Hmmm, would've been interesting to see if someone could hack one to run System 6...
Anyway, first computer:
C64 in August 1985. When we got it, that was it, plus a Dig Dug cartridge. My 10th b-day, we added a 1541 drive and an Okimate 10 printer, plus some software. Then, it sorta became my dad's home office machine.
I didn't get my own computer until May 1988. One of our neighbors knew that I had an interest in getting an Apple //e system for a couple years. His office was surplusing an Apple //e system with two disk ][ drives, an Epson MX-80 F/T printer, and a monitor ///. Had the usual extended 80 column card, and a Saturn Systems 128K RAM card. About a month later, a thunderstorm hit our area, and, by coincidence, the Saturn card blew two chips. Then, the disk ][ controller card blew its 74LS05 chip immediately afterward. Sent the computer in for repair, and had the chip on the controller card replaced. Set aside the Saturn card, since it wasn't really useful without its software, which I didn't have. Six months later, popped the card back in, with the blown chips. Turned on the machine. Was greeted with garbled characters, then a beep, and "Apple ][" at the top, then the blinking cursor just below it. This time around, the Saturn card blew the expansion card bus on the motherboard. Slots 1-7 were unuseable. Took the machine in for repairs in March 1989. Didn't get it back until July 1989. $500 later, I was without one of the disk ][ drives, and had an Apple IIgs upgrade kit motherboard installed. Used that machine until 1994 or so. Sold it to someone in Mitchellville, Iowa (I believe) in the summer of '95.
In September 1993, got my first Mac. A Plus, of all things. 1/0 config with external Apple 3.5 Drive. Ran System 6.0.7 on it, using one drive for the system software, and one drive for whatever applications I needed to run. Was a platinum machine with an ImageWriter II and a TurboMouse 3.0 trackball. Also came with a 2400 baud ZOOM fax modem. Used it for a couple months, then picked up a copy of Super Tetris, which, came with something unwanted. nVIR. That Christmas, I spent most of the 24th and the 25th running SAM to eradicate the virus on every single floppy I had.
On the 28th of that month in '93, I picked up my first IIsi. 5/80 config, running 7.1. Extended Keyboard II and a 12" Macintosh RGB monitor. A year later, I replaced the 12" monitor with a 14" Macintosh Color Display. In the spring of '95, the computer received System 7.5. Then, in December, I upgraded the hard drive to a 230MB unit. Also got a SupraFAXModem 288 around the same time. In September '96, the cooling fan started acting up. Smacked it downward while the machine was running. Big nono. Shorted out the SCSI bus and fried the motherboard. Spent $175 getting another IIsi from RE-PC, swapping my drive over, then using that machine instead. A month or so later, I received four 4MB SIMMs, upgrading the RAM to 17MB. Finally stopped randomly freezing. Used the old 8-chip 1MB SIMMs from the IIsi in my Plus, upping that to 4MB. Made it a little more useable. Still had no hard drive on that machine, though. 1997 was pretty much a year of no computer changes for me.
In early 1998, I was down at the old Boeing Surplus Sales store in Kent, Washington. Found a Macintosh IIci. Grabbed that, swapped my hard drive over, and upgraded the RAM to 32MB. It had 20MB in it at the time of purchase. Within a week or two, I had two more machines. A couple IIcx machines that I won off of eBay. One was a local purchase, the other came via mail. Kept one, sold the other to a friend. Also sold the Plus finally. Used the IIci for a while.
