I know at least a few of you had Macs in the early 1990s. Did they ever need servicing? Did you upgrade them yourselves?
That was one of the things I enjoyed about the IBM Clone I had -- it was easy to open a fiddle with under the hood. Of course, without a CRT that was easier to accomplish.
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Not everybody wanted to get under the hood. I loved my 'all in one place' Macs. And I don't remember ever having to send one in for service. We 'zapped the P-RAM' and rebuilt the desktop, all done from the keyboard. Defragged the hard disk and that was about it. Good as new. Loved them.
Well, I upgraded a Mac plus and classic myself. (Bigger hard drive and more RAM) You were not supposed to service them yourself but most of the musicians I knew did. They were fairly easy to work on once you were inside. I noticed that the handy-dandy case cracker was absent from this exercise. Honestly, neither my plus or classic ever needed service. These computers were really built to last. In fact I still have the classic and a quadra av. They will not die.
Both the Plus and the SE had a problem in the power supply board, easily solved with a new board, or more complexly by replacing the flyback. I used to replace 4-5 of them a day when I worked at a computer store as a service technician. But other than that, they were great. Not too heavy, easily portable with the backpack you could get...
The cpu is a 68000, not a 6800.
a 6800 is like a 8086, while a 68000 is like a 80286.
I used MacSEs and Classics (and II's, and PC clones) - supporting them as office machines and modifying them into realtime data collection devices.
I don't ever recall a early Mac system breaking except for a hard drive. Of course, yes, we'd be opening them to add RAM or, on SE's, expansion cards. By the time the 90's rolled around, it wasn't considered a hassle to open. I recall hvaing to braze a longer shaft onto a torx screwdriver in mid-85 though. Dealing with the 4 torx screws was far less of a bother than having to deal with the always-different hardware of a PC - this was long before PnP, after all.
And working inside a Mac was a joy compared to working inside a Commodore SX-64, another all-in-one we used as a collection device.
I always thought the design of the Plus/SE/Classic in many ways was the precursor to server blades.
a 6800 is like a 8086, while a 68000 is like a 80286.
I used MacSEs and Classics (and II's, and PC clones) - supporting them as office machines and modifying them into realtime data collection devices.
I don't ever recall a early Mac system breaking except for a hard drive. Of course, yes, we'd be opening them to add RAM or, on SE's, expansion cards. By the time the 90's rolled around, it wasn't considered a hassle to open. I recall hvaing to braze a longer shaft onto a torx screwdriver in mid-85 though. Dealing with the 4 torx screws was far less of a bother than having to deal with the always-different hardware of a PC - this was long before PnP, after all.
And working inside a Mac was a joy compared to working inside a Commodore SX-64, another all-in-one we used as a collection device.
I always thought the design of the Plus/SE/Classic in many ways was the precursor to server blades.
Actually, the 6800 was more like the 8080 (not the 8086).
The 8080 and 6800 were 8 bit chips. The 8086 was 16
bit.
While the 68000 was a strange bird. The 8088, used in
the first IBM PCs was the 16 bit 8086 with an 8 bit data
path to make it compatible with the (cheaper) support
chips of the day.
The 68000 was a 32 bit chip with a 24 bit address bus
and 16 bit data path. Hard to compare to the x86
machines of the time. I'd place it more closely to the
80186 than the 80286. But as with apples and oranges it
becomes subjective because they were so different.
The 8080 and 6800 were 8 bit chips. The 8086 was 16
bit.
While the 68000 was a strange bird. The 8088, used in
the first IBM PCs was the 16 bit 8086 with an 8 bit data
path to make it compatible with the (cheaper) support
chips of the day.
The 68000 was a 32 bit chip with a 24 bit address bus
and 16 bit data path. Hard to compare to the x86
machines of the time. I'd place it more closely to the
80186 than the 80286. But as with apples and oranges it
becomes subjective because they were so different.
Thanks for noticing - I was missing a zero. It should indeed be the 68000.
