Thread
Not rare but unusual thread.
Rarity is subjective. If you live in silicon valley, a Mac 128K is not rare. But everywhere else is different. A few favourites:
Dove MacSnap RAM/SCSI upgrade for the 128K/512K -- there were loads of RAM/SCSI upgrade makers, but this was one of the best.
MacCharlie box, of course. Weird and brilliant, but possibly rare.
Orange PC cards. Great fun to play with because you have to refresh both your old Mac and old DOS skills. Note: I'm looking for the Windows 95/98 and NT driver packages for the Pentium PC cards.
Mac Recorder -- sound input for 68K Macs. Interesting to use for about five minutes unless you have a project that requires it.
Accelerators that use the IIci cache slot (or via an adapter). Thank you to DayStar and others for delivering some storming fast 68K Macs.
Dove MacSnap RAM/SCSI upgrade for the 128K/512K -- there were loads of RAM/SCSI upgrade makers, but this was one of the best.
MacCharlie box, of course. Weird and brilliant, but possibly rare.
Orange PC cards. Great fun to play with because you have to refresh both your old Mac and old DOS skills. Note: I'm looking for the Windows 95/98 and NT driver packages for the Pentium PC cards.
Mac Recorder -- sound input for 68K Macs. Interesting to use for about five minutes unless you have a project that requires it.
Accelerators that use the IIci cache slot (or via an adapter). Thank you to DayStar and others for delivering some storming fast 68K Macs.
None of my things are incredibly rare but they are not commonplace either:-
2 x Apple remotes for TV/video cards in 6xx, 6xxx and 5xxx machines
Dayna etherprint adaptor - I use this to hook up my LocalTalk LaserWriter Select to my home network
ALPS Glidepoint ADB trackpad
Plusware numeric ADB PowerBook keypad
2 x Apple remotes for TV/video cards in 6xx, 6xxx and 5xxx machines
Dayna etherprint adaptor - I use this to hook up my LocalTalk LaserWriter Select to my home network
ALPS Glidepoint ADB trackpad
Plusware numeric ADB PowerBook keypad
The old Kingston(?) ADB trackballs for the Mac
That funny scanner add-on for the ImageWriter - the "scanner" dropped in in place of the printer ribbon and scanned the page (badly) in bands. I think it was called "Thunder Scan" or something like that. Quite ingenious and popular in the day, but I don't think there would be many left now.
That funny scanner add-on for the ImageWriter - the "scanner" dropped in in place of the printer ribbon and scanned the page (badly) in bands. I think it was called "Thunder Scan" or something like that. Quite ingenious and popular in the day, but I don't think there would be many left now.
Snap!
Separate Dove 2MB MacSnap and SCSI kits
Orange, Apple and Radius/Reply DOS compatibilty cards
Farallon MacRecorder 2 and SoundEdit Pro Sound Systems (same gear; different owners)
Multiple DayStar PowerCache cards. My IIci/IIcx Macs gallop!
Divers EN/SC and LT/EN bridges
Classic II PDS FPU card
Switchable serial- and ADB/video-sharing boxes
Radius Rocket 68040/33MHz cards
and other bits that don't readily spring to mind.
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MacEnhancer from Microsoft. Adds a paralle port & two serial ports through one of the Mac's serial ports.
Inside Macintosh, PHONEBOOK edition
Mac Rescue 6 MB & SCSI upgrade board for 128 & 512K Macs.
Through The Looking Glass original disk and box
MacBasic
Jasmine Direct Drive 20 (20mb hard drive; now holds a 2 gig SCSI!)
Charlieman, the MacCharlie is rare! I've been looking for one for years. Hang on to it!
Inside Macintosh, PHONEBOOK edition
Mac Rescue 6 MB & SCSI upgrade board for 128 & 512K Macs.
Through The Looking Glass original disk and box
MacBasic
Jasmine Direct Drive 20 (20mb hard drive; now holds a 2 gig SCSI!)
Charlieman, the MacCharlie is rare! I've been looking for one for years. Hang on to it!
A kilometre (give or take) of RJ45 network cables. In 5ft lengths.
A similar amount of phone cables for use with the phonenet adapters I'm sure I still have here somewhere.
