My new favourite 68k

[Danamania]

Just throwing a few things around, while I had a Q630 out and playing, and I think I found my new favourite 68k .

A 630 with 630DOS logic board, overclocked (40MHz) full 040, comm slot ethernet, Lapis 3MB LCPDS video card for dual monitors, 148MB RAM, 10GB HD and SCSI CDR, running 8.1

Maybe. Haven't put in the CDR yet - I have plenty around to find one that'll physically match!

Dana

 

[Phreakinus]

My new favorite 68K is the Amiga 4000

 

[Byrd]

I've taken a shine to my PB540 at the moment, getting it ready for a soon-to-arrive PCMCIA card cage. Found a spare 2GB CF card ready and waiting, full of apps and games. The quality of 5x0 Powerbook casing seems to vary - some it's cheap and brittle, others feel a bit more solid than this.

630's are nice machine - mine is of a similar spec to yours dana, along with a 486 DX4-100 Overdrive in the DOS card. If there were any more components plugged into the 630 board + DOS board + ethernet it looks like it'd topple over It's so sadly let down by rubbish stock graphics performance and colour depth though - lucky you've got that video card I tend to use my Quadra 700 over the 630, gathering a thin layer of dust.

JB

 

[QuadSix50]

My favorite 68K Mac continues to be my Quadra 650. Been working like a champ for a good few years now and still going strong.

 

[Cory5412]

My favorite will probably always be the 840av, Mine's not even particularly well-endowed (it's stock except for the upgrade that brings it to 24mb of memory) but it's an amazing machine nonetheless, way fun to play with retro mac software on it. One day I'll probably get a graphics card or something for mine, but in stock condition, it runs everything I could think of wanting to do on a 68k Mac rather well.

 

[Temetka]

I miss the only 68K Mac I ever had.

Someday soon though, I'll get another.

 

[equill]

My enduring favourite is IIci-2. ('-2' is its personal name, as opposed to the other couple, and the look-alike IIcx and Q700.) DayStar 030/50MHz and FPU; Radius PrecisionColor 24X; Apple Portrait Display in 256 greys; AsantéFAST 10/100 NuBus NIC; partitioned 4.2GB IBM DCHS04F; running 68K pared-down 7.6.1. It mothers/fathers nearly a dozen other 68K Macs.

In between, I have other favourites/most hated, being whatever I am working on at the time. At the moment, those are two Colour Classics and two P250s, from '7.1.3' to 7.6.1.

de

 

[alk]

Let us know how you fare with the CD-R in the 630. I think you might have some trouble there... IIRC, they don't support SCSI Manager 4.3 (though according to Apple, they do work with SCSI Manager 4.3.1 - Support Page). Plus, SCSI on these boxes is darn slow, and termination is tricky. You might get 1x or 2x burning, but I wouldn't count on much better than that.

Let us know!

Peace,

Drew

 

[TylerEss]

That's a very nice 630 Dana!

The Valkyrie video chip isn't the hottest thing around, but it does have a nice hardware scaling feature. I've always wanted to play Marathon with LC630 acceleration turned on... what's it like?

 

[LCGuy]

Let us know how you fare with the CD-R in the 630. I think you might have some trouble there... IIRC, they don't support SCSI Manager 4.3 (though according to Apple, they do work with SCSI Manager 4.3.1 - Support Page). Plus, SCSI on these boxes is darn slow, and termination is tricky. You might get 1x or 2x burning, but I wouldn't count on much better than that.
Let us know!

Peace,

Drew

LC630s not supporting SCSI Manager 4.3 is an urban myth. Mine quite happily supports SCSI Manager 4.3, and does a fine job at running my external 6x24 SCSI CD-R.

 

[SiliconValleyPirate]

IDE hard drive on a 68k Mac... EWWWWWWW

I had a 630 for a short time. Why only a short time? Because I bloody hated it. IDE on a 68k CPU sucks at the best of times. All that interrupt polling totally frags any CPU power you might have lying around. I'm a BIG advocate of SCSI on 68k machines for this very reason, Amiga and Mac. Why do you think all Apple's 'best' 68k machines were all SCSI based?

The Q630 also only has a 22KHz Audio chip and, as Tyler pointed out the video is a bit ropey. I hate the cases - they are a SoaB to work on unless you just want to change/work on the mobo. Only things it has going for it are the TV option and the extra expansion slot over the pizza boxes. Oh and it looks *okay* I guess.

 

[Mike Richardson]

I'm partial to the LC 575 myself.

- Accepts 64 MB and 128 MB SIMMs

- Drop in a full 040 for FPU

- Built in Trinitron display: less wires and mess to deal with, excellent quality

- Drop in some VRAM to get Thousands of colors

- Built in space for CD-ROM

- Uses SCSI hard drive

- Comm Slot and LC PDS (drop in an Ethernet card and Apple IIe card - two computers in one, networked to boot!)

Disadvantages:

- If built in CRT fails, whole computer is useless.

- No NuBus (but what do you need it for?)

- FedEx likes to crush these type of Macs.

 

[TheNeil]

Currently experiencing a fondness for the Quadra 840. No doubt it'll pass and I'll return to 'old faithful' (the SE/30) sometime soon

 

[paws]

I'm quite pleased with my LCIII, stock + 16MB RAM, 500MB HD. I'm looking forward to adding an FPU, some sort of networking card (can't stand empty expansion slots!), and possibly replacing the HD with flash. It'd be near silent and probably draw less than 10W of power...

 

[LCGuy]

IDE hard drive on a 68k Mac... EWWWWWWW
I had a 630 for a short time. Why only a short time? Because I bloody hated it. IDE on a 68k CPU sucks at the best of times. All that interrupt polling totally frags any CPU power you might have lying around. I'm a BIG advocate of SCSI on 68k machines for this very reason, Amiga and Mac. Why do you think all Apple's 'best' 68k machines were all SCSI based?

Yes, but IDE drives used to suck back then. Load up a 630 with a decent, fast, modern unit and you'll be pleasantly surprised at the results. And to be honest, the big advantage that having onboard IDE has is that finding replacement HDDs is a lot easier...no need to hunt around on eBay for 50 pin SCSI HDDs...just grab one out of just about any PC

 

[II2II]

In terms of design, I really like the IIci. The case layout is so tidy, so servicable, and is the only working example (that I've seen) of a working screw-reduced design. It beats out a couple of models with similar cases because of the FPU and System 6 capabilities.

Over all, I think I prefer the Amiga 500. The hardware is relatively powerful and feature rich, it is a nice OS, and can run with only a floppy (so it is quiet and has the vintage feel), and is

 

[macintoshman]

Quadra 800/840av

Greatest 68k family. Ever. 840av is the best AV machine of an era. Quadra 800- The Last True Mac

Mine has 128mb of ram and a 1gb Seagate Server HD

SuperFast on 7.5

 

[tomlee59]

Yes, but IDE drives used to suck back then. Load up a 630 with a decent, fast, modern unit and you'll be pleasantly surprised at the results. And to be honest, the big advantage that having onboard IDE has is that finding replacement HDDs is a lot easier...no need to hunt around on eBay for 50 pin SCSI HDDs...just grab one out of just about any PC

I second LCGuy's assertions. The availability of inexpensive (free), high capacity IDE drives makes the 630 more attractive than some of its scsi-only contemporaries. Give it a go with a newish drive and you will likely be pleased.

 

[Unknown_K]

Quadra 950 for me.