Vintage Mac Sickness

mac512 400.jpg

Lately, I’ve come down with the vintage Mac bug. “Back in the day”, I first started using the original toaster style Macs. I then made a regrettable side turn into PCs before being able to return to the fold. The thing is, I still miss my old 512k Mac. The one with the tortoise and the hare preferences. The one that said “hello” to me when I turned it on.

I realize that this sickness is purely nostalgic. My “underpowered” MacBook Air can do more computing than an entire room full of networked vintage macs. Nevertheless, I’ve now caught myself several times haunting the vintage Mac sales on ebay and watched several very familiar looking old Macs sell in the $50-$100 price range. A part of me wants to buy one of these really badly. The problem is, I have no clue what on earth I’d do with it. I certainly don’t have space in my home office for another computer and I have no idea how anything I would write on a 20 year old computer could even get onto my current rig. Frankly, I’m afraid to ask if anybody does use these old machines productively because I suspect it would just enable me. As things currently stand, every time I get tempted, common sense seems to take over. Does anybody else have Vintage Mac Sickness?

45 Comments Vintage Mac Sickness

  1. stonyvolsen@gmail.com

    I do! My wife and my budget prevent me from exercising the bug, though.

    That said, I do use Wordperfect (The mac version, version 3.5e) sometimes. WriteNow is a good, fast word processor. If all you want to do is write, then these old macs are not bad.

    If you have distraction problems, an old mac running system 6 and writenow would be a great machine. It could run word 5.1 too. That would still be enough wordprocessor for most anything you would want to do, outside of a Table of Authorities, I bet. No itunes, seductive safari, etc.

    To get onto a newer mac, just a small network wouldn’t be bad at all. Localtalk to an ethernet equipped powermac from the mid 90’s that you can then network to a nice panther equipped mac of some kind–that clamshell ibook, for instance, and then it’s super easy to get onto you modern machine.

    Reply
  2. stonyvolsen@gmail.com

    I do! My wife and my budget prevent me from exercising the bug, though.

    That said, I do use Wordperfect (The mac version, version 3.5e) sometimes. WriteNow is a good, fast word processor. If all you want to do is write, then these old macs are not bad.

    If you have distraction problems, an old mac running system 6 and writenow would be a great machine. It could run word 5.1 too. That would still be enough wordprocessor for most anything you would want to do, outside of a Table of Authorities, I bet. No itunes, seductive safari, etc.

    To get onto a newer mac, just a small network wouldn’t be bad at all. Localtalk to an ethernet equipped powermac from the mid 90’s that you can then network to a nice panther equipped mac of some kind–that clamshell ibook, for instance, and then it’s super easy to get onto you modern machine.

    Reply
  3. stonyvolsen@gmail.com

    I do! My wife and my budget prevent me from exercising the bug, though.

    That said, I do use Wordperfect (The mac version, version 3.5e) sometimes. WriteNow is a good, fast word processor. If all you want to do is write, then these old macs are not bad.

    If you have distraction problems, an old mac running system 6 and writenow would be a great machine. It could run word 5.1 too. That would still be enough wordprocessor for most anything you would want to do, outside of a Table of Authorities, I bet. No itunes, seductive safari, etc.

    To get onto a newer mac, just a small network wouldn’t be bad at all. Localtalk to an ethernet equipped powermac from the mid 90’s that you can then network to a nice panther equipped mac of some kind–that clamshell ibook, for instance, and then it’s super easy to get onto you modern machine.

    Reply
  4. stonyvolsen@gmail.com

    I do! My wife and my budget prevent me from exercising the bug, though.

    That said, I do use Wordperfect (The mac version, version 3.5e) sometimes. WriteNow is a good, fast word processor. If all you want to do is write, then these old macs are not bad.

    If you have distraction problems, an old mac running system 6 and writenow would be a great machine. It could run word 5.1 too. That would still be enough wordprocessor for most anything you would want to do, outside of a Table of Authorities, I bet. No itunes, seductive safari, etc.

