Lighting-Gallery.net
General => Off-Topic => Topic started by: themaritimegirl on February 27, 2015, 10:42:01 PM
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For the past few weeks I've been regularly visiting a publicly accessible e-waste drop-off box at school, and I've been continually finding awesome stuff, like computer parts and other vintage electronics. The other day I found what has so far been the best find yet - a Power Macintosh 7300.
This is the second Mac I've ever had, and the oldest. The 7300 was sold from early to late 1997. My unit has a 200 MHz PowerPC 604e processor, 96 MB of RAM (upgraded from the original 32 MB), a 2 GB SCSI hard drive, a 12x SCSI CD-ROM drive, and a "SuperDrive" 1.44 MB floppy disk drive. Luckily there were an ADB keyboard and mouse there too, since I don't have any others. Also lucky is that there was an Apple display port to VGA adapter, so a regular monitor can be used.
It works absolutely perfect - the only thing I had to do was lubricate the floppy drive, and I have a new PRAM battery coming for it. It has Mac OS 8.0 installed on the hard drive (it originally would have had System 7.5.5). Interestingly enough, it appears to have been used until 2009, with even someone's recent wedding photos left on it.
There's quite a bit of crap on the hard drive, and it's not running as fast as I think it could, so I'm going to be wiping the hard drive clean and reinstalling an OS. Apple made System 7.5.3 freely available to download some years ago, so the first thing I'm going to do is see if I can get that installed. The great thing about a Mac with a SuperDrive is not only can they read and write IBM-formatted floppy disks, but a PC can format disks for Macs, as well. So getting System 7.5.3 installed should be easy.
This can run up to Mac OS 9.1, so that's what I ultimately want to get running on this. Perhaps in a dual-boot configuration with Mac OS 7.6, if I can procure either version.
I have videos of this in the works which I will be uploading on YouTube. I'm super excited to have this thing - best vintage computer acquisition I've had yet.
As far as Macs go this thing is pretty bland, but it does provide an illustration of an interesting part of Apple's history. This was made in the middle of 1997, which was Apple's darkest period. The company was literally weeks from declaring bankruptcy. A confusingly large lineup of computers lacking quality and innovative design had brought Apple to its knees. This was one of them, and you can sense the company's desperation just by looking at it. Cover the rainbow Apple, and this thing looks just like a cheap PC. Soon after, Steve Jobs would re-gain control of Apple, and overhaul the entire Macintosh lineup, starting with the introduction of the computer which saved the company, the iMac.
This case design was used on one more generation of models, the Power Macintosh G3.
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Cool! The more I learn about computers, the more intereting they become. As you know, I had a misadventure with a generic 486 system back in the summer. That opened my eyes a little bit more to old computers. The more videos I watch from you, UXWBill, and others, the more I learn.
It's also interesting to me that Apple almost filed for bankruptcy, especially since I read it on an iPhone. It gives you another perspective of Apple's history.
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Ah yes, I remember the short and weird relationship you had with that thing lol. Yeah, old computers, and computers as a whole, can truly spark something in a person. It's so great because the variety of computer hardware there is to see is practically endless. I just wish that they still brought the excitement and wonder to me now that they did as a kid. Although to be fair, this Mac is pretty darn exciting since I have such little experience with them. The last one of this vintage I saw was a Macintosh LC II a sixth-grade teacher of mine had... That was 10 years ago! :o
Yeah, Apple has to be one of the greatest comebacks in the history of business. It's unbelievable how frail and close to death they were in 1996-7, compared to today.
Edit: Another sixth-grade teacher of mine had a Macintosh Classic. I never had enough free time to explore on either of those machines. ::)
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I still don't know what kind of crazy drugs that person selling that 486 system was on. The first time I saw it and asked about it, I was told by another person that it cost $80! :o I was offered it for free, and I was still a bit weary of driving all the way back to Tarrant City for it. I guess the crazy person decided he still wanted the $80 - I have no clue what happened to it.
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I've always used Mac computers. The first I had was a second-hand 512Ke and replaced it with a SE/30, both of which I still have although they don't really work. I then had an iBook and two MacBook Pro (the latest on which I am typing this).
