The TAM Appreciation Thread

[jsarchibald]

As most of you would already know, the TAM has a special spot in my collection.  It is the one computer that I would have to keep above all others.  So I thought I would start a TAM Appreciation Thread, for those of us with a TAM (or several, or even none.  Maybe I should have called this the TAM Fanciers Thread?).

I bought my TAM at auction from the US in 2010, and paid $535 for it.  That got me a TAM with the Bose Base Unit, box 3 with all of the manuals, disks and bric-a-brac that came with the TAM (except the pencils and leather wallet).  I also sourced, from a guy in France, the matching US keyboard for $150 (ouch!).  I then followed that up with a buy in 2011 of another TAM, non-working with base unit and keyboard, and some more TAM CD's.  I've gotten this one to the Mac OS screen before I get random Bus Address errors.  Due to time constraints, I've not gotten far with this one, but I think it is able to be saved.  I've tried swapping over the hard drive, L2 cards, etc, from the working TAM, but no dice.  I think it is going to require a teardown and some work.  At least the rest of it works - base unit, keyboard, CD drive, screen, etc, so 90% of the work is done.

I enjoyed my TAM for a little while, and loved the Bose sound and the vertical location of the CD drive, and the inclusion of a floppy drive for backwards compatibility.  I could also hook up my 500SC drive for backup and storage.  But something wasn't quite right, and I set out to make it a more complete system that was usable in this day and age.

So I installed:

- Sonnet G3 400MHz processor upgrade card (if anyone has a 500MHz model, PM me!)

- Maximum 128MB of RAM

- USB card to go alongside the Ethernet card, using the Fat Back

- CF adapter and 16GB Kingston CF card, partitioned with 7.6.1, 8.5, and 9

- My fave software, such as After Dark, F/A-18 Hornet 2.0, SimCity 2000, et al

I have a powerline adapter to connect the modem on the other side of the house to the Ethernet port of the TAM, but haven't gotten around to that at this stage.

I am a massive fan of System 7, so my partition of 7.6.1 is what I use the most.  Unfortunately, my plan of putting the CF card in a USB adapter to copy files over to System 7 wasn't to be, as 10.9 or 10.10 can read but not write to the HFS partition (Apparently this would work for 10.5 and under, so maybe I need to use my Pismo to do the dirty work for the TAM).  I can copy to the 8.5 or 9 partition, copy to the external hard drive in 8.5 or 9, and then restart in System 7, but it is tricky.  You can also download a System 7 skin, which is pretty convincing if you get the fonts just right.

I also used to have my USB card working in System 7, but the hard drive corrupted before I started using the external drive.  I hadn't backed up - damn!  No amount of testing or research has been able to replicate using the USB Card in System 7.

In summary, I love using my TAM, as I get to use System 7 (great childhood memories), in a sexy shape, with great sound, multiple ways to connect (floppy, external, CD, CF card/modern computer).  Let us know your TAM stories (good and bad) and your thoughts.  I know some of you will think of the TAM as an overpriced door stop, but let's try to be positive!

The thread might also be a good chance to swap ideas on upgrades and uses for the TAM.  I like my mods non-destructive, so if there is anything that I have missed, let me know.  I'd be keen to hear of ANY mods you've made to yours, the more the merrier.

 

[unity]

From the day I saw it, I wanted a TAM. At one point the price dropped below a grand - but I was too young, too poor. However, my first job ever was for Apple and I got to spend much time with a prototype. The acoustics amazed me. One thing I recall was that the engineer said the prototype was just cheap plastic and that the final version would be constructed of aluminum and titanium - that never happened.

Some day I will own one, hopefully.

 

[SuperToaster]

How easily upgradable is a TAM. It would make it more tempting if I knew how easily upgradable the machine is...

 

[jsarchibald]

How easily upgradable is a TAM. It would make it more tempting if I knew how easily upgradable the machine is...

Well, you can upgrade from the 250MHz 603 processor to a 500MHz G3 Sonnet Crescendo card (I have the 400MHz).  This makes a massive difference, and is a card in the L2 slot in the rear.  You would need drivers and the fat back though.

RAM is usually at 32MB, so bumping up to 128MB is easy.  I have noticed that the main unit won't come on for up to 20 seconds with more RAM in it, but it is handy to have the RAM.

The hard drive can be swapped out with a CF adapter ($1.71 incl postage from China), and a CF card ($25 for a Kingston from the UK), this results in quicker read/write speeds and the security of the data - no IDE spinny drive to fail on you!  Easy to backup too.

If you find a USB 1.1 card with the Opti chip, you can add USB capability as well.

All of the above is easy to add and just as easy to remove, the hard part is getting some of the parts.  If you really want to do it, you can.  And I'm sure the more tech savvy guys here can recommend a host of other upgrades, which I eagerly anticipate!

Does this answer your question?

 

[TheWhiteFalcon]

I'd love to own one, but the odds of one ever being in my price range are as likely as Apple producing a standard midtower Mac desktop anytime soon.

