Table of Contents for this issue:

Availability of Older Mac Games
Zip disks are *not* a replacement for a HD...
External Full Page Display on Mac SE?
All You Need to Know on System 7.1 Update 3
Addendum to previous message
2.5" SCSI HD pinout/LaserWriter cart weight
17-inch CTX Monitors and the SE/30
Re: Accelerating a Mac LC
When an HQX File Isn't
Pluses and Zip Drives
Mac Modem Speeds
HD Formatters and the Plus
SE/30 Video Problems
Software Handshaking and Hunting Easter Eggs
30-pin SIMM Install
Archiving Early Software

[MODERATOR'S NOTE: Subject fields may be changed for clarity, and will
match with the post to facilitate text search features.]

Okay, so I've ordered the SE/30 for my girlfriend's birthday, I've got all
the web sites/ftp servers you guys sent me, I'm all set to get the thing on
the Internet when it arrives next Wednesday.

Now, onto more selfish questions: when I was in Jr. High, a friend of mine
had a Mac (of which I was intensely jealous) and I have always remembered 2
things about it: 1) The awesome rock version of Flight of the Valkyrie that
was the theme music for Falcon, 2) A "game" called Jam Session in which,
amongst other things, you could make chickens and other musical instruments
(!) make noises with an animated picture of a band on the screen...

I've seen a lot of links for share/freeware games for the Mac, but haven't
found a site for these yet... is the availability of old software just not
as great as it is for, say, the Commodore 64? I'd really appreciate any
links to the above games or any other sources for commercial-type software
of the original SE era.

Thanks again, everybody's been great. :)

Giles

From: NeonGooch
Date: Sun, 30 Mar 1997 03:42:18 -0500 (EST)
To: classic-post@hitznet.com
Subject: MacPlus vs Zip drive

I understand that the Plus is not generally able to boot from a Zip drive. I
was wondering, however, if it is possible to do just that. My idea would be
to remove the zip tools disks without installing any of its software and
installing a blank disk. Then to restart with that blank disk in, and format
with silverlining software. I understand it would kill the removable benefits
but would get me an inexpensive and reliable (new) external hard drive. It
would also travel well to another Mac in the future. If this won't work is
there another way? BTW, I run system 6.0.7, currently on a 50meg HD after the
80meg gave up the ghost (shake to start).

NeonGooch,

I have found out the hard way that a Zip disk is no substitute for a HD.
The Zip is like a glorified floppy...however, there is no way to rebuild
the desktop like you can with a floppy. I ruined a whole bunch of files by
using a Zip disk as a HD...destroyed the resource fork on some of them.

HDs are cheap nowadays...about the same price as a Zip drive.

Take care,
--.\\<-H--
Michelle Klein-Hass: Web Goddess/Animation Nerd/Troublemaker

I would like to increase the screen "real estate" on my Macintosh SE.
Does anybody know of a source for a cheap, external full page display w/
card?

Thanks,
Matthew

Dear Classic Mac,
Here are a few observations from recent lists:
i) 7.1.1-7.1.2 System Update 3.0;
Herewith the Read Me file.

[MODERATOR'S NOTE: This README is a little too long to stick in the Digest
without some torn hair or gnashed teeth. Thus, if you are interested in a
copy of the README for System 7.1 update 3, please send an e-mail to
Classics Post and in the SUBJECT area put "System 7.1 update 3 snippet". I
will then send out individual article copies directly to you.]

Sorry,
I forgot to send the 1.44 Mb 7.1 System Update 3.0 Read Me, I only
gave you the 800 kb one for the Plus, SE and II. Herewith find attached the
high density version for all the others.

Yes, 7.1.2 was for early Power Macs, the 6100/7100/8100 series were
the first to be issued with it in March 1994 and the PPC upgrade card for
my Quadra 650 came with 7.1.2.

All the best, sorry for the extra Read Me, I'll send it as an attachment Mr
Moderator and you can decide whether to put it in the list as it is
approximately 4 pages long.

Be seeing you, PA-S.

[MODERATOR'S NOTE: I'll send you a copy of this README too if you follow
the instructions printed in the above post. This too was just a tad too big
to include in the Digest itself.]

Hello,

Would any of you know what the pinout of 2.5" SCSI hard disks is?

I would like to build an adapter so I can use my old PowerBook 80Meg HD
with my Mac Plus....

Also, does anyone can tell me what the weight of an empty (and full, if
you know..) LaserWriter cartridge is? I'm trying to figure how much life
there's left in the cartridge I got with my LW...

Thanks,

Pierre Olivier

I recently bought a demo 17" CTX monitor to use with my Performa 460
(68030/33MHz). I acquired the video cable adaptor for the Mac from CTX. When
I plug it in nothing happens, the screen is black. I have tried using various
settings on the monitor panel before I remove the original 13" Apple monitor
and attach the 17" CTX.