    To get onto a newer mac, just a small network wouldn’t be bad at all. Localtalk to an ethernet equipped powermac from the mid 90’s that you can then network to a nice panther equipped mac of some kind–that clamshell ibook, for instance, and then it’s super easy to get onto you modern machine.

    Reply
  5. stonyvolsen@gmail.com

    I do! My wife and my budget prevent me from exercising the bug, though.

    That said, I do use Wordperfect (The mac version, version 3.5e) sometimes. WriteNow is a good, fast word processor. If all you want to do is write, then these old macs are not bad.

    If you have distraction problems, an old mac running system 6 and writenow would be a great machine. It could run word 5.1 too. That would still be enough wordprocessor for most anything you would want to do, outside of a Table of Authorities, I bet. No itunes, seductive safari, etc.

    To get onto a newer mac, just a small network wouldn’t be bad at all. Localtalk to an ethernet equipped powermac from the mid 90’s that you can then network to a nice panther equipped mac of some kind–that clamshell ibook, for instance, and then it’s super easy to get onto you modern machine.

    Reply
  6. gwinn@yahoo.com

    About 3 years ago I was in a thrift shop, and they had 2 working SE30s for $15 each. I didn’t buy one, but it almost killed me to walk out without it. As I remember, the SE30 cost about $6,000 when new, and I dreamed of owning one. Why is it that something so wonderful at $6,000 is not worth $15 now? Sad, isn’t it.

    By the way, that klunky looking old keyboard in your photo was wonderful for touch typing, wasn’t it?

    Reply
  7. gwinn@yahoo.com

    About 3 years ago I was in a thrift shop, and they had 2 working SE30s for $15 each. I didn’t buy one, but it almost killed me to walk out without it. As I remember, the SE30 cost about $6,000 when new, and I dreamed of owning one. Why is it that something so wonderful at $6,000 is not worth $15 now? Sad, isn’t it.

    By the way, that klunky looking old keyboard in your photo was wonderful for touch typing, wasn’t it?

    Reply
  8. gwinn@yahoo.com

    About 3 years ago I was in a thrift shop, and they had 2 working SE30s for $15 each. I didn’t buy one, but it almost killed me to walk out without it. As I remember, the SE30 cost about $6,000 when new, and I dreamed of owning one. Why is it that something so wonderful at $6,000 is not worth $15 now? Sad, isn’t it.

    By the way, that klunky looking old keyboard in your photo was wonderful for touch typing, wasn’t it?

    Reply
  9. gwinn@yahoo.com

    About 3 years ago I was in a thrift shop, and they had 2 working SE30s for $15 each. I didn’t buy one, but it almost killed me to walk out without it. As I remember, the SE30 cost about $6,000 when new, and I dreamed of owning one. Why is it that something so wonderful at $6,000 is not worth $15 now? Sad, isn’t it.

    By the way, that klunky looking old keyboard in your photo was wonderful for touch typing, wasn’t it?

    Reply
  10. gwinn@yahoo.com

    About 3 years ago I was in a thrift shop, and they had 2 working SE30s for $15 each. I didn’t buy one, but it almost killed me to walk out without it. As I remember, the SE30 cost about $6,000 when new, and I dreamed of owning one. Why is it that something so wonderful at $6,000 is not worth $15 now? Sad, isn’t it.

    By the way, that klunky looking old keyboard in your photo was wonderful for touch typing, wasn’t it?

    Reply
  11. simon.g@macunlimited.net

    “Vintage Mac Sickness”, describes fantastically what I am going through too. I tend to blame ebay – all that sitting comfortably in the warmth of your home endlessly browsing, when suddenly the disease of early 21st C nostalgia rears its ugly head.

    Interesting isn’t it that her we are in the 21st C with all the potential future ahead of us and all we appear to want to do is look back at something we’ve already experienced and of which we wrung every ounce of value out of it, so much so we moved on; but yet we still remain deludingly thinking we go back and wring out more.

