I got a powerbook 540c and i want to copy some games in the hard disk (like Monkey Island, King's Quest etc.). I use my Imac 20" intel core 2 for internet, downloading the games and toast for copying them or burn them to cd. The powerbook 540c doesn't have cd rom drive so i connected a usb floppy drive to my Imac and copied one game for testing. But when i inserted the disk to the powerbook floppy drive it recognizes the files lice 'PC' files. What can i do? (Please note that i have also an Imac G3 with Mac Os 9.2 & Mac Os Tiger installed, maybe there is a way via this machine).
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2011, December 9 - 8:37am
#1
Copy files for Powerbook 540c
Comments
2011, December 9 - 9:06am
#2
I had exactly the same issue with my 540c a short while ago. The only solution I could imagine at the time (and one which i was unable to test) was to burn a cd and to use a SCSI CD ROM drive to read it on the laptop. I don't know if it is actually possible though. Alternatively, it might be possible from a ppc machine.
Out of curiosity, if you check the "PC" files on the floppy disk when you insert it into the laptop, the Get Info dialogue should state that they are 0 bytes in size, yes? That's what happened to me.
Thankfully, I was at least able to remove files from it and transfer them to my current machine, even if I couldn't copy anything onto it.
2011, December 9 - 8:58am
#3
The easiest way I can think of is AppleTalk via ethernet over TCP/IP between the G3 Imac (running 9.2) and the 540c - You would need an RJ45 "AAUI ethernet transceiver" for the AAUI port on the 540c (if you don't have one). A slower method of transfer would be via 1.4MB floppy disk via the G3 running 9.2 to PB540c.
2011, December 9 - 9:44am
#4
I will try to use the usb floppy drive to the Imac G3 via 9.2 About the AppleTalk....i have to connect an RJ45 AAUI ethernet transceiver" and then i make a connection between Imac G3 & Powerbook 540c through a cable?
2011, December 9 - 12:01pm
#5
connect an RJ45 AAUI ethernet transceiver" and then i make a connection between Imac G3 & Powerbook 540c through a cable?
Yes, & if the only network you want to use here is between these 2 computers, use a Cat 5e patch cable, give each Mac a unique name & fixed 192.168.x.x IP address and set Appletalk to to use ethernet. Else, if you want to connect the 540c to an existing network, a standard cat 5 - 6 cable will do. Depending on the OS the 540c is running it will either use MacTCP or Open Transport, the latter I think gets installed with every Mac OS from 7.5.3 onwards.
2011, December 9 - 4:08pm
#6
your floppies are pc formatted, format them in the powerbook and it should work (you may need fuse hfs on the imac to write to the hfs floppies)
2011, December 9 - 6:10pm
#7
I'm not sure it's actually the problem, but it's necessary either way. Formatting it on the Intel Mac machine will produce a disk that the 540c won't recognize, while formatting it on the 540c will produce a disk that the Intel will recognize, but won't want to write to. The only one both will recognize is one of the DOS formats.
2011, December 9 - 6:26pm
#8
not compleatley true. depending on the os, the 540 probably won't read a disk formatted on the intel imac at all, the intel imac will read disks formatted by the 540, but won't write to it (assuming it is running 10.6/10.7), thats where fusehfs comes in, it brings hfs write support back to snow leopard, lion needs a differen't extention, i should have that someware if the OP needs it
2011, December 9 - 7:07pm
#9
Well, if there is something that restores HFS write support to 10.6 then it's news to me! Certainly would have come in handy when I was working on my 540 like Dimitris... 
It's called "fusehfs"? What is that a part of?
2011, December 9 - 7:51pm
#10
you need this; http://namedfork.net/fusehfs
be sure to install this first though: http://mac.softpedia.com/get/System-Utilities/MacFUSE.shtml
2011, December 11 - 9:37pm
#11
The suggestions above are good (better than mine) but I'll make this point nonetheless. Powerbooks have the wonderful ability to act as SCSI hard-drives.
You will need to get the special 30-pin SCSI adaptor (and I can send you one if you have no luck on eBay) and a SCSI card for one of your PCI-Macs. You will need the relevant SCSI-cable too if the adaptor is just an adaptor and not a cable too. Be warned: there are many, many SCSI ports and some flavour of a 50-pin port and cable should serve you right.
Once you have started up the host mac and then booted up the PB, the PB HD should appear as a volume on the desktop. You may need a small utility like SCSI probe to mount it though.
Within the control panels you'll find Powerbook SCSI Setup which will assign the PB a SCSI-ID.
2011, December 11 - 7:43pm
#12
I formatted two disks via my powerbook 540c to Mac Os Format and succesfully i copied files from my Imac G3 (9.2). The only bad thing is that it's a time-consuming process.