Thread
Tangerine Dream
(Pics at the end)
As many have done here before, I've reassessed what I want out of a Macintosh collection. For now I've decided to stick with a couple of machines that, to me, represent the spirit of the Macintosh. The first is the Macintosh Classic, as I think its form factor is the height of the compact black & white design and as a 68000 based machine, embodies the spirit of the original introduced six years earlier. The other machine I've decided on was the iMac G3. This was the machine that was largely responsible for bringing Apple back from the brink of failure and helped change industrial design for a good many years following its introduction.
I've owned a few different iMacs in the past, including a Rev. B Bondai and a 350mhz Blueberry. But those have come and gone. Now I was on the look out for another. For awhile I thought about finding an final production 700mhz Snow or Graphite. Both those machines are very nice, but were missing something. I reflected a bit about what made the iMac so intriguing and desirable to so many people. Certainly the all-in-one integration was a big part. It's cute, rounded form factor was another. But one of the things that really caught peoples attention when it introduced was it's bold use color. While initially it was just Bondai, the next major release included a whole host of colors that would continue to expand until the machine was finally replaced by the iMac G4.
After a little bit of research, I decided that it would be down to two machines if I could find them. Both are slot-loaders. It's my opinion that slot-loading iMac, with it's fanless convection cooling and its face unobstructed by a CD drive tray, it is probably closer to Steve Jobs desired intention of the iMac than the original revision A-D models. My first choice would be one of the 400/DV models, specifically Tangerine, which I thought the best of "fruit flavor" colors. It was also capable of running Mac OS 8.6, which is my favorite iteration of the Classic OS. My second choice would be an iMac DV+ Ruby. Even though it didn't run 8.6, it did have a wonderful, rich ruby-red hue.
After some time spent looking on the trading post, eBay and Craigslist, I finally found one. It was on my local Craigslist and from the picture it looked okay. The biggest problem was the $100 price tag. Ouch. For the next couple of weeks I watched the ad get reposted numerous times and the same price. Then finally yesterday it dropped down to $60. I figured that the owner was starting to get desperate to unload it and willing to barter. That was a good sign for me, so I made the call and arranged to take a look at it.
I met the owner and before we could get back to look at the iMac, the she tried to sell me a couple of games systems and a NES TV storage cart. As we stood there talking, I noticed a sweet yet powerful odor throughout the house. A cursory look and I could see that someone entertained a cigar smoking habit as there were multiple ashtrays with cigar butts around the house. We made our way toward the back of the house and there it was. It looked very cheery with its orange dome and accents. After some discussion about the age of the machine, potential problems and how iMacs in general are fairly common, we settled on a price of $15.
After I got it home, I noticed that Mr. Cigar's hobby had left it's mark, or at least odor, on this iMac. A couple of wipe downs with some diluted alcohol and it already started to smell a bit better. I've since wiped it down a few more times and let it air out and most (but not all) of the smell has dissipated. It's in very good cosmetic shape with just a few drywall scuffs on the back. The screen is bright and clear with no burn in that I can see.
It has a few problems. First, the DVD drive has a problem ejecting discs. It will struggle to push it out just enough for me to grab it and pull it out the rest of the way. Otherwise it mounts discs just fine.
The second problem with it the memory/Airport bay door is stuck. The lock/unlock slot has is very chewed up and has been turned pretty far passed the unlock position. I tried using a coin and then a screw driver to try and turn it, but the plastic seems kind of soft and I stopped before I damaged something.
The third is minor and that is the PRAM battery needs replacing as it won't hold a date.
I plan on finding some SDRAM modules and hope to pump it up to the full 1gb if possible, bringing it up from the current 192mb. I have a 40mb hard drive that I'll use to replace the paltry 10mb original unit. Currently, it has OS 9 and 10.3. I'm going to downgrade to the original 8.6 and upgrade to 10.4.
After the upgrades (and some more time to air out), I think this will be an excellent part of my new limited collection.
Here it is booted into 10.3. (Mismatched Bondai keyboard in the foreground.)
The OS X 10.3 "About This Mac..." box.
Here we are in OS 9. Someone named Nathan made a lot of use of this iMac. Nathan apparently really liked a girl named Leanna. I gathered this from an AppleWorks document named "the most important people" which was soley comprised of Leanna's name being repeated for sixty-five pages. Nathan also REALLY liked Slipknot as he had four folders of Slipknot songs, a photo album along with various documents and folders with their name.
