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PowerExpress/PowerMac 9700 Prototype

Trash80toHP_Mini

Trash80toHP_Mini

NIGHT STALKER
THX, should PEx-in-a-Drawer™ ever achieve bootable status, it's headed into a clear plexi display case hanging above the pet IIfx, its umbilical connected to an external PSU/Utility Cable box tucked away between the two 21" CRT TPDs it'll be driving like it's a friggin' Cube or TAM rock star  .  .  .

.  .  .  but I'm definitely not holding my breath. ::)

 
Last edited by a moderator:
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captainserial

Active member
Trash80toHP_Mini said:
Goody goody gumdrops! [ :D ]  You can probably imagine my excitement over your discovery and anticipation of that arrival. I've had to be content with listening to the startup chimes of my ROM DIMM deprived bare PEx board on an annual basis (approximately) for going on fifteen years now!
Click to expand...
Oh yes, I understand. I stare longingly at TriPEx™ every day and suppress the urge to boot it and then pull the plug at the desktop. My SCSI2SD and PRAM batteries arrive today, and the mouse gets here Saturday.  :)

 
haplain

haplain

Well-known member
That's for sure a pex. I have 2 at this point and all the marking are right. What a sweet unit.

I know Jim well and will ask him about his Manhattan... if he has one.

 
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captainserial

Active member
The USPS Gods have brought the mouse a day early, as a sign that they favor this endeavor!

IMG_0533.jpg

I now have everything I need to boot this beast. Here we go...

 
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captainserial

Active member
IMG_0535.jpg

IMG_0536.jpg

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IMG_0541.jpg

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Hard drive sounds bad. Knocks for awhile, then works normally, then starts knocking again. More picture momentarily.

Startup chime is like Shwa-na-na-na-na...

 
MJ313

MJ313

Well-known member
Wow, that's truly awesome! 

and to my rom-less buddy, a glimmer of light in the darkness?

 
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captainserial

Active member
IMG_0543.jpg

IMG_0545.jpg

IMG_0546.jpg

And there it stands for now. I don't want to stress the hard drive, so I'm switching to booting from the SCSI2SD to try to copy some files.

 
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captainserial

Active member
I was able to boot to an 8.6 install CD and connect to my Linux server over AppleTalk so that I could format the SCSI2SD with Lido. It would have been a lot easier with a USB floppy drive! I threw 8.6 onto the SCSI2SD since I knew that version worked.

I recovered 90% (I didn't copy some programs and damaged files) of the contents of the original hard drive, but there was nothing that looked like Apple internal or pre-release software on there. It almost looks like a hard drive transplanted from another Mac. I don't want want to expose somebody's personal information, so I won't post the whole set of files, but if anybody wants to looks through the System Folder I will post that. To my eyes it looks like a vanilla 8.6 install though.

I'm going to reformat the SCSI2SD with a bigger card and try to get some version of 9 on there, then I'll give Flasher a try. I'll post some screenshots of System Profiler shortly.

 
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