My first Mac! (A classic).

[tokyoracer]

I finally did the un-imaginable and got a PowerMac. Spotted it in a local shop (Cash Generators) at a small (ish) sum of £39.95. As I have only put a deposit down as I have yet to collect it so detail is a little vague but looking at it, i'd guess it's an early - mid 90's one. It had PowerPC stamped on it and the model was a 4 digit number with a /60 on the end. As soon as I get it I will upload pictures of it.
It seems to have yellowed a tad but it is complete with monitor, keyboard and mouse.

P.s. Secret confession: Never really liked Macs that much but have always admired ones pre late 90's.

[tokyoracer]

Threw out better ones, bargen bacement???... I'm not fussed really, it's a first one for me and in good condition plus there's not often on eBay at resonable money. I think it might be a 60Mhz OS7 one but maybe it can be upgraded? Any light on that subject?

[tokyoracer]

Stick Mac on the end of your signature if your going to put miggies you might as well add macs

I may just do that, thanks! Will get more info before I do though.

[tokyoracer]

I found the following on lowendmac.com  I think you should be able to upgrade to OS 9...

Overview

The 6100/60 was the entry-level Power Mac
when Apple introduced the line in March 1994. Built into the Quadra 610 case, the 6100 contains a PDS which can be converted to a NuBus slot with an adapter. To save money, the 6100 uses RAM for video (up to 615 KB, depending on resolution and bit-depth), not separate VRAM. Thus, one way to improve performance is to add a video card, either Apple AV card or a third-party one. (This also makes it possible to run two monitors.) Another is to add a 1 MB level 2 cache, as noted on our benchmark page. More details at PowerMac 6100 Graphics Performance.

The 6100 was upgraded to 66 MHz in January 1995.

See our NuBus Video Card Guide for information on adding a NuBus video card, which will also require a NuBus adapter.

Variants

6100av. Includes video-in and video-out. Supports 19" and 21" monitors. Has 2 MB VRAM. (AV card can be added to any 6100 with a free PDS slot.)

6100 DOS compatible. Card includes a 66 MHz 486DX2 CPU, SVGA output, and a single SIMM slot supporting up to 32 MB RAM. DOS card can share RAM with Macintosh, which is slower, or use its own memory. (DOS Compatibility Card can be added to any 6100 with a free PDS slot.)

Ah great so it's not all doom and gloom, I bet the hardware is expensive nowerdays...

[tokyoracer]

Truth be told iv been looking for one like this for ages but they have usually been out of my league or not even for sale. I still dont really know the exact spec or the internal hardware as yet.

[tokyoracer]

I had a power mac, left it by the kerb side hoping somebody would take it, no one did, so I left it by an OP-shop after they closed....

Wow thanks guys for making me feel great about my find.

@tokyoracer

Despite what everybody else seems to say, I say nice score!

OK, so it's slow. Who cares? You're not going to be rendering stuff on it. So it can only run old MacOS? Again, so what? If you happen to want to run old software then that's all you need.

What does £40 buy you these days? Not a great deal. About 15 pints down the local, maybe.

I find it kind of ironic that everybody on an Amiga forum seems not to understand the appeal of picking up old, slow, obsolete hardware....

Thanks, though if I did research it more I may have decided against it. Sadly I know little about Apple products.

[tokyoracer]

Sonnett still offers CPU upgrades at very reasonable prices for the 6100 if you decide to go with it.
(I'd favor an 8500 or 9500 because they've got PCI and are better to expand, but that depends on what you're up to.)

Thanks for that link! I belive it may be an 8000 series but I have still yet to pick it up and it's Sunday tomo.... well now actually. Hopefully monday all will be revealed.

[tokyoracer]

Ok I have it now... Thought it may have been an 8000 series but its a 6000 (6100/60 to be precice)... Though I will hunt for upgrades (and yes I know now i've been had but I got it now...).
Straight away I have encounterd a problem which is rather simple and possibly retarded if I have forgotten something obvious. I have plugged it all in and switched it on, the Hard Disk sounds healthy, there is a sound from boot up but there is no picture on the monitor what-so-ever. The monitor powers up ok (or it seems to) with a green LED light. Also theres no lights that appear on the keyboard if I press the 'lock' keys.
Any help would be really apriciated.

P.s. Sorry I have no pictures, lost the cable for the digital camera but a new one is on it's way via fleaBay.

[tokyoracer]

I wouldn't think you were really had - it's only £40, and I've paid much more than that just to try certain unusual gear out... As for the monitor, do you have another monitor you can try? The cable on those Apple monitors actually takes a standard SVGA-in, but the output of the machine is the custom Apple connector. A simple SVGA cable will let you try the monitor on a PC or any other machine with a standard video out.

