As most of you would already know, the TAM has a special spot in my collection. It is the one computer that I would have to keep above all others. So I thought I would start a TAM Appreciation Thread, for those of us with a TAM (or several, or even none. Maybe I should have called this the TAM Fanciers Thread?).
I bought my TAM at auction from the US in 2010, and paid $535 for it. That got me a TAM with the Bose Base Unit, box 3 with all of the manuals, disks and bric-a-brac that came with the TAM (except the pencils and leather wallet). I also sourced, from a guy in France, the matching US keyboard for $150 (ouch!). I then followed that up with a buy in 2011 of another TAM, non-working with base unit and keyboard, and some more TAM CD's. I've gotten this one to the Mac OS screen before I get random Bus Address errors. Due to time constraints, I've not gotten far with this one, but I think it is able to be saved. I've tried swapping over the hard drive, L2 cards, etc, from the working TAM, but no dice. I think it is going to require a teardown and some work. At least the rest of it works - base unit, keyboard, CD drive, screen, etc, so 90% of the work is done.
I enjoyed my TAM for a little while, and loved the Bose sound and the vertical location of the CD drive, and the inclusion of a floppy drive for backwards compatibility. I could also hook up my 500SC drive for backup and storage. But something wasn't quite right, and I set out to make it a more complete system that was usable in this day and age.
So I installed:
- Sonnet G3 400MHz processor upgrade card (if anyone has a 500MHz model, PM me!)
- Maximum 128MB of RAM
- USB card to go alongside the Ethernet card, using the Fat Back
- CF adapter and 16GB Kingston CF card, partitioned with 7.6.1, 8.5, and 9
- My fave software, such as After Dark, F/A-18 Hornet 2.0, SimCity 2000, et al
I have a powerline adapter to connect the modem on the other side of the house to the Ethernet port of the TAM, but haven't gotten around to that at this stage.
I am a massive fan of System 7, so my partition of 7.6.1 is what I use the most. Unfortunately, my plan of putting the CF card in a USB adapter to copy files over to System 7 wasn't to be, as 10.9 or 10.10 can read but not write to the HFS partition (Apparently this would work for 10.5 and under, so maybe I need to use my Pismo to do the dirty work for the TAM). I can copy to the 8.5 or 9 partition, copy to the external hard drive in 8.5 or 9, and then restart in System 7, but it is tricky. You can also download a System 7 skin, which is pretty convincing if you get the fonts just right.
I also used to have my USB card working in System 7, but the hard drive corrupted before I started using the external drive. I hadn't backed up - damn! No amount of testing or research has been able to replicate using the USB Card in System 7.
In summary, I love using my TAM, as I get to use System 7 (great childhood memories), in a sexy shape, with great sound, multiple ways to connect (floppy, external, CD, CF card/modern computer). Let us know your TAM stories (good and bad) and your thoughts. I know some of you will think of the TAM as an overpriced door stop, but let's try to be positive!
The thread might also be a good chance to swap ideas on upgrades and uses for the TAM. I like my mods non-destructive, so if there is anything that I have missed, let me know. I'd be keen to hear of ANY mods you've made to yours, the more the merrier.
I bought my TAM at auction from the US in 2010, and paid $535 for it. That got me a TAM with the Bose Base Unit, box 3 with all of the manuals, disks and bric-a-brac that came with the TAM (except the pencils and leather wallet). I also sourced, from a guy in France, the matching US keyboard for $150 (ouch!). I then followed that up with a buy in 2011 of another TAM, non-working with base unit and keyboard, and some more TAM CD's. I've gotten this one to the Mac OS screen before I get random Bus Address errors. Due to time constraints, I've not gotten far with this one, but I think it is able to be saved. I've tried swapping over the hard drive, L2 cards, etc, from the working TAM, but no dice. I think it is going to require a teardown and some work. At least the rest of it works - base unit, keyboard, CD drive, screen, etc, so 90% of the work is done.
I enjoyed my TAM for a little while, and loved the Bose sound and the vertical location of the CD drive, and the inclusion of a floppy drive for backwards compatibility. I could also hook up my 500SC drive for backup and storage. But something wasn't quite right, and I set out to make it a more complete system that was usable in this day and age.
So I installed:
- Sonnet G3 400MHz processor upgrade card (if anyone has a 500MHz model, PM me!)
- Maximum 128MB of RAM
- USB card to go alongside the Ethernet card, using the Fat Back
- CF adapter and 16GB Kingston CF card, partitioned with 7.6.1, 8.5, and 9
- My fave software, such as After Dark, F/A-18 Hornet 2.0, SimCity 2000, et al
I have a powerline adapter to connect the modem on the other side of the house to the Ethernet port of the TAM, but haven't gotten around to that at this stage.
I am a massive fan of System 7, so my partition of 7.6.1 is what I use the most. Unfortunately, my plan of putting the CF card in a USB adapter to copy files over to System 7 wasn't to be, as 10.9 or 10.10 can read but not write to the HFS partition (Apparently this would work for 10.5 and under, so maybe I need to use my Pismo to do the dirty work for the TAM). I can copy to the 8.5 or 9 partition, copy to the external hard drive in 8.5 or 9, and then restart in System 7, but it is tricky. You can also download a System 7 skin, which is pretty convincing if you get the fonts just right.
I also used to have my USB card working in System 7, but the hard drive corrupted before I started using the external drive. I hadn't backed up - damn! No amount of testing or research has been able to replicate using the USB Card in System 7.
In summary, I love using my TAM, as I get to use System 7 (great childhood memories), in a sexy shape, with great sound, multiple ways to connect (floppy, external, CD, CF card/modern computer). Let us know your TAM stories (good and bad) and your thoughts. I know some of you will think of the TAM as an overpriced door stop, but let's try to be positive!
The thread might also be a good chance to swap ideas on upgrades and uses for the TAM. I like my mods non-destructive, so if there is anything that I have missed, let me know. I'd be keen to hear of ANY mods you've made to yours, the more the merrier.