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pathman · Oct 23, 2003, 06:07 PM

Hey There,

Just wondering who out there still has a Powerbook 2400c and what you use it for?

I'm considering buying one and using it basically for wireless web surfing.

Anyway, would love to hear about 2400c's that are still serving their owners well.

fisherKing · Oct 23, 2003, 06:45 PM

i loved my 2400c! but sold it to a friend (who is still using it).

what os are you running on it?
and what are u gonna use for wireless??

this was a great machine, but it's pretty slow by today's standards...

pathman · Oct 24, 2003, 04:14 PM

I don't have the 2400c. I'm thinking of getting it.

Any suggestions in terms of setting up a wireless PC card, recommended OS, etc. would be appreciated.

fisherKing · Oct 24, 2003, 04:44 PM

funny, i don't remember whether the 2400c even HAS a card slot, i'd check that first if i were you...

(not saying it doesn't. just don't remember)

try a google search on the 2400c...

dtkirkpa · Oct 24, 2003, 08:28 PM

I have a PB2400c, upgraded with the 240Mhz G3 card. I upgraded to a Pismo a few years ago, and the 2400c replaced our old LC520 all-in-one as the home computer. We hooked it up to a CD drive and a 17 inch monitor and it has performed wonderfully in that role.

It has two PC card slots, not just one, and they're on top of each other, so it can take a double-thick PC card, such as some of the early HD PC cards. The PC card slot can be upgraded to Cardbus-level, but does not ship that way out the box. The people at MCE will do it for $99, the last I checked. With Cardbus, the USB and Firewire PC cards will work in the 2400c.

I never set it up for wireless, although it will work, from all I've read. There's a support site that details it:

http://webobjects.uwaterloo.ca/mac2400/

I just replaced my Pismo with the new 12 inch PB - the size of the 2400c is addictive, and while I enjoyed the Pismo, the 12inch PB is great.

mkral · Oct 24, 2003, 09:22 PM

The 2400c was my favorite computer EVER! I only got rid of it because it became too slow for my uses. If you can handle the smaller keys on the keyboard (was never an issue for me, but some didn't like it) It was a fine machine. I used it to surf wirelessly on my airport system with an Orico? PC card. It worked great. Battery life was a bit of an issue, but overall it rocked.

fisherKing · Oct 24, 2003, 10:02 PM

Originally posted by mkral:
The 2400c was my favorite computer EVER! I only got rid of it because it became too slow for my uses. If you can handle the smaller keys on the keyboard (was never an issue for me, but some didn't like it) It was a fine machine. I used it to surf wirelessly on my airport system with an Orico? PC card. It worked great. Battery life was a bit of an issue, but overall it rocked.

mine too...was small, fast (for its day). solid (built by ibm btw).

took it everywhere (unlike my pismo, which i have to convince myself to carry around...)

dtkirkpa · Oct 24, 2003, 11:04 PM

Okay,

I pulled out my 2400c, and an old Orinoco Silver wireless card that I had. After a bunch of fiddling around, I got the card and drivers installed, and was able to see my home wireless network on it. So, depending on your situation and how your wireless is set up, you should be able to use a 2400c on it.

I followed the instructions here:

http://www.penmachine.com/techie/airport1400.html

My 2400c is a 240Mhz G3 with 80Mb ram. It has not had the Cardbus upgrade applied, but still worked with the Orinoco wireless card (but doesn't work with a Cardbus USB card).

YMMV, of course

pathman · Nov 14, 2003, 09:16 AM

So, I found a 2400c for a good price and went for it. The specs are 180MHz/48 MB RAM/1.3 GB hard disk/OS 8.5/NOT cardbus enabled.

Using the instructions from the penmachine.com link above, I got one of the Dell TrueMobile 1150 16 bit wireless PC cards (rebadged
Orinoco Gold).

I downloaded Orinoco's 7.2 drivers from Proxim's website on my Powermac.

I burned the drivers onto a CD and then followed instructions from Derek
Miller's penmachine.com website and realized that I have OS 8.5 and the
Orinoco drivers require 8.6.

Then went to the Apple website and downloaded the 8.6 update (36 MB), burned
it to CD, transferred it to the Comet and tried installing. However, I get
an error when it tries to open the .smi file (Stuffit 5.5 expands the .bin
file to the .smi file fine...the error occurs when it tries to expand the
.smi file). The error is something to the effect of a shrinkwrap error -40
or -50 or something like that.

I then tried downloading the multipart installer (12 parts) off Apple's
website, but got the same problems.

So, it appears that I'm stuck at 8.5 and have drivers that only work with
8.6. Does anybody know of a fix? Are there drivers that will work with 8.5
(this Dell card is basically a rebadged Orinoco Gold 16 bit card)?
Alternatively, am I missing something when it comes to trying to update to
8.6? I know it's not a problem with stuffit on the Comet because after it
downloaded on my dual 867, stuffit expanded the .bin to the .smi but had an
error when trying to open (mount) the .smi file (acutally, I think Disk Copy
took over to try and mount the .smi file).

Could Apple's file be corrupted? Is there another source to try and
download the 8.6 update and see if that one works?

Kind of frustrated right now....

Originally posted by dtkirkpa:
Okay,

I pulled out my 2400c, and an old Orinoco Silver wireless card that I had. After a bunch of fiddling around, I got the card and drivers installed, and was able to see my home wireless network on it. So, depending on your situation and how your wireless is set up, you should be able to use a 2400c on it.

I followed the instructions here:

http://www.penmachine.com/techie/airport1400.html

My 2400c is a 240Mhz G3 with 80Mb ram. It has not had the Cardbus upgrade applied, but still worked with the Orinoco wireless card (but doesn't work with a Cardbus USB card).

YMMV, of course