Newbie here – arrow by Apple icon?

[kitsune]

I don't currently own a compact Mac, and haven't used one in decades. But I'm looking around online to hopefully grab one for nostalgia's sake.

Well, I was looking at an SE Superdrive model that is listed as working and shows a picture of the desktop (I don't know enough to say what OS it is) and there's what looks to be a down arrow to the left of the Apple icon at top left (I'll try to attach a picture).

What does it mean? I tried to skim through a manual to see if I could find out...but I thought it might be quicker to ask. Just want to make sure it isn't an indication of a problem before I get too interested in buying it.

Thanks!

 

[Nixontheknight]

I don't currently own a compact Mac, and haven't used one in decades. But I'm looking around online to hopefully grab one for nostalgia's sake.

Well, I was looking at an SE Superdrive model that is listed as working and shows a picture of the desktop (I don't know enough to say what OS it is) and there's what looks to be a down arrow to the left of the Apple icon at top left (I'll try to attach a picture).

What does it mean? I tried to skim through a manual to see if I could find out...but I thought it might be quicker to ask. Just want to make sure it isn't an indication of a problem before I get too interested in buying it.

Thanks!

it might be part of an extension somebody installed

 

[jessenator]

Agreed.

If it's system 7.x , check the root Macintosh HD > System Folder > Extensions (and Control Panels) folders. Maybe take a snapshot of what's there and we might help identify what's not native to the vanilla system.

Could be a mouse/trackball extension of some sort, is my guess. Someone else might be able to ID it just from the pic

 

[kitsune]

Appreciate the help - I can't personally check anything and the seller isn't familiar with the machine, just a reseller of all sorts of items. They just say it was certified working with "cosmetic issues" by the technician. They just happened to have the mouse pointer aiming at the arrow I think.

That said, if it isn't a typical icon saying something is wrong I may just take my chances. At least I can see that it boots to the desktop which is better than most things you see online.

 

[cheesestraws]

Drawing status in the menu bar was a pretty standard way of displaying information for extensions and stuff. I'd agree with the above that that's the most likely answer.

 

[kitsune]

Thanks again. I went ahead and pulled the trigger. Of course, it doesn't come with a keyboard or mouse, so now I've gotta find a decent deal on those.

I'll try to remember to update this thread once it's been delivered and I've had a chance to check it out.

 

[imactheknife]

The icon is an extension, but cant remember what for lol.. seen it before.

 

[MrFahrenheit]

It could either show disk reads and writes, or network traffic. Likely disk activity though.

 

[Byrd]

I know that icon - it's for an on the fly disk compression utility (like DoubleSpace that came with DOS)

 

[MrFahrenheit]

I know that icon - it's for an on the fly disk compression utility (like DoubleSpace that came with DOS)

Like AutoDoubler or Stacker ?

 

[Byrd]

I think that’s it - we used to have it on a Mac Plus with 20MB disk, when idle the utility used to compress in the background. Was worth it at the time!

 

[dramirez]

Start the computer, press Shift until a "disabled extensions" message appears, check if the arrow disappears.

 

[kitsune]

Well, it arrived today (and my ADB keyboard/mouse combo came yesterday). It's running System 7.1 - I'll try to get an image showing of all the extensions later, or at the very least try the above method to disable them and see if the arrow disappears.

It is a former school computer (Tucson United School Department I believe), and is currently in the Student/Teacher user account, rather than Manager - which is of course password protected, so I can't do any admin at the moment. I suppose I will eventually need to wipe it and do a fresh install, but right now I'm content that it is running and has some software still installed on the HD.

It has Wagon Train 1848 on it rather than Oregon Trail, and ostensibly has been set up to network with other Macs in a classroom.

The seller (in Arizona) just wrapped it once in small bubble wrap and then put it in packing peanut type material. But the front and back were still very close to the walls of the cardboard box - as in only about 1 peanuts of width could fit for cushion on those edges. Surprisingly, it seems to have arrived (in Indiana) no worse for wear. I've had things badly damaged by FedEx that came from 1.5 hours away – so I'm relieved.

Once I get it home (I had it delivered to work), I'll check/replace the battery and go from there. Well, if I'm honest, I'll probably try a run on of "Wagon Train 1848" first...because priorities.

Regarding software, since this is a SuperDrive, my hope was that I could just get a USB floppy drive and put downloaded files on disks using my modern (that is 2010) iMac. Is this possible, or does the SuperDrive still need the files to be written by older Macs? I know I've seen some tutorials about this, but I need to look into it better. Just thought I'd ask since I'm posting...feel free to tell me to use the *search button* as I'm sure this has been covered 1.984 million times.

 

[jessenator]

I'm one of those who's going to steer you away from physical media. FDs are ancient, and aren't what I'd call reliable—even if NOS. I would recommend a floppy emulator, like a Floppy Emu (might be others out or upcoming).

They're easy to load up with multiple disk images and makes it incredibly handy. No writing disks, just images on a µSD card

And since you have the superdrive model, you can mount all FD image types: 400k, 800k, and 1.4M

 

[Phipli]

It is a former school computer (Tucson United School Department I believe), and is currently in the Student/Teacher user account, rather than Manager - which is of course password protected, so I can't do any admin at the moment.

Try booting with shift held down, there is a chance that disabling extensions will disable the security. Security wasn't exactly built in. Ditto boot from a floppy disk if the drive works and see where it gets you.

 

[kitsune]

I don't currently have any floppy disks to test, whether system or otherwise unfortunately.

I just tried holding shift from restart & then again from full switched off. After both the arrow is still there. Also in the Apple Menu the "Alarm Clock" and "Control Panels" are both grayed out. I'm assuming this is due to not being in the Manager account.

Jessenator - I am considering something like the Floppy Emu or BlueSCSI, just not sure that it is practical right off the bat - mostly due to not being sure how much I'll use the machine. Though I suppose, by the time I spend $30 or so on a USB floppy drive and however much on disks...it'll add up quick either way. And the SD card way is less headache & more reliable. I'll certainly be keeping it in mind! And thanks for the confirmation on the disks, I knew the SuperDrive was listed as reading 1.4 - but I wasn't sure if the images on those disks needed anything "special" to be usable.

 

[kitsune]

Couldn't get everything on the screen at once, so two pics of Extensions.

 

[Corgi]

A 2010 iMac will likely not write to HFS Standard (not HFS+, which requires 8.1 or some hacked extensions and 7.6), I’m afraid. I don’t recall which version of the Mac OS (the macOS?) removed the support off the top of my head; maybe El Capitan.

I use HFSExplorer on my M1 MBP to read them, but use a Pismo running 9/Tiger for writing.

 

[kitsune]

Ah, I think this is the pertinent info from lowendmac.com:

HFS Floppies: Fully Readable, No Writes with OS X 10.6 or Later

The good news is that all tested versions of Mac OS X are able to read 1.4 MB floppy disks in a USB floppy drive. The bad news – well, at least less good – is that starting with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, you can’t write to an HFS-formatted floppy disk. To do that, you need to use OS X 10.5 Leopard or earlier.

I'll have to see if I can find my 2007 MacBook Pro and see what OS it has on it, I don't remember offhand. That is...if I didn't throw it in the dumpster...I think maybe I did when I moved last year. Fortunately, we have both a Power Mac G4 & G5 at work, so I can probably use one of those.