PM 6500: worth keeping it?

[Simone.m]

My third vintage Mac is a PM 6500\250. Original, RAM and HD standard, equipped with Apple DB keyboard and mouse and the original MultiScan AV 15 display.
I find it pretty useless because it can't be expanded as easily as iMacs and PBs, it has neither ethernet port nor VGA card.
I also have a LaCie SCSI external drive, quite rare to find here in Italy.

Is it worth to keep this vintage Mac for some future profit or should I just sell it with any regret? Thanks for the help

 

[ptdebate]

My third vintage Mac is a PM 6500\250. Original, RAM and HD standard, equipped with Apple DB keyboard and mouse and the original MultiScan AV 15 display.
I find it pretty useless because it can't be expanded as easily as iMacs and PBs, it has neither ethernet port nor VGA card.
I also have a LaCie SCSI external drive, quite rare to find here in Italy.

Is it worth to keep this vintage Mac for some future profit or should I just sell it with any regret? Thanks for the help

The 603e is a really good processor from what I hear. Do you have any use for the machine? If not, I'd sell it to someone who does. There's no real point in holding onto it otherwise because I don't think it'll ever be worth much money. I'm saying that from an American perspective though because I don't know the Italian market.

 

[Gamer9430]

My third vintage Mac is a PM 6500\250. Original, RAM and HD standard, equipped with Apple DB keyboard and mouse and the original MultiScan AV 15 display.

I find it pretty useless because it can't be expanded as easily as iMacs and PBs, it has neither ethernet port nor VGA card.

I also have a LaCie SCSI external drive, quite rare to find here in Italy.



Is it worth to keep this vintage Mac for some future profit or should I just sell it with any regret? Thanks for the help

In my opinion, being a collector, I would keep anything I come across. Now not everyone feels the same way as me, so... Being that it doesn't have PCI-expansions (I'm guessing since I'm unfamiliar with this model) unlike a 7300 or 8500 etc, you really can't do much with it in terms upgrades other than the processor, which one may not even fit it it's as compact of a case like the 6100/6x is. If that's the case, I would probably sell it and if you really want a vintage OWR Mac, I would recommend PCI-based ones and to get at least a G3 upgrade, G4 would be even better but they are rarer. I would recommend a PowerMac 8500 if you want a very upgradable system, and a 7300 if you want similar upgrade capabilities in a more compact case. I would stick an upgrade card in either and probably an ATI Rage 128 or something with VGA capabilities. Both have Ethernet already and as an added bonus, the 8500 has RCA/Composite In and Out which you can use for video out or to record video from a camera or something.

Not sure if this helps any, but hopefully it does.

 

[eyoungren]

Hold on a minute.

I have a 6500/225. It does have an Ethernet port so that made it useful at work as our Applescript server for a few years.

But even though yours does not have an Ethernet port, you do have PCI ports and the 6500 uses an IDE bus. You can upgrade the hard drive and find an OS9 compatible ethernet card.

I've used my Mac as a file server in the past when it was at home and being that it can run OS9 you can also use iTunes (yes, iTunes was OS9 before it was OS X) so it can serve as a music system as well. The 6500 has excellent audio.

I've also got a USB card in there which lets me run modern Apple keyboards and mice, not to mention connecting USB drives, scanners and other peripherals.

It's still a very good Mac.

 

[Gamer9430]

PM 6500: worth keeping it?

Hold on a minute.

I have a 6500/225. It does have an Ethernet port so that made it useful at work as our Applescript server for a few years.

But even though yours does not have an Ethernet port, you do have PCI ports and the 6500 uses an IDE bus. You can upgrade the hard drive and find an OS9 compatible ethernet card.

I've used my Mac as a file server in the past when it was at home and being that it can run OS9 you can also use iTunes (yes, iTunes was OS9 before it was OS X) so it can serve as a music system as well. The 6500 has excellent audio.

I've also got a USB card in there which lets me run modern Apple keyboards and mice, not to mention connecting USB drives, scanners and other peripherals.

It's still a very good Mac.

Can you explain how to make this (or any OS 9 Mac) into a file server? Or at least a bridge to connect all of my vintage macs together? I have enough modem and phone cord adapters to do it, I can't can't figure out how to hook them all up.

 

[bunnspecial]

Can you explain how to make this (or any OS 9 Mac) into a file server? Or at least a bridge to connect all of my vintage macs together? I have enough modem and phone cord adapters to do it, I can't can't figure out how to hook them all up.

Do you have any Appletalk boxes and cables?

This is probably the easiest way to do it, and with the right boxes you can even connect a 128K.

Apple did make a Localtalk/ethernet bridge software and I think it's still a free download if you poke around their website some. From what I recall, however, it would only run on System 7.5 and earlier(also a free download from Apple's website).

There are also hardware bridges. These are really a better option since you don't have to have a computer turned on, but can be hard to find and expensive.

I've been accumulating Appletalk boxes and cords with the intention of eventually getting all my OWR and 68K Macs networked. I'll probably use my 7100 as the "bridge" machine.

