I want a beige Power Mac, and I know beige Power Macs can run OS 8.6, which I believe is the first version with USB mass storage device compatibility. However, can those machines make 800k disks? I need 800k System disks for my SE but I don't have a networking setup to make them on something like my Performa 630, so I was hoping that I could put a USB card in a Power Mac and put the disk images on a flash drive...
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Is there a beige Power Mac that can make 800k disks?
- Thread starter EvieSigma
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EvilCapitalist
Well-known member
Yes, the beige machines work well for that. I've made a bunch of 800K disks using my G3 AiO.
Good to know. I was looking at a 7300 or beige G3 desktop anyway so knowing I can use it as a 800k disk maker until I put SuperDrives in my SE is excellent news!
Now when it comes to making 800k disks, can I tape over the hole on IBM formatted 1.44MB disks or do I need Mac-formatted ones?
Now when it comes to making 800k disks, can I tape over the hole on IBM formatted 1.44MB disks or do I need Mac-formatted ones?
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It mostly works, although in my experience it helps if you bulk-erase the media before you try to format it. Don't depend on it for long-term storage but for hobby purposes it's probably fine.
Honestly I'm not sure why you're so dead-set on modifying the SE you bought. SE's are still relatively common and, really, aren't the high-density-equipped SEs actually the more common of the two variants? I don't have statistics to back that up or anything, but I'm pretty sure I've seen more of the latter than the former.
Personally I'd recommend you set up a Localtalk network so you won't really need to bother with floppies at all, beyond initially installing an OS.
Personally I'd recommend you set up a Localtalk network so you won't really need to bother with floppies at all, beyond initially installing an OS.
I don't really understand Local Talk though. I think my SE came with a cable for it, unless the 8 pin to 8 pin cable was also for printers.
And as for modifications, well, I want something that's unique, something that not everyone has. Loads of people have stock configuration SEs, but only someone with a rare factory twin SuperDrive machine would have what I have.
And as for modifications, well, I want something that's unique, something that not everyone has. Loads of people have stock configuration SEs, but only someone with a rare factory twin SuperDrive machine would have what I have.
You could always buy a single superdrive equipped SE and add a drive to it. I mean, really, whatever floats your boat, it just seems likely the parts for the conversion are very likely to cost as much as a whole unit, and at least the labeling will be correct for what you have.
As for AppleTalk, I'm pretty sure that, yes, for a simple two machine network you can connect two Macs with a printer cable. If you have a Beige Power Mac just enable personal file sharing and you are good to go.
http://www.jagshouse.com/filesharing.html
As for AppleTalk, I'm pretty sure that, yes, for a simple two machine network you can connect two Macs with a printer cable. If you have a Beige Power Mac just enable personal file sharing and you are good to go.
http://www.jagshouse.com/filesharing.html
AppleTalk is technically the name of the protocol, Localtalk is the media, but they're used interchangably in a lot of documentation. And, yes, if you plan on networking more than two machines you need the little boxes so you can daisy chain them together, but a simple crossover cable will suffice for a two node network.
Networking happens to be my thing, so, well, I believe it's worth bringing up. One of the best and most unique features of the Macintosh verses nearly every other contemporary computer of the time is how every single one came standard with a fairly robust and reasonably easy to use networking facility built right in.
I guess I never thought much about networking because all of the machines I've needed to install software on so far use CDs that I could burn on my main PC.
Could I boot the SE using AppleTalk to read the System 6 files off a beige Power Mac though? I don't have a hard disk obviously.
Could I boot the SE using AppleTalk to read the System 6 files off a beige Power Mac though? I don't have a hard disk obviously.
Actually, it's not that obvious, as even if your SE has dual floppies you could have an external hard disk enclosure. Was it really your intention to run it without one? That's an even better argument to get it on a network because floppy swapping gets REALLY old fast. With networking you can boot it up from a floppy and run a lot of software straight off the server.
Unfortunately the one thing you CAN'T do with an old Mac is boot it straight off the network. Ironically enough the IIgs can. You'll still need to generate that initial boot floppy somehow. If you have a working Performa that you can exchange 1.44mb floppies with an obvious idea would be to copy a diskcopy 4.2 image of a System 5 or 6 boot disk over to the performa and write an 800k boot disk there, then you don't need to buy the Power Mac.
Unfortunately the one thing you CAN'T do with an old Mac is boot it straight off the network. Ironically enough the IIgs can. You'll still need to generate that initial boot floppy somehow. If you have a working Performa that you can exchange 1.44mb floppies with an obvious idea would be to copy a diskcopy 4.2 image of a System 5 or 6 boot disk over to the performa and write an 800k boot disk there, then you don't need to buy the Power Mac.
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I was hoping I could rig up a SCSI2SD in there somewhere and maintain the dual floppies so I could have a dual floppy and hard drive SE. Dunno where it would go though.
And the reason why I didn't want to use the Performa is I don't know how to get the disk images on there. No USB and no USB compatibility, so I'd have to network it with something else to get the floppy images on there.
And the reason why I didn't want to use the Performa is I don't know how to get the disk images on there. No USB and no USB compatibility, so I'd have to network it with something else to get the floppy images on there.
Do you have a PC with a floppy drive and therefore can write floppies the Performa can read? My suggestion was to put the 800k diskcopy images (and a copy of Diskcopy 4.2, obviously) onto 1.44mb floppies, sneakernet them over, and write them there. Isn't the whole reason you want a superdrive in the SE is so you can write disks for it with your PC? An 800k disk image fits into 1.44mb, so if you're willing to put up with one level of redirection you already have the means.
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