[gfxgeek]

I'm picking up a Quadra 610 and an SE dualFloppy from a friend this weekend. Any tips on what I should do with them? They are stock, so I'll want to max out the RAM and anything else I can. He's throwing in an localtalk->ethernet adapter for the 610. Where can I find ram and upgrades, systems, and software for these old beasts? Any ideas on anything I can do with them?

[bluedog]

I have two of nearly the same. The 610 can run system 7.6 fine if you have enough ram, otherwise sys 7.1 would suffice for most things. The RAM in these is 72 pin SIMMs. You should still be able to find this stuff around (not EDO although it should work anyway). Many peripherals like printers still use this type of RAM. There are only two slots in my 605; I'm not sure if it will be the same as your 610, but for this vintage you MUST upgrade the RAM in PAIRS. You'll have two or four upgrade slots. If you have a spare HD that's scsi you could upgrade the HD (anything larger than 1GB should be larger than what's in it currently -- likely a 230MB or perhaps less).

The SE is pretty cool to have. It takes some RAM that you may not find easily (can't remember the exact pin number for it, but its likely around 30pin SIMMS). This will be tricky to come by, I don't know of anything that uses this style RAM anymore except those old machines. It should have 4 slots and you MUST upgrade them two at a time. The largest amount of RAM I think you can get in these is 1MB SIMMs for a max of 4MB in the machine. With that you 'can' run system 7 which I do, but you might like 6.08 better. Both are freely downloadable from the Apple website or other 'classic' or older mac sites.

The SE *should* also have a SCSI connector that isn't connected to anything on its motherboard. If you can crack open the case (ask a professional if you've never done this before with a Classic or SE mac. They are difficult and require long TORX head screwdrivers. If you can get in them, you could add an old scsi drive into that AND keep your two floppies if you don't mind just wedging the HD into an open cavity in the case. I've done that with my without incident for some time now. It BOOTS up wonderfully from the HD and has PLENTY of space on this 300MB drive because all the apps for these computers were usually much less than 1MB each.

You should be able to network BOTH of these via appletalk (using the old appletalk or localtalk connectors (called by both names by different people). Then you can put the localtalk->ethernet adaper and ACTUALLY get them both on the internet. This requires a third computer with a real ethernet connection and routing software so you may not want to fuss with that, but it is possible. It requires software routing and wrapping of TCPIP over appletalk in a format called MacIP. I've done this before, but these machines are really too slow for most web uses, but for email only they'd be fine.

Here's a few sites to visit on older macs: http://www.mac512.com/ http://www.jagshouse.com/ http://www.mac-group.org/

Enjoy your new, OLD macs!

[gfxgeek]

Originally posted by bluedog:
<STRONG>
You should be able to network BOTH of these via appletalk (using the old appletalk or localtalk connectors (called by both names by different people). Then you can put the localtalk-&gt;ethernet adaper and ACTUALLY get them both on the internet. This requires a third computer with a real ethernet connection and routing software so you may not want to fuss with that, but it is possible. It requires software routing and wrapping of TCPIP over appletalk in a format called MacIP. I've done this before, but these machines are really too slow for most web uses, but for email only they'd be fine.
</STRONG>

Well I currently have a g4 running osx.1 as a gateway router for the g4 and an iMac. Does you know if the MacIP wrapping would be possible in OSX.1?

[anthology123]

You can use the 610 and SE to play many legacy Mac games that will either not run or run too fast on a Powermac.

You can also run some perfectly useable software.

The SE can use: Word 5.1, Excel 4.0, Filemaker 2.0

The 610 can run Word 6, Excel 5, Filemaker 3, Netscape 3.x

The games that run better: Sky shadow, Crystal Quest, Fools Errand, Dark Castle, Dark Castle 2, Uninvited, Lost in Los Vegas, Leisure Suit Larry, Arkanoid and many others.

Also some old shareware for the SE:
http://homepage.mac.com/giantmike/old.html

There is a web site out there that has old MacOS that is no longer supported, sorry but the URL escapes me.

[malson]

Originally posted by anthology123:
<STRONG>The 610 can run Word 6, Excel 5, Filemaker 3, Netscape 3.x
</STRONG>

Man, I would love to see that poor 610 try to run Word 6. That's got to be about the worst software ever released. Stick with Word 5.1. You will be much happier.

[gfxgeek]

Hmm I found 3 sticks of MICRON SEMI. 4C1024DJ, 1 Mbit DRAM 30 pin, they have 9 units on each stick. I found them in a bag here ar work labelled, old mac parts. Any Idea if these are what I need for the SE?

[bluedog]

Originally posted by gfxgeek:
<STRONG>Hmm I found 3 sticks of MICRON SEMI. 4C1024DJ, 1 Mbit DRAM 30 pin, they have 9 units on each stick. I found them in a bag here ar work labelled, old mac parts. Any Idea if these are what I need for the SE?</STRONG>

That certainly sounds like the right style RAM. If you can open up the case, be careful with the video circuitry which was fragile and prone to damage. There were some joints that were weakly soldered and many had video go out. I believe it was a point at which it connects to the video circuit board on the back of the tube. It holds a great electric charge.

The motherboard should be able to slide out from underneath all the other components. Good luck and enjoy this hardware. Word5.1 will run great on that old machine, too.

[VRL]

Thought this might interest you
http://lightning.prohosting.com/~classicm/
http://lowendmac.com/early-macs.html

[gfxgeek]

Thanks Everyone! I haven't tried to install the extra RAM yet. The Quadra Has some issues that I have to look into. But anyway.. Any Idea How to Get this SE on an Ethernet LAN?