Not exactly true. the 6800 was purely an 8-bit CPU, the 8088 was 16-bit internal, 8-bit external, while your mentioned 8086 was 16-bit internal and external. (other than that, the 8088 and 8086 were interchangeable from a software point of view). the 6809 was an 8-bit CPU that had SOME 16-bit internal functionality. the [80]286 and 68000 were still different beasts. ALL these motorola cpu's btw, could execute most instructions in one clock cycle, UNLIKE the intel 80x86 processors which needed 4 clock cycles minimum (up until the 486 I believe)
If I remember correctly, the 680x0 chip was easier to write programs for since it didn't need to do this crazy "sliding window" trick that was needed on the 80x86 to address extended memory (or is it expanded memory? I never did get that right).
I think the Mac would have had more 3rd party programs developed (especially games) had they been more friendly to developers.
I think the Mac would have had more 3rd party programs developed (especially games) had they been more friendly to developers.
You're right. The 68000 used a flat address model. It had a 32-bit program counter but only 24 bits were used. It was a very clean method and easy to program for (IMHO) The x86 used segmented addressing and had a 16-bit program counter and used 4-bit segment register so you'd have to perform tricks to address more then 64K at a time for many operations. The Pentiums and later have a variable segment size so you can define a segment to be the full 4 GB of the address space and then use it the same as you would a 68000 with no segment registers specified.
From what I've heard, the 68040 processor is still in production and be used by TI in their TI-82/83 series graphing calculators.
Kind of makes me a little sad that the killer processor from my first home computer now runs calculators....
Kind of makes me a little sad that the killer processor from my first home computer now runs calculators....
The original Mac (128 K RAM) and Fat Mac (512 K RAM),
came out in 1984. The Mac Classic opened here was
introduced in 1990. The Classic was built in the Scully era
and was built to maximize profits based on older designs.
So (after almost 5 years) it still used the same 68000
processor of the original Macs at the same 8 Mhz speed.
The original models had even less of an eye to updating
than
the Mac Classic. To upgrade RAM, the new chips were
piggy-backed on top of the old chips as there were no
sockets. Processor upgrades were actually easier as the
CPU was socketed on the early machines. And lots of
people did it (though most didn't). In the days of $1000
for a 512 K RAM upgrade, you usually got a torx driver
and case spreader with your upgrade kit.
The Mac Plus intro'd in 1986 introduced SIMM sockets for
RAM (one of the first manufacturers to do so) and SCSI.
Making upgrading WAY easier!
came out in 1984. The Mac Classic opened here was
introduced in 1990. The Classic was built in the Scully era
and was built to maximize profits based on older designs.
So (after almost 5 years) it still used the same 68000
processor of the original Macs at the same 8 Mhz speed.
The original models had even less of an eye to updating
than
the Mac Classic. To upgrade RAM, the new chips were
piggy-backed on top of the old chips as there were no
sockets. Processor upgrades were actually easier as the
CPU was socketed on the early machines. And lots of
people did it (though most didn't). In the days of $1000
for a 512 K RAM upgrade, you usually got a torx driver
and case spreader with your upgrade kit.
The Mac Plus intro'd in 1986 introduced SIMM sockets for
RAM (one of the first manufacturers to do so) and SCSI.
Making upgrading WAY easier!
I bought my first Mac in Spring 1984 for about $3600 borrowed dollars then, along with an ImageWriter and software. The first compiler I had was MacForth, a Forth compiler that produced some pretty hot stuff on that limited architecture.
It come with 128k memory and a 1.4 Mb floppy drive, and that was a lot then, but in my first business in 1985 my partner and I "upgraded" by installing a hard drive called a "Hyperdrive" that cost about $1200 and held a whopping 10 Mb. The thing had to be soldered carefully to the motherboard, and voided the warranty, but that computer was still working in 1990 when I gave it to a church. (Guess I should have kept it because is WAS signed inside.)
