Do You Have A Working Original Mac?
3:18 pm, January 19th, 2009, Giles Turnbull
Now then, lovely Cultists. We need your help.
You may have heard that this coming Saturday, January 24th, is a special day in the hearts of Mac aficionados. It will mark the 25th anniversary of the Macintosh computer, the machine that turned Apple into a global brand and kick-started the line of computers that has ended up as today’s line up of Pro, Mini and MacBook.
And what we’d like to do to celebrate the Mac’s birthday is find someone who is still using one.
Is that you? Do you have an original Mac that still boots up? Do you still actually use it for anything?
If you have, or if you do, let us know.
We will EITHER: send a media squad to your home to interview you. Top photographers will take pictures of you and your original Mac for use in magazines like Vogue, Playboy, Country Living, Knitting Monthly and possibly even Wired. A real time satellite link will be set up between your home and the White House so that Barack Obama himself can send congratulations and ask you questions about that 8 MHz Motorola 68000 processor. We will also send you a pony.
OR: We might write a post about you.
So, like we said: got a (working) original Mac? We want to know.
(CC licensed pic by ballistikcoffeeboy.)
Posted by Giles Turnbull in News, Vintage Tech | Comment on this article
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Yes, I do have a working original Mac which holds a special place in Macca, my room-turned-museum in my house. Macca is home to over 100 Apple computers, but the original Mac is one of the special ones. These days, it just sits there. I will boot it up once or twice a year just to make sure it is still doing ok. I’m hoping it will go another 25 years.
James, on January 19th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I’ve got a working original Mac with one caveat. It was upgraded to a Mac Plus motherboard and 4 MB of RAM. I boot System 7 from a 20MB hard drive or System 6 from a floppy.
I have an adapter that allows it to be connected to the Internet, although browser support back in System 7 was a little weak. I have an IRC client that does work, though, albeit slowly.
I do sometimes still play Tetris and Shufflepuck on the darn thing.
Tarus, on January 19th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
I still have a fully functional 128K Mac, complete with MS Word. I take it out of storage occasionally, but it is not a ‘daily driver’. I also have a fully functional Mac IIcx, a Cube, etc. etc.
They just don’t break!!
Eventually they become obsolete due to RAM hungry software, increasing CPU and memory requirements, but they still work.
David Lamb, on January 19th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
I have a Mac+ with a 40 meg scsi hard drive plus a lot of software for it. Worked 6 month ago to play load runner, also my son has a 128 k mac(A Drexel Univ. Requirement) witch we updated to a fat mac (512Megs). Don’t know if it still works.
cesar muniz, on January 19th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
I have one on a shelf. Haven’t tried to use it for years. I also have a working Lisa, a Mac 512 (Fat Mac), Mac Plusses, Mac Se, Mac SE/30 …
Curtis, on January 19th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
I forgot to mention that the rainbow Apple logo is upside down on the back of my Mac 128k. Startup chime works, but that’s about all.
Curtis, on January 19th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I have an original Apple ll plus with a serial # under 100,000. It still works but I don’t know what it can do.
Are there any museums that would want it??
Steve Mishket
Steve Mishket, on January 19th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
I HAD a “Fat Mac” 512, with external 3.5 floppy drive and giant Kensington track ball from that period, but I sold it a year or so ago on eBay. It was still working perfectly, I had some of the original software, Mac Write, Mac Paint etc. Fully booted in under 30 sec., absolutely silent, no fan or hard drive. Sadly, UPS cracked the case when I shipped it to it’s new owner.
Giwt Ylevarg, on January 19th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Let’s see. I have an SE with a 20MB drive. I have a IIci (two, actually) sort of maxed out with everything possible. I have a 6100/66 that still works fine. A Duo 280c and a dock, still works fine.
csbmonkney, on January 19th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I have a Macintosh SE, it works, but currently resides in its original box, with all the manuals etc, in the bottom of my closet.
Jred, on January 19th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
I’ve a Macintosh SE/30 that’s my everyday computer except for InterNet & contemporary gaming — for *that* I use my MacBook.
There’re System 7 browsers but just ta get ‘em online with today’s ISPs is a job & then once online are — for me — unacceptably slow.
