My first Mac

[MacDougall]

Greetings Mac liberators. I though for moment you weren't gonna let me join your club because I prefer my 68k computers with a Commodore badge on them so thanks to the mod for activating my account.

I liberated my first ever Mac a while back for the kingly ransom of £6 from an auction house. It is a Mac plus 1Mb with only the apple badge on the front. It also has the small keyboard with no numpad. I gather this means it was upgraded from a 128k. The lot included a third party scsi HD complete with a load of some careless fellows financial details. All in fairly excellent condition except for the typical yellowing.

It was working when I got it but had at least one serious problem. I'll leave its troubles for a new thread.

Here it is before I cleaned it up a bit and did some maintanance.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x249/doojum/MacPlus/macplus_zps1c235bf9.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x249/doojum/MacPlus/hd_zpse4c3e301.jpg

 

[TheMacGuy]

Very nice and Welcome the 68kMLA forums! Your Mac could be either a 128k or 512k, as the Plus upgrade was available for both. The serial number near the brightness knob should tell you the model number.

 

[MacDougall]

Thanks, serial number is F5213CVM0001WP if that tells you something. It is an international/240V version.

 

[onlyonemac]

Actually, that doesn't look too yellow at all! I've seen MUCH worse.

 

[MacDougall]

Yeah, it is more even and not as nasty as the yellowing you get on Amigas. Overall build quality and materials seem better than wedge Amigas but I guess it had to be because of the CRT, not to mention the price tag. This one was quite dirty though, particularly the keyboard and mouse, all cleaned up nicely though.

I expect you guys know about retrobright? I've had mixed results and wasn't planning to attempt it on this. Turns out the effect is temporary anyway

 

[beachycove]

retrobright ... Turns out the effect is temporary anyway

This is the first time I've heard this report. Can you say more?

 

[TheMacGuy]

serial number is F5213CVM0001WP if that tells you something.

Well, it could be either. The 512k was released in Sep. of 1984, and the 128k was sold until October of 1985, and your machine was manufactured in May/June. Decoding of these old serial numbers is something I like to do. Here is some info on yours:

F: Fremont, Calif. (manufacture plant)

5: 1985 (year on manufacture)

21: 21st manufacturing week of the year (May/June)

M0001WP: Europen model number (same for the 512k and 128k)

Yours is going to be a tuff cookie to crack. I'm going to continue looking further into this.

 

[MacDougall]

retrobright ... Turns out the effect is temporary anyway

This is the first time I've heard this report. Can you say more?

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news -

http://classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2013-01-15-retr0bright-only-temporary.htm

The best success I had was with an Amiga 600. It lives in a dark place and never gets sunlight. It has started to revert to yellow

serial number is F5213CVM0001WP if that tells you something.

Well, it could be either. The 512k was released in Sep. of 1984, and the 128k was sold until October of 1985, and your machine was manufactured in May/June. Decoding of these old serial numbers is something I like to do. Here is some info on yours:

F: Fremont, Calif. (manufacture plant)

5: 1985 (year on manufacture)

21: 21st manufacturing week of the year (May/June)

M0001WP: Europen model number (same for the 512k and 128k)

Yours is going to be a tuff cookie to crack. I'm going to continue looking further into this.

Interesting that the euro ones were made in US, according to the replacement backshell it was assembled in Ireland. Any other numbers that could help figure out what it started out as? I have the whole thing open at the moment.

 

[Macdrone]

The fact of reyellowing is just a fact.It would be silly to assume twenty years of UV exposure is curd in a day and will never be affected by it again. They never made any claims that it was forever and do this at your own risks. I would ask Mcdermd tho as he has done this a bunch over the years and he may be able to confirm or have advice to keep it permanent. The solution may just be do it over again, its just a case and if you do use the computer at all, removing the hardware to clean it probably not a bad idea. I got a IIsi that has never seen sun, lived its entire life in a dark room and looked mint. It sits being useable on a counter now with normal lights, and soe occasional outdoor light passing by the window, and you can just tell its not as white/grey kinda color as it was. Its only been months. Do I really care? no,i like using it. Its peppy , functional and just all around neat.

I like the retrobright as it lets us see how they were but nothing, and I do mean nothing lasts forever.

 

[TheMacGuy]

Take some pictures of the inside. I can't think of any internal numbers that wouldn't have been changed, but photos might help.

 

[jsarchibald]

Pretty certain the WP means 512K, and P means 128K.

 

[ClassicHasClass]

I prefer my 68k computers with a Commodore badge on them

I prefer my Commodore badges with a 6502 in them!

Though I've been in the queue for an X1000 for a stupid length of time.

 

[TheMacGuy]

Pretty certain the WP means 512K, and P means 128K.

Ah! You are correct.

MacDougall, your Mac was originally a 512k upgraded to Plus!

 

[MacDougall]

Thanks for the information. So what became of the old boards when someone upgraded, recycled for warranty repairs or . . .?

I guess the original owner decided an HD was needed and upgraded at the same time to get SCSI. Either that or upgrade instead of repairing. I've been reading that these compact Macs were prone to cooking themselves.

I prefer my 68k computers with a Commodore badge on them

I prefer my Commodore badges with a 6502 in them!

Though I've been in the queue for an X1000 for a stupid length of time.

Hehe, I prefer my 8-bit CPUs with a Z in their name. Actually, never was that much into 8-bit home computers. We did have a speccy but it was more my older brothers thing than mine. Always the burning jealousy of Amiga screenshots on the cassette inlays. I didn't know that more X1000s were being made. PPC amigas and OS4.1 etc is not for me. They are interesting but too expensive for a hobby computer and at an insurmountable disadvantage in hardware, price and software support for a serious computer. Doesn't stop me kinda wanting one though

 

[TheMacGuy]

Most were "recycled". Back then there wasn't a big green craze like there is now, so Apple probably just threw them away, kinda like all those leftover Lisa's dumped somewhere in Utah.

 

[Charlieman]

Thanks for the information. So what became of the old boards when someone upgraded, recycled for warranty repairs or . . .?

In the UK, Apple was pretty determined to take them all back to stop hackers getting hold of them. Some would have been reused but most would have been dumped.

Around about 1988, Apple UK ran a generous upgrade option campaign for 128/512 owners -- so I guess that your Mac is one of them. Is the serial number that you quote the one on the bottom of the Mac?

Early Macs sold in the UK often cooked themselves. I have seen them going up in smoke but I also own several healthy early compacts. If you rework the psu, you are probably OK; if you ignore it, you are foolish.