    I’ve not long since bought a PowerBook Pismo (don’t mention how much I’ve paid ‘upgrading’ it – near on as much as the computer itself!) for the same reason as mentioned above: it cost a packet when new 8 years ago and I lusted after it back then… perhaps it was a case of unrequited lust come to fruition. I’m hoping, after waiting for far too long, for a new MacBook Pro. Yet I still find myself searching for very old PowerBooks and Newtons and wonder if to extend my Pismo with a few more. What a waste! No wonder it has taken us so long to man the Moon and Mars: we are always looking back to a time that never was – so scared are we to face the future and to boldly go. But I do love my Pismo!

    Reply
  12. simon.g@macunlimited.net

    “Vintage Mac Sickness”, describes fantastically what I am going through too. I tend to blame ebay – all that sitting comfortably in the warmth of your home endlessly browsing, when suddenly the disease of early 21st C nostalgia rears its ugly head.

    Interesting isn’t it that her we are in the 21st C with all the potential future ahead of us and all we appear to want to do is look back at something we’ve already experienced and of which we wrung every ounce of value out of it, so much so we moved on; but yet we still remain deludingly thinking we go back and wring out more.

    I’ve not long since bought a PowerBook Pismo (don’t mention how much I’ve paid ‘upgrading’ it – near on as much as the computer itself!) for the same reason as mentioned above: it cost a packet when new 8 years ago and I lusted after it back then… perhaps it was a case of unrequited lust come to fruition. I’m hoping, after waiting for far too long, for a new MacBook Pro. Yet I still find myself searching for very old PowerBooks and Newtons and wonder if to extend my Pismo with a few more. What a waste! No wonder it has taken us so long to man the Moon and Mars: we are always looking back to a time that never was – so scared are we to face the future and to boldly go. But I do love my Pismo!

    Reply
  13. simon.g@macunlimited.net

    “Vintage Mac Sickness”, describes fantastically what I am going through too. I tend to blame ebay – all that sitting comfortably in the warmth of your home endlessly browsing, when suddenly the disease of early 21st C nostalgia rears its ugly head.

    Interesting isn’t it that her we are in the 21st C with all the potential future ahead of us and all we appear to want to do is look back at something we’ve already experienced and of which we wrung every ounce of value out of it, so much so we moved on; but yet we still remain deludingly thinking we go back and wring out more.

    I’ve not long since bought a PowerBook Pismo (don’t mention how much I’ve paid ‘upgrading’ it – near on as much as the computer itself!) for the same reason as mentioned above: it cost a packet when new 8 years ago and I lusted after it back then… perhaps it was a case of unrequited lust come to fruition. I’m hoping, after waiting for far too long, for a new MacBook Pro. Yet I still find myself searching for very old PowerBooks and Newtons and wonder if to extend my Pismo with a few more. What a waste! No wonder it has taken us so long to man the Moon and Mars: we are always looking back to a time that never was – so scared are we to face the future and to boldly go. But I do love my Pismo!

    Reply
  14. simon.g@macunlimited.net

    “Vintage Mac Sickness”, describes fantastically what I am going through too. I tend to blame ebay – all that sitting comfortably in the warmth of your home endlessly browsing, when suddenly the disease of early 21st C nostalgia rears its ugly head.

    Interesting isn’t it that her we are in the 21st C with all the potential future ahead of us and all we appear to want to do is look back at something we’ve already experienced and of which we wrung every ounce of value out of it, so much so we moved on; but yet we still remain deludingly thinking we go back and wring out more.

    I’ve not long since bought a PowerBook Pismo (don’t mention how much I’ve paid ‘upgrading’ it – near on as much as the computer itself!) for the same reason as mentioned above: it cost a packet when new 8 years ago and I lusted after it back then… perhaps it was a case of unrequited lust come to fruition. I’m hoping, after waiting for far too long, for a new MacBook Pro. Yet I still find myself searching for very old PowerBooks and Newtons and wonder if to extend my Pismo with a few more. What a waste! No wonder it has taken us so long to man the Moon and Mars: we are always looking back to a time that never was – so scared are we to face the future and to boldly go. But I do love my Pismo!