MACINTOSH SE/30 SPECS
CPU > 16MHz
RAM > 4MB
HDD > 80 MB
8^ ]
CaryMG, on January 19th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I _thought_ I had a working 128K until I read this article. Pulled the original Mac off the shelf and tried to fire it up for the first time in six years. Nothing. It’s getting power but no chime, no nothing. Damn! Happy anniversary…
djscott, on January 19th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
I have an original Macintosh that still works (but I don’t use it on a daily basis), also a Mac Classic II, Twentieth Anniversary Mac, Power Mac G4 Cube, iMac G4 (first gen), Power Mac G5, 17″ MacBook Pro, and a Mac Pro (all working). The iMac, Mac Pro, and MacBook Pro are the daily-use machines; the rest are just treasured relics.
Dave, on January 19th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
I’ve got the following:
1. A fully functional Apple II.
2. A fully functional Lisa w/5 meg hard drive, complete office suite, and the original Pascal software for developing Mac software.
3. An original Mac that started out as a 128. I subsequently had it upgraded it to a Mac Plus. It has a 40 meg “backpack” hard disk.
4. A fully functional Newton.
5. A fully functional Mac Portable (aka The Luggable)
At this point they are all just museum pieces.
Just Some Human, on January 19th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
I have about 13 old Macs (haven’t counted in a while) in my Macseum and I’m pretty sure all of them still work. I collected them over a few years from family and friends when I was in middle and high school. I’ve got my family’s old SE/30, a PowerBook 170 with a 1GB hard drive, a Duo 5300c (the exploding one) with the DuoDock, at least one Mac Plus, a Classic, an a handful of perfomas (performae?).
Zev Eisenberg, on January 19th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
We have a 512k Mac with an external FD. I haven’t tried to boot it up in quite a few years now. It did work the last time I tried it. I still have the box of FDs in the book case next to me.
John, on January 20th, 2009 at 12:45 am
Yes I have a Fully fuunctional 128k international model (220v), but one built after the 512k was introduced, thus has the ‘Macinstshh 128k” text on the back (#F51116KM0001P).
Here are some pics
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heritagefutures/3211215548/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heritagefutures/3208923867/in/set-72157612763437318/
and I have a 512k , also International model (# F532123M001WP) with original disks and bits and pieces as add only, disk drive, carry case and the external numeric keypad with trackball produced by assimilation..
Cheers from Australia
Dirk hR Spennemann, on January 20th, 2009 at 1:32 am
I was in Santa Fe last summer on vacation, and was in a jewelry/art store on the Plaza that was using original Macintoshes as point of sale units and controlling cash drawers. The owner said they have been using these units since they came out, never needing repairs or anything. It was cool seeing the black & white screens with quite rudimentary software, but hey, if it still works, why not?
Glenn, on January 20th, 2009 at 3:11 am
I’ve got an original SE but it stopped working for some reason. =(
Cyxodus, on January 20th, 2009 at 5:27 am
I have a working original 128k Mac that proudly sits in my video editing studio. It has all of it’s original parts including a separate numeric keypad and the “carry-on bag” that came with the early models. I also have the “A Guided Tour of Macintosh” audio cassette that came with the machine originally. This machine has no alterations made to it. It is in it’s original condition… no hard drive or anything. It runs Finder version 1.0 from a 800k Double Density Floppy disk that I reformatted to be a 400k one sided disk then installed the OS. It is mint condition both cosmetically and mechanically. (No yellowing either!) This particular machine was recently featured in “Welcome to Macintosh” The documentary for the rest of us, in a few of the “Macs in Nature” type scene transitions. I can send pictures of it if you like!
Rob Baca, on January 20th, 2009 at 9:22 am
I have a working Mac Classic. It’s got a 40Mbyte external hard drive. And it all still fits in its MacBag. I was using it to play a couple of games and try out an old copy of ThinC. Still boots up. Photos available if you like.
Regards,
Fox sends.
Bruce Fox, on January 20th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
I have a working 128k…
Ryan, on January 21st, 2009 at 8:22 am
I have a SE/30 (was originally a Mac SE, upgraded) with 40 MB HD and 5 MB RAM (4×1 MB and 4×256 kb to fill the *eight* ram slots available), running smoothly with System 7.5.3.
It’s in my living room, ready to boot when I need to hear that ol’ beloved boing. There’s Word 5.1 installed, the only Microsoft application I ever used in my life. And, needless to say, it still looks great (the Mac, not Word).
Since I’m pretty sure you’ll not write about me in any post, I look forward to receive the pony
Cristiano Maria Gaston, on January 22nd, 2009 at 6:19 am