It would cold boot in a few seconds and just kicked butt. I had to leave the screws out and keep a case spreader available because everyone wanted to look at it all the time.
/reminiscing
It come with 128k memory and a 1.4 Mb floppy drive, and that was a lot then, but in my first business in 1985 my partner and I "upgraded" by installing a hard drive called a "Hyperdrive" that cost about $1200 and held a whopping 10 Mb. The thing had to be soldered carefully to the motherboard, and voided the warranty, but that computer was still working in 1990 when I gave it to a church. (Guess I should have kept it because is WAS signed inside.)
It would cold boot in a few seconds and just kicked butt. I had to leave the screws out and keep a case spreader available because everyone wanted to look at it all the time.
/reminiscing
You know, I cant remember but that floppy was even smaller -- maybe more like 400k in the same form factor as 'today's' 1.44 MB floppies. Maybe someone else remembers...
800K floppies were the first ones for the Mac, 1.4's came later (classic time had the 1.4, the early 80's models only had the 800k floppies)
The Mac, Fat Mac and original external disk drives from
Apple (all from 1984) were 400 KB.
The Mac Plus introduced the double-sided 800 KB drives
in 1986. The 800 KB drives also shipped on the SE and
the Mac II.
The Mac IIx and SE/30 introduced the 1.4 MB drives in
1988 and 1989 which were used in all subsequent Macs
until the iMac axed the floppy altogether.
Apple (all from 1984) were 400 KB.
The Mac Plus introduced the double-sided 800 KB drives
in 1986. The 800 KB drives also shipped on the SE and
the Mac II.
The Mac IIx and SE/30 introduced the 1.4 MB drives in
1988 and 1989 which were used in all subsequent Macs
until the iMac axed the floppy altogether.
I stand corrected on the Floppies... My first experience with a Mac didnt happen until '86
I remember Apple making great fuzz about being able to squeeze 400kb onto their drives instead of the mere 360kb PC drives could hold. Not too long after that, PC's got 720kb drives and it took two years for Mac to get the 800kb's. Even the Macintoxh XL was downgraded from 871kb (5,25") to 400kb.
Most I remember the annoying sound when the Mac drives changed rotational speed because of the zone-bit (sp?) recording.
Most I remember the annoying sound when the Mac drives changed rotational speed because of the zone-bit (sp?) recording.
We had a proto-Macintosh with a 5.25" (~800KB?) Apple
Twiggy drive in it. It's amazing they could stuff such a large
drive into it, but it fit (barely). The 400KB Sony drives were a
much better choice, with hard shelled diskettes. I seldom
had problems with them (even to this day). Yes, Apple really
lagged behind on the shift to greater media capacity.
Twiggy drive in it. It's amazing they could stuff such a large
drive into it, but it fit (barely). The 400KB Sony drives were a
much better choice, with hard shelled diskettes. I seldom
had problems with them (even to this day). Yes, Apple really
lagged behind on the shift to greater media capacity.
The original 128 K and 512K "fat macs" came with 400K drives. These were single-sided and, because they could spin at various speeds (I believe there were five speeds), they were able to cram more data onto a 3.5" diskette than competitive 3.5" drives, which would hold about 270 K in machines offered by Heath/Zenith, for example. One of the major selling points was that these Apple 3.5" drives used a smaller, more compact floppy that, because it was encased in a rigid shell, could store data more tightly than could the competing 360 KB 5.25" floppy in the IBM PC/XT. Hence, the floppy held 400K on a single-sided disk whereas the IBM drive required both sides of the 5.25" diskette to store only 360 KB. Note that the IBM drives were capable of only one speed--they were far more primitive than the Apple drive.
After the 400K drive, Apple introduced a double-sided version, one of which I had for a little while. This held 800 kilobytes, and made a particularly endearing "mip-mmip-mip" noise as its head-actuators operated. (the older drive didn't make the noise, if I recall, but you could hear the motor whirring it's little five-note song as it changed speed during operation. The newer drives didn't sing. They just "mmmipped" along.