    Reply
  15. simon.g@macunlimited.net

    “Vintage Mac Sickness”, describes fantastically what I am going through too. I tend to blame ebay – all that sitting comfortably in the warmth of your home endlessly browsing, when suddenly the disease of early 21st C nostalgia rears its ugly head.

    Interesting isn’t it that her we are in the 21st C with all the potential future ahead of us and all we appear to want to do is look back at something we’ve already experienced and of which we wrung every ounce of value out of it, so much so we moved on; but yet we still remain deludingly thinking we go back and wring out more.

    I’ve not long since bought a PowerBook Pismo (don’t mention how much I’ve paid ‘upgrading’ it – near on as much as the computer itself!) for the same reason as mentioned above: it cost a packet when new 8 years ago and I lusted after it back then… perhaps it was a case of unrequited lust come to fruition. I’m hoping, after waiting for far too long, for a new MacBook Pro. Yet I still find myself searching for very old PowerBooks and Newtons and wonder if to extend my Pismo with a few more. What a waste! No wonder it has taken us so long to man the Moon and Mars: we are always looking back to a time that never was – so scared are we to face the future and to boldly go. But I do love my Pismo!

    Reply
  16. kkfrye@gmail.com

    Well, I have an original Mac Classic purchased in 1990. It is in basement in a box. I think it had a 40 meg hard drive. I have just recently come back into the fold with a macbook pro that runs my law office.

    Glad to be back.

    Reply
  17. kkfrye@gmail.com

    Well, I have an original Mac Classic purchased in 1990. It is in basement in a box. I think it had a 40 meg hard drive. I have just recently come back into the fold with a macbook pro that runs my law office.

    Glad to be back.

    Reply
  18. kkfrye@gmail.com

    Well, I have an original Mac Classic purchased in 1990. It is in basement in a box. I think it had a 40 meg hard drive. I have just recently come back into the fold with a macbook pro that runs my law office.

    Glad to be back.

    Reply
  19. kkfrye@gmail.com

    Well, I have an original Mac Classic purchased in 1990. It is in basement in a box. I think it had a 40 meg hard drive. I have just recently come back into the fold with a macbook pro that runs my law office.

    Glad to be back.

    Reply
  20. kkfrye@gmail.com

    Well, I have an original Mac Classic purchased in 1990. It is in basement in a box. I think it had a 40 meg hard drive. I have just recently come back into the fold with a macbook pro that runs my law office.

    Glad to be back.

    Reply
  21. sgardner@gardnerlawfirm.net

    Are you willing to pay for the shipping from Sedalia, Missouri? Which back and board do you want? Mac Plus or 512k? MacWrite or Word 3.01? Want an ImageWriter or NEC 8800 to go with it?

    Reply
  22. sgardner@gardnerlawfirm.net

    Are you willing to pay for the shipping from Sedalia, Missouri? Which back and board do you want? Mac Plus or 512k? MacWrite or Word 3.01? Want an ImageWriter or NEC 8800 to go with it?

    Reply
  23. sgardner@gardnerlawfirm.net

    Are you willing to pay for the shipping from Sedalia, Missouri? Which back and board do you want? Mac Plus or 512k? MacWrite or Word 3.01? Want an ImageWriter or NEC 8800 to go with it?

    Reply
  24. sgardner@gardnerlawfirm.net

    Are you willing to pay for the shipping from Sedalia, Missouri? Which back and board do you want? Mac Plus or 512k? MacWrite or Word 3.01? Want an ImageWriter or NEC 8800 to go with it?

    Reply
  25. sgardner@gardnerlawfirm.net

    Are you willing to pay for the shipping from Sedalia, Missouri? Which back and board do you want? Mac Plus or 512k? MacWrite or Word 3.01? Want an ImageWriter or NEC 8800 to go with it?

    Reply
  26. happyboy@vcn.com

    In the very early eighties a friend and I would grab a cold twelve pack of whatever was on sale and venture after hours into his mother’s downtown office. We would walk past the rows of big bulky computers and other office equipment and enter the only locked office around, and there, hidden away from the peering eyes of dozens of employees was the first Macintosh 512 I had ever seen, or even heard of. We’re talking Wyoming here. I was absolutely in love with this little but powerful machine from the first time I saw it.

