[quesera]

My trusty pismo with an extra chunk of memory, an 8 month old $400 replacement sound card/power source, and miles and miles, years and years of daily commute appears closer to its last days. The OEM dvdrom has been crapping out for a year and could no longer read CDs with any great reliability. It did however play DVDs still, adding to its usefulness and occasionally easing my four year old daughter's waiting hours with me at work. i just don't know if the MCE CDR/DVD drive would be worth it or if some further malfunction awaits just around the corner. What should I do?

[ericwass]

I feel your pain. I'm having similar "do not ressusitate" issues...
The other day my Pismo (OS X 10.2.6) froze up. When I rebooted I got the alternating "?" / "System Folder" icon. I could only boot up from one or two CDs none of which recognized any HD connected to the computer. I did a hardware test which says my logic board had an "ATA4/1/2" error. I've heard that on some of the Quicksilver G4s this error is erroneous, but it my case it seems appropos. I can't access the HD and I'm afraid the controller has gone bad. What does anyone think? Is this worth getting fixed? I also need a new battery and I'm feeling reluctant to sink a lot into old technology. But still, with a new TI costing upwards of $2600, maybe it's worth it. Can anyone offer advice? Thanks.

p.s. I had to replace my DVD/CD a while back and I got a refurbished one pretty cheap. Contact me and I'll pass along the name of the guy for you.

[Axo1ot1]

My first piece of advice to both of you is to move out of Texas and Southern California respectively.

[rjt1000]

The OEM dvdrom has been crapping out for a year and could no longer read CDs with any great reliability.

==============

Hey Quesera,

Did you know you can install many standard laptop combo (cdrw/dvd) drives into the plastic sled from your defunct drive and then use it in your Pismo as a fully funcitional combo drive?

xlr8yourmac has articles on how to do it, and a database of drive models that people have used succesfully in the Pimso.

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/PB_G3/oem...mbo_drive.html

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/PB_G3/oem...mbo_drive.html

http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drived....drivedb.lasso

You should easily get a combo drive in the $100 range, maybe a bit lower if you're a savvy eBay-er.

Best wishes,

Rich (Pismo G3 500 combo)

[ericwass]

Originally posted by Axo1ot1:
My first piece of advice to both of you is to move out of Texas and Southern California respectively.

Having done my four year tour at Cal in the late 80's/early 90's, I'm not sure you've got a leg to stand on there, partner! Besides Zachary's (where I worked), Double Rainbow and the Grand Lake Theater, most of what I remember from Oakland was bumper to bumper on the 580, rioters streaming in to Berkeley, earthquakes and fires.

[waffffffle]

My Pismo 400 is on its last legs. I've been through 2 batteries so currently it is effectively a desktop since it can't operate on battery power. I am also on my second DVD drive. The first died and Apple wanted $500 for a new one, pbarts.com wanted $200. I'm lucky to have found a dead lombard through a consulting job that I had, which got me that second battery and DVD drive for free. I also retrofitted an iMac CD drive to work in my Pismo.

Details of my veteran machine can be found here

[schwank]

I went back to college and we were required to buy new powerbooks when we started, so my whole class HAD pismo's (400/500 mhz models) well now almost 3 years later we have ONE out of 15 still being uesed in class, and the rest of us have replaced our powerbooks (3 of them in the last month, 2 of them as soon as the 1ghz models were released). My point is, I believe that for the most part the reasonable lifespan of these machines is nearing an end, ant that It will probably be more expensive to keep it up than its worth.... mine needed a cd drive, and I had already replaced the processor unit when I bought my new machine (pismo is now my wifes, and lives on her desk no longer traveling much)

good luck.

[Axo1ot1]

Originally posted by ericwass:
Having done my four year tour at Cal in the late 80's/early 90's, I'm not sure you've got a leg to stand on there, partner! Besides Zachary's (where I worked), Double Rainbow and the Grand Lake Theater, most of what I remember from Oakland was bumper to bumper on the 580, rioters streaming in to Berkeley, earthquakes and fires.

You forgot Top Dog, San Francisco and bomb.

[gomariners]

I had problems with my pismo (motherboard failure), but also my DVD drive wouldn't read CDs (clearly before the motherboard failure), and a battery was really short life. I called Apple and they had a flat rate thing (like $320, but with shipping, fees, blah, was $400). Got it back good as new. Cleaned the screen and replaced the little rubber feet which had worn off. They said the fee was flat rate and would fix everything as long as it wasn't caused by user abuse (so if you have cracks in your case they might ask questions).

The resale value of the machine on ebay was like $700 (640MB/30GB) so it seemed cost effective. Also, it allows me to be relaxed about the question of purchasing (i.e., I can wait for a machine that seems enough of a boost that I really would appreciate the differences).

Anyway, that's my experience, don't know if it's useful to you...

[[APi]TheMan]

*knocks on wood*

My Pismo was upgraded to 900mhz about 3 months ago. I've never had any problems with the upgrade nor the DVD-ROM or any other component on the system. I guess I've been lucky.

Now that it's up to 900mhz, though, it gets really hot and the fan loves to go on. Especially where I go to school in Northern California and live upstairs (it's an easy 10 degrees hotter upstairs), it gets so hot that it's cracked my desk. I ordered this from Antec the other day, here's to hoping it works well, otherwise at least it's nifty looking

http://www.antec-inc.com/pro_details...p?ProdID=75004

[cdhostage]

Mine is wonderful; the only problems were what I did to it upgrading.

