Q: USB for my PowerBook G3

I have a PB G3 500 Pismo, OS X Tiger 10.4.11

I have a "Patriot" brand USB 2.0 32GB flash drive that works seamlessly - at USB 1.0 speed!

try searching like this at OtherWorldComputer (OWC) >

Search Results for wallstreet usb at MacSales.com

https://eshop.macsales.com/Search/?q=wallstreet%20usb&filter.category_hierarchy= USB%202%2E0%20Flash%20Portable%20Drives

OR

Crucial

search results

http://www.crucial.com/SearchDisplay?searchTerm=wallstreet+USB+flash+drive&categ oryId=&storeId=10151&catalogId=10151&langId=-1&pageSize=10&beginIndex=0&sType=Si mpleSearch&searchFor=Keyword&resultCatEntryType=2&showResultsPage=true&searchSou rce=Q&pageView=

You might try contacting these folks and verifying that the drives are "backwards compatible to USB 1.0"

YIKES!

I cannot speak to any PC Card except a Belkin Airport PC card, which works fine.

PC Card USB powerbook wallstreet - Google Search

https://www.google.com/search?num=20&newwindow=1&q=PC+Card+USB+powerbook+wallstr eet&oq=PC+Card+USB+powerbook+wallstreet&gs_l=serp.3...45787.52705.0.53718.9.9.0. 0.0.0.116.864.6j3.9.0....0...1c.1.64.serp..0.5.501...30i10.tdunK7Aea5I    

good luck on FINDING this stuff in stock at a reputable dealer. Others here will have more and better input.

I maintained three Wallstreets for a friend for years but he eventually had to give up and bought two MacBook Pros. When I started helping with his WS collection about 2005 there were still quite a few parts/add-ons out there. CardBus cards were still in vogue and easy to find. Today they are like looking for the Tooth Fairy. Your best options at this point are: a) auction sites and b) Mac User Groups ("MUGs").

You can use this link to find MUG near you:

http://appleusergroupresources.com/find-a-group/

You don't have to physically visit a group meeting to seek their help. Often a "looking to buy" e-mail to a group's published e-mail address will be distributed to the other members.

Were I looking for a cardbus USB card, I would look for a Sonnet product. They always did well. My friend had one such card that he moved among his WS family for printing and he used a ZIP 250 USB external drive for transfers and backup. OSX should not need drivers; OS9 may require them.

The dead PRAM battery you mention concerns me. The WSs I maintained all at some point required new PRAM batteries but at that time you could get new stock from Other World Computing. Not any more. The problem was that all three WSs showed very odd symptoms/failures due to the dead PRAM batteries. One was that the computer would not recognize the main battery until I replaced the PRAM battery. Another would not boot from a genuine Apple system CD with the old PRAM battery. None of the tricks that helped other Macs of the time overcome a dead PRAM battery would not work on the WS. That's just weird but real, and now it is nearly impossible to find this important part. "Used" doesn't cut it--a used battery is like buying used chewing gum!

My Pismo battery (fairly new replacement) went kaput suddenly - and I have not been able to figure out why. A long story short, it seems that the battery's chip and the PMU (responsible for charging and reporting %) are not playing nice.

Pismo new battery flashing light then dead

Pismo new battery flashing light then dead (redirect)

PRAM battery has little to do with whether or not battery charges it seems, as one of the troubleshooting steps is to reset PRAM (did not help me)

My guess about the display brightness is PRAM related - "P" is "parameter" that user has chosen = brightness is a parameter

You will have the same problems FINDING batteries that Allan describes concerning the PC Card.

My strategy is to save any $$ I would spend on my PB in a cookie jar fund towards a new (refurb) Apple Notebook

You mention that your GOAL is to "transfer data"... if it were me, I would ask for advice on how to get that done with your current available gear and setup = tell is "transfer to WHAT device(s)"

• Ethernet transfer - network or peer-to-peer?
• upload > some cloud service > download to other device

When I get my new Mac, I will do a network file transfer.

Can getting a new PRAM battery make the main battery work again?

Well, it happened to me on an n=1 sample size. This issue seems limited to the Wallstreet and would not affect the Lombard or Pismo. In fact, on the Pismo you can disconnect a dead PRAM battery power lead through the keyboard opening and that will usually allow normal booting. Won't work on the WS however, and reaching the WS PRAM batt even to simply disconnect it takes a fairly major teardown.

As for your second question, that one never came up in my husbandry of the three Wallstreets. Were it not that the behavior changes depending one which OS you are using, my first impression is that it was a bad board under the brightness button.

Again, the problem today is finding a trusted vendor that still sells that model's PRAM battery. I found one listing on powerbookmedic.com but, alas, they show none available:

http://www.powerbookmedic.com/Wallstreet_Powerbook_G3_PRAM_Battery__BRAND_NEW-p- 16270.html

iFixit.com often has odd older parts but nothing shows there either.

[chuckle]

So you're just playing around

best luck, keep us posted on how you make out.

Hi Again Chris.

For backups I think you already have it nailed with network transfers and FireWire. That leaves you short a way to connect a printer unless you go for a more expensive printer with an Ethernet port. Printing over ethernet is refreshing speedy considering what we got back in the AppleTalk printer days, and usually faster than USB. We have two active printers at home and both are networked via wires--I've not had great luck with wireless printing unless the wireless computer is in danger of being arrested due to occupying the printer's "personal space."

You sound like you will be right at home in these forums! I still like to tinker with my old Macs. I have two Beige G3s that are contemporary with the WS in architecture and troubleshooting, one heavily upgraded. That model was discontinued in early 1999 but I used the upgraded one heavily and daily until I retired in 2007 and the company gave me the 2004 G4 PowerMac Mirrored Drive Door I used for all my publishing projects. The G4 still works to although its "moneymaker" spot has now been usurped by an Intel iMac.