I remember loving that sound--kind of an "R2-D2" kind of thing, I guess....
After the 400K drive, Apple introduced a double-sided version, one of which I had for a little while. This held 800 kilobytes, and made a particularly endearing "mip-mmip-mip" noise as its head-actuators operated. (the older drive didn't make the noise, if I recall, but you could hear the motor whirring it's little five-note song as it changed speed during operation. The newer drives didn't sing. They just "mmmipped" along.
I remember loving that sound--kind of an "R2-D2" kind of thing, I guess....
800K I believe when I came cracked a lot of mac pluses Upgratded to 4 Meg if ram and a SCSI hard Drive many over headed though
Yes the original 3.5 floppy was 400K then 800k which was the same floppy that x86 formatted at 720k and then finally 1.4mb
I had a school full of curious 4th and 5th graders, and
about 175 Macs of varying vintages. Since the kids tended
to ask way more questions than were possible to answer
during class, I started an after school computer club. After
powering out the screens, I would carefully put the
Classics, SEs, and Plus Macs back together and, using a
very old tool kit, let my group dismantle the Macs. The
tool kit came from the early 80's and included the
spreader, the chip remover, battery remover and a couple
other dinguses that just made Mac crackin' easier in the
day. Once we got all the Macs opened, the kids had a field
day dismantling them. We'd compare what was inside with
some of the old posters hanging around. After a couple
weeks of dismantling and checking out parts, we had a
contest to see who could put everything back correctly.
Since all those old Macs had run perfectly before being
opened, it wasn't hard to tell when it was wrong. The
contest was ultimately won by a THIRD grader! In fact it
was the girl you never heard a word out of! She went from
everything out of the box - including battery and
motherboard - to everything in the box, plugged in and
operating in 7 minutes, 15 seconds.
She graduated this year and is spending her third summer
in a row at NASA. Next year, she has a full scholarship to
Embry-Riddle Aeronautics, and plans a life at Mission
Control.
Cool Mac inspiration!
about 175 Macs of varying vintages. Since the kids tended
to ask way more questions than were possible to answer
during class, I started an after school computer club. After
powering out the screens, I would carefully put the
Classics, SEs, and Plus Macs back together and, using a
very old tool kit, let my group dismantle the Macs. The
tool kit came from the early 80's and included the
spreader, the chip remover, battery remover and a couple
other dinguses that just made Mac crackin' easier in the
day. Once we got all the Macs opened, the kids had a field
day dismantling them. We'd compare what was inside with
some of the old posters hanging around. After a couple
weeks of dismantling and checking out parts, we had a
contest to see who could put everything back correctly.
Since all those old Macs had run perfectly before being
opened, it wasn't hard to tell when it was wrong. The
contest was ultimately won by a THIRD grader! In fact it
was the girl you never heard a word out of! She went from
everything out of the box - including battery and
motherboard - to everything in the box, plugged in and
operating in 7 minutes, 15 seconds.
She graduated this year and is spending her third summer
in a row at NASA. Next year, she has a full scholarship to
Embry-Riddle Aeronautics, and plans a life at Mission
Control.
Cool Mac inspiration!
I'm a bit surprised that 3rd graders were allowed to
disassemble Macs of that vintage. As an early Mac
consultant I opened hundreds of Pluses to upgrade RAM.
That involved both cutting a resistor on the MB (R32 if
memory serves) and also grounding the anode on the
cathode ray tube. I used crossed screw drivers to do this,
one touching the anode under the rubber suction cup, the
other crossing it to the chassis of the grounded Mac. One
time I accidentally had my fingers touch the screwdriver
and both went flying across the room as I received a
shock. That ended repairs for the day (picture Wile E.
Coyote standing there with smoke rising from his fur).
disassemble Macs of that vintage. As an early Mac
consultant I opened hundreds of Pluses to upgrade RAM.