The original configuration sticker.
Scuffs from rubbing onto drywall. Hoping these will rub out with a little effort.
The memory/Airport door with the well worn & jammed screw.
As many have done here before, I've reassessed what I want out of a Macintosh collection. For now I've decided to stick with a couple of machines that, to me, represent the spirit of the Macintosh. The first is the Macintosh Classic, as I think its form factor is the height of the compact black & white design and as a 68000 based machine, embodies the spirit of the original introduced six years earlier. The other machine I've decided on was the iMac G3. This was the machine that was largely responsible for bringing Apple back from the brink of failure and helped change industrial design for a good many years following its introduction.
I've owned a few different iMacs in the past, including a Rev. B Bondai and a 350mhz Blueberry. But those have come and gone. Now I was on the look out for another. For awhile I thought about finding an final production 700mhz Snow or Graphite. Both those machines are very nice, but were missing something. I reflected a bit about what made the iMac so intriguing and desirable to so many people. Certainly the all-in-one integration was a big part. It's cute, rounded form factor was another. But one of the things that really caught peoples attention when it introduced was it's bold use color. While initially it was just Bondai, the next major release included a whole host of colors that would continue to expand until the machine was finally replaced by the iMac G4.
After a little bit of research, I decided that it would be down to two machines if I could find them. Both are slot-loaders. It's my opinion that slot-loading iMac, with it's fanless convection cooling and its face unobstructed by a CD drive tray, it is probably closer to Steve Jobs desired intention of the iMac than the original revision A-D models. My first choice would be one of the 400/DV models, specifically Tangerine, which I thought the best of "fruit flavor" colors. It was also capable of running Mac OS 8.6, which is my favorite iteration of the Classic OS. My second choice would be an iMac DV+ Ruby. Even though it didn't run 8.6, it did have a wonderful, rich ruby-red hue.
After some time spent looking on the trading post, eBay and Craigslist, I finally found one. It was on my local Craigslist and from the picture it looked okay. The biggest problem was the $100 price tag. Ouch. For the next couple of weeks I watched the ad get reposted numerous times and the same price. Then finally yesterday it dropped down to $60. I figured that the owner was starting to get desperate to unload it and willing to barter. That was a good sign for me, so I made the call and arranged to take a look at it.
I met the owner and before we could get back to look at the iMac, the she tried to sell me a couple of games systems and a NES TV storage cart. As we stood there talking, I noticed a sweet yet powerful odor throughout the house. A cursory look and I could see that someone entertained a cigar smoking habit as there were multiple ashtrays with cigar butts around the house. We made our way toward the back of the house and there it was. It looked very cheery with its orange dome and accents. After some discussion about the age of the machine, potential problems and how iMacs in general are fairly common, we settled on a price of $15.
After I got it home, I noticed that Mr. Cigar's hobby had left it's mark, or at least odor, on this iMac. A couple of wipe downs with some diluted alcohol and it already started to smell a bit better. I've since wiped it down a few more times and let it air out and most (but not all) of the smell has dissipated. It's in very good cosmetic shape with just a few drywall scuffs on the back. The screen is bright and clear with no burn in that I can see.
It has a few problems. First, the DVD drive has a problem ejecting discs. It will struggle to push it out just enough for me to grab it and pull it out the rest of the way. Otherwise it mounts discs just fine.
The second problem with it the memory/Airport bay door is stuck. The lock/unlock slot has is very chewed up and has been turned pretty far passed the unlock position. I tried using a coin and then a screw driver to try and turn it, but the plastic seems kind of soft and I stopped before I damaged something.
The third is minor and that is the PRAM battery needs replacing as it won't hold a date.
I plan on finding some SDRAM modules and hope to pump it up to the full 1gb if possible, bringing it up from the current 192mb. I have a 40mb hard drive that I'll use to replace the paltry 10mb original unit. Currently, it has OS 9 and 10.3. I'm going to downgrade to the original 8.6 and upgrade to 10.4.
After the upgrades (and some more time to air out), I think this will be an excellent part of my new limited collection.
Here it is booted into 10.3. (Mismatched Bondai keyboard in the foreground.)
The OS X 10.3 "About This Mac..." box.
