Too Many Macs!

[bigmessowires]

There must be some kind of 12 step program I can join for this. Bear in mind, just six days ago I owned zero Macintosh systems or equipment.



From left to right:

Mac 512Ke - "Smelly"

Mac Plus with Zip drive

Mac SE/30 (borrowed)

Mac 512K with Brainstorm SCSI, ROM, and memory upgrades

Powerbook 540c (borrwed)

not shown: three Apple original compact Mac carrying bags like this one:

 

[macgreg]

Love the fire extinguisher in the background....

Oh, there is no cure. Just more Macs!

 

[Unknown_K]

I keep a fire extinguisher in the lab (rated for electronics) just in case also.

 

[jsarchibald]

Don't worry, this time last year I owned nothing Apple except for an iPhone. I now have over 100 systems...

I know, it's a sickness! But I am selling off systems surplus to my needs once I get a full system that I am happy with.

 

[theos911]

I have a mental list of machines I'd like to own. If I come across others at a reasonable price, I'd snag them and offer them here. For myself, I try to stay to my list. Once I get both of my Pluses running, one will be headed here.

Oddly enough, I never planned to own any Apple ][ stuff, but now I have 3 ][e (all for the wonderful price of free). I learned Applesoft BASIC over the summer, so I guess those(Or maybe one...) can stay. )

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I look at it this way:

_It's not much to try to work on modern electronics or PCBs; they're too small, even to troubleshoot, never mind working on them.

_Hobbies are meant to keep you out of trouble and occupied at something interesting for relaxation.

_Have your Macs cost more than a lift ticket for a day's worth of skiing, gas, wear & tear on your car or meals at the resort?

_They keep you learning new things and spark your curiosity

_They keep your mind active and they're wonderful creative outlet

_They provoke you t buy new and interesting toys (tools)

_The prospect of being zapped,by a CRT, burnt with a soldering iron or acid and mangling your fingers with edged tools,

___not to mention things like Quadra 800 cases and miscellaneous RFI sheet metal work, insanely contrived plastics,

___inhaling lead fumes and the like, all lend a certain excitement to the hobby . . .

___and they're not nearly as horrific as a torn ACL or other common injury from skiing.

Sorry, no twelve step programs available, just Cold Turkey when space is required for a mate . . .

. . . or to keep that person's patience in check! )

 

[jongleur]

Is that a statement, or a question? Neither of which I understand.

 

[Scott Baret]

Old Macs do tend to multiply. It's especially common when you're first starting out. (It was even easier ten years ago when everyone was routinely throwing these systems away). I know the feeling--my Apple count went from 1 in 1998 (my original LC) to 4 by the end of 1999 (when I started collecting) to 9 at the end of 2000. Believe me, the same thing will happen to you!

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Thankfully, I've switched over to PowerBooks for the most part . . .

They're smaller, but I've sort of lost count. :

I went from no Compacts last year, save for a gutted Classic for the projector hack . . . to snagging a 128k/Plus with an interesting logo on the front and an accelerator inside. Then I got a case w/o MoBo to replace the first one's broken bucket . . . then I just HAD to snag a beige Plus for the KBD/Mouse and an HD-20 came with the deal to boot, all for about $35.

I got the IIsi later last year and that's been getting most of my attention lately.

It's a sickness all right, but a good one!

 

[Appleanche]

I'm not sure if these threads make me feel better that I only have 13 Macs or if they make me feel bad that I only have 13 Macs.

 

[Mk.558]

The 68k Macintosh 12-Step Program for Treatment

1. Acknowledge the presence of a Supreme Being.
   
2. Determine that these Macintosh models will never be made again.
   
3. Conclude that while too many is fine, fewer refined models is worse.
   
4. Assert that while many examples are being lost daily, there must be a reason for it.
   
5. Maintain a list of must-have models with the justification thereof. Example: Everybody should have a nice Compact. Because it was the first.
   
6. Search out every other Mac enthusiast and impress upon them the facts and reality they are missing.
   
7. Argue vehemently that System 6 has no equal. Especially not something compiled in assembly language.
   
8. Cast down the gauntlet. Throw out a rant about how just because your IIsi is 21 years old, doesn't mean it can do modern things. "Look! It's an email server. Painting, CAD, fully featured word processor, spreadsheet, games you don't have...." And, "Look! Does your MacBook Pro have a trackball? That's Old School before there was Old School. Passive Matrix display? Only if you had a PowerBook 150." And keep going on: "Mate, when I was your age, the IIfx came out flying with 40MHz. Did I say that thing cost nearly TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!? You guys are spoiled these days with your $250 ChromeBooks and $1000 desktops with quad-core i7 Yorkfield processors."
   
9. Look down at the picture* and mourn over the lost opportunities you missed. "It had a Diimo 50MHz accelerator in it!!!" or "It had that rare NuBus card that you certainly won't ever see again." Also use the picture to compare and contrast what you don't have, and what you should have, and what you COULD have had.
   
10. Weep profusely over the loss of HyperCard. Determine that a revolutionary concept like it won't be around for another 50 years. "Dude, no. The iPad does not count!" Argue that After Dark has no modern equivalent. "See? You still don't have Starry Night and Flying Toasters." And, "Man, seriously, when I was growing up, I used an Apple // with a custom expansion card that was used with some software we coded ourselves to drive the tire torture testing machine at Bridgestone**. Nowadays you guys program PLCs with StuxNet-infected Siemens software on Windows XP."
    
11. Commit to yourself that these are computers. They die and all will eventually be found in massive junkyards and landfills populated by cold-hearted unempthetic employees that have NO idea that the only reason the Classic was a flop was because it had no expansion slot and a 32-bit processor on a 16-bit bus. Besides when you die, you conclude, everything you have will be discarded by some government employee who only needs to move on as fast as possible. "Who'd ever collect these? Can't even use them anymore. Who likes black and white anyways? Guy must have been a psycho, or a troglodyte. No woman I know would ever like that guy." He then smashes the screen of the Color Classic II with a ball-peen hammer. "WTF? No one ever told me this job was dangerous! Who would have ever known that was a vacuum? They had some weird $@%^ back then. And WTF is a 'Road Apple'?"
    
12. Walk away sighing, murmuring that "they just will never get it. Nothing quite like a humble old PowerBook 180c in a meeting, or a classic Plus in a post-modernistic-failure home. Oh well -- just means more for me!"

*: Picture

**: Actually know the guy who did that.

 

[olePigeon]

Just don't feed them after midnight.

 

[bigmessowires]

Hahaha, perfect! I think that just about sums it up.

 

[Bunsen]

One of us!

One of us!

Gooble gobble

One of us!

1. Acknowledge the presence of a Supreme Being.

Unfortunately, he just retired