This 90s Apple iBook Has Modern USB-C Power
Summary
-
An old Ibook G3 Clamshell of 1999 has been modified to support USB-C PD for power.
-
The modder has replaced a Zener SMD diode blown with one diode per hole through and used a PD USB-C trigger card to supply the laptop.
-
Although the USB-C port can only be used for food, the project has a cool way to save the old rejecting equipment.
Mods on the old equipment can be particularly cool. Although an old laptop of the 90s should not be motivated daily by anyone, that did not prevent this person from making their old iBook a little more modern than even some laptops these days.
The user of Bluesky, Gammitin (Ben), shared the process of taking an old Ibook G3 Palais side of 1999 to not only give them a second life, but make it a little more modern in the process-supporting USB-C PD for power. The initial problem with the unit was common for these aging machines: a defective DC-in card. A small zener surface assembly diode (SMD) on the DC-in card had blown, which makes the laptop incapable of climbing. A search for the specific room, a ZBZ5233B Zener diode, turned out to be a challenge. While a replacement board was available online, the cost, associated with shipping, made it unnecessarily expensive. The solution chosen was therefore a little more personalized.
Instead of a direct SMD replacement, a Zener diode through the easily available hole has been used. Although physically different, its electrical properties were a correspondence. Using a microscope and a regular hand, the destroyed SMD diode has been removed, the card was cleaned and the new component through was meticulously welded in place. Then it was a question of looking for something that could really provide the laptop with the energy.
Related
Do not buy a laptop if it does not have two USB-C ports
A USB-C port is not enough (and it has never been).
The original diet has also proven to be difficult to find. The computer requires a 24-volt entry and the USB-C power delivery (PD) offer a range of voltages. Here is then that modern torsion comes into play. Using a USB-C PD trigger card, Gammitin was able to provide the IBook with a regular 20.2 volts. Although it is not the 24 complete volts that the Ibook G3 needs, it seems that the voltage tolerance of the laptop forgives sufficiently, because the laptop has turned well following the mod, with the classic start of Mac OS 9.
It’s a bit cool, even if you cannot use this USB-C port for something other than power. The first iBook models had a single USB 1.1 port as well as Firewire for expansion, and this remains the only way to connect things to this laptop. Not as you would like, anyway, because the laptop approaches 26 years. But these types of projects are cool because they can save the equipment of our past to find themselves in a discharge. If you have a fried iBook that you want to recover, I would not advise to do something like that unless you are comfortable with the welding and that you do not bother you the possibility of spoiling it even worse.
Source: Bluesky
