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.
joshc conquests
Posted by: joshc on 2022-04-19 00:37:50 Thought it's about time I made an actual conquests thread rather than separate ones. My most recent acqusition was a sad looking Colour Classic sold as non working. I had a gut feeling it would probably power on, assuming the seller just didn't know how to switch one of these on. Well, it arrived looking even worse than the auction photos as it was damaged in transit. The front bezel cracked. Ended up getting a 50% refund from the seller so this machine was pretty cheap (prices are going a bit crazy on these now). I pulled the logic board first, before powering on, and there was a Maxell battery - not exploded. Wow. While I was at it, I recapped the logic board and cleaned it up. Plugged it in and powered it on, yep it worked straight away, loud chime! The picture was a bit funny though... it corrected itself a bit after a few minutes, so my assumption here is that at a minimum the analog board needs new capacitors and it might need further repairs. Taking a quick peak at the files on the drive, this thing was in regular use until 2006. And yeah, the original Quantum still seems healthy, somehow. Just waiting on the capacitors to arrive now, so more on this later.
Posted by: cheesestraws on 2022-04-19 01:14:42 "Untitled folder 21" on the desktop there.
Posted by: joshc on 2022-04-19 02:19:50 "Untitled folder 21" on the desktop there. The contents of the drive were incredibly messed up. I think someone got real confused. The system folder was inside something else, and Apple Menu Items had ended up somewhere else. Apps and utilities were inside various document folders.
Posted by: BacioiuC on 2022-04-19 02:26:39 Still, seeing a Color Classic in use till 2006 is amazing. I was shocked to see sonnet release pe 040 presto upgrade in 2000 and thought very few people used that machine around that time. Pretty awesome to know that this machine got so much love and use!
Posted by: joshc on 2022-07-06 06:42:17 Took the plunge on an SE/30 case from @maceffects which arrived today, it looks great. Looking forward to building it.
Posted by: joshc on 2022-07-07 02:09:59 Shoved some spare SE/30 bits in and, yeah, it still looks cool. 😎
Posted by: joshc on 2022-08-29 08:39:25 I managed to grab a reasonably priced eight ball for my Kensington Turbo Mouse ADB...it really looks the part: Also found a SuperMac badge... dare I say rare? And finally, grabbed a bunch of MacUser and MacWorld magazines in really excellent condition:
Posted by: Skate323k137 on 2022-08-29 08:55:38 That 8 ball is awesome! I've been grabbing a few older magazines as well, mostly Apple II stuff, and also some Amiga since I got my 1st Amiga recently.
Posted by: LaPorta on 2022-08-29 10:17:52 I like my 1999-2007 or so MacWorld collection. Just so cool to see what was new then.
Posted by: joshc on 2022-12-13 08:05:47 First proper conquest in a long time. Got a Pismo from another MLA member for a very good price. Need to find an adapter but this thing is in nice shape. First time owning any kind of PowerBook G3.
Posted by: Phipli on 2022-12-13 08:11:32 First proper conquest in a long time. Got a Pismo from another MLA member for a very good price. Need to find an adapter but this thing is in nice shape. First time owning any kind of PowerBook G3. They're really nice machines. I used mine to draw our house for a planning application a few weeks back. I have a cheap SD card adapter in mine and a 120GB SD card split in to a 9.2.2 and 10.4 (server - its what I had to hand 🤣) partition. Useful things to have... there are cheap dlink wifi cards that OS X recognises as an Airport card. Handy for fetching files without a cable. A USB 2 card can be got to add more ports and they're frequently really cheap. You can upgrade the CD drive... if you want it to look stock it is more difficult, but I just have a CDRW in mine with the wrong bezel... I'm not fussy.
Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2022-12-13 08:43:19 I’d you want WPA2, hook up an Edimax ew-7811un USB Wi-Fi adapter. The first generation model of it will do WPA2 under tiger with the proper driver.
Posted by: Durosity on 2022-12-13 16:46:55 I had a Pismo brand new back in 2000. Loved it. Still my favourite PowerBook ever made.
Posted by: joshc on 2022-12-13 23:12:51 Took some quick photos. Still need to find a compatible charger, I’ll probably go with one of the universal ones from Amazon or something. I think I’m going to swap the keyboard too - it has a QWERTZ layout one at the moment (the machine came from Germany).
Posted by: Durosity on 2022-12-14 14:20:39 It’s in beautiful condition! Rev A model.. I seem to recall them having rather dodgy dvd drive mechanisms
Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2022-12-14 14:24:24 Daily reminder to get myself a Pismo...
Posted by: joshc on 2022-12-17 06:46:26 Picked up a cheap boxed Gravis Mousestick II. The box is a bit tatty but not bad for its age (just a bit annoyingly large), and the seller said the joystick doesn't work - I can't think there's much to go wrong on these, so I am guessing it was a software issue. I haven't tried it yet.
Posted by: Mu0n on 2022-12-17 09:49:41 Picked up a cheap boxed Gravis Mousestick II. The box is a bit tatty but not bad for its age (just a bit annoyingly large), and the seller said the joystick doesn't work - I can't think there's much to go wrong on these, so I am guessing it was a software issue. I haven't tried it yet. I bought one of those in 2019. I spent a whole lot of time for what turned out to be a very minor issue. Long story short, the movement sensing is built on sending infrared LED lights across a rotary encoder that involves a plastic film sliding on another film, and they get microscratches that can impede with the signal strength that has to come across. Lower the potentiometer to boost the strength to get a good few more years of usage. Details here: https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/...is-vintage-gravis-mousestick-joystick.162374/ This advice has also helped the dude over at Le journal du lapin: https://www.journaldulapin.com/2019/09/24/joystick-gravis/
Posted by: joshc on 2022-12-17 23:19:34 I bought one of those in 2019. I spent a whole lot of time for what turned out to be a very minor issue. Long story short, the movement sensing is built on sending infrared LED lights across a rotary encoder that involves a plastic film sliding on another film, and they get microscratches that can impede with the signal strength that has to come across. Lower the potentiometer to boost the strength to get a good few more years of usage. Details here: https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/...is-vintage-gravis-mousestick-joystick.162374/ This advice has also helped the dude over at Le journal du lapin: https://www.journaldulapin.com/2019/09/24/joystick-gravis/ Thanks. That’s really useful!
Posted by: joshc on 2023-01-10 11:16:36 In a werird twist of events, the recapped CC now just works... it's been sat in storage for some time, and now upon testing it again it's decided to work. Now I need to get the case plastics swapped and some sort of SD storage in there and it's good to go!
1 >