Table of Contents for this issue:
StyleWriter and PowerBook 160 Questions
Using PC RAM in Macs
Jag's Shareware Page: Progress
Speeding Up the Plus
Unique Plus Info; Just Say NO to Accelerators
Mac Plus Info; HD's, Accelerators, Utilities
Using a SuperDrive with System 7.1?
Request for the Mac Wizards Address
The Perfect Text-Only Browser: Lynx
Trouble Producing 400K Boot Disks
Building a Hardware-Handshaking Cable
Re: Modem Cable for Mac Plus
Mac Plus: Source for Kensington System Savers
E-mail Access Sans Software?
Problems with Eudora 1.1.5 and PB 100
System 7.0.1 en español

[NOTE: Subject lines may be changed for clarity, and the matching subject
line of the original post will be changed as well to facilitate text search
functions.]

I guess the original Stylewriter is qualified for inclusion in this list.
I just got one from a friend and have found out why I got it. When the
paper begins the feed process just before it starts actually printing, the
power cuts out. Everytime. On a Mac SE, Mac II or Power Mac 6100. Must
be some system overload somewhere. Anybody have any ideas.

george

I have a PowerBook 160 which I just opened up for a little surgery. One of
the case screws on the bottom, rear was stripped and unremovable. I
resorted to drilling out the center of the screw and ultimately popping the
head of the screw off. When inside I found the reason for the problem -
the brass stud that the screw attachs to had loosened from its plastic
holder and was turning freely. Looking more closely I found that the outer
plastic casing into which the stud is placed was cracked in several places.
So was the one on the opposite side, so I figure it won't last through too
many more openings itself. I'm loath to dump superglue into the innards of
such a machine, but am not sure what else to do to either fix or replace
these weak points. Any ideas, especially from someone who has had similar
probs, are welcome.

george
http://www2.gol.com/users/mudshark/

I have 8 1mb PC 30pin SIMMs that I would like to use in a SE/30. Is
there any possible harm that could come to the SE/30?

[MODERATOR'S NOTE: Not if it's parity RAM. Please see the Classic Mac
Archives at http://www.zws.com/classicmacs and review other Digests; there
have been MANY posts on this very subject.]

I'm SLOWLY getting to all the shareware and converting them to REAL
.sit.hqx files. SO far, I've done all the shareware thru the "Get Your
Classic Mac on the Web" tips section (including the DA PiggyBack, Text
F-Kay, etc).

Give me a few more days and ALL of the shareware will be .sit.hqx

Thanks
JAG

A weird little oasis on the web. Download my Subgenius music, Mac
shareware, other assorted waste of bandwidth.
Http://www.eden.com/~arena/jagshouse/jagshouseone.html

In regards to the post regarding speeding up the pokey mac Plus..
Sun remarketing outta Logan,Utah sells a BRAINSTORM card which
speeds one's PLUS to that of a mac II.. The cards are new in the
box with instructions...cost is 79.00 PLUS shipping..probably the
cheepest on the web..unless you found a good USED one..

Would the ALMIGHTY Powerbook 100, and the color classic be considered
part of the 'classic mac' family ?

[MODERATOR'S NOTE: Yes.]

Nick

All it needs is a Mac Plus compatible external hard drive. I will buy
one in the next two weeks.

I have a MacPlus that I purchased with 2 HD20 Macintosh Hard Drives for
$25. These drives connect not to the SCSI port but to the drive port
where an external floppy drive plugs in. I dont know if you are
supposed to do this or not, but I daisy chain two of these drives and an
external floppy drive to this port. The advantages of these drives are:

1.Compatibility-they were designed to work with these older macs
2.Price-they should be pretty cheap used (though they were $1250
each new!)
3.Made by Apple & they look cool with a plus!

The disadvantages of these drives are:
1.20mb size is pretty small
2.Drive port is MUCH slower than the SCSI port
3.Size-they're kinda big (same footprint as the plus and 3.5" high)
4.Access/read times VERY slow compared to new drives
5.Age-mine work fine but all electronics have a certain lifespan
and hard drives have mechanical parts inside

One caveat for Mac 128k & Mac 512k owners with 68k ROMs: You guys need a
special HD20 init in your system folder to recognize these and other
storage devices larger than 400k! Mac Plus owners don't need to worry
though. :-)

The Mac Plus has a very wierd SCSI port. This is the only Mac that
requires that the the SCSI device provide some sort of 'termination
power'. If you are buying a new drive be sure that the power supply in
the external drive box does this! (A money back gurantee/no hassle
return policy is a great idea here.) Terminating the SCSI chain is also
a confusing issue. SCSI chains require termination on both the
beginning and end of the chain. Most people don't care/know about
termination on the beginning since Macs with internal HardDrives have
termination on the beginning of the SCSI chain built in. This is not
the case with the Plus. Also, some external drives are internally
terminated, others are not, others have switchable termination....