Your PowerMac G3 should have an ethernet connector so you might be able to connect it to a high-speed internet connection. With System 7.5, you might not be able to find suitable navigators for most of today's websites, but you could try at least. Email should work. If you can find a suitable printer, then you could use it as a word processor. The only major drawback you would have with using this computer with day-to-day word processing would be saving your work and making a backup. Aging floppy drives and the meagre quality of floppy disks are not the most reliable combination. If it has USB ports you can use a flash drive, but I think the USB was only available in 1998 or in 1999. I believe the first Apple product to boast it was the first iMac.
Sometimes, for nostalgia, I run the Mini vMac emulator (http://www.gryphel.com/c/minivmac/) on my modern computers. Life was much simpler back then...
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The Macintosh Performa series were essentially the same as other "regular" Macintosh computers, but intended to be sold in stores that were not necessarily authorised dealers. They were aimed at the home market whereas the "regular" models were more oriented towards the professional market. The Performa line did not last all that long, though. I believe it started at the Performa 200 which was equivalent to the Classic II. Then there was the Performa 400 (LC II) and the Performa 450 (LC III). There were others up to the Performa 800 which was equivalent (I think) to the Quadra 600.
On the emulator, I have System 2.0 among others (I regularly like to use 7.5.3). You have the option of different speeds, and you can take advantage of most of the processor speed of your actual computer. At maximum speed in the emulator, it runs excessively fast, the startup of System 2.0 is less than one second !
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I'll have to check, but I have MS Word 4, Claris MacWrite II, ClarisCAD, HyperCard and Claris MacPaint 2.1. For games, I have Tetris, Dungeon of Doom, Artillery and maybe one or two more. I still have some on floppies that I never transferred to my modern machines. Someday I'll have to dig them out. I also have the Moire screensaver.
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The screensaver was written in Australia (I think). It was extremely common on Macs in the area as there was only one Apple dealer (with no showroom ; he sold them from his house). Being shareware/freeware, he installed it on every machine he sold.
I know it has since been re-written for OSX, but I am not sure if it runs on the latest OS. I have it running on a Tiger machine, but never tried it in Mavericks.
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Here are some more :
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And one more (7.1, in French) :
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sol: It's not a G3, but it does have Ethernet. I can't say I'm terribly concerned with getting this thing on the Internet, though. Even my iMac G3 is almost unusable, both in terms of speed and website compatibility. I can get a USB card for it, though. I'd like to think I could use this for some useful purpose, but I have a feeling it will end up just a working display piece to play with once in a while, like my iMac.
I've used Mini vMac before. I've also used Basilisk II, which was the first time I used Mac OS for any length of time, many years ago. I ran System 7.5.5 in it. I also tried SheepShaver to run Mac OS 9, but at the time I didn't have a computer powerful enough to run it at a useable speed.
trencheel303: I like to have the latest OS that runs with no problem, so I'll try Mac OS 9; and if it works well I'll keep it. Otherwise I'll put 8.6 on it.
I am indeed aware that the minimum OS for this is apparently 7.5.5, while the free download is 7.5.3. I am going to try just a 7.5.3 boot disk though, and see to what extent it works. I could remove all the crap on it, but I always like to start fresh with a clean install.
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Well, I tried the System 7.5 Network Access Disk (required to boot from to initiate the 7.5.3 installation), and it wasn't having it. Kind of dumb that Apple makes 7.5.3 free, and the 7.5.5 update free, but you need to install them separately rather than have one complete 7.5.5 install disk set. And the boot disk is 7.5.0, which doesn't help in my case. I guess I'll have to skulk the Internet for install CD images.
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I wouldn't be against that idea, to be honest. I just looked on Royal Mail's web site, and it looks like a couple of CDs in a bubble envelope could be sent to Canada for less than $5. For now, though, I'll stick it out and see if I can't get something working on my own.
