• Updated 2023-07-12: Hello, Guest! Welcome back, and be sure to check out this follow-up post about our outage a week or so ago.

Possibly Awesome Haul Tomorrow

PotatoFi

Well-known member
I have a local friend who is into tech that I met on Twitter. He's hooked me up with some cool stuff before, like a mint condition Game Boy Color. I think I modded a Game Boy DMG-01 with a backlight for him once, can't remember. Anyway, he's been saying that he has "some Apple stuff for me" at his parents house for a couple of years now. Today, he texted me - this is what I'm going to pick up tomorrow at 10 AM.

First, an Apple IIc! He says he has a working monitor for it, too!

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Another Apple II! This one is a IIe. The Apple II is outside of my wheel house, but I expect that both of them will be salvageable as they look to be in great shape, and I think the Apple II is pretty simple internally?

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A Macintosh SE, and it's an FDHD! Please, please, PLEASE don't have a blown up battery! But... even if it does, I can possibly salvage the CRT for my Classic II, or save other parts. I don't think I've ever seen something this messy. I am a bit worried about what kind of environment they were stored in. Idaho is hot in the summer, cold in the winter, and very dry. So possibly minimum corrosion and rust, but heat... heat can't be good for batteries and caps.

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That looks like a IIsi? And check out the floppy drive! That looks like it is in mint condition! In the text messages, he says "one of the Macintosh II's is in very bad shape." I'm not sure if he's confusing the Apple II's and Mac II, or if there's more than the photos show...

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Then there's this box. I thought possibly a couple of Apple Extended Keyboard II's, but on further inspection, there's a weird ridge at the top there. Maybe PC stuff, not sure. I see some ADB cables. Is that a printer on the top? Power supplies for the Apple II's? I'm just not sure.

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We texted back and forth a bit tonight, and he casually mentioned that he has THREE 5 1/4" drives! What!

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It's 10:32 PM on Saturday night... tomorrow I'll show up at this house at 10 AM to pick everything up. You know those crazy hauls that people post, and how you think "That will never happen to me?" I feel like it's happening to me right now.

I'll absolutely be reporting back!

 

olePigeon

Well-known member
Those are both Apple //e Platinums.  //c is tinier.  Almost looks like a laptop without a screen.

 

PotatoFi

Well-known member
Those are both Apple //e Platinums.  //c is tinier.  Almost looks like a laptop without a screen.
Right, //c is much smaller. I totally knew that.  :O Just a bit excited. I've seen an Apple //c in person, but never any other Apple II stuff that I can remember.

 

bibilit

Well-known member
Then there's this box. I thought possibly a couple of Apple Extended Keyboard II's, but on further inspection, there's a weird ridge at the top there. Maybe PC stuff, not sure. I see some ADB cables. Is that a printer on the top? Power supplies for the Apple II's? I'm just not sure.
Probably PC keyboards (IBM)... a printer for sure, an Apple 5 1/4 Apple drive and probably another pair also (probably the same units on the other picture, just removed from the cardboard for a quick shooting)

No power supplies for sure, only the IIc had an external power supply.

Yes this is a Macintosh IIsi , the external CD rom is probably also for the Apple range, and pretty early as well, still have the Caddy feature.

 

PotatoFi

Well-known member
Okay, I got it all home! Here's what it ended up being:

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Macintosh SE FDHD. Battery has not blown up. Sadly, it has been partially submerged in water, up to the bottom of the floppy drive. There's a quite a bit of rust... but it's possible that the logic board might be viable. It's never going to be pretty, but it's possible that it will work again. It will need a donor chassis and power supply. I will add a link to the restoration revival thread here.

Macintosh IIsi. Pretty clean. Battery in the logic board hasn't blown up. Someone cut a hole in the top of the case for a SCSI ribbon and power cable. Will probably work again but it won't be a very pretty machine.

Performa 6115CD. Missing everything except the logic board and power supply. Logic board looks pretty bad... very dirty. Power supply is covered in rust. No floppy, no CD-ROM drive, no hard drive. Will probably clean up, see if I can get a chime.

Apple IIe. Looks great. Probably will have no trouble reviving it. Supposedly the monitor works.

Apple IIe. Does not look great. Bottom of the case is very rusted, but the top of the logic board looks good. Possible revival.

