Jump to content
IGNORED

I found a mac IIsi, what to do with it?


Recommended Posts

I've actually read about people adding up to 65 megs (4 16 meg 30 pin dimms+1 meg onboard memory), but those sized dimms didn't come out until long after the IIsi was out, and they might be expensive.

 

I'm proud to say I've done this, and it would have been very expensive, had I not scored an unheard of sweet deal on those SIMMS. Perhaps if I'd tried running 7.1 or 7.5, the IIsi might have done OK with 65MB, but, as I said previously, even with the RAM maxed out, that thing was a total dog on the Internet, running OS 7.6.1 and AOL 3.0 or 4.0. Dial-up connection, of course.

 

However, I didn't try any gaming on it after maxxing out the RAM. Who knows, maybe it might have been OK?

Edited by FlightSuit
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've actually read about people adding up to 65 megs (4 16 meg 30 pin dimms+1 meg onboard memory), but those sized dimms didn't come out until long after the IIsi was out, and they might be expensive.

 

I'm proud to say I've done this, and it would have been very expensive, had I not scored an unheard of sweet deal on those SIMMS. Perhaps if I'd tried running 7.1 or 7.5, the IIsi might have done OK with 65MB, but, as I said previously, even with the RAM maxed out, that thing was a total dog on the Internet, running OS 7.6.1 and AOL 3.0 or 4.0. Dial-up connection, of course.

 

However, I didn't try any gaming on it after maxxing out the RAM. Who knows, maybe it might have been OK?

 

Yeah, the IIsi was pretty bad on the Internet. Once the Internet gained steam it didn't take me long to acquire a Duo 280c and a Duo Dock. The 68040 was a much better performer.

 

Upon powerup, I receive "The Iomega driver extension could not load because it could not locate an Iomega drive"

 

Once you get a mouse, you'll probably want to drag that out of the Extensions folder, until if/when you get a Zip or Jazz drive.

Edited by aftermac
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've actually read about people adding up to 65 megs (4 16 meg 30 pin dimms+1 meg onboard memory), but those sized dimms didn't come out until long after the IIsi was out, and they might be expensive.

 

I'm proud to say I've done this, and it would have been very expensive, had I not scored an unheard of sweet deal on those SIMMS. Perhaps if I'd tried running 7.1 or 7.5, the IIsi might have done OK with 65MB, but, as I said previously, even with the RAM maxed out, that thing was a total dog on the Internet, running OS 7.6.1 and AOL 3.0 or 4.0. Dial-up connection, of course.

 

However, I didn't try any gaming on it after maxxing out the RAM. Who knows, maybe it might have been OK?

 

Yeah, the IIsi was pretty bad on the Internet. Once the Internet gained steam it didn't take me long to acquire a Duo 280c and a Duo Dock. The 68040 was a much better performer.

 

Upon powerup, I receive "The Iomega driver extension could not load because it could not locate an Iomega drive"

 

Once you get a mouse, you'll probably want to drag that out of the Extensions folder, until if/when you get a Zip or Jazz drive.

 

I lost the keyboard I was bidding on too. I'm determined to get one of those spiffy extended 2 ones. Well, I'll bump this thread in the coming days of me gathering up the last of what I need, thanks for being so helpful. I realize I have had quite a bit of stupid questions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No stupid questions! You're trying to resurrect an ancient computer that only had a tiny fraction of market share even when it was new.

 

Keep your eyes open and you may be able to get most of what you need without paying eBay prices. Look on Craigslist, pay attention to garage sales, and you'll find that there's always somebody giving away old Mac stuff. Heck, when you're dealing with Mac this old, you're likely to stumble across a complete system, free of charge, and the person you get it from will just be glad to have the extra closet space.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No stupid questions! You're trying to resurrect an ancient computer that only had a tiny fraction of market share even when it was new.

 

Keep your eyes open and you may be able to get most of what you need without paying eBay prices. Look on Craigslist, pay attention to garage sales, and you'll find that there's always somebody giving away old Mac stuff. Heck, when you're dealing with Mac this old, you're likely to stumble across a complete system, free of charge, and the person you get it from will just be glad to have the extra closet space.