Here we are in OS 9. Someone named Nathan made a lot of use of this iMac. Nathan apparently really liked a girl named Leanna. I gathered this from an AppleWorks document named "the most important people" which was soley comprised of Leanna's name being repeated for sixty-five pages. Nathan also REALLY liked Slipknot as he had four folders of Slipknot songs, a photo album along with various documents and folders with their name.
The original configuration sticker.
Scuffs from rubbing onto drywall. Hoping these will rub out with a little effort.
The memory/Airport door with the well worn & jammed screw.
Imacs are pretty finicky with SDRAM modules, won't probably accept most PC ones.
Congrats for the Imac, i agree with you my first machine was a Classic and the second one a G3 Imac (Indigo)
Woah, nice find! I love the G3 iMacs, and Tangerine looks good on them. :3
That's creepy as hell.
That's one of the reasons I try to delete personal files from any intact HDDs I run across without looking at the contents. I tend to leave any applications and the OS installation alone out of technical curiosity.
I like to think it was young teenage love from sometime in the past. But if it was the Mr. Cigar Odeur, than we might have a problem as the lady of the house was NOT named Leanna. 8-o
It's a good and understandable practice. I'm not too interested in the personal lives of former owners, but like to take a quick peek to get a general sense of who the former owner of a machine was. Plus, you never know, it might turn out to be someone famous.
With the memory/Airport door jammed, is the only way in there by taking the whole bottom cover off?
Yes, remove the two screws near the flip foot, remove the VGA access door and then the two screws hidden by the VGA cover.
The bottom cover can be removed now.
It will be necessary anyway to remove the HD, the PRAM battery and CD drive unit.
The bottom cover can be removed now.
It will be necessary anyway to remove the HD, the PRAM battery and CD drive unit.
This seems more straightforward (by recollection) than getting into the rev. A-D. I figured I'd be going in there eventually to replace the HD and then I could see what was jamming it. I'll wait until I get some ram so I can do it all in one shot and to minimize the chances of stressing the plastic more than need be.
There's no harm running the iMacs without a PRAM battery, right? I get a little paranoid about leakage.
There's no harm running the iMacs without a PRAM battery, right? I get a little paranoid about leakage.
Really good looking unit! Pretty rare color as well.
Makes me wonder if should shell out 35€ for strawberry-iMac 333 sold at recycling center with OS 8.6 with keyboard and mouse... hmm. What children software i could put into it, my daughter would love it!
Makes me wonder if should shell out 35€ for strawberry-iMac 333 sold at recycling center with OS 8.6 with keyboard and mouse... hmm. What children software i could put into it, my daughter would love it!
You're going to hate me, Cosmo. I just added that exact machine to my gallery. I picked it up for free from a Craigslist ad a couple of weeks ago.
Graphics!
My son thought MacPaint was a computer game until he went to school . . . he wasn't thrilled with the deception . . . but he went to the best genetics Uni in the country for pre-med/genetics on a fine arts grant!
Like the Douglas Adams IIfx . . . you never know!
Ugh. My Tangerine iMac was stolen out of my garage last night. It was the only thing stolen too. Not the power tools, guitar amp or bikes, just the iMac. Weirdly specific.
I agree wholeheartedly!
I wonder if the creator of that document is the one who stole the iMac?
You never know.
c
Sorry to hear about it, sad news :'(
Thanks. Filed a police report. I don't know if anything will come of it. Also went to the pawn shops and gave a sheet with a pic & serial.
Sorry to hear about this. Just when we thought the story couldn't get any stranger...
The suspect didn't yell "DOESN'T BOTHER ME AT ALL!" as he sped off, did he?
Ha! :lol: Wouldn't that be the best? Almost like a really terrible heist tale. But I don't think Flower Power has the fore-planning to pull off a caper of this magnitude.
I didn't think something like this would bother me this much; not that I put a lot of thought about people breaking into my house -- at least not until now. Still it's a weird mix of anger and the feeling of being defeated at some level. Plus I really kinda liked that little iMac.
:disapprove: 
Look who made their way to the police evidence/property locker:
The morning after the iMac was stolen, I filed a police report. After that, I set about making a color flyer with photos of the iMac along with the serial number and contact info. I took them to places that I thought someone might try and sell the iMac at, which ended up being mostly pawnshops. When I gave one pawn the flyer, they said that they wouldn't even loan on a computer that old, but would give me a call if something should turn up. I didn't hold out much hope, but thought it was worth a shot.
