Table of Contents for this issue:
Re: New User SE/30
Re: New User SE/30
Re: Midi--7.5-7.6
Re: Lisa Video Out!
Re: Lisa Problems
Re: Mac II and Color
Norton Utilities 1.1 and Mac OS 7.5.5...
Re: New User SE/30
Re: Mac II and Color
Sharing 1 Monitor+Keyboard+Mouse between a PC
Can You Use a Paperport Vx with Compact Macs
Re: Trashing Mac Pluses
68010 Upgrade for Plus?

I moved some items within the systems folder (this I believe was my fatal mistake)

Yes, you are probably right. In particular, the System and Finder files
shouldn't be moved.

instead of the 'happy mac' screen and then a waiting desktop, all I got was an icon of a diskette
with a flashing question mark. I tried to download (on another Macintosh)
what I thought would be the startup disk (OS 6.0.8) needed to get past this
screen (boot disk?) but instead the question mark only briefly changes to an
'X' and then back to a flashing question mark. My question is this - What
have I done, and can it be fixed?

It can be fixed, but you will need to be able to boot to fix it. My best
guess, from experience, is that your floppy drive is not working because
it's full of dust. This is a pretty common thing, the fan of the SE/30 pulls
air in through the floppy drive, which over time causes a built-up of dust.
Cleaning requires removing the rear housing of the Mac, and then the floppy,
and blowing the dust out. That's not easy. Alternatively, you could attach
an external floppy drive to the port on the rear, or a bootable external
SCSI drive to the SCSI port..

It's also quite possible that your boot disk is not good. You might try
another. One good thing about the SE/30 is it has a SuperDrive, which can
use either 800K or 1.44 disks. You might try downloading the Systems Tools
disk for System 7.0, or 7.5.3 available as a free downloads from Apple.

In any case, the SE/30 is a prized Classic Mac model. I hope you can get it
working again. 

-Paul

If using System 6.0.8 disks then Disk 1 "System Tools" does contain a
valid System folder but it contains also the System Installer. For
checking your SE/30 with 6.0.8 disks you should be using Disk 2
"Utilities 1" which contains a valid (universal) System Folder, "Disk
First Aid" and "Apple HD SC Setup". 

The two buttons on the side are the "Reset" and "Programmers Switch"
button, Reset does as you would expect, "Programmers Switch" usually
brings up an empty dialog with a prompt (a forward pointing >) where you
are supposed to type in simple commands such as "GO FINDER" which would
hopefully take you to the Finder if the Mac hangs so you can saftely
reboot (has never ever worked for me) :-)

Those error codes you are getting usually follow a "Sad Mac" as opposed
to a Mac with an X or a blinking "?" which are just the Mac informing you
that it can't find a valid System disk and "?" "Where is it please". I
think the error codes may be related to you experimenting with the
buttons on the side of the Mac and hopefully won't be too serious. If
they follow a Sad Mac at startup then it's usually a memory or even a
hardware problem (a bit more serious).

And yes, moving Control Panels if the OS you were running was version 6
was a mistake. Prior to version 7, Control Panels and Extensions (then
called INITs) were all lumped loose in the System folder.

If your SE/30's floppy drive is OK and the System floppy you use to boot
from is a *proved to be* good working boot floppy then the SE/30 "should"
startup from this, That is you turn the Mac on as you insert the boot
floppy.

Mike

From: JEREMIAH MISFELDT
Subject: New User SE/30
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2001 17:21:18 -0500

I am most often a Windows user, who has recently inherited an old SE/30
without a keyboard. After powering up the mac everything seemed to come up
okay, and I went out and purchased a keyboard. With the keyboard attached, I
set about exploring the contents of the harddrive and found many files from
the previous owner (mostly old Word documents) and also I moved some items
within the systems folder (this I believe was my fatal mistake) in order
that they would appear as part of the control panel options (color, sound,
afterdark, etc.). At some point during this the computer informed me of
some error and told me to restart. Well, I did and instead of the 'happy
mac' screen and then a waiting desktop, all I got was an icon of a diskette
with a flashing question mark. I tried to download (on another Macintosh)
what I thought would be the startup disk (OS 6.0.8) needed to get past this
screen (boot disk?) but instead the question mark only briefly changes to an
'X' and then back to a flashing question mark. My question is this - What
have I done, and can it be fixed? (Also, there are two buttons on the side
of the case, one seems to be a reset button, and the other, I do not know,
but when it is pressed the monitor displays what seems to be an 'sad mac'
icon along with a code as follows - two lines, first line - 0000000F, second
line - 00000013.) Maybe this proves to be helpful.