 

 

We have a used computer store that is associated with a Goodwill. Stuff this old, when available, is generally dirt cheap. Do you want me to keep an eye out for anything? I'm probably headed there sometime within the next couple of days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No stupid questions! You're trying to resurrect an ancient computer that only had a tiny fraction of market share even when it was new.

 

Keep your eyes open and you may be able to get most of what you need without paying eBay prices. Look on Craigslist, pay attention to garage sales, and you'll find that there's always somebody giving away old Mac stuff. Heck, when you're dealing with Mac this old, you're likely to stumble across a complete system, free of charge, and the person you get it from will just be glad to have the extra closet space.

 

 

We have a used computer store that is associated with a Goodwill. Stuff this old, when available, is generally dirt cheap. Do you want me to keep an eye out for anything? I'm probably headed there sometime within the next couple of days.

 

I don't have much a budget, and shipping for a whole setup will be beastly. But please let me know what you find, if anything, I would appreciate it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm assuming that question was directed at Spazmonkey? 'Cause I'm not lookin' for any vintage Mac stuff at the moment...

 

Yea... it was.

 

Spazmomkey... I didn't know about that mailing list from lowend Mac, and it might be your best bet. A mouse wouldn't me much of bother, but I'm on a budget too.

 

Are there universities in your area? Sometimes they might have an old salvage shop or recycling center. Stuff this old generally doesn't go for much.

 

About the internet.... that is a tough one. Not sure if there were ethernet to local talk adapters (the IIsi has a special 9 pin thingy that was used for networking macs using the Apple talk protocol). I'm sure there are NuBus ethernet adapters, but from the sounds of things, your IIsi has a nubus video card plugged into the bridge card. Keep that for video. I remember when I put a 24 bit video card into mine.... it was like having a new machine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was wrong about the memory being expensive:

 

http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.c...s=Show+Upgrades

 

As far as I know, they don't have to be in pairs or any thing special.

 

I've dealt with macales before and have had positive experiences.

 

Believe it or not, there were even 68040 and PPC 601 upgrade cards available at one point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

About the internet.... that is a tough one. Not sure if there were ethernet to local talk adapters (the IIsi has a special 9 pin thingy that was used for networking macs using the Apple talk protocol). I'm sure there are NuBus ethernet adapters, but from the sounds of things, your IIsi has a nubus video card plugged into the bridge card. Keep that for video. I remember when I put a 24 bit video card into mine.... it was like having a new machine.

 

There are a few ways to get the IIsi on the Internet. And other than an Ethernet card, none of them is particularly pretty. Obviously, there is dial-up, but that is an added expense for something that is realistically just a novelty.

 

The IIsi has 2 9-pin serial ports, respectively referred to as the Printer Port and Modem Port. For the most part these ports are interchangeable. Other than using a dial-up modem, there is another way to gain Internet access through these ports... but you need an AppleTalk / Mac IP router. To do this you either need another pre-USB Mac with an Ethernet port setup with AppleTalk IP software, or you need a device such as the Gatorbox ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GatorBox ), which is what I have.

 

Another way to get the IIsi on the Internet is with an ugly little abomination of a device called a SCSI-Ethernet adapter. Yuck. I also have one of these... the Asante EN-SC ( http://lowendmac.com/rivera/05/1129.html ). I bought it before I got my Gatorbox, so I could get my Mac Plus on my cable modem. The nice thing about the Gatorbox is that you can daisy chain many computers! :)

 

IMO it's not worth the hassle, but that's for you to decide. :) You would probably be further ahead buying an Apple CD-ROM drive and transferring any files from Windows like that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was wrong about the memory being expensive:

 

http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.c...s=Show+Upgrades

 

As far as I know, they don't have to be in pairs or any thing special.

 

I've dealt with macales before and have had positive experiences.

 

Believe it or not, there were even 68040 and PPC 601 upgrade cards available at one point.

 

WOW! That's a really good price! I'd jump all over that! It's been years since I've seen 30-pin SIMMs at OWC/MacSales... or anywhere for that matter.