Three 5.25" drives in varying condition. One is nice, one is okay, one is not great.

One SuperDrive in great condition. A real gem!

4 random keyboards. Appear to be IBM AT-style and/or PS/2 keyboards. Haven't looked closely.

A couple of PhoneNet connectors.

A Sony CD-ROM drive with caddy.

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These came out of a 1940's home basement in Idaho, where they've been for a couple of decades.

I could tell that my friend was most interested in hearing about the Apple II's. Those are outside of my wheelhouse but I expect to get a working one out of the pile here. These are pretty rough machines and drives, but I'm happy to have them back into circulation.

 

Juror22

Well-known member
That looks like a lot of work to clean them all up, but you have some nice machines and a good assortment of peripherals.  An excellent haul and I hope that you enjoy getting them all running.  Its nice to come across Apple II's these days, and I found it very easy to get mine up and running (initially I had no disks) with ADTPro.

Congratulations and I look forward to reading more about your finds.

 

PotatoFi

Well-known member
Quick update on the haul!

Macintosh SE FDHD

It boots! Turning out to be a pretty okay restoration, actually. Check out the thread if you haven't already.

Macintosh 6115CD

This isn't going to be pretty... brace yourself.

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Sadly, it is almost completely gutted. I thought maybe the logic board would be good, but...

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Yeah, nope. There's basically nothing salvageable here. The CPU has multiple bent and broken pins. Can anyone use any parts out of this? Are there any IC's in here that might be recoverable?

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SuperDrive

So far we're in for one success and one crushing disappointment. How about another success to round things out? This little SuperDrive was already in fantastic condition... of the entire haul, this was the thing I was the most excited about.

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Model G7287. These fetch quite a bit on eBay!

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Spare rubber foot shoved into the security lock on the back. Super weird.

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Four screws come out to pop the bottom half of the shell off.

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Four screws on the sides hold the SuperDrive itself in.

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Damage noted.

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The metal part of the drive slides towards the back before releasing. Someone has taken this drive apart already, as one of the hold-downs has been mangled.

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Ready for cleaning and Retrobrite!

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Retrobrite! You can tell which is the top, and which is the bottom. Protip: having trouble with parts floating? Use a glass dish to hold everything down!

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I didn't get photos of this... but the eject button is integrated into one part, but has exposed plastic that was yellowed. For that, I wrapped the switch itself in plastic wrap, leaving the button exposed. Then I dipped the button in hydrogen peroxide developer cream (which I normally don't use), and wrapped plastic around that. About 1 hour in the sun did the trick.

And it's done! Here it is with my SE FDHD. And no... you can't use 3 floppy drives on one machine. I tried.

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Back of the drive.

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Before (had been cleaned):

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After:

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I feel extremely fortunate to have this drive! What a gem!

 

EvilCapitalist

Well-known member
That floppy drive sure looks nice all cleaned up.  Didn't know those were a sought-after item; I'm pretty sure I've got a box of at least 3 (4?) of them somewhere.

That poor 6115CD though.  Were these machines stored outside or in a dirt crawl space of some sort?

 

Daniël

Well-known member
Yeah, nope. There's basically nothing salvageable here. The CPU has multiple bent and broken pins. Can anyone use any parts out of this? Are there any IC's in here that might be recoverable?
I already have something lined up for mine, but I figure someone might want the plastic bits (top case, bezel, feet) if they clean up at all. Maybe someone would want the board for the special ASICs, or the slot connector now that someone here has made a KiCad riser card for the 6100-series that uses that slot connector.

 

trag

Well-known member
If the pins on the main motherboard chip pins are in decent condition, not corroded away, then the 6100 board could be useful for spares.   I have an assortment of failed 6100 boards, with various problems like memory controller or DPATH controller gone bad.    Ultimately, if I ever fix those boards the replacement chips will come from other boards with problems, like your tragic 6100.  

 

PotatoFi

Well-known member
That floppy drive sure looks nice all cleaned up.  Didn't know those were a sought-after item; I'm pretty sure I've got a box of at least 3 (4?) of them somewhere.

That poor 6115CD though.  Were these machines stored outside or in a dirt crawl space of some sort?
Agreed, the floppy drive cleaned up great! I thought it was interesting that the inside was super clean and completely rust-free, whereas all of the other items I receive have rust and water damage.