I am making a little progress. I procured a Mac OS 9 CD image. I burned it, tried it, and it did recognize it. Unfortunately though, it really had trouble reading it (old drives don't like CD-R discs), and indeed when I tried booting from it, it just sat at the Happy Mac with the drive grinding for a few minutes before it gave up. So I tried burning it again using another computer, and I burned a lot slower this time. Same thing. So tomorrow I'm going to try a third burner, and a different brand disc if I can find one. If it doesn't work, I'm not sure what I'll do since as far as I know, booting from a disc is my only option for putting a clean install of this thing. Oddly enough, before doing all this I tried a random CD-R I burned years ago, and it read it just fine.
There was another SCSI CD-ROM drive in the e-waste box where I picked up the computer. I didn't grab it, but I will if it's still there next time I'm there, and try it if I can't get the internal drive to work. Failing that, I'll have to find an IDE card.
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Bingo! Tried a different brand CD-R, and the Mac booted right up from it. I shall proceed to install it.
I've added two pictures, of it booting Mac OS 8 from the hard drive, and running Mac OS 9 from the install CD.
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Cool! Good luck with it!
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Although I cannot speak from experience, I have heard some people back in the day had less-than-perfect experiences with SCSI devices. If you have more than one, things get really complicated really fast.
Anyways, I'm glad you could get it to work with the CD and wish you all the best.
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Indeed, SCSI can be really finicky. I've heard of Macs suddenly refusing to boot altogether, and the solution was to attach a terminator to the SCSI bus, despite that the inside of the computer was never touched to start with. It's a good thing IDE cards exist for older Power Macs, and the newer ones went to IDE altogether.
Thanks. The installation went flawlessly. This thing now has a clean installation of Mac OS 9. Next thing I want to do is install the 9.1 update. I could burn that to another CD-R, but rather than wasting those I'll see if I can get it to talk to one of my PCs (or, failing that, my iMac) over Ethernet, and send files to it that way.
The first video I made of it, when I had just drug it home, is now on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oGgowYhenQ
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I'm looking forward to seeing more videos about this computer. It's got me interested! ;D
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I successfully upgraded this to Mac OS 9.1, the newest it can run. It wasn't too hard hunting down the upgrade itself, but what a time I had figuring out how to actually get it to the computer! I wanted to try and network it to one of my PCs to transfer the files over, but from what I read, you need third-party software installed on both machines to make it happen. So instead, I dusted off my iMac, which I haven't booted up in over two years. It runs Mac OS 9.2.2.
Even then I had a heck of a time getting them to talk to each other. Networking older Macs is very poorly documented on the Internet. I basically had to try random things until it worked. I had them directly connected via Ethernet, and after the first couple of hours of failure, I read on one site that you need to use a crossover cable. Luckily I have one that I made in high school. After that you need to enable AppleTalk and file sharing on both machines. Then I was able to share the folder containing the 9.1 upgrade on the iMac, but the 7300 still wasn't reporting any presence of a networked computer. Then after countless web searches, I did the most random thing, I went into the Chooser (I don't even know what that program is for), and from there I clicked AppleShare, and then I could access the shared folder on the iMac. After that, and a part of the upgrade disk image which claimed to be corrupt, even though it extracted and worked just fine, the 9.1 upgrade installed flawlessly.
The iMac also runs 10.4.11. I tried networking with that, but not only did the 7300 just produce an error when trying to access it, but I couldn't even find a place to put shared files in Mac OS X!
I've been wanting to sell the iMac for a long time, but now after using it again, I can't imagine parting with it - it's too cool, and historic!
I've filmed about 3 more hours of video about the 7300, which will be split up into three separate videos on YouTube.
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I just learned something rather interesting. I always thought System 7 introduced the rainbow-colored apple on the menu bar. Turns out it actually exists as far back as System 4, which was the earliest version which ran on the Macintosh II, which of course had a color display. I've attached a screenshot of System 4.1 running on Mini vMac. I had never seen a picture of anything earlier than System 7 with a rainbow apple, so I just assumed that everything prior had the black apple, even if it was running on a color machine. Really neat. You can see that it's a bit rough looking compared to the System 7 version. I wonder if the ability to display it in color was already built into the system software, or if it was a feature of the Mac II's ROM?