    We would spend hour after hour (and beer after beer) playing with Paint. No Internet, no email no music, just a nine inch black and white crystal clear CRT that seemed to love you as much as you loved it.

    The seed was planted but I went on to Commodore Vic-20 and 64, PC’s and even a Sinclair, but two decades later I was given a Performa 6360 which stirred those old feelings for that little unassuming piece of fruit. That was it! Winmodem, Windows, Defrag, Safe Mode etc. I was sick of it all.

    I bought my first Apple, an eMac and a plethora of various Macs at school sales, but my there was still something missing, so I cracked and bought a Plus and a 20MB hard drive and spent hours playing with it while trying to explain my bizarre behavior to my family. They didn’t understand, nor did they want me to try to explain why I was whiffing the hot plastic and feeling it up while talking to myself. Once a winter I dig through the storage room and bring out the zip up carrying bag that holds my little infatuation. I set it up and wish like he*$ there was something I could use it for! These vintage Macintosh (love to see it spelled out) computers are a reminder for many of us of a time when the world wasn’t so nuts. They also serve as a statement to people like me that there were some pretty cool tings back then. Things like social interactions, music videos on MTV less desire for instant gratification. They were expensive, but oh so cool.

    Reply
  27. happyboy@vcn.com

    In the very early eighties a friend and I would grab a cold twelve pack of whatever was on sale and venture after hours into his mother’s downtown office. We would walk past the rows of big bulky computers and other office equipment and enter the only locked office around, and there, hidden away from the peering eyes of dozens of employees was the first Macintosh 512 I had ever seen, or even heard of. We’re talking Wyoming here. I was absolutely in love with this little but powerful machine from the first time I saw it.

    We would spend hour after hour (and beer after beer) playing with Paint. No Internet, no email no music, just a nine inch black and white crystal clear CRT that seemed to love you as much as you loved it.

    The seed was planted but I went on to Commodore Vic-20 and 64, PC’s and even a Sinclair, but two decades later I was given a Performa 6360 which stirred those old feelings for that little unassuming piece of fruit. That was it! Winmodem, Windows, Defrag, Safe Mode etc. I was sick of it all.

    I bought my first Apple, an eMac and a plethora of various Macs at school sales, but my there was still something missing, so I cracked and bought a Plus and a 20MB hard drive and spent hours playing with it while trying to explain my bizarre behavior to my family. They didn’t understand, nor did they want me to try to explain why I was whiffing the hot plastic and feeling it up while talking to myself. Once a winter I dig through the storage room and bring out the zip up carrying bag that holds my little infatuation. I set it up and wish like he*$ there was something I could use it for! These vintage Macintosh (love to see it spelled out) computers are a reminder for many of us of a time when the world wasn’t so nuts. They also serve as a statement to people like me that there were some pretty cool tings back then. Things like social interactions, music videos on MTV less desire for instant gratification. They were expensive, but oh so cool.

    Reply
  28. happyboy@vcn.com

    In the very early eighties a friend and I would grab a cold twelve pack of whatever was on sale and venture after hours into his mother’s downtown office. We would walk past the rows of big bulky computers and other office equipment and enter the only locked office around, and there, hidden away from the peering eyes of dozens of employees was the first Macintosh 512 I had ever seen, or even heard of. We’re talking Wyoming here. I was absolutely in love with this little but powerful machine from the first time I saw it.

    We would spend hour after hour (and beer after beer) playing with Paint. No Internet, no email no music, just a nine inch black and white crystal clear CRT that seemed to love you as much as you loved it.

    The seed was planted but I went on to Commodore Vic-20 and 64, PC’s and even a Sinclair, but two decades later I was given a Performa 6360 which stirred those old feelings for that little unassuming piece of fruit. That was it! Winmodem, Windows, Defrag, Safe Mode etc. I was sick of it all.

