Thread
Best Preservation Methods For Macs?
just had an idea, get some heavy opaque fabric and stitch up some covers, when the machines don't need to be pretty or used you have uv and dust protection
that is just about everything except atmosphere gas control
that is just about everything except atmosphere gas control
Batteries are a toughy. Even a good battery can leak--I lost a Classic logic board last year from that. (I also lost my LiteBrite when I was young that way--a devastating loss indeed for a toddler).
If the machine is going to be stored, plain and simple, leave the battery out. If you have an older SE, a II/IIx/IIfx, or some other old machine that has the battery soldered to the board, just put in a battery holder in its place. Most older Macs can boot without the battery anyway, and if you have a machine that does require it to be installed (such as an LC 475), just keep one on hand to stick in when you are running the machine.
Another thing to point out--hard drives don't last forever. They need to be spinned up periodically but also not used a whole lot, as that will add to the clock of MTBF. In the future, we may need to start working on the insides of hard drives to keep the machines truly original.
Don't forget your floppy disk head cleaner kit. Buy one if it shows up, they won't be around forever. The same goes for good Mac parts for the machines you want to keep--get one or two spares for each part (more if it's something that fails all the time like a Plus power supply). Store these in the same way you'd store a Mac itself--in an environment free of extreme temperatures and humidity.
If the machine is going to be stored, plain and simple, leave the battery out. If you have an older SE, a II/IIx/IIfx, or some other old machine that has the battery soldered to the board, just put in a battery holder in its place. Most older Macs can boot without the battery anyway, and if you have a machine that does require it to be installed (such as an LC 475), just keep one on hand to stick in when you are running the machine.
Another thing to point out--hard drives don't last forever. They need to be spinned up periodically but also not used a whole lot, as that will add to the clock of MTBF. In the future, we may need to start working on the insides of hard drives to keep the machines truly original.
Don't forget your floppy disk head cleaner kit. Buy one if it shows up, they won't be around forever. The same goes for good Mac parts for the machines you want to keep--get one or two spares for each part (more if it's something that fails all the time like a Plus power supply). Store these in the same way you'd store a Mac itself--in an environment free of extreme temperatures and humidity.
Hard drives don't last forever? The elements affect the lifespan of hardware? Tell me about it... 
I moved to VA last year and had my Colour Classic stored in the basement until recently, which in retrospect was a mistake. When I finally got my little machine unpacked and fired up, I was welcomed by a rather unsettling screaching/hissing sound produced by its hard drive -- it apparently had died a horribly slow death while being stowed away. :'( This has been the second time that I've encurred substantial data loss due to a hard drive failing, granted, in this case nothing really important has been lost since I had most data backed up and most of my productivity software on a cloned drive image on my other computer.
Mechanical components such as the motors in fans or the fluid bearing in hard drives are extremely prone to failure, therefore I do concur that "routine checkups" should be done on a more regular basis to prevent substantial damage from happening.
I moved to VA last year and had my Colour Classic stored in the basement until recently, which in retrospect was a mistake. When I finally got my little machine unpacked and fired up, I was welcomed by a rather unsettling screaching/hissing sound produced by its hard drive -- it apparently had died a horribly slow death while being stowed away. :'( This has been the second time that I've encurred substantial data loss due to a hard drive failing, granted, in this case nothing really important has been lost since I had most data backed up and most of my productivity software on a cloned drive image on my other computer.Mechanical components such as the motors in fans or the fluid bearing in hard drives are extremely prone to failure, therefore I do concur that "routine checkups" should be done on a more regular basis to prevent substantial damage from happening.
Well we were all kids once. when i was a kid, someone gave me an IBM portable 5155 in 1996/1997 time period. I was in the 5th grade. Well of course electronics oriented that i am, i fell in love with it. tore it apart and put it together to figure out what made it tick. then of course i got DOS manuals and all that fun stuff and thats how i got started. thats how i know DOS, and computers as they are today. all about evolution. in my case, i always figured starting you off with something very old/outdated allows a person to grow into someone that is extremely tech savvy as she/he evolves into the most modern stuff, like I did. as i now have a core i7 machine when it first came out. Any concepts/knowledge/tricks of the trade learned from the early machines and operating systems is still used today, and your much better off.
i feel if i was introduced into a more modern machine as my first computer, i would have no experience with the past machines and how things evolved from then to what they are now, and i would be "dumber" with operating systems. I also have a very strong knowledge of computer hardware and how things work from evolution of the computer from the first one i had till now. Heck, I am a novice software programmer and ASM level microcontroller programmer. But i feel i wouldn't be in this position without knowledge of how things worked in the early days. All this self-taught of course.