On a more related note, now that I have been able to get Mac OS 9.1 running on the 7300, I want to start experimenting with it. ;D I'll start with using OS 9 Helper to install 9.2. I've read that even on the pre-G3 Power Macs, 9.2 is way faster and more stable than 9.1, so it certainly seems worth it to try out. I've also read that Mac OS X can be installed using XPostFacto, even with the stock processor. I think up to 10.2 works. So I'd like to try that, too, although it might not be possible with my 96 MB of RAM.
Finally, I've been able to procure not only a Mac OS 7.6 install disc image, but an actual Power Macintosh 7300 restore disc image, containing System 7.5.5. Hopefully they work. It'd be really cool to play with System 7 on a real Mac again; something I haven't done in about 10 years.
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Hmm, perhaps someone would like to have a vintage 386 laptop? Might be from 1986!
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I'm broke, but I'm curious :P - what kind of laptop, and how much would you want for it? Got a picture?
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It's a NEC UltraLite SL/20 (Intel386SL 20MHz clock speed!)
Unfortunately, in the process of digging out of storage & powering it up, it won't turn on, but the battery seems to be charging. It dates from 1992. Laptop is 9"x12" with a 6"x8" screen size.
Had a 3.5" 1.44mb floppy drive, based on ms-dos 5.0 & I could get into win3.1(!) But now I'm not sure what to do with it.
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Huh, that's kind of neat. Too bad there's no power. I'm not sure I would trust leaving it plugged in, as the battery could be shorted, and would subsequently get very hot. That could actually be what's preventing it from powering on, as well. You may try removing the battery.
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I've confirmed that the Mac OS 7.6 disc image I found works, by setting up the Basilisk II emulator, which I haven't played with in 4 or 5 years. I spent many hours playing with System 7.5.5 in Basilisk II - it was the first time I was able to use the classic Mac OS for any length of time. Now the next step will be getting the image onto a CD that the 7300 can read. I'm thinking now that I might also try doing a triple boot setup, with Mac OS 7, 8, and 9.
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Ah, the text-to-speech, what fun we had with that. At the time, it was only available in English. Resourceful as we were (my sisters and I), we wrote in phonetic to make it speak in French. The results were variable... Nowadays you can download the extension from Apple to make it speak in a variety of languages. I downloaded the French ones, and now sometimes make it speak in English, just because. 8)
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Yeah, a friend of mine and I used to play with it quite a bit in Basilisk II, making it say X-rated phrases and the like. :D I think our favorite was the Hysterical voice - the one that sounds like it's sobbing.
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One of our favorite voice was Agnes at she talked with determination and authority. Of course we would make her say things that a person with that voice would not normally say so it would be funny. We never really experimented with x-rated phrases, though. Yes, Hysterical was fun as well. I don't really have time for that anymore, but occasionally, I will fire it a phrase just for fun. I have both Canadian French and France French voices to add to the mix.
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Late to the thread here, but as a vintage Mac guy myself, there is nothing wrong with SCSI if you know how to use it.
SCSI checklist:
-No two devices using the same ID (internal HD is usually 0, not sure on CD-ROM)
-Terminators on the ends only. There should ONLY be two terminators active on the bus EVER. If no Device is connected externally Macs will automatically switch in a terminator on the logic board. Make sure that there are no FEWER than two terminators active on the bus.
-All devices must be powered on prior to OS boot. If you forget to switch on a device (especially a hard disk), turn the power on and Reboot or better yet, shut down the computer, power on the device and reboot.
-Make sure there are terminators at ONLY the ends and there is a terminator at each end (yes this is a dupe, but critical)
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The video I made of fully testing the 7300 for the first time is now live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfcWyXQsqnY
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A week ago I carried out the largest vintage electronics acquisition of any type that I've ever done. About a month ago I discovered that the e-waste drop-off box, where I found the 7300, was actually part of a project being carried out by the Faculty of Arts at school. Everything dropped into the box was not getting recycled, but being thrown into a huge pile in a gallery in the building, which was put on display for anyone to see. The pile was huge, about the size of a pickup truck. It was most tremendous thing I've ever seen in my life. I managed to speak to someone who was overseeing the project, and they told me that when the display was over (where the stuff would then be picked up for recycling), which happened a week ago, I could dig through the pile and take home anything I liked.
