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ClassicGuyPhilly's Finds

ClassicGuyPhilly

Well-known member
So I guess I’ll now join the club and get my own Conquests thread going. Here’s a quick retroactive rundown on how my collection started and got off the ground. As my collecting evolved, I decided to concentrate on 2000 and earlier machines which will soon be used to educate students on the early days of personal computing and provide an opportunity to experience these machines first-hand.

Let’s begin at the beginning. My township had a household recycling day in April 2023 and I chanced upon a Macintosh II in the eWaste pile which I had to rescue. As it turns out the Mac II was actually a IIfx! Here’s the machine’s thread, it still needs to be recapped but hoping to get up and running this winter.

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I then acquired a functional Apple //e system from a neighbor. Also included was an Apple Dot Matrix Printer in need of repair.

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Next up, a friend had a couple iMacs and a Performa stored away collecting dust and I received the Grape iMac G3 in trade for fixing up his other machines.

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I needed a computer with a CD-burner to help with getting the iMacs and Performa up, and I bought this iBook G4 off Craigslist as a utility machine.

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This brings the story up to VCF East’s Swap Meet in June 2023. While there were several odds and ends on my list, I really needed a monitor to go with the IIfx. I did pick up a 13” RGB, along with a Macintosh IIx as the seller didn’t want to break up the system. Great part was the IIx came with a rare audio card which I was able to sell and recoup costs for all the goodies I brought home that day!

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Looking to fill the mid-90’s gap in my collection, I purchased a Power Mac 7500/100 and Performa 6300CD off some local eBayers. Upon pickup, they threw in the IIsi for free. The PM and Performa came online with little complaint, the IIsi needs to be recapped. I also added a PDS Ethernet card from Ebay to the Performa.

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@Phipli then helped me upgrade the 7500/100 with a 603e @ 200mhz, basically making it like a mini-9600.

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Next, a top-priority must-have for my collection was checked-off. I purchased a beautiful SE system from @macinbot , bringing me a cherished example of the first Macintosh I ever used back in high school.

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As I was fortunate to attend Macworld Expo 99 NYC and see Jobs debut the iBook G3, a Clamshell was another high priority machine. Scored a Blueberry off eBay.

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Around the same time bought another 13” RGB from Craigslist.

What collection would be complete without an ImageWriter II? Obviously I needed one of these legends, and snagged one off an area Ebayer.

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The next machine was another highly sentimental acquisition. @chiptripper sold me a restored Classic with a looks brand new case. I don’t think I need to underscore how special this one is to me, the Classic was my first computer!

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Lastly, I recently rescued a Multiple Sync 15 from going into eWaste.

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The PM7500 is my vintage daily driver these days, and even nicer now with the higher resolution monitor. It has Internet connectivity, is hooked up to the IW II, and can be used to AppleShare with any of the Ethernet-machines or over a printer cable with the SE or Classic. I also pop the case, disconnect the hard drive, and use as an imaging station with the Apple S/W Recovery CD to prep hard drives for other machines. However, I love playing old school games on the SE!

So that’s the machine wrap-up for the time-being. A few other noteworthy items:

@Skate323k137 hooked me up with a super-cool replica Apple I logic board :)

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I’ve also picked up a couple original posters from eBay, and have my eye on a third from the Think Different campaign to fill in that annoying blank spot on the left.

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Here’s the current setup in my home office, changes somewhat regularly depending on my mood and which machines I’m playing with with at the moment.20231023_105440.jpg

The VCF East Fall Swap Meet is this weekend, so hopefully will have some more updates soon.

Thanks for stopping by!
 

joshc

Well-known member
Really nice conquests and you’ve displayed them really nicely. But you need an SE/30 and some Quadras in your life. ;)
 

ClassicGuyPhilly

Well-known member
Thanks @joshc ! Agree on the Quadras, if a nice 800 or 840AV ever came my way I'd be hard pressed to say no.

An SE/30 would be a nice addition as well, but the next Compact I want is the OG of them all...a 128k. I need a first gen case example to complete the 9" trifecta!
 

Phipli

Well-known member
Thanks @joshc ! Agree on the Quadras, if a nice 800 or 840AV ever came my way I'd be hard pressed to say no.

An SE/30 would be a nice addition as well, but the next Compact I want is the OG of them all...a 128k. I need a first gen case example to complete the 9" trifecta!
An up clocked 650 or 800 is faster than a stock 840av, for reasons I don't quite understand :) just by a couple of percent, but constantly. Save your money and get a 650 or an 800!

They were even designed to do 40MHz, so if you swap in a faster CPU and do it right, you're not even overclocking anything, assuming you have a 33MHz model to start.
 

joshc

Well-known member
@Phipli well then you just volunteered yourself to teach me how to overclock whenever I end up getting an 800 ;)
This thread is worth a read: https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/wombat-650-800-board-overclocking-limitations.38538/

The 650 is still under appreciated as people assume the 840av is the best it got in terms of 68k Macs, but the 840av is plagued with a few problems (mainly, very leaky caps) whereas the 650 is very reliable (tantalum caps from the factory).
 

Phipli

Well-known member
I've got to drive prices up somehow. 🤠

Besides, at least this means Performa 630s will remain cheap... until people discover how good those are as well. 🤫
Really underappreciated machines. Although less so than they were. I had to stop myself buying one locally for £20 last year because I already have three...

It was shown working with monitor, keyboard and mouse. Crazy in this day and age considering FPU aside, it is one of the fastest 68k macs.
 

ClassicGuyPhilly

Well-known member
I had an 800 at an ad agency in Summer of 1995. It is on this machine I honed my once formidable Quark ninja skillz 😂

Plus, I don't have any towers...yet.
 

joshc

Well-known member
800 is the same board/architecture as the 650. 800/650 = Wombat. But the 800 case is substantially worse/more annoying than the 650.
 

CC_333

Well-known member
Your setups are so... tidy...

Gotta get my junk heap organized like this eventually...

*sigh* 😩

c
 

ClassicGuyPhilly

Well-known member
Here's my VCF East Fall Swap Meet summary

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Starting with the printers:

The StyleWriter powers on but the carriage doesn't move. However, I really only wanted this piece for display to complete my Classic first system, so no worries!

The ImageWriter II was a bundled purchase with the keyboard (essentially got the printer for free). It powers on, the carriage moves some but doesn't center, and I can't get the Select button to light. I didn't spend too much time with it yet since I already have a working IW II. Will play with more at a later date.

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The PM 7100/66 has 8MB of RAM and a 260MB hard drive. It also came with a display card with a DB15 output. I'm installing 7.5.5 on it now. The logic board really needs a good cleaning so that's now on the to-do list.

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Finally there's the PM G4/466 with 384MB of RAM. The DVD drive wasn't working (hopefully just needs a cleaning) and it didn't come with a hard drive so I swapped in a CD-RW and an 80GB IDE drive and installed 9.2.2. The Studio Display is really nice and the ADC connector I have to say is convenient.

Thanks for stopping by!
 
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