Just an example: I put my macintosh LC to use by writing custom software that uses the serial port that monitors a control system that i built with a microcontroller. I have a "weather station" outside the house that reads wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity, barometric pressure, and temperature. this of course is transmitted via a cheap chinese AM transmitter modulator running at 450mhz. receiver is at the macintosh serial port, where the software program reports back the readings. This is just an example of what i have put macintoshes to use for...
Another example: I used an early PPC machine as a central gate operator controller. Built a microcontroller-based keypad that communicates with the mac via serial port. mac has software application that reads the code entered at the keypad, verifies it with known account information stored in a PHP/HTTP based server, and returns a success or fail to the keypad to open up the gate. worked beautiful and it still works to this day. I didnt know if an apache/mysql/php existed for the early PPC macintosh for OS8 or i would have kept it strictly macintosh based. but i had to use a macintosh/PC pair for it all to work correctly. I think i used a PPC 7100/120 as it had ethernet and stuff.
Thats my 2 cents.
i feel if i was introduced into a more modern machine as my first computer, i would have no experience with the past machines and how things evolved from then to what they are now, and i would be "dumber" with operating systems. I also have a very strong knowledge of computer hardware and how things work from evolution of the computer from the first one i had till now. Heck, I am a novice software programmer and ASM level microcontroller programmer. But i feel i wouldn't be in this position without knowledge of how things worked in the early days. All this self-taught of course.
Just an example: I put my macintosh LC to use by writing custom software that uses the serial port that monitors a control system that i built with a microcontroller. I have a "weather station" outside the house that reads wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity, barometric pressure, and temperature. this of course is transmitted via a cheap chinese AM transmitter modulator running at 450mhz. receiver is at the macintosh serial port, where the software program reports back the readings. This is just an example of what i have put macintoshes to use for...
Another example: I used an early PPC machine as a central gate operator controller. Built a microcontroller-based keypad that communicates with the mac via serial port. mac has software application that reads the code entered at the keypad, verifies it with known account information stored in a PHP/HTTP based server, and returns a success or fail to the keypad to open up the gate. worked beautiful and it still works to this day. I didnt know if an apache/mysql/php existed for the early PPC macintosh for OS8 or i would have kept it strictly macintosh based. but i had to use a macintosh/PC pair for it all to work correctly. I think i used a PPC 7100/120 as it had ethernet and stuff.
Thats my 2 cents.
Scott Baret makes some good points.
If you are protecting your Mac from sunlight (which you should), just close the curtains as a starting point. Put a thick cotton covering over the precious Mac (an unworn pillow case or sheet will suffice) and then seek out some dense black plastic sheet to put on top. You need the cotton sheet so that the plastic sheet is not in direct contact with the Mac case.
By chance, my Mac collection is on the west side of my house which warms up more slowly in spring and summer. In winter it is close to the central heating system. Thus my Macs don't experience too much temperature variation -- or they don't suffer extremes. They do suffer from the threat of a drenching from water cisterns, thus my tanks are modern and checked. The Macs would survive exposure to clean water but not the manuals and magazines and boxes.
If you are protecting your Mac from sunlight (which you should), just close the curtains as a starting point. Put a thick cotton covering over the precious Mac (an unworn pillow case or sheet will suffice) and then seek out some dense black plastic sheet to put on top. You need the cotton sheet so that the plastic sheet is not in direct contact with the Mac case.
By chance, my Mac collection is on the west side of my house which warms up more slowly in spring and summer. In winter it is close to the central heating system. Thus my Macs don't experience too much temperature variation -- or they don't suffer extremes. They do suffer from the threat of a drenching from water cisterns, thus my tanks are modern and checked. The Macs would survive exposure to clean water but not the manuals and magazines and boxes.
Here's one for the "old computers for the poor" camp:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/21/digital_divide_worsened_by_tech/
Perhaps an aptly upgraded 603 or 604 or a G3 with a good suite of creativity and curiosity-inducing software would strike a good balance. Or maybe the same with Linux, perhaps sparking some interest in code having to compile source for PPC instead of just downloading binaries.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/21/digital_divide_worsened_by_tech/
Perhaps an aptly upgraded 603 or 604 or a G3 with a good suite of creativity and curiosity-inducing software would strike a good balance. Or maybe the same with Linux, perhaps sparking some interest in code having to compile source for PPC instead of just downloading binaries.