Cameront9's finds

[Cameront9]

I scored a Strawberry iMac yesterday at Goodwill Computer in Austin.  It's missing the port cover, but no big deal.  I also picked up a G3 keyboard to go with it.  

It passes POST and boots to a folder with a question mark on it.  The guy at the store said they'd tried to install something on it but couldn't, so I'm unsure if A)They didn't know what they were doing, or B), the CD drive is kaput.  I only have an OS 8 cd--I tried to boot it with that CD and I thought I could hear/feel the drive spinning, but it wouldn't boot.  However, I know these shipped with 8.5.1, so maybe my 8.0 CD is just too old.  

I'm burning an OS 9 CD right now to see if that helps.

 

[Retro Rider]

Dang, how much was it? I can never find good vintage stuff there, and most of the stuff there is overpriced (in my opinion)

Ps: I feel like it's a bit of both. Also, I don't that the original ones can read CD-R/CD-RWs

 

[Cameront9]

It was $50.  Probably overpriced, but I hadn't seen one in Waco (where I'm from) in a long, long time.  Everyone on Facebook marketplace or Craigslist wants $200+ because "it's an Apple so it must be worth a lot"

 

[Retro Rider]

It was $50.  Probably overpriced, but I hadn't seen one in Waco (where I'm from) in a long, long time.

If you're able to go to Austin, there's a cheap iMac G3 in Austin I found on craigslist, I'll have to send the link to you.

 

[tanaquil]

Nice! $50 is a very good price for a color iMac in decent condition, working or not. I think $125 is closer to being street price (not unrealistic ebay seller price). You can get them for less but you have to hunt, or get lucky.

I was very lucky to get a batch of color iMacs from a school that was decommissioning old stock (this was in 2016), paid something on the order of $25/machine (for a whole bunch of machines) with local pickup. I've never seen a deal that good again, but of course you never know.

 

[Retro Rider]

I think $125 is closer to being street price (not unrealistic ebay seller price). You can get them for less but you have to hunt, or get lucky.

I have 3 iMac G3's, all of which I've paid less than $100 for (or it came in a lot of other goodies.) 

 

[sstaylor]

I'm seeing a pair of iMac g3s for $20 for both a couple of hours away from me.  Looks like a graphite and maybe an indigo. Not in super shape.

I'd jump but I already have a couple, including a Flower Power (Yay!)

 

[tanaquil]

Ooh, Flower Power, lucky. I know those hippie computers are objectively ridiculous but I still want one, and they are among the few colors I lack. (I also lack a Snow, Graphite and Sage, but mostly out of lack of interest - I just find them boring or ugly.)

Someone keeps offering a Flower Power on ebay for $450 despite zero bids cycle after cycle. Hope springs eternal.

Love the indigo, I would totally grab that for $20 if I thought it was cosmetically repairable even though I already have one. The ruby is really pretty too.

Pink is not usually my deal but I have to say the Strawberry is one of the prettiest of the original fruit colors (and consistently one of the hardest to snag, other people must like it too). It was the last color of the fruit spectrum I acquired.

 

[sstaylor]

I quite liked the graphite when it came out but I don't really care for it any more; I do still like the Sage and Snow.  Strawberry is nice, but I'd really like to get a Ruby.  And a Dalmatian.  The big problem for me is getting to be storage space; I have a nice display area planned out, but I can tell it's already full before I even build it.

 

[Retro Rider]

I got Rev. B Bondi Blue, which is in some pretty bad condition (since I kinda got it in the middle of the country, but it's quite crazy, the phone jack is completely gone, idk where it is) The CD drive doesn't work, etc. I also got a graphite slot loading (one of my first ones!), and a indigo.

 

[CC_333]

Hmm, as long as the plastics aren't too far gone, the CD drive and phone jack could probably be replaced.

My original Rev. D iMac is in fairly good shape, considering I got it new in 1999. I've lugged that thing with me through three moves now, with a fourth possibly within the next year or two (once I figure out where I'm going), and aside from a missing CD drive cover, it's held up remarkably well (the port cover went missing eons ago, though; Never did find it).

Even my slot loader (also bought new around the same time) has held up fantastically well, considering how brittle those models tend to get.

c

 

[Retro Rider]

Dang, It seems those machines last a long long time. My drive bezel and kickstand fell off. I taped the cd cover back on with double-sided tape, but the kickstand won't stick.

 

[CC_333]

Dang, It seems those machines last a long long time.

Yes, especially if they're well cared for.

My drive bezel and kickstand fell off.

Hmm, I think the kickstand is held on with a screw or two on each "hinge", so it's fairly simple to replace. If you can find one...

Parts are becoming so hard to find for these that it's often easier and cheaper to find a broken machine that has intact-versions of the parts you want.

c

 

[Retro Rider]

I think the kickstand is held on with a screw or two on each "hinge", so it's fairly simple to replace.

Ohhh, so that's where that screw came from (When I first brought it home, I set it down on a table, and a screw fell off.)

Also, If anyone knows where to get the I/O door for the Rev. B, hit me up

 

[Cameront9]

Update: I got OS 9.0, 9.,0.4, and 9.1 CDs.  All of them boot up just fine.  There's a 6GB Harddrive that verifies as OK.  However, I can't install these OSs as it says the machine needs a firmware update.  Which...I can't do, because there isn't an OS installed on the drive.

So I'm making some copies of 8.5.1 and 8.6 to see if those will install without the firmware update.  

 

[Cameront9]

Booting!  I found the iMac restore CD for my model and was finally able to get this machine up and running.  After the restore I updated to 9.0.4.  It's a 233Mhz model, so one of the first releases of the 5 Flavor iMacs.

Still looking for a hockey puck mouse to go with it, as well as the port cover (but I'm not holding my breath on that one).  

 

[tanaquil]

Very pretty! I should exercise my Fruit macs more often. 

 

[CC_333]

Hmm, the fruit flavored iMacs started at 266MHz I thought?

Maybe you got yourself a very early production model, or someone downgraded the CPU for some odd reason?

Glad you got it booting up, anyway! Is that Mac OS 8.5? That's my favorite version because it was the first Mac OS I ever used.

c

 

[bibilit]

Still looking for a hockey puck mouse to go with it, as well as the port cover (but I'm not holding my breath on that one). 

Don't know why the port is always missing, was lucky to find one myself.