I replaced the broken 40MB SCSI HDD in the PB100 with an 80MB drive from the busted up 165c. I installed Mac OS 7.1 and it runs quite nicely (I have 4MB of RAM). The screen has a few rows of missing pixels from the left hand side but nothing that inhibits use. One of the feet is broken but I have a second battery and the external floppy drive.
I also picked up a PowerBook 100 from eBay. The PB100 is very small and light (the floppy drive is external). All I have to do is replace the SCSI hard drive as it is hosed (I have a few spares).
An original Mac OS 7.6 CD. I intend to use it on the Quadra 950 mentioned earlier. If anyone knows the largest hard drive partition 7.6 will handle please email me.
I have finally had the chance to rebuild the PowerBook 190cs (thanks to a stash of 5300 parts from David). As such the 190cs has the external monitor adapter (with cable) and the IR circuitry (that don’t come with a 190cs). It was rebuilt to serve as a Newton development machine (although I really need to add ethernet to it). I am installing the Newton connection software and some other goodies as I type this.
The PowerBook 165c I picked up off eBay (see previous post) has an internal modem (probably 14.4). So the plan is to rip it out and fit it to my functional PowerBook 160 (the 165c has a very busted screen). If anyone knows whether this is possible please email me.
I also have a PowerBook 190cs with a very dodgy case. I have a replacement case from a PowerBook 5300 which I will transplant (along with the external video card and anything else that will fit).
Now all I need is a few days off to tinker 🙂
Cost: $10 for the 5 Macs, $5 for the ethernet card
Room left in study now: almost nil