Swap Hard Drive Clones in Powerbooks, FCP/ect Requiring Activation

Hello,
I wasn't where to post this and assumed the reason for this issue must exist at the Unix/command line level.
This was the process....
My brother's 12" 1.5ghs powerbook hard drive failed.
I have a 15" 1.67 powerbook. I cloned my HD to an external HD then erased my disk, setup and new system and mailed the 'fresh laptop' to him (He's very computer illiterate).
He mailed me his laptop. I replaced his internal HD with the external HD i cloned from my laptop.
Now my 'system/install/applications' all boot on 'his' old 12" but when i attempt to load up FCS applications they ask me to register/enter serial #.
The HD is located INSIDE the powerbook, how does it know that i'm not using it on the 'old machine'?
I have all the serials, is it ok if I just activate them again? I plan to install them on my new MBP (when it arrives), is there a limit to the number of fresh installs one can do? I will wipe the 12" before installing.
Can i expect my 'transplanted system' to be stable or should I be doing a fresh install anyways? it's alot of work...
I heard if you typed some command into the 'command line' it would tell me the identification number associated with my logic board? Is that how all this works?
I'm not out to cheat the system, i just don't want to have to reinstall everything when i'm just going to get a MBP and have to do it again in a month.
Always interested to learn more,
Thank you,
Michael

Hi John,
   Yes, it should work to simply enter the serial numbers anew. I've had to do that when I bought a new machine. In that case, the only thing of which I'm aware that could cause a problem is if an application phones home. Micro$oft Office apps check the local neighborhood for other office apps and they compare registration numbers to see if you installed more instances of Office than the number of seats you bought. You can block port 2222 to prevent that but since the other machine is on a different local network, that shouldn't be a problem.
   Of course there is one other issue. The machine with the cloned drive may not return any serial number at all. That may cause problems with an app that identifies the machine that way, even if you enter serial numbers. However, Apple states that that isn't a consistant method for identifying an Apple computer so any app that used that should have some alternative.
   I had certainly purchased enough apps for it to be pain to reenter the serial numbers but it's doable. I think the ones I had the most trouble with were the Macromedia apps, which had to phone home initially in order to be used. I'm sorry but I don't know what FCS is.
Gary
~~~~
   The man who has never been flogged has never been taught.
      -- Menander

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