• Updated 2023-07-12: Hello, Guest! Welcome back, and be sure to check out this follow-up post about our outage a week or so ago.

Rise of the Fallen Soldier...

iMac600

Well-known member
There was a time when I didn't think i'd ever come back into the community again. I checked in on the troops recently though and really felt as though there were certain conquests and developments I wanted to share. Overall I didn't think i'd have anything to lose by checking in and giving everyone a bit of a status report in the world of iMac600 in the post-68kMLA era.

Needless to say, my collecting far from stopped.

In the last several months I went on a run to collect examples of modern Apple design, that is machines and devices created under the eye of Jonathan Ive (who has since become somewhat of a personal hero) and certainly scraped together some decent machines in return. So i'll start with these.

iMac G41GHz PowerPC G4 Processor, 768MB RAM, 40GB Hard Disk, 15" Display, AirPort Extreme Card Installed

Very Good Condition

$50 AUD

iMac G4

800MHz PowerPC G4 Processor, 512MB RAM, 60GB Hard Disk, 15" Display

Average Condition

$50 AUD
So the iMac G4s I picked up for an absolute steal. They came from the Computer Recycling Scheme, purchased from there by a nearby primary school and sold to me when they had their major cleanout. The 1GHz is in fantastic shape, boots up and runs beautifully and is by far an absolute jewel in my collection. The 800MHz has a dark spot on the LCD and a crackling power supply, but otherwise works and could be a candidate for restoration.

[PHOTO] iMac G4 1GHz and 800MHz

[PHOTO] iMac G4 1GHz on display

What astounds me is the absolute motherload of Apple hardware they had in their storage sheds, from big CRT Studio Displays to Snow White Apple iMacs, Power Macintosh G4s and all sorts... I will eventually ask them if I can take a look in there again. The school IT manager, being a fellow Apple nut himself, does see where i'm coming from and that tends to help, along with the fact I give them cash toward school resources for hardware they don't want... it's a win/win however you look at it.

iPod (First Generation)Mechanical Wheel, 5GB Hard Disk, Professionally Replaced Battery, Earbuds & Foam Pads Sealed, White FireWire Cable, AU and US Wall Adapters, iPod CD and User Manuals, Leather Case and Silicone Jacket

Very Good Condition

$170 AUD + $20 Postage
This one... not so cheap, but I had to have it. The First Generation iPod has always been a Jonathan Ive favourite of mine, and when I realised that they're not exactly getting any more common, in the true nature of impulse buys I jumped at the opportunity when it arose and ended up with this little baby.

[PHOTO] iPod with Accessories

I still don't feel any buyers remorse, absolutely love the way it looks, feels and sounds and just the way it plays music. An iPhone or iPod Touch is a great device, but the iPod is in the true spirit of minimalist design to achieve a task the very best way it can- and the iPod First Gen is the very epitome of it.

The next haul came from a member on the MacTalk Australia forum. Although a lot of the machines I didn't exactly show a huge interest in, I decided to head down there and see just what was on offer anyway. What I returned with startled me, excited me and in some cases disappointed me... and i'll explain why as each machine is checked off.

Macintosh SE2.5MB RAM, No Hard Disk

Very Good Condition

Macintosh Classic

4MB RAM, No Hard Disk

Good Condition

Macintosh Centris 660AV

16MB RAM, 250MB Hard Disk, No CDROM Drive

Good Condition

Power Macintosh 6100/66av x2

No RAM, No Hard Disks, No CDROM Drives

Dead (No ROM SIMMs)

Power Macintosh 7220/200 (4400) PC Compatible

Unknown RAM, 4GB Hard Disk, CDROM + Floppy, Cyrix PCI Compatibility Card

Good Condition

Macintosh IIci

Unknown RAM, No Hard Disk

Dead (Intermittent Boot, No Video)

Macintosh LC 475

Unknown RAM, No Hard Disk

Good Condition
This haul was a big one, but I went there mainly for the Centris 660AV. I didn't even know I was getting an SE or a Classic until i'd turned up, which was a nice surprise. In addition to the haul I ended up getting another LC III, LC II x2 and an LC 475 spare, but they're not exactly all that significant. The SE is in fantastic shape and hasn't yellowed, although it could certainly use a CRT transplant with one of the spares I have around. The Classic is also in good shape with some minor nicks around the edging but no yellowing, and surprisingly the logic board still works so I plan to change the capacitors before they leak. Sadly neither compacts came with their hard disks or drive carriers, so any attempts to install another drive will most likely require making a bracket of sorts. The Centris 660AV works a dream, currently running Mac OS 8, it just needs a CDROM drive and sled to complete it. Finally the LC 475 is a bit of a surprise, since it's in decent shape and boots up just fine, and although it has no hard disk it does come with the bracket, just not the SCSI cable. Shame it isn't a Quadra 605 though.

