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- Thread starter unity
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I don't own any parallel devices 
But I am looking to pick up the original Apple dot matrix printer. Those are parallel.
edit: I take that back, I do have two Xerox printers that have parallel. But I don't think they would work, rather modern. But I will look into it. The older wax based one may work on some crude driver. I wish I had kept my parallel Zip drive.
But I am looking to pick up the original Apple dot matrix printer. Those are parallel.edit: I take that back, I do have two Xerox printers that have parallel. But I don't think they would work, rather modern. But I will look into it. The older wax based one may work on some crude driver. I wish I had kept my parallel Zip drive.
I owned the phasor 300 model which was wax. Worked well until it started throwing random error codes and jams. Making weird noises. With no idea how to service it, I junked it. I had boxes and boxes of the wax.
Actually, the Xerox printers may very well work. Xerox is one of only a handful of dwindling companies that still make true PostScript printers, and not through software emulation and host-based printer drivers like HP. Yuck. You can probably print to the printer using the generic Adobe PostScript printer driver or LaserWriter driver.
I have a relatively new Xerox 6600DN (regular toner, not wax) I bought a couple years ago. I can print to it from any Mac in my house, even those running System 6. Excellent printers. I like them a lot. Full color with duplex and networking. Even still supports AppleTalk and Netware.
My experience with HP in the last few years has me really mad at them. Their insistence on software emulation and host-based printer drivers is horrible. Every time there's an OS update (even a minor point update), none of the HP printers work. We have to wait for Apple to release a 300+ MB HP printer driver update, which could take as long as a month or two.
Xerox, on the other hand, is all handled by the hardware. The software is good for all the extra doodads you can add to a printer, like secure prints, delayed prints, or even stapling and binding if you have a fancier one. But in the end, if all else fails, you can always print to it using a generic PostScript driver. Even so, they update their drivers in a day, sometimes in a few hours, after a point release of OS X. I'm very impressed.
I have a relatively new Xerox 6600DN (regular toner, not wax) I bought a couple years ago. I can print to it from any Mac in my house, even those running System 6. Excellent printers. I like them a lot. Full color with duplex and networking. Even still supports AppleTalk and Netware.
My experience with HP in the last few years has me really mad at them. Their insistence on software emulation and host-based printer drivers is horrible. Every time there's an OS update (even a minor point update), none of the HP printers work. We have to wait for Apple to release a 300+ MB HP printer driver update, which could take as long as a month or two.
Xerox, on the other hand, is all handled by the hardware. The software is good for all the extra doodads you can add to a printer, like secure prints, delayed prints, or even stapling and binding if you have a fancier one. But in the end, if all else fails, you can always print to it using a generic PostScript driver. Even so, they update their drivers in a day, sometimes in a few hours, after a point release of OS X. I'm very impressed.
3rd party wax has gotten better, and most offer a free replacement or repair of your printer as a guarantee with their wax should it ever do that.
However, as with all 3rd party, the quality isn't as good as an OEM. Interestingly, the wax printers use the shape of the ink to differentiate between the "sampler" ink and "regular" ink. You can buy tons of the sampler ink online for really cheap, but the printer won't ever print with a block of sampler more than once. So what people do is melt sampler ink, pour it into a silicon mold of regular ink, and now they have a block of "regular" ink the correct shape.
I bought a regular toner printer because I was worried about the archival qualities of the wax. It can technically re-melt and/or become sticky in high enough temperatures (like on a car's dash in the summer.)
Well here is another conquest for today. Although my LC5215 does a decent job, I bought this SE to simply have a workhorse for easily creating and duplicating 400k floppies. I also have several SE motherboards I needed to test before selling. So there was a second agenda I guess.
Sold as an M5010, two 800k floppies and 1MB RAM. First thing, as usual, was to open and inspect. To my surprise there was a hard drive perched high on top the floppies. Its a Seagate 32MB. Unfortunately it does not appear to work, but I have not checked with a SCSI probe yet. It spins up, stabilizes, lights flash and nothing. Finder does not seem to notice it (6.0. 8) . I am going to install a 1.4MB floppy in one of the bays and upgrade the ROMS, all of this I have on hand. I don't think its a ROM issue, but the larger capacity floppy drive will make it easier to get System 7 with some SCSI tools onboard. It would be nice to get the drive working but I am not holding my breathe.
Sold as an M5010, two 800k floppies and 1MB RAM. First thing, as usual, was to open and inspect. To my surprise there was a hard drive perched high on top the floppies. Its a Seagate 32MB. Unfortunately it does not appear to work, but I have not checked with a SCSI probe yet. It spins up, stabilizes, lights flash and nothing. Finder does not seem to notice it (6.0. 8) . I am going to install a 1.4MB floppy in one of the bays and upgrade the ROMS, all of this I have on hand. I don't think its a ROM issue, but the larger capacity floppy drive will make it easier to get System 7 with some SCSI tools onboard. It would be nice to get the drive working but I am not holding my breathe.
I still have my Phaser 300 wax prints of schematics I did when I used to have my printer. around 1999 or 2000 or so. I decided to pull them out because of memory lane of discussing this here, and they are still good.
The neatest thing with the wax printer was being able to print scratch off "lottery" tickets. I ran them on good card stock in a power printer then used some special silver "wax" to print over the tickets. I only bought a few cubes of the scratch off wax. It worked pretty well but sometimes it was a little thin.
As for the SE, the drive decided to start making some crazy noises. I can only assume the head was not right to being with which is why it would not read or write correctly. But then the head came right off. Not a big deal, but it would have been neat to have it working for posterity's sake.