They were stored in a basement in Eastern Idaho, which is a high desert. A very dry climate that is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. My guess is that the basement flooded at some point.

I already have something lined up for mine, but I figure someone might want the plastic bits (top case, bezel, feet) if they clean up at all. Maybe someone would want the board for the special ASICs, or the slot connector now that someone here has made a KiCad riser card for the 6100-series that uses that slot connector.
My thoughts exactly.

If the pins on the main motherboard chip pins are in decent condition, not corroded away, then the 6100 board could be useful for spares.   I have an assortment of failed 6100 boards, with various problems like memory controller or DPATH controller gone bad.    Ultimately, if I ever fix those boards the replacement chips will come from other boards with problems, like your tragic 6100.  
I would be happy to pull the board and send it your way, or get you better photos to help assess the damage. Just let me know what you need.

 

NJRoadfan

Well-known member
What color is the drive activity LED on the Superdrive? My unit is amber vs. the red found on the typical Apple 3.5" externals. I know there were some variants that have "FDHD" silkscreened on the front, but still have the red LED. Folks on ebay are paying a premium for what amounts to a label on the bottom. Any Apple 3.5" Drive can be converted to a Superdrive by swapping the insides out.

 

Crutch

Well-known member
That can’t be right, surely?  I’ve never tried but a stock SE won’t support a SuperDrive.  It requires the SWIM update that comes on an SE FDHD/SuperDrive motherboard, I’m quite certain.

 

PB145B

Well-known member
That can’t be right, surely?  I’ve never tried but a stock SE won’t support a SuperDrive.  It requires the SWIM update that comes on an SE FDHD/SuperDrive motherboard, I’m quite certain.
@NJRoadfan is referring to the external floppy drive, not the Mac SE. It’s true what you said about the SE, but upgrading an 800K external drive to a SuperDrive is as easy as swapping the drive mechanism.

Interesting that the LED color varied in the external drives, just like the Mac SEs.

 
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PotatoFi

Well-known member
What color is the drive activity LED on the Superdrive? My unit is amber vs. the red found on the typical Apple 3.5" externals. I know there were some variants that have "FDHD" silkscreened on the front, but still have the red LED. Folks on ebay are paying a premium for what amounts to a label on the bottom. Any Apple 3.5" Drive can be converted to a Superdrive by swapping the insides out.
think it’s amber, but I can’t remember. The Twenty One Pilots lyric video that they just posted features a SuperDrive with a red LED (I just watched it moments ago). I hoped to get it back out today to check but didn’t have time.

As for converting a drive, yeah. If you look above, you’ll see a beige “smooth” 800k enclosure. I bought it without an actual drive, and put a SuperDrive in it.

That can’t be right, surely?  I’ve never tried but a stock SE won’t support a SuperDrive.  It requires the SWIM update that comes on an SE FDHD/SuperDrive motherboard, I’m quite certain.
AFAIK, if you plug a SuperDrive into a Plus or SE, it will act like an 800k drive. But if you plug it into an SE, Classic, SE/30, or Classic II, it will be a SuperDrive. I think.

 

switch998

Well-known member
That 6115CD is a shame, still a nice haul though. I know this isn't a for sale thread but I could use the top cover, and HDI45 port from the logic board if you can part with it... I have a 6100 here that I dropped and shattered the top case of :sad: .

 

PotatoFi

Well-known member
That 6115CD is a shame, still a nice haul though. I know this isn't a for sale thread but I could use the top cover, and HDI45 port from the logic board if you can part with it... I have a 6100 here that I dropped and shattered the top case of :sad: .
Yes, absolutely. Yours for the cost of shipping. I'll scrub the top case down and take some good photos, so we can evaluate whether it is worth it to you or not. I'd be happy to ship the whole machine, or just the parts you need out of it.

 

PotatoFi

Well-known member
While @switch998 said, "Don't worry about cleaning it", I couldn't help myself. This is the 6115CD after dishwasher detergent, scrubbing with a brush, a lot of Goo Gone, and some paper towel + baking soda scrubbing. The only thing I didn't do was bust out the flat razor to try to scrape away all of the crusty sticker residue that the Goo Gone didn't cut through.

I figured I'd share, just for closure.

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