68kMLA Classic Interface

This is a version of the 68kMLA forums for viewing on your favorite old mac. Visitors on modern platforms may prefer the main site.

Click here to select a new forum.
What I've received as of late...
Posted by: volvo242gt on 2025-11-15 00:52:58
Just got a bunch of stuff from @Mk.558 this evening. Another Quadra 650, which will be replacing the damaged Quadra 650, since this one works and doesn't need more than just swapping the extra RAM, the larger hard drive, auto-inject floppy, and other goodies I'd tossed at the damaged machine into it. There's also a Power Macintosh G3 (Gossamer beige minitower in the G3 Server configuration), a Q610 DOS compatible, some extra RAM for a post-NuBus PowerMac, a bunch of cards, some networking software and manuals, a couple 800K external drives, and another M1212 monitor that doesn't smell moldy, unlike the one I have attached to the IIfx currently.

IMG_3805.JPG
Testing the Q650. Boots up and works correctly. Was surprised to discover that it has a properly working Quantum LP80S hard drive in it.
Posted by: volvo242gt on 2026-02-04 18:22:31
Conquesting an A1289 Mac Pro, finally. Picking that up on Saturday.
Posted by: nathall on 2026-02-04 21:26:46
Good score. I’ve been wanting one since this issue of Macworld landed in my mailbox 20 years ago:

6C9240BF-3EB7-44D1-BC93-C24306C00BDD.jpeg
Posted by: Juror22 on 2026-02-04 21:51:11
Conquesting an A1289 Mac Pro, finally. Picking that up on Saturday.
That is terrific! Very capable machines.
Posted by: volvo242gt on 2026-02-05 02:55:26
Good score. I’ve been wanting one since this issue of Macworld landed in my mailbox 20 years ago:

View attachment 95265
There is one for $100 on offerup right now. Just the machine itself, of course. It's in Tacoma. Seller says it needs a hard drive. I probably will have a spare SATA 3.5" drive available. Sent you a DM with the link.
Posted by: volvo242gt on 2026-02-05 02:58:17
That is terrific! Very capable machines.
Agreed. Had that early 2008 8-core 2.8 GHz A1186 for a long time. Was my daily driver until I moved the Radeon HD 5770 video card up a slot and somehow caused the heatsink for the PCI bus chip to come loose. Became rather unstable at the time. Switched to the mid-2010 A1286 I owned at the time as my daily driver. Will be nice to have a Mac Pro again for my daily driver duties.
Posted by: volvo242gt on 2026-02-12 03:23:48
Picking up the A1289 later today. Have an ATI Radeon HD 5870 video card coming in the mail. Now need to hunt down a Dell UltraSharp monitor that works with both the G4 and the MP.
Posted by: CC_333 on 2026-02-12 13:57:46
I still have the A1289 (Early 2008) I've had since new. I think I upgraded it to a Radeon HD 5770, but I still have its original Radeon HD 2600 XT, along with some amount of RAM I can't remember now (he special FB-DIMMs it require were stupid expensive for years, so I was stuck at 4 GB (which was adequate in 2009, but becoming increasingly cramped by even 2011 or so) until I was finally able to afford some used FB-DIMMs (I can't remember when or where I got them; might've been eBay sometime around 2013?)

It was solidly reliable for the most part (I took it to the Apple Store once because I thought it had a hardware problem; turned out it was a simple software thing that I might have done), and I only retired it in 2015 because it couldn't run newer versions of MacOS (OpenCore Legacy Patcher didn't exist then) (I had been running Windows XP on it for years until the "official" EOL in 2014 (had I known at the time that it was still receiving updates via the POSReady2009 hack (I only learned about it a year or two later), I would've kept it because I liked it much better), then I upgraded to 7 for the remainder of its daily driver status).