Replaced it later that year with a Centris 650. Kept the ci as a backup, though. On December 22nd, 1998, AIM crashed hard. Hard enough to bork the boot blocks on the 230... Since I seemed to have no way of resurrecting the data on the drive, I reformatted it. Went from System 7.5.5 all the way back to 7.5.1, since my last backup was from the original 80MB drive in the first IIsi. Lost quite a few programs, lots of documents, etc. But, I was back in business. A couple months later, same thing happens. This time, on a whim, I grabbed the IIci, dropped the drive into it, and powered it up. The IIci was able to boot all the way to the Finder. If I'd known that the previous time, I probably would've saved myself hours of restoring everything. I eventually backed everything up onto a 250MB drive that I'd received from eBay and swapped that into the 650. Used that computer for another year or so. Went PowerPC on Black Friday 2000. 7100/80. Took the hard drive, the floppy drive, and the case lid of the 650, and installed it on the 7100. Hate the manual inject floppy drive, so I was happy to discover that the old Sony auto-inject mechanism worked fine with the 7100 board. I also bought a few other Macs from RE-PC in the meantime, including a SE FDHD with dual FDHD floppies, a LC, and a LC 475. Swapped the lid and floppy drive from the LC to the 475. Yes, it meant that the LC looked much newer than it did before, but I was ok with that. Around the same time, a friend of mine gave me his Q700 and a PowerWave 604/132 clone. The clone I never bothered with, but the 700 was used for a bit, then demoted to 8MB of RAM and given to James1095. I think he now has either an 800 or an 840av board in it. Just before Christmas 2000, I drove up to VanBC with a couple friends to do some Volvo junkyarding, and to pick up a IIsi that someone offered on one of the LEM forums. In early 2001, the 7100/80 received a larger hard drive - 1080MB Micropolis unit - and an upgrade to 8.1. At the same time, I traded the 475, SE FDHD, and the PowerWave for an Apple //e system. Then, proceeded to buy another, and another, plus a IIgs...
Later that year, I helped a University of Washington prof upgrade her Centris 610 to a PowerMac 6100/66, since the UW internet software required a faster '040 or a PPC chip to run. Received the old 610 as partial payment for the work. IIRC, I wound up donating that machine to RE-PC. Didn't do much with it. I did, however, install the 16MB SIMMs that I pulled out of the 700 into the IIsi. Also upgraded the 250MB drive in it to 8.1 using the Born Again patch. No, it wasn't very fast, but it was useable, which surprised me. I don't remember what happened to that IIsi.
In 2002, the case screw on my 7100/80 broke. Was easier to just get another chassis, which happened to come with another 7100/80 motherboard, power supply, floppy drive, and, in the CD-ROM drive bay, a 3GB Quantum Fireball TM. Hooked up the Quantum Fireball and discovered that it had 8.6 on it. Copied everything from the noisy Micropolis over, then used the Fireball. Also bought another C650 from Boeing Surplus, which I thought I'd pilfer the screw from. Turns out, it's captive, and, the 650 chassis would've needed modifications to be compatible with the HPV card. Think I had it as a backup machine for a while, then donated it.
In 2003, I upgraded to a 7500/100 with a 200MHz 604e in it. Tried to use an auto-inject Sony mechanism. Discovered that the PCI PowerMacs won't work with'em, so finally got stuck with the manual inject unit. The auto-inject mechanism will keep trying to eject when connected. Eventually the 7500 received a NewerTech 300MHz G3 processor. Continued to run the 3GB Fireball drive, eventually being upgraded to 9.2.2. Used that machine for a while. Added a TwinTurbo 128 video card, and some other stuff to it. The same year, another couple IIci setups joined the collection. Both left, since I didn't really have a need for them at the time.
The next year, I traded up to a 9600/350, but kept the 300MHz G3 processor and drives. Added a Jaz drive and a CD-R drive, in addition to the stock CD-ROM drive. Was pretty loaded. Also picked up a Q950, Mac II, IIfx, sold the //e system (stupid mistake - only got about $60 for it), then bought a ][+. Later on that year, james1095 had a fairly large conquest of old Apple II stuff. He and I split things up, and I came home with a few Apple ][+ machines, disk ][ drives, a sider 20MB drive, and some other hardware.
In 2005, yet another //e came to roost, another machine from Canada. Then, a month later, one from Portland. The Portland //e I still own. Has a bunch of stuff from various Apple II systems installed in and on it. So, I guess I've come full circle.
Mac-wise, I eventually replaced the 9600 with a B&W G3. Then, three years ago, replaced that with my G4 digital audio. I won't bore people with the details of the other more recent Mac purchases and conquests, tho, at least, in this thread. I've already typed too much for a ManOFeWords...
-J
