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| Wallstreet laptop | |
| I’ve been struggling a bit navigating a Japanese version of MacOS 8 as I wanted to backup some of the data and applications I found on this machine, but after that and a fresh install of OS9.1 I have a really great Wallstreet! It’s working nicely, even the battery charged nicely and thinks it can run 4 hours 😇. The floppy drive did not work and hangs the machine but for some reason I had another one. No CDROM which I used externally to install. It’s a 266MHz with modem and Ethernet and a 4G ATA drive. Got it off Yahoo JP via Buyee, a very good deal really. Beautiful machine!  Some minor issues. The LED under the screen does not work. I’m not 100% sure it remembers the time correctly and I cannot get it to boot from anything other than the internal HD or floppy. Ah well, the joy of 90s technology. Posted by: mousehouse on 2025-12-12 10:45:15 | |
Some minor issues. The LED under the screen does not work. I’m not 100% sure it remembers the time correctly and I cannot get it to boot from anything other than the internal HD or floppy. Ah well, the joy of 90s technology. Nice haul! The LED is similar to the one in earlier PowerBooks in that it only comes on during sleep (blinks) or goes solid if there’s something wrong with the PMU. The time issue would be a flat PRAM battery, which could be rebuilt. The booting issue I’m not sure about - what are you trying to boot from? Posted by: croissantking on 2025-12-12 11:03:53 | |
| The LED explanation makes sense, thanks! PRAM battery I’ll check this weekend. Will let it off the power for some time. Tried booting from an external BlueSCSI or my trusted Apple CD300. No key combo would get it booting from anything. Doing the 4-finger key combo gives me the disk icon with question mark, as soon as I let go of the keys it boots from the ATA HD. Both the BlueSCSI, ZIP drive and CD all work fine. Anyway, nothing major, just weird. Posted by: mousehouse on 2025-12-12 11:38:55 | |
| I think the Wallstreet had the best of all the PB keyboards, including the Pismo, which people normally rave about. I used my machine for years and years, but it developed some problems with the screen, it got put away, and haven’t yet fixed the old gal. I ought to get it working again. Posted by: beachycove on 2025-12-12 12:20:18 | |
| I agree Wallstreet probably has the best PB keyboard - but beware/be careful, the screen hinges of Wallstreets are notoriously easy to break! Posted by: flexo on 2025-12-12 16:31:12 | |
| Thats PowerBook G3 PDQ - not Wallstreet. Lovely laptop - I do have both Wallstreet and PDQ but my fave is Wallstreet with Sonnet 500mhz upgrade and its my gateway mac. Hinges - just put couple of drops of good quality oil to lube it up - Ive done a couple of those now. (you'll need to remove the screen from the assembly to gain access the hinges and oil it - if you dont it will break.) Cheers AP Posted by: AlpineRaven on 2025-12-13 03:03:06 | |
Thats PowerBook G3 PDQ - not WallstreetHmm how do you tell the difference between a PDQ and a Wallstreet just from that pic? Posted by: Durosity on 2025-12-13 04:19:16 | |
| 266MHz G3 PowerBook with that look is the Wallstreetiest Wallstreet that ever walked on Wall Street. Posted by: beachycove on 2025-12-13 06:03:30 | |
266MHz G3 PowerBook with that look is the Wallstreetiest Wallstreet that ever walked on Wall Street. It reports as a “Gestalt ID = 312”, I think it is a Japanese late Wallstreet. Edit: probably a Wallstreet II aka PDQ based on ROM version $77D.41F6 and the presence of L2 cache according to Google. Posted by: mousehouse on 2025-12-13 09:46:54 | |
| And thus inspired, I dug the machine out and discovered a loose video cable during disassembly, which I did to replace the charge board and backup battery. These were parts put together (made a backup battery and replaced caps on the board) before a cross-country move four years ago that I had never gotten around to installing. A spare screen proved unnecessary. Just did the charge board install, and fired it up, and I’ll be darned if the machine isn’t charging a battery long thought dead and displaying a nice, crisp 14” screen. Yahoo! Posted by: beachycove on 2025-12-13 13:10:22 | |
Hmm how do you tell the difference between a PDQ and a Wallstreet just from that pic?Because the original Wallstreet only has 233mhz without L2 cache, 250mhz and 292mhz. Which PDQ came in as 233mhz with L2 cache, 266 & 300mhz. Also Gestalt ID is another thing. Cheers AP Posted by: AlpineRaven on 2025-12-13 13:14:44 | |
It reports as a “Gestalt ID = 312”, I think it is a Japanese late Wallstreet.The 77D.41F6 ROM (1998-08 - B46FFB63 - PowerBook G3 Wallstreet PDQ) has these two items in the Universal Tables: gestaltPowerBookG3Series (312) ; PowerBook G3 “WallStreet” (cpuIDRISC|$3042) gestaltPowerBookG3Series2 (314) ; PowerBook G3 “WallStreet” (cpuIDRISC|$3046)The earlier 077d.41f5 ROM (1998-03 - CBB01212 - PowerBook G3 Wallstreet) has the same two items. Might be interesting to compare their IDs. latest: https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?thr...00-6500-and-tam-logic-board.46450/post-576941 instructions: https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?thr...00-6500-and-tam-logic-board.46450/post-576937 Posted by: joevt on 2025-12-13 18:35:05 | |
Because the original Wallstreet only has 233mhz without L2 cache, 250mhz and 292mhz. Which PDQ came in as 233mhz with L2 cache, 266 & 300mhz. Also Gestalt ID is another thing.You can’t tell from the pic, but since OP said it was a 266MHz model that makes it a PDQ aka Wallstreet II. Posted by: croissantking on 2025-12-13 18:44:07 |