I successfully did so, and boy was it fruitful. In addition to two vintage camcorders I talk about here (http://www.lighting-gallery.net/index.php?topic=3331.15), I took home 14 computers. They are evenly divided between PCs and Macs, and desktops and laptops. I won't talk about the PCs in this thread. The Mac stuff consists of a Macintosh LC III, two Power Macintosh 7200s, a Macintosh PowerBook 180c, a Macintosh PowerBook 190cs, an aluminum PowerBook G4, and a polycarbonate MacBook. I also got an AppleDesign Keyboard, two Apple Desktop Bus Mouse II mice, two external SCSI CD burners, an external SCSI 4.3 GB hard drive, two Iomega Zip 100 Plus external SCSI/parallel Zip drives, and an Apple Multiple Scan 15av monitor.
The LC III and 7200s work perfect. One of the 7200s may or may not have a bad hard drive. I don't have a charger to test the two 68k PowerBooks, but they are in pretty hard shape - their actual physical condition is great, but the previous owner(s) removed the hard drives from them by completely disassembling the computers. They removed every screw, and then never put any back in. They are both basically piles of parts loosely held together. I don't know if I'll ever be able to get them running.
The PowerBook G4 is in good shape, just missing a couple of keyboard keys. I have a charger coming for it - I hope it works. The MacBook has the usual stress cracking in the plastic, but is otherwise in good shape. A friend of mine let me borrow his charger, and it booted up, but it worked really weird. It took a lot of fiddling to get it to boot, and then once it booted, the display backlight would shut off until you rebooted. Then after it booted again the backlight would shut off again. Not sure if I want to risk the $30 to get a charger for what may be an unusable computer.
The monitor works great, but it has this weird problem in which the display gets yellow as you go to the right-hand side. The left side of the picture looks great, while the right side is completely yellow. It's not the CRT, as when you adjust the position of the picture, the yellowness moves with the picture. The signal is getting messed up on the way to the CRT somehow.
The external CD burners and the external hard drive power on just fine. I just don't have a SCSI cable to actually test them on a computer with. I have one coming from eBay. Those burners will be great, since they will (I assume) have no problem reading CD-RW discs, which will make it very easy to transfer data to and from the vintage Macs. The Zip drives power on too, and they did come with their proprietary SCSI/parallel cables. I just need to get a disk to test them with.
All-in-all amazing finds. The LC III is by far the gem of the bunch. I may see if I have a friend who would like one of the 7200s - I have too many computers and too little space to warrant keeping two examples of the exact same computer.
(https://scontent-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpt1/v/t1.0-9/11133698_10202821885267966_2382138075366638930_n.jpg?oh=cc674a4a3153774552a60da75a481dfa&oe=55D7F8FC)
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/11113305_10202821882227890_398226134624328584_n.jpg?oh=7908ba0af2ed94ec504774b33b642a5e&oe=55E2E218&__gda__=1437332627_f3f9dbc8870012a49348fbaffe9965ee)
(https://scontent-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/11017223_10202821881387869_341185049900111720_n.jpg?oh=cec4e32c5d1acb64cfab1649d25423dc&oe=55A9EC09)
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Nice! I can't wait to see a video!
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Nice! I can't wait to see a video!
Already filmed. I just gotta wait on reinstalling Windows on my laptop - I contracted a virus or something that makes nothing work anymore, including my video editor. That's why I haven't uploaded anything in three weeks. There's also the remaining two videos of the 7300, which I want to upload beforehand (even though the videos of that seem almost pointless now that I have this stuff). So it will probably be a few weeks.
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Wow nice collection. Apple notebooks are pretty cool looking, and interesting. I have an old MacBook that might be the same as yours (white plastic, hazard to say 2009) that runs OSX 10.5.8. Would be neat to see if I can get it to run Mavericks. Also about the backlight thing, dieselducy took the back off of his MacBook's monitor and put an F4T5 lamp behind it, you could try that. :P Granted though he did that beccause it had completely gone out. Still, nice job getting all of those, wish I was that lucky. ;)
Also, in your 7300 video I hear you talking about a high Hz killing an IBM CRT, do you have a video of such a thing? I would be interested in seeing it.
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Thanks! I still gotta buy a power adapter for the MacBook. Those magsafe chargers aren't cheap, even on the used market.