Well, I got a call this morning from one of the pawn shops. Someone tried to come in and pawn my little Tangerine machine. The clerk at the counter knew it was my machine, and feigned interest in it. She told the guy who was trying to pawn it that she needed to check it out in back and would also need his ID to start the paperwork. She then called the police. Unfortunately, they never showed and while she was waiting the guy got suspicious and left.
Because she was such a nice lady, she gave me a call and let me know what happened. I turned around a called the police department. A couple of transfer later and I was speaking to a detective in the Burglary Department, which is why nobody came to the pawn shop. Turns out that my case was in some sort of processing limbo between having the report taken by the initial officer and being put through to Burglary. I talked to the officer a little bit and he said that because there was a good amount of information, including me having sent pictures and the serial number to them, that he would try and expedite it and maybe get it back to me today (instead of the normal 30-60 days for a normal investigation). I got a call a little after 3:00pm this afternoon, went straight down and picked it up.
The police have the ID of the guy who picked it up and are working on the case from there. I'm glad to have my little orphan back home.
The morning after the iMac was stolen, I filed a police report. After that, I set about making a color flyer with photos of the iMac along with the serial number and contact info. I took them to places that I thought someone might try and sell the iMac at, which ended up being mostly pawnshops. When I gave one pawn the flyer, they said that they wouldn't even loan on a computer that old, but would give me a call if something should turn up. I didn't hold out much hope, but thought it was worth a shot.
Well, I got a call this morning from one of the pawn shops. Someone tried to come in and pawn my little Tangerine machine. The clerk at the counter knew it was my machine, and feigned interest in it. She told the guy who was trying to pawn it that she needed to check it out in back and would also need his ID to start the paperwork. She then called the police. Unfortunately, they never showed and while she was waiting the guy got suspicious and left.
Because she was such a nice lady, she gave me a call and let me know what happened. I turned around a called the police department. A couple of transfer later and I was speaking to a detective in the Burglary Department, which is why nobody came to the pawn shop. Turns out that my case was in some sort of processing limbo between having the report taken by the initial officer and being put through to Burglary. I talked to the officer a little bit and he said that because there was a good amount of information, including me having sent pictures and the serial number to them, that he would try and expedite it and maybe get it back to me today (instead of the normal 30-60 days for a normal investigation). I got a call a little after 3:00pm this afternoon, went straight down and picked it up.
The police have the ID of the guy who picked it up and are working on the case from there. I'm glad to have my little orphan back home.
Hmm...
It just goes to show you that even 12 year old computers aren't safe from burglars and such wanting to make a profit.
That person probably was misinformed as to the worth of this machine and thought they'd try selling one off for some drug money or something like that. [shakes head in astonishment...]
Is your neighborhood generally safe? In what city, if you don't mind my asking, are you located (general area)?
c
p.s. I'm glad you got it back!!!!!
It just goes to show you that even 12 year old computers aren't safe from burglars and such wanting to make a profit.
That person probably was misinformed as to the worth of this machine and thought they'd try selling one off for some drug money or something like that. [shakes head in astonishment...]
Is your neighborhood generally safe? In what city, if you don't mind my asking, are you located (general area)?
c
p.s. I'm glad you got it back!!!!!
Great story, macinbot, thanks for sharing it Perhaps it was Leanna, for fear of her name being bandied about with a stranger? 
Or, mustn't have been the smartest crack/meth user stealing this over everything else in your shed.
I've a similar story with my 9600, which I purchased when it was "still good", and loaned it to a friend as he wanted to record a DJ set he was preparing. It was stuffed to the gills with upgrades. He had just purchased his first home in Preston, Melbourne (for the locals this was in the bad part near Norflands) and didn't even want to store his vinyl collection there for fear of theft/break in. So I was pretty foolish giving him this Mac. As he feared, his place was broken into and they got into everything, including dragging my 9600 to the window ... then gave up as it was so heavy. For anyone who has handled one of these, you are kind of asking for trouble to haul it out of a window without doing yourself a serious injury. It came back with a few boot scuffs, but that adds to the character and history of the computer, much like your Tangerine iMac!
