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On @JDW ’s thread regarding the Macintosh Portable (https://tinkerdifferent.com/threads/powerbook-100-170-owners.4811/), he posted a link to a technical note...

I recently received an SE/30 that was sold as working. Without trying the machine first, I broke it down, recapped it, and ultrasonically cleaned the motherboard. Unfortunately, upon powering up for the first time, I was greeted with the Simasima display. It turned out that there were several...

I purchased a IIfx that appeared to be in great shape. No battery leaks. Light capacitor leakage (no damaged traces). I recapped it and cleaned it with an ultrasonic cleaner. With the original memory in Bank A and Bank B, I would get sad mac chimes. In Bank A only, it would chime but not...

Someone asked to have SimpleText open a smaller text window at startup. Initially, I assumed this would be a fairly easy fix by just overwriting a few constant values in SimpleText code. It turned out to be a pain -- but I learned a lot along the way. You need to have the code editor (from one...

Back in 1992, I borrowed a DDS tape drive from my day job to back up all of my Macintosh hard drives at home. I stored the tape in a safe deposit box, until years later when it was relegated to the bottom of a storage box in the basement. Upon reviving my interest in Macs about five years ago, I...

Attached are PDF copies of the Apple suggested retail and developer discount prices for Apple II, Macintosh, AUX, Monitor, and Printer products circa 1991-1992. I was a developer at the time and I just recovered these documents from a tape backup. Example: M5510LL/B Macintosh IIfx 4MB 1FD CPU...

I recently acquired a CSI Hurdler II NuBus card that adds serial ports to the Macintosh. Using the card and upgrading it sent me down a rabbit hole. When I received it, the CSI Hurdler indicated that it was a "dual" (HDS) serial port card, although it had all four ports soldered in place, along...

I was fortunate to pick up an uncommon upgrade for the pizza-box Macs: A DGR Max Expansion. This is similar to the MicroMac Power Workstation and the MicroQue LC Top Hat. It consists of a metal chassis that fits between the top and bottom of a stock LC case. The rear includes a second power...

Way back in 2008, @JDW pointed out the following article in which an unnamed init could enable a stock-ROM SE/30 to mount an HD20 hard drive (or Floppy EMU emulating an HD20). https://web.archive.org/web/20030303085358/https://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=6182 "Additionally, we have...

Macintosh IIsi computers don't sell for as much as other Macs from the time period. IIsis tend to have motherboard capacitor damage and the power supplies must be recapped urgently. They have medium speed, one slot, and built-in video, so they are sweet little machines if you get them working...

Does anyone know if the 68LC040 uses the same die as the 68040. I mean, is the LC just a binned version of the full 68040 where the FPU failed testing? I suspect the 68LC040 is actually a different die, given that there seems to be completely different mask versions than the full 68040. Here...

I have a number of Quadra 630 computers. Recently, I picked up a spare board that motivated me to take a closer look at some of the differences. Thus far, I have found three different boards in Quadra/LC 630 series of computers: 820-0548-B (the most common). One double-bank RAM slot. One...

Hello everyone, For bulk file copying on older Macs, nothing beats emulated hardware such as Floppy Emu, MacSD, ZuluSCSI, and so on. However, for sending small files back and forth, swapping the micro SD card in and out can feel a bit like sneakernet. I've written a small application that runs...