im searching an OS for a 190CS Powerbook, one of the first...

The PowerBook 190cs wasn't one of the first [PowerBooks], and as such is limited as to which OS will run on it. The 190 was a 68LC040 base PowerBook that used the PowerBook 5300 case design. This was the last of the 68k PowerBooks Apple sold.

As for what OS, that depends on a number of factors.

How much RAM, size of hard drive... how you plan on installing the OS... all these have an effect on what we could recommend.


When I was using a PowerBook Duo 280 as my primary computer, I ran Mac OS 8.1 on it. Like the 190 series, my 280 used a 68LC040, but I had 32 MB of RAM and a 320 MB hard drive. Your 190 came with a 500 MB drive (which is good), but usually shipped with 8 MB of RAM (expandable to 40 MB).

What are your options?

1. System 7.5.3 (with PowerBook 5300/190 Enabler v1.1), plus the 7.5.5 update.
2. Mac OS 7.6.1
3. Mac OS 8.1

And if you have 12 MB of RAM or less, Mac OS 8.0/8.1 are going to seem pretty slow on that system. 16 MB would be a minimum for 8.

How are you going to get any of these on that system?
Because I service these systems, I have any number of ways of getting an OS on that computer... but for the average person, this is something that you may need to plan out.

When I originally got my 280 it had some version of System 7 on it. As some of you may know, the PowerBook Duos were subnotebooks... and they didn't have any media drives (no floppy and no CD-ROM). And Mac OS 8 comes on a CD.

I installed Mac OS 8.1 on that system via the only port it had... the localtalk port. I connected to my Quadra (which has a CD-ROM drive, mounted the Mac OS 8.1 CD on the 280 over an AppleTalk connection, and installed Mac OS 8.1 on that system.

In the case of this 190... you need a system that you can make floppies from if you don't already have an OS on it. Like I said, I have tons of stuff to help me with something like this, but that isn't always the case for most people.



Assuming you want to go 7.5.5 (because it is free from Apple and is easy on systems with limited resources), you can find what you need at the following links:

System 7.5.3 Floppy Images
System 7.5.2 Tools Disk (for booting your PowerBook 190)
System 7.5.5 update
System 7 Manuals
Specification info on the PowerBook 190cs
PowerBook 190 Manuals (near the bottom of the page)

And you may want to look around at System 7 Today.

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Now with that out of the way...

Macintosh PowerBook 190/190cs
Codename: "Omega"
Introduced: August 1995
Discontinued: June 1996 (190) October 1996 (190cs)
Machine ID: 122
Model Number: n/a
Support Status: Obsolete
Processor: Motorola 68LC040
Processor Speed: 66 MHz (Internal) 33 MHz (External)
Coprocessor: None
Cache: 8 KB L1
System Bus: 33 MHz
Hard Drive: 500 MB
Media: 1.44 MB floppy
Weight and Dimensions (US): 6.0 (190) 6.3 (190cs) lbs., 2" H x 11.5" W x 8.5" D
Weight and Dimensions (Metric): 2.7 (190) 2.9 (190cs) kg, 5.1 cm H x 29.2 cm W x 21.6 cm D
Original Mac OS: System 7.5.2 (PowerBook 5300/190 Enabler v1.1)
Maximum Mac OS: Mac OS 8.1
Firmware: Macintosh ROM
Logicboard RAM: 4 or 8 MB
Maximum RAM: 36 or 40 MB
Type of RAM Slots: 1 - PowerBook 53xx (120-pin connector)
Minimum RAM Speed: 70 ns
Graphics Card: Optional
Graphics Memory: 512 KB with optional graphics card
Built-in Display: 9.5" 4 - bit (190) or 10.4" 8 - bit (190cs) Film SuperTwist Nematic (FSTN) LCD
Resolutions: 640 x 480
Display Connection: Optional Mini-15
Expansion Slots: 2 - Type II or 1 - Type III PC Card
Expansion Bays: 5.25-inch bay
Hard Drive Bus: IDE
Backup Battery: --
Power Adapter: --
System Battery: NiMH (190) 16.8 V lithium ion (190cs)
Max Watts: 45 Watts
Ethernet: None
Infrared: Optional Macintosh PowerBook Infrared Upgrade Kit
Modem: None
ADB: 1
Serial: 1
SCSI: HDI-30
USB: None
FireWire: None
Audio In: 1 - 3.5-mm analog input jack, 1 - Built-in microphone
Audio Out: 1 - 3.5-mm analog output jack, 1 - Built-in speaker
History: The last 680X0 machine Apple ever built, the PowerBook 190 featured an expansion bay for third-party drives, and 2 PC card slots. It could be configured with an optional Infra-red transceiver, and an optional video port for an external monitor. The 190 sold for $1,700 for 4 MB of RAM and $1,900 U.S. for 8 MB. The 190cs with a dual-scan color screen and 8 MB of RAM sold for $2,300 U.S.
Created by Mactracker Copyright 2001 - 2006 Ian Page
http://www.mactracker.ca