Table of Contents for this issue:
IIvx - ????????
SE/30 & CD-ROM
RE: Where can I find the Old System?
Re: 32-Bit Clean...etc.
Classic II Monitor
Classic II accelerators?
Re: Web Browser for 4MB b/w Macs?
Apple IIe
Re: Cache in Mac IIsi?
Re: Accelerators
Source of cheap 030 accelerator for LCII
MSIE- Don't inhale
SE and 10baseT?
LC550 with startup problems
Re: Great Book for Compact Mac Lovers
Re: Netscape and Mac Plus
Re: Hard Drives for LCII?
Re: Mac II random restarts
Re: Netscape and Mac Plus
Upgrade?

Hi everybody,

It's my first posting to this list and I'd appreciate some advice from you co-listers right off the bat.

I want to purchase a used IIvx to do digital audio production. So ...

1. How many NuBus slots does IIvx have?

2. How much memory (RAM & VRAM) does the model normally ship (oops! used to be shipped...)with and how much more SIMMS (DIPS? What size?) can it accomodate?

3. "Inside the Apple Macintosh" tells Mac II series has no internal video, that is, when you used to purchase one, you'd have to buy a needs-specific NuBus video board/monitor. Is it true with IIvx as well? The model I'm speaking about comes with a monitor. Does that mean that one NuBus slot is already occupied with a card?

4. What is your opinion about the model in general (I'd love to hear ANY)? I've had Color Classic and I know the new baby should have the same processor (twice clock speed ?), more expansion slots and a co-proc.

Thanks a lot

Dmitri

Dear Classic Macs:

My "trusty but dusty" SE/30 is currently running System 7.5.3 on 5 Mb of actual RAM (10 Mb through VM), MODE32 and a Quantum 365 Mb hard drive. I use a Prometheus 14.4 fax modem to connect to the Internet, and have been running Netscape Navigator 2.02 with little or no problem, thanks to a Micron Xceed 8-bit color card and a refurbished Apple 15" MS monitor. Planned upgrades include upgrading to either an 8 Mb or 16 Mb RAM configuration and a 28.8 or 33.6 modem.

This machine's primary duties have been PageMaker and FreeHand work, and is now being used as a Finale workstation by my wife, a professional classical musician.

I added an Apple 300e CD-ROM recently with mixed success. The '030 is too slow for most modern multimedia titles, which isn't a concern since I bought it mainly to have a CD drive because of the growing amount of software released on CD only (or with lots of freebies, demos, shareware, etc.).

At one point I had it working just fine, but then took it to work to install some new software upgrades on another Mac. Now it locks up my SE/30 whenever I access it.

The only thing that has changed is the SCSI ID number. I had to fiddle with the various extensions to get it working in the first place, and am back to square one apparently.

My question is: what is the best diagnostic tool to sort this out? I am considering either Conflict Catcher 3 or Now Startup Manager 7.0, but would love some concrete examples of how they work, or of other similar diagnostic tools.

BTW, I'm a computer software trainer and spend most of my time tweaking Win3.1/95 machines. I've gotten rusty at solving Mac problems because they so rarely occur!

You can email me if you have a specific suggestion for my situation. I'll watch the Classic Mac list for responses.

Thanks in advance,
Mike McNeil

Dear all

Original copies of the mag Develop from APDA had system software on the CD. Issue 7, I think, had disk images of all system software issued up until that time, but only the US versions. Back issues can be purchased from APDA. These have been a great source of stuff for all classic Macs, and even my Lisa.

Paul B Jones

Hi All- I have a Mac IIfx and have been trying to get 32 Bit addressing to work and have had nothing but problems. Whenever I boot with 32 Bit addressing enabled (running System 7.5.5 with 8M on board Ram and RamDoubler[both enabled and disabled]) I get some really wacky things happening. My desktop shifts to the left and downward (i.e. Happy Mac is in the lower left hand corner of the screen) and I lose about 2" of the right hand side of my screen (it is blank) & my mouse freezes, the keyboard works normally, but I am really limited in what I can do in this situation.
I have to zap the PRAM in order to get the system to operate normally (albeit back in 24 bit mode:((. I spent about 2 hours on the phone with Apple last week and they were no help at all...Does anyone have any suggestions, I would really appreciate some help, I need the extra RAM that would become available with RamDoubler with 32 bit addressing enabled, as it is I can only get 13M of RAM (in 24 bit mode) and I really need the 16M I would get with 32 bit addressing. I would appreciate any help at all, I have tried trashing my finder, general controls and desktop prefs and this has not helped me at all. HELP!