I plugged the 17" CTX into the Xceed card on my SE/30 and it works perfectly.
The 13" Apple monitor was supposed to go on the SE/30, does anyone have a
suggestion on how to get the 17" CTX started up on the Performa?

David Tyler

Oscar wrote:

I have a Mac LC with 10 MB RAM, 16 MHz FPU, 40 MB internal HD, 270 MB
external HD, 14.4 kbps external modem. I would like to get some speed in
it. So, has anyone an opinion (or personal experience) ...

Oscar

Your LC speed is limited by that 16Mhz bus bar. I just traded up from my
old accellerated (25%) LCII to a Performa 475, 50/25Mhz, 20 megs native
memory, 240 meg internal HD, extended keyboard and mouse.

For all this I paid $491, including shipping. I can now sell the old LCII
rig for about $300 locally, so I'm figuring a cost of about $200 for the
whole upgrade.

The new box is many times faster than the old LCII and makes working the
web a joy. With deals like this available, does it really make sense to
flog your old Mac?

I got the deal from Computer Performance Services in Colorado and am
impressed with the prices and service. If you are interested, the web
address is: http://home.earthlink.net/~cpsmac/

(I have no connection with CPS, other than being a delighted customer.)

Dick Johnson

Hello,

I was wondering what you use to prepare your Mac Shareware files for
distributing them over the Internet. I downloaded almost every file you had
(they look like fun), but neither StuffIt Expander nor BinHex 5.0 had any
luck in expanding them. I have never had any success with straight-up .SIT
files on the Internet, and the only files I can use are Bin-Hexed (.HQX).
Do you Bin-Hex them at all? Do you have any suggestions as far as what I
can do to make them work?

The reason that BinHexing is so critical (at least, to me) is that binary
files like .SIT files don't usually transfer well, and this problem becomes
even greater when I surf for files for my Mac SE--I have to use my Windoze
machine, which recognizes HQX files fine, but can't do anything with regular
files. I then have to use Executor, a Mac OS emulator for the IBM, which
allows me to 1) use StuffIt Expander to decode and expand the files, and
then 2) transfer these files to a Mac-formatted disk, which then goes 3) into my SE.
Anyhow, I was just curious what format they were in, since I have a ton of
files that I can't get anything to read.

Thanks for your help (and cool page, BTW),

Nathan Marler

I have heard this from several people and I have no idea why. I have had no
trouble whatsoever d/ling them to my drive. They are all .sit.hqx although
I didn't binhex them I just put the .hqx at the end. Works great for me!

Some people have d/l them from an ISDN line to eliminate the prob.

I don't know what to tell you.

JAG
http://www.eden.com/~arena/arena.html

[MODERATOR'S NOTE: Just putting .hqx at the end does not make an .hqx file,
just as putting .sit does not instantly make a compressed archive. .HQX
signifies that a file has been "Bin-Hexed," changing the binary stuff that
is Mac-proprietary to text stuff that all computers should be able to read.
That is why my Windoze goes crazy when I try to download stuff from your
page for my SE that _says_ ".hqx" but _means_ something entirely different.
This is also why, then, that StuffIt has no clue as to what to do.
Basically, people with Macs surfing the web might be able to get some of
your files, but others will not work even for them; their
decoding/decompression program will expect one thing when it sees the .hqx
extension but will actually get something else. People without Macs will
find your files unusable (this is not as ridiculous as it sounds; I use my
IBM to get Mac files and then use Executor, a Mac emulator, to run them or
transfer them to Mac disks for my SE). So, if you are going to continue to
offer your files (which are neat, BTW) on the Internet in what is really a
NORMAL form (not BinHex'ed), then please remove the .hqx extension to avoid
confusion. Don't name files something they aren't.]

I understand that the Plus is not generally able to boot from a Zip drive. I
was wondering, however, if it is possible to do just that. My idea would be
to remove the zip tools disks without installing any of its software and
installing a blank disk. Then to restart with that blank disk in, and format
with silverlining software. I understand it would kill the removable benefits
but would get me an inexpensive and reliable (new) external hard drive. It
would also travel well to another Mac in the future. If this won't work is
there another way? BTW, I run system 6.0.7, currently on a 50meg HD after the
80meg gave up the ghost (shake to start).

Thanx - NeonGooch

You can get 80-100 meg drives for about $40-60 these days.Most (all?)
Pluses will not boot off a ZIp. I think because the ROMs don't allow it.

JAG
http://www.eden.com/~arena/arena.html

Older Macs CAN *USE* modems up to 33.6k (and possibly the new 56k modems; I
see no reason why not).

What they cannot do is process the incoming data at a rate comparable to the
modem's rate.