Thanks in advance,
Maureen

Classic Posts wrote:

Date: Sat, 06 Jan 2001 16:06:37 -0500
From: Virginia S Moe
Subject: Midi--7.5-7.6 

Does anyone here do midi in OS 7.5 to 7.6?

No, but I "do MIDI" on a Color Classic with OS 7.1,
Encore 4.0.4 and a cheap Roland keyboard if that helps.

Virginia S. Moe

Great!

If you would like I could E-mail you a copy of an
obsolete programme named Ballade, a midi melody maker.
It's a great midi/score sequencer programme. As I
reexamine it today in comparison to the high end
midi/audio sequencer programmes I use It was a killer
programme and actually far ahead of the times.

Unfortunately it don't like my 8500/G3 apple's
ApplePowerPC.

Still works on my LC520. My students love the
programme as well as the LC.

<snip>

The best place to look for Lisas is EBay. See the link at the bottom to
find detailed info on the Lisa.

ok thanks

Where can I buy/make(!) a SCSI card, to fit into a Lisa slot in my
Lisa, to allow me to use a 1Gb-10Gb SCSI HDD ??

I'd suggest just buying an existing hard disk. My Lisa 2 uses the
integral parallel port to access it's external 5 meg hard disk.

I have an internal MASSIVE (physical size) 10Mb HDD. Widgets didn't get any
bigger than that AFAIK. I'd like a 1Gb-10Gb SCSI HDD (3.5"). Not a crappy
10Mb.

You should be able to download the system software. I downloaded it a
couple of years ago. At the end, I'll post a url that has links to Lisa
sites.

OK, thanks.

Or am I asking the wrong group of people all these questions ??

You might be better off asking the Lisa specialists. Those are highly
technical questions.

A manual might help.

http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/retrocomputing/lisa/

thanks. I'll try it

Joshua Hrouda
Joshua Hrouda Electronics

I've got a Lisa too!!

Which model ? And if you could help me, what model number ?

I thought there must be only a few dozen current Lisa users left on the
planet?? :o)

it's hard to say...

If you Lisa has been converted to a Mac XL you wont be able to run real
Lisa software, it has special ROMs and the video card is different I
think.

how do I find out ?
how do I unconvert it ?
there's onboard video (I think) which goes out the RCA port.
And internal video, which is a vertical board, around the middle.

Maybe your version of MacWorks is corrupt? mail me and I think I can dig
out a a URL of where you can download it.

ok, thanks. I'd like that. But how do I get it into the HDD ?
Boot off a floppy ?

There is also a built in diagonostic program for the Lisa which will
(hopefully) rule out any suspect hardware problems,. I noticed with
another guys Lisa the 4 large boards can warp with heat and age
unfortunately. :o(

I've accessed that I think... was a while ago.
Don't know much about it.
I think it passed the tests.
All 4 boards (2 RAM, I/O & CPU) appear fine.

Hmm, Yes there is a phono port on the Lisa, but I dont think its composite
video, It wont work with an Apple /// green monitor anyway. I think the
Lisas built in screeen is 70hz like a VGA monitor anyway. Maybe those
strange 2 page 19" mono monitors made for Macs might work??

I get some kinda video signal on a 9" Apple "Monitor" - the model that goes
with the Apple //c. But no stable picture. Just video data racing around.

Dunno how it would. They use a fixed frequency, I think. 1280 x 1024 or some
weird resolution. And they have 13W3 sockets. (16pin) not 2 'pin' like the
Lisa's video out.

John H
Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK.

Is it possible for a Mac II to support color? I have a color video card in
my Mac IIx but it still only displays grays.

If you place a color video card in, all Mac II for factors support color.

G.

A super nice person just gave me Norton Utilities 1.1, to go with Mac OS
7.5.5, and I am wondering if this is too old a version. I have given a Mac
IIvx, a LC III, and a powerbook 180c, to two charities in the area, and I
know that I am going to be system support for the Mac IIvx and the 180c until
they rust away. The icon and the menu seem familiar, from the depths of my
memory, but I wonder if we need something a bit newer.

I have been a registered user of Norton Utilities for almost ten years, but I
am the opposite of a pack rat, I save nothing.

Thank you.
 Michael B. Luskin

In response to JEREMIAH MISFELDT:

I am most often a Windows user, who has recently inherited an old SE/30

I moved some items
within the systems folder (this I believe was my fatal mistake) in order
that they would appear as part of the control panel options (color, sound,
afterdark, etc.). At some point during this the computer informed me of
some error and told me to restart. Well, I did and instead of the 'happy
mac' screen and then a waiting desktop, all I got was an icon of a diskette
with a flashing question mark.

This is your computer's way of telling you that you don't have a
functional system. All it needs is a start up floppy and you will be
on your way again.

