CompleteSet - a resource for vintage Mac collectors and enthusiasts

[mac27]

Today I am very happy to announce CompleteSet, a new online resource for vintage Mac collectors and enthusiasts. The goal of CompleteSet is to provide a complete, accurate, and functional resource for determining the accessories, peripherals, software disks, and documentation materials that originally shipped with vintage Apple systems from the G3-G5 era (roughly 1998-2006).

It’s historically been notoriously difficult to make exact determinations about which exact materials shipped with vintage Apple systems (let alone at a part-number-specific level). This has traditionally involved lots of educated guesswork and consulting EveryMac, which only gets you part of the way there. CompleteSet aims to provide a definitive resource for making these determinations, where you can browse by system to find the components (including specific part numbers) you need.

When it is "finished" (someday long in the future), CompleteSet will cover three main categories: software CDs, documentation materials, and accessories/peripherals (cables, keyboards, mice, etc). At launch, the software CDs portion (“Phase 1”) is the only part available - I am looking for feedback from the community before moving forward with the other parts.

For each of these three categories, CompleteSet will comprise a main index/datasheet which is divided into tabs based on machine family (e.g., iBook G3, PowerBook G4). For the software CDs portion, I have also put together pages for each system which actually show photos of the discs. At this time I am undecided whether including these “photos” sections for the other two categories would be useful or feasible - looking for feedback on this.

Anyways, to my knowledge this is the first time a resource like this has existed in the community so it’s taken some work to figure out how to pull it all together. As such, I am looking for lots of feedback here:

• Is the information in CompleteSet provided in an intuitive, navigable, useful way?
• Is having the photos pages useful?
• Are there other similar indices out there on the Internet already that I’m not aware of, and if so, how do they compare and how should they be referenced or incorporated (or not)?

Lastly, this is a project that will rely *heavily* on input and help from the community! If you own a complete G3-G5 system and are willing to contribute information or photos to this project - or even just verify that the information presented is correct - please comment below or reach out to me at mac27collection@gmail.com. As of right now the Software CDs portion still has lots of "holes" with missing info + photos.

Thanks for reading and I hope this will be a useful resource to have out there.

 

[NJRoadfan]

A few Powerbook G4 systems that shipped in late 2003 originally came with MacOS X 10.2. When I purchased my 15in G4 AlBook (online order) on release day, it was a crap shoot whether it would have came with Panther preinstalled. Apple offered a Panther CD upgrade set to all purchasers for like $20. I purchased it, but didn't need it because my system thankfully came with 10.3 preinstalled. I did see machines running Jaguar in the Apple Store at the time, so some must have shipped.

This could be the restore CD: https://www.ebay.com/itm/154510126097

 

[mac27]

A few Powerbook G4 systems that shipped in late 2003 originally came with MacOS X 10.2. When I purchased my 15in G4 AlBook (online order) on release day, it was a crap shoot whether it would have came with Panther preinstalled. Apple offered a Panther CD upgrade set to all purchasers for like $20. I purchased it, but didn't need it because my system thankfully came with 10.3 preinstalled. I did see machines running Jaguar in the Apple Store at the time, so some must have shipped.

This could be the restore CD: https://www.ebay.com/itm/154510126097

Thanks - I have updated the index with this disc and information. Lines up with what EveryMac says so that's good confirmation.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Great work here! This is probably something I should link on MacDat.

 

[mac27]

Thanks, and yes by all means feel free to do so. The more we can do to get people the information they're looking for, the better.

 

[NeilKnows]

Nice work...

 

[mac27]

Today I am launching "Phase II" of CompleteSet, the "Accessories & Peripherals" category:

I got good feedback from folks over email and elsewhere online from "Phase I" (software discs), and I've incorporated this feedback into the construction of this second phase. I thank everyone for your input and continued assistance with pulling all this information together.

Having spent many hours poring over other online resources, eBay listings, photos, and my own collection, I've found that (as expected) there is a lot of information out there that is either conflicting or difficult/impossible to find or verify. It's also clear that it will likely take a number of years yet before this resource is anywhere near "complete" but this has been a good start to getting it off the ground.

As with the first phase, this component also contains many missing information "holes" that need to be filled. If you own a complete G3-G5 system and are willing to contribute information or photos to this project - or even just verify that the information presented is correct - please comment below or reach out to me at mac27collection@gmail.com.

At present the plan is to launch the third and final phase of this project (documentation materials) sometime soon ... probably another few weeks to a month.

 

[akator70]

Thank your for this resource, it's one of those things you don't think you'll need... until you do.

 

[mac27]

Yeah absolutely, it's probably something that most people won't need very often but when you need it, you need it.

 

[mac27]

The third and final portion of CompleteSet is now live, the "Documentation" category:



This portion has been the trickiest of the three to pull together, and still needs a lot of work to fill in missing information. If you own a complete G3-G5 system and are willing to contribute information or photos to this project - or even just verify that the information presented is correct - please comment below or reach out to me at mac27collection@gmail.com.

Thanks again to everyone who has contributed so far. From here it'll be a slow burn of continuing to fill in info as it becomes available. Happy Holidays!

 

[LaPorta]

I’ve got a complete, originally owned, very first iMac G4, if that helps.

 

[mac27]

Sure, there are still several "holes" throughout CompleteSet for that system:

- If yours has the later documentation packet (603-0588-A), I still need all the part numbers from the pack-ins.
- It's unclear if these systems all shipped with an iPhoto disc, or not.
- I am still looking for the part number for the power cable if you have that.

 

[envirogeek]

I am looking in my basement technology pile for G3-G4 era items, might have a few things of interest.

It appears I have my original CD pack for a 2008 MacBook Pro, a little outside your range.

I could Email you a complete January 1996 Apple Canada Master Standing Offer price list. It should give you every part number for Apple products sold at that time, and some of the content descriptions for SKUs.

 

[mac27]

Thanks! Yes, anything Intel and anything before roughly late 1998 is outside the range of what CompleteSet covers. But if you do find anything from 1998-2006 (G3-G4-G5) please do send my way.

 

[envirogeek]

Are dated Apple literature PDFs useful for your purposes?

I've still got a few unmodified original Apple literature PDFs lurking among my files.

 

[adespoton]

I am looking in my basement technology pile for G3-G4 era items, might have a few things of interest.

It appears I have my original CD pack for a 2008 MacBook Pro, a little outside your range.

I could Email you a complete January 1996 Apple Canada Master Standing Offer price list. It should give you every part number for Apple products sold at that time, and some of the content descriptions for SKUs.

The 1996 item is outside this project's window... but it sounds like it might assist with https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gZtX6244hvi54NYYr9jEbFyFjABj4hyUFESw5IWKi-0/ and https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EeaeZAwnV9VI2Aw5Ly272h7bjhK8o8_HrKL6aaG9REU/ ?

 

[mac27]

Are dated Apple literature PDFs useful for your purposes?

I've still got a few unmodified original Apple literature PDFs lurking among my files.

Neat. While something like this could be useful in an indirect way since it lists out all of the exact tech specs, etc., I don't think it contains any info that I would be ingesting directly into CompleteSet.

The 1996 item is outside this project's window... but it sounds like it might assist with https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gZtX6244hvi54NYYr9jEbFyFjABj4hyUFESw5IWKi-0/ and https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EeaeZAwnV9VI2Aw5Ly272h7bjhK8o8_HrKL6aaG9REU/ ?

Yeah the first sheet does have some G3-G5 era info that would be useful to me if it was more complete - e.g., the second tab in the sheet does list some disc part numbers next to hardware names but I don't know what the discs are or what version of the machines it's referencing.