As for the SE, the drive decided to start making some crazy noises. I can only assume the head was not right to being with which is why it would not read or write correctly. But then the head came right off. Not a big deal, but it would have been neat to have it working for posterity's sake.
adheasive probably gave way. Too bad it destroyed the platter, otherwise you could have swapped the head from another drive.
For today I bring you the world most advanced video card for a classic. Or not. Its weird, I bought it. The end.
nView Corp. ©1991 Mac Classic Adapter
I think its video, but we all know how that goes. Not all connectors are created equally. The green lead apparently connects to the SIWM chip? Seems weird. The only info I can find:
Adapter kits
Required for Mac SE, SE/30, 512, Plus, Classic, and DEC VT 340 terminal. Mac kits install internally with no cutting or soldering.
Adapter Kits
Macintosh SE/SE30 Adapter Kit; Macintosh 512/Plus Adapter Kit; Macintosh Portable Adapter; Macintosh Classic Adapter Kit.
http://www.thecomputerarchive.com/archive/Displays/Presentation/nView%20presentation%20products.PDF
Pricing:
http://www.thecomputerarchive.com/archive/Displays/Presentation/nView%20MediaPro%20and%20ViewFrame%20LCDs%20for%20Overhead%20Projectors%20(1991).pdf
nView Corp. ©1991 Mac Classic Adapter
I think its video, but we all know how that goes. Not all connectors are created equally. The green lead apparently connects to the SIWM chip? Seems weird. The only info I can find:
Adapter kits
Required for Mac SE, SE/30, 512, Plus, Classic, and DEC VT 340 terminal. Mac kits install internally with no cutting or soldering.
Adapter Kits
Macintosh SE/SE30 Adapter Kit; Macintosh 512/Plus Adapter Kit; Macintosh Portable Adapter; Macintosh Classic Adapter Kit.
http://www.thecomputerarchive.com/archive/Displays/Presentation/nView%20presentation%20products.PDF
Pricing:
http://www.thecomputerarchive.com/archive/Displays/Presentation/nView%20MediaPro%20and%20ViewFrame%20LCDs%20for%20Overhead%20Projectors%20(1991).pdf
Picked up an 8500/120, two Performa 466, two Performa monitors. Several keyboards, mice, printers, Zip drive, all for $40. Nice little lot. Just need to dig through and see what else. Boxes have things like RAM and software I need to check out.
Also on my doorstep when I arrived home was a Mac 512k. Its a bit odd when I looked at it in depth. I bought it only because I need a 512k in my line-up and it had a funky cable out the side. I like little things like mystery cables! Turns out I got screwed, its not a 512k. Its a re-badged 128k. Dang it! The cable was for a Power R adapter for 512k/Plus. Nice little bonus. The other odd thing was the addition of a WP label, but off-set. The power supply appears to be a 120v, so that is really weird. But I have not pulled it to look close at the part number and I have not tried to boot it with 120v. I also noticed the rear FCC label looked odd. Sure enough, two labels. So this thing had THREE regulatory labels! LOL I heated up then removed the 512k label at the stock location, underneath was an FCC label for a 128k. Also the serial number indicates its a 128k. So at some point this 128k got upgraded to a 512k including a new FCC label and 512k badge. Still not sure on the WP label. If its a 120v supply, I will probably restore it back to a 128k with the spare motherboards and original badges I have.
Also on my doorstep when I arrived home was a Mac 512k. Its a bit odd when I looked at it in depth. I bought it only because I need a 512k in my line-up and it had a funky cable out the side. I like little things like mystery cables! Turns out I got screwed, its not a 512k. Its a re-badged 128k. Dang it! The cable was for a Power R adapter for 512k/Plus. Nice little bonus. The other odd thing was the addition of a WP label, but off-set. The power supply appears to be a 120v, so that is really weird. But I have not pulled it to look close at the part number and I have not tried to boot it with 120v. I also noticed the rear FCC label looked odd. Sure enough, two labels. So this thing had THREE regulatory labels! LOL I heated up then removed the 512k label at the stock location, underneath was an FCC label for a 128k. Also the serial number indicates its a 128k. So at some point this 128k got upgraded to a 512k including a new FCC label and 512k badge. Still not sure on the WP label. If its a 120v supply, I will probably restore it back to a 128k with the spare motherboards and original badges I have.
RAM! Bought a grab bag off Ebay. Not really sure what was all coming. Today they arrived. Most are Advantage brand. With shipping, under $10.
1- PB3400 / 32MB Module - I think. Says APPL32/3400 - new
3 - 61/7100 4MB modules - new
3 - 16MB EDO 72-pin - new
1 - 32MB EDO 72-pin - open
1- 8MB 72-pin - open
1- 64MB SDRAM 168-pin -new
1 - 256k cache - no clue what for, says CACHEPCI-APPLE
1- 1MB VRAM module
Now I just have to see what will fit where in the collection. I am sure most of this will be spares/dust collectors.
1- PB3400 / 32MB Module - I think. Says APPL32/3400 - new
3 - 61/7100 4MB modules - new
3 - 16MB EDO 72-pin - new
1 - 32MB EDO 72-pin - open
1- 8MB 72-pin - open
1- 64MB SDRAM 168-pin -new
1 - 256k cache - no clue what for, says CACHEPCI-APPLE
1- 1MB VRAM module
Now I just have to see what will fit where in the collection. I am sure most of this will be spares/dust collectors.
