Thread
Something for the oldies, something newer...
I had two conquests late this afternoon, both of which I feel are worth sharing!
First, for something I can use with my old 68Ks. I got two brand new shrinkwrapped boxes of floppies--one Verbatim high density ten pack and one 3M double density (800K) ten pack. Both are formatted for Mac.
Next, for something a little bit newer: A Summer 2000 iMac DV at 400MHz (although it could also be a base model iMac from early 2001; the serial number is right on the edges of the two models' production spans and places the manufacture in February 2001) in indigo, complete with a Pro Keyboard and Pro Mouse! This little guy has 512MB RAM, a 20GB hard drive, and a brand new battery. While I am admittedly going to use it as an OS 9 machine (with AppleWorks 5, iMovie 2, and possibly Word 5.1 as well as some education programs) I do have a copy of Jaguar sitting around collecting dust (never got around to installing it on any machine I own) that I just might have to use. The case has a few minor scuffs but nothing too noticeable. The only thing it is missing is the power cord, but that's no problem, as I have a whole box of them sitting around.
Those of you who have been keeping score at home probably are aware that I am indeed downsizing, but after realizing that my newest desktop I had planned to keep was a Color Classic (I gave my iMac G4 to my mother) I decided I needed something else in there to run newer software and also to use as an extra machine for video in case I was ever without my MacBook. The iMac booted up fine and will make a great addition to my little group of Macs.
First, for something I can use with my old 68Ks. I got two brand new shrinkwrapped boxes of floppies--one Verbatim high density ten pack and one 3M double density (800K) ten pack. Both are formatted for Mac.
Next, for something a little bit newer: A Summer 2000 iMac DV at 400MHz (although it could also be a base model iMac from early 2001; the serial number is right on the edges of the two models' production spans and places the manufacture in February 2001) in indigo, complete with a Pro Keyboard and Pro Mouse! This little guy has 512MB RAM, a 20GB hard drive, and a brand new battery. While I am admittedly going to use it as an OS 9 machine (with AppleWorks 5, iMovie 2, and possibly Word 5.1 as well as some education programs) I do have a copy of Jaguar sitting around collecting dust (never got around to installing it on any machine I own) that I just might have to use. The case has a few minor scuffs but nothing too noticeable. The only thing it is missing is the power cord, but that's no problem, as I have a whole box of them sitting around.
Those of you who have been keeping score at home probably are aware that I am indeed downsizing, but after realizing that my newest desktop I had planned to keep was a Color Classic (I gave my iMac G4 to my mother) I decided I needed something else in there to run newer software and also to use as an extra machine for video in case I was ever without my MacBook. The iMac booted up fine and will make a great addition to my little group of Macs.
Congrats! New 800k floppies are hard to come by these days. 
Yeah, and trying to format HD floppies as lower density floppies is almost always unreliable at best.Congrats! New 800k floppies are hard to come by these days.
I have long advised against formatting 1.4MB disks as 800K. I read they were unreliable in just about every book on Macs and wanted to see for myself.
Way back in 1995, I covered the second hole of a 1.4MB disk with a piece of tape and formatted it as an 800K disk. The disk worked fine for a few days but became extremely error-prone within a week.
Since then, I have always made it a point to purchase 800K disks whenever I need to use the lower capacity (typically only if I'm dealing with 800K drive Macs--still fairly common in 1995 when people were using Pluses/SEs/IIs more frequently). Also, I've stocked up on 800Ks every time I've seen them since Wal Mart quit carrying them several years ago.
A good place to check is a Goodwill ComputerWorks store. I've purchased many 800K disks, brand new in shrinkwrapped boxes, at the Pittsburgh location (on various occasions--even though I do tend to buy all of them whenever I'm by the store).
Way back in 1995, I covered the second hole of a 1.4MB disk with a piece of tape and formatted it as an 800K disk. The disk worked fine for a few days but became extremely error-prone within a week.
Since then, I have always made it a point to purchase 800K disks whenever I need to use the lower capacity (typically only if I'm dealing with 800K drive Macs--still fairly common in 1995 when people were using Pluses/SEs/IIs more frequently). Also, I've stocked up on 800Ks every time I've seen them since Wal Mart quit carrying them several years ago.
A good place to check is a Goodwill ComputerWorks store. I've purchased many 800K disks, brand new in shrinkwrapped boxes, at the Pittsburgh location (on various occasions--even though I do tend to buy all of them whenever I'm by the store).