Hi, I know desk PC's with Win3.1, Win95, but I was just given a PowerBook 180 with dead battery and without any cables or manuals. I would like to make it work and donate it, but without the power the screen is dark and the whole thing is just boring. There is a DC power input in the back for 7.5 volts AC adapter, but the polarity is not shown. Would someone tell me please if the center pin is "+" or "-", where is the on/off switch, what are the input/outputs in the back from left to right. What kind of AC adapter I could use. I will appreciate any idea what system and fun programs should I load on it (low capacity HD, probably less than 100Mb) before giving this to some kids in south american village?. There is a picture of a telephone, also picture of telephone handset, what are this? Did 180 come with modem? I apreciate any help in bringing this baby back to life again. I don't even have any old Mac software, or boot up procedure. Thank you for any help and any information. Linda

on/off switch is at back left(small black circular switch) it has a modem in it and will run Os7 not sure about adaptor

On the back, from left to right as you face the screen, are the "on" button, external modem hook-up, printer, ext. speaker, ext. mike, adb (keyboard and mouse), SCSI, and if provided, internal modem. Above the audio ports is an external monitor port. The power supply should be 7.5v, 3.0A center +. The memory is 4 meg soldered on plus 4 to 10 meg plugged in. This message is being sent on a 180, running mac os 7.5.5. You can get 7.5.3 for free from apple.com (also probably a manual in .pdf format). As for software, there is a free small word processor from Nisus which is wonderful. It will also handle the full-sized version, but I usually don't need it here and keep it on the desk machine. Almost any software that specifies mac 680XX or something like that to distinguish it from power-pc or g3 will prob. work within memory limits. Netscape 2.2 works slowly. Free ppp works great. Eudora works great. Mac-web is great and fast for text. Opera has promised a Macintosh version (opera is the best browser in my opinion), for some time, but there is nothing from them yet. It would be ideal for the 180.I have tried all sorts of programs on these little things, from CAD to compilers. The main drawbacks are the size of the screen and the grayscale color which makes some things impossible to see. And, of course the small memory and relatively slow cpu (33 MHz, I think) doesn't help. If Opera comes through, I may upgrade the memory and try to rig up some sort of nimh battery. Otherwise it may get mounted to the kitchen wall for recipes.

my powerbook 180 takes ages to boot i have no manual or disks the 180 lost power and the above problen began i can sometimes get it to boot but can not use it how can i format my hard drive and install the cs

power comes on and it trys to search a floopy disk and nothing work please help.