Macintosh 128 Proto (as far as i can tell)

[Cosmo]

And we are seing the same case here as well:

http://www.mactechlab.jp/wp-content/uploads/mac128k_manual_05.jpg

 

[krye]

Wow, amazed no one's caught that before.

 

[LOOM]

And I'm amazed someone noticed that

 

[Cosmo]

I thought i had seen that before somewhere, just could not figure out where. In that picture, it's just not that clear (need to find higher resolution picture or the original booklet) if there's an Apple logo there, or just blank space - but surely it does look like the same. So it just have to be pre-production case/prototype.

 

[Macdrone]

The case I have is textured on the outside also. Looks just like that one. My plug is angled like that with apple on one end.

 

[iMac600]

I know Alps Electronics never managed to get their drive into production, but I suppose that wouldn't have stopped them from building a couple of prototypes. Sony of course ended up getting the contract.

http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Hide_Under_This_Desk.txt

The rubber feet are Trend Plastics custom stamped units, but they never proved to be successful with the adhesive.

http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Wet_dreams_and_little_rubber_feet.1.txt

I'm aware many of us here would be very familiar with these stories by now, but for the sake of bringing anyone else up to speed, they're an interesting read.

 

[Macdrone]

I am gonna be honest and say that I completely skipped any real compact mac info in my day. I had up to an apple IIgs in school then went to a performa 638CD and that led to a color classic for fun and went to a new G3 B&W. I had no idea the folklore site existed till last week and was completely in the dark. I knew just enough about stuff to know kinda what to collect and what I thought I was excited about.

So as I mentioned months ago when I first posted to the site thank you all for the help and education. I can do more for old macs than I ever thought I could. These days its getting alot more fun.

 

[Macdrone]

So I looked around on the sites about the early twiggy machines and all of them look to have RF paint/shielding in them. Is it possible to clean this stuff off without hurting the plastic? The only reason I wonder is if the man Bill Brown that passed away that I got these from maybe wanted to see the signatures better? Im just guessing here as the front panel doesnt have the paint either and the sticker is mostly still on it.

 

[Brooklyn]

I don't think so, I think the missing shielding was how it should be. There was an interview with Daniel Kottke from about 10 years ago, and a picture of him holding the same sample signature case without the shielding.

http://www.digibarn.com/stories/dankottke/index.htm

 

[Macdrone]

Yep that's what it looks like. Just odd the twiggy case has shielding but not later prototypes. I thought there was less texture on the prototypes. Just so strange.

 

[MinerAl]

Remember, as far as Jobs was concerned in early 1983, the Twiggy FDD was a part of the final design of the product, so those Twiggy prototypes could've been nearly final. The Sony FDD cases were prototyped after the Twiggy drives were abandoned, which kicked the prototyping cycle way back. The Twiggy cases you've seen could've been close to final prototypes, but your Sony case could be much earlier in the process toward the final Sony case design.

 

[Macdrone]

Good point mineral. I hadn't thought of that. The only hole I see there is the back didn't change only the front, as someone mentioned to me earlier that they didn't even change the chassis. Like the 128 and the 512 have square holes on the back for ports but the Mac plus are cut to the outline of the ports.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Notice the top of that ProtoCase Dan Kottke is holding. The lack of the cooling vents installed in the top of the production units is a dead giveaway.

 

[Macdrone]

Mine has the vents.even stranger yet.

 

[Mac512k]

Hi Guys, I am the seller "wozniac" on eBay. I recently got my account here activated.

I just wanted to let you guys know that 1 year later, and after a pleasent visit down to California, the Twiggy Macintosh 128k now boots up! With the help of several persons, we have archived the only 2 known Twiggy Macintosh software disks and have been able to duplicate them. We have also archived the ROM's on the motherboard and the controller chip on the Macintosh Twiggy I/O board. I have many stories and info to share, Just thought I would share this info.

Cheers guys,

Adam

 

[Cosmo]

That's wonderfull! Please share all details about the disks, bootup success and everything!

 

[jsarchibald]

You'll have to do a whole new thread and fill us in! We are all very keen to hear updates directly from the source!

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Welcome aboard, Adam, glad to have you here and happier to see your TwiggyMac functional at last. I really didn't think it was going to get there, I'm happy to have been mistaken about the prospects. It must be quite a story!

 

[Brooklyn]

Amazing...you should take a video of it in operation and share the story on here :beige:

 

[olePigeon]

I agree!