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I don't recall seeing XC68000s (even the Lisa boards I've seen had MC68000s) but for sure I've seen plenty of XC030 and XC040 CPUs in Apple gear. I, too, have not heard of any systemic problems with the parts, it's just an interesting historical note.

I very much doubt it. I mean, sure it's a weird coincidence what you're seeing, but lots of equipment was shipped with XC parts. Is it possible that there are bad batches? Sure, compare date codes on the bad boards and see if they're all clustered. But I really don't think it likely that these...

The XC prefix on moto parts means preproduction/early access samples. I vaguely recall Apple and one other vendor at least put XC parts into production computers because they got super early access and were satisfied with performance/stability.

Speaking of visceral sensory experiences, no floppy I ever encountered sounds exactly like the seek sound of a Mac drive. I do not understand, really. It's just a Sony drive. But the seeking sound of those drives is absolutely unique. Maybe the compact shell acts as a resonant cavity to amplify...

CRT voltage is in kV :) You don't need a special tool for discharging them, just a screwdriver and an alligator clip wire. Adding a series resistor (1M is good) will make the discharge less exciting, and is generally considered a Good Idea.

Like anything else "compact", there isn't much room to work inside a compact Mac :) All of us have donated knuckle skin to the compact Mac chassis gods.

The factory implosion band is spot-welded together and is under tension. You do not want to remove it because it is an integral part of the tube design. The purpose of the band is not to prevent implosion, but rather to direct it. The front of the CRT is convex; ergo, for the screen itself to...

That message feels dirty and I love it. :) Also yes BlueSCSI. I put the term power mod in all the Pluses I crack, because it takes no time at all and makes life much easier for The Next Guy.

For me I HAD to have a Plus because of the feel and sound of the keyboard. It brings back all kinds of memories. It's a unique feel, the keycaps are an unusual shape and the echoes inside the mechanism when you press and release keys are like a musical instrument.

I'm kinda surprised that people are doing these exotic swaps unless it's to change phosphor color (I'd love an amber Mac Plus). The original tubes are not rare, donor machines are inexpensive... I have a half dozen spare tubes sitting here.

That is an amazing price. If he doesn't want it, I'll take it. I have probably 20? Pluses and only two mouse/kb sets.

Like I say, it was a long time ago, no later than 9/11 - so no I don't remember a part number - I just remember looking at the dims, thinking "hmm yes" and ordering some, and they fit fine. Which is why it irks me that I can't find a direct replacement these days - it seems like it should be a...

Haha. my problem is not "I need a working VIC-20". I have close to a hundred VICs and most of them work. My specific problem is, the 2-prong units used a power switch that freezes in place after long disuse, and they are really hard to unstick. I have quite a few of them that have been broken in...

O.M.absoluteF.G. That is perfection and you have won three internets today. And I even have a resin printer :) (it's currently printing me a couple of transparent Apple II mice but it'll free up :)). Now for your next trick you'll tell me where to source a VIC-20 (2-prong) power switch ;) - it...

Remember how I said I almost never have problems with a Plus... :) I pulled this one at random because it was the closest thing in my garage I could use to check what's on a 400K floppy someone sent me. Right off I noticed it had an unusual amount of battery corrosion. I rarely see much damage...

Ah well, it's okay as a project machine (I probably have 10 such project machines - Classic/Classic II were never my thing - but this one is the cleanest). I'll nibble through it and see if I can get it working, especially since I have so many donors that could supply an organ or two. The analog...

BTW I should have stated - we had 256K SIMMs that would work happily as 4x256K, and 1MB SIMMs that would work happily as 4x1MB, but split those same modules up and do two and two and the machine either didn't boot at all or was unstable. I miss those times. Not.

Well, it probably is a lot less problematic now when 30-pin RAM is all salvage and you can find anything you want for tinybucks. But back in 1987 when our school lab was upgrading the 1MB Pluses, someone said "we can save money by only going to 2.5 instead of 4" and it was really an issue (for...

And when I bought it it already had notes on it about what it did on powerup, so after I cleaned the digital board with IPA and deoxit'd the sockets, I had very little, if anything, to lose by applying power.

Given the sources of these machines, it has already been done by hopeful sellers before me. And I rarely experience issues with the SEs and Pluses apart from the usual solder joint issues.