[PHOTO} The Compact Trio

[PHOTO] Macintosh SE

[PHOTO] Macintosh Classic

[PHOTO] Macintosh Centris 660AV

[PHOTO] Power Macintosh 6100/66av (Better of the Two)

[PHOTO] Power Macintosh 7220/200 (4400 "Tanzania") PC Compatible

[PHOTO] Macintosh IIci & Power Macintosh 6100 Parts Machine

[PHOTO] Macintosh LC 475 (Sticker on front said "Flinders Medical Centre")

The real shame comes with the Power Macintosh 6100s. These machines in particular grabbed my interest for three reasons. The first being they're one-hundred percent Copland Mac OS compatible and with the 660AV acting as the debugger, I could have booted it up for the first time. The second is that they're one of the few Macs to have an alternate boot chime. The third is that I have a 6100 DOS card here with an Intel Overdrive on it that could have been fun to play with, although there's an AV card already in there. If I could find a 6100, 7100 or 8100 ROM SIMM there's a good chance that i'd be able to get it running, but even then I still need the funky monitor to go with it. The AV card has a standard DB15 Macintosh Display connector on it, but I have no idea if that'll drive a display without the primary monitor connected.

Finally and a real thrill for me was the day I was asked to clean out the store room at the high school (where i'm currently working on a volunteer basis to give the technicians a bit of assistance). We went on the understanding that a lot of the stuff could just be thrown out, since they don't want it anymore, and what I scored out of it was absolutely freakin' fantastic in terms of small conquests.

- Mac OS X Cheetah (10.0.4) CDROM, Sealed in Jacket- Mac OS X Jaguar (10.2) CDROMs, Sealed in Sleeve, Manuals, Purchase Cards and Getting Started Books included

- iMac G3 Software Restore Discs

  • Mac OS 9.2
    Mac OS X 10.0.4
    Apple Hardware Test
    iMovie 2

- iMac G3 Restore Discs (Earlier Model Pack)

  • Mac OS 9.0.4
    Kid Pix Studio
    Adobe PageMill
    World Book Encyclopedia

- iBook G4 Software Restore Discs, Sealed in Clear Sleeve

  • Mac OS X 10.3
    Manuals, Panther Books, Warranty Cards

- iMac G3 Phone Cables & Wall Connectors, Translucent

- Some Apple FireWire Cables

- Mac OS X Pocket Guide for OS X Jaguar by Chuck Toporek (O'Relly Press)
Now these i'm really happy with. I wanted the early OS X CD for ages and found it, quite literally, in the bin. The iMac G3 stuff comes into play with my Graphite iMac G3 named "Kiva" and my attempts to restore it to a complete factory kit. The iBook G4 stuff is for my iBook, which i've also been making into a complete kit and have pretty much completed.

[PHOTO] Mac OS X Pocket Guide, OS X Jaguar Pack and the iMac Software Restore Disc Packs

[PHOTO] iMac G3 Software Pack (Newer), Mac OS 9.2 and 10.0.4 Restore CDs, iMovie 2 and Apple Hardware Test

[PHOTO] iMac G3 Software Pack (Older), Mac OS 9.0.4 Restore CDs, World Book, Adobe PageMill and Kid Pix Studio

[PHOTO] Mac OS X Cheetah CD, Apple FireWire Cable and iMac G3 Modem Phone Cable

There's some other stuff in that store room i'd like to try and liberate from the tip, including a little iMac G3 Graphite Keyboard and an Apple LCD Studio Display. I may have varying degrees of luck with those though.

