Classic destruction problem..

[desiv]

OK, this has very little to do with gaming, but...

 

Today at work, I had a friend email me. Wanted to know if I wanted to make a Macquarium.

 

I've always wanted to!!!

 

He told me someone had given him a dead old Mac Classic, and he intended to, but just decided he couldn't or wouldn't get around to it..

 

I said SURE!!!

 

So, I get the Mac Classic, it looks pretty good. Would make a great Macquarium!!!

 

So, I take it home.. Just for the sake of it, I plug it in...

 

IT WORKS!!! :-( I frown because I want to make a Macquarium, but I can't stand the concept of gutting a working classic! (Yeah, even a Mac! :-) )

 

For my 2-XL mini-ITX project, I got 2 broken 2-XLs. Got one working and plan on making the other into a PC..

 

But this is already working!!! I don't know if I can do it.. I mean, it smiles at me when I power it up!!!

 

Preferences aside (As a gamer, I was never a HUGE Mac fan..), should I gut it? Are there enough out there that it's not a crime against computer history? Is this just another sign that I REALLY nead to get out more?

 

desiv

 

p.s. To make it classic gaming related, first thing I did when I got it powered up was put "The Hobbit" on it. (The pictures/text adventure..)

[Xot]

GUT IT!

 

GUT IT!

 

And I'm a Mac addict and I say GUT IT!

[Albert]

I can probably go down to Goodwill Computerworks here in Austin and buy 20 Mac Classics in working condition. They're not that hard to come by, and are now only of interest to Mac fanatics who want a pice of Mac history. Of course, I should go look on eBay to see what they're selling for and if I should go buy 'em all up.

 

..Al

[Susuwatari]

Mac Classic has to be the top ten most common Mac (Plus and SE are the other 2 common Mac that would make great aquarium) Just one thing, if it's the Classic and not Classic II and it has 2MB expansion, sell 'em on eBay. Classic used propierty ram board for upgrade.

 

A few years ago at U of M property disposition, they had shitloads of SE and Classic and most of them were selling for $1 each. A lot of them ended up in the dumpter unsold.

[Saikyo]

Dont gut it! if your friend wants to sell it you then buy it!

 

There are some good games (apparently) available for it and if it works good

then dont gut it

 

If worst comes to the worst and you start getting bored of it you can always sell it on for more

than you bought it for

 

That's only my policy anyways! It's all down to you what you do

[AtariDude]

Don't gut it!

 

You can always get a non-working MAC and gut that one but it is working, you should either keep it or find a local MAC user group and donate it to them (maybe you can get a tax break).

[Christophero Sly]

I've got an original Mac (128) with a busted monitor and I still can't bring myself to gut it for a Macquarium, so it just sits here taking up space.

[liveinabin]

All the Macquariums I've seen on the web look pretty ropey. You can't beat the look and feel of a fully operational classic Mac. It's just a lovely thing.

[Raijin Z]

Macquariums look like shit. Seriously. Besides that, you're going to confine fish to an even smaller area?

[Bruce Tomlin]

Don't mod a 128. They're uncommon enough and have enough historical value to be kept around. On the other hand, have at it with a Plus or SE. (I would offer some SE cases for free for Macquarium conversion, but I'm in Austin, and it's hard to compete with the ton at Goodwill, even for free, and even though they're probably tossing most of what they get these days.)

 

Aside: if you get a IIfx, and you don't want to keep it around for the coolness value of being a computer that used to cost $10,000 new, at least take the ROM SIMM out and put it in an SE/30. It's supposed to make the SE/30 32-bit clean, which is highly desirable in that model.

[desiv]

Well, so much for concensus.. :-)

 

Hmmmm

 

if it's the Classic and not Classic II and it has 2MB expansion, sell 'em on eBay. Classic used propierty ram board for upgrade.

 

Actually, it is the 2 MB Classic, not the Classic II, but I wouldn't sell it.

It's a Macquarium or keep it..

 

To make matters worse, I happen to have a spare Mac Keyboard and mouse already. (I have a IIsi someone gave me awhile ago, and it's part of my home network. Nothing like Netscape 1.0.. :-) ) So, I don't have to buy anything to keep this guy working..

 

Also, there's a Mac game I love called Continuum. Kind of like Thrust from the C64, only different. :-) Great game. But it's old Mac game. In order to play it on my IIsi, I have to set it to B/W and 24 bit addressing and reboot. The set everything back and reboot when I'm done. But, it should run clean on this guy.

 

I'm leaning towards keeping it running, but I am still planning on a Macquarium...

 

I've seen alot that look cheap, but when they look good, it's very nice!!!

 

Besides, my fish is a Beta, and he's in a bowl that'd be about the same size anyway. And since he was in a dixie cup at the pet store, he thinks he's living large!! :-) :-)

 

desiv

[Jasoco]

You could at least part it out and sell the parts. If you decide you have to gut it.

 

If it were a Classic II, I'd buy the Logic Board. (Mine has a dead SCSI bus. Internal HD's don't work. External do though.)

 

So part it out and sell each piece on eBay.

[Susuwatari]

While we're discussing MacQuarium, can anyone give me pointer to convert the 20th Anniversary Mac into an aquarium? IIRC they used to cost $2000 new as LCD display were very expensive back then. Today, they are like the DeLorean of Macintosh, not many people like it because it is so lweird looking and imited in upgrade option but it has its own charm.