Nope, no video. Just a very clear memory lol. It was some 7 or 8 years ago. I was toying around in the display settings, and Windows XP allowed me to go up to 200 Hz. I had the monitor successfully running at 120 Hz, and I had no clue damage could be done, so I tried it. There was a loud bang, and the picture went out, and that was it. No smoke or smell.
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Oh, ouch, well thanks for the reply. Also I think I have seen those chargers on eBay for around 20-30 USAD around here.
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Video of installing Mac OS 9 on the Power Macintosh 7300 is now live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_k9Pwpd7yw
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I thought I would provide an update on some of the Macs I saved from recycling.
The PowerBook G4 works absolutely perfect. Oddly, the battery acted irreversibly dead, refusing to charge at all. Then I let the computer sit unplugged for a month, and I plugged it in again just a few days ago, and the battery charged right up. I get over 3 hours of run time!! I don't know what caused the battery to act like a write-off and then later like a brand new battery, but I'm sure glad it did. I also purchased replacement keyboard keys. So now it's 100% functional. Between that and the beautiful shape it's in, this couldn't have been a more perfect find. I also have 1 GB of RAM coming for it. All-in-all I've spent about $30 on it, and it was by far worth it. I have it running Mac OS X 10.4, and I'm typing this post with it. When my 1 GB of RAM comes, I'll upgrade it to 10.5.
Amazingly, despite their mangled state, the PowerBooks 180c and 190cs both power on. I stuck a boot floppy in the 180c, and it booted right up. The trackball barely worked, but otherwise it worked perfect. The 190cs booted right up, but the display is completely dead. I think I'll pawn the 190cs off somewhere, but I may try to piece the 180c back together.
Still gotta get a power adapter for the MacBook.
(https://scontent-lga1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xat1/v/t1.0-9/r90/11390098_10203134920813659_8425827998816487180_n.jpg?oh=5fb70d26f683e3a1beb3e8f6fbbe544e&oe=55F9B4F7)
(https://scontent-lga1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/11407008_10203134921013664_3793205746273087225_n.jpg?oh=55fc599a322367b19aacc971d28c1dc4&oe=562C435F)
(https://scontent-lga1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/11196280_10202906349979531_8132552669978834276_n.jpg?oh=275597b26152b80be972c3e2e58f720e&oe=55EE823C)
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Ah, the text-to-speech, what fun we had with that. At the time, it was only available in English. Resourceful as we were (my sisters and I), we wrote in phonetic to make it speak in French. The results were variable... Nowadays you can download the extension from Apple to make it speak in a variety of languages. I downloaded the French ones, and now sometimes make it speak in English, just because. 8)
some of the text to speech programs are stupid (Siri I'm looking at you). It is funny since it mispronounces some common words and when I have it speak a sentence with the word "wind" in it she says it like in the sense of winding a clock.
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Good news, the MacBook saved from e-waste works. The battery is no good and the display is also dead (very common on these - I actually expected it), but the rest of the computer works fine. I bought a generic charger and cheap DVI-VGA adapter, and it's been working just fine hooked up to my TV. Installed Mac OS X 10.6, and it's been working great. This is the first time I've ever used a modern Intel Mac for any length of time, so I'm quite enjoying it. It's an early 2008 model, 2.1 GHz Core 2 Duo, 1 GB of RAM.
I want to remove the display and use it as a halftop. I'll also upgrade it to at least 2 GB (ideally 4 GB) of RAM and install 10.7. So long as it doesn't suddenly die, it should make a great desktop machine.
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Great save !
It sorta sounds unnatural to me that a Core 2 Duo is called Vintage... I am not yet thinking of it as being vintage (and typing this right now on a Pentium 4)
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Sorry - I originally started this thread when I got my first Mac, then after I scored half a dozen more all at once I decided to just post updates about all of them here.
With that said, I would at this point call the Core 2 an "older" platform, but certainly not vintage. Far more than enough power for everything I do still. Heck, the average Core 2 Duo has twice the power of my much newer ThinkPad which has an AMD E-450 APU. But definitely in the Mac world, the Core 2-based machines like this one are now considered obsolete. Apple and many other developers quit supporting them years ago.