A slot-loading 50-pin SCSI DVDROM drive that I put into an external case and used with my Powerbook 5300 (and later on with my Sparcstations 10, 20, and IPX).
An Orange Micro Firewire Cardbus card that actually included the drivers.
An original System 7 Japanese Language Support CD.
A similar amount of phone cables for use with the phonenet adapters I'm sure I still have here somewhere.
A slot-loading 50-pin SCSI DVDROM drive that I put into an external case and used with my Powerbook 5300 (and later on with my Sparcstations 10, 20, and IPX).
An Orange Micro Firewire Cardbus card that actually included the drivers.
An original System 7 Japanese Language Support CD.
Well, considering that I live in rural Queensland, EVERYTHING I have is rare! 
But aaanyway....
- Greyscale Connectix QuickCam (with box and everything)
- PowerCD
- "Getting Started With Apple Computers" VHS tape for the Performas
- "Echo II" speech synth card for Apple IIs
- working AppleVision 1710AV (not sure for how long though
)
- Teac 6x24 SCSI CD-R
- External SCSI HDD case that is done to look like a Q8xx/PM8x00, though much smaller, can take two 3.5" drives, made by some long-gone company called "MacPower"
- Apple Presentation System
But aaanyway....
- Greyscale Connectix QuickCam (with box and everything)
- PowerCD
- "Getting Started With Apple Computers" VHS tape for the Performas
- "Echo II" speech synth card for Apple IIs
- working AppleVision 1710AV (not sure for how long though
)- Teac 6x24 SCSI CD-R
- External SCSI HDD case that is done to look like a Q8xx/PM8x00, though much smaller, can take two 3.5" drives, made by some long-gone company called "MacPower"
- Apple Presentation System
Several Outbound Model 125 Laptops (Laptop, not the more common Notebook) with external floppy drive and SCSI adapters. Spare parts and most of the components I need to clone the external floppy drive. I still need an affordable supply of WD92C32 chips. When sold, these laptops are usually separated from their external floppy, and they have no internal floppy, making software installation, especially OS re-loading problematical.
Daystar adapter to put PowerCache or Turbo040 in Macs with an LC-style PDS slot.
Daystar adapter to put PowerCache or Turbo040 in a Mac IIcx. I hope to some day clone this thing so that it will physically fit in an SE/30. It should already be electrically compatible.
Video Vision Telecast system, but I've never actually used it. I'm a bit embarrassed by that.
Ten sets of four 16MB SIMMs for the IIfx sitting on my desk waiting to be assembled (chips and boards).
Several Power Computing Power 80/100/120 machines--the 8100 clone. These have spots for 5 NuBus slots on the motherboard, but one would need to steal the Fat-AMIC chip from a 9150 to implement the two uninstalled slots. I will probably never get around to this project.
Applied Engineering FDHD+, IIRC. I know I have the drive, just not sure if I correctly remember the name. The one that let's you use a 1.44 MB floppy on the Plus.
Three HD20 hard drives. The 20 MB Apple drive that connects by the floppy port.
Newlife Upgrade which installs in a Mac 128KE or 512KE and provides SCSI and 8 SIMM slots. That's right, 8 SIMM slots. In a Mac 512KE, one could install two 1MB SIMMs and six inexpensive 256K SIMMs and get a total of 4 MB (512K on motherboard). Back then it was a significant savings, since 1 MB SIMMs were upwards of $100 each.
Lapis Display Server Plus, external video upgrade for the Mac Plus. Clips over the CPU and actually provides a second display.
5 Brainstorm accelerators.
Microspot MacPalette II software, this is a print driver (extension) for the ImageWriter II which causes it to dither using the four color ribbon such that it can print in millions of colors. The output is surprisingly good, given that it's coming from a 72/144 dpi output device.
Daystar adapter to put PowerCache or Turbo040 in Macs with an LC-style PDS slot.
Daystar adapter to put PowerCache or Turbo040 in a Mac IIcx. I hope to some day clone this thing so that it will physically fit in an SE/30. It should already be electrically compatible.
Video Vision Telecast system, but I've never actually used it. I'm a bit embarrassed by that.
Ten sets of four 16MB SIMMs for the IIfx sitting on my desk waiting to be assembled (chips and boards).