The IIFX is a 68020 processor and RAM Doubler wont run on anything less than 68030. If you want more ram you'll have to pull some of the 1MB SIMM and replace with 4MB.

Andy

Hi All,

Thanks to all of you for the info you have provided. I will bne making attempts to adjust the monitor before attempting more costly options. I failed to make clear that I would, if nbecessary, only replace the monitor with another 9" internal monitor. I have no interest in an external monitor or the like.,

Thanks to all who have offered the external options, but my 9" Mac is one I want to remain just that!

Al

As the discussion recently turned to some questions about accelerators, I'd like to know if anyone has come across any kind of accelerator(s) for the Classic II? This is a 16MHz '030 across a 16bit bus. Galaxy Hardware sells an FPU for it, but that's not what I understand an accelerator to be. Is there even a cache or something out there? Thanks.

I run Mac Web 1.00A3.2 on my Powerbook 100 with 4Mb, a 1-bit screen and sys 7.1. Performance is fair, and it is reasonably stable. I had some problems finding it, (it says on their WWW site that from now on it will only be available as part of a bigger solution). I searched with Hotbot, and dug up a copy on a Uni server in your mid west somewhere.

On the subject, if any one has any favourite old games that will run in black and white, I'm keen to hear.

Regards,

Michael Skeggs

I recently acquired, as a part of my early Apple/Mac collection, two Apple IIe. Does anyone know where I can obtain software to boot up. I have AppleWorks for the enhanced IIe. It does not work for these, I believe ones I just acquired or the pre-enhanced version.

bob_gilbert

I've got a Mac IIci at home and a Mac IIsi at....
I'm not sure if it has a cache card or not. I've opened it up and looked inside, but I'm not sure what I'm looking for. What does the cache card look like, and where does it plug in? Is there a software command that would tell me whether I've got a cache card or not? Thanks for your help!

Dave,

The IIci cache card plugs into the PDS slot which is located in the back right, next to the power supply.
on back left are three nubus slots then another slot that I don't know. then the PDS slot. The card is about 6" long and 3" high. If it's there you can't miss it.

Noel Gott

Hi:

Jon wrote:

I have given up trying to accelerate my LCII. I tried over and over again with the Speedster 040. At full speed, it ran fast enough, but only until the next crash. It crashed often, and when it did't crash, it froze.

(Thank you, MacMall, for having a good return policy.)

Has anyone had any good experiences with accelerators for 030 Macs?

I bought a Speedster 040 as well, and it took 2 weeks and alot of time, effort, and energy to install it without it crashing, freezing, etc. Changing system configuration, etc.

I must have gone through that manual several times before I finally got it installed. And tried the tech support for the Speedster people and finally got a reply.

It works beautifully now but I am petrified to try and put new software on the machine (LC II) because of extension conflicts.

I was told that accellerators often have compatibility problems and I see it. Also, it won't work with Ram Doubler.

Take care and chins up!

Tom Mabry

Hi again,

Someone reported getting a second hand 030 accelerator for the LCII (etc) for 64$USD. I am afraid that I couldn't tell who it was, but this person responded to my earlier post about the 10MB limit on the LCII (thank you, whoever you are) because the name and email address didn't appear in the moderated messages.

I am very interested to know the source of these 2nd hand upgrade cards in the US (I assume that the company will also handle export orders). I have also had an enquiry from another Classic Mac fan who is after the same info. Could the person who mentioned the 64$US accelerator please post the details again?

Thanks,

Steve Smith

Just in case you were wondering, despite what the documentation says, MS Internet Explorer 3 does run on an LC (docs say requires '030). This is good news since my LC has only 6MB; forget Netscape 3!

