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Picked up nice powerbook 170
Posted by: imactheknife on 2023-03-02 14:52:51
So far so good.. installing os 7.5 on it from floppy.
Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2023-03-02 15:14:38
Nice! Think I saw that one on eBay. Good pickup, hope it doesn’t have Tunnel vision
Posted by: imactheknife on 2023-03-02 15:15:43
Nice! Think I saw that one on eBay. Good pickup, hope it doesn’t have Tunnel vision
So far, been on an hour, reinstalled 7.5 on it in english and so far so good
Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2023-03-02 15:18:57
sweet... 170's a great one to have. awesome display.
Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2023-03-02 15:23:31
Only monochrome active matrix PowerBook. Only one electrolytic in the system, THT on the inverter board. Don’t know the value
Posted by: imactheknife on 2023-03-02 15:36:07
After 16 floppies.. all looks good
Posted by: croissantking on 2023-03-23 08:00:23
If you don’t have tunnelling then you’re one lucky son of a gun.
Posted by: imactheknife on 2023-03-23 08:07:54
If you don’t have tunnelling then you’re one lucky son of a gun.
Have two unicorns.. the pb170 and the 540 with no tunnel vision.. knock on wood
Posted by: croissantking on 2023-03-23 08:09:07
Have two unicorns.. the pb170 and the 540 with no tunnel vision.. knock on wood
They’re like the offspring of a unicorn with a flying pig.
Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2023-03-23 08:12:22
Ehh, they aren't THAT rare. I'd say 90% have the problem to some degree, with only 50% of those being bad enough to have a major effect on use. That's just my made up numbers though, could be way off.
My 170 is completely unaffected, and my 540 has it, but it's pretty minor.
Posted by: imactheknife on 2023-03-23 08:29:36
They’re like the offspring of a unicorn with a flying pig.
Funny thing is that I bought the 540 as it was labeled 540c. Found out it was just a 540 display and was annoyed for a bit. I love it now as it is such a crisp display so no color isn’t a big deal. Have my 180c and a 520c (which isnt great looking) if I wanted color.
Posted by: croissantking on 2023-03-23 09:15:14
Funny thing is that I bought the 540 as it was labeled 540c. Found out it was just a 540 display and was annoyed for a bit. I love it now as it is such a crisp display so no color isn’t a big deal. Have my 180c and a 520c (which isnt great looking) if I wanted color.
The 520c screen isn’t great, but it’s better than the 1400cs, which is just awful to use.
Posted by: imactheknife on 2023-03-23 10:44:04
The 520c screen isn’t great, but it’s better than the 1400cs, which is just awful to use.
I have a mint 1400cs 166, dont mind the screen. Can you upgrade it to a 1400c screen?
Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2023-03-23 11:00:09
Yes, with the proper LCD and cable. Inverter board should be the same between them.
Posted by: croissantking on 2023-03-23 11:17:00
The 1400c screen is very nice. It was night and day when going from the cs. However, going from a 520c to 540c actually wasn't that impressive – my active matrix panel is made by Sharp and I find it kind of grainy. I know there was one other manufacturer so maybe the alternative panel is better.

Both my active matrix screens above have ghosting, which I thought was bad caps but I've recapped the 1400c display and it still does it (most visible when opening a menu and scrolling through; artifacts are visible going left to right across the whole display).
Posted by: croissantking on 2023-03-23 11:28:14
Yes, with the proper LCD and cable. Inverter board should be the same between them.
If he just gets a complete display including housing it will be a straight swap.
Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2023-03-23 11:54:37
However, going from a 520c to 540c actually wasn't that impressive – my active matrix panel is made by Sharp and I find it kind of grainy.
For the record: https://macdat.net/extras/powerbooklcdindex.html
There’s a list of a bunch of LCD P/Ns. The other panel is a Toshiba, which is the one I have in mine. I’ve never seen a Sharp panel in person, but the Sharp display on my 180c at least looks very nice. The Sharp one in the 540c has a bunch of caps, the Toshiba doesn’t.
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