Good afternoon!
After nearly 35 years away, I have returned to my formative roots of Apple/Macintosh computers!
I cut my teeth on the Apple II+ in elementary school, on systems barely older than I was. Prior to this introduction to the Apple ecosystem, the family had a TI-99/4A that I wasn't allowed to touch until a few years later, and by then, it was eminently evident what an inferior system it was to the II+/IIe platforms I had then become familiar with, so, outside of a few months of tinkering with TI BASIC (itself, in my mind, inferior to Applesoft BASIC on the II+/IIe) and old Family Computing magazines with their variant BASIC code for different platforms, my heart was squarely with the Apple.
As I got older and into middle school, I got to play with virtually brand-spanking-new Apple IIGS and all of their platinum-colored glory.
Somewhere between middle school and high school, the family got an 8086 clone, and that was cool, but high school introduced me to the previously years release of the Macintosh Classic and Macintosh LC. While I far preferred the solitary SE/30 in the drafting lab, access to it was extremely limited, so I loved those dearly.
I transferred to a different high school in the middle of my sophomore year, to a school with only a small handful of Macs in the journalism class, but plenty of PCs, and the family had since upgraded to a 386DX-40 a couple years earlier, so my exposure and access to the Mac essentially terminated.
But I never forgot them, and have always had a soft spot for the LC.
Well, as of this past Friday, I am the proud owner of a Performa 450 with 20mb RAM, a 2GB Quantum SCSI drive (mounted, it seems, with FWB Utilities) and a Apple Multiple Scan 15AV Display, rocking MacOS 7.6.1 - slightly newer than the System 6/System 7 I had used in the past. It also appears to have a 10baseT NIC installed in the PDS slot.
This thing is sweet!
I had hoped to recreate a newer/better version of the "best" (shy of the SE/30) Mac I experienced, an LC (or possibly even an LC II) that was in my Algebra/Trigonmetry classroom, complete with it's Apple IIe card in the PDS slot and requisite 5.25" drive, but the price on those cards is crazy.
Impulsively, I purchased an Apple IIGS bundle that should arrive in a couple weeks for less than half of what I'm seeing those Apple IIe cards go for.
The board and I'm assuming PSU have not been re-capped, something I'm looking into having done ASAP, but I'm trying to assemble a list of upgrades/modifications that I should pursue.
First on the list, I'm thinking that I need to get ahold of a BlueSCSI job to replace the SCSI drive.
Next? I'm reading about logic board upgrades to a 68040? or other upgrades that would allow me to have more than 36mb of RAM, if that's even needed on a unit like this?
What guidance would you give me on my new-used path?
Thank you, and thank you for this resource!!
After nearly 35 years away, I have returned to my formative roots of Apple/Macintosh computers!
I cut my teeth on the Apple II+ in elementary school, on systems barely older than I was. Prior to this introduction to the Apple ecosystem, the family had a TI-99/4A that I wasn't allowed to touch until a few years later, and by then, it was eminently evident what an inferior system it was to the II+/IIe platforms I had then become familiar with, so, outside of a few months of tinkering with TI BASIC (itself, in my mind, inferior to Applesoft BASIC on the II+/IIe) and old Family Computing magazines with their variant BASIC code for different platforms, my heart was squarely with the Apple.
As I got older and into middle school, I got to play with virtually brand-spanking-new Apple IIGS and all of their platinum-colored glory.
Somewhere between middle school and high school, the family got an 8086 clone, and that was cool, but high school introduced me to the previously years release of the Macintosh Classic and Macintosh LC. While I far preferred the solitary SE/30 in the drafting lab, access to it was extremely limited, so I loved those dearly.
I transferred to a different high school in the middle of my sophomore year, to a school with only a small handful of Macs in the journalism class, but plenty of PCs, and the family had since upgraded to a 386DX-40 a couple years earlier, so my exposure and access to the Mac essentially terminated.
But I never forgot them, and have always had a soft spot for the LC.
Well, as of this past Friday, I am the proud owner of a Performa 450 with 20mb RAM, a 2GB Quantum SCSI drive (mounted, it seems, with FWB Utilities) and a Apple Multiple Scan 15AV Display, rocking MacOS 7.6.1 - slightly newer than the System 6/System 7 I had used in the past. It also appears to have a 10baseT NIC installed in the PDS slot.
This thing is sweet!
I had hoped to recreate a newer/better version of the "best" (shy of the SE/30) Mac I experienced, an LC (or possibly even an LC II) that was in my Algebra/Trigonmetry classroom, complete with it's Apple IIe card in the PDS slot and requisite 5.25" drive, but the price on those cards is crazy.
Impulsively, I purchased an Apple IIGS bundle that should arrive in a couple weeks for less than half of what I'm seeing those Apple IIe cards go for.
The board and I'm assuming PSU have not been re-capped, something I'm looking into having done ASAP, but I'm trying to assemble a list of upgrades/modifications that I should pursue.
First on the list, I'm thinking that I need to get ahold of a BlueSCSI job to replace the SCSI drive.
Next? I'm reading about logic board upgrades to a 68040? or other upgrades that would allow me to have more than 36mb of RAM, if that's even needed on a unit like this?
What guidance would you give me on my new-used path?
Thank you, and thank you for this resource!!