Check MacWeek for sources of new/used devices.

Also interested in maybe upgrading it with an accelerator.

Personally I would not recommend this. The powersupply in a Plus is
often finicky. They are not known to be robust. Age and heat (though
yours has a fan) are not your friends. Why tax the unit further with
the additional load of an accelerator?

Hope this helps. Feel free to contact me with any questions.
Tripp Frasch

For those of you looking for Mac Plus compatable HD's, I have found the
following sources on the net. Check their sites and call to get more
information.
---------
Nexcomp: http://www.go-nexus-go.com/nexcomp/parts.html

Quantun 40 MB externals: $65
Quantum 80 MB extrenals: $85
Maxtor 213 MB externals: $129

They also have 1 MB 30 pin simms for $6 each. Now's the time to get that Plus
or SE up to 4 MB!

They also have some good prices if you have an external SCSI case with no HD,
as well as power supplies, etc.
--------
MediaGuide http://www.mediaguide.com/catalog.html

Apple 20SC external 20 MB hard drive: $39
(I am not sure of this is the SCSI or the floppy port drive for the 512k)

They also have some good prices if you have an external SCSI case with no HD,
as well as power supplies, etc.
---------
Power-On Line http://poweron-line.com/hd.htm

40 MB IBM w/Apple E-PROM: $45
40 MB IBM: $25 (likely needs 3rd party driver sw)
160MB IBM (not for LC use): $65
80MB Apple w/Apple E-PROM: $55

SCSI Case w/HD purchase: $39 w/o HD purchase: $49

Also some nice prices on 4x CD-ROM internal drives and CD-ROM SCSI cases.
----------
MacResQ http://www.macresq.com/PartsParts/index.shtml

80 MB: $29
120 MB: $49

Add $60 for external. Both types are listed as used.
-----------

There is also a company in Mass. (?) called Pre-Owened Electronics that deals
with reconditioned Mac stuff. Their prices are higher, but they supposedly
thoroughly recondition and test everything they sell. Sorry, I don't have a
phone # handy (it's at home). They had 80 MB HDs listed specifically for the
Plus, but they wanted $149, as I recall.

DISCLAIMER. I have no connections, financial or otherwise, with any of these
firms. Also, I have never bought from any of them (although I know of nothing
that would prevent me from doing so). All information provided as information
only. Caveat emptor.

Personal experience with HDs and the Plus: I got along fine with a 52MB
Quantum mechanism for years. Until I got on the 'net. I personally would not
recommend anything less than 80 MB for a Plus with 'net usage - even if it's
just e-mail, news groups, and ftp. There's a lot of older sw out there that
still works on a Plus and you'll wind up downloading a lot of it to try; 20-40
MB just won't cut it (I never thought I'd say that about the HD size for a
Plus!).

And, by all means, upgrade your RAM t0 4 MB; you'll be glad you did! Best way
to speed up a Plus, short of a MicroMac accelerator (which, BTW, are on a
GREAT price reduction for the older Macs! Go to
http://www.micromac.com/index_f.html and check it out.)

BTW for those of you who were interested in Norton Utilities 2.0 (which comes
on 800k disks): the place I got my copy, Software Outlet
(http://www.softwareoutlet.com/mac.htm) has it again listed on their web site
for $19.95. I have bought several titles from them (including 7.5 on an Apple
Developer's Kit CD-ROM for $10) and never had a problem. They have lots of sw
that will run on a Plus.

(I am not asscoiated with any of these firms, either.)

If I find a source for the old Apple 20MB and 40MB drives specifically for the
Plus, I'll post it. Happy hunting!

Regards,
Robert Eye

Hrm... I'm asking another question before people had a chance to respond
to my previous one. Is this list abuse yet?

As some of you may recall, I'm in the process of kitting out an SE/30
8/160 for my girlfriend's birthday. A large part of my plan was going to
be based on downloading stuff on the IBM and then disking it over to the
Mac... however, this plan was killed and maimed when I learned that
System 7.1, which came loaded on the SE/30, will apparently not use the
Superdrive to read PC disks.

