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Fizzbinn’s Finds

PotatoFi

Well-known member
This is just tragic. I've gotten to the point where I'm hesitant to buy anything from eBay for fear of receiving a machine in this condition. I'm so sorry this happened to you!

 

Franklinstein

Well-known member
Yeah that's tragic. Shipping those (and any other AIO Mac) has two options: pay $100 or so, or accept a high risk of severe damage. Even expensive shipping isn't guaranteed, though express shipping spends less time in transit which reduces the chances of something happening. Definitely insist on insurance.

Those old IBM drives are generally really good; they've become my favorite. Too bad these things usually had Quantum drives, which normally were pretty good but have fallen victim to rubber degradation over the years which renders them useless without major surgery.

 

EvieSigma

Young ThinkPad Apprentice
I remember my Color Classic came in basically a giant ball of bubble wrap. Not a single crack. Clearly that's the way to go.

 

EvilCapitalist

Well-known member
Seriously, bubble wrap is way cheaper than destroyed Color Classics!  Something I remember hearing a while back from a UPS rep I was friends with at a previous workplace was that people need to package items as if they're going to be dropped, because they almost certainly will be. 

 

IlikeTech

Well-known member
My color classic had the bezel snapped in two places when it arrived, but thankfully the electronics were intact.  I was able to piece it back together with ABS cement, and it's been like that for probably 2 or three years now.  I still haven't replaced the bezel even though it's a mess.  It's a real shame about that CRT though, as those aren't common at all.  I bet you *might* be able to fix that case if you are willing to put in the time.

I wonder about reevacing CRTs?

Still, a damn shame people don't know how to pack stuff :(

 
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Fizzbinn

Well-known member
I managed to pick up an external portable Sony 6X CD-ROM Discman PRD-650MC for my PowerBook 2400/180 setup, original box and all parts but no manual or drivers. 
 

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I did the ResEdit trick on the Apple drivers and got it to work except for eject. The disk unmounts but then quickly remounts, if I time pressing the “Open” button just right it’s good but more often I’m too late or early and get an error that I’m sure isn’t great.
 

Anyone have a copy of the original drivers? Ideas where I might find them?  I tried web.archive.org with no luck. 

 
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Byrd

Well-known member
Nice Discman - I like how it still looks like a consumer model but is data capable.  You might need to search through .jp/Japanese sites on archive, to find the file you need.

JB

 
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Juror22

Well-known member
I have a Sony PRD-250 with the Powerbook SCSI cable, but never found the Mac install disk.  There is a FWB CD-ROM toolkit that may provide the functionality that you need.  Not sure if it will work, but it was suggested in a Google groups discussion.  No idea what version(s) to try.

 

Fizzbinn

Well-known member
I spent more time on the Internet archive and think I found the drivers!

Device drivers for Sony's PRD-Series CD-ROM Discman Products

mac_prd20.sit (402 kB):
Version 2.0 for Apple Macintosh

Finding the right Sony website and year was the trick. Assuming the drivers test out okay, I'll see about uploading them somewhere (Macintosh Garden?). The bare drives seem to be fairly common on eBay, the Mac specific SCSI cable not so much though...

 

Fizzbinn

Well-known member
Device drivers for Sony's PRD-Series CD-ROM Discman Products

mac_prd20.sit (402 kB):
Version 2.0 for Apple Macintosh
The driver software is actually CD Mounter Pro 3.2.0 by Software Architects. Works great, tested via my PowerBook 1400 (running 8.6) as my 2400 isn’t booting for some reason... grrr. 

 
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Fizzbinn

Well-known member
Opportunistically adding to my boxed Apple OS collection when I find them on eBay for a non-crazy price.

E4C7DD13-EF2B-4CE9-AFAA-03BC5A306438.jpeg
 

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Still looking for:

System 5.0 - Not holding my breath, recently went for $305 on eBay...

System 7.1

Sysyem 7 Pro

Mac OS 8.0

Mac OS 8.6 - Not sure this was sold on its own...

Mac OS X 10.0 

Mac OS X 10.4 - Last one in a full size box I believe. 

 

CC_333

Well-known member
Mac OS 8.6 - Not sure this was sold on its own...
I'm not sure that it was.  If it wassold as a retail package, it probably wouldn't have been packaged in it's own unique box, but rather as an upgrade disk included with 8.5.

