Twiggy 128K prototype, again.

[superpantoufle]

Did you see this?

http://www.cultofmac.com/160279/pick-up-this-extremely-rare-128k-mac-prototype-for-a-cool-100000/

Most certainly not Wozniak's, but impressive pics. Is it the same that surfaced some months ago?

 

[Concorde1993]

Is it the same that surfaced some months ago?

Yep. I'd be very surprised to see another one floating around.

 

[Mac128]

I'm impressed by how big the drive is inside the case. Talk about blocking any ability to effectively cool by convection. Without vents on top of that case, I cannot imagine how that thing didn't overheat just by looking at it ... also interesting how similar the analogue board is to the final production version. The flyback appears to be a more robust model than used in the production run. The keyboard slide out user guide is pretty cool. I do recall reading that Jobs killed it because he thought the Mac should be so easy to use that a built-in guide should not be necessary, and might actually suggest otherwise. He's not entirely wrong. The number of hidden shortcuts built-into the Mac were minimal. By contrast the typical PC user actually memorized several dozen command prompt codes, lest they constantly had to refer to such a booklet, just for routine operations.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160781780426

 

[CelGen]

I know the seller. He's a local. Yes, this is the same prototype 128 that surfaced a while ago.

That's all I am allowed to say about him though.

 

[Dog Cow]

Don't miss out on the discussion going on here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=18208

and here: http://applefritter.com/content/twiggy-prototype-128k-mac-ebay

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I like that shot across our bows about the registration approval problem. There are enough of us who check out 'fritter on a regular basis that a PM or request in a post would have gotten him registered here in a heartbeat.

 

[tt]

Don't trust the dude (mactwiggy), we all know he could have tried a lot harder to investigate the machine, he always intended to generate enough interest (at the expense of the community generously trying to help him) to flip it. ...And let's give a hand to "wozniac" who can't decide how to properly insert a floppy disk into a disk drive. At least he remembered to include a photo of Jobs that is now requisite for selling vintage Apple hardware.

 

[jsarchibald]

Now, if it had been a picture of Jobs with a Twiggy Drive Mac, then I would be impressed, but it shows a 3.5 drive. Big deal, I have a couple of 128K's of my own, as do countless other collectors.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

That's why I mentioned that the pic of SJ was ripe for a Photoshopped Alternate History Gag. [] ]'>

I agree about the publicity stunts, it was clear to me from the start that he angled for T.O. to ask him to do an article on it for 'fritter just to be able to link to the article for the resale.

I'm still of the opinion that the drive doesn't work, It seems impossible to me that he didn't at least try to get it to boot. He likely never mentioned it to keep the asking price up as "untested" with the hopes of getting it booted by a well-heeled buyer.

. . . but I'm more than a bit skeptical by nature . . . and this entire stage production has me absolutely suspicious. YMMV.

 

[JDW]

The real question is, which one of you are going to buy it? )

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

NOT I!!!!! All I needed were the shots of the sheet metal box so's I can hide the Slot loader and ITX Mobo or a Duo 2300c Mobo in a ClearCaseProtoHoaxMacHack! [}] ]'>

 

[Mk.558]

I also own a complete Apple Lisa 1 computer with its original boxes and matching serial numbers.

A Lisa "1" (all I heard was a Lisa, Lisa XL and Lisa 2) should be able to at least format the disks and check if they are okay. Someone with a Lisa usually has some other Mac to go with it.

I still don't know why two people can't solve a problem of booting a "beyond rare prototype" with the twiggy disk. Or at least try a 400KB Sony external 3.5".

Maybe because it's broken?

 

[jsarchibald]

More to the point, which resident hacker is going to recreate a twiggy mac for sh*ts and giggles? Could you use the guts of a 5.25 Drive, make a bracket to fit it onto the compact mac chassis, and change the faceplate to do this? If I had access to that faceplate, I would so create a template, then punch out 50 or so full cases in clear with a 5.25 drive installed, so we could all have a bit of twiggy goodness.

 

[Macintosh128k]

There seems to be more pictures shown here than is in the ebay listing:

http://adam.trideja.com/PrototypeTwiggyMac/

there is even a 59MB video to watch/download:

http://adam.trideja.com/PrototypeTwiggyMac/TwiggyMacDiskRead.avi

 

[JDW]

Practically speaking though, what System/Finder combination would even allow you to use that Twiggy drive?

 

[Macintosh128k]

Ok so the video isn't very exciting, it just shows a FileWare disk being inserted into the drive, the drive crunching away on the disk attempting to read it, very slowly and then spits it back out

So it would seem if there was a valid OS on a disk it would attempt to load it.

I wonder why the seller did not include the link to the video in his ebay listing, or upload it to youtube for the world to see

 

[Macintosh128k]

Practically speaking though, what System/Finder combination would even allow you to use that Twiggy drive?

Something a lot older than System .85,

If you owned this thing you would want to talk to someone like Andy Hertzfeld, he might know of someone that still had some disks for one of these.

Surely there would still be a few of these in the basements of the original design team

Wisful thinking I know

 

[JDW]

Practically speaking though, what System/Finder combination would even allow you to use that Twiggy drive?

If you owned this thing you would want to talk to someone like Andy Hertzfeld

For $100,000 I would fully expect that baby to be hand-delivered by Hertzfeld himself, followed by a special beyond-the-grave message from Steve Jobs. 8-o

 

[Macintosh128k]

Sure, it is overpriced.

I would highly doubt in its current state it is going to sell for anything near that price.

maybe $10,000-20,000 at best

As has been mentioned before it is of huge historical importance, but it is practically useless, without a start up disk to see some prototype Macintoshness.

As has been mentioned earlier without venting that thing is going to overheat pretty quickly anyway, back in the day you must have imagined the guys running these with the backs off them, or did they at some point have a fan? before Steve stomped on that idea and made them completely silent,