Mac 512K server

[napabar]

Well, after two years kicking around an idea to get a Mac 512K on a modern network, I've finally got all the pieces together I needed. Thanks to Dog Cow for hooking me up with EasyShare, which was the final, crucial piece.

I was able to connect a Mac 512K to my iMac running Snow Leopard, as well as iPhones and iPads. This was accomplished by a bridge Mac, where I was able to send the AppleTalk share forward as FTP.

I've got some videos and documentation up on my web site for anyone who's interested. http://web.me.com/nilesmitchell/Mac512k/Welcome.html

I wound up using a Mac 512Ke, because it seems EasyShare requires the 128K ROM. I have a link on my web page under the Details tab to my public iDisk, where I have a copy of the EasyShare demo. Anyone who has a stock Mac 512K with 64K ROM, please give it a whirl and see if you can get it to work.

Although the documentation says it will work on System 3.2, I couldn't get it to work on anything lower than 4.1. In the video, I mistakenly said I was using System 4.2, but it's really 4.1.

 

[Dog Cow]

Excellent! I'm glad that you got it working. :beige:

 

[Mac128]

Although the documentation says it will work on System 3.2, I couldn't get it to work on anything lower than 4.1. In the video, I mistakenly said I was using System 4.2, but it's really 4.1.

That's odd. I wonder if it's a limitation of the 128K ROM. There's a number of applications that require an SE and won't run on a Plus. Could this be one of them? Do you have an SE to try it on? Though the SE came with System 4.0, so it doesn't make sense it would include 3.2 and require an SE. Perhaps it is a RAM limitation? But then why would it work with System 4.1? Very odd. The 512Ke is essentially identical to a Plus otherwise, right? Some changes in the serial port pinouts, but would that be enough to limit it to the Plus? And how would System 4.1 compensate for those differences? Odd.

 

[napabar]

EasyShare worked fine on my LC running 6.0.8. It could be that the documentation was wrong, or that the demo that I have had different requirements than the paid version.

Under System 3.2 or 3.3, the extension had a line through when the Mac is booting. On 4.1, it works like a charm.

If we could get it to work on 3.2, then I'd really be curious to see it boot up on a Mac 128Ke.......

 

[Mac128]

What are the minimum requirements for System 4.1? If he System can be sufficiently whittled down, it should run on a 128Ke. Unless the System does a RAM check at startup, it should boot if small enough RAM footprint.

 

[napabar]

According to Apple, 4.1 requires a Mac 512K. The 128k could go to System 3.2, Finder 5.3.

I have several versions of Mini vMac, compiled as different machines. When I try to boot 4.1 on a Mac 128Ke version of Mini vMac, it crashes.

Based on this, I would assume 4.1 needs more RAM, and bombs on a 128K (400K disk) or 128Ke (800K disk).

Were there ever any third party upgrades for the Mac 128K that took it to 256K? That would be an interesting machine to play around with.

 

[Mac128]

According to Apple, 4.1 requires a Mac 512K. The 128k could go to System 3.2, Finder 5.3.

I would assume 4.1 needs more RAM, and bombs on a 128K (400K disk) or 128Ke (800K disk).

Were there ever any third party upgrades for the Mac 128K that took it to 256K? .

I believe that System requirement had more to do with the 128K ROM than the RAM, as discovered when testing the highest System which will boot on a stock 512K.

Have you tried pairing down your 4.1 System on mini vMac? RAM may vey well be the culprit, but until the system is stripped it's hard to say for sure.

Tom Lee has basically said a 256K system is impossible, based on the way the System allocates RAM addresses.

 

[napabar]

Yes, and it bombs right away. System Error 33. However, I find these emulators are not exact duplicates of what happens on real machines. My EasyShare disk crashed on the Mac 512K (64K ROM) version, but booted fine for my friend, albeit that the EasyShare Extension didn't load.

Whats interesting is that, on my Mac 512Ke, if I jack the RAM cache up to basically make it a Mac 128Ke, everything works fine, including EasyShare!

 

[Charlieman]

The difference between the SE and previous generations of Mac is pretty significant. The SE has a Slot Manager, for example.

 

[napabar]

Found a copy of System 3.3. Got the EasyShare INIT to load with it, but seemed unstable. My Mac 512Ke bombed a couple of times when copying files to it. Under System 4.1, it's rock solid.

Tried the System 3.3/EasyShare disk image on a Mac 128Ke version of Mac Mini. While it crashes after the desktop appears, when I slowed down the speed of the emulation and watched it boot, the EasyShare INIT doesn't load. Line through it. It seems that the EasyShare INIT does a RAM check during boot. and 128k isn't enough.

 

[napabar]

New videos up. Added one that shows how to take a picture on the iPhone, and send it as a GIF directly to the Mac 512K. The second is how to scan a picture in as a GIF, and send directly to the Mac 512K.

Enjoy!

http://web.me.com/nilesmitchell/Mac512k/Welcome.html

 

[agg23]

Does EasyShare not run on System 6? I tried running on 6.0.8 and it keeps asking me to put the EasyShare INIT in the System Folder, which I have done. I guess I need to get System 4.0 and Finder 5.4 running.

 

[napabar]

Does EasyShare not run on System 6? I tried running on 6.0.8 and it keeps asking me to put the EasyShare INIT in the System Folder, which I have done. I guess I need to get System 4.0 and Finder 5.4 running.

I had it running just fine on an LC running 6.0.8. It was released in 1990, long after System 6 was out.

Do you see the extension load during boot up? If you do, is there a line through it?

 

[agg23]

I got it running fine with System 4.0 and Finder 5.4 but not on 6.0.8. I don't know why that is.

Are you using something other than the demo of EasyShare because the demo disconnects me every 10 minutes? Also do you have the demo of Rumpus I can download?

Thanks,

agg23

 

[napabar]

Yes, I'm running the demo too. It's all I've been able to find.

The server itself doesn't stop serving after 10 minutes, it just drops the connection. All you need to do is re-connect on your client.

You can write an AppleScript that mounts the share, dismount's it at 9 minutes, 55 seconds, then wait 10 seconds, then remount it and repeats.

You can find the Classic Rumpus at the following link:

http://ftp.maxum.com/DownloadPackages/RumpusClassic.sit

 

[agg23]

Thank you very much! I'll try this as soon as I can.

Edit: Just found out that Rumpus 3.5 requires a PPC Mac. I was going to use my Centris 650 web server as the FTP server as well. I guess I'll have to find something else then...