Hello Aftermac,Geo,
Glad to see you're getting some questions answered!
Yeah, the guys here are a big help. I been mostly asking technical questions about what could be a potentially easy fix for the many Macs that I see listed on either Ebay or Craigslist. Usually I could probably snatch up an SE/30 for a good price that way. It seems that the SE/30 is harder to find than the next contender on my list which is the Classic II. The trouble is that if I go that route, I will not have the ability to go on-line. I would also be stuck going the serial printer route rather than using a network printer which I already have. So, yeah, having that network card would be nice and the Classic II doesn't have that capability. By any chance did Mac have a peripheral that hooked up to the serial port and provided an ethernet connection so one could access the internet that way?
Really? If the Mac didn't have a programming language then how was it programmed? But all those versions of Basic will work on the Mac? How well do these BASIC programs handle port access. One of the things I like to do is computer control and that is probably one of the PRIMARY reasons I want a small computer. I would like to use the computer to run automated light shows and basically overall automated control. To put things into a larger perspective, I been thinking about using the Mac to automate props for a haunted house project I am working on. Things like that, that is what I would mainly like to do. Games also, can't forget about the games!
I am assuming this is easily attainable on-line? (meaning I can put it on a 1.44m floppy from my PC and then put it in the Mac)?
Yes, I found that out this morning as well. Supposedly you do need some other dependent programs for it to work though, as the TCP/IP is kind of 'rough' on that version of the Mac OS. While 7.6 was better, it unfortunately needs true 32 bit.
As I said above...is there a way to get onto the internet via a serial to ethernet hookup? Would that make things easier? If so then it could open up the door to the Classic II since that computer doesn't have the capability for a network expansion card.
Oh, Ok, so this printer will then hook up directly to the Mac.
So you don't know for sure if there is a limit on the upper end. Well, the good thing is that I know I do have a 3 gig and a 6gig drive and I know those drives are useless for my Windows XP & Linux projects.
Oh! almost forgot...very important...what is the tell - tale description of an early Mac that the computer is working, but the hard drive is bad? Perhaps I might be better off finding one like this than one with a bad display.
Edit:
I did a bit more digging and I read that if you change the processor in an SE/30 to a 68040 then the computer can handle up to Mac OS 8.1. I am not sure if that would benefit for TCP/IP connections but I would have my reservations about issues with a color OS running on a B&W monitor. But with that change supposedly that is the last version of the Mac OS that would run on the SE/30. Would a processor change be difficult?
Thanx,
Geo