68kMLA Classic Interface

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Macintosh IIx with IIfx board
Posted by: joshc on 2020-11-03 13:34:44 I scored a IIx that was upgraded to a IIfx! This completes my collection of must-have Macs. The case is a bit beat up, but nothing too awful. It was sold as untested, and there's a sticker on the back that says 'Dead'. I put two new PRAM batteries in, and connected it all up and it works just fine! The only problem I am aware of is no sound from the internal speaker, but sound works on headphones and the surface mount capacitors are already solids, so I don't think a recap will help unless the electrolytic axials contribute to the sound circuit on these? It only has 8MB RAM but I will probably expand this. It has its original 80MB Quantum drive which still works fine. They weren't kidding when they said this machine was wicked fast - it still is!
Posted by: Byrd on 2020-11-03 14:22:40 Nice find, 25 years ago I bought a IIfx in a II case for a song - when it was still considered "modern" and the Mac II "useless", it got me through high school, having used a Plus prior 🙂 A deep clean of the case should bring it up well removing most of the dings; a clean of the motherboard might elicit what's up with the sound - the speaker itself perhaps, or the connector - there are only a few electrolytic caps to replace.
Posted by: max1zzz on 2020-11-04 09:35:59 Very nice! The IIfx is one is one of those macs that's on my list of macs I would like, but will probably never be able to afford In regards to the speaker, I would start by ohming out the speaker, I have seen a couple of macs of this era that just had open speakers and as it's the simplest part of the audio circuit to test it's a good place to start
Posted by: LaPorta on 2020-11-04 10:55:18 Very nice! The IIfx is one is one of those macs that's on my list of macs I would like, but will probably never be able to afford You never know. I got mine a bit less than a year ago. Went to a massive "pick it up for free" clearance of someone's house who ran a Mac museum. At the front of the house, there was a "not working" pile of machines. First thing I spot is a IIfx. I had to take a second look because I couldn't believe it. It was also in good shape. I picked it up immediately and brought it to my truck. When I got it home, all that needed to be done was repair of one trace, pop in a battery, and it fired up like new. I never thought I would have one either. You never know what will happen or what will come your way.
Posted by: max1zzz on 2020-11-04 11:08:41 You never know. I got mine a bit less than a year ago. Went to a massive "pick it up for free" clearance of someone's house who ran a Mac museum. At the front of the house, there was a "not working" pile of machines. First thing I spot is a IIfx. I had to take a second look because I couldn't believe it. It was also in good shape. I picked it up immediately and brought it to my truck. When I got it home, all that needed to be done was repair of one trace, pop in a battery, and it fired up like new. I never thought I would have one either. You never know what will happen or what will come your way. Indeed, I have managed to get two of the other macs on that list (My Portable and Quadra 840av) for very good prices so I'm not ruling anything out 🙂
Posted by: joshc on 2020-11-05 12:27:24 I never thought I would get a IIfx either, they are expensive but this was sold as a non-working IIx and the seller misspelled Macintosh on the eBay listing which probably helped too. I paid a small price compared to what its really worth. I think the best way to get IIfx is to look for an upgraded II or IIx.
Posted by: Unknown_K on 2020-11-05 14:03:59 There are probably more IIfx upgraded Mac II's (and probably mac IIx's) out there then stock units these days. Is there a IIfx sticker on the bottom of the case?
Posted by: LaPorta on 2020-11-05 15:04:01 There are probably more IIfx upgraded Mac II's (and probably mac IIx's) out there then stock units these days. Why would that be?
Posted by: Unknown_K on 2020-11-05 15:08:27 Why would that be? List price of the mac II made them long term investements and the IIfx upgrade was cheap enough and fast enough to be worth the money. There was a large 68k aftermarket upgrade market for a reason. The IIx wasn't sold for that long before the IIfx came around but some machines were upgraded as well.
