Baroni’s Collection

[elbaroni]

Having a crack at my ThunderScan tonight. I've learned a few things:

1. The Thunderscan doesn't know about the Network control panel — it thinks AppleTalk activated = Printer port busy, even though I've got SCSI ethernet on my Plus. 

2. The internet is a cesspool of malware posing as scanner drivers. Pretty sure the Thunderscan software doesn't end in ".exe".

3. Apparently "thunderwear" is a thing: concealed carry underpants for the true handgun enthusiast. Always wants to feel close to his piece, I guess. 

Results pretty good, if you ignore where the metal bits of the Imagewriter I have rusted onto the test image. But honestly, it's amazing: this stuff is 35 years old, has been sitting in a series of garages, and works perfectly as soon as I turn it on. Don't built ’em like that any more. 

Next step is to clear enough room on the desk and see if it can scan something A3 from the wide-carriage Imagewriter 15. 

 

[elbaroni]

Oh, and yes: my "Mac Plus" is a hacked up 512 with a Plus logic board in it. I liked the aesthetic of the originals, but the convenience of SCSI, and I was a barbarian. I now have a 512 with a MacRescue board in it with SCSI, which I might just set up. Anyone got the RAM disk driver for the MacRescue? That'd be an awesome get. 

Also, anyone got Thunderware version 5? I can only find 4 on the web, and a document in my ThunderScan box talks about the sweet new features of version 5...

 

[trag]

Having a crack at my ThunderScan tonight. I've learned a few things:

2. The internet is a cesspool of malware posing as scanner drivers. Pretty sure the Thunderscan software doesn't end in ".exe".

I think there was a Thunderscan version for the PC market, so there may well be .exe software.

 

[elbaroni]

Ah, I stand corrected. Although given this one was “for MAC” I think not downloading it was probably the right move. 

 

[trag]

No doubt.  Given the different floppy connectors of the day, I'm pretty sure the hardware versions were at least a little different too.

Also, I'm not 100% certain there was a PC version;  I just think I remember that.

 

[elbaroni]

Unboxed a NOS Word 3.02 — posted to ’Garden and ’Repository (pending Mac Plus .sitting). 

 

[elbaroni]

Also — Stuffit 1.5.1 runs perfectly in Classic on a G4. That's some robustly written software. Raymond Lau is a goddamned hero. 

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I used oThunderScan back in the day before I got a Logitech Hand Scanner. Very nice setup, especially with the 15" ImageWriter. I'm not 100% certain, but I don't think there was a PC version and I think I'd remember if there had been. I don't recall, was there ever even a PC driver for the ImageWriters?

 

[elbaroni]

Have decided to pare my collection down a bit - focus it more. This means essentially machines that run system 6 - I just don’t get the same nostalgic feeling for the later machines. A few exceptions - the LC500 series because I had a 520 in high school, my grandfather’s old iMac G3, the iMac G4 because it’s rad and I got two broken ones practically for free. 

First on the the chopping block is the pinup girl of the SpindlerPlastik era, the Twentieth Century Macintosh. It’s an interesting machine, but I just haaaaaate it. The crappy design, the leather, the self-indulgent nature of the thing. I know it was Jonny Ive’s first machine, but watch the TAM video and consider how much Ive’s aesthetic has moved on (for the better IMHO). I like his new stuff better than his old stuff. Delighted, however, to find that it still works, albeit after re-seating the RAM SIMM. 

Will clean it up and advertise properly here then on eBay, but if anyone in a Australia or thereabouts is interested in a working TAM (after that excellent sales spiel) drop me a line. Main unit seems to be in fairly impeccable condition possibly excluding what might be a loose eject button, and there are a couple of minor scratches on the Subwoofer. 

 

[elbaroni]

Following through on my threat to break out my MacRescue boarded 512. As advertised, it boots and sees 2 megs of RAM. Opened up the case to find a fully-populated MacRescue board, with the three jumpers set 101. 

Logic/guesswork dictates that each of these would be for a bank of RAM. All three populated = all three should be on. Turned the middle one on, rebooted, found this:



The question mark floppy was the same, and it didn't ever complete a boot. 

Tried all the jumper combinations using this safety-first setup which I must never show my mother or girlfriend:



000: sees 1 meg ram

001: weird black screen, won't complete boot, audible electric noise from within 512. 

010: weird black screen, FloppyEmu reboots constantly, audible electric noise from within 512. 

011: weird black screen, won't complete boot, audible electric noise from within 512.

[SIZE=1.4rem]100: sees 1 meg ram[/SIZE]

101: sees 2 megs ram

110: weird black screen, won't complete boot, audible electric noise from within 512. 

111: weird black screen, won't complete boot, audible electric noise from within 512. 

No matter what, with the middle jumper on it won't boot, so my working hypothesis was that the middle bank of RAM was borked. But then 001 doesn't work either. Maybe the third bank is RAM disk only, the second bank is borked, and the weird black screen is some ghost of the built-in 512k of RAM?