Several Power Computing Power 80/100/120 machines--the 8100 clone. These have spots for 5 NuBus slots on the motherboard, but one would need to steal the Fat-AMIC chip from a 9150 to implement the two uninstalled slots. I will probably never get around to this project.
Applied Engineering FDHD+, IIRC. I know I have the drive, just not sure if I correctly remember the name. The one that let's you use a 1.44 MB floppy on the Plus.
Three HD20 hard drives. The 20 MB Apple drive that connects by the floppy port.
Newlife Upgrade which installs in a Mac 128KE or 512KE and provides SCSI and 8 SIMM slots. That's right, 8 SIMM slots. In a Mac 512KE, one could install two 1MB SIMMs and six inexpensive 256K SIMMs and get a total of 4 MB (512K on motherboard). Back then it was a significant savings, since 1 MB SIMMs were upwards of $100 each.
Lapis Display Server Plus, external video upgrade for the Mac Plus. Clips over the CPU and actually provides a second display.
5 Brainstorm accelerators.
Microspot MacPalette II software, this is a print driver (extension) for the ImageWriter II which causes it to dither using the four color ribbon such that it can print in millions of colors. The output is surprisingly good, given that it's coming from a 72/144 dpi output device.
Kensington. I have two. They rock.
Also snap on the following:
Some of the above thanks to members here!
Others that come to mind:
Digidesign Nubus Audiomedia II and Samplecell II cards
PCI Samplecell II
Supermac Video Spigot capture card for the IIsi PDS }
Dual IIsi/SE/30 PDS adapter for above
Radius Pivot video card for IIsi/SE/30
A /edit/ Grand Vimage LC PDS video card - I couldn't find drivers for this anywhere.
PowerComputing ADB keyboard and mouse
Black ADB Apple Extended Keyboard II
I've had the same brainfart. I don't see any reason why they shouldn't work electrically, as they're both designed for a 16MHz 68030 CPU socket (rather than a PDS socket).
A very rough visual match between the one I have here and a loose SE/30 motherboard seemed to indicate that it would fit as is, if you trimmed off a part of the PCB that appears to have no traces or components. This is ignoring any case or internal drive collisions.
Say what? A 5 slot PPC Nubus machine? 8-o Is stealing the controller the only mod required? Apart from I assume installing two Nubus sockets.
I wonder if any made it to the colonies. I have three Power Computing machines here, but they're all PCI. Are the 8100 clones also towers, or desktops?
Oh, I just noticed you'd have to cannibalise a 9150 to make it work. Which kind of dampens the excitement. My guess is that they're as rare as each other.
Oh, I just noticed you'd have to cannibalise a 9150 to make it work. Which kind of dampens the excitement. My guess is that they're as rare as each other.
Well, it's never that simple is it? The regular non-fat AMIC is a 160 pin chip and the FAT-AMIC is a 208 pin chip. If it was a simple chip replacement and socket installation I would have already done it.
The regular AMIC is the one found in 7100 and 8100s which only supports three NuBus slots.
In the Power 80/100/120 the AMIC chip resides on the I/O daughter card, which is unique to those machines. To save room on the circuit board, PCC put one of the SCSI ports and (IIRC) the serial ports and the DRAM video out on a daughter card, which contains that circuitry. I may be misremembering some of that stuff.
Anyway, to replace the AMIC with a FAT AMIC you'd pretty much have to redesign that I/O card to take the 208 pin FAT-AMIC and it's a very dense card, full of components. Then move the components over from an existing I/O card (found some extras at Goodwill years ago). I expect that the needed connections from the additional two NuBus slots do travel to that I/O slot's connector.
Having examined the issue in detail, it is my belief that PCC was pretty clever. Their original plan was probably to sell a three slot and a five slot version. The three slot version would have two unpopulated NuBus connectors, and use the AMIC version of the I/O card. The 5 slot version would have all five NuBus slots and come with an I/O card bearing the Fat AMIC. My understanding was that they couldn't get Apple to go along with the five slot version, or maybe they just couldn't agree of the price.
So the only difference between PCC's three slot and five slot versions would be the I/O card. Everything else would be the same component. That is good cost control.