That involved both cutting a resistor on the MB (R32 if
memory serves) and also grounding the anode on the
cathode ray tube. I used crossed screw drivers to do this,
one touching the anode under the rubber suction cup, the
other crossing it to the chassis of the grounded Mac. One
time I accidentally had my fingers touch the screwdriver
and both went flying across the room as I received a
shock. That ended repairs for the day (picture Wile E.
Coyote standing there with smoke rising from his fur).
Everyone remembers their first Mac. Mine was a Mac SE with two floppy drives. Very well made, no issues, othger than needing more memory and a hard drive. Did them myself -- the screwdriver was easy to find at MacWorld Boston in 1989. Picked up a 100 MB Jasmine external HD...more space than I would ever need 
I still have the SE and the Jasmine HD, they still work. I put a bigger HD in the Jasmine case of course. I have a collection consisting of a Mac Plus, some SEs and SE/30s, and Color Classics...love the all-in-ones.
I still have the SE and the Jasmine HD, they still work. I put a bigger HD in the Jasmine case of course. I have a collection consisting of a Mac Plus, some SEs and SE/30s, and Color Classics...love the all-in-ones. 
I think that was the real genius of Mac (aside from the
intuitive OS) was that everything was generally all inside
one box. I love the iLamp and the iMacs and especially
love my 24" iMac... its just a thing of beauty.
Now... if I can just get back to work on Macs again...
My new tag line? Mac by choice, PC by force.
Oh, and my first Mac? THE first Mac... it was love at first
sight.
intuitive OS) was that everything was generally all inside
one box. I love the iLamp and the iMacs and especially
love my 24" iMac... its just a thing of beauty.
Now... if I can just get back to work on Macs again...
My new tag line? Mac by choice, PC by force.
Oh, and my first Mac? THE first Mac... it was love at first
sight.
I had a Mac Plus, Mac Classic and an Apple II GS.
The Plus I only had to service once - my (then) 3 year old
tried to start the Mac with my motorcycle key in the
floppy bay. I had to completely dismantle it to get the
floppy drive out. I found the inside of the case had been
"signed" by all members of the crew - including both
Steves!
The Mac Classic I used for typsetting. It was at the top of
its class and I never had it serviced - not in 8 years.
The II GS wasn't a Mac, it was sort of a bridge between the
Apple II series and the Macs. I did some really tacky
upgrades, including a second 40MB external hard drive
(lots of soldering there) and an additional floppy drive
(more soldering). That computer "spoke" DOS, ProDOS,
English and Spanish.
None of these guys ever got serviced.
The Plus I only had to service once - my (then) 3 year old
tried to start the Mac with my motorcycle key in the
floppy bay. I had to completely dismantle it to get the
floppy drive out. I found the inside of the case had been
"signed" by all members of the crew - including both
Steves!
The Mac Classic I used for typsetting. It was at the top of
its class and I never had it serviced - not in 8 years.
The II GS wasn't a Mac, it was sort of a bridge between the
Apple II series and the Macs. I did some really tacky
upgrades, including a second 40MB external hard drive
(lots of soldering there) and an additional floppy drive
(more soldering). That computer "spoke" DOS, ProDOS,
English and Spanish.
None of these guys ever got serviced.
I've also hardly ever needed to send my Mac Plus (1986 -
older than the Classic shown, but only less RAM and a
smaller HD), Lisa 7/7 (now in the university museum),
eMac (still works, but slow), G4cube (our family computer)
or Apple II GS. Only my daughter's iMac that was on
around the clock playing music for 4 years finally failed.
Apple admitted there was a design flaw in the
motherboard that caused it to self-destruct, but I got
there a month after the replacement offer expired.
older than the Classic shown, but only less RAM and a
smaller HD), Lisa 7/7 (now in the university museum),
eMac (still works, but slow), G4cube (our family computer)
or Apple II GS. Only my daughter's iMac that was on
around the clock playing music for 4 years finally failed.
