• Updated 2023-07-12: Hello, Guest! Welcome back, and be sure to check out this follow-up post about our outage a week or so ago.

INTRO POST: a quick summary of conquests so far

tappdarden

Well-known member
I've been meaning to post for awhile. I recently got the itch for retro computers.

I started with 2 computers..and now i have a number that my wife is convinced I'm having  a mid life crises.

back in the mid 90's i got a Quadra 700 I got from newspaper ad. I traded a messagepad for it. (i don't remember which one) 

pulled the 700 out of the closest and it wouldn't start. got SCSI2SD and it seems to be working great now. Not sure if HDD is good or bad. TBH my 68k troubleshooting skills were rusty at this point. and i never got around to plugging the HDD back in and seeing how it is.

Turns out whoever had it before me upgraded the ram and vram. I never noticed that before

Centris 610. i don't remember how i got this. I seem to remember it used to make an awful sound while running. Never played with it much. I heard it needs pram battery to energize the video card?  I also replaced the power supply. Well it doesn't make that terrible noise anymore. but it doesn't do much either. Put aside to work on later.

So i had those two computers for a long time. Not "collecting them" but not throwing them out either. And then. something happened this year. I don't even remember what it was. But i guess i woke up and  decided I needed a hobby. So i went hunting. (maybe it was from watching lazy game reviews on youtube)

Found powerbook Duo 230 on Craigslist. complete with DuoDock (i think the first one) My 68k / system 7 skills started to flow through me. the dock had some network card on it.. but the computer didn't have drivers for it. Eventually I popped it open and took the card out and match the picture up with some website that listed different brands of network cards. to figure out which card it actually was. (i couldn't find the vendor ON the card? i don't know)

was able to transfer files back and forth. eventually even downloaded the a2server and was able to move files from my modern iMac, to these old 68k Ethernet macs.

aside: turns out a2server isn't just for apple //'s

so. some ebay purchases, old Mac SE my dad gave me, some Craigslist pickups. I know own 8 compact macs. Mostly mac pluses (or upgraded to a mac plus). most don't work. I'll describe them below.

The one SE works [natch]. f-ing tanks. Still has pram battery and its soldered on to board. SIGH. but its not exploded! (i know, i know, need to get it out asap)

2 of the  pluses work.  But i haven't run them for long periods of time. I guess I'm scared they will die, which is what happeend to the other ones i have. Based on what i read on board, I have a good idea on whats wrong with the broken ones.

a classic 2 with the classic chessboard problem. (heh)

one 512k with a sticky note that says "doesn't work". it seems to have 25pin port where you would expect the pram battery to be. .. o_O could it be a scsi port?? Have not gotten around to looking at this or even trying to turn it on. So. I don't know.

somewhere along the line. picked up mirrordoor G4, baige G3's (both tower and uh. pizzabox? kinds) and a power-mac 7100/66 . they work. well the G4 tower locks up sometimes. not sure what thats about.

Mac IISi. got it from original owner on craigslist. He was cool. Works great. Installed system 6 on a external hdd and booted it up. Its kinda strange seeing system 6 in color and on a bigger monitor. (it has some system 7 version on the internal hdd)

Performa 475 with an apple //e card. YES THATS RIGHT. i have a apple //e INSIDE MY MAC. I think this is WAY COOL. because its kinda strange. (ok maybe not THAT strange. but kinda?)

Also came with 5.25 drive and lots and lots of disks. Well. most of them are either "backed-up" games and such.

Also the Performa has broken bits on the case that was not disclosed on the ebay auction. So things are a bit loose and you have to be careful with it. outside of getting another Performa 475 I'm not  sure how to fix this.

As you can see... I have a lot of projects. Most of these computers need some TLC of one kind or another. I keep telling myself i'm going to do it. But then I go find something else i must acquire. I'll get around to it eventually.

I think that about cover's it. I would be happy to post pictures of anything people want to see.

 

olePigeon

Well-known member
Very cool, some nice and desirable machines.  You may want to have your motherboards recapped and to replace the batteries on those that can be replaced.  These two are probably the most cost effective and future-proofing repairs you can make.

 
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