So I'm over a friend's house, checking out his VR setup, when his system simply refuses to work long enough for me to play any of his new VR games from Steam. While he's troubleshooting the issue, I bring up the topic of a computer I found and am thinking of buying -- an old TRS-80 model 4. He asks why would I want to buy a 30 year old computer? So I tell him that it's sort of like antique collecting or old car restoration. Instead of needing a garage to house them, though, your vintage computers would fit in your bedroom or living room in a display case. Much more than simply old computers, they are parts of history, and if they still work, you can show people what it was like back in the olden days, when there was no mouse, and you had to type complicated commands like
So during this conversation, he tells me, "So would you be interested in an old Mac. I'll give it to you for exactly what I paid for it."
"What did you pay?", I asked.
"Twenty bucks." was the reply. He told me that he got it for a small project that involved getting a friend's files copied from one old original mac to his PC, and that the LC was a cheap and quick way to do it. The price was right, also. He said it comes with the 12" color monitor, a Stylewriter printer, and a couple of boxes full of discs that, the last time he used it, worked fine.
I had seen this computer sitting on his bookshelf several times before, and he asked me several times before if I was interested, but this was the first time I actually had the interest. So we hopped into my car, drove to an ATM, and I gave him $40, because it was still a steal at that price.
When i got it home, I was amazed. It's almost as if it were never really used.
When I got it home, I plugged it in, and turned it on. The 40MB hard drive was noisy, but that's sort of expected for a 25-year-old computer. The fact that it still spun up was amazing enough. Below are images of the exterior and interior. I took out the hard drive and the floppy drive to show how shiny and clean everything was.
Thankfully, the thing was never owned by a smoker. It came in the original boxes, too, with the address of the single previous owner on it, complete with her mailing address, because it was shipped to her home. There was just a tinge of yellowing on the keyboard and mouse, from age. I quickly wiped them down with peroxide, and the original light grey came back. The mouse just had a tiny amount of dust inside.
The Macintosh LC, along with all of the Macintosh 2 computers, like the 2, 2X, 2C, 2CX, 2Ci, LC, LC2, LC3, and others, was built with the technician in mind. Only one screw on the back was needed to keep the case on. And most people left it off. The Case lid snapped into place, and stayed on just fine, without a screw. Even better, all the components in the case simply snapped out of their places. In seconds, you could remove and replace a bad floppy drive, hard disc, or power supply. There were very few PC-clone cases that were put together with such forward-thinking conveniences in them. Even today, no PC manufacturers make their cases so that you can snap everything into place. You still need a pile of screws which can get lost, fall into the case and be difficult to remove, as well as adapters for certain components.
The old Macs were a technician's dream come true. You could have any problem fixed in a few minutes, with no screws.
So here is what I saw when turning it on:
It's alive!
System 7.1
10 MB of RAM
40MB Hard drive (Yeah, not GB!)
All in all, hardly any restoration was required. Just a little blown air for a tiny amount of dust, and some hydrogen peroxide to whiten the plastic parts, mostly just the keyboard and mouse. The monitor is still as sharp as it was when it was new. The Software works, but I'll be getting some disk tools to put a fresh new OS on it, as it would be from the factory. The first entry into my vintage computer collection is going to be useful in getting any original Macintosh running, as I can make copies of the system 6 discs, or even better, the original 5.4 system that shipped with the first Macintosh in 1984.
Since I currently have no discs with Macintosh software (I forgot to pick them up when my friend and I did the transaction, Doh!), I'll have to wait for that. Once I get the discs, I'll see if I can put together a 720K disc to test my first original Mac. I still have the T-handle Hex wrench and case spreader used to open them.
ADDENDUM 19-FEB-2018 -- 2 things I didn't mention before. The clock battery and the speaker did not work. I located a source of LC Batteries, and bought a pack of 3 for $5. The Mac now retains all the settings for color, date, and time.
The other issue I found was the speaker was really low -- almost inaudible, even when the settings are cranked up to the loudest. I located a replacement speaker at You Do It Electronics, desoldered the original Mac speaker, and re-soldered the wires to the new one. Problem solved.
I have the software that I left at my friend's house, and there are no Macintosh System discs among them. Fortunately, I think I can find some online somewhere. However, most of the dics are readable, and the software is intact. I should be able to get moving on getting more stuff together soon.
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