I'm amazed that you live off a Pentium 4 machine! I don't think a Pentium 4 can even play YouTube anymore.
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I have many boxes that i saved over the years, or made up from parts i acquired over the years (thats my other thing besides lighting). Got prety much everything between 386 and 1st gen Core i3, but the boxes i actually use (and not only "got" as in go the M/B w/CPU in it laying around) are Pentium 4 and Core 2 Duo generations. That are the ones i am actively collecting too
The 3GHz/800/1M Pentium 4 Prescott is pretty capable, with maxed out RAM it handles well most web surfing (with 3 different browsers open and few tabs in each) / non HD Youtube. Plays locally stored 720p video perfectly. Maybe could do 1080p with a better video card on a PCIe board (this one is AGP)
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I dont Normaly check out the forum section of LG but when I saw this thread I just had to reply I am a Big Apple/Macintosh Guy and I own quite a few Macintoshes and Have done a lot of OS X/software "hacking" I got Tiger running on a 604 PowerPC CPU for example... http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/os-x-tiger-on-a-603-604-cpu.1908276/ I was also the First Guy to boot OS X Leopard 10.5 in a PowerPC emulator http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/leopard-booted-in-a-powerpc-emulator-qemu.1907447/ this is Just the tip of the Ice burg of stuff Iv done... you can see all the PPC macs i own in my signiture in the Mac rumors fourm... I also own a Black macbook and a Santa rosa Macbook pro 3,1 (that I have had to reflow twice now). I recommend running 10.8.5 on the macbook even tho it aint offcialy support there are ways to run it on that machine and it runs much better then 10.7.5 did (my blackbook was running 10.8.5 heh) my Main machine is currently a MSI Laptop hackintosh running El capitan (oh regarding your 96MB thing in OS X heres a picture of Leopard running on 96MB of ram ;D 6GB HDD image so no swap space ether LOL)
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Good news, the MacBook saved from e-waste works. The battery is no good and the display is also dead (very common on these - I actually expected it), but the rest of the computer works fine. I bought a generic charger and cheap DVI-VGA adapter, and it's been working just fine hooked up to my TV. Installed Mac OS X 10.6, and it's been working great. This is the first time I've ever used a modern Intel Mac for any length of time, so I'm quite enjoying it. It's an early 2008 model, 2.1 GHz Core 2 Duo, 1 GB of RAM.
I want to remove the display and use it as a halftop. I'll also upgrade it to at least 2 GB (ideally 4 GB) of RAM and install 10.7. So long as it doesn't suddenly die, it should make a great desktop machine.
I see you got HP Laserjet 4. Thats one of the best laser printers ever made IMO. I had one 4M+ in regular use until it's fuser broke down in last spring. It served me well over 10 years. After that I bought HP Officejet pro X476dw MFP which has also been good multi funtion printer.
Laserjet 4 series featured famous (for being confusing and inappropriate) error message "pc load letter". There is even wikipedia article about that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_LOAD_LETTER (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_LOAD_LETTER)
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I got Laserjet 1200 and 2600n. The 1200 i found trashed in 2006 with a deep jammed page of paper. That was the only fault with it, after releasing the page from it it worked fine. The 2600n i recently got from college as they were putting equipment for trash. I have not tested it but it could be working
The older Laserjets look like great printers
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When I worked at my university's library, we had a LaserJet 4 of some flavour. Since we used French software, sometimes the settings were made for France instead of Canada. We would occasionally get the message "PC LOAD A4".
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About printers, I have quite a few, most nonworking. I mainly get them used and from thrift stores, because they are cheap that way. I have a huge interest in printers, specifically old single-function inkjets and lasers. There is even a forum about printers, just like LG. ;D
Here it is (http://www.printerknowledge.com/members/superaretech.12033/)
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Is your name Zarlog there too? :D
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I see you got HP Laserjet 4. Thats one of the best laser printers ever made IMO.
