Walkmac

[JDW]

@pinto_guy

I certainly appreciated our private conversations, and I must say that I am also very appreciative of your willingness to share further insights publicly in your latest post today.  

That MacColby makes me think of the Lisa, only portable.  "Portable" back in those days being more of a "luggable" than anything else. With a metal case, that thing must weight a ton!

I look forward to seeing your YouTube presentation.

 

[Jinnai]

Wow, that's a very impressive unit.

 

[olePigeon]

It's kinda like the PC portables back in the day.  I doubt the dimensions are much bigger because it appears that the 3.5" drives allowed for the larger screen.  I remember my dad's old portable with a tiny green CRT, but it had 2x 5.25" drives.

 

[Kai Robinson]

@pinto_guy do you have any information on the screens used, or the interface that connected to the LB in these machines?

 

[pinto_guy]

@Kai Robinson, this MacColby is simply a Macintosh 512k refurbished into a bigger box that can be transported. So the CRT, LB, AB, floppy, mouse and keyboard are all stock Macintosh parts. Colby mostly (only ?) sold a kit that allowed people to assemble Mac components into the Colby box. In Colby's estate, one of us found an old betamax video tape that describes how to do the assembly. He was able to read that tape and upload the content to the Internet Archive, for computing history's sake.  It's a 1h:30mn of lengthy assembly instructions, but you could get the jist of it by skipping at will. In later models such as the WalkMac, Colby went one step further and developed a power supply and an interface between a Mac Plus LB and a flat plasma screen. I hope this answers your question.

 

[pinto_guy]

I uploaded this youtube video with footages of the system in operation, FYI

 

[olePigeon]

Considering we had the Mac tote bags with pockets to carry your keyboard and extra floppy drive, the bigger Colby seemed a bit odd to me, unlike the laptops which were more portable than the Macintosh Portable.

 

[pinto_guy]

Very much agree. This could explain was this product was not a commercial success

 

[pinto_guy]

Our "Colby" booth at the VCF-West event was very well attended. Some of you showed up, and it was fun.

See pics from the booth below.

The first one shows a MacColby, Walkmac, Walkmac Tempest, Cyclops keyboard, and a Colby printer (rebranded Diconix Kodak).

Second one shows a Walkmac SE, and a Lap-Mac (non working). We also had a video of the "Colby Museum" looping on a big screen

 

[mazin07]

Our "Colby" booth at the VCF-West event was very well attended. Some of you showed up, and it was fun.

I got to see your booth in person! And that was before I saw this thread, so I was wondering if they were related. There were some, ah, software glitches from what I remember, but I swear it wasn't my fault

Thanks for exhibiting!

 

[pinto_guy]

I was a bit concerned to keep the plasma screens operating for two 8h days, but they miraculously held. And yeah, I discovered after the show that the floppy cable was loose, and that explained some of the glitches we had. No @mazin07 , it was not your fault

 

[pinto_guy]

Oh, and we got the Big Macs award ! And yes, all the exhibitors got an award !Those VCF guys, they know how to treat people well