This is a limitation of the speed of the rest of the hardware, and NOT of the
serial ports themselves. Older Mac serial ports can run at 57600 bps or
greater (depending on how they are clocked).

Regards,

Bob Eye

In terms of modems, I read out of copy of "MacAddict" that some of the
older Macs (like the Mac II) cannot run a modem speed passed 9600 Baud.
Keep that in mind when doing your buying. You may save a few $$$.

Umm, I'm running 19.2k on my Mac II. What am I doing wrong? ;-)

I always thought that any SCSI disk can be attached to any mac without
problems but there seems to be some limitations, at least concerning
the Plus.

Are other formatters like this?

APS Power Tools 2.8.2:

As shipped, the driver installed on your APS drive will not permit the
drive to be booted on a Mac Plus. The driver is too large to load into
the Plus's memory.

APT 2.8.2 automatically senses the environment in which it is running.
If it finds that it is running on a Mac Plus, it wll install version
5.3 of the NS-SCSI driver, which is fully compatible with the Mac Plus
and other Mac models; version 5.3, however, does NOT support SCSI
Manager 4.3.

If the drive is connected to a Macintosh other than the Mac Plus, and
you want to format it for compatibility with the Plus, HOLD DOWN THE
SHIFT KEY and click the button "Auto Setup".

If the drive is connected to a Macintosh other than the Mac Plus, and
you want to retrograde it for compatibility with the Mac Plus, do NOT
turn on the drive. Boot your Mac from another hard drive or from a
bootable APT disk. Launch APT 2.8.2, turn on the target drive, and
click the button "ID Search" when the main window appears. Select the
SCSI ID of the target drive and click the "Install" button. You will
be asked to select an icon to be used for the drive when it appears on
your Mac's Desktop. Once you have selected the icon, HOLD DOWN THE
SHIFT KEY and click the "OK" button. Your Macintosh will beep,
indicating it is installing version 5.3 of the driver and retrograding
the driver partition.

--
Matti Haveri
<http://www.walli.uwasa.fi/~mhaveri/>

I am having some problems with my SE/30's display. It is ever-so-slightly
out of focus around the edges of the screen. The central region of the crt
seems in focus. I have tried adjusting the focus with the control located
on the analog board but it does not seem to affect anything. Has anyone
any idea of what might be wrong?

Sincerely,
Charles Thompson

From: sdropkin
Subject: Re: Classic II and DeskWriter
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 97 04:59:53 -0600
To: "Classic Posts" <classic-post@hitznet.com>,

I wonder if you might be able to help me help my cousin with his classic II
and an original Deskwriter printer. Basically it will print a page and a
bit but then spits out this error message:

"Datacomm buffer overrun - no DTR handshaking."

We've tried Appletalk on / off, reinstalling printer and system software,
rebuilding desktop, checked with Norton Utitlies etc.. all to no avail.

I suspect the problem might be to do with the printer driver and system
7.1; the manual that came with the printer says nothing about system 7, so
I assume it predates it.

You may have a faulty cable. Or you may have to switch the printer from
Hardware Handshake to Software Handshake, possibly a switch setting in
the printer.

PBJ

From: Nathan Marler
Subject: What signatures??
Date: Wed, 26 Mar 97 03:02:34
To: "Classic Posts" <classic-post@hitznet.com>,

Okay, SE owners. You all _say_ there are signatures on the inside of the
case or the front cover. Where? I've seen wax rubbings of them before, but
they were from the BACK of the case. My circa 1988 SE has no such goodies
that I can see. Am I just not special, or just not looking? ;-)

Thanks for taking the time to answer my little bit of inanity,

Nathan Marler

The SE had the Easter Egg in the ROMs, not signatures. The ROMS contain
pictures of the development team, I'll find out the magic codes to type
in and post it to the list. The Mac Portable has signatures on the base,
and the StyleWriter II has names inside the front cover.

PBJ

I just bought 30 pin simms for my se/30, they are 4 megs each @ 60 ns. I
currently have 8 - 1 meg simms in my se/30, how do i install the new ones and
can i still use the remaining four simms?
tia,
Jon

A friend of mine got me thinking about my girlfriend's situation. She's a
teacher with some Mac II's, IIci's, and SE's. She's got some software that
she picked up 'way back when on floppy disk. The problem is, the kids muck
around with the computers, and we often need to re-install the software. Of
course, a couple of disks have gone bad, and naturally you can't (afaik) get
the early versions of some of this stuff (like playroom, etc.) that runs on
the early macs any more.

Luckily, she has a brand new PM8500, so my thought is to make disk images of
the original floppies on her hard disk so as to be able to recreate the
original disks if necessary. Them what are in a similar situation might
want to think about this as well. Also, a 100mb Zip or syquest will hold a
lot of disk images if you don't want to fill up your reg. hard drive.

--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-

Uncle Roger
http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/