By the time I got to the store(S!) to look for 7.5, all the copies had
been sent back in favor of 7.6, and the best price I found was $100 if I
special ordered 7.5 *groan*. (Happy Side Note: I ended up finding the
Mac Internet Starter Kit in a discount bin for $17, so that worked out
okay.) However I'd still like to be able to use the Superdrive... is
there any kind of third party/add-on thing I can get for 7.1 that will
let me mount PC disks?

Thanks again, o ye Mac Lords. And Ladies. And um... jesters and stuff.

Giles

Howdy -

I've seen several references to Mac Wizards but though I've searched the
Mac-Classic archives, I have found no information on how to subscribe.

If someone could post this, I would be grateful.

Many thanks,
Matt Hanes

David & NeonGooch:

You guys might be happy with Lynx. Lynx is a test only web browser that
runs in a UNIX environment (Also under OpenVMS). Ask for a 'shell'
account from your local ISP, and ask if they support Lynx. Usually all
you will have to do is connect using any modem on any Mac (this will
probably even work on a 128k or 512k machine if you can get a modem to
work with it), login to the UNIX system and type 'lynx' and away you go.
It's fast (i.e. no graphics) and the newer versions of lynx such as
2.7.1 (which is running on a PowerMac 6100/66av running MkLinux that a
friend of mine and I admin) support many of the newer features of HTML.
This should be a lot more fun than gopher sites.

NeonGooch: Fetch 3.0.3 is out and available at the usual places such as
Dartmouth. I find it to be a bit more stable.

Hope this helps,
Tripp Frasch

>>From: David Buchner
>>Subject: Low-level Formatting; Abandoning the Web

******** I am close to deciding to turn my back on "the web." Tired of
MacWeb crashing on my 68000 powerbook100. Tired of slow loading and a flood
of Noise. Just started using TurboGopher, what an elegant and spartan
arrangement, by comparison. I don't want to "browse" or "surf" -- I just
want to look stuff up and GET it. Sadly, many of the gopherservers seem to
have been shut down. I'd welcome anyone's up-to-date listings of
interesting Gophers. If I learned to write software, it would be to come up
with an indestructably stable, text-only web browser. ***********

David Buchner

Oh Please do! A good stable text only web browser that doesn't try to do
everything would be great. It should also be able to access pages on the hard
drive as I find that to be the best place to keep your home page full of
links. I don't see a need for it to try to translate everything either, I
know how to launch stuffit expander or whatever. It does need to show links,
this is needed for the more graphic sites, to get around in text. It should
be very system compatable and machine compatable, even system 6 on a Plus (OK
system 7.0 on a Plus if I must). Kinda' Fetch 3.0.1, but for WWW pages
instead.

NeonGooch.

I have a problem pertaining to the long term storage and retrieval of
bootable disks for the 128 and 512:

To support my little collection of 128's and 512's, I have old System
disks dating back to January 1984. I save the 400K disks as Disk Copy 4.2
images, and have always been able to create new bootable 400K disks for the
128 on my Quadra 700. This procedure is utterly reliable.

A few weeks ago I got a Power Mac 9600. Now when I try to make a 128
boot disk on the 9600, Disk Copy reports that the "Disk was
successfully..." but in fact it will not boot the 128. The 128 never even
gets as far as a Smiling Mac. Oddly, this same disk will boot just fine on
a 512 or Plus.

As an experiment, I tried pulling the old FDHD from my Quadra and
sticking it in the 9600, but the 9600 didn't like that too much; it started
wildly cycling the eject mechanism! Oops! Next, I tried the old Disk Copy
procedure on a friend's Performa 5200 CD. The disk produced on that machine
boots the 128 just fine, too.

So, the question is, what's different about my 9600? I notice that the
floppy drive is a Panasonic instead of a Sony; could that be the
difference? BTW, every machine I have mentioned here was running System
7.5.5, so that's not a factor.

If you have any clues, let me know. If you want a 400K System Disk
Image, let me know and I'll email it to you.

Jon

Hi there sgf1001

What you want is a cable that supports a connection to pin #4 of the
25pin connector.

That allows "hardware" handshaking" of the modem. You need this when you
set your serial port to a speed not EXACTLY the same as your mdoem
connect speed.

I say anything higher than 9.6kbps... mostly 14.4 where your serial is
19.2kbps or 28.8kbps where your serial speed is 38.4kbps or 56kbps.

The pin 4 RTS signals the modem and computer to control the flow of data
without overrunning the buffer...

