Carboy7's conquests!

[Carboy7]

iMac boots to folder prompt. Oh boy, this is gonna be fun! I got 4 CDs from the guy, including Mac OS X, Debian, and OpenBSD. I'm gonna run Debian on it.

EDIT: I forgot that I had to put a Mac OS 9 install disk in first... Wow. I had to manually eject the disk with a paper clip...

EDIT TWO: I try repeatedly, but either the Mac OS 9 install is broken, or there's something wrong with my iMac.

 

[Carboy7]

forgot to mention until now:

You know the inside plastic of the iMac G3 that is sorta beige? It's cracked in 3 spots, as far as I can tell. But it's OK, as I could swap it out for another plastic from eBay or something. Also, I have come to believe that the inside CD/DVD drive is broken. It won't read my official Mac OS 9 disk and boot from it. I tried many disks repeatedly, and they all don't work for some reason. Ugh.

It can't be harder then taking apart an iBook Clamshell, right? (Plus the added risk of electricity... Make that a plugged-in iBook clamshell.)

 

[narwhal2]

i know from taking one of those apart that the beige plastic is VERY brittle.  at least in mine it was.   And yea, be careful around the psu and crt sections.

 

[Carboy7]

It's funny to me that my OTHER iMac G3 was shipped from halfway across the east coast, and the plastic on it is fine... It's okay to me if the plastic is damaged, because I still get a "working" flower power G3, and a working Blue Dalmatian G3 out of it.

 

[EvilCapitalist]

That's the subframe that holds the CRT.  I'd be very careful with that as they're all pretty brittle now and you don't want the CRT to come crashing down into the motherboard.  Until it becomes a problem (like the CRT gets loose in the frame) I would leave it alone.

The drive is pretty easy to replace and compatible ones pop up for sale all the time.  The bottom comes off with a few screws, then you remove the metal shielding with another few screws and you've got access to the drive cage (after another few screws).  There should be take apart guides floating around for it but all in all it's an easy job.

 

[Carboy7]

I don't know why exactly, but I made a little storage thing out of Lego that could hold screws, plastic parts, etc.

 

[Carboy7]

Does this count as a conquest??

This trackball thingy is pretty big.

EDIT: This seems to be a "Mouse Systems" trackball. Not sure when, or what for. My guess is early Microsoft PCs, (Win98) with the DB9/RS232 connector.

 

[olePigeon]

It could also be for 128K/512K Mac.

 

[rsolberg]

AFAIK, Mouse Systems didn't make any mice for the 128/512/Plus. That's a mid-to-late 1990s model based on the logo, anyhow. It's a standard PC DE-9 RS232 interface using the 5-byte Mouse Systems Corporation protocol. (MSC) Confusingly enough, DOS-based applications sometimes referred to it as "PC" protocol, while the alternative was "MS" for the common 3-byte Microsoft serial mouse protocol. IIRC, only two buttons function using the MS driver, but it will otherwise work. In Windows 3.x and later, you can usually specify a Mouse Systems device in Windows Setup or in the Mouse Control Panel. Windows 95 and later will probably be able to probe the device and set the correct protocol if plugged in prior to boot.

 

[mrpippy]

Mouse Systems did make an optical mouse for the Apple IIc, and it's compatible with the pre-ADB Macs as well. I got one with a 512k Mac I bought, unfortunately it didn't come with the metal gridded mouse pad it needs. I picked up a pad at the TRW swap meet but still need to test if it's the right one.

http://www.oldmouse.com/mouse/mousesystems/aplus.shtml

 

[olePigeon]

Also, I just noticed that it's the wrong plug.  I think the early Apple stuff had a male adapter.

 

[olePigeon]

Oh, I have the ADB version of that optical mouse.

 

[BlueBoy]

My family had one of those optical mice for our Mac Plus when I was a kid.

 

[Huxley]

Congrats on the Flower Power iMac! During my first week working for Apple (early 2004) the store I was assigned still had one old Flower Power iMac in the clearance section. It's been way too long to remember the price or details, but I do remember it sitting there alone and sad for ages before someone finally bought it. I always enjoyed seeing it - the flower pattern has a slight depth to the printing that never translated to print ads, so it's understandable that people who never saw one in person assumed it's totally hideous. Same with the Blue Dalmation machines - they look *way* cooler in person vs. seeing them in print.

 

[rsolberg]

Very cool to learn about the MSC stuff for Apple/Mac. I had no idea. I wonder if this trackball is fully optical, or just optomechanical like competitive products. The ball looks smooth with a solid color, so I'd guess optomechanical.

As for the as appearance of the iMac Flower Power and Blue Dalmatian graphics, I agree. I think the design was screen printed onto the inside of the case, giving the three dimensional look. I do photo and fine art printing onto acrylic panels at work. It's done onto the "back" of the panels so you view through the acrylic. There's a real sense of depth, particularly with a larger product. I'm experimenting with back and edge lighting. Fun stuff!

 

[Carboy7]

I always enjoyed seeing it - the flower pattern has a slight depth to the printing that never translated to print ads, so it's understandable that people who never saw one in person assumed it's totally hideous. Same with the Blue Dalmation machines - they look *way* cooler in person vs. seeing them in print.

Yes, I agree. Sorta makes me sad that nobody liked it because of the """ugly""" patterns.

 

[Carboy7]

Merry Christmas! I got "two" macintosh items this year...

First up! An American Girl Macintosh. It beeps and stuff...

 

[Carboy7]

And a """"Pre 128k branding Macintosh Apple."""" It's the best, IMO.

 

[Carboy7]

Here's a thing you don't see every day at a thrift store...

Apple Wireless Keyboard A1016. $10.

I'm going to pop off the keys and get some of the hair out.

 

[just.in.time]

I saw an American Girl Macintosh just like that one on my local Craigslist a month ago... small world perhaps