The sound board is starting to go, though, and the PowerLogix CPU upgrade I put in it is probably wrecking my keyboard.

[stevesnj]

Silly me I sold my Pismo 500 to help pay for an Al 17"...it was working fine too...sorry to hear about the Pismos but they are/were great machines...I miss it but I moved on and the Al is tops in my book too...

[quesera]

I feel better now knowing some of the options. Thanks for sharing all your tales of Pismos in their twilight. I'll likely not invest too deeply in my old friend. We'll see how much usefulness it continues to give. The thing I felt best about is purchasing it right before the new Powerbooks came out. It wasn't the latest greatest but it has served me well.

As to you Axo1ot1, I could've sworn you posted from Oakland last night and now I see it is New York. I spent four years in the Bay Area at school and enjoyed it very much. Yoshi's is in Oakland, no? I've spent months living in Salamanca and am Bodensee too. All were worthwhile experiences and interesting communities. As to New York, one harrowing half hour in JFK was enough for me. While I appreciate the vast cultural institutions and amenities of other cities, home is home. I feel sad for anyone who hates their home so much that they abandon it, and I am amused at the apparently numerous people on these boards that feel it neccessary to bolster their own sense of self-worth by attacking and hating other geographical regions and the people who live there.

Unless it was a joke of course, and then, by all means, I get it.

[buddy1065]

If those black plastic cute apple G3 233 Mhz laptops are Pismos they are very much alive in our Florida school system. A teacher asked for my help in transferring one of her word documents to her PC. I was stumped, seeing no USB port, until she whipped out a floppy disk module that I could swap with the CD removable module. All I can say is wow to the simplicity and convienience of the system. We transferred the WORD file by floppy and she gave me a big hug. One cool and compatable machine. Wonder what upgrades you can get with it today? Don't they have a G4 upgrade to it? The screen was nice and bright and it was running, can you believe it; OS 8....says something about the school systems down here...
Another big plus for the plastic black pismo is that IT STILL LOOKED BRAND NEW. Not a scratch or chip anywhere. Its only problem was a sparky non functional YOYO AC adapter but she had a spare one. I'm actually thinking of getting one of these things. They are so cool. Anybody need a used 17"?

[ShadowKatana]

I love the form factor of the pismo. It screams sexiness. I have a a Ti800, and apart from the performance, the pismo is not only cool looking, it is also durable.

Btw, Pismos came in 400 and 500 MHz flavours.

P.S. I wish Apple sold a powerful workhorse computer. The wafer thin models are absolutely delicate to use.

[version]

My lil' Pismo will be 3 years old next month, and (touch wood), never had a day's trouble with it. It's been round the world, knocked about, upgraded, and generally abused by me, and it still looks brand new, and works just fine. I recently shoved in a 40gb HD, and upped the memory to 768, and what a difference that made. If it was possible to upgrade the graphics memory, I'd probably still use it as my main machine for another few years.

Sounds mad, but it's the first computer I've ever owned and don't want to part with , I think I'll be hanging onto it till the sun comes crashing down.

[fisherKing]

my pismo is just over 2 years old; recently replaced the soundboard (which died), put in 768meg ram, a new 5400rpm hd...and moved to osx exclusively (okay, classic for one or two apps).

everything is working great, and i am happier than ever with it.

still, thinking about...speed, more video ram.
airport extreme.

so, maybe a new pb end of the year...


......

[rjt1000]

Hi all,

I've enjoyed my late model pismo 500 for nearing 3 years now and its been a dependable machine and has accompanied me to the third world a dozen or more times already.

Sure, the OEM LG DVD drive was the pits and apple should have replaced those lemons, but at least that gave me the opportunity to add the internal combo which has been a pleasure.

Recently up-ed the RAM to 768. Now I've been thinking about upgrading processor and HD.

But, I dont think I'm going to do it, first of all there's that 8mb vram limit and then there is the pure economics of it.

With the resale value of the Pismo at maybe $800, the Powerlogix upgrade at $350 and the IBM 40GNX HD at $135 the total is $1285. Whereas an 800 mhz 14 inch iBook goes for about $1200. (eBay prices)

This is pretty much the equivalent of a Pismo but will give you 32 mb vram a 30 gig HD, faster firewire performance, and a combo drive. Yeah, you loose PCMCIA slot and expansion bays.

Unfortunately Apple is missing the boat here. So many college students waiting to buy laptops and others sitting on chunks of cash waiting for new PB models. What a silly thing for a business to do...(oh well still holding my apple shares)

Best wishes,

Rich

[legionare]

My second-hand Pismo 500 was made in 6/2000, and it's going strong as ever!!! The screen is still bright enough and has nary a dead pixel. I've upgraded the hard drive twice from 20gb to 32gb to now 80gb. Had to twist Apple's arm a little, but I got the LG DVD-ROM that won't read some DVDs replaced with a Mashita whose only flaw is a habit of kicking the tray open after reboot/waking-from-sleep. I've AppleCare coverage until June 2004 so I feel content to continue holding out for the PowerBook G5.

Forgot to mention one more time, I absolutely love having two batteries and go untethered most of the time.

[quesera]

I've begun to gravitate toward replacement. I imagine my gut feeling, powerbook g4 12", will eventually be the one. As long as i can get useful life out of beloved pismo, i will. When she goes, i imagine she'll take place up on the shelf next to that Mac Classic i haven't booted in the ten years since college. Sigh.