 

Yeah, there were quite a few IIsi compatible upgrade cards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was wrong about the memory being expensive:

 

http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.c...s=Show+Upgrades

 

As far as I know, they don't have to be in pairs or any thing special.

 

I've dealt with macales before and have had positive experiences.

 

Believe it or not, there were even 68040 and PPC 601 upgrade cards available at one point.

 

WOW! That's a really good price! I'd jump all over that! It's been years since I've seen 30-pin SIMMs at OWC/MacSales... or anywhere for that matter.

 

Yeah, there were quite a few IIsi compatible upgrade cards.

 

All my SIMM slots are full. I have no clue what amount memory is on them, but all four slots are full. SCSI cd sounds great. Whats the highest speed drive? 1x would be brutal for transfering lots of stuff. Signed up for the lowendmac thing as well. Now we play the waiting game.....

Edited by Spazmonkey
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was wrong about the memory being expensive:

 

http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.c...s=Show+Upgrades

 

As far as I know, they don't have to be in pairs or any thing special.

 

I've dealt with macales before and have had positive experiences.

 

Believe it or not, there were even 68040 and PPC 601 upgrade cards available at one point.

 

WOW! That's a really good price! I'd jump all over that! It's been years since I've seen 30-pin SIMMs at OWC/MacSales... or anywhere for that matter.

 

Yeah, there were quite a few IIsi compatible upgrade cards.

 

All my SIMM slots are full. I have no clue what amount memory is on them, but all four slots are full. SCSI cd sounds great. Whats the highest speed drive? 1x would be brutal for transfering lots of stuff. Signed up for the lowendmac thing as well. Now we play the waiting game.....

 

Yeah, until you get a mouse you won't know how big the SIMMs are. All 4 slots have to be filled with the same size memory. So, when you find out how much total RAM you have subtract 1 MB (for the 1 MB on-board) and divide by 4, to find out the size for each SIMM.

 

My External SCSI CD-ROM is 3x, which is O...K..., but you're right 1x is brutal. I'm not exactly sure how fast the Mac external SCSI CD-ROMs got... I know 8x and 12x drives exist, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a 24x CD-ROM hooked up to mine.

 

Regarding the Internet, I was about to say you might as well go with a dial-up modem, 'cause with that machine, the real bottleneck is going to be the computer's ability to render Web pages, as opposed to your connection speed. But then I remembered, nobody even has a dial-up account these days.

 

Oh, well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just found this computer on the curb, pretty cool. I've been looking it up online and it has a nu bus bridge card to some monitor controller thing in it. There's a cal tech sticker on the side, so hopefully theres instructions on how to build a hydrogen bomb or something.

 

The big question is, what do I do with it? I might keep it if I can find some games for it. I was looking on ebay and couldn't find any, and then I was thinking what I would even use to control them. It looks like this is more of a work computer than anything. What kind of keyboard/mouse do I need for it? Any mac guru help would be appreciated.

 

Hello!

 

Go here...

 

http://main.system7today.com/

 

And all you questions will be answered.

 

Have fun!!

 

Adept Rapier

 

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just found this computer on the curb, pretty cool. I've been looking it up online and it has a nu bus bridge card to some monitor controller thing in it. There's a cal tech sticker on the side, so hopefully theres instructions on how to build a hydrogen bomb or something.

 

The big question is, what do I do with it? I might keep it if I can find some games for it. I was looking on ebay and couldn't find any, and then I was thinking what I would even use to control them. It looks like this is more of a work computer than anything. What kind of keyboard/mouse do I need for it? Any mac guru help would be appreciated.

 

Hello!

 

Go here...

 

http://main.system7today.com/

 

And all you questions will be answered.

 

Have fun!!

 

Adept Rapier

 

:)

 

That's a nice little site there! :)

 

I did find this a quote a bit funny though: "Remember, the System 7 era spanned two major releases of Microsoft Windows (3.1 and 95), a true testament to it's power and longevity."

 

Actually, it's a testament to Apple and Taligent's inability to produce a next-generation OS with failures such as, Pink, Copland and its successor, Gershwin.

 

Also, their "Hardware Guide" is missing a boatload of computers that are 7.6.1 compatible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...