So i've been just a little bit busy in the last few months as you can see. Contrary to the huge list of gear, it doesn't take up much space at all, but regardless i'd like to get rid of some of the dead machines and the LCs, and then sell off some Power Macintosh G4s and G3s, the iMac Tray Loader, maybe the 660AV and the 7220 after they've been cleaned up and tested. After that it'll just be down to recapping the Classic and finding a ROM SIMM for the 6100 so I can start messing around in Copland.

Ideally some time down the track I want to focus more exclusively on the post-2000 Macs rather than the 68ks. I don't mind a few machines for tinkering when i'm bored but the post-2000 Apple gear, in particular machines like iMac G4s, Cubes, Pismos and devices like the iPod that have significance in design and artistic value are the devices I really want to aim for. The CRT based iMacs and eMacs count into this, but due to their bulky size and weight I can't really keep collecting them.

Anyway, just checking in with the troops and letting you all know that I didn't fall off the face of the earth, still very much alive and well and certainly still into the Apple collectors and restorers scene.

Cheers

- Michael (iMac600)

 

niccyb

Member
Damn! You really did get those G4s for a steal. I've never seen one go for under $90 in my life :( . They're one of my favourite Ive designs - the floating screen is just spectacular. With the IIci, have you tried a monitor that supports sync-on-green. I had a similar issue with my IIfx until I replaced the PRAM batteries and tried a monitor that did support it. Most generic branded CRTs (and some LCDs) have legacy support for it, so just hook up a DB-15 adapter and you're set. Overall, some damn nice hauls!

Cheers,

Nick

 

Strimkind

Well-known member
Very nice haul there. The G4s were an awesome deal and the 1st generation iPod! I'd love to get my hands on the original as there are not to many around.

 

MidnightCommando

Well-known member
Holy hell.

I wish I knew how to ingratiate myself with public schools doing cleanouts so well as some of the others here, yourself included.

You got some pretty sweet swag, comrade! I salute you!

 

Trash80toHP_Mini

NIGHT STALKER
GREAT STUFF! I especially like that Compact Trio. Very, very nice!

I like most of Jonathan Ive's Design Aesthetic, I wonder what he'd come up with w/o the need to kow-tow to "The Steve" and the limitations that must bring to his work. I just recently learned here that he'd been around at Apple since the CC days.

I guess if Apple needed to get away from Frog Design's influence, Jonathan Ive's vision was a very good transition for Apple to make.

I'm looking forward to the release of a new, Two Volume set of AppleDesign! :cool:

BTW, welcome back, trooper!

 

Bunsen

Admin-Witchfinder-General
Welcome back iMac600. Yep, you've scored some beauties there. Here's what I've laid my hands on in the meantime.

If I could find a 6100, 7100 or 8100 ROM SIMM
I've got a few 6100s around - if one of them ends up unrecoverable, I'll let you know.

 
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iMac600

Well-known member
Cheers for the replies. Certainly the iMac G4s and the iPod were the ones that caught me by surprise the most. I phoned around to some northern suburbs primary schools asking if they had any machines around and finally found one that had 3 in storage. I bought two of them since they wanted the third for display purposes, a little bit surprised when I found out the prices. Incredible deal. The iPod was a little more surprising since it was bumped up to an otherwise high price in a frantic eBay bidding war that resulted in a win by only a single Australian dollar. They're being stored again now for the time being (in a temperature controlled indoor room, of course) but eventually i'd like to have them displayed somewhere as a set. The iMac will have to be reloaded with Mac OS X Jaguar first since it's currently running Mac OS X Tiger Server, but after that it should look just as it did when it left the factory.

So, if you're after some machines that you're not aware of being able to find anywhere else, just grab the phone and make a few calls. It's amazing sometimes what you can find.

For what it's worth, the Macintosh Classic is a milestone in my collective Apple history. My first Mac was a Macintosh Classic, 40MB Hard Disk, running System 6. The machine failed in 2005 on the same day I made my introductory post to the 68kMLA and unfortunately due to the heavy corrosion of the processor tracks, it was scrapped in 2006. To have another Macintosh Classic in fully working condition is a second chance at owning one of these machines, armed with the knowledge of capacitor replacement and micro-soldering, it shouldn't be too hard to ensure it stays working for years to come. The hardest part will be stamping the drive mounting carriers for the hard disk drives, certainly not looking forward to that job.

