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Mac 128k shut down problem

MacTopus29

Active member
It works fine but it wont shut off from the selection on the screen. I need to flip the switch. Any suggestions?
 

joshc

Well-known member
What do you see on the screen when you choose to shut down? If it pops up a box saying your Macintosh can now be safely switched off, that is correct. You flip the switch at the back to turn it off. There is no automatic/soft power on/off on these machines.
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
Also note that really early versions of the OS don't actually display the "your macintosh can now be switched off" box, they just eject any floppies and restart. So if you're at the flashing question mark icon, you can also turn off the machine there.
 

joshc

Well-known member
Good point, I had forgotten about that. Actually, I'm pretty sure the first few OS versions didn't even have Shut Down as an option, only Restart.
 

Crutch

Well-known member
Almost but not quite precisely true!

Really early versions of the OS didn’t have either option. In Finder 1.0, the Special menu included “Clean Up”, “Empty Trash”, and “Erase Disk”. “Set Startup” was introduced later in 1984 with Finder 1.1g (the first version I personally used back then). If you wanted to turn off your Mac, you just turned it off.

The idea that you should eject your disks and restart your Mac when you’re done with it was formalized in Finder 4.1 (1985), but the menu item to do that was called “Shut Down”, not Restart. (The MiniFinder was introduced at the same time. I remember thinking Finder 4.1 was super cool as a 10-year-old.)

Later, I believe in 1987 when the Mac II with soft power was introduced, that menu item was more appropriately renamed “Restart”, and the proper “Shut Down” option was added.

(My memory for the above was jogged by this great list: https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Finder_versions)
 

Phipli

Well-known member
Also note that really early versions of the OS don't actually display the "your macintosh can now be switched off" box, they just eject any floppies and restart. So if you're at the flashing question mark icon, you can also turn off the machine there.
As someone used to System 6 and later, that didn't half confuse me when I was using my dad's Plus running an older System. Especially irritating when you have a hard disk.
 

bibilit

Well-known member
they just eject any floppies and restart. So if you're at the flashing question mark icon, you can also turn off the machine there.

The floppy can stay inside the drive for a quick reboot if required.
Holding down the mouse button while switching on the Mac... will eject the floppy.
 
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