Q: Reinstalling Powerbook 180 OS

Hi, if you have a running PowerBook it might be better to just delete any of the information on it that you do not want instead of reinstalling the system.

The other thing to check is what system is already loaded on it, ie once it's running scroll up to the top left corner of the screen where the Apple is and click on it. This will bring up a drop down menu with the top choice being about this Mac.

Click on this to see what OS is loaded. It might be newer than one's you can download....

I'm pretty sure the standard installation floppies for the 180c were also the one's for the 165c so if you happen across anything for the 165c it will work but keep in mind that the system floppies only had the system on them and no programs.

How much RAM is in the machine? This will affect whether you can realistically move to a later OS.

What is it exactly that you want to install? It may be easier to pursue that directly.

Hi, what 'standard' software do you think you are missing?

I have a 180c and 165c with the original installation floppys and I can tell you that what is on them is the system, drivers for the internal floppy drive and a SCSI CD (I can check), SimpleText, built in modem and that's about it. It did not come with sw such as Claris Works etc.

These laptops did not have ethernet built in either though I use an Asante mini EN/SC adaptor which are quite rare. It came with it's own drivers.

Also as Grant mentions how much ram? The max was only 14MB and I think the newest OS it can run is 7.6.1 as that is what I have loaded on the one I am looking at right now.

One word of warning, be very gentle when you open and close this PowerBook as the plastic holding the hinges is quite brittle, heck it was quite brittle when these things were new as I recall.

Kevin

Hi, no the basic PowerBook had no preloaded software that I recall. Er well nothing that I would have kept....

The installation floppies consisted of disks containing the system, fonts, printer drivers, disk tools and that was it. Finding vintage sw should be fun....

Back in the day, there were a number of Mac BBS' out there but I do not know of any in particular that might have a copy of AMUG's BBS in a box online. Why I mention this particular item is that it was loaded with Mac shareware. I've never even seen these disks on eBay so not sure what happened to the folks out there with them, I still have mine....

Other things to look for, MacFormat and Univers Mac (french) used to put cover floppies with shareware on their magazines. Again I can't say I've seen anything like this for sale but you never know what you might come across in the second hand store.

The 180c is a neat laptop, it was the first Mac colour PowerBook with an active matrix screen which was much nicer to look at than the 165c's passive matrix screen.

Kevin

Hi,

As Kevin indicated, you should be able to find useful shareware (and freeware) programs (for example, here).

System 7.5.3 is a free download from Apple (e.g., the US version). 7.5.3 contains software for TCP/IP et cetera, but will be somewhat slower than the original 7.1 on a PowerBook 180. System 7.1 is not available for download.

With a suitable Mac disk utility (such as TransMac) installed on a PC with a floppy drive, you should not have a problem transferring files on 1.44 MB diskettes (reformatted to Mac).

Macs with a PC Exchange control panel (or a separate Apple File Exchange program) can read and write PC-formatted floppies directly. PC Exchange is part of System 7.5.3. System 7.1 had Apple File Exchange on one of the system floppies.

StuffIt Expander 4.0.1, a decompression utility for Macintosh, can be obtained through a PC. To do this, one can download a file called MACDISK.EXE here. Prepare an empty PC-formatted 1.44 MB diskette via the FORMAT A: command in DOS or the full formatting option under Windows. Run the MACDISK.EXE program on the PC. Follow the on-screen directions. When the operation stops, immediately eject the floppy (which is now in Mac format, and includes a StuffIt Expander installer).

Jan

Hello,

If you do get an external (USB) floppy drive for the iMac, do not use anything there to open the System 7.5.3 images. The nineteen (the US version) files are parts of one large disk image. Just keep the files intact (preferably without even decoding the MacBinary = .bin) and transfer them to the hard disk of the PowerBook 180. Once there, (unless this has been done already) decode the .bin with StuffIt Expander 4.0.1 (for a way of obtaining this program, see my previous message above). Place the decoded (one .smi and eighteen .part) System 7.5.3 files in one folder.

Unfortunately, contrary to information in various texts, one cannot (always?) expect the large System 7.5.3 disk image to mount properly when launched on a computer running System 7.1. If so, a separate System 7.5 Network Access Disk is needed. The 7.5 NAD file can be found here (download it, transfer it as it is on a 1.44 MB floppy to the PowerBook, decode the .bin via StuffIt Expander). Create a bootable floppy on the PB 180 through the Make A Copy button in Disk Copy 4.2 (begin by transferring and decoding this utility in the same manner).

Start the PB 180 from the Network Access floppy. If you double-click on the first System 7.5.3 file (the .smi), the entire disk image will mount. The installer will be found in the mounted image.

Addendum

There have been some reports that not all of the possible floppy disk space is available with USB drives and Mac OS X (I cannot verify this). This may or may not lead to transfer problems (each System 7.5.3 file needs most of the room on the 1.44 MB diskettes).

As indicated earlier, it is not absolutely necessary to buy a new USB drive. Since you have access to a PC with a floppy drive, that machine could be used for the purpose of transferring files.

Jan