The last Mac laptop to have an IR port was?
Was thinking about picking up a good Classic laptop to use with my Newton. I need the Geoport (so a PDQ PowerBook) or a ______________?
Having trouble finding the answer and I prefer not to use USB adapters if possible.
TIA.
If you only care about IrDA I believe the last Mac laptop to have it was the second-generation Titanium G4. (The 550-667mhz model, identifiable by a small infrared window on the corner opposite the power plug on the back.) Does a Newton do IrDA? I honestly don't know...
Maybe this is helpful?
http://lowendmac.com/2015/irtalk-irda-and-the-mac/
The 5300 Had IR.
Steven
gsmcten:
Now that you mention the 5300, I do recall having something like one of these in my store unit (not sure if it was actually an older one or what), I just need to pick up a power brick to bring it to life - I will look into this in the coming weeks as I clean my unit up.
Eudi:
Yes, the any Newton can dock via IrDA or by MacSerial (Geoport). Things are less complicated if you are running Classic OSes but you *can* use the OS X versions to load packages and sync things up and you *can* use USB-Serial adapters but I want the most simple, natural way I can. So I was thinking a pure Classic OS on a laptop that meets the port needs (Geoport and/or Ir). Of course I want the most evolved hardware I can get.
Knowing now that the Ti-Books had IR and most could do native Classic, I can consider those machines as well. The end goal here is a Classic laptop that will be a docking station for my Newtons (100 and 2100) but may also be used for iTunes (2.x). I may task it for some basic entertainment functions like DVD viewing if the machine is capable of this without much work. If I stick to the early-gen laptop I have in storage then I obviously won't view DVDs here.
So now I will do some more homework...
Thanks for the info.
***BTW: The latest/last laptop I can find that had the Geoport was the G3 PDQ, the one one right before Lombard and Pismo. Can anyone verify this?
Yes. The last PowerBook with classical serial ports (not USB) was the PowerBook G3 (PDQ or Wallstreet II).
I've been considering grabbing a VGA TiBook for the exact same reason as they are in fact the last portables with IR built in. Right now I am currently using my 3400 or PDQ G3 to IR stuff to the Newtons. Make sure if you get a 667 it isn't the later DVI model because thats when the IR port was removed. The last desktop I think would have been the original iMac G3.
I've always vaguely wondered if the wireless module inside the original tray-loader iMacs would be compatible with other machines. Internally it connects to what seems to be a normal Mac serial port (old how-tos used to explain how you could pop off the plastic cover on the bottom of the machine, unplug it, and use the port as a localtalk/serial port), is there anything special about that port or could you take the module from a disassembled iMac, plug it into, say, a Beige G3, and get the same IR functionality?
I used my Bondi iMac's IR port to sync my Hamdspring PDA and to sync my Newton MP2100. Never had an issue there.