Quadra 605

[bse5150]

Dibs on a Quadra 605. I've always wanted one and now I'm getting one.

It doesn't come with a hard drive, but that's okay. It's got a 32MB SIMM that I'll replace with a 128MB SIMM for a total of 132MB. I also have a full '040 kicking around, so I'll swap CPUs too.

I love it when a Mac comes together...

 

[MultiFinder]

Because someone had to be the first to bring it up...

*FEETS*

 

[uniserver]

What about the Quadra 605 makes you want it so much?

 

[bse5150]

The way it looks...it's one beautiful specimen.

 

[Juror22]

I agree,they had nice lines, with smooth, curved cooling vents. They were very compact (other than the requisite CRT) and the 605 was the first Mac that I bought on my own. My original was sold over the years and I had to pick one up, also. Glad to see another 605 fan!

 

[MinerAl]

Make sure whoever is shipping it to you packs it super tight and padded. My 605 arrived pretty much shattered. Every internal support had been broken by jostling during shipping.

Could've just been the USPS doing a bang-up job, but I've heard others complain of brittle plastics in the 605s and 630s.

 

[ClassicHasClass]

What he said. Two words: O2 cracks

I'm the contrarian here; I've never particularly liked the Q605 case, though I *love* the Q605 as a computer. I replaced it with an '040, stuck an LC III shell on it } , and installed NetBSD.

 

[tecneeq]

I have the LC475, a nice computer indeed, but i feel it to be overrated around here. I didn't update my RAM beyond 36MB, takes a long time to check that much ram. I wonder how it feels with 132MB. 8-o

It might be a good idea to stuff the case tighly with crumpled paper.

 

[uniserver]

- Ram

It would take most 68k vintage mac's some time to check ram in amounts over 64 megs, That is why Dougg3 has these nifty ROM Simms, That is one of the many features of these great Rom Simms. - disable memory check.

A stock rom is written to my LC475 ROM Simm, With a 128meg Ram stick installed, It doesn't seem to take that long at all.

maybe 10 seconds. Now my IIsi with the "stock rom" and maxed out ram @ 65megs takes like 25 seconds before it will start booting. With the hacked rom simm it starts booting instant.

- on plastics

I have 2 Q605's now. One is almost mint, the other has issues with brittle/broken plastic/ rear clips.

One that is mint, I guarantee the plastics are still brittle, but have not suffered breakage yet.(lucky)

Funny thing about the Quadra 605 was, It's price when it was new! Very inexpensive!!

" The first Quadra selling for under 1000 bucks "

http://lowendmac.com/quadra/quadra-605.html

I am thinking they went cheap on more then just the LC 040…

I would assume manufacturing those plastic cases is more costly then one would think…

But as to why some Vintage macs have plastics that are so brittle beats me. IT Infuriates me to no end the plastics in the Powerbook 1xx….

They are so terrible. You can only do so much with JB Weld. All though, mcdermd did a very good job with JB Weld and fixing some hinges, made them like new.

 

[bse5150]

Got my Quadra 605 in the mail today. It came in the original box and was fully intact -- no broken plastics or anything like that.

 

[uniserver]

be careful with those plastics , chances are they will break.

If you don't have to remove the mainboard/floppy/hd/psu, I wouldn't, because those tabs will break off.

 

[MinerAl]

Congrats!

 

[tecneeq]

Haven't had problems with my LC475 plastic yet. Only problem is, the yellowing isn't uniform, it seems there was a book or so laying on it. But only half. And not aligned. Triggers my inner Monk.

So, any special plans for this Q605?

 

[beachycove]

...installed NetBSD.

Can one have any sort of realistically usable GUI with a current NetBSD installation on an LC475, like say would be required for Libre Office, or would that be pushing the little thing too far?

 

[bse5150]

So, any special plans for this Q605?

Nope. No special plans for it. I was thinking that I'd run Mac OS 8.1 on it. Maybe throw WordPerfect on it.

 

[tecneeq]

Can one have any sort of realistically usable GUI with a current NetBSD installation on an LC475

Not really. It's enough to shuffle several xterms around, xedit (text), xmh (email) on twm (the included windows manager, very old school, but uses nearly no ressources). But it's really not pleasant. Remember, the hardware underneath is obsolete since 20 years. You could use a remote X11 server for Libreoffice, but i guess even that would be a painful experience. I wouldn't dream of using Libreoffice with anything under 1GB of Ram and at least a PIII above 800 MHz.

I personally think it best to just add sshd=YES to /etc/rc.conf, restart and login remotely via ssh. Many use a LC475 with NetBSD or Debian in that way as a mail, dns or web server.

 

[uniserver]

It could also be a great bridge mac, Used as a vintage software repository, macgui/garden.