Posted by: joshc on 2020-11-07 02:41:34 There are probably more IIfx upgraded Mac II's (and probably mac IIx's) out there then stock units these days. Is there a IIfx sticker on the bottom of the case? I think you're right, I read somewhere else that stock IIx machines are impossible to find as they are usually upgraded ones. Stragely enough this machine still has the IIx sticker on the bottom, even though Apple's instructions for a IIfx board upgrade stipulated swapping the sticker on the bottom case. Why would that be? The IIfx was definitely a worthwhile upgrade back then if you needed the speed, 40MHz along with the faster RAM was a significant speed boost back then and cheaper than buying another machine.
Posted by: LaPorta on 2020-11-07 05:58:59 I'd say that would make an intact IIx even more rare and collectable then.
Posted by: CC_333 on 2020-11-07 11:05:30 I thought it was the original II that was rarely seen in stock, un-upgraded form? Nevertheless, we're at the point that they're all getting quite rare. c
Posted by: joshc on 2020-12-21 06:11:27 I haven't done a massive amount with the IIx/fx yet. I have just upgraded the memory (added 64MB, up from 8MB, and I kept an existing 4MB bank in there). I have also replaced the stock ROM with a BMOW 2MB ROM that contains a bootable ROM disk and HD-20 support.
Posted by: MJ313 on 2020-12-21 06:55:22 I think the best way to get IIfx is to look for an upgraded II or IIx. Nice save on that machine-- and that RAM looks great in there! Interested to see what you do with it all 🙂 I never intentionally went IIfx hunting... figured I was way too late to that game, but then I lucked out at the ewaste pile at our local transfer station two summers ago. Logic board needed to be replaced which is why it was probably tossed... new board and an SCA IBM eserver drive made a huge difference... now it's taking up space in my closet. 😀
Posted by: joshc on 2020-12-21 07:21:43 The IIfx really sticks out there among the sea of generic PC stuff...
Posted by: MJ313 on 2020-12-21 07:39:54 The IIfx really sticks out there among the sea of generic PC stuff... Agree, even at distance I knew it had to be a Mac something... What graphics card do you have in yours? Mine had the typical toby when I got it. I put a radius 8xj in it which plays a lot nicer with my LG L1933TR 19".
Posted by: max1zzz on 2020-12-21 08:20:08 I never intentionally went IIfx hunting... figured I was way too late to that game, but then I lucked out at the ewaste pile at our local transfer station two summers ago. Logic board needed to be replaced which is why it was probably tossed... new board and an SCA IBM eserver drive made a huge difference... now it's taking up space in my closet. 😀 I always keep a eye on the scrap pile at work and occasionally find some interesting things, probably the most interesting things I picked up where a Prototype 17" 2007 MBP (Sadly dead) and a Prototype Dell Latitude X200 (working but with broken hinges, dead battery (No surprise) and missing HDD cable & ram cover) which I'm currently looking for IDE SSD and battery for (Having fixed it's other issues) The X200 is actually a really impressively thin and light laptop for the early 2000's (It's as thin and light as my Thinkpad L480). No idea what any of our customers where doing with prototype machines.... I also seem to be getting a ever increasingly large number of white iBook G3/4's from the scrap pile 🙂 Still kicking myself for not taking the 486 (I think) box that turned up on the pie a couple of years ago, I have been wanting one for ages so don't know why I passed on it!
Posted by: MJ313 on 2020-12-21 09:05:35 I also seem to be getting a ever increasingly large number of white iBook G3/4's from the scrap pile 🙂 You found some neat stuff there! I'm glad I don't collect Dell's because I'd have an Everest-sized mountain of them by now ;D Every so often something pops up-- a Quicksilver and the IIfx are the best ones at this point.
Posted by: max1zzz on 2020-12-21 09:20:06 I'm glad I don't collect Dell's because I'd have an Everest-sized mountain of them by now ;D It's not something I would have usually looked at, It was last Christmas and I was board and looking for something stupidly old that I could shoehorn Windows 10 onto to send to one of our shops as a joke refurb, I only picked it up as it looked quite chunky at which point I realised it was sitting on a dock which I separated it form to find the laptop was a prototype (the dock was not). If It wasn't for me trolling to scrap pile for something to wind up one of our shop managers with it would have gone to recycling 🙂 I would actually love to find a QS on it, the G4 towers (And G3 B/W) are some of my favourite towers, they have the best design of any tower (PC or Mac) in my opinion 🙂
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