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Where Old Macs Go To Thrive

Posted by pudge on from the mmmmmoney dept.

foghorn666 writes "Still have an old all-in-one Mac buried in your basement somewhere? Wired reports that Japanese collectors are paying a premium for the 'toasters,' including $500 for a HD-less Mac SE and $1000 for a used Newton."

7 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. OSX on a Mac SE 30 by Dokushoka · · Score: 2, Interesting

    THe real story here is how the hell they got OSX to run on that SE 30. http://www.wired.com/news/gallery/0,2072,51231-339 5~3394,00.html

    1. Re:OSX on a Mac SE 30 by questionlp · · Score: 2, Interesting
      It looks like someone took a motherboard from either an iMac (the iWhack version, not the iLamp) or an iBook, took the original monitor and wired it to the video card... as for the floppy, it's probably a USB floppy drive that was carefully mounted.

      I just hope they added FireWire ports to add a DVD-R drive or something. That would be a nice and small DVD burning machine or heck, even a web server.

  2. I was thinking of keeping an unopened iPod box by dubstop · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The other day, it occurred to me that in a few years time, my little 5GB iPod might be worth a lot of money to a collector. Logically following on from this, I wondered whether it might be worthwhile buying another iPod and not even breaking the seal on the box. Just keep it in mint condition.

  3. Old macs don't die... by dockthepod · · Score: 4, Interesting
    There is a certain charm that those old, all-in-one macs have. Would you beleive that I actually use one fairly regularly?

    I initially picked up my 8mhz, 1-bit display powerhouse down at the local goodwill as a kind of novelty. I thought it might be cool to bring back childhood memories. When I got it home and turned it on, the happy little mac face on the 9" black and white display was somehow pleasing. I got to rummaging around and the thing had a whole slew of software on it. Word, Pagemaker, Eudora... you name it. The version of word that shipped back then is sweet (can't remember the version number).

    And then I found the games. The games they made back then were perfect. Simple, fun, and addicting. If you have never played the game Crystal Quest, you have not lived.

    Eventually I became obsessed with getting the thing on the internet. I searched on e-bay for a network card that would work with the thing (well... actually i needed an external scsi box). I finally found one that would work, but the next day at work, i stumbled acroos the same box in storage. Some hours later, the mac classic was on net! Problem is, only mosaic www 1 ran on the thing (it runs system 6), and it's unusably unstable. So my good friend lynx came to rescue. I simply telnet to my linux box (sorry, no ssh for this puppy) and surf away. I actually use it to code on when I'm getting really distracted by other more full-featured computers.

    At any rate, I highly suggest even the most hardened anti-apple among you to pick up a mac classic, an SE/30, or any of the compact models and see what you can do with it.

    wiki = _[^o^]_
  4. Re:Dumpster diving? SCHOOLS! SCHOOLS! SCHOOLS! by GreenHell · · Score: 3, Interesting

    we actually also just found 2 Mac 1024s in the trash. have now powered them up yet, but basically it's the second Mac ever made (first being the 512k).

    BZZZZZT! Wrong! :)

    The first Mac ever made was the Mac 128k, the Mac 512k, or 'Fat Mac' was the second. I think what you probably got is a Mac Plus, (which is the third Mac made) as tons of them were sold to educational institutions as the Mac ED.

    --
    "I won't mod you down - I feel the need to call you a twit explicitly, rather than by implication."
  5. I used to work in Akihabara.... by ryochiji · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I used to work at a used Mac shop in Akihabara (the famed "Electric Town" in Tokyo), and we got some strange requests.

    Customers would walk in asking if we had part# 20980928-2398T (or something like it) which would turn out to be the tiniest little plastic part in a Rev A PowerMac 7100 (or some other small unimportant looking part), which the guy would be willing to pay 1000 yen for (and then would go on talking about why it's so special, as opposed to the 20980928-2398Q).
    Or people would come looking for a "rare" Apple ADB mouse which was manufactured at a specific plant (and after digging through a box full of mice, inform us, with obvious disappointment, that none of the 50 or so mice we had were from that particular factory.

    Personally, I found it all quite comical... and scary, at times.

    --

    ---
    Open Source Shirts
    1. Re:I used to work in Akihabara.... by KH · · Score: 2, Interesting

      OK, I am a Japanese, so those things don't sound strange.

      I can't comment on that PMac 7100 part episode, but I remember the mouse deal.

      There were three or four kinds of mice, apparently for those square ADB mouse, respectively manufactured in Taiwan, Singapore, and Ireland, oh and perhaps Mexico. IIRC Irish mice had the best reputation while Taiwanese the worst and considered rare. The major difference between the Taiwanese (or Singaporish(sp?)) and the rest was that the ball inside the mouse. They apparently didn't have the metal inside the rubber, therefore, one could not glide the mouse using its mass as momentum. And there was a difference between the button touch. Simply put, some mice were easier to use and felt classy.

      I remember similar obsession with keyboards. We, the Japanese loved the original Mac Keyboard. After Apple Keyboard II came around, people were complaining how horrible they feels, the wrong position for the control key, etc. Finding the original Apple Keyboard was like treasure hunting. Naturally people who had the keyboard almost never abondoned. Even after purchasing new machines, they kept using the keyboard. Remember that you had to buy a keyboard when you bought a Mac? The mouse came with the machine but not the keyboard!

      One time, when I was at PENN, I poured OJ or coffee on my Saratoga keyboard and visited computer store in the bookstore wondering if they could fix. (After washing thoroughly, some keys were still stuck.) The guy there said that they can't and offered me to pick up one of old keyboards lying around. I found the original Apple Keyboard and jumped on it, hiding my excitement for getting the much favored keyboard for free. I remember those keyboards were sold for like 30,000 yen at some point in Akihabara.

      Also, on one morning in Philadelphia, I saw a dumpster full of old Macs, IIs, IIfxs, Radius monitors, etc. I really felt like picking up as many things as possible, but I was about to move and decided not to. In the afternoon of the same day, the dumpster was gone. I still regret that I didn't pick up the IIfxes a bit.

      Oh, but my SE30 should still be in my parents house. I am dreaming of firing up one day when I get back to Japan!

      So, the episodes you mentioned sound not special at all to me.

      We, the Japanese, do have strong affection with ``things.'' This vintage mac things are one of the revelations(?) of the culture.

      The japanese have a word that could be translated as ``obsession'' but without a negative connatation, and a bit milder sense. G-Shocks, Air Max, Vintage Levi's--those markets were created by the Japanese.