon frére