Scored a Mac SE/30 with Ethernet and video card!

[krishnadraws]

Last week, I purchased a Mac SE/30 on Mercari from a seller who mentioned he had already recapped the machine. This afternoon it arrived. In the box was a keyboard / mouse (1993/4 vintage) and the Mac itself. 

It booted up just fine. Checking the specs: it  has 8MB of RAM and a 340MB hard drive. The case is in remarkably good condition for a machine of this vintage. There is no yellowing, but there are the assorted scuff marks and other cosmetic blemishes to deal with. (Any products I can use to get rid of sticker residue and other scuff marks?)

I haven't opened up the unit just yet, but I did notice that the Mac has Ethernet on the back as well as a video expansion card of some type. The installed system is System 7.5.3 rev. 2. With shipping, I paid $260. I think that's pretty reasonable considering what I've seen an SE/30 go for on eBay.  

Anyway, I'm very excited to finally have a working SE/30! 

 

[LaPorta]

That’s pretty sweet, not to mention you got the IIgs keyboard with it. I’d say that’s definitely fair for a machine that has been gone through, price for new caps, and labor put in...plus the Ethernet card. What are your plans for it?

 

[krishnadraws]

I agree. I felt the price was very fair. I've recapped a Mac SE FDHD and know how much time and effort it took. To not have to go through that was worth the extra expense. The machine was initially listed for $250 but it was dropped down to $225 - that's when I jumped on it.

The IIGS keyboard was something I already had laying around. The keyboard that was included in the sale is of a later vintage (the version after the Apple Extended Keyboard II, I believe.) The included mouse was the tear-drop shaped mouse Apple included with Macs from the mid-90s. 

 I'm curious to see how early versions of Photoshop work on it and maybe do some bitmap illustrations / animations using the Mac SE/30. If I'm feeling ambitious, it would be neat to have the SE/30 handle my music library and serve up tunes for my little studio space. 

 

[Byte Knight]

Nice find!

I suspect that the other port on the card is an AUI (Attachment Unit Interface) network port and not a video port.  I use the AUI port on my SE/30's Ethernet card with a Cisco 2501 Series Transceiver to hook up to my modern network.  I couldn't get it to work with the standard Ethernet port...

 

[LaPorta]

I think I’m the not too far off future, as more machines just stop working, we will see less of this “untested for $250” that no one buys, to the ones restored being genuinely appreciated in the marketplace.

As a corollary to that, there still as an amazing amount of low-hanging fruit, as

people clean out closets, attics, and basements. It blows my mind how many of these untouched machines hit the market all the time.

 

[krishnadraws]

Nice find!

I suspect that the other port on the card is an AUI (Attachment Unit Interface) network port and not a video port.  I use the AUI port on my SE/30's Ethernet card with a Cisco 2501 Series Transceiver to hook up to my modern network.  I couldn't get it to work with the standard Ethernet port...

I'd love to know more about your setup. I'm keen on getting the SE/30 on my local network. 

 

[ArmorAlley]

I'm seconding Byte Knight's comment. I think that that 15-port on the back is an AUI port.

Now you may have a video card inside there but you won't really know until you open it up. You probably should also take the PRAM battery out while you are at it (or, at least, replace it with a new one).

I suppose a look at the Monitors control panel or a look inside the System Folder for INITs might reveal an Xceed, Radius or Lapis card, but I guess not.

It was not uncommon for SE/30s to have been servers back in the early 1990s. It is a part of the reason why network cards for it are not uncommon.

 

[ArmorAlley]

 I'm curious to see how early versions of Photoshop work on it and maybe do some bitmap illustrations / animations using the Mac SE/30. If I'm feeling ambitious, it would be neat to have the SE/30 handle my music library and serve up tunes for my little studio space.

Quite well, I should think. It does have 8MB RAM. Maybe Studio/1 from EA would be a better program to use though.

 

[krishnadraws]

Thanks, ArmorAlley. I plan to open up the machine either today or tomorrow to extract the old battery and replace it with a fresh one that I received a week back. While I'm inside the unit, I'm sure I'll get a run down on the state of the board etc.

I may have mistyped that it was a video card. A few other folks who follow my Mac shenanigans on Instagram have also mentioned that what I have is really an AUI port. 

I'll check out Studio/1 - thanks!

 

[LaPorta]

Would love to see the inside. It’s like a drum roll to see what the surprise is in there!

 

[JT737]

@krishnadraws- I can tell you from experience that the SE/30 will run up to Photoshop 4 (Photoshop 5 and above requires a power mac) reasonable well, but to run 4 you'll definitely want more RAM.  Actually, you'll want more RAM anyways!  There was a seller who was (I think still is?)selling re-made 16mb 30 pin SIMMS on ebay; I bought 8 of them for my mac and they work very well:

Congratulations, it is a nice, clean-looking machine!

 

[krishnadraws]

I had a chance to open up the Mac SE/30. Inside, the machine looked very clean. The logic board took some time for me to remove, as I had to first unplug the usual suspects (Power, SCSI, Floppy cables) before removing the Ethernet expansion PDS card. The Mac SE/30 has been fully recapped, using replacement surface mounted caps and new electrolytic caps. The analog board was also fully recapped. I'm assuming the PSU is the same way, but I have not checked it out.

What was most interesting to me was the removal of the CMOS battery holder. I'm not really bothered by this (it's a relief to never have to worry about an exploded CMOS battery). I'm really impressed by how meticulous the seller's approach was, with regards to the Mac SE/30's innards. This evening, I spent some time cleaning up all the sticky residue and scuff marks on the case. The machine looks as good as new now. 

 

[krishnadraws]

I've included pictures both before and after removing the sticky residue on either side of the Mac SE/30's case.

 

[Byte Knight]

I'd love to know more about your setup. I'm keen on getting the SE/30 on my local network. 

Pretty simple actually - I'm running System 7.5.5 and in the TCP/IP control panel Connect Via: Ethernet, Configure: Using DHCP Server.  Not much different setup than on my modern Macs...  As above, I'm using a Cisco 2501 Series Transceiver that I picked up off of eBay in the AUI port.

 

[krishnadraws]

Excellent. Thanks! I haven't tested out the Ethernet card as yet, to see if the original Ethernet port works - if it fails, I'll give the Cisco Transceiver a whirl.