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$60 Macintosh 512k

Ih8reno

Ih8reno

macrumors 65816
Original poster
I recently found a 512k Macintosh for sale and am able to get it for $60. The owner says there is a question mark on the screen and cannot boot it. Is it worth the cost?
 
Question mark means it doesnt have the boot disk, in this case would be a floppy.

It's definitely worth the asking price as they go for 10x that on eBay.
 
Alright then, thanks for the reply. Should be getting it this afternoon hopefully I can get it working.
 
Ih8reno said:
I'm Canadian
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Oh. Then you are the luckiest person in Canada today!

I'm Irish and that sort of deal simply doesn't happen 🙁 even though we used to produce everything from the apple II up to the PM G5's here in cork. Clearly for export only....
 
I'm pretty happy, boots to question mark and makes a loud noise. Gonna try to make it work tonight.
 
Well, she works. Only thing is the computer makes a high pitched whirring when running. I also had a disk in the internal floppy drive and it changed noises and rejected the disk.

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If you're using that external drive with later system software, you may get an 800K MFS disk that will not read on -anything- else.

If that machine does not have Mac Plus ROMs in it already. If it does, it will be 800K HFS, with the proper system software.
 
Well it boots to a question mark. If I boot it with the system disk I have made in the external drive it turns on. Pretty sure the internal disk drive is broken as it won't read that disk and cannot eject it without me forcing it with a pin.
 
What system disk did you make?

From where is the source file?

The internal drive may be 400K only. If you made that disk on a newer machine, it may be written double-sided.

If you look inside the drive, it should look identical to that external drive, if it's 800K. If you see a large round thing in there, then it's 400K.

The easier thing to look for is to the sides of the opening. You'll see some lever switches facing away from the center of the drive. Again, if what you see inside the Mac is identical to that external, you've got an 800K drive inside the Mac.

-however- it is absolutely possible to use that 800K drive as a replacement for a 400K drive for purposes of reading disks created elsewhere. But a newer system software disk, formatted as HFS, will not boot on the old ROM, even if the drive is double sided. (800K)
 
Made the disk on my powermac 6500 and it would only make it with a 2 sided floppy. As for what drive is inside it i'm not entirely sure. I see a circle with 2 prints, bumps? not sure what to call it. All I do know it that it won't eject a disk unless i manually get it out.
 
Ih8reno said:
ImageImageImageImage
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Dude that cable is blocking the most important piece of info on the back of your machine!

If the model number ends in "E", then it's a 512Ke and has 128K Roms and an 800K drive.

If not then you can be 99% sure it's a 400k drive.

Also if you can boot from that external drive without the HD20 INIT in the system folder then I belive it must be a 512Ke with the 128K rom.
 
Just came home with another Macintosh, this one Macintosh Plus, it came without a keyboard but I have the 512k keyboard anyways. Also has an external hard drive. $20!

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My, my! This is a fast-growing collection.

$20?!?! Worth it just for the spare Analog Power/Sweep board ! 😱

Lucky you! 🙂
 
MacTech68 said:
My, my! This is a fast-growing collection.

$20?!?! Worth it just for the spare Analog Power/Sweep board ! 😱

Lucky you! 🙂
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I am so many levels of jealous...

The amount I've spent on getting my Apple II Plus and and 512Ke alone is many many times what this guy has spent...
 
I've actually done quite well with the mac collection I have acquired for about a year now. Most items cost in the range of $20-60 but quite a few I received free or traded other items I did not want to keep for. I have one more Macintosh Classic I got from a Pawn Shop on a trade for a Powermac G4 I got for $5 and paid them $10.
 
tevion5 said:
Oh. Then you are the luckiest person in Canada today!

I'm Irish and that sort of deal simply doesn't happen 🙁 even though we used to produce everything from the apple II up to the PM G5's here in cork. Clearly for export only....
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Atleast you guys live a little closer to the uk. In my country i will find for example Macintosh 128k for 2,500$. But us people are more lucky in that way. When I'm on us websites I'm like "WOW! a macintosh 128k for only 600$" And oh right the shipping is 300$...
 
Just added another retro mac to the collection, a Macintosh SE SuperDrive which has a 40mb hdd. Works just great and comes with original system disks and manuals plus carrying case. $35 for it all.
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Ih8reno said:
Image
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M0001 is an original 128K, not 512k. 512K is model M0001W. How much memory does "About the Finder" report? What is the serial number on the bar code near the brightness knob? It's possible it's an original Macintosh (128K) or has been upgraded from 128K to 512K
 
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