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The Gift of Macs!

Posted by: CompuNurd on 2014-12-25 11:42:47 I called my electronics surplus shop and was saddened to see that most of the systems I wanted were bought by someone else, however it gets better. These systems were in boxes wrapped in the garage waiting for me! Here's how the story goes: When my parents were looking for something to get me, they stopped at the surplus shop. They got an Apple II Plus, two Compaq Portables, and a Quadra 950. When the sales guy fired up the Compaq, FIRE and sparks shot out the front of it, then he calmly said, "I guess you want the one that isn't on fire?" They then went to a computer repair place that I go to for newer parts and systems, and he had a Commodore 64, but there are manuals, disks, and a printer in the box too! All systems need some degree of work, especially the Quadra, which will most likely need to be completely disassembled then put in a new case. The Compaq powered up in the store, but I haven't tested it yet. The Apple II powers up and the drive keeps spinning, so the cable is probably installed backwards. There is also a spare PSU for the Apple II, as well as an Apple III monitor, and some disks. The sales guy kept working on the II Plus, then he came down on price more than half! Merry Christmas to all the people on this forum, who have essentially gotten me back into collecting and repair of these systems!

Posted by: waynestewart on 2014-12-25 12:19:17 I'm envious. My gifts were so uninteresting I've almost forgotten what the were since last night. Merry Christmas to all

Posted by: TheWhiteFalcon on 2014-12-25 12:38:32 Ah, SpindlerPlastic. Poor Quadra. Nice to have even with the plastics though.

Posted by: CC_333 on 2014-12-25 13:08:59 Except for those lousy, unobtainable bezels, I find the Q950 plastics to be quite sturdy. Very good find, though! Merry Christmas!! c

Posted by: CJ_Miller on 2014-12-25 15:43:02 Nice haul indeed!

Posted by: CompuNurd on 2014-12-25 18:34:21 It turns out there is no printer with the Commodore, rather the 5.25" floppy drive which weighs a lot and is about the length of a keyboard! Remember, this is a floppy drive!

Posted by: Juror22 on 2014-12-25 18:57:55 Those are some great (and generous) parents.  That is the best story and I love those quadras, (I have problems with my 900's side panel).  Yours looks like it even came with the key.

Posted by: TheWhiteFalcon on 2014-12-25 18:58:08 You should see my external SCSI CD-ROM. EDIT: I heard if you don't have the key, you can always add a kickstarter to the side.

Posted by: Bunsen on 2014-12-25 22:50:50 "I guess you want the one that isn't on fire?" LOL.

Posted by: Elfen on 2014-12-25 22:55:07 The floppy drive for the Commodore 64 has its own power supply and its own 6502 compute acting as it's controller to talk to the Commodore 64 Drive I/O (Which was serial back then), so that is normal for that. Its an ancient form of SCSI before SCSI came along. The Apple II Drive spinning is normal, it will do that if there is no disk in it to read. Newer IIe cards and drives stop after a while. The Boot Sequence is in the Apple II ROMs, not in the cards. If the cable was on backwards, you think that Compaq gave a nice fireworks show, the Apple will do it too but with a lot of black smoke coming out the vent holes. My Q950 fell out a 5 story window some 20 years ago and though the case is heavily damaged, it still together and working (well working when I last turned it on before putting it in storage). The case is cracked in many places unfortunately, but it still works (then). The monitor you have should work with the Apple II+. Check if it has a composite video jack or RCA Cable on the back.

Posted by: CompuNurd on 2014-12-25 23:42:41 The Apple II came with the monitor and I did get output from the monitor. I didn't really test them too much, I just wanted to make sure they fired up. I wasn't too familiar with the Commodore stuff, and I am used to the floppy drives being powered from the computer. The size and way it works really surprised me. What I really want to know is how on earth someone manages to drop a giant computer out a window!

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