Yep, that's a 4M. I nabbed it over the summer when the school was throwing it away. After replacing the toner cartridge and cleaning the exit rollers, it works perfect! It has only 15000 pages on the counter, but I would take that with a grain of salt considering it was used in an engineering school, and it's very easy to reset the page count (and it's reset anyway if the formatter is replaced). And I wholeheartedly agree! I think the LaserJet 4 and 5 series are some of the best printers ever made.
You also see my LaserJet 4P next to the TV. I got that for $10 at the ReStore a couple of years ago, and all it needed was a new toner cartridge to work perfect. It has 17000 pages on the counter, which I do believe since it's in like-new condition.
I have a huge interest in printers, specifically old single-function inkjets and lasers. There is even a forum about printers, just like LG. ;D
Here it is (http://www.printerknowledge.com/members/superaretech.12033/)
Hey, me too! :o Then you might be pleased to know that if you look at my YouTube, I've filmed literally two hours of video about the 4M which I've been slowly uploading in multiple parts. I also have a 40-odd minute video of my 4P when I first got it.
And wow, a printer forum. Although it looks more like it's for tech support rather than a hobby-type thing, but that's still pretty cool.
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I just ADMIRE those big boxy creations of the 90s or early 2000s ! (not specifically printers but all of computer/IT equipment). You made me want a Laserjet 4 too now....
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I just ADMIRE those big boxy creations of the 90s or early 2000s ! (not specifically printers but all of computer/IT equipment). You made me want a Laserjet 4 too now....
Yep, and the iconic cream-white/beige color of IT equiptments at that time.
If you come across working laserjet 4 it's definitely worth of grabbing. This printer series is know for it's durability and workhorse reputation. You might want keep eye on especially faster plus model 4+ or 4m+ that can do 12 pages per minute. M is for postcript and also apple macintosh compatibility. the Jetdirect accessory card is one of the things that is handy to have (let's you print over ethernet network and share the printer to multiple computers).
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Is your name Zarlog there too? :D
No, it's SuperareTech. I don't know why I used that over Zarlog, though.
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I just ADMIRE those big boxy creations of the 90s or early 2000s ! (not specifically printers but all of computer/IT equipment). You made me want a Laserjet 4 too now....
Me too! I built a computer last fall, and used an NOS metallic blue and beige flex ATX case. ;D
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It is not a much about case color for me, but the structure of things. Like the IBM eServer 230 - of which i got 2, it is a tower case server with the case depth being near 3ft! All that space inside used for a huge mainboard and cooling system
(I dont have use for them right now - use a smaller and quieter box as it is in my room, the only place i can store those Dragon type Pokemon is standing one on top of the other under the electric panel, along with a big ~150ft roll of fiber optic cable (which is rolled in a wide circle and packed in a box), all that behind the front door to the home... Unfortunately this home does not have a basement to unroll my own IT department and light it up with my own lights)
Same for networking equipment, and lots of other stuff, up and including proper THICK power cables to plug it all in
Other than lighting i actually am into this sort of IT stuff. Starting from kid/teen i had a few jobs as IT kid, and later sysadmin too. Though it is more like personal interest and not a job i'd want to stay in forever
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It is not a much about case color for me, but the structure of things. Like the IBM eServer 230 - of which i got 2, it is a tower case server with the case depth being near 3ft! All that space inside used for a huge mainboard and cooling system
(I dont have use for them right now - use a smaller and quieter box as it is in my room, the only place i can store those Dragon type Pokemon is standing one on top of the other under the electric panel, along with a big ~150ft roll of fiber optic cable (which is rolled in a wide circle and packed in a box), all that behind the front door to the home... Unfortunately this home does not have a basement to unroll my own IT department and light it up with my own lights)
Same for networking equipment, and lots of other stuff, up and including proper THICK power cables to plug it all in
Other than lighting i actually am into this sort of IT stuff. Starting from kid/teen i had a few jobs as IT kid, and later sysadmin too. Though it is more like personal interest and not a job i'd want to stay in forever
What kind of fibre optic cable do you have?
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G.652D 144 fibers 12x12 with thick outer isolation, and thick isolated steel bending wire in the center. Our telecom company lays that in PVC pipes underground, i think this is the "primary" distribution cable
Also got few sections of few foot of G.657-A2 12 fibers 1x12 with minimal isolation, i think that is used for short "secondary" distributions