So, the question is, was there ever a five-slot I/O card made? If so, where is it now?
That was part of the problem Apple had with the clones. Instead of flooding the market with cheap System 7 compatible machines like Apple wanted, the clone makers decided to compete directly with Apple and in some cases built even better machines than Apple was building. I don't blame Apple for wanting to keep the 9150 market to themselves. I suspect had they stuck with the original plan, Steve Jobs wouldn't have been so irked with them when he returned because they would have been helping Apple more than hurting.
Somewhere, I have the original "Macintosh Bible" book. Version 1.
I also have a IIsi PDS Video Spigot. It came with Adobe Premier 1.0. What's funny is that Apple used to let you use the "upgrade" price for Final Cut Pro when upgrading from either an earlier Final Cut, or any version of Premier. I was really tempted to "upgrade" from Premier 1.0, but back when they offered that, even the upgrade price was out of my price range.
I also have a IIsi PDS Video Spigot. It came with Adobe Premier 1.0. What's funny is that Apple used to let you use the "upgrade" price for Final Cut Pro when upgrading from either an earlier Final Cut, or any version of Premier. I was really tempted to "upgrade" from Premier 1.0, but back when they offered that, even the upgrade price was out of my price range.
A Spectrum/8 LC Card. Supports up to 1152 x 882 pixels on a second screen (extended desktop). Will go into a Mystic CC. There must be tons of discarded PDS video adaptors, but it took several years to get one. Herb Johnson might have one in stock, still. Does someone offer an Envisio Quick16 ?
Was the MacSnap "the best" or "the most popular" RAM upgrade for the original compact Macs?
I've been taking a closer look at these lately (primarily because I don't yet own one for my 512k). I can see that they use sockets to slip over the original chips, which when you think about it, would probably spell intermittent connections over time. Such was mentioned in old 1987 post here. (Not sure if that person is objective or not, as he appears to have been a Levco dealer.)
What's your experience with the MacSnap board, Equill?
The Dove MacSNAP was both popular and well put together. The SCSI cable that pokes out through the security slot is fairly well implemented (ie not as well fitting as an official upgrade might have been if it existed). My 512K with MacSNAP was sent by post for 100 miles, and the Killy clip stayed in place.
The accelerator/RAM package that I would most like to own is the NewLife with external monitor support. Magazine reviews in the late 1980s were very positive about this one.
The accelerator/RAM package that I would most like to own is the NewLife with external monitor support. Magazine reviews in the late 1980s were very positive about this one.
I'm not pulling up any old info on those NewLife upgrades, but I did remember them from years past. Here's an excerpt from Jeff Walther's 2003 post about the NewLife:
And would anyone happen to have documentation for the MacSnap boards? There is a DIP switch on top and without the documentation it's impossible to know what the correct settings should be.
UPDATE: Here is an original Dove ad talking about the MacSnap products.
But getting back to the Dove MacSnap boards, I am most interested in knowing the specific differences between the MacSnap 5.0 "RAM upgrade" (without SCSI, uses the stock 64k ROMs) that was made for the Mac 512k. It came in two flavors: 1MB & 2MB. How other than examining the markings on the RAM ICs can one tell the difference between the 1MB and 2MB boards?
And would anyone happen to have documentation for the MacSnap boards? There is a DIP switch on top and without the documentation it's impossible to know what the correct settings should be.
UPDATE: Here is an original Dove ad talking about the MacSnap products.
I'll probably think of more "unusual" things, but...
- a bunch of Apple sales brochures from the early 90s.
- an Apple Peripheral Interface Guide (describes all the cables/ports etc - quite handy)
- a few unopened internal modems for PowerMac 5200/6200 machines (Aus spec)
- an original Apple 300/1275 baud modem
- a proper Ethernet to LocalTalk router ("EtherRoute TCP")
- [edit] an old HyperDrive board too
- a bunch of Apple sales brochures from the early 90s.
