The Legacy Corner
Allow me, dear readers, the benefit of a brief introduction. Some of you will probably recognize my name from visits to Low End Mac or elsewhere on the Web, but many of you probably don’t.
Since cutting my teeth on an SE back in 1988, I’ve had the pleasure of using (and owning) nearly every 68K Macintosh made. While I find them all a joy to use, the Color Classic and Quadra 950 have emerged as my personal favorites.
In the PowerPC-based arena, I’ve used virtually everything, but only one of the older PPCs really sticks out in my mind: the biggest, baddest Mac Apple ever shipped, better known as the Workgroup Server 9150/120. More about that in a minute. Since few of the early PPCs greatly interest me, most of my writing will probably focus on 68Ks, although I welcome suggestions for first-generation Power Macs as well.
I’d like to keep this column in much the same vein as Ed Goss’ previous column of the same name, although I’m sure my own unique style will eventually develop the column into something more of my own creation. That said, I also welcome any trivia contributions. I’ll get the ball rolling with these two (answers at the end):
Q1: What was the only Macintosh to support three floppy drives without add-in cards?
Q2: Name the three desktop Macs whose ROMs were 32-bit “dirty,” and the code name for the “clean” versions of their ROMs that never shipped.
I said that Color Classics were one of my favorite 68K Macs. Sure, everybody loves the CC form factor, but that’s not why I love them so much. I find the wealth of upgrade options amazing. Granted, many of the upgrades are, to quote my favorite British pastor Stuart Bell, “decidedly non-trivial,” but they’re incredibly cool nonetheless. Here are the must-see sites for would-be Color Classic upgraders:
- The Color Classic Forum
- The Color Classic Upgrade Mega-FAQ
- Stuart Bell’s Color Classic Compendium
- The Club for Creating the Strongest Color Classic (CCSCC)
If you can read Japanese, and especially if you can translate Japanese fluently, we English-speaking folk could use your help with many of the Japanese pages listed at MISUTHiKU’s Links page.
Tip of the Month #1
TechTool Lite is your friend. Rebuild your desktop with it at least once a month if the Mac gets regular use. It’s also very handy if you ever need to zap or test your PRAM.
Tip of the Month #2
Leave your Mac plugged in even if it’s turned off, and don’t turn off power strips to the Mac if at all possible. By doing so, your PRAM battery will last much longer. My first SE’s battery lasted 13 years because it was plugged in even while powered off. I’ve had friends whose Classics’ batteries lasted less than a year because they were always unplugged.
Next Month
More on my favorite Macs, more tips, more trivia…heck, I dunno. That’s what readers are for. :) E-mail me and suggest something. I can’t promise t-shirts, but I can promise a thank-you. :)
Trivia Answers
A1: The Macintosh SE, with room for two internal floppies and an external floppy port.
A2: The SE/30, IIx, and IIcx are the three. “Mr. Clean” was the 32-bit clean ROM’s code name, at least according to popular Apple legend.
Copyright © 2002 Chris Lawson,
clawson@atpm.com.
Also in This Series
- Picking the Optimal OS for Your Mac—Part 2 · October 2003
- Picking the Optimal OS for Your Mac · September 2003
- Bluetooth & 68K Browsers · January 2003
- Where to Get Free and Inexpensive Software for Legacy Macs · November 2002
- The Legacy Corner · June 2002
- The Legacy Corner · May 2002
- The Legacy Corner · April 2002
- The Legacy Corner · September 2001
- The Legacy Corner · August 2001
- Complete Archive
Reader Comments (3)
Then the page ends. No mention of his love for the 9150.
What happened? I presume the article continues, but no reference to where or when.
Anyone?
Dave (confused)
I'll be sure to elaborate more in the next article, Dave.
Chris
Any plans for a UK visit this year?
Stuart
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