Apple admitted there was a design flaw in the
motherboard that caused it to self-destruct, but I got
there a month after the replacement offer expired.
One of the first CPUs I ever worked on. You did forget to degauss the CRT with the special tool that all Certified Apple Techs had. It drained the voltage from the CRT making it safer at least to handle.
Nice flashbacks...
SGSchwab
Nice flashbacks...
SGSchwab
A "quibble" as they say in the Geek Trivia section:
I'm sure you meant to say to *discharge* the the CRT, not "degauss" it.
Degaussing removes a residual magnetic field (which can cause color distortions on a color CRT, but I don't believe is an issue at all on monochrome CRTs).
Discharging a CRT is done with a tool comprised of a probe and a (sometimes resistive) wire. Degaussing is done with an electromagnetic coil.
I'm sure you meant to say to *discharge* the the CRT, not "degauss" it.
Degaussing removes a residual magnetic field (which can cause color distortions on a color CRT, but I don't believe is an issue at all on monochrome CRTs).
Discharging a CRT is done with a tool comprised of a probe and a (sometimes resistive) wire. Degaussing is done with an electromagnetic coil.
Discharging is done with the Torx driver, adn another screwdriver placed in an X.
Or, you used the $16 Apple tool to do it. THe first tools had no bleed resistance so you heard the "pop". Then they released a set that had resistance in there, and so didn't make the noise. It seems a bunch of techs, including one at my store, didn't like not hearing it, not trusting that the CRT was truly discharged. So shortly after that, Apple released the new, improved, noise=-making discharge tool.
Or, you used the $16 Apple tool to do it. THe first tools had no bleed resistance so you heard the "pop". Then they released a set that had resistance in there, and so didn't make the noise. It seems a bunch of techs, including one at my store, didn't like not hearing it, not trusting that the CRT was truly discharged. So shortly after that, Apple released the new, improved, noise=-making discharge tool.
I used to sell Macs when they first came out - even sold a Lisa.
Fun to see this thing cracked. I'll look at more of the galleries...pretty fun.
Fun to see this thing cracked. I'll look at more of the galleries...pretty fun.
Criminy! I was on my third Mac by then, having purchased one of the first one thousand 128K Macs while attending a Consortium school back in 1983 (or was it 84?). It's hidden away in a sealed container, inside its original carrying case, somewhere in my basement. Crack it open, and it's full of upgrades that eventually blew the power supply.
...the Classic was an update of the Plus, with more RAM and
the "SuperDrive" 1.4 MB floppy drive. Otherwise, it was the
same technology as 1986, a lesser machine than the SE, and
just repackaged to make it look modern.
the "SuperDrive" 1.4 MB floppy drive. Otherwise, it was the
same technology as 1986, a lesser machine than the SE, and
just repackaged to make it look modern.
The orange SIPs along the bottom edge of the hard drive controller board photo are internal SCSI terminators. If the drive was used in an external drive enclosure and daisy chained with other scsi devices these SIPs needed to be removed to unterminate the drive.
Using the current Technology of the time it is a lovely unit really.
Great to see early VLSI stuff all over again and the very early Surface Mount stuff on the Connor Drive I had forgotten just how many chips they had stuffed onto those Boards.
Only real worry with older equipment is leaking Capacitors which held some nasty stuff in them in their day. But even if you didn't have the right tools the Torx in question was a very common tool then and the equipment that was not wanted to be broken into had Tamper Proof Torx Screws in then so you needed a Torx Driver not a Bit with a Hole down the center of the Torx Head. I've still got a complete range of Tamper Proof Torx & Tri Wing Drivers that where used in those days though they don't get much use now as the Screwdrivers have all been superseded with a replaceable Bit driver for the small Electronic Work.
Col
Great to see early VLSI stuff all over again and the very early Surface Mount stuff on the Connor Drive I had forgotten just how many chips they had stuffed onto those Boards.
