Hey Guys --
I've always been into retrocomputing, but now that I have a family and kiddos I don't have as much time as I once did plus I've parted with most of my older systems. Lately though I've had the bug to pick it back up, and I pulled out my old Mac SE SuperDrive which I got for free years ago when my work was clearing out some old equipment. It sat on a bookcase in my office as 'classic computer art', but it's been in my closet until this weekend when I finally pulled it out. I don't have much space, so I figure this system would work better than one of my old TRS-80 Color Computer systems (Coco 2 and 3) or my Commodore Amiga 500 :beige:
I don't have an ADB keyboard or mouse for it, but plugging in a power cord and booting it up brought me to the Mac desktop in a matter of seconds. I'll start hitting the local used computer shops this week in search for a keyboard and mouse (unless someone has one they want to part with), and after that I'll know more about what version of OS it's running and how much RAM it has.
Some goals:
- Upgrade to 4 Megs/Ram if it's not there already (can it go higher than 4 megs?)
- Upgrade it to System 7.5.5 if it's not there already
- Get it networked somehow
- Get access to my Linux file server and networked HP LJ5 Printer
- Find software for word processing (WP or Office)
- Get Internet software loaded (IRC, Usenet, email, SSH/Telnet, gopher, basic WWW, etc)
Granted we've all seen a Mac SE, but I thought I'd share two Pics I took this weekend:
http://picasaweb.google.com/samalex/ClassicComputing#5562864563275576226
http://picasaweb.google.com/samalex/ClassicComputing#5562864762613702098
Once I get all this setup I could use this system for much of the stuff I do at home. Also though it's too late for the Retro Computer Challenge I'd like to get the system ready for the next one so I can partake.
For networking though, is there anyplace I can find a network card that'll just plug into it and work? If not how difficult is it to get a PPP connection via serial to my Linux server? I have Cat5 going between my office and network closet, so it shouldn't be too difficult to wire-up a serial over cat5 connection between the two. I'd rather communicate via my router using a NIC instead of going through serial, but I'll take what I can get.
At any rate, for folks who use similar systems what are some gee-wiz things you can do with it? I'm not looking at this replacing my daily driver, but it might be neat to use it for those nights on IRC or for hitting the Telnet BBSes.
Thanks for any feedback-- Take care,
Sam
I've always been into retrocomputing, but now that I have a family and kiddos I don't have as much time as I once did plus I've parted with most of my older systems. Lately though I've had the bug to pick it back up, and I pulled out my old Mac SE SuperDrive which I got for free years ago when my work was clearing out some old equipment. It sat on a bookcase in my office as 'classic computer art', but it's been in my closet until this weekend when I finally pulled it out. I don't have much space, so I figure this system would work better than one of my old TRS-80 Color Computer systems (Coco 2 and 3) or my Commodore Amiga 500 :beige:
I don't have an ADB keyboard or mouse for it, but plugging in a power cord and booting it up brought me to the Mac desktop in a matter of seconds. I'll start hitting the local used computer shops this week in search for a keyboard and mouse (unless someone has one they want to part with), and after that I'll know more about what version of OS it's running and how much RAM it has.
Some goals:
- Upgrade to 4 Megs/Ram if it's not there already (can it go higher than 4 megs?)
- Upgrade it to System 7.5.5 if it's not there already
- Get it networked somehow
- Get access to my Linux file server and networked HP LJ5 Printer
- Find software for word processing (WP or Office)
- Get Internet software loaded (IRC, Usenet, email, SSH/Telnet, gopher, basic WWW, etc)
Granted we've all seen a Mac SE, but I thought I'd share two Pics I took this weekend:
http://picasaweb.google.com/samalex/ClassicComputing#5562864563275576226
http://picasaweb.google.com/samalex/ClassicComputing#5562864762613702098
Once I get all this setup I could use this system for much of the stuff I do at home. Also though it's too late for the Retro Computer Challenge I'd like to get the system ready for the next one so I can partake.
For networking though, is there anyplace I can find a network card that'll just plug into it and work? If not how difficult is it to get a PPP connection via serial to my Linux server? I have Cat5 going between my office and network closet, so it shouldn't be too difficult to wire-up a serial over cat5 connection between the two. I'd rather communicate via my router using a NIC instead of going through serial, but I'll take what I can get.
At any rate, for folks who use similar systems what are some gee-wiz things you can do with it? I'm not looking at this replacing my daily driver, but it might be neat to use it for those nights on IRC or for hitting the Telnet BBSes.
Thanks for any feedback-- Take care,
Sam
