Project: Program on a Classic II

[PowerPup]

Well, I've finally setup my Classic II for the summer. (Or whats left of summer. )

(Any recommendations on how to remove the marks on the case? A simple wet cloth didn't work.)

I now have it dual-booting 6.0.8L & 7.5.5 (Easy to switch between the two with Apple's System Picker. Thinking about adding 7.1)

Now that I've obtained a copy of THINK Pascal (with manuals,) I plan on making some simple example programs (the examples in the manuals first, then my own.) I look forward to using my Classic II again, I had a lot of fun playing games, making silly recordings, and drawing in ClarisWorks on it. Now I am coming back to make programs for it!

Since this guy is my first Mac, I think he should have a name. Maybe "Sam the Reporter?"

Eh, I'll figure that one out later. I've also installed my copy of FullWrite 1.1 for system 6.

Since I never grew up around 6, I want to get a better experience out of it. So I'm currently going through software archives to find apps for System 6. Anyone have recommendations what I should install?

I've already ran a simple "hello world!" program through THINK Pascal, so now it's on to some visual stuff! I'll try to post here with semi-frequent updates on my progress to programming on a Mac.

[notcrazy_iminsane]

Not entirely sure about the programs. My Classic was running System 6, but its SCSI chip is fried... So.. No good there..

When it comes to the marks, I've heard that magic erasers work. If not, maybe a little rubbing alcohol. You wanna be careful if you use chemicals since it might not be too friendly with the plastic Any clue what kind of marks they are?

[PowerPup]

Sadly no, I have no idea what kind of marks they are. There was a similar one going through the "a" in "Macintosh" but that one came off with water. I can't remember if these marks were there when I got it or appeared after long storage while it had a dead power board.

Rubbing Alcohol had no effect on either the marks or the case.

[mcdermd]

50% isopropyl 50% acetone. The alcohol keeps the acetone from doing bad things to the case. It will take off just about anything (including "permanent" marker).

[PowerPup]

Thanks Mcdermd! Using the isopropyl & acetone (I used rubbing alcohol & nail polish remover,) cleaned it right off with a little elbow grease.

I also plan on Retr0brighting the case soon. I couldn't remember which OxiClean product I needed so I accidentally got the Laundry Stain Remover (Liquid,) instead of the Versatile Stain Remover (Powder.) I"m just going to return the Laundry one and get this from the local dollartree. (Which is where I already got some paint brushes, hydrogen peroxide, nail polish remover and microwaveable plastic containers.)

[PowerPup]

Well, I still haven't quite gotten around to programming yet... Been having too much fun Retr0Brighting.

Retr0Brighting Albumn

I'm currently in the process of Retr0Brighting the front and speaker side of the case. So I'll be adding more pictures soon.

[onlyonemac]

How exactly did you install system 6.0.8? I've downloaded the disk images, but I can't get a working boot disk from them. Please help (this may call for a separate topic).

P.S. I am running windows on my other computer-I have an HD floppy drive and my mac as a SuperDrive.

[24bit]

Did you try BasiliskII? The emulator can write Mac 1.4MB floppies with a GNU-Linux or Windows host.
Please note, that you will have to press Control + F1 to mount a floppy in the emulator.
As your Mac has the Superdrive upgrade, you should be able to create boot floppies rather easily.
If the emulator does not like to initialize 1.4MB HFS disks, initialize them with the Mac and do the copying with DiskCopy or DiskDup+ with the PC box.

[onlyonemac]

Did you try BasiliskII?

Umm... that needs a ROM image. I can't create a decent enough boot disk even to do that ! (My mac won't boot from its hard drive at the moment-working on that in my topic "Can dead battery cause hard disk trouble")

[Brett B.]

How exactly did you install system 6.0.8? I've downloaded the disk images, but I can't get a working boot disk from them.

He is running 6.0.8L which works on the CII... 6.0.8 non-L does not.

[onlyonemac]

I'm actually using a Performa 475 (see signature). I just need to know the principal of making a boot disk.

[PowerPup]

According to EveryMac.com, the Performa 475 can only use 7.1P3-7.5.1, 7.5.3-8.1. So I'm afraid 6.0.8/L is too old for your Mac.

To write disk images on Windows machines, I use RawWrite for Windows, works great for me. Once the image is written to a disk, just put it in and boot up from it. (If it doesn't work you can either select the disk in "Startup Disk" in the control panels or hold onto "C" while booting.)

[onlyonemac]

So I'm afraid 6.0.8/L is too old for your Mac.

I love system 6.

To write disk images on Windows machines, I use RawWrite for Windows, works great for me. Once the image is written to a disk, just put it in and boot up from it. (If it doesn't work you can either select the disk in "Startup Disk" in the control panels or hold onto "C" while booting.)