    I bought my first Apple, an eMac and a plethora of various Macs at school sales, but my there was still something missing, so I cracked and bought a Plus and a 20MB hard drive and spent hours playing with it while trying to explain my bizarre behavior to my family. They didn’t understand, nor did they want me to try to explain why I was whiffing the hot plastic and feeling it up while talking to myself. Once a winter I dig through the storage room and bring out the zip up carrying bag that holds my little infatuation. I set it up and wish like he*$ there was something I could use it for! These vintage Macintosh (love to see it spelled out) computers are a reminder for many of us of a time when the world wasn’t so nuts. They also serve as a statement to people like me that there were some pretty cool tings back then. Things like social interactions, music videos on MTV less desire for instant gratification. They were expensive, but oh so cool.

    Reply
  29. happyboy@vcn.com

    In the very early eighties a friend and I would grab a cold twelve pack of whatever was on sale and venture after hours into his mother’s downtown office. We would walk past the rows of big bulky computers and other office equipment and enter the only locked office around, and there, hidden away from the peering eyes of dozens of employees was the first Macintosh 512 I had ever seen, or even heard of. We’re talking Wyoming here. I was absolutely in love with this little but powerful machine from the first time I saw it.

    We would spend hour after hour (and beer after beer) playing with Paint. No Internet, no email no music, just a nine inch black and white crystal clear CRT that seemed to love you as much as you loved it.

    The seed was planted but I went on to Commodore Vic-20 and 64, PC’s and even a Sinclair, but two decades later I was given a Performa 6360 which stirred those old feelings for that little unassuming piece of fruit. That was it! Winmodem, Windows, Defrag, Safe Mode etc. I was sick of it all.

    I bought my first Apple, an eMac and a plethora of various Macs at school sales, but my there was still something missing, so I cracked and bought a Plus and a 20MB hard drive and spent hours playing with it while trying to explain my bizarre behavior to my family. They didn’t understand, nor did they want me to try to explain why I was whiffing the hot plastic and feeling it up while talking to myself. Once a winter I dig through the storage room and bring out the zip up carrying bag that holds my little infatuation. I set it up and wish like he*$ there was something I could use it for! These vintage Macintosh (love to see it spelled out) computers are a reminder for many of us of a time when the world wasn’t so nuts. They also serve as a statement to people like me that there were some pretty cool tings back then. Things like social interactions, music videos on MTV less desire for instant gratification. They were expensive, but oh so cool.

    Reply
  30. happyboy@vcn.com

    In the very early eighties a friend and I would grab a cold twelve pack of whatever was on sale and venture after hours into his mother’s downtown office. We would walk past the rows of big bulky computers and other office equipment and enter the only locked office around, and there, hidden away from the peering eyes of dozens of employees was the first Macintosh 512 I had ever seen, or even heard of. We’re talking Wyoming here. I was absolutely in love with this little but powerful machine from the first time I saw it.

    We would spend hour after hour (and beer after beer) playing with Paint. No Internet, no email no music, just a nine inch black and white crystal clear CRT that seemed to love you as much as you loved it.

    The seed was planted but I went on to Commodore Vic-20 and 64, PC’s and even a Sinclair, but two decades later I was given a Performa 6360 which stirred those old feelings for that little unassuming piece of fruit. That was it! Winmodem, Windows, Defrag, Safe Mode etc. I was sick of it all.

    I bought my first Apple, an eMac and a plethora of various Macs at school sales, but my there was still something missing, so I cracked and bought a Plus and a 20MB hard drive and spent hours playing with it while trying to explain my bizarre behavior to my family. They didn’t understand, nor did they want me to try to explain why I was whiffing the hot plastic and feeling it up while talking to myself. Once a winter I dig through the storage room and bring out the zip up carrying bag that holds my little infatuation. I set it up and wish like he*$ there was something I could use it for! These vintage Macintosh (love to see it spelled out) computers are a reminder for many of us of a time when the world wasn’t so nuts. They also serve as a statement to people like me that there were some pretty cool tings back then. Things like social interactions, music videos on MTV less desire for instant gratification. They were expensive, but oh so cool.