I tried to download (on another Macintosh)
what I thought would be the startup disk (OS 6.0.8) needed to get past this
screen (boot disk?) but instead the question mark only briefly changes to an
'X' and then back to a flashing question mark.

The X means that the computer didn't think that floppy had a
functioning system on it either. I don't know what the system is on
the other Macintosh, but if it's 7.5.5 or lower, take a floppy, make
a new folder and name it system folder, and then drag the system file
and finder file out of the other Mac and into the folder. It should
have a smile on it. If it doesn't, open the new folder and close it
again. It should now have a smile on it. If so, take the floppy over
to the 30 and put it in and see if it starts. If you have original
disks with that computer, reinstall the system, and leave things
inside the system where they are. Feel free to change the settings on
the control panels, but don't move things around again in there. The
computer puts everything where it belongs in that particular folder
and you shouldn't mess with its placement of things.

My question is this - What
have I done, and can it be fixed? (Also, there are two buttons on the side
of the case, one seems to be a reset button, and the other, I do not know,
but when it is pressed the monitor displays what seems to be an 'sad mac'
icon along with a code as follows - two lines, first line - 0000000F, second
line - 00000013.) Maybe this proves to be helpful.

Not particularly. That's a programmer's switch, and if someone here
is a programmer, perhaps they will be able to explain what it means.
I can't.

Sue Korlan
<http://www.pilgrimcross.org>

If the strong are unwilling to die for justice, the weak are certain
to die without it. Rick Acker

In response to Amber Rhea:

Is it possible for a Mac II to support color?

Yes. They had color monitors at my university when they first came out.

Sue Korlan
<http://www.pilgrimcross.org>

If the strong are unwilling to die for justice, the weak are certain
to die without it. Rick Acker

Thanks to all who replied to my inquiry about the best way connect a PC and
a Mac (an accelerated LCII) to 1 monitor, 1 keyboard and 1 mouse (to save
deskspace). I thought I'd report back to the group. The "best" way
technologically seems to be with a device called a KVM switch box; KVM
stands for Keyboard-Video-Mouse. You connect your keyboard, monitor and
mouse to this box, which in turn connects to multiple computers (depending
on model, some connect to 2 computers, some to many more). You then switch
between which computer to use by pushing buttons on the KVM switch box.

I say "best" because it really isn't all that great in practise due to the
cost of these things. Belkin makes such a switch called the OmniView SE that
goes for $250 or so for a 2-computer switch model. But that's not all. It
works for PC's only. For it to share a Mac and a PC, you need an
intermediary adapter that goes for $156 (it translates Mac video-kb-mouse
signals to PC signals for the KVM box). On top of that, you need to buy some
good quality cables with heavy duty shielding otherwise you can get ghosting
(apparently a side-effect of these set-ups).

So, to save some desktop space, it would cost me $300+! No thanks. I can
understand why these devices cost so much though - they're fairly
specialized niche products.

An alternative suggested to me was to just share the monitor. This would not
require a Mac adapter. I saw a video-only 2-way switch box at smalldog for
$49. Still somewhat pricey considering I'll still need 2 KB/mice, but at
least worth considering.

Eric

I managed to get my hands on an almost-new Paperport Vx scanner by
Visioneer. Haven't tried it yet. On the box, it says it needs monitors with
8-bits at 640x480 resolution (makes sense, it's an 8-bit greyscale scanner).
I was wondering, has anyone been able to use the Vx with a b/w compact Mac?
Can you set it to scan in 1-bit mode and get it to work with the 9" compact
screens?

Just wondering...
Eric

At 09:14 AM 1/7/2001, you wrote:

Dear Mr. Pritchard,

Please tell me you didn't say your school is really TRASHING their Mac
Pluses! They should know that there are plenty of people who would love to
own an old Mac.

Not kidding. Here in NorCal the tide seems to be continuing to turn toward
Windows. I just heard that two Mac labs (currently with LCIIIs and
Performas) will be replaced with Gateways or Dells. The only Macs we will
have will be the Social studies lab (nice All-in-one G3's) and a couple
scattered iMacs.

It makes me really sad to think of an insanely great Macintosh being thrown
in a dumpster. Students used to like Macs, but with this 'phase-out'
orchestrated by bean counters, many students have not used a Mac since
grade school, and they buy the hackers' crap about PC's being better.
Dangle a cheap price tag in front of bureaucrats and they'll bite. No
questions asked.

I happened to be reading an old magazine recently which suggested that a
Mac Plus, (and presumably a 128, 512, Classic or SE) could be upgraded
to a 68010 processor. Has anybody heard of this before or done such an
upgrade? I'd like to try my hand at a little project.

Nicholas Horne