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Got a Macintosh! Now What?
Posted by: MacintoshSE1987 on 2023-12-11 08:10:33
That's a lot of Apple.
Posted by: olePigeon on 2023-12-11 08:13:07
@joshc Is that just a regular billiards ball for your Turbomouse? Or is it a special trackball that just looks like one?
Posted by: MacintoshSE1987 on 2023-12-11 08:13:24
Some of my Macs over the past few years if you're interested @MacintoshSE1987

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Does bro own Apple???
Posted by: ClassicGuyPhilly on 2023-12-11 08:15:01
@MacintoshSE1987 he's just sore because he hasn't found himself a tidy Powerbook Pismo yet.
@3lectr1cPPC will attest that Josh and Phipli are always trying to get Americans to buy Pismos. As I said before, beware! 😜
Posted by: MacintoshSE1987 on 2023-12-11 08:19:42
@joshc Is that just a regular billiards ball for your Turbomouse? Or is it a special trackball that just looks like one?
It may actually be a real billiards ball (Ball 8)
Posted by: MacintoshSE1987 on 2023-12-11 08:28:35
Holy Cow. Impressive.
Posted by: MacintoshSE1987 on 2023-12-11 08:30:29
Quite the setup.
Posted by: MacintoshSE1987 on 2023-12-11 08:31:50
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@Phipli - Merlin is awesome!
Nice Imagewriter II! I like dot matrix printers. The noises are satisfying.
Posted by: MacintoshSE1987 on 2023-12-11 08:32:23
Does anybody know where I can get an ADB to USB adapter?
Posted by: Phipli on 2023-12-11 08:44:51
Does anybody know where I can get an ADB to USB adapter?
This is bi-directional :

Wombat ADB-USB Input Converter | Big Mess o' Wires

www.bigmessowires.com www.bigmessowires.com

Otherwise, if you want to connect ADB devices to a modern machine it is possible to DIY one with an Arduino, the other direction is a bit more tricky.
Posted by: MacintoshSE1987 on 2023-12-11 08:45:54
Thanks
Posted by: MacintoshSE1987 on 2023-12-11 08:49:37
I have a printer that I need to connect to to make the Macintosh easier to use
Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2023-12-11 09:01:49
@3lectr1cPPC will attest that Josh and Phipli are always trying to get Americans to buy Pismos. As I said before, beware! 😜
And I still remain Pismo-less.
Posted by: Snial on 2023-12-11 10:31:25
Some of my Macs over the past few years if you're interested
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Aaaah, a TransparenSE ;-) !
Posted by: MacintoshSE1987 on 2023-12-11 10:47:46
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Aaaah, a TransparenSE ;-) !
Let me guess... MacEffects Case.
Posted by: joshc on 2023-12-11 11:19:23
@joshc Is that just a regular billiards ball for your Turbomouse? Or is it a special trackball that just looks like one?
A regular 8 ball yes

Let me guess... MacEffects Case.
Yes

Does bro own Apple???
Not quite, but I did get a bit carried away a few times.
Posted by: MacintoshSE1987 on 2023-12-11 11:38:25
A regular 8 ball yes


Yes


Not quite, but I did get a bit carried away a few times.
haha
Posted by: ArmorAlley on 2023-12-11 13:24:45
So I got a Macintosh SE recently! I'm very excited to use it, but I still wonder: what should be done with it? I know about the fact that you can use an Ethernet card and search things on Action Retro's Frogfind or 68k.news, and also get a printer to send passive aggressive messages to Carol in accounting, or make it an Aquarium if you're high. So, what I'm looking for are tips to make a Mac as productive as possible.
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This is the picture from the eBay seller that I got it from. Haven't been able to open
it up because I don't have a "Mac-Cracker" screwdriver, so don't ask me about the background.
Congratulations!

The SE is, in my opinion, the best compact mac to get. It's not the most powerful but it is powerful enough to run most, if not all, software designed to run on a B&W mac.
Don't open up you mac unless you have a good reason to do so.
If it ain't broke, you don't need to tempt fate. That being said, there is also a 35-year-old PRAM battery in there that should be taken out as soon as possible.

I, personally, would recommend a Mac Mini G4 running Mac OS 9 and use that to download mac software from teh Macintosh Garden.
Burn it then onto a CD, copy it onto a MO, Zip or Jaz-disk or even onto a floppy (assuming, of course, your SE can read HD floppies).
At this point, you have four options: get a SCSI CD-ROM reader, MO-drive, Zip-drive or Jaz-drive, use the floppy or finally, find an Ethernet SE PDS card and have that fitted.
The final option is to use an external SD-card solution. two spring to mind: BMoW's Floppy EMU comes highly recommended. The link is below. This allows you to access xGBs of disk images via the external floppy port at the back.
The second option is the external version of the Zulu-SCSI that can be plugged into your SCSI port. It will be mounted as a drive.

There are lots of ways to upgrade it.
As for upgrades, they aren't really necessary but they are really nice to have:
a. 4MB RAM (if you don't already have that). These are 4x 1MB SIMMs. I have forgotten the speed 100ns perhaps?
b. SD-card solution: Zulu-SCSI, SCSI2SD and so on will make disk I/O measurably faster and quieter. If you like the drive-drive whirrings, BMoW also has a doodad that will generate floppy sounds. It also frees up much space inside the crowded case and removes a source of heat and power consumption, making the innards less hot that they ordinarily would be;
c. Ethernet SE-PDS card: As far as I am concerned, this is the best use of the PDS slot on the SE. It will allow ethernet access and you can connect it directly to the Mac Mini G4 running Mac OS 9. the Mac Mini is great because it can access the Macintosh Garden directly, it can burn CDs and with a 1250MHz G4 processor, it is a powerful G4 machine.
d. Meow-Toast replacement battery holder. @Breathing also makes his own and you should contact him to see if he has any left.
e. The floppy drive will probably need re-greasing. It is also 35-years old. I try to avoid using my floppy drives nowadays.
f. Apple Extended Keyboard II – nice mechanical keyboard and period appropriate too. It will also be a 35-year-old keyboard.

As for what to do with it, I have several suggestions:
a. Prince of Persia;
b. Especially good if you have the Ethernet card already in and have a laser printer that understands PostScript and EtherTalk: run PageMaker 3.5 and learn desktop publishing. Learn how the Desktop Publishing revolution turned out the way it did in tthe 10 years between 1985 and 1995.
When I started college in 1989, I got a copy of PageMaker 3.5 from a postgrad who was laying out his doctoral thesis on the SEs in the library. That something so small could produce something so beautiful was a revelation;
c. MacWrite II, MacDraw II, SuperPaint 1.5, FileMaker Pro 2...

BMoW Store: https://shop.bigmessowires.com/
Zulu-SCSI: Macintosh Garden: https://macintoshgarden.org/
Ethernet SE PDS on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=ethernet+SE+PDS&_sacat=0&_sop=15
e.g. Asante MacCon for SE
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Posted by: Phipli on 2023-12-11 13:38:00
I have forgotten the speed 100ns perhaps?
150ns 😉

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Posted by: ArmorAlley on 2023-12-11 13:47:32
150ns 😉

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Well done sir!
This is great. I was thinking about the service manual while I was writing my post but I had too many thoughts in my head at once and ended up omitting it.
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