It's a nice looking machine though, that much is certain. It'd fit my desire for a PCI Power Mac quite well. Not to mention it wouldn't take up much desk space, which is an issue for me these days, and is likely to remain an issue for some time to come.

 

[jsarchibald]

I'd love to own one, but the odds of one ever being in my price range are as likely as Apple producing a standard midtower Mac desktop anytime soon.

It's a nice looking machine though, that much is certain. It'd fit my desire for a PCI Power Mac quite well. Not to mention it wouldn't take up much desk space, which is an issue for me these days, and is likely to remain an issue for some time to come.

I figure that many collectors could sell off some of their unused computers to pay for one of these.  That's what I would do, knowing now how great these things are.

Being vertical, they don't take much space at all, and the keyboard slides under the computer.  I have the base unit behind the TAM, and the TAM on a corner, but you can easily have the base unit on the floor too.

I have paired a black USB mouse (taken from a PM Director's Edition) with my TAM, because the trackpad can get a little old.  I find it great for general use, but if I am copying files everywhere, and need a lot of control, the mouse is superior.

PS - Nowhere have I found that these can handle OS X, even with the Sonnet upgrade.  You can apparently brick your TAM, and some have been brought back from the brink, but if you really need OS X, use something else!

 

[snuci]

My TAM is the only vintage Mac that I took out of the box and never put back in.  It sits in my family room and is used for all my vintage Mac needs unless I need to use a Mac Plus to make really old disks.  I have also upgraded it with a Sonnet Crescendo 400mhz accelerator.  It came with an ethernet card and USB card as well as a black Mac TV mouse (that I subsequently broke when I dropped it).

Mine is fully boxed with all accessories, CDs, etc right down to the plastic bags.  I got a good deal on it and got an Apple IIGS with a few cards in it thrown in for the cost of shipping as well.  Google found it in a local Classified ad in BC.

The TAM is a wonderful machine.  I think of it as a laptop built into a desktop form factor and I don't know why more companies didn't "emulate" that idea.  The sound does set it apart. 

 

[jsarchibald]

I'd love a boxed one, I'm definitely a box guy but I haven't found one yet at a price I can live with.

eBay is really my only option being in Australia, so either way I'd be paying through the nose.

 

[FireBlade93RR]

i'd love one, even unboxed, in any condition, but they are soooo expensive, or i'm not looking at the right places...

 

[jsarchibald]

Just had a read of my conquest page for the TAM: https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/13420-twentieth-anniversary-macintosh-hail-to-the-king-baby/

Wow, can't believe how much of an old man I was with Macs back then.  Max RAM and Ethernet, that's all I wanted.  Fast forward 12 months, and I was well on the way to a full upgrade!  I have no idea why I was so resistant, but I'm so glad I changed my mind.  It has changed the TAM from cool to awesome.

I can actually use it now without delays or issues, and look forward to the next time I can give it a go.

 

[jsarchibald]

So I thought I'd see what I could dig up on the ol Wayback Machine:

http://web.archive.org/web/19980428071133/http://twentiethanniversary.apple.com/usa-s.html

http://web.archive.org/web/19980423102039/http://www.bose.com/new/new_apple.shtml

Funny to see how far web development has come, and get some info from back in the day.

 

[techknight]

lol yea on the internet. Gotta think, the internet back then was relatively new, I was using it occasionally. So everyone published websites and HTML formatted as newspapers, or magazines/brochures in general as they probably thought thats how people would view these things because that generation was still heavily paper-based. Trust me, i know. and it sucked. lol. Good ol pencil and paper days. 

now, not so much.

pencil and paper, whats that?? 

 

[Syntho]

I hope someday we find how out how you got USB working in System 7...

 

[CJ_Miller]

When I worked in Boston in the late 90s, many of the advertising companies had TAMs. It's hard for me to fathom when people say they are rare because I used to see them everywhere.

 

[CompuNurd]

Where's the 30th Anniversary Mac?

 

[AppleIIGuy]

Here you go!!!



oh wait thats a trash can..

 

[Macdrone]

Ok I found  KEYSPAN USB CARD software CD ver 1.1 that lists it works on 8.1, it doesn't say 8.0, just 8.1.  

It says it uses apples driver in it so at least 8.1 had USB support from apple and extended to PCI by 3rd party.  So I will try the driver on my 6400 in 7.6 and see how it goes. 

The document with it says something about serial to USB for legacy machines.

 

[Macdrone]

I can report that using 7.6.1 and using keyspan 1.1 usb card drivers with 2 usb port cards on a power macintosh 6500 works with at the moment the usb keyboard.  As soon as I find a small usb stick less than 2 gig Ill post that also.

 

[Macdrone]

Oh oops to install you must install on a mac with 8.0 or better and remove libraries and usb driver extensions, put on a floppy and just drag them onto the 7.6.1 extensions folder.