liamur
Active member
Hi everyone. First post here. This seems like the most active vintage Apple forum, aside from perhaps r/VintageApple.
I have recently gotten my hands on a Macintosh Plus and an HD20 (not the HD20SC, though). It's my first foray into vintage Apple stuff. The Plus was upgraded to 4 MB of RAM before I had it. I cleaned out as much dust as possible from both, and I cleaned and re-lubricated the floppy drive following Adrian's Digital Basement's tutorial. It and the hard disk work perfectly, as far as I can tell.
Unfortunately, the computer had no keyboard or mouse. The person I got it from---technically, it's not mine to keep, but nobody else wants it---included an ADB keyboard and mouse, sadly. I made a mouse from a PS/2 to Atari ST adapter from eBay (rewired into another DB-9 connector), and a keyboard from an Arduino with key input from my computer. I bought some floppies and made a serial cable, and with the help of a Performa 5260 I was able to borrow, I made System 6.0.8 disks. I have since installed that System on the hard disk and several tools, most notably of all THINK C 5.0, and I've been putting my C knowledge to use. It's a lot of fun.
I have a few questions, though. The computer came with a Fanny Mac accessory, a fan that sits in the handle of the computer and also acts as a power passthrough. In the interest of using it around other people, I typically use the Mac without the fan because it's very loud, but I run it for only a few hours at a time. I know that this is rather hazardous for the circuitry. How long is it safe to run a fully upgraded Mac Plus without a fan?
The other question I have is about the hard disk. It is almost concerningly loud. I cleaned out the fan from the dust that had accumulated on the blades, and I tested it. The fan in the drive is very quiet, maybe 40 dB if I had to guess. The noise, obviously, must come from the disk itself. Is this normal? How loud should the disk be?
I have recently gotten my hands on a Macintosh Plus and an HD20 (not the HD20SC, though). It's my first foray into vintage Apple stuff. The Plus was upgraded to 4 MB of RAM before I had it. I cleaned out as much dust as possible from both, and I cleaned and re-lubricated the floppy drive following Adrian's Digital Basement's tutorial. It and the hard disk work perfectly, as far as I can tell.
Unfortunately, the computer had no keyboard or mouse. The person I got it from---technically, it's not mine to keep, but nobody else wants it---included an ADB keyboard and mouse, sadly. I made a mouse from a PS/2 to Atari ST adapter from eBay (rewired into another DB-9 connector), and a keyboard from an Arduino with key input from my computer. I bought some floppies and made a serial cable, and with the help of a Performa 5260 I was able to borrow, I made System 6.0.8 disks. I have since installed that System on the hard disk and several tools, most notably of all THINK C 5.0, and I've been putting my C knowledge to use. It's a lot of fun.
I have a few questions, though. The computer came with a Fanny Mac accessory, a fan that sits in the handle of the computer and also acts as a power passthrough. In the interest of using it around other people, I typically use the Mac without the fan because it's very loud, but I run it for only a few hours at a time. I know that this is rather hazardous for the circuitry. How long is it safe to run a fully upgraded Mac Plus without a fan?
The other question I have is about the hard disk. It is almost concerningly loud. I cleaned out the fan from the dust that had accumulated on the blades, and I tested it. The fan in the drive is very quiet, maybe 40 dB if I had to guess. The noise, obviously, must come from the disk itself. Is this normal? How loud should the disk be?