Perhaps it was Leanna, for fear of her name being bandied about with a stranger? Or, mustn't have been the smartest crack/meth user stealing this over everything else in your shed.I've a similar story with my 9600, which I purchased when it was "still good", and loaned it to a friend as he wanted to record a DJ set he was preparing. It was stuffed to the gills with upgrades. He had just purchased his first home in Preston, Melbourne (for the locals this was in the bad part near Norflands) and didn't even want to store his vinyl collection there for fear of theft/break in. So I was pretty foolish giving him this Mac. As he feared, his place was broken into and they got into everything, including dragging my 9600 to the window ... then gave up as it was so heavy. For anyone who has handled one of these, you are kind of asking for trouble to haul it out of a window without doing yourself a serious injury. It came back with a few boot scuffs, but that adds to the character and history of the computer, much like your Tangerine iMac!
My neighborhood is a relatively small tract of maybe 40 houses in a rough circle with the only way in or out being the same road (no through traffic). It's comprised of mostly working professionals, civil government and safety employees and small business owners. It's not super ritzy or anything, but everyone is pretty well established. We do have two California CHP (State Patrol) and a federal marshal, along with fire fighters, so I'm feeling pretty safe in that regard.
It would be really creepy/cool if any or all of Leanna, Nathan or Flower Power were somehow connected to the heist. That would certainly make for an incredible tale.Great story, macinbot, thanks for sharing it
I started it up since getting it back and found some interesting usage. The person who took it appears to be somewhat familiar with Macs. They updated iTunes (which isn't hard, but requires some familiarity). They also turned off Classic auto starting (which it was set to do by the original owner). I found a CD stuck inside (The Essential Alice In Chains) and it was ripped to the hard drive. They also removed the drywall scuffs, but very poorly as the plastic now scratched on the back. With the updates and the cleaning, it seems to me that the intention was to keep it, but the bad rollers on the DVD may have changed their mind. Then again, I think it's probably a futile exercise attempting to get into the mind of a petty thief and their motivations.
I agree that like the 9600, this incident has almost immediately added some of my personal history to this machine. Beyond its overall general historical value, it now has much more personal value to me as well.
A "magic eraser" with a small bit of water + detergent will remove the last scuff remnants.
Magic Erasers are abrasive. I suggest a 50/50 mix of isopropyl and acetone. If alcohol won't hurt it, neither will 50/50.
Nice story, glad to see you get it back in the end, let us know about the upgrades.
I wouldn't be surprised if that's what they used to clean it.
Thanks. I will. I think I'll do them all in one shot.
Can the G3 iMacs be run without the PRAM battery?
Of course they can! I have several, and none of them have batteries (or they have dead ones if they do at all). The only problem is they lose their date/time settings every time you unplug them.
They work fine otherwise, and no long term damage will result from leaving the battery out.
Plus, it might actually be safer for the machine to leave them out, since they can (and sometimes do) leak with age, which wreaks havoc with anything the battery acid comes in contact with.
c
Thanks for the info. I know that some Macs, such as those based of the 4400 mobo and a few Powerbooks (I believe), need the PRAM battery to boot. I wasn't sure about the G3 iMacs. Since this won't be a daily driver, I'm not too concerned about resetting the date every once-and-awhile. And I agree with you about the leaking. I'd feel more comfortable with not having to worry about it leaking and destroying the mobo. This machine has already been through enough.
No problem with the battery, but if you want one installed it will be easier to do it with the whole upgrades.
The battery is placed in an awkward place, you can remove it (through the Airport / ram cover) but you need long and thin fingers (or be a close friend of E.T )
The battery is placed in an awkward place, you can remove it (through the Airport / ram cover) but you need long and thin fingers (or be a close friend of E.T
)Agreed!
Yes, it is. It would be easiest if you take the bottom cover and faraday cage off first. You'd need to do that anyway to upgrade the hard drive and CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive.
Yes. Might as well get them all done at once so you don't need to needlessly repeat the disassembly procedure (which can be quite a pain).
I have a Blueberry iMac (the base model with no FireWire) which I'd like to upgrade with a FireWire logic board, preferably from the same color iMac (they are apparently color-matched with the case somehow, deep in the firmware, using methods I have yet to understand).
Anyway, I'm glad I could help out with the battery!
c