- an Apple Peripheral Interface Guide (describes all the cables/ports etc - quite handy)
- a few unopened internal modems for PowerMac 5200/6200 machines (Aus spec)
- an original Apple 300/1275 baud modem
- a proper Ethernet to LocalTalk router ("EtherRoute TCP")
- [edit] an old HyperDrive board too
Oddities...
a video digitizer for the Apple//e that writes directly into the video buffer at 30FPS
a MacVision and a Thunderscan - digitizers for the 128K
a 400K Shugart external floppy for the 128K
a 5MB PDS slot RAM expander for the Mac Portable
a Gee 3 Stealth Serial port for the Blue & White G3
Bose Apple Roommate speakers for the Apple II
...
a shelf full of prototype gadgets that never made it into production...
a LaserBuffer print spooler which signed onto the LocalTalk net as a LaserWriter and spooled jobs to the real printer
a spread spectrum wireless base station with 68K CPU, RAM, 3 expansion slots, etc. from 1991
a LocalTalk - ethernet bridge with built-in HD and NAS
a HD which emulated an Apple//c floppy or a Mac 128 floppy depending on firmware
several boxes o'junk in the barn, plus odds and ends from working at Compaq and IBM
a video digitizer for the Apple//e that writes directly into the video buffer at 30FPS
a MacVision and a Thunderscan - digitizers for the 128K
a 400K Shugart external floppy for the 128K
a 5MB PDS slot RAM expander for the Mac Portable
a Gee 3 Stealth Serial port for the Blue & White G3
Bose Apple Roommate speakers for the Apple II
...
a shelf full of prototype gadgets that never made it into production...
a LaserBuffer print spooler which signed onto the LocalTalk net as a LaserWriter and spooled jobs to the real printer
a spread spectrum wireless base station with 68K CPU, RAM, 3 expansion slots, etc. from 1991
a LocalTalk - ethernet bridge with built-in HD and NAS
a HD which emulated an Apple//c floppy or a Mac 128 floppy depending on firmware
several boxes o'junk in the barn, plus odds and ends from working at Compaq and IBM
• CardReader (Simcards and others) for ADB
• A russian (Cyrillic) & english Apple Adjustable Keyboard
• A boxed new 68030 50MHz Upgrade (including FPU 50MHz!) from Daystar for the MacSE - but I think I´m going to slaughter it for my Atari-Upgradecard
What I really would like to see are those 128MB 72pin Simms in 50NS (!) which were availaible for a short time around 2001 for my 6100 w/g3 and 2nd videocard.
• A russian (Cyrillic) & english Apple Adjustable Keyboard
• A boxed new 68030 50MHz Upgrade (including FPU 50MHz!) from Daystar for the MacSE - but I think I´m going to slaughter it for my Atari-Upgradecard
What I really would like to see are those 128MB 72pin Simms in 50NS (!) which were availaible for a short time around 2001 for my 6100 w/g3 and 2nd videocard.
Nothing too spectacular in my collection but I do have:
Expansion Bay HD for a Pismo
Some old Massive SCSI case (maybe HD?) that I picked up with 2 512s and a 128k
G3 Vimage upgrade for 1400 (never heard of the brand before)
Thats about all that might even stand out.
Expansion Bay HD for a Pismo
Some old Massive SCSI case (maybe HD?) that I picked up with 2 512s and a 128k
G3 Vimage upgrade for 1400 (never heard of the brand before)
Thats about all that might even stand out.
Quite a few oddities there H3NRY, but these three pique my curiosity:
As does this!
Strimkind's post reminded me of another oddity of mine: a tower with 7 slot loading SCSI DVD-ROM drives. There's also a 3U rack storage server that mounts 14 IDE/ATA hard drives to a SCSI bus.
Not exactly sure whether you'd call these unusual but here goes:
-Original HP Vectra (PC Semi-compatible from 1985)
-An e-Reader for my Gameboy advance (the card reader where you could tediously read a tiny program by scanning around 10 barcodes)
-A still-functional (AFAIK) Game Genie for my original Gameboy
-A still-functional (AFAIK) Game Genie for my (broken) NES.
-All sorts of other peripherals for that old NES including a power pad.
-Original HP Vectra (PC Semi-compatible from 1985)
-An e-Reader for my Gameboy advance (the card reader where you could tediously read a tiny program by scanning around 10 barcodes)
-A still-functional (AFAIK) Game Genie for my original Gameboy
-A still-functional (AFAIK) Game Genie for my (broken) NES.
-All sorts of other peripherals for that old NES including a power pad.