Cheers to beachycove for the offer of the ROM SIMMs, i'll probably take you up on that offer. If it's PayPal though, i'll need to try and hurry it through since the bank tends to be fairly slow on clearing funds into the PayPal account. If there's no rush it shouldn't be a huge issue. Cheers to Bunsen as well, i'll see how things go and we'll go from there if one turns out unrecoverable.

I'll just talk a little about my return as well. I'm currently looking after a house for someone while they're away and in a moment of boredom, I stopped in to the IRC channel to get a bit of a feel for the current state of the community. What I found was a community that was thriving for information, but losing its sense of direction and its sense of community. One of the more daunting things I particularly noticed though is a loss of a lot of our founding and older members, that is the members that guided 68kMLA through its infancy and development. Now i'm by no means a founding member (my membership started in 2005, visited as far back as 2004) but I know a few things about this community from 2004 to 2010 and wanted to see what I could bring to the table.

So, here I am.

Cheers

- Michael (iMac600)

 

stevep

Well-known member
iMac600, I have a couple of Classics here that are basically parts donors. If you need the drive mounts, I'd be happy to pull them out and send them to you. PM with a mailing address if you'd like them, and perhaps a full description of exactly the parts as I haven't opened one up in a while and don't recall how the drives are mounted.

 

stevep

Well-known member
iMac600 -

For some reason I am unable to reply to your PM, not sure if it's aboard issue or what... so I'll post it here :)

I opened up one of the donor machines. The HD carrier is separate from the FD portion - it screws onto the floppy cage at the rear, and I think just hooks in a slot at the front of the floppy cage.

You are welcome to the SCSI ribbon as well. Send me an address and I'll see what postage would be and we can go from there. I don't think it would be too bad if it went non-air as the box would be small and light.

I got these machines a few months ago, and didn't notice when I made the deal that the one had been dropped or banged damaging the case, the other was dead and marked up as well, so they both have been sitting in my basement room in case I needed parts for my good machines or someone else was in need.

Steve

 

iMac600

Well-known member
It was my fault actually, I had my private messages disabled. Just changed the setting back again.

I'll take the discussion back into PM, should work now.

 

iMac600

Well-known member
Two 6100/66av's, One 660AV. The 660AV is working but i've shelved it for the time being. I just replaced the power supply (dud power switch) with one out of the spare 6100, but haven't really had the time nor motivation to do much else with it.

Just as a small update, I recapped the Macintosh Classic, but the operation didn't go as well as i'd have hoped. Two tracks were damaged already from electrolytic fluid, so capacitors had to be soldered on further up the tracks. This means the board works, but capacitors have had to be braced up with small dabs of hot glue, which essentially leaves the board looking incredibly messy. In my mind, the board is ruined, so I don't think i'll be keeping this machine unless I can source another logic board.

The SE had a few parts transplanted from the SE FD/HD and as such is working beautifully. On the downside, I snapped the neck off the SE FD/HD's CRT. I picked the machine up and I guess it didn't have the screws in the bucket after all, it came up and knocked the neck off in the process. Oh well. I still have the Plus CRT if I choose to install it. In addition I installed the Astec PSU in place of the Sony and swapped the floppy drive out with one that actually works.

The Macintosh Plus has been gutted and any beyond repair components thrown away, including the analog board (which in hindsight was a stupid move). The SE FD/HD is going down the same path. I've already had dibs on the cases.

The Macintosh 512Ke has its factory CRT back in with an all new tune on it (so wanted to say that). It's been calibrated to Apple's specifications and looks fantastic. I also dipped the logic board in solvents, then washed it in detergent, then air dried it for 6 hours under a box fan. After that I sprayed down a lacquer surface over the entire thing. The result is a very shiny board that's essentially come up like new (with the exception of damage to the solder on the underside of the board, a result of water damage i'm guessing, based on the fact there's limescale in the rear bucket). Of course, every repair isn't without its perils and the analog board needed another four capacitors changed. To get it up and running the first time i'd used Axial capacitors in place of Radials and wanted to go back to the Radial capacitors again. This went fairly well, except in sliding a cap through the board it caught the edge of the trace and yanked it up. It's been fixed, but... > :( I still like it, sure, and it's a beautiful machine, but i'm just a real sucker for doing things really professionally when possible and in this case, it's very disappointing.

