> The following quote was taken from an earlier post to the DuoList. Being
> fairly new to Powerbooks, my question is, what connectors are OK to hot
> swap, and what are not? Specifically for the PB 2400c.
You can always hot-swap serial port connectors on a Mac (or most anything
else) without doing any physical harm (this includes traditional modems,
printers, and Localtalk or Phonenet connected to mini-DIN-8 ports, USB, and
even Geoports like the 2400 has). Generally you can also do it without
severely irritating any software drivers in the system, but you may want to
try and be sure the port isn't in use to avoid a crash. You can also
hot-swap Firewire cables (essentially a serial bus). Note that this doesn't
apply to ADB (see below).
You can hot-swap the floppy drive on the 2400c any time it's not actually
in use. To be sure of this and to again avoid crashing, I'd personally only
do this when no disk is in the drive.
You can hot-swap the power connector any time the main battery is
connected, and sleep-swap it any time at all. Note that the machine will
begin to draw on the internal backup battery when no other power source is
available (wall plug or battery), especially in sleep, so don't leave it
that way for too long. The same rules apply to the main battery, actually,
and it's mainly common sense (don't deprive the machine of power when it's
expecting a steady supply).
You can hot-swap the video connector without doing physical damage, and
under most circumstances you can do this without affecting software. Do be
aware that Macs can become cranky when a display goes away while it's
expected to be there, and that the display may not be properly recognised
unless it's there at boot time. Sleep-swapping generally isn't an option
either since Powerbooks using their external video tend not to sleep,
though you may be able to attach an external monitor then (it's worked for
me).
On a Powerbook prior to the Lombard, you can hot-swap PCMCIA cards any time
the driver software will let you via the soft-eject mechanism. You can
further play with the dongles and cables on most cards all you like without
physical harm - modems, ethernet controllers, video inputs and such. As
with serial ports, note that a modem or network connection going away while
it's in use may cause the system to hang. The Lombard has a cheapo PC-style
manual eject, so you can eject any time you like (but don't be surprised by
a crash if the device was in use).
On the 2400 or anything earlier and on any desktop Apple, you can't
hot-swap ADB devices without risk of physical harm (blowing the ADB
microcontroller on the device, or worse, the motherboard). The actual
chance of harm is debatable and probably very low when measured across all
cases (I've done it many, many times on a whole host of Macs and Apple IIs,
but I've also heard of and seen concrete evidence of dead Macs and mice).
You are specifically allowed to do this on the Wallstreet I & II, probably
due to the addition of some 2-cent resistor that ought to have been there
all along. You can also do it while the machine is asleep, though attaching
a device with special drivers that way (joystick, multi-button mouse) may
leave it without any extra functionality until you reboot and the driver
load routine sees it. The non-hot-swappability of ADB was always a serious
shortcoming IMO.
You can never hot-swap SCSI, nor even sleep-swap it with a guarantee of
safety. The problems this can cause seem to range from dead devices and
motherboards to mysterious data corruption and crashing to Mac-specific
voodoo like corrupted PRAM. Basically SCSI was never designed for this, and
the only definitely safe time to do it is with the machine and peripherals
on the bus turned off. Needless to say this is frequently inconvenient and
lots of people (again, myself included) have done lots of hot-swaps and
sleep-swaps on all kinds of different platforms, but then we've also seen
lots of crashes and generally stressful moments because of it. ;) If
you're the least bit unsure, you don't want to try (and if you do feel sure
it's probably more due to cockiness than any genuine knowledge ;).
Hope that helps. One thing to keep in mind when plugging and unplugging any
sort of connector is to grab it firmly and push it straight in or pull it
straight out. One of the things that causes some of those dead SCSI
devices, for instance, is when people pull a big 50-pin connector out
sideways and short half the pins. Not being a walking Tesla coil is a good
idea too; clear out all that static electricity on something before you
start (a cat's nose works well ;).
--
Marc Sira | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"If you can't play with words, what good are they?"
----------
Duo/2400 List, The friendliest place on the Net!
A listserv for users and fans of Mac subportables.
FAQ at <http://www.themacintoshguy.com/lists/DuoListFAQ.shtml>
Be sure to visit Mac2400! <http://www.sineware.com/mac2400>
Dr. Bott LLC | Get a LapBottom with new �GRIPPIER� gripper pads!
| http://www.drbott.com/prod/lapbot.html $23.00
Midwest Mac Parts <http://www.midwestmac.com> | After-market parts
for Macs. Fix your ticking dock for $59 w/ trade-in of PS. 888-356-1104
PowerBook Guy is | Click here!
Everything PowerBook! | http://www.powerbookguy.com