Yeah I got a Sony Multiscan E500 that uses VGA or SVGA (one or the other). But all the cables I have don't seem to supply a VGA type connector. The monitor given is an official Apple item.

[tokyoracer]

Quick guess, at work and haven't looked up any details on this model, but given mention of the framebuffer...  Checked inside to see if someone pulled all the RAM?  Most valuable part of the machine back when we things could be $100/MB.    Edit: Because IIRC most models could still 'bing' without the RAM (who knows how much money they spent on that feature?) ... and second guess would be to try the usual Command-Opt-P-R trick or whatever the "parameter RAM" reset is for that model.

Old Macs (and even PPC is old, now) are interesting as far as the Classic OS being... sufficiently different, but they're not all that fun, since they're all basically just a CPU hooked up to a framebuffer... very expensive pizza boxes, sorta... but almost everything was back then.

No there is RAM located in the 2 slots in the middle of the motherboard (both are used) and there is 2 slots on the left hand side of the motherboard (of which 1 is free).
As for the Command-Opt-P-R trick", sorry if im being a bit thick here but if thats a keyboard input then im not sure were them keys are.

[tokyoracer]

If it has no picture at all,return it ;unless you bought it completely as-is AND didn't try it out  first.
 In that case,you may REALLY have been had.
 Recheck your connections,make sure both monitor and cpu power switches on,etc.
 The computer itself should make a musical sound if ok on startup,the sound of breaking glass if not.

The sound it makes is defernately not breaking glass, a chord sound of some sort. Preferbly if it is the monitor at fault then i'd rather hold onto it even if it was a bit of a rip-off.

Take a look here and here.

Thanks for that! I done exacly that upon boot-up but nothing sadly.

[tokyoracer]

From memory the 6100 is one of those beige macs that needs a powertoggle to get started when the internal battery is flat.

Turn it on for about 10 seconds, with its black screen and non-booting, then turn it off/on quickly. If all goes well, it should boot up with a display.

She boots! Thanks danamania!

EDIT: So far as I can tell it runs pretty smooth and quick. Il still be hunting for upgrades though (if any).

[tokyoracer]

Hi,

@tokyoracer

Hey man, Wayne is totally right, I shouldn't have down played your MAC, I hate apple computers for several different reasons, none of which have to do with computing, just personnal reasons of some of the people who owned them in the past. I really know jack about any apple product. Anyhow I have a whole bunch of vintige computers that I pick up cheap at flea markets, or yard sales. I recently bought a 233 mhz toshiba laptop and a 450 mhz micronpc transport lite II, both for $30.

Enjoy your MAC and don't let anyone ride you (like me) for buying vintige computers. I have more fun with the vintige stuff than I do with my quadcore super gamming computer. It is a lot of fun looking for software, tips on using your model of computer etc.

I sort of used your post to troll for the mac fans, I forgot that Wayne owned a MAC.

Sorry Wayne (still friends I hope)

Hey enjoy your computer, have fun with it, it will be a new experience finding things out about it. Maybe someday I will buy an old mac just to see what it can do, but right now I am having fun with two ancient laptops. Once again sorry, sometimes I get carried away and insert foot into mouth and forget that computer where meant to be fun.

smerf

Dont worry about it smerf, im not well up on this and you (and others) have pointed out this one was a bit of a basic model. Though it is not my intentions to keep it like that. Your totally forgiven.

Forgot all about the 'breaking glass' (no RAM/hardware fault) vs. 'happy ding' sound - again, how much did that add to the cost back when singing greeting cards cost $20?  That power toggle trick was a similar concept.  A little Googling confirms the battery is a replaceable lithium, so you won't have to worry about leaks but might want to find a replacement if it forces you to do this dance every time you want to boot it.

Now that you've proved it wasn't gutted, you probably want to see if you can find the Apple System Profiler somewhere on it and check whether it's bone stock or already has some sort of CPU upgrade.  Though that might be hard to miss on those models, if you've opened it to check the RAM.

Well I know it has 16Mb of SIMM RAM but as that sort of RAM is dirt cheap I may aswell get 32Mb worth of the same make (the maximum). I will look on the Profiler and let you know the spec...
[EDIT] I cant find that "Apple System Profiler" software anywhere on the system. The only hardware spec I know is that it's a 60Hz PPC and has 16Mb of RAM.

[tokyoracer]

Finally got picures of it!

The Unit - http://i579.photobucket.com/albums/ss235/Solvalu/IMG_3107.jpg

The Monitor - http://i579.photobucket.com/albums/ss235/Solvalu/IMG_3109.jpg

[tokyoracer]

Games lol.

Year not great... Il keep an eye open for better ones. And get a CD drive at some point.

Anyone know a good forum for old Macs?