 

[eyoungren]

Can you explain how to make this (or any OS 9 Mac) into a file server? Or at least a bridge to connect all of my vintage macs together? I have enough modem and phone cord adapters to do it, I can't can't figure out how to hook them all up.

?

Turn on File Sharing. Either share a folder on the Mac's HD or the entire drive. Specify a user/group and the permissions.

Connect from the other Macs using AFP (Appletalk). In OS X that would simply be as easy as 1)"Connect to Server", browsing and connecting to the OS9 Mac, or 2) in the Connect to Server box enter afp://192.168.xx.xx, where xx is the actual IP address of the Mac.

The share mounts. Copy files to and from the share.

On an OS9 Mac you connect to another Mac using Chooser.

 

[Simone.m]

In my opinion, being a collector, I would keep anything I come across. Now not everyone feels the same way as me, so... Being that it doesn't have PCI-expansions (I'm guessing since I'm unfamiliar with this model) unlike a 7300 or 8500 etc, you really can't do much with it in terms upgrades other than the processor, which one may not even fit it it's as compact of a case like the 6100/6x is. If that's the case, I would probably sell it and if you really want a vintage OWR Mac, I would recommend PCI-based ones and to get at least a G3 upgrade, G4 would be even better but they are rarer. I would recommend a PowerMac 8500 if you want a very upgradable system, and a 7300 if you want similar upgrade capabilities in a more compact case. I would stick an upgrade card in either and probably an ATI Rage 128 or something with VGA capabilities. Both have Ethernet already and as an added bonus, the 8500 has RCA/Composite In and Out which you can use for video out or to record video from a camera or something.

Not sure if this helps any, but hopefully it does.

I would sell it for a newer PPC Mac, I do really want an iMac G4 which in my opinion is the most beautiful IT product ever made.

Retrocomputing is not my cup of tea as I'm 21 years old and I study bioengineering

 

[Gamer9430]

Do you have any Appletalk boxes and cables?

This is probably the easiest way to do it, and with the right boxes you can even connect a 128K.

Apple did make a Localtalk/ethernet bridge software and I think it's still a free download if you poke around their website some. From what I recall, however, it would only run on System 7.5 and earlier(also a free download from Apple's website).

There are also hardware bridges. These are really a better option since you don't have to have a computer turned on, but can be hard to find and expensive.

I've been accumulating Appletalk boxes and cords with the intention of eventually getting all my OWR and 68K Macs networked. I'll probably use my 7100 as the "bridge" machine.

I have some adapters that plug into the ADB port and then can convert into a phone line. I have no clue if this is AppleTalk capable. Using my MacEnhancer, I definitely can hook them up together being that it can convert the cables. It's actually quite a rare accessory, one of the first Microsoft products for a Mac, and one of the first Microsoft products in general. Sadly, mine is one of the ones made in conjunction with a different country, so it's not original. However, it still has the MS logo and branding on the thing itself, so it's still rarer since later versions use the other company's name.

Wow I went way off track there...

----------

?

Turn on File Sharing. Either share a folder on the Mac's HD or the entire drive. Specify a user/group and the permissions.

Connect from the other Macs using AFP (Appletalk). In OS X that would simply be as easy as 1)"Connect to Server", browsing and connecting to the OS9 Mac, or 2) in the Connect to Server box enter afp://192.168.xx.xx, where xx is the actual IP address of the Mac.

The share mounts. Copy files to and from the share.

On an OS9 Mac you connect to another Mac using Chooser.

Hmm, I must have been trying to use AppleTalk and I didn't set it up right I guess. Thanks Erik!

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I would sell it for a newer PPC Mac, I do really want an iMac G4 which in my opinion is the most beautiful IT product ever made.

Retrocomputing is not my cup of tea as I'm 21 years old and I study bioengineering

Sadly, I don't think it will be worth as much as a iMac G4. They are extremely beautiful machines, which is why they are greatly desired. I'm not sure what they go for in Italy (fellow Italiano from many generations ago), but I'm guessing they are few and far between and expensive.

Retro computing is a large interest of mine, which isn't too normal for a 15 year old. However, on here, quite a few users are 15/16/17/18/19/20 and 21 and interested in this stuff.

 

[Ih8reno]

I have the 6500/250 myself (currently packed away in my parts closet) and it has a usb card in it and has a second graphics card installed where I used to have an ethernet card. I run 9.2 in it and its honestly one of my favourite older machines. If you have no real attachment to it then yeah sell it. Mine is staying with me for the long run!

 

[Simone.m]

Sadly, I don't think it will be worth as much as a iMac G4. They are extremely beautiful machines, which is why they are greatly desired. I'm not sure what they go for in Italy (fellow Italiano from many generations ago), but I'm guessing they are few and far between and expensive.

PPC Macs are quite rare here in Italy so the prices rise up quickly. You can see iMac G4s sold for near 300 euros, PM G5s for 350. People here cannot accept the fact that a machine that costed like 3000 euros is now "useless" and without any residue value