I was thinking of bringing it out of retirement a few years ago, but when I tried, it wouldn't work. Turned out one of the memory risers failed for some unknown reason. I got a replacement, and I *think* I installed it, but I never did anything more and it's been in it's box ever since (I got another, mostly identical spare unit about then and went with that instead because it was fully working).

c
Posted by: Unknown_K on 2026-02-12 14:21:28
You can spot Apple FB-DIMMs from the unique heatsink airflow design (and they probably need it since that RAM does get hot).

I quit looking for Pros a while ago because they were heavy to ship and people still wanted some cash for them compared to the dirt-cheap PC equivalents. I love the look of my G5's so I will eventually snag a Pro if I find one cheap locally. I think I have an Apple HD 4870 card here somewhere.
Posted by: volvo242gt on 2026-02-12 21:09:58
I still have the A1289 (Early 2008) I've had since new. I think I upgraded it to a Radeon HD 5770, but I still have its original Radeon HD 2600 XT, along with some amount of RAM I can't remember now (he special FB-DIMMs it require were stupid expensive for years, so I was stuck at 4 GB (which was adequate in 2009, but becoming increasingly cramped by even 2011 or so) until I was finally able to afford some used FB-DIMMs (I can't remember when or where I got them; might've been eBay sometime around 2013?)

It was solidly reliable for the most part (I took it to the Apple Store once because I thought it had a hardware problem; turned out it was a simple software thing that I might have done), and I only retired it in 2015 because it couldn't run newer versions of MacOS (OpenCore Legacy Patcher didn't exist then) (I had been running Windows XP on it for years until the "official" EOL in 2014 (had I known at the time that it was still receiving updates via the POSReady2009 hack (I only learned about it a year or two later), I would've kept it because I liked it much better), then I upgraded to 7 for the remainder of its daily driver status).

I was thinking of bringing it out of retirement a few years ago, but when I tried, it wouldn't work. Turned out one of the memory risers failed for some unknown reason. I got a replacement, and I *think* I installed it, but I never did anything more and it's been in it's box ever since (I got another, mostly identical spare unit about then and went with that instead because it was fully working).

c
Ah, the A1186? Mine was almost identically equipped. Came with the HD 5770 video card installed. I did have to add an Airport Extreme card to it for Wi-Fi (have to do that on the A1289 as well). Had 6GB of RAM with, originally, my A1181's 160GB drive, then I installed a 500GB drive, ran that for a while, before I picked up the Seagate 1TB drive that I currently have in the A1289.

You can spot Apple FB-DIMMs from the unique heatsink airflow design (and they probably need it since that RAM does get hot).

I quit looking for Pros a while ago because they were heavy to ship and people still wanted some cash for them compared to the dirt-cheap PC equivalents. I love the look of my G5's so I will eventually snag a Pro if I find one cheap locally. I think I have an Apple HD 4870 card here somewhere.
Keep your eyes on govdeals.com. I wouldn't be surprised if University of Ohio dumps a few on there. Currently, the University of Washington has something like 14 Mac Pros and one or two G5's up for auction.
Posted by: CC_333 on 2026-02-12 21:13:44
Ah, right, the A1186! I couldn't quite remember what the number was for an Early 2008 and didn't feel like looking it up. Serves me right!

c
Posted by: volvo242gt on 2026-02-12 22:31:38
Ah, right, the A1186! I couldn't quite remember what the number was for an Early 2008 and didn't feel like looking it up. Serves me right!

c
No worries. 👍🏻

IMG_4395.jpeg
The A1289, hiding behind the $10 Dell 24" UltraSharp monitor.
Posted by: quinterro on 2026-02-14 11:40:20
No worries. 👍🏻

View attachment 95542
The A1289, hiding behind the $10 Dell 24" UltraSharp monitor.
You don’t have enough icons on your desktop. 🙂
Posted by: volvo242gt on 2026-02-14 13:24:05
You don’t have enough icons on your desktop. 🙂
Hehe, a bit cluttered, but nothing like my sister's iMac, which literally is a wall of icons.
< 12