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Quadra 650 running A/UX
Posted by: dafoomie on 2015-02-11 10:37:00
I wanted to mess around with A/UX and the Quadra 650 was the cheapest '040 I could find.  Came with a 320mb hard drive and nothing else, so I eventually pieced together:
 

128mb RAM (+ the 8mb on board)

1mb VRAM

AppleCD 300i Plus (2x tray), rails and bezel

Ethernet transceiver

VGA adapter (don't own a Mac monitor, fortunately this one supports 1152x870)

External 1gb Jaz drive and 3 disks

new PRAM battery
Posted by: Sherry Haibara on 2015-02-11 11:00:31
Wow, that's cool! 🙂
I still have this idea of getting A/UX running somewhere, one day. I've got a IIsi that would be ideal for the purpose, providing that I find some expansion card to support the FPU and I bump the memory to 64MB.
Posted by: dafoomie on 2015-02-11 12:28:07
It's really cool having a machine that would've cost thousands and thousands of dollars when you were a kid.

It was a lot of fun making it all work, but now that it's done I'm starting to wonder what I'll do with it.
Posted by: olePigeon on 2015-02-11 14:10:43
That's what I love about vintage computer collecting.  Building your ultimate dream machine for pennies on the dollar. 🙂  Everything you ever wanted in a computer but couldn't have because it would've cost more than a house!
Posted by: Gorgonops on 2015-02-11 14:33:27
I slapped together a very similar machine back in... gads, 2001, and just for the heck of it ran A/UX on it. (The reason for buying the box was actually just to have a copy of a Quadra ROM that was "mine", for emulation purposes.) Cost me $40 for all the pieces from Weirdstuff and I probably overpaid considering what they were going for at the time. Whee.

Sort of, just a tiny bit, regret getting rid of it. The 650/800 system board is arguably one of the best 68k Macs ever made. Case sucks, though.
Posted by: dafoomie on 2015-02-11 15:03:11
Yeah, the case is why it gets no love from collectors.  I originally wanted an SE/30 or a Quadra 700 but a 33mhz '040 with interleaved memory and all tantalum caps for less than half the price was too good.
Posted by: trag on 2015-02-11 16:16:02
The Q650/800 board will fit nicely in the Q700 case....
Posted by: dafoomie on 2015-02-11 17:30:46
 Good to know, will have to keep an eye out for one.  Thanks.
Posted by: Byrd on 2015-02-11 17:35:17
I reckon the 650/7100 case is alright, easily the most solid case Apple made in the day.  Getting to RAM is a bit tricky.
Posted by: Unknown_K on 2015-02-11 20:44:11
What apps are you going to run under A/UX?

I have one A/UX machine a WGS95 that pretty much collects dusts since I have a PC running shares for the old macs currently. A/UX makes for a decent old mac server and built in retrospect makes backing up easy and fast.
Posted by: TheWhiteFalcon on 2015-02-11 21:29:25
but now that it's done I'm starting to wonder what I'll do with it.
Yeah, I know that feeling. 🙂

Posted by: Bunsen on 2015-02-11 22:20:38
Nice Silicon Graphics monitor.
Posted by: dafoomie on 2015-02-12 12:35:07
What apps are you going to run under A/UX?

I have one A/UX machine a WGS95 that pretty much collects dusts since I have a PC running shares for the old macs currently. A/UX makes for a decent old mac server and built in retrospect makes backing up easy and fast.
I'm not sure yet.  If I upgrade my 512Ke to a Plus I might try to network them but what I would do beyond firing up Net Trek once in a while, I don't know.

Nice Silicon Graphics monitor.
Thanks.  Almost a waste to be using it on this Mac and a Dreamcast.
Posted by: TheWhiteFalcon on 2015-02-12 12:55:07
Nothing is a waste for a Dreamcast. VGA box? I bought a Naki one for mine to use when Pier Solar comes out.
Posted by: dafoomie on 2015-02-12 13:19:53
That's true.  It's a much more capable monitor than it'll ever be used for again though.

I'm lucky the Mac adapter plays nice with the sync on green 13w3 port.
Posted by: feeef on 2015-02-22 01:34:03
That's very cool! The case looks very clean as well! Well done!
Posted by: Bunsen on 2015-02-25 05:48:55
The 650/800 system board is arguably one of the best 68k Macs ever made.
I'd say inarguably one of the best.
Posted by: MinerAl on 2015-03-15 22:25:57
Now that CD-ROMs are kind of worthless, a 650 lobo in a 700 case (or dremeled cc/vi case) would be a very nice toy indeed!

There's a case compatibility chart around here somewhere...

Ah hah. I knew I left it at lowendmac. http://lowendmac.com/myturn/2k1213.html
Posted by: Juror22 on 2015-06-06 21:04:33
That was a fun read.
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