just.in.time
Well-known member
A few months ago I acquired two Color Classics and one SE/30.
The SE/30 needed recapping, but is now functional, and one Color Classic sustained both physical and functional damage in shipping. But that's not why you are reading this post, lets move on.
With those 3 computers came some spare parts... including an LC575 logic board :O . Not only that, but it already had a 64mb memory stick, as well as the VRAM maxed at 1mb
Niiiiiccce!
Got 8.1 running with a 230mb hard drive, everything appeared stable.
Added on one of those LC PDS ethernet cards that a kind person is selling on eBay for $12 a piece, as well as a 3AAA battery PRAM battery adapter for ~$15, and the custom 3d printed rear cover with the ports cut for a 575 board for $15 as well. All eBay .
I could now load software directly from my MacBook via FTP on and not deal with resetting clock, mouse, etc every time i unplugged the computer to put it away.
Unfortunately, some software still needed an FPU to run (specifically Space Cadet pinball, think Windows 95 through XP included pinball game ). I was able to acquire a full 68040 CPU from eBay for $50, as well as a 4 pack of heatsinks with thermal tape already applied for an additional $5.
Now performance was getting good, and I could finally run pinball on the system, kinda. It is meant for VGA resolution, but is mostly playable on the CC stock resolution. Unfortunately I realized I was running out of hard drive space rapidly as I threw more 68k era software at the machine. Luckily, this realization happened a week before the new shipment of SCSI2SD adapters were due in. Timing is everything I suppose. $67 later and I was up to 8gb of fresh, brand new storage. I currently have it split into two 4gb partitions, with 8.1 on one, and I intend to put 7.6.1 on the other.
Finally, last night I pulled the analog board from the second Color Classic that had received permanent CRT damage and would never work right again. I performed a VGA mod (http://colourclassicfaq.com/general/vga.html) on it to get it to 640*480, swapped the board into my main Color Classic and after some video adjustment everything is looking good.
All in, I'm at roughly $384 haha not sure how I feel about that number. Definitely more than I intended to spend (was looking to top off at $300), but I'm happy with the results.
I could easily pick up a 128mb stick for $20-$40 to max the RAM out to 132mb, but things seem to be running great with 68mb. Also considered retro-brighting case, but the yellowing is moderate, not too extreme yet. All the capacitors are still original(both the original and spare modified analog board, as well as LC575 and CC logic boards). The sharpness leaves a little to be desired (even after doing all adjustments), and I believe that is a symptom of aging capacitors on the analog boards. I'm guessing that recapping both the modded analog board and the LC575 logic board will set me back another $140. Not looking forward to that, BUT with the SCSI2SD in place that would put the machine good to go for another couple of decades. Maybe in the next 6 months I'll recap them (by I'll recap them, I mean send them to Uniserver ).
Any other suggestions?
... dang this is an expensive hobby :
The SE/30 needed recapping, but is now functional, and one Color Classic sustained both physical and functional damage in shipping. But that's not why you are reading this post, lets move on.
With those 3 computers came some spare parts... including an LC575 logic board :O . Not only that, but it already had a 64mb memory stick, as well as the VRAM maxed at 1mb
Niiiiiccce!Got 8.1 running with a 230mb hard drive, everything appeared stable.
Added on one of those LC PDS ethernet cards that a kind person is selling on eBay for $12 a piece, as well as a 3AAA battery PRAM battery adapter for ~$15, and the custom 3d printed rear cover with the ports cut for a 575 board for $15 as well. All eBay
. I could now load software directly from my MacBook via FTP on and not deal with resetting clock, mouse, etc every time i unplugged the computer to put it away.
Unfortunately, some software still needed an FPU to run (specifically Space Cadet pinball, think Windows 95 through XP included pinball game
). I was able to acquire a full 68040 CPU from eBay for $50, as well as a 4 pack of heatsinks with thermal tape already applied for an additional $5.Now performance was getting good, and I could finally run pinball on the system, kinda. It is meant for VGA resolution, but is mostly playable on the CC stock resolution. Unfortunately I realized I was running out of hard drive space rapidly as I threw more 68k era software at the machine. Luckily, this realization happened a week before the new shipment of SCSI2SD adapters were due in.
Timing is everything I suppose. $67 later and I was up to 8gb of fresh, brand new storage. I currently have it split into two 4gb partitions, with 8.1 on one, and I intend to put 7.6.1 on the other.Finally, last night I pulled the analog board from the second Color Classic that had received permanent CRT damage and would never work right again. I performed a VGA mod (http://colourclassicfaq.com/general/vga.html) on it to get it to 640*480, swapped the board into my main Color Classic and after some video adjustment everything is looking good.
All in, I'm at roughly $384
haha not sure how I feel about that number. Definitely more than I intended to spend (was looking to top off at $300), but I'm happy with the results.I could easily pick up a 128mb stick for $20-$40 to max the RAM out to 132mb, but things seem to be running great with 68mb. Also considered retro-brighting case, but the yellowing is moderate, not too extreme yet. All the capacitors are still original(both the original and spare modified analog board, as well as LC575 and CC logic boards). The sharpness leaves a little to be desired (even after doing all adjustments), and I believe that is a symptom of aging capacitors on the analog boards. I'm guessing that recapping both the modded analog board and the LC575 logic board will set me back another $140. Not looking forward to that, BUT with the SCSI2SD in place that would put the machine good to go for another couple of decades. Maybe in the next 6 months I'll recap them (by I'll recap them, I mean send them to Uniserver
).Any other suggestions?
... dang this is an expensive hobby :