I use HFVExplorer to view disk images and disks on a PC. HFVExplorer doesn't even like the disk images. With unedited ones, it opens them without complaint, but doesn't mount them properly (I can't see them in the tree on the left). With ones with the first 84 bytes removed (found out somewhere that those were disk image header bytes and that they must be removed), it shows an error.

<File path> bad volume allocation block size (Invalid argument)

It normally says it two or three times.

Thanks for the info on the acceptable systems for my mac-I might try making a disk for one of those as a test because my original test disks that I made would boot, but then it displayed a .

[onlyonemac]

Sorry, a bit of a late update-I didn't realise this topic was still around!

I found out why the images wouldn't work-they're in Disk Copy format. I made my disks and got an error saying that "System 6.0.8 cannot run on this Macintosh. Please use your install disks to update to a newer version that does," or something to that effect. I've since shelved the idea of running system 6 on my mac.

Instead, I tried some programming as well. I enjoy Windows programming (for as much as I enjoy Windows ), and I love my BBC Micro emulator (sorry, I don't have a real one ), so I thought that I should try my mac too.

I started with MPW, but, for some reason, the version I got doesn't come with any compilers ! And the version that does can only use 7.5, not 7.1. Oh well... So I hunted around to see if I could get an add-on compiler (perhaps you had to get them separately). In the process, I came across THINK C 5 (I think that was the version number).

It was one of the best downloads ever! Within a few days, I was getting the hang of C (which is new to me; I was wanting to learn it anyway) and the Macintosh Toolkit (which is new to me as well). I've now made:

I 2D "sketch" program,
A game in which you have to type the scrolling letters before they vanish off the screen (they don't wait for you),
I 3D wireframe program, which also uses elevation views for editing.

My next goal is to figure out how to work with files-what's a "memory buffer" and how do I use it?

That's after I've recapped...

[highlandcattle]

That is nice! share your game with us once you have compiled it!

[PowerPup]

Oh, looks like I completely forgot about this topic too.

Since my last post, I've attempted in recapping my Classic II, which utterly failed. (I lifted like 3-4 solder pads, turns out the Classic II was notorious for weak pads.) And since my LCIII is also not functioning (most likely in need of a recap too,) I'll probably just end up doing this project on my PB5300 or PB3400.

That's cool onlyonemac! Do keep us up to date on your progress.

[onlyonemac]

That is nice! share your game with us once you have compiled it!

That's cool onlyonemac! Do keep us up to date on your progress.

Well... unfortunately, I haven't been doing anymore, since I still have to finish the recap (like you, PowerPup ).

@highlandcattle: I have compiled the game, so I'll have to see if there's any way I can upload it. I don't have a website, so I can't post a link. I might stick it on Macintosh Garden (secret page) and link it here . Or, maybe not .

[uniserver]

wow, i am going to be getting a classic ii this weekend from my buddy "aftermac"

he said it boots and works just has weak sound, so its going to need a recap,
my classic needs a re-cap as well, so does my LC-2,

i haven't recapped any vintage mac yet,

its sounds like some people have a real issue with it, and others re-cap them in their sleep.
i would have to assume that having extra flux when de soldering would help alot!

[onlyonemac]

I finished the recap last week. Unfortunately, it didn't fix the hard disk trouble , although it got rid of some sad-macs and RAM problems. However, no hard disk means no programming-the compiler needs a hard disk.

[uniserver]

you should buy a G3 Aio from me, then take the SCSI Zip Drive out and install it into your lc 475, put some electrical tape around the front of the drive so the disk does not eject, wala 100 mb scsi hard drive i am going to do the same to my powermac 6100, when i get some time

[directive0]

Just based on my own experience with Zip Disks; is it wise to use one as a mission-critical storage device?

[olePigeon]

I put an MO drive in mine. It's actually a little faster than my HDD.

[uniserver]

hey tell me more about that mo drive, what is the capacity?

[onlyonemac]

I found THINK (Lightspeed) C 3! It runs from a floppy with a RAM disk on 700 K of RAM! Yippeeeeeee ! (Sorry, I can't stop jumping up and down, even though it was about a week ago!)

I'm currently writing a Virtual Rubik's Cube (I did a Windows one a while ago).

[onlyonemac]

If PowerPup might once more permit me to use his topic for my programming blog, I have now finished the Cube! It's even better than the Windows version, particularly seeing as I could make it so you could drag the cube, rather than have to click separate buttons (Macs are easier to program than PCs). The two things that it lacks are:
-Colour (OK, I could use Colour QuickDraw, but I'm too lazy to figure out how),
-True 3D display (you can only have orthographic display because I couldn't figure out the calculations for two-point perspective).

But it's still better than the Windows version, even though you can't save the cube state (I haven't figured file handling out yet), or added a solve function (I felt a bit sorry for my poor Mac's CPU trying to do such a big task).