I'm willing to bet at least one prototype machine with the 5 slots enabled was made. It was obviously their intention to utilize those additional slots at some point or they wouldn't have included the pads on the production machines or put the controller on a swappable daughter board.
PowerWave. My friend who worked in PowerComputing support says that riser card never really worked all that well though. The combo riser card had a name, and now I can't remember it. My old posts on the topic were probably at Powerwatch.com and that site is long since history, although there might be an archive.
I have an IR wireless mouse which works in either an original Mac (through Plus) or as an ADB mouse. However, it has a noticeable bit of latency, so I prefer a wired mouse.
I thought of one I installed on my PB140...the PowerDoor.
The doors on most 1xx PowerBooks cover the ports and power button. The PowerDoor was a replacement door with an opening for the power button and the internal modem. I'm not sure how much these things cost when new, but it does come in handy if you're not going to be connecting anything to the PowerBook. It also seems to stay on better than the regular door (the majority of PB1xx machines I've acquired are missing their door).
Of course, if you're handy with the hacksaw, you could always make one of these yourself...
The doors on most 1xx PowerBooks cover the ports and power button. The PowerDoor was a replacement door with an opening for the power button and the internal modem. I'm not sure how much these things cost when new, but it does come in handy if you're not going to be connecting anything to the PowerBook. It also seems to stay on better than the regular door (the majority of PB1xx machines I've acquired are missing their door).
Of course, if you're handy with the hacksaw, you could always make one of these yourself...
Is a completely working MDD with plenty of life on it left count? I heard they drop like flies from the PSU's overheating.
I also have a 50-pin Tray/Slot (Depending on how you use it) DVD-RAM drive. Use a cartridge that slips between two arms for the RAM drive, just put the disc in (without the cartridge) and it will take it as a DVD-ROM disc. No caddy needed (only the RAM needs a caddy)
I also have a 50-pin Tray/Slot (Depending on how you use it) DVD-RAM drive. Use a cartridge that slips between two arms for the RAM drive, just put the disc in (without the cartridge) and it will take it as a DVD-ROM disc. No caddy needed (only the RAM needs a caddy)
oh, and battery powered (I have two of these) external 68-pin portable CD-ROM modules (1 is 8x the other is 20x) from Panasonic. I can also use it as a stand-alone CD-ROM. I have gotten my PowerBook 540c to boot from it. Uses 4 AA batteries, or a rechargable Li-Ion battery pack.
I also have a battery-powered Parallel/SCSI CD-ROM. It's 2x, and has a SCSI port, but there's a SCSI->Parallel (Centronics) adapter you can hook it up to a PC with a Parallel port as an external drive. Works great for DOS. But you can't boot from it.
I also have a battery-powered Parallel/SCSI CD-ROM. It's 2x, and has a SCSI port, but there's a SCSI->Parallel (Centronics) adapter you can hook it up to a PC with a Parallel port as an external drive. Works great for DOS. But you can't boot from it.
Unusual Apple and Mac things, besides obvious ones like the TAM:
OrangePC 620, fully loaded, with 400MHz CPU
QuickCam colour and B&W cameras
Apple 8*24*GC card
IIgs Transwarp card
Apple "Think different." jacket
Newton baseball cap (to go with the MP 2100 and eMates)
coius, I have had one MDD fail due to the PS, but it was revived by a replacement and I keep spares.
OrangePC 620, fully loaded, with 400MHz CPU
QuickCam colour and B&W cameras
Apple 8*24*GC card
IIgs Transwarp card
Apple "Think different." jacket
Newton baseball cap (to go with the MP 2100 and eMates)
coius, I have had one MDD fail due to the PS, but it was revived by a replacement and I keep spares.
An AirDock is an infrared transceiver that hooks up to the printer or modem port on a desktop mac.
This peripheral is certainly unusual.
Not many desktop macs were Irda capable, the only one that comes to mind is the original imac.
Take a looky:
http://sysdoc.doors.ch/FARALLON/airdock.pdf
This peripheral is certainly unusual.
Not many desktop macs were Irda capable, the only one that comes to mind is the original imac.
Take a looky:
http://sysdoc.doors.ch/FARALLON/airdock.pdf