Restoring an LC 575 and LC 580

[notcrazy_iminsane]

I managed to save a working LC 575 and an LC 580 from my grandma's school. They work fine, but I want to install a clean copy of System 7.5.3 that I found on the Apple website. I thought this process would be a simple one, but I've run into countless roadblocks being the inexperienced mac user I am.

The LC 575 runs System 7.5.1 and the LC 580 runs System 7.5

The only computer I have that has access to the internet right now runs Windows XP.

Neither of the Macs have Stuffit Expander and I have no clue how to get it on there. When I got the computers I got just that. The computers, power cables, keyboards, and mice. No disks or anything.

On a side note, the LC 575 has just recently began giving me problems with the hard drive. It will boot normally, but when I try to explore the hard drive, it displays a blank bomb message and locks up xx( If anyone could help me out, I would appreciate it. I've grown up with these Macs but I never got to do serious work on them until now since they were in the school's possession. Anything that I can learn about these two computers would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Hellcats]

Get Stuffit Lite here.

You can just burn the .sit files to a CD, read the CD in one of the Macs, and make the floppies using one of the Macs, right?

Do you have access to a Mac of any kind, including a newer one?

In all honesty, given the tedium associated with making copious amounts of floppies for 7.5.3, I think the easiest way to install would be to find an installation CD on eBay.

Congrats on your successful liberation!

 

[notcrazy_iminsane]

I have yet to try reading the .sit files on the mac. Most of the time when I try to open files, the mac opens them with Stickies.

The only other Apple products I have access to are a couple of iPods. It's nearly impossible to find any Mac computers in my area.

I would buy the installation CD, but I have no money to put into my Macs right now. I do however have plenty of floppies to put into this process and a wonderful amount of burnable CDs and DVDs.

 

[Dog Cow]

I've got an installation CD for 7.5.3; if you're interested, send me a PM.

 

[netfreak]

Another option is getting the floppy images and writing them on the Windows box using something like transmac.

 

[luddite]

It's worth noting that not all 575s have CD-ROM drives... but aside from that, I personally think finding a way to install 7.5.3 from floppies should be mandatory for all new recruits – it builds character ;-)

Do either of them have ethernet? If not, I'd make that priority number one... it will make your life a lot easier and the NICs for those are (generally) cheap and plentiful. The 575 is a better machine than the 580... I have a couple that still get used daily. If you feel like throwing a few bucks at it, you can get a quick and easy performance boost with a 32MB RAM module and a 7200RPM hard disk. Both are pretty affordable upgrades if you shop around.

 

[MacJunky]

The 575 is a better machine than the 580...

The 580 can take more RAM, can take IDE HDDs and you can slip it's mobo into nicer cases like the 6400/6500 and connect a trinitron(if you like em) or any other display.That beats out anything the 575 can do. The 580 has an onboard connector for some video input thingy too. (yes, I know you can get that "presenter" kit for the LC575)

Case-swapped 580 all the way!

 

[luddite]

580 case plastics are crap and the 575 already has a trinitron (I think)... I win ;-)

 

[MacJunky]

But that is the point, you remove the crappy case and replace it with a cooler one then attach a bigger trin, and get more drive bays(scsi) in the process. soo.. I win.

*Edit

Oh yea, and the 6400/6500 case has that internal sub too.. :

 

[luddite]

But then you lose the majestic "crouching sphinx" esthetics of the 575!

 

[MacJunky]

pfft

High-end cases ftw! AIOs ftl.

Tower based cases have always been so much more useful and functional.

Either way, getting back on topic, I would vote for the 580 over the 575.

OP, it is up to you what one you want to play with first, but, since you will eventually use em both I would not say that it such just a big deal and you can choose what you like more based on your experiences with them.

 

[yuhong]

Neither of the Macs have Stuffit Expander and I have no clue how to get it on there.

That is a classic problem. What other programs do the hard drive have? Many Internet-related programs has a built-in MacBinary decoder.

 

[luddite]

High-end cases ftw! AIOs ftl.

This is a free society and therefore I respect your inalienable right to be wrong...

 

[notcrazy_iminsane]

It's worth noting that not all 575s have CD-ROM drives... but aside from that, I personally think finding a way to install 7.5.3 from floppies should be mandatory for all new recruits – it builds character ;-)
Do either of them have ethernet? If not, I'd make that priority number one... it will make your life a lot easier and the NICs for those are (generally) cheap and plentiful. The 575 is a better machine than the 580... I have a couple that still get used daily. If you feel like throwing a few bucks at it, you can get a quick and easy performance boost with a 32MB RAM module and a 7200RPM hard disk. Both are pretty affordable upgrades if you shop around.

I'd actually prefer to install by floppy so I can put all of these floppies to good use But a CD works fine as well since both computers have CD drives

I've yet to have the chance to install ethernet ports. As soon as I scratch up some more money it's the first thing going into them. All of the other upgrades are going to have to wait until I can figure out the other problems and whatnot :-/

OP, it is up to you what one you want to play with first, but, since you will eventually use em both I would not say that it such just a big deal and you can choose what you like more based on your experiences with them.

So far, I like them both. But each of them gives me their own issues. The 580 doesn't read CDs right anymore, the 575 is still giving me blank bomb messages when I try to explore the hard drive, and the clocks on both don't work.

That is a classic problem. What other programs do the hard drive have? Many Internet-related programs has a built-in MacBinary decoder.

From what I have seen, nothing internet-related. They don't have ethernet ports just yet, and as far as I'm aware these things were used for educational games only in that school.

 

[Osgeld]

do you have a fairly new pc or mac with a scsi card?

http://www.instructables.com/id/Install-system-70-software-on-a-classic-mac-using/

or you could do the same and just make the floppies

 

[Paralel]

I would suggest just using RaWrite on your XP machine to make 7.5.3 floppies. I used this method on my XP machine with a USB floppy drive to make 7.1.1 installation floppies for my Classic II, worked perfectly, and it honestly only takes about a minute or two to make each disk.

 

[yuhong]

And the good news about making floppies is that all you need to upgrade an existing System 7.5 install to 7.5.3 is System 7.5 Update 2.0, which is available as floppy images on Apple's web site. You will need to have StuffIt Expander to extract them (download from StuffIt's website, you can leave email address blank now and go directly to download page). Tip: If it extracts to .sea, rename to .sit and open in StuffIt Expander again.

 

[notcrazy_iminsane]

I found a way to make Mac disks from Windows XP

I would suggest just using RaWrite on your XP machine to make 7.5.3 floppies. I used this method on my XP machine with a USB floppy drive to make 7.1.1 installation floppies for my Classic II, worked perfectly, and it honestly only takes about a minute or two to make each disk.

The way suggested by Paralel worked for me if I initialized a floppy with Mac and used RaWrite to write a .dsk image of the System 7.0 Disk Tools floppy I found on the internet. Even though the disk is useless so far to me, it means I've got a head start on something. If I can get all of my System 7.5.3 images that are in .smi format in a .dsk format, then I should be able to create the floppies from XP. Any ideas?

 

[Dog Cow]

@notcrazy_iminsane: I sent you the CD installer for 7.5.3. It will eliminate the hassle of having to make 19 floppy disks.

Others: if you want this CD too, just send me a PM. I downloaded it several years ago from Apple's support site.