[Jasoco]

You turn a TAM into a MacQuarium, I will kick your ass.

[Atariboy]

People make old computer cases into homes for fish?

 

I'm confused. Any pictures of similar projects?

[Jasoco]

People make old computer cases into homes for fish?

 

I'm confused. Any pictures of similar projects?

http://www.applefritter.com/image/tid/114

[desiv]

People make old computer cases into homes for fish?

I'm confused. Any pictures of similar projects?

 

For those that recall, once screensavers started, the Fish Tank screensaver was one of the first for almost every platform! :-)

(I liked the Amiga fishtank screensaver I used to have. It had an IBM fish (fish dressed like Charlie Chaplin.. PC. Jr.. er. trust me..) with a speargun and it would shoot the Macintosh looking fish. :-) )

 

Anyway, once old dead Macs started popping up, someone got the idea to make the most authentic Fishtank screensaver around! :-) Classic Macs (all-in-one units) made the obvious choice.

 

On one of those links above, there a company that sells (sold? They're out) them, and their price is (was?) $130 for a Macquarium!!! ouch..

 

desiv

 

p.s. I finally found Dark Castle and tried to load it onto my Mac Classic. Nope.. Error about memory. Hmm.. I'm thinking I only have 2 MB. I try it on VMac, which emulates a 4 meg Mac Plus. Same error.

 

I try it on my IIsi. I have to go to 2 color, I try it, and it starts.. Crashes as I try to load the first room tho. (need to go 24-bit for that??)

 

I can't imagine Dark Castle needed that much memory.. Wasn't it an OLD Mac game?? One of the first? If that's the case, it should run on 128k, or at least 512k.

 

p.p.s. My Linux Appletalk server (where I copied almost all my IIsi software) hard drive is kinda dead. Looks (fingers crossed) like the Mac files are OK, but it won't boot as a server, so I can't test much on my IIsi now.. :-( I'll take it to work and try to rescue the data. Don't know if I can find a Linux distribution that will install on a 16Mb 486 anymore.. :-)

 

And don't ask. I'm a network Admin, of course I don't back up my own stuff!!! :-)

[Rockin' Kat]

While we're discussing MacQuarium, can anyone give me pointer to convert the 20th Anniversary Mac into an aquarium?  

 

You're not serious, right?

 

Personally I could never bring myself to gut a system that works fine for a MacQuarium... that and the fish would probably die because I'd forget to feed them regularly.

[desiv]

Quick Mac Dark Castle update. (Not that anyone was asking, but.. )

 

I kept reading that it worked on vMac, but I couldn't get it to work there.

 

Weird, so I figured I'd try to get it working there first..

 

FINALLY, I found a website that mentioned you have to have your System Disk and your Dark Castle Disk be the same disk!

 

So, I figured out how to gut a System 6.0.8 disk, copied the Dark Castle stuff onto it, and tried booting off of that disk.

 

That did it. vMac was playing Dark Castle!!

 

So I went to my real Mac, booted off of the disk and clicked.. Dark Castle!!! It worked!!!

 

And I died almost as quickly as I remembered I used to!!! :-)

 

Now, I have a Mac Classic with "The Hobbit" on the hard disk; and 2 floppies: "Arkanoid" and "Dark Castle"!!

 

There's no way I can gut this thing now!! :-) :-) I'll just keep looking for a dead one...

 

Thanx!!

 

desiv

[AtariDude]

I would love to have one of those 20th Anniversary Mac Editions. I got to actually play with one when one of the local user groups brought it to a computer show that I attended back in February (they also brought one of the original Macs - I think it was a Mac Plus. Both of them were still working ).

 

I would be amazed if you could turn that into a aquarium given how small it was. If it is still working, and you are no longer interested in keeping, send me a PM.

[ventrra]

I can probably go down to Goodwill Computerworks here in Austin and buy 20 Mac Classics in working condition.  They're not that hard to come by, and are now only of interest to Mac fanatics who want a pice of Mac history.  Of course, I should go look on eBay to see what they're selling for and if I should go buy 'em all up.  

 

..Al

 

A few years ago at U of M property disposition, they had shitloads of SE and Classic and most of them were selling for $1 each. A lot of them ended up in the dumpter unsold.

That's frustrating. The only place here that I've seen a Mac classic in person was in Middle School. The school had just bought 2 of them for the library computer lab. (This was when they were still NEW. (I know, I'm old..))

 

*Wonders idly if he can con a few friends going to Texas for vacation in a month or two into finding some while down there...*

[Jasoco]

A few years ago at U of M property disposition, they had shitloads of SE and Classic and most of them were selling for $1 each. A lot of them ended up in the dumpter unsold.

I would have bought all I could fit in my car, then come back for more. Stacked them on the porch or in the basement. Then sold them on eBay what I didn't want to keep.

 

Those old Macs have such style to them. I'm a particular fan to the SE's squared look.

 

I hope the ones in the dumpster got "Dived" by someone. I'd hate to think they were all destroyed. Especially since those things could still work well today. I know mine does.

[eldunko]

If I ever have to write an essay or something that requires alot of focus, a 68K Mac is a godsend. I can just sit at that computer for hours and work away.