It’s been a while since I last posted anything on here…
Here’s another tech post for you:
Recently, I have added a nice vintage computer to my set of modern devices.
I introduce to you the Macintosh Plus. Mine was specifically manufactured
circa 1987.
This Mac Plus includes the following specs:
8MHz Motorola 68000 32-bit CPU
1MB of SIMM RAM (Upgradable to 4MB)
800kb Dual Head Floppy Disk (unfortunately is currently broken)
7″ Monochrome CRT Display
Original Mac Plus Keyboard with Number Pad
Original Mac Plus Mouse M0100
No hard drive. Up until the Mac SE, these computers didn’t come with a hard
drive standard and had to run everything, including the OS, on floppy disks.
You first loaded the system floppy to startup the computer, then ejected
the system disk to load your software of choice. This meant you then
swapped back and forth between the sofware disk and the system disk. For
example, running System 6.0.8 and MacPaint required swapping floppies at
least 6 times before you could use MacPaint! Talk about dedication.
I found this particular computer on eBay and got it including keyboard and
mouse for just over $100. Included was also the original box it came in,
although the user maunals and origianl diskettes are missing. The unit
itself is in pretty good condition; not too much dust on the inside and only
minor yellowing on the outside. I took some water / isopropyl alcohol
mixture and wiped down the case, keyboard, and mouse. The mouse I had to
clean more extensively (Remember cleaning mechanical mice a decade
ago?)
In order to open the case, you needed to have an extended Torx 15 bit that
was at least 5″-6″ long to open two hard-to-reach screws. Yes, even back
then, Apple Computers used proprietary tools to open up thier computers.
Once inside, the case splits into two major parts. The front houses all the
components, including logic board, display, and power supply. The back
contains vent openings on the top, the handle, and protects the front
portion of the computer. Interestingly, inside the back cover contains the
engraved signatures of the original Macintosh design team. Steve Job’s
name can faintly be seen near the center.
I was able to dust out the logic board and power supply and also check the
connections and components of the two. The power supply was in excellent
condition and had no leaking capacitors or scorch marks. The logic board
was also in excellent condition, coated with only a slight layer of dust.
Unfortunately, the floppy drive wasn’t in good shape, making a whining
noise upon starting up the computer. Opening up the floppy drive revealed
that one of the gears for the eject mechanism was flaking and falling
apart. Luckily, there’s a 3D printed replacement that is readilly available
from a seller on eBay. As soon as that gear comes in, the floppy drive should
be operational. I was also able to replace the PRAM battery. The PRAM is in
charge of saving the date, time, sound, and mouse speed settings whenever
the computer is turned off.
So you may ask, how was I able to test anything and run programs with a
broken drive? Some quick Google-fu revealed that there is an emulation
board available that interfaces your modern day Micro SD Card to the
external floppy drive port on the back of the Mac Plus.
This device is sold from the site bigmessowires.com and was a bit pricey
(around a hundred dollars for the 2nd revision board). Although pricey, it’s
a much better solution then trying to find the original HD20 or third party
external hard drive. Using this device, I am able to first test and run
programs for the Mac Plus on the Mini vMac emulator on a modern PC, then
load the files onto the Micro SD Card.
So far I’ve loaded and ran some noteworthy games and productivity
software on the Mac Plus. The following list are some of my favorite
software titles:
MacPaint and MacWrite (the latter of which I am using version 2.20 to
write this blog post)
Microsoft Word 4.0, PowerPoint 1.0, ClarisWorks
Dark Castle, Star Wars, Grand Prix, Shufflepuck Cafe, Through the Looking
Glass, and of course the venerable Oregon Trail for Macintosh
After Dark 2.0 Screensaver Package (my favorite is the old Flying Toasters
screensaver)
The MacinTalk DA Package, a simple text-to-speech program which was
revolutionary at the time (the super early precursor to Siri)
Overall, my experience using the Mac Plus was pretty profound. Although
back then the first Macintosh computers were grossly under-powered
compared to the other computers out there, its ease of use and
graphics-based interface sought some traction through the emergence of
desktop publishing and in the office.
My only plans in the near future are to hopefully get the floppy drive up and
running and attempt to fix and repair components as they fail, especially
some of the capacitors and the flyback transformer on the power supply.
Knocking on wood, this vintage piece of hardware will hopefully be worth a
lot more in the next few decades…
Greg's Logbook 