Only real worry with older equipment is leaking Capacitors which held some nasty stuff in them in their day. But even if you didn't have the right tools the Torx in question was a very common tool then and the equipment that was not wanted to be broken into had Tamper Proof Torx Screws in then so you needed a Torx Driver not a Bit with a Hole down the center of the Torx Head. I've still got a complete range of Tamper Proof Torx & Tri Wing Drivers that where used in those days though they don't get much use now as the Screwdrivers have all been superseded with a replaceable Bit driver for the small Electronic Work.
Col
The Torx head screw is still very common. I keep a full set of torx drivers on hand. I replaced the keyboard on my "Classic" Blackberry 7730 recently and needed a torx driver to disassemble it. The first time I had to use a torx was around 1988 because my Compaq lugable was held together with torx screws.
Are the One driver with different bits. Gone are the days when we needed specialized Screwdrivers to do the work.
The one that I still love is the Head with a 15 way indent around the outer rim that sort of looks like a Reverse Torx head or a Reverse 12 Point Head. Still used a lot and very few drivers on the market to fit this fixing device.
Tri Wings where another common fixing device a while ago on electronics.
Or how about the Yellow Goop leaking out of the Unit here.
What's the bet it's from a Yellow PVC Capacitor across either the Mains or the High Tension on the Neck Board?
I used to love those things Temp Sensitive Capacitors that failed and then put a straight Short Circuit across what they where supposed to be protecting & in the process made a God Awful mess. When I used to replace them with Green Caps I got into trouble because they where not what the Design called for and it didn't matter that they worked better and didn't fail again they "The Powers That Be" wanted them replaced with the same thing so we could continue selling Repaired Circuit Boards. I had more than enough work to do without continually needing to repair the same Circuit Board every year.
OH BTW I was using Tamper Proof Torx Drivers in 1976 and probably prior to that I used to have a complete set from the T 5 size up to a T 45 but while it's still useful the big one doesn't get much use these days. Also having 5 different screwdrivers in the tool box takes up a lot of room so 1 Driver with 20 or 30 replaceable bits is just so much easier to stuff in there. The tool boxes have remained as big but seem to have got heaver over the years or maybe I'm just getting older.
Col
The one that I still love is the Head with a 15 way indent around the outer rim that sort of looks like a Reverse Torx head or a Reverse 12 Point Head. Still used a lot and very few drivers on the market to fit this fixing device.
Tri Wings where another common fixing device a while ago on electronics.
Or how about the Yellow Goop leaking out of the Unit here.
What's the bet it's from a Yellow PVC Capacitor across either the Mains or the High Tension on the Neck Board?
I used to love those things Temp Sensitive Capacitors that failed and then put a straight Short Circuit across what they where supposed to be protecting & in the process made a God Awful mess. When I used to replace them with Green Caps I got into trouble because they where not what the Design called for and it didn't matter that they worked better and didn't fail again they "The Powers That Be" wanted them replaced with the same thing so we could continue selling Repaired Circuit Boards. I had more than enough work to do without continually needing to repair the same Circuit Board every year.
OH BTW I was using Tamper Proof Torx Drivers in 1976 and probably prior to that I used to have a complete set from the T 5 size up to a T 45 but while it's still useful the big one doesn't get much use these days. Also having 5 different screwdrivers in the tool box takes up a lot of room so 1 Driver with 20 or 30 replaceable bits is just so much easier to stuff in there. The tool boxes have remained as big but seem to have got heaver over the years or maybe I'm just getting older.
Col
I'd gotten a MacPlus in 1987 when I started college at U of M, Ann Arbor. Loved it. It got the extra floppy drive, so I didn't have to swap the OS out all the time.
Cracked it open to add memory, maxed it out at 4 MB, in 1990. Bought an external 20 MB hard drive too.
Later it was over heating, so I modded the case to add on a cooling fan.
It continued to work for a few more years, but finally the capacitors in the CRT went, and the video scan collapsed.