I think it may also had been offered as a free downloadable update to 8.5,?  Apple's FTP site was available on the Wayback Machine last I knew, so perhaps I can check....

c

 

CC_333

Well-known member
UPDATE:  I checked, and it does look like 8.6 was offered as a downloadable updater for 8.5.x.  I'm not sure if it was shipped in a retail package, but I kinda doubt it.

c

 

Fizzbinn

Well-known member
I turned my attention to my IIsi over the weekend (still can’t figure out the voodoo to bring back my 2400c :-(  ) and played with the Applied Engineering QuickSilver card I recently acquired with manual and floppy!

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The 32k static RAM Cache is the most interesting thing about it as I have other adapters that add an FPU. I decided to run some benchmarks via Norton Utilities System Info 3.2.1 (System 7.0.1) with the original clock chip and overclocked to 25Mhz with 50Mhz clock chip, with and without the card/cache and FPU:

B4DB32A2-81E7-4210-8E83-985964854D4A.jpeg
 

A neat progression in performance improvement (essentially doubling over stock). The best performance run “Macintosh IIsi/25 + FPU/Cache/D” came when I remembered the Memory Control Panel Disk Cache trick of setting it to 1024k to use up the slower soldered on motherboard 1MB of RAM with disk cache forcing the video memory, OS and all other apps to use the faster RAM in the SIMM slots. If you have the memory a pretty significant improvement on its own!  :)

CPU comparison with the other system in this version of Norton Utilities System Info:
 

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Fizzbinn

Well-known member
Sony 6X CD-ROM Discman PRD-650MC update - So from the Internet Archive Sony product specs I was able to find out what the Sony model was for the optional internal "Rechargable Lithium-Ion Battery" mentioned on the box: Sony LIP-12

Surprisingly you can still get new ones (3rd party) on Amazon!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WDW85LX/

Looks like it should work with the similar PRD-250MC Sony 4X CD-ROM Discman as well. If only replacement PowerBook batteries were so easy to find! (I guess being used in a bunch of other higher volume Sony products helps...)

 

Fizzbinn

Well-known member
I got a “new” LC this week, even though my LC III is a much better machine something about the first LC drew me to finding one.
 

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The unique top case with the ability to have a 2nd floppy (not that I’m likely to use it) and the molded in plastic model info on the bottom case make it more interesting to me.

790FF0AF-DF2B-4698-8273-849363CC1C8C.jpeg
 

The internal speaker/fan assembly with motherboard spring contacts is also unique to the original LC, Apple saved a few pennies with the following models using a separately cable attached fan and speaker with more standard connectors on the MB.

As advertised on eBay it wouldn’t boot or show any signs of life when it arrived. Swapping in the good power supply from my LC III got the fan to start... Time to re-cap!

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Twist method removal and solder braid pad clean up with plenty of flux, q-tips and IPA to get the remaking gunk off:

184515EB-FB38-4F4A-93D8-DA0D1C7F3A63.jpeg
 

...the new caps go on and after a bunch more q-tips and flux remover:

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(Not pictured, the three other caps next to the SIMM slots)

...and we have start-up chime! :)  

 

Daniël

Well-known member
Nothing wrong with an original LC, it's a neat machine. Plus, it's one of only two Macs to use the 68020 processor, with the other one being the original Macintosh II.

 

Fizzbinn

Well-known member
I’ve been looking for somewhat reasonable 040 upgrade for my IIsi for a while now and (fingers crossed!) I think I got it via eBay browsing new Macintosh listings:

Apple Macintosh Mac IIsi Computer | For Parts or Repair:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Macintosh-Mac-IIsi-Computer-For-Parts-or-Repair-/224089372725

Single picture of the inside:

B157AD8A-5F62-4948-BF8F-0294F99B293F.jpeg

Not sure what speed Turbo 040 it is but it the PDS adapter is the model that sets the accelerator card back a bit, not blocking the rear port, which lets you use a Asante PDS network card.

Not sure what’s up with the SCSI device, doesn’t look like a normal hard disk, but for $130 shipped, and getting a parts IIsi in the gamble I think there’s a good chance I got a great deal. Fingers crossed x 2.

 
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