Does anyone have a fully-populated one of these that'll boot? I know the extra two megs can be used for a RAM disk given software, but will it boot without some sort of driver?

 

[elbaroni]

Had another look at MacRescue tonight. Seems all the SIMMs are 256k, so six on a fully-populated board - 1.5megs. Add in the 512k on the motherboard and that brings us to two megs. 

Interestingly the weird black black screens are the same as those shown on an AppleTalk.com.au thread which was answered with this:



In short, I’m buggered if I know what the dip switches are doing. Will find some 1meg simms tomorrow and see how I go. 

 

[elbaroni]

Got the MacRescue working — six 1 meg SIMMs, recognised as as four megs. I was hoping that I could get the RAM disk working, but Connectix Compact Virtual which was reported on vcfed.org to be the right software is actually a virtual memory utility, not a RAM disk one. Bummer. It would be really good if we could get the proper driver for this, or at least find out its name. 

Also managed to zap myself while reassembling the 512. Always fun, not. 

*All three jumpers set to "on", by the way .

 

[trag]

Are you sure the MacRescue supports a RAM Disk?   The Newlife upgrades did not.   They had eight SIMM sockets for versatility, but the largest RAM configuration was 4 MB, no RAM Disk.    It's hard to remember what RAM prices were like back then, but there was a period when 256KB SIMMs were almost free, and 1MB SIMMs were still $100+.    So one could save a bit by installing the NewLife upgrade in a 512KE and then using six 256K and two 1MB SIMMs to get 4MB total.   I think 4 X 1MB was also an option, but that then ignored the 512KB on the logic board.

 

[elbaroni]

Fair point Trag - I don't think I've seen any contemporaneous information to that effect, but everything I read online indicates that it does. It would make sense to let people use more SIMMs, but I wonder if a Mac Plus can actually address more than four? Mine seemed not to work with six 256k SIMMs installed, but perhaps that's a symptom of something related to the "256k only" jumper on a Mac Plus logic board. 

I'm pretty happy with my SCSI-clad and 4meg-stuffed Mac 512 though, RAM disk or no. 

 

[trag]

Once the SIMM sockets are on  an upgrade it's an open question.   The CPU just puts out addresses and Read/Write signals (and a bit more bus mananagement cruft).   The memory controller logic determines how many SIMM sockets are supported and of what capacity.   Does that MacRescue upgrade have a 68000 on board or is it just memory and some extra logic?

It doesn't seem to make sense that there would be six sockets and then not support having six SIMMs installed.  But it might not support 6 X 1MB.

 

[elbaroni]

It has a 68k chip on board, which sits right above the one on the motherboard. Not sure if it *is* the one from the motherboard resocketed or not. 

 

[elbaroni]

A LaserWriter Plus update. I have a "new" cartridge for it.

Boots up happily, tries to draw paper from the sheet feeder and jams without moving anything. Not unexpected. What is irritating is that the foam sealing the little door over the imaging drum of the cartridge melted immediately. I always thought that was a function of the thing having sat around for a million years (which of course may well be the case for this one too). 

Tried from the manual feed and...we're not as far off as we might be:



Not a total triumph, but not too shabby. 

The thing won't show up in AppleTalk from my Plus. Anyone know if there's a upper limit to the LaserWriter driver that'll see one of these? More probably it's one of my network cables being problematic, but I only have one Appletalk cable and one DE-9 Appletalk box. Will need to see about that. 

 

[danda]

Odd about it not showing up, I've got both of mine (Plus and original-upgraded-Plus) to show under the original LaserWriter drive, and the "LaserWriter 8" driver.

The jams caused when using the paper tray are caused by the degrading of the paper pickup rollers. I've had two variations of this problem. The first involved the rollers turning to sticky goo. For this, I cleaned it all off, and then (this took a while!) stick double sided sticky tape on them, and then a rubber band onto that. This isn't a recommended fix - but it's been working for more than 5 years like that now!

The rollers on my second LaserWriter have hardened rather than softened, which means they just slide over the paper rather than gripping it. I'll probably take this one apart and fix the rollers properly, now that I have the service manual and take apart instructions for it.

Where did you get the toner from? I'm guessing you got a HP 92285A rather than an Apple original? I'm having a hard time finding a toner cartridge that's in any way usable.

 

[elbaroni]

I think mine have hardened, but need to look closer. 

I got a knockoff cartridge to see if the printer worked. Wouldn’t recommend it - foam seal on it melted as soon as I put it in, so I think it’s very old. I’ll see if I can work out where, but it’s not showing up in email search for some reason. 

‘his is right, but expensive (although I suspect you get what you pay for):

https://www.tonercartridgedepot.com/canon-lbp-cx-4875-d.html

‘If I can get it working fairly well I’ll buy a proper cartridge. 

 

[elbaroni]

Oh, not knockoff:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014RO8WPE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1