[sweets]

A friend gave me several Old Macs to tinker with. Some of them have no on/off buttons. Do they operate via a remote. Mac Performa 6400 & others. Can I buy a universal remote or should i just go in there and cross wires?

[Big Mac]

Macs were traditionally turned on through the keyboard triangle power button. But are you sure there aren't small round power-on buttons on the back of the computers in question?

[sweets]

Yes, I checked thoroughly & the Macs in question only have a small amber LCD light on the front panel, nothing to push or turn, like something a remote would trigger. Being totally unfamiliar with Macs I'm at a loss.

[red rocket]

Do you have any of the original keyboards? The traditional method for turning on/off oldschool Macs is via the ADB keyboard.

[sweets]

Does the key you're pointing to above have a diagram of a triangle tipped to one side? Is that the one that powers up the computer? I don't have the Mac hooked up but I did get a look at the keyboard.
Mac is so different from Microsoft Windows computers. I didn't even realize the mouse gets connected underneath the keyboard & not the back of the computer. Are these old units worth keeping, Performa 6400 & 7200? I do have plenty of old software.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by sweets 

Mac is so different from Microsoft Windows computers. I didn't even realize the mouse gets connected underneath the keyboard & not the back of the computer. Are these old units worth keeping, Performa 6400 & 7200? I do have plenty of old software.

The older Macs were a little weird. The 7200 does have a manual power button on the lower left hand corner as seen here (the little circle on the very bottom panel on the left):



You might have to press it pretty hard and hold it in for a second. The manual buttons were a little sticky. The 6400 should have a power button on the rear of the computer at the top. It should look like a little tab with a bump on the end.

You could use them for a number of things, including a web server. There're free DNS and HTTP programs for the older Macs. You could also use them for file storage if you stick a 10/100 adapter in there and a good sized HDD. Might be a little pokey, though.

Keep in mind that you'll need ADB keyboard for it to power the computer on via the keyboard. They're too old to work with a USB power button on the newer keyboards. Basically, if theMac keyboard is beige, it should be ADB.

I use my old Mac to backup my vintage software and play some of my vintage games.

[red rocket]

Originally Posted by sweets

Does the key you're pointing to above have a diagram of a triangle tipped to one side? Is that the one that powers up the computer?

Yes, and yes.

Also, besides seconding everything olePigeon wrote, I'd like to add that, since you can get all sorts of originally very expensive SCSI peripherals for next to nothing nowadays, these old Macs make for excellent file/scan/video/etc servers. I managed to buy a 7500/100 some time ago for around $30, it came complete with a professional scanner that cost $1500 when it came out, a 20" Sony monitor, external drives, CD burners, G3 upgrade and a PCI USB card, amongst other things. I use the machine for scanning, digitising analogue video, burning CDs, as well as Photoshop, gaming (there were quite a few fun games for the classic Mac OS), and syncing my old Newton.