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25 Years Of Mac: Rob Baca’s 128k Mac

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Meet Rob Baca. He’s a serious vintage Mac collector, with a total of 75 machines in his possession. He’s also the man who co-directed the documentary Welcome to Macintosh, which counts among its interviewees our very own Leander Kahney.

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One of Rob’s computers – bought from a friend on the condition that Rob would give it a loving home – is this original 128k Mac.

What can you tell us about it, Rob?

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“This particular machine is one of my favorites and lives in my editing studio alongside a few of my other favorites, a Color Classic and a 20th Anniversary Mac.

“Really, it is not used for any heavy lifting or anything, I just show it off like a relic from days gone by. To me it is a piece of history, especially since literally everything it originally came with is in my possession. It is a great talking piece in the editing suite and when I have other people or clients sit in on an edit, it always gets powered on and played with simply for nostalgic reasons and as a comparison of how far the Macintosh (and computing in general) has come in the last 25 years.

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“It’s only really practical use was as a prop for Welcome to Macintosh in the ‘Macs in Nature’ transition scenes. Even though the machine works and looks perfect, it is fragile because of it’s age… but I still had to bust it out and give it a little face time in the film. I was really nervous hauling it around since it is so old and the wrong move might render it a brick. But everything worked out wonderfully.

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“The reason I cherish it so much is that it is an untouched, unmodified original… About the closest thing you can find to one that is new in box.

“As far as toying around, I do have some classic games that I will play on it every so often, but they don’t run all that great because of the limited 128k of RAM, but it does the trick. I also run Mac Paint on it occasionally. But again, just playing, nothing really constructive.

“One other point of interest is that this particular machine (minus the Apple logo of course) was used in all of the promotional materials for the film such as; Movie Posters, Website Design, DVD Cover, etc. It has kind of become the logo for the film.”

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Thanks to Rob for his time, his story and his huge pile of photos.

About the author

gilest

Giles Turnbull is a freelance writer in England. He is a columnist for PA, and has written for the BBC, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, MacUser, Macworld, and The Morning News. He has a blog you can ignore and a Twitter account you needn't follow.

Email the author | Read more posts by Giles Turnbull.

8 comments

    I want to hear the cassette tape!

    Rob – do you have a black Mac TV? If not do you want one? I have one in assumed working order (last time I booted it was 3 years ago) that is gathering dust and would love a new home with an avid collector.

    Linda! Email us at info@welcometomacintosh.com to speak more about the MacTV! Thanks!

    I have a Mac 128k with the keyboard and mouse, but I do not have the number pad accessory. Do you know its official name (for watching on eBay)? I’ve never seen one before!

    @No Name: Watch the Guided Tour on YouTube!

    Search for “Guided Tour Of Macintosh” by slomacuser.

    Links to YouTube seems forbidden as comments:-/

    @Ken Burns Effect: Thanks. Gotta love Wikipedia!

    I remember my first Mac – a Macintosh SE. It came with tutorial software that taught all the concepts of the GUI, like the desktop, double clicking, click & drag, etc. To learn double clicking, you had to click on the windows of a building, which would open and doves would fly out when you double clicked successfully.

    Anyone remember that program or have a copy of it?

    I wish Apple still had something similar. Last year I bought my dad his first computer ever, a white MacBook. Something like that would have been great for him.

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