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really cheap LC II

Should I get it to run System 6.0.8L?

  • Yes, it's superduper!

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • No, it's garbage!

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    1

Quadraman

Well-known member
The LC and LC II were among that group of machines that had really bad hardware designs that held them back from achieving their highest potential. The LC line didn't really get into gear until the LC III came out with a motherboard design without compromises. Still, you can swap LC III and Quadra 605 motherboards into earlier cases, so all hope is not lost. You still can't use full height expansion cards, in the flat cases unless you can rotate them onto their side somehow, though.

 

The Macster

Well-known member
Is it local for you? Not really worth paying shipping on one as there's millions of them around and one will come up in your area, probably even for free, if you keep an eye out. I have a couple, they're not bad little machines - I like the form factor of the LC series and they are not impossibly slow even with OS 7.6. They can only take 10 MB of Ram though. I wouldn't bother with 6.0.8 as I'm not a big OS 6 fan, but that may be different for you.

 
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MacTCP

Well-known member
The auction isn't local. I was going to get this to have something that can use System 6 so I don't think a later motherboard would work. Are the compromises much noticable under System 6 or do they show more in later 7.x?

 

LCGuy

LC Doctor/Hot Rodder
The LCII is a fine machine for "just-playing-around-with", and they're the most common machine that'll run System 6. (i can confirm that you do not need 6.08L, the LCII's ROMs are exactly the same as that of the original LC, and as such i can confirm that 6.08 WILL boot and recognise it as an original LC. (and can prove it if neccessary) Still, i wouldn't really bother unless it was local...LCIIs are easy enough to find for pretty much anyone.

 

Blessed Cheesemaker

Well-known member
Hey,

For me, the best part of an LC/LC II (and III, I guess) is that you can put an Apple IIe card in one, and emulate an Apple IIe.

In order to do this, you have to be running in 24-bit mode, and not 32-bit. Buuuuuttttttt, running in 24 bit mode, it can only recognize max 10mb of memory, no matter how much memory you had in there.

Coincidentally, I happen to have an LC II and IIsi coming my way, as a result of eBay activity. And, coincidentally, my plan is to run OS 6 (in color) on both*...I'll race ya!

*Assuming the things work, of course nobody selling the things has a Mac monitor cable to test the things with. "Powers up, as is, for parts" was how it was described. Whatever, it was cheap...

 

The Macster

Well-known member
For me, the best part of an LC/LC II (and III, I guess) is that you can put an Apple IIe card in one, and emulate an Apple IIe.
In order to do this, you have to be running in 24-bit mode, and not 32-bit. Buuuuuttttttt, running in 24 bit mode, it can only recognize max 10mb of memory, no matter how much memory you had in there.
I thought the LC and LCII can only recognise 10 MB anyway? I think that is one of the reasons many think of these two as "crippled".

As for the IIe emulation, yes, that would be cool, but you'd have to be lucky to find an LC that came with the card, or be willing to pay eBay prices for one :(

 

MacMan

Well-known member
System 6 in colour is fun but limited. Most games and applications written for system 6 were only ever made with black and white screens in mind as most people were using Pluses and SEs and the like.

 

Unknown_K

Well-known member
One of the cool things about the IIsi is that if you get the Nubus expansion adapter you can put in a nice video card and get 1024x768@24 bit in OS 6.

Getting back to the LC topic, my LCIII has max RAM and VRAM, but the desktop size is still rather limited. I plan on making it a hotline server, just have to "get'er done"!

 

Blessed Cheesemaker

Well-known member
I thought the LC and LCII can only recognise 10 MB anyway? I think that is one of the reasons many think of these two as "crippled".
As for the IIe emulation, yes, that would be cool, but you'd have to be lucky to find an LC that came with the card, or be willing to pay eBay prices for one :(
I am pretty sure that the problem was the 24-bit memory addressing...that you can turn on or off in the Memory Control Panel. I remember (and now I am 40, memory is getting dicey) turning that on and off allowed me to recognize more memory.

I got an Apple IIe card from a list pretty cheap...my biggest problem is, I use the Dvorak keyboard layout, which the Apple IIe card won't recognize.

I figured out a solution I have yet to try...I have an AlphaSmart Pro that will let you type in Dvorak as a keyboard, and the computer will recognize it correctly. I'm starting to get off topic.

LC's are great, it was just they were slow, and had a slow data bus...but they were great consumer computers!

 

Blessed Cheesemaker

Well-known member
My LC III is hooked up to a 20" Sony Trinitron CRT Display. 78 pounds exactly. :-*
LOL...I thought there was a theoretical weight max of 55 pounds or so when placing a monitor on top of an LC. Don't ask me where I get that from, I remember discussing it with somebody on a list, and thinking, phew, my 17" monitor is (just) ok.

 

MacTCP

Well-known member
I don't think I'll get the LC II after all. I'll wait until there's a Classic II or something like that to run System 6 on.

 

LCGuy

LC Doctor/Hot Rodder
As i said above...LCIIs can run System 6.08 (the full 6.08, not 6.08L), and i can provide a photo to prove it

 
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