Needless to say, i'm starting to hate working with CRTs, Capacitors or 20 year old boards that have had past bodge-job repairs done to them and would take great efforts to make them anywhere remotely original again. I've actually thought about selling all of these compacts off to other places and being done with them, but I can't see myself without one for long. Soon enough i'll be seeking out a semi-decent condition 128k to work my magic on without the frustration of working on machines that have come from spider-ridden garages or left out on someone's back lawn exposed to the elements for 6 or 7 years.

*sigh*

Well i'm done. Really wish this had turned out better.

If anyone knows where to find a Macintosh 128k in Australia, i'd like to know. Preferably one that hasn't been water damaged, chipped, dinged up or severely scratched. Probably too much to ask.

 

johnsonfromwisconsin

Well-known member
You know,

I think I have two 660av's sitting in my basement right now. Never booted them after collecting them a few years back. One I was told does not boot, but IIRC, it could be a dead pram battery....

 

Dennis Nedry

Well-known member
I didn't read the whole thread carefully, maybe some addressed this, but I would like to tell you that 6100s do NOT have ROM SIMMs. ROM is onboard. There are one or two ROM/Cache slots, and often times you get a cache card installed. This is not required. I have never seen an actual ROM SIMM for a 6100.

If the 6100s chime, this proves that ROM is functional, the sound is stored in ROM. I think the problem is likely to be a dead battery. These machines will appear dead after the chime with a dead battery.

The workaround is to turn the power on for several seconds, then turn it off and back on. This will allow a 6100 to boot without a good battery. This trick will also work for your 660AV(s) should their batteries go dead.

Note: Lacking RAM, the 6100 will not boot. It may not chime or play the car crash sound either, I'm not sure. So load matching pairs of 72-pin SIMMs in them and they will probably work! 6100s are amazing. I have 10 of them, one even surviving a detonated battery, all of them work.

 

iMac600

Well-known member
No chimes either... but they didn't come with RAM installed either. Matching pairs you say?

I don't have matching pairs in there.

Could explain a thing or two.

:)

EDIT: Matching 16mb "Legend" brand 72-pin SIMMs, still no chime. The Centris 660AV boots with them in suggesting that they work and they are at least 80ns, so these should technically be able to boot the 6100.

EDIT: Two logic boards tried. Two sets of memory on each. Still nothing. Can anyone see anything that may be missing from the system preventing a successful boot?



The second and third images are of the AV card fitted to the system. This makes no difference to either machine, whether it's installed or removed the machines both fail to start up.

 
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iMac600

Well-known member
Well, check this out.

http://www.kan.org/6100/l2cache.html

There are two identical slots on the left side of the motherboard. One is for the ROM SIMM, and the other is for the cache SIMM. Either SIMM can sit in either slot. You can distinguish between the cache SIMM and the ROM SIMM by looking at the chips on the SIMM. The ROM SIMM will have a xxx and say Copyright 198x, Apple Computer.
Perhaps that's why? :lol:

 

LCGuy

LC Doctor/Hot Rodder
That RAM should be compatible with the 6100, but it doesn't matter, the 6100 has 8MB of onboard RAM, thats what the 16 chips next to the PRAM battery are for, so it should boot without any RAM fitted.

Just a thought...have you tried a fresh PRAM battery? Who knows how old the one thats in there already is..if I were you I'd try a known-good one if you have one available. Failing that, you shouldn't need any other parts installed to get the boards to boot....I'd say there might be a chance that the boards are dead. :(

 

iMac600

Well-known member
I'm still convinced there's supposed to be a ROM SIMM in one of those slots. There are no chips on the board that resemble any ROM or Flash chips even slightly, there are two slots that take either a ROM SIMM or a Cache SIMM, and the machine is acting exactly the way it's expect to without any instructions to start the boot process. The capacitors all appear just fine, the battery is dead but the system does not respond to a quick-reset or chime (which it still should). The machines were at one point stripped of any cards or memory, and it's likely that vital slotted or socketed hardware went with it, of which most has been returned except for whatever is supposed to be in those two large slots just to the left of the processor.

 
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