Striated Pardalotes

Saw my first Striated Pardalotes (Pardalotus striatus) in Wagin over the weekend (two adults and one young). Very hard to photograph though...

Also saw an Echidna on the road (Albany Highway) on the journey home.

Rebuilt PowerBook 190cs

I have finally had the chance to rebuild the PowerBook 190cs (thanks to a stash of 5300 parts from David). As such the 190cs has the external monitor adapter (with cable) and the IR circuitry (that don't come with a 190cs). It was rebuilt to serve as a Newton development machine (although I really need to add ethernet to it). I am installing the Newton connection software and some other goodies as I type this.

Bird Sighting

Rainbow Bee-eater (Merops ornatus) sighted just down the road from home on a power line.

Planes to Karratha

On the last flight to Karratha I realised that I had flown in a few different Qantas/QantasLink planes. A quick check of the Qantas website jogged my memory so here is the list:

• Boeing 737-400 (generally the plane I seem to catch)


• British Aerospace 146 (great fun landing on the short Karratha runway!)


• Boeing 717-200

Regarding the name of the blog...

"Propellerheads" is the label given (affectionately?) to the group of control systems engineers that I am a part of here in Dampier. The blame part alludes to the fact that when things go wrong and there is no obvious cause fingers get pointed in our direction.

All in good humour though.

Old PowerBooks

The PowerBook 165c I picked up off eBay (see previous post) has an internal modem (probably 14.4). So the plan is to rip it out and fit it to my functional PowerBook 160 (the 165c has a very busted screen). If anyone knows whether this is possible please email me.

I also have a PowerBook 190cs with a very dodgy case. I have a replacement case from a PowerBook 5300 which I will transplant (along with the external video card and anything else that will fit).

Now all I need is a few days off to tinker :)

Recent eBay buys

• Quadra 950 (40MB RAM, 350MB/700MB/1.2GB HDDs)


• LC111 (36MB RAM, 500MB HDD)


• PowerBook 165C (8MB RAM, 80MB HDD)


• Power Macintosh 6100 (???)


• Power Macintosh 7100 (72MB RAM, 2 GB HDD)


• Commslot Ethernet Card to suit Performa 5400

Cost: $10 for the 5 Macs, $5 for the ethernet card
Room left in study now: almost nil

Birds seen at Dampier

Here is a brief list:

• Zebra Finch


• Australian Pelican


• Sooty Oystercatcher


• Yellow Throated Miner


• Magpie Lark


• Corella (will have to check the books to determine which one)

Update: Corella sighted is most likely the Little Corella.

Welcome to my blog...

Hello and welcome to my new blog.

Stay tuned for new posts!

Cheers, Greg