    Reply
  31. bruce_taylor@mac.com

    It started last year at about this time for me as well. I’d been surfing through ebay looking nostalgically at the Lisa and 512k macs. I decided as a distraction that I wanted to resurrect and network some old macs. So I found an electronics discounter locally that had lots of old equipment and bought 4 macs, network cables and whatever old software that they had floating around. All in all it cost me about $120. I then stripped them down, clean them up and got 3 out of the 4 working. I found that I had no software or even a means of getting software onto the old machines (beyond what I had found at the discount store). So I went out and picked up an old Powerbook 190cs which could read/write 800k disks. Finally I got a couple of machines talking to one another over appleshare and back to the Powerbook. It has been fun, distracting and frustrating all at the same time. It’s really tough to find parts, software and networking technology that is compatible, but I guess that’s the problem to solve right? It’s also amazing to work on machines that were the original design for all that has come since. I even find hot keys working on Mac OS 6.07 that are still in OS X and GUI elements that continued through all these years. It’s a testimony to the developers.

    Reply
  32. bruce_taylor@mac.com

    It started last year at about this time for me as well. I’d been surfing through ebay looking nostalgically at the Lisa and 512k macs. I decided as a distraction that I wanted to resurrect and network some old macs. So I found an electronics discounter locally that had lots of old equipment and bought 4 macs, network cables and whatever old software that they had floating around. All in all it cost me about $120. I then stripped them down, clean them up and got 3 out of the 4 working. I found that I had no software or even a means of getting software onto the old machines (beyond what I had found at the discount store). So I went out and picked up an old Powerbook 190cs which could read/write 800k disks. Finally I got a couple of machines talking to one another over appleshare and back to the Powerbook. It has been fun, distracting and frustrating all at the same time. It’s really tough to find parts, software and networking technology that is compatible, but I guess that’s the problem to solve right? It’s also amazing to work on machines that were the original design for all that has come since. I even find hot keys working on Mac OS 6.07 that are still in OS X and GUI elements that continued through all these years. It’s a testimony to the developers.

    Reply
  33. bruce_taylor@mac.com

    It started last year at about this time for me as well. I’d been surfing through ebay looking nostalgically at the Lisa and 512k macs. I decided as a distraction that I wanted to resurrect and network some old macs. So I found an electronics discounter locally that had lots of old equipment and bought 4 macs, network cables and whatever old software that they had floating around. All in all it cost me about $120. I then stripped them down, clean them up and got 3 out of the 4 working. I found that I had no software or even a means of getting software onto the old machines (beyond what I had found at the discount store). So I went out and picked up an old Powerbook 190cs which could read/write 800k disks. Finally I got a couple of machines talking to one another over appleshare and back to the Powerbook. It has been fun, distracting and frustrating all at the same time. It’s really tough to find parts, software and networking technology that is compatible, but I guess that’s the problem to solve right? It’s also amazing to work on machines that were the original design for all that has come since. I even find hot keys working on Mac OS 6.07 that are still in OS X and GUI elements that continued through all these years. It’s a testimony to the developers.

    Reply
  34. bruce_taylor@mac.com

    It started last year at about this time for me as well. I’d been surfing through ebay looking nostalgically at the Lisa and 512k macs. I decided as a distraction that I wanted to resurrect and network some old macs. So I found an electronics discounter locally that had lots of old equipment and bought 4 macs, network cables and whatever old software that they had floating around. All in all it cost me about $120. I then stripped them down, clean them up and got 3 out of the 4 working. I found that I had no software or even a means of getting software onto the old machines (beyond what I had found at the discount store). So I went out and picked up an old Powerbook 190cs which could read/write 800k disks. Finally I got a couple of machines talking to one another over appleshare and back to the Powerbook. It has been fun, distracting and frustrating all at the same time. It’s really tough to find parts, software and networking technology that is compatible, but I guess that’s the problem to solve right? It’s also amazing to work on machines that were the original design for all that has come since. I even find hot keys working on Mac OS 6.07 that are still in OS X and GUI elements that continued through all these years. It’s a testimony to the developers.