I bought the replacement
caps, but never went through with the install.
By then, I had gotten a PC.
Cracked it open to add memory, maxed it out at 4 MB, in 1990. Bought an external 20 MB hard drive too.
Later it was over heating, so I modded the case to add on a cooling fan.
It continued to work for a few more years, but finally the capacitors in the CRT went, and the video scan collapsed.
I bought the replacementcaps, but never went through with the install.
By then, I had gotten a PC.
Surprised that the Power/Video board was unshielded?
The case of the Mac was coated with a coating that shielded the radiation. It kept cooler from not adding what was not generally needed.
As for having the proper tool to open the Mac, I still have my long torx, and still have my Mac Plus, which is still working, the last time I checked.
The case of the Mac was coated with a coating that shielded the radiation. It kept cooler from not adding what was not generally needed.
As for having the proper tool to open the Mac, I still have my long torx, and still have my Mac Plus, which is still working, the last time I checked.
What size Torx do you need to crack open this baby? I began using Torx about two years ago after buying an old(er) PowerBook G3 ("Wallstreet", or maybe it was a "PDQ"). Torx 8 or Torx 6, IIRC. Just last week I "graduated" to a PowerBook G3 "Firewire" (AKA "Pismo"), which requires a Torx 8, IIRC...
Craftsman calls it a T15 - but the size of the head wasn't the problem, it was the long neck of the tool that I was missing. All the ones I had before were to short or fat - or both. 
If the inside is signed by a notable person from apple it is worth big money as a collecter item!
If one of the founders of apple computer assembled the machine and signed the inside I beleive that its a collecter item maybe worth a couple of grand even!
The original Mac, Fat Mac, and Mac Plus had the signatures
of the design team molded into the inside of the shell. As
far as I remember, that ended with the Mac Plus, and the
Classic and Color Classic did not have the signatures on the
shell.
of the design team molded into the inside of the shell. As
far as I remember, that ended with the Mac Plus, and the
Classic and Color Classic did not have the signatures on the
shell.
I was working for an Apple Dealer (we sold IBM PC's in the then super secret world of the Gray Market) and the upstart "Compaq" in 1984 when the Mac came out. (I can't tell you how many sales I lost because Compaq couldn't spell their name right...) I remember the signatures on the inside of the Mac case. I also remember trying to sell this $4000 beauty, and an Apple Writer printer to curious customers when it only had two software programs. MacPaint (B&W) and MacWrite. Man, I'm an old geek. But, have I got stories...whew...
I've had a number of Macs (and PCs) over the years. By far my favorite has been
the SE/30. I had a carrying case around that I used to lug that sucker around
between home, school & work. I *still* have it, and last I fired it up, ~1 year ago, it
ran like a champ.
My MacBook Air is pretty nice, too, though. And a lot easier to transport.
the SE/30. I had a carrying case around that I used to lug that sucker around
between home, school & work. I *still* have it, and last I fired it up, ~1 year ago, it
ran like a champ.
My MacBook Air is pretty nice, too, though. And a lot easier to transport.
Are you sure it had 4 MB of memory? For a 40 MB SCSI hard drive, which was a lot for it's time, I don't think it would be 4MB of memory. Especially when I see from the picture 256x4. I would believe 1 MB of memory, of which 256 KB was on the motherboard and 758 KB on the expansion slot. Most likely, it was sold as a 512 KB Ram with slots to bring it to 1 MB. I'm not sure, and don't remember SIMMs chips being larger than 256 KB.
the 256Kx4 (256K,4-bit wide) Chips, count them total 8, 2-256x4 chips = 1-byte width of 256K, 8 = 1MB. two more SIMMS in the expansion slots @ 1Meg ea = 3MB, the RAM on the system/mother board itself is more likely 1MB (didn't examine the size) for Video Memory. Not sure HOW it was handled in the Mac, as far if the video was directly memory mapped to the 680x0, or was only accessible through the video controller.
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