Retro PM 7100/80

[tuartboy]

Hey, I picked up an old 7100/80 from a dusty corner here at work and it's mine to keep. I have a few questions.

It works fine, but the HD is full so I want to clear some space off of it. I have the OS 9 system disk so I could probably reinstall but I have never done an OS9 install and I don't want to break it. What do you think is best to do?

Also, what do I need to do to hook it up to my router at my house? I read there is an ethernet connector for it, but what does it look like and where does it hook up?

Any funny/good old apps for OS9 you guys know about?

 

[Dave00]

This was my old machine, exactly, until I got a Powerbook Pismo G3 in 2000. It won't run any of the "modern" internet apps, but older versions of most productivity software (office, etc.) worked just fine. There certainly is an ethernet connection, although I vaguely remember having to have some sort of adaptor to connect it to a network. I probably actually still have the adaptor, if you can't find it.

I wouldn't wipe the disk, because there's probably some good old apps on there. You can connect an external HD via SCSI, and there are several PCI slots, if I remember correctly.

Dave

 

[.:*Robot Boy*:.]

There's a whole lot of games over at Macintosh Garden that were great in their time that are now classed as "abandonware". They can all be downloaded for free, and the website has been around forever, so I assume it's all legal .

 

[iMeowbot]

Apple keep the old manuals, that might help in finding things.

Old Macs use a 15-pin connector (looks kind of like a VGA port) for Ethernet. If you are lucky, there is still a transceiver box hanging off it so that you can plug a modern modular cable into it. Apple didn't use the standard AUI connector, you want AAUI (Asante was a popular maker of AAUI to 10BaseT dongles).

 

[tuartboy]

This was my old machine, exactly, until I got a Powerbook Pismo G3 in 2000. It won't run any of the "modern" internet apps, but older versions of most productivity software (office, etc.) worked just fine. There certainly is an ethernet connection, although I vaguely remember having to have some sort of adaptor to connect it to a network. I probably actually still have the adaptor, if you can't find it.

I wouldn't wipe the disk, because there's probably some good old apps on there. You can connect an external HD via SCSI, and there are several PCI slots, if I remember correctly.

Dave

i actually just found that adapter, so i think i'm set there.

i think i may have a fun mod-out on this guy. I have yet to open it up and see what space i have, but i am thinking black enamel (case, kb, mouse)with a case window on top and blue neon lights inside.

what kind of harware can this guy take? what is the max memory? proc upgrades?

Is it possible and what would it take to get OS X on there?

 

[RacerX]

Maximum RAM for a 7100 is 136 MB (4x 32 MB 72-pin SIMMs plus 8 MB on the logicboard). You have 3 Nubus slots and 1 processor direct slot (most likely were the video card is currently). The spec sheet can be found here and the service manual here.

The case has room for one SCSI hard drive, but additional drives can be connected externally (also needing to be SCSI).

You can get a G3/500 upgrade for the 7100, but it needs to go in the processor direct slot. There is a bypass (costs extra) to move the card over to one of the Nubus slots. Or you could get a 24-bit Nubus card video card.

Highest OS (supported) for that system is Mac OS 9.1, but you can install 9.2.2 on it via OS9 Helper.

No, you can not install Mac OS X on a Nubus Mac, that is just completely out side of anything Mac OS X was written for.

As for ethernet, it comes with an AAUI-15 ethernet port (which does not look like a VGA port... that is an AUI ethernet port, which Apple never used). The AAUI to RJ45 Transceivers are pretty easy to find (I have about six of them).

On the browser front, you can use Internet Explorer 5.1.7, Netscape Communicator 4.80, Netscape 7.0.2, and there are some versions of Mozilla for Mac OS 9 floating around.

Also you can use the logicboard video... but I suggest against it. It is only able to support 256 colors at 800x600 (or 832x624) and really isn't worth the cost of the adaptor.

 

[tuartboy]

wow, thanks for that post.

as for the memory, is that all it will recognize or just what it says it can take? I know on some systems you can put more than the max amount in and it will recognize it.

I'm reading the frankenmac thread over here and I'm seeing some rediculous amounts of memory in these old systems.

 

[RacerX]

You can try using more, but the 7100/8100 series are finicky about RAM (for example, you can put certain 64 MB SIMMs in the 8100 as long as they are not in the last two slots). I don't know of any place that will sell you 64 MB SIMMs that will stand behind them in the 7100.

The memory limitation is why I retired my 7100 (104 MB of RAM) and put an 8100 (208 MB of RAM) in it's place.

 

[tuartboy]

ok, not a big deal.

is there a max size of hd i can put in there? (I'm used to bios limitations on PCs...)

 

[RacerX]

I don't think so... I would say the limit depends on how much you want to spend. A 9 Gb SCSI shouldn't be to expensive, but after that your going to get into prices that aren't worth putting into the system. I've known people to put 18 and 36 GB drives in them... but that was quite some time ago (and they were running the systems as servers).

The key limitations are that you need SCSI and whatever you want to spend on the system.