u/Barlocore

Follow up to my last post: https://www.reddit.com/r/VintageApple/comments/1swnezs/usb_to_localtalk/

New board revisions are here and they work great! This little device can let you transfer files directly from your modern Mac and Linux machines (and almost Windows too) to your LocalTalk equipped Macs using the built in Chooser on every Mac since System 3.3. This includes just about every Mac made from the 128K to the G3 series. Pictured is it working on my 512K on System 6 talking to my MacBook Neo.

Board design, firmware (by Tashtari!), and software are all open source as well. All that is needed is a USB-C cable, and a Mac serial cable, plus a copy of my software from here: https://github.com/FeralFirmware/TailTalk, or other TashTalk compatible software. I’ve also written APIs for Rust developers to be able to speak AppleTalk protocols with the device, including LaserWriters and StyleWriters.

Boards are up for sale for $30 on Tindie here: https://www.tindie.com/products/feralfirmware/tashtalk-usb/

Recelled a dead and corroded battery pack from my PDQ. The original cells had leaked but thankfully the BMS was totally unharmed. Battery itself was easy enough to pry open, although I did manage to pop off two of the indicator LEDs during reassembly (with some replacements on the way).

With 12 new flat top 16650 cells it’s now been running off battery power for 3.5 hours and still has not fully drained. Should have ~90Wh versus the 50 of the original, so hopefully get a bit more life out of it.

Now just need to recell the PRAM battery and the laptop will be good as new.

X-Posting from 68KMLA - I've put together a USB-ified version of TashTalk, which combined with my little userspace stack TailTalk (https://github.com/FeralFirmware/TailTalk) allows you to transfer files directly from your modern Linux/Mac (and soon Windows) machine to any LocalTalk capable Mac with a regular Mac serial cable. It also can talk to Laser Writers, and join a LocalTalk network with a dongle like PhoneNet.

It also of course works with all existing TashTalk software like Tash Router and friends.

The first 10 boards I've put together unfortunately had a few mismatched traces on the mini DIN-8 connector so it's got some bodge wires and hot glue, but otherwise works fantastic. I've got a thread going here if you were interested in the first rev prototypes: https://68kmla.org/bb/threads/tashtalk-usb.52115/, and will post back here once the fixed ones come in in a few weeks for sale.