Just picked up my "Macintosh". SCORE - 1983!

[Anonymous Freak]

YES! :b&w:

EDIT: Info that I found out after typing all of the below, but decided needs to be first: It's a 1983 manufacture! Serial number F352035M0001. And, at present, it is now the only 'full serial number' with a 1983 manufacture date listed in the M0001 Registry! (Registry run by our own Mac128, of course. Do I really have the oldest known 'production' 128 left in existence?)

Original post: It's an original "Macintosh", doesn't even say "128k" on the back. Complete with keyboard and numeric keypad, and mouse and external floppy drive that both have 'knobby' knobs. Plus a few disks of software (mostly shareware games,) on actual single-sided floppy disks. And, as a bonus, it has both directions of power cord ('right hand bend' and 'left hand bend') as well as a 9-pin to 25-pin serial cable, with old fashioned knobs on the 9-pin side.

The seller is a semi-pro musician, and he had bought this when it was new in early 1984. It was used for many years before being retired to its blue canvas carry bag (also included.) It has a bunch of his (now grown, full-pro musician) son's files on one of the disks. A resume and a couple of college papers, in MacWrite.

The actual computer works absolutely perfectly, and has a 512K RAM upgrade (I haven't opened it up, so I don't know if it's an in-place chip upgrade, or if it had its logic board swapped.) Sadly, the mouse appears to have broken off one of its optical interrupter wheels, as I can hear a rattle, and the left/right is VERY flaky. Also, the external floppy drive appears to be completely dead. It doesn't even TRY to work. So I'm restricted to a single floppy; and am using my Platinum 9-pin mouse.

Pics on my Computers web page. (Including the serial number)

Total cost? $260 cash plus about $5 of gas, and $40 lost wages taking part of the afternoon off.

P.S. I just spent half my iPad budget... I think I made the right choice.

 

[Mars478]

Nice Catch!

Not sure I would spend that much an 128k, since I got my 512k for about 40$ and I do not have the $$$. But this is a rare model. Congrats on having the oldest mac in the M0001 Registry!

 

[ppuskari]

Geez.. I suppose now I have to register mine. AWESOME score though! I wonder how old mine was. I posted pics of it on January 24, 2010 For it's birthday. That and the fact that mine works now is really nice.

Congrats on yours!!!

Does yours have the 800k floppy drive upgrade too like mine since it was a 512k upgrade? I also love the blue bag!

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Geez.. I suppose now I have to register mine. AWESOME score though! I wonder how old mine was. I posted pics of it on January 24, 2010 For it's birthday. That and the fact that mine works now is really nice.
Congrats on yours!!!

Does yours have the 800k floppy drive upgrade too like mine since it was a 512k upgrade? I also love the blue bag!

No drive upgrade. The 800k floppy upgrade was separate from the RAM upgrade. Specifically, it replaced the motherboard not with a 512K upgrade, but with a 512Ke upgrade.

You can tell when yours was built by the serial number. The letter(s) at the start tell you where it was built, then comes one letter for the year, then two numbers for the week of the year, then three characters for the individual serial number during that week. Finally is the model number

So mine is F352035M0001. Split up: F 3 52 035 M0001. F = Built in Fremont, CA. 3 = 1983. 52 = Week 52 (the last week of 1983.) 035 = 107th built (it's in base-36, aka this group may contain numbers 0-9 and letters A-Z.) M0001 = model M0001.

 

[Dog Cow]

Nice one!

 

[~Coxy]

Brilliant!

What does the numeric keypad plug into? Serial port?

 

[Scott Baret]

Brilliant!
What does the numeric keypad plug into? Serial port?

The numeric keypads are actually connected in a chain with the keyboard on the early Macs. You'll need two cables to make it work; the connection looks somewhat like this:

KEYBOARD ------- NUMERIC KEYPAD --------- :beige:

where -------- represents cabling. There are two ports on the keypad; one to go to the keyboard and the other to the Mac.

 

[LCGuy]

I seem to recall reading in the manual for the original Macintosh that the numeric keypad plugged into the keyboard port on the front, and had two RJ-12 jacks - one for the connection to the Mac, another for the keyboard.

Either way, great score....and thanks for reminding me - I really should get around to registering my Macintosh on the M0001 registry.

 

[ppuskari]

I managed to get my 128K Mac upgraded 512ke system on the registry tonight. If you are looking for me there is one more piece of info there. hehe

Here's my decoding for the Mac. I'll register the 400k external drive and HD20 later sometime.

MAC 128k

Manufactured in: F => Fremont, California, USA

Year of production: 1984

Week of production: 31

Production number: 608 => 6944

Modell ID: M0001 => original Macintosh 1984 (128k)

Your original Macintosh 1984 (128k) was the 6944th Mac manufactured during the 31th week of 1984 in Fremont, California, USA.

Cheers!

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Alright, got a high-quality picture of it running, using my good camera:



(Click for larger.)

I dismantled the external floppy, and got the mechanism to move, but it's still in need of major work. The head doesn't try to move, and the spindle doesn't seem to spin quite right. Not to mention the entire eject mechanism is still suffering from stickiness. Now it will inject a drive, but won't eject without holding the eject lever in the entire time. I did put a yellow disk blank/protector in to keep it safe until I get around to dismantling it again. It's in the photo just to 'look pretty'. When I want a second floppy, I use an 800K drive.

I haven't gotten around to dismantling the mouse yet. Based on the rattle and the broken left/right, I'm guessing that the optical interrupter wheel has broken. If it's the same physical mechanism for that part as for the ADB mice, I'll probably sacrifice an ADB mouse to get the part. For now, it's also posing for the picture, the 'in use' mouse is off to the side (a Platinum-color version, although it is yellowed so it almost matches.)