Netscape Navigator 3 (current version downloaded 2 days ago) runs acceptably on my 6Mb Color Classic (System 7.5.5) with VM enabled. I anticipate it will run even more acceptably when I get my 33MHz 68030 accelerator. So why run anything less than the best? And why support the hegemony? A copy of MSIE installed is a Willydream come true.

hi
i'm new to the group, so please forgive me for asking a question that might have been discussed over and over again...
i just bought a 10basetwo. is there any way to get it to work on a 10baset network? are there any 10baseT cards for a se out there?

thanx in advance

mike

I have an LC550 a year and a half old that almost from the beginning has had death chimes on startup--but only about once a month. Not wanting to give up the machine for a month so that the service place could reproduce the problem, I let the warranty expire, and put up with the occasional inconvenience.

Recently, though, I have had other problems on startup. Sometimes the hard disk clicks a few times and then the machine just sits there; often it starts, but without the initial chime. Rarely is the startup normal. Apple suggested adding memory; I now have 12MB, but no change in startup behavior.

A service place suggested replacing the battery ($70). Is this likely to help? Anyone have any other suggestions about what needs to be done? I'd prefer not to run up service charges and shop time while someone tries fix after fix that doesn't work.

Meanwhile, I just leave it on. It works just fine.

I'd like to second that recommendation for Larry Pina's "Mac Classic & SE Repair and Upgrade Secrets". You can find out more about the book at

http://www.peachpit.com/peachpit/titles/catalog/48431.html

There is another book out that covers newer machines called "MacWEEK Upgrading and Repairing Your Mac" from Hayden Books, at

http://www.mcp.com/37895175834755/cgi-bin/bag?isbn=1-56830-249-5&last;=/hayden

Some good FAQs on Mac hardware can be found at

http://zeppo.cnet.com/Resources/Tech/Mac.faqs/Hardware/

http://www.macfaq.com/hardwarefaq.html

Gary Steiner

To clarify the Netscape and Mac Plus discussion, Netscape requires at least an 020 processor. The Classic and Plus have the 68000 and the Classic II has the 68020.

No. No. No! Netscape requires Color QuickDraw! Even if you have an SE with one of those 68020 or 68030 acellerator cards, you won't be able to run Netscape.

It isn't the processor that is required, it is the ROMed software. You just typically find Color Quickdraw with a 68020 or better processor. Apple never released Color QuickDraw for 68000-based Macs.

Netscape is written using PowerPlant, which is compiled for 68020 or better and requires Color QuickDraw. Any application written using PowerPlant will have similar requirements.

All 3.5" half-height drives will fit into a LCII. Quantum does not recommend using their higher-capacity and higher-speed drives in this machine because of it's wimpy power supply, but I have put in 700M and 1G drives, and have never had a problem.

My beloved Mac II is currently not in use because about a month ago, it began to randomly restart, just as if I had selected Restart from the Special menu (chimes and all). I'd really, really like to put this venerable machine back in use and restore my bragging rights, as I bought it new in '87 and this is the first problem I've had with it. Power supply? Ghosts? Any ideas welcomed! Would the lithium battery going dead perhaps cause this? It doesn't seem to be heat related.

I would check the power supply. I have seen several Mac II's that have had fractured solder joints in the power supply. USE CAUTION. High voltage is present in the power supply for some time after the power is turned off.

In regard to the post of:

2. Netscape won't run on monochrome Macs.
To clarify the Netscape and Mac Plus discussion, Netscape requires at least an 020 processor. The Classic and Plus have the 68000 and the Classic II has the 68020. Always check the system requirements first before installing any software.

This is a mistake. I own a Classic II and according to the Macintosh Bible, it has a 68030 processor, not a 68020.

I'm running an accellerated (25%) LCII with 8 native megs of ram with Ram Doubler 1.0, a quality 28.8 modem, two external HDs with about 500 mgs, and an Image Writer II. [my pages cost less than a penny, including ribbon, vs. the 4 or 5 cents with the newer printers]

My system is 7.1. I use the rig mostly with MS Word 5.1, Netscape 2.0, and Eudora for eMail.

I contend that...given the limitations of standard telephone connection...this creaky setup lets me cook on the web almost as fast as the newer rigs that cost about tenfold more.

Of course after dowloading, my images don't come upon the screen nearly as fast and I don't even think of playing with Quicktime movies and VR, but that seems to be the only limitation.

Until I hook up via satellite, I have no plans to upgrade.

If I am not living in a fool's paradise, it would seem that people who are holding off getting into the game because of the cost are missing the boat if they don't consider an inexpensive classic for the core of their system.

Is there something I'm missing here?