    Reply
  35. bruce_taylor@mac.com

    It started last year at about this time for me as well. I’d been surfing through ebay looking nostalgically at the Lisa and 512k macs. I decided as a distraction that I wanted to resurrect and network some old macs. So I found an electronics discounter locally that had lots of old equipment and bought 4 macs, network cables and whatever old software that they had floating around. All in all it cost me about $120. I then stripped them down, clean them up and got 3 out of the 4 working. I found that I had no software or even a means of getting software onto the old machines (beyond what I had found at the discount store). So I went out and picked up an old Powerbook 190cs which could read/write 800k disks. Finally I got a couple of machines talking to one another over appleshare and back to the Powerbook. It has been fun, distracting and frustrating all at the same time. It’s really tough to find parts, software and networking technology that is compatible, but I guess that’s the problem to solve right? It’s also amazing to work on machines that were the original design for all that has come since. I even find hot keys working on Mac OS 6.07 that are still in OS X and GUI elements that continued through all these years. It’s a testimony to the developers.

    Reply
  36. articulater@gmail.com

    Greetings fellow gurus,an here i thought i was the only one who was in to this.i must have 50 + vintage Macs,an all the software to boot.theres not much i don’t have.a TAM-4 512 still work,6 or 8 SE30-6 PB 100 that take about 8sec to boot SYS 7 an the list goes on.i don’ know how my wife puts up with it,just like ORV said we go to thrift stores an i can’t help my self,i see an APPLE on it an i have to buy it.if someone needs somthing feel free to E/MAIL me an ill do my best to get it to them.this may help to-http://www.jagshouse.com/Where Older Macs Still Rock!

    Reply
  37. articulater@gmail.com

    Greetings fellow gurus,an here i thought i was the only one who was in to this.i must have 50 + vintage Macs,an all the software to boot.theres not much i don’t have.a TAM-4 512 still work,6 or 8 SE30-6 PB 100 that take about 8sec to boot SYS 7 an the list goes on.i don’ know how my wife puts up with it,just like ORV said we go to thrift stores an i can’t help my self,i see an APPLE on it an i have to buy it.if someone needs somthing feel free to E/MAIL me an ill do my best to get it to them.this may help to-http://www.jagshouse.com/Where Older Macs Still Rock!

    Reply
  38. articulater@gmail.com

    Greetings fellow gurus,an here i thought i was the only one who was in to this.i must have 50 + vintage Macs,an all the software to boot.theres not much i don’t have.a TAM-4 512 still work,6 or 8 SE30-6 PB 100 that take about 8sec to boot SYS 7 an the list goes on.i don’ know how my wife puts up with it,just like ORV said we go to thrift stores an i can’t help my self,i see an APPLE on it an i have to buy it.if someone needs somthing feel free to E/MAIL me an ill do my best to get it to them.this may help to-http://www.jagshouse.com/Where Older Macs Still Rock!

    Reply
  39. articulater@gmail.com

    Greetings fellow gurus,an here i thought i was the only one who was in to this.i must have 50 + vintage Macs,an all the software to boot.theres not much i don’t have.a TAM-4 512 still work,6 or 8 SE30-6 PB 100 that take about 8sec to boot SYS 7 an the list goes on.i don’ know how my wife puts up with it,just like ORV said we go to thrift stores an i can’t help my self,i see an APPLE on it an i have to buy it.if someone needs somthing feel free to E/MAIL me an ill do my best to get it to them.this may help to-http://www.jagshouse.com/Where Older Macs Still Rock!

    Reply
  40. articulater@gmail.com

    Greetings fellow gurus,an here i thought i was the only one who was in to this.i must have 50 + vintage Macs,an all the software to boot.theres not much i don’t have.a TAM-4 512 still work,6 or 8 SE30-6 PB 100 that take about 8sec to boot SYS 7 an the list goes on.i don’ know how my wife puts up with it,just like ORV said we go to thrift stores an i can’t help my self,i see an APPLE on it an i have to buy it.if someone needs somthing feel free to E/MAIL me an ill do my best to get it to them.this may help to-http://www.jagshouse.com/Where Older Macs Still Rock!

    Reply

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