Some cables do not have that extra pin wired up. Go to the electronics
shop and have them check the cable before you buy it. Use an ohmmeter to
check continuity between pin 4 of the large 25pin connector and a pin of
the little round "mini-din" that goes onto your Mac... here's a rough
ascii drawing of the Mac connector:

. . .
. . .
x .
| |

the x marks the pin you want to connect to RTS pin 4 of the db25 male
connector.

If you don't have that connection, it will guarantee that a 14.4 connect
or higher will produce some errors...

Good Luck!
=brian

Saul Frampton wrote:

What cable to I need to connect a normal Sportster modem to a Mac Plus. Is
it just a standard mac modem cable? I'd heard that the plus has a different
(DB9?) serial port and this needs a special cable.

A regular Mac modem cable should work. That's what we used to connect the
14.4 Supra to the Plus.

Regards -
Tauni

Tauni Arntsen Sandy
http://www.orst.edu/~arntsent/

I thought you Mac Plus owners might be interested in this.

I just received a e-mailing from Innovative Data Solutions. Part of the
mailing follows:

"MISC HARDWARE
-------------
Kensington SystemSaver fan for Mac Plus/SE. Provides enhanced cooling to
prevent premature failure of power supply (a common problem in the Plus). Has
two switched AC outlets. Two available. $10 each, plus shipping"

They can answer any questions and provide terms and conditions of sale if you
give them a call (I chose not to post their terms and conditions here for
brevity). Their company info is as follows:

INNOVATIVE DATA SOLUTIONS 305/451-4560
218 Second Street 305/451-2411 Fax
Key Largo, FL 33037-4837 800/370-6227 (orders only)

I have never bought from them so I don't know what they are like, but I have
not seen any negatives on them in the news groups. I have no interest,
financial or otherwise, in the company.

They do credit cards and prepaids, but no CODs or POs.

I DO know that the Kensington System Saver does a GREAT job of keeping the Mac
Plus cool. I still have one on mine that I got last summer, and there is a
NOTICEABLE reduction in temperature when it is on versus when it is off. A
very good (and cheap!) investment if you want to keep your Plus cool and happy.

Regards,
Robert Eye

Here's a simple question:

I have a Mac SE with 1mb ram and a broken floppy drive
(that i don't plan to fix). Right now i still have my
college account that i dial into from my apartment for email
even though i no longer attend college.

I assume i will imminently lose my account so i need to
find another source for email.

Do any of the national ISPs provide email only accounts
and more importantly can i use them without having to use
their software (broken floppy drive, remember!)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

be net via netscape 1.12...but the main FOCUS is to simply
get email from EUDORA 1.1.5 ....

load it into the PB 100.set up proper addresses etc....install mac tcp 2.0.6,
everything seems a-ok.....I'm running 8mb of ram (max 4 the 100)

click on connect...get the message unknown application quits due to type 2
ERROR!

tech support here in memphis sezs 'ram problem' that's not acceptable..because
my neighbour few doors down,using the same net server is surfing wie net via netscape 1.12...but the main FOCUS is to simply
get email from EUDORA 1.1.5 ....

load it into the PB 100.set up proper addresses etc....install mac tcp 2.0.6,
everything seems a-ok.....I'm running 8mb of ram (max 4 the 100)

click on connect...get the message unknown application quits due to type 2
ERROR!

tech support here in memphis sezs 'ram problem' that's not acceptable..because
my neighbour few doors down,using the same net server is surfing with a basic
SE-30, with 8mb of ram,mac os 7.5 .....

if my memory serves me right...type 2 error is bad address or something..

could it be that the PB is 24 bit..and not 32 bit..so even though I cannot
load ram doubler on the PB 100, could I add MODE 32 to it??

any ideas?

speaking of mac books.....the following are outta print, but WELL worth the
effort to seek them out in used book stores or yard sales....

' UPGRADE your MAC and SAVE a BUNDLE!' Bob Brant Windcrest/McGraw-hill
1991..435 pages upgrades and much more from mac PLUS, SE,SE-30,mac II,IIcx,
PORTABLE..and more..chock ful of photos..a treasure trove of info!

'Macintosh repair and upgrade secrets' for models 128K to mac SE
by Larry Pina,(THE OAF's guru and god) Hayden books 1990
comes with a floppy..'test pattern generator & diagnostic' fer the
above macs....

anyhow....

as ELVIS would say in rapid fire..'THANKYOUVERYMUCH'

Nick
Memphis

Thanks to all who helped me with the LC RAM trouble. My battery went out,
and I just replaced it. If 24/32 bit addressing selection is in the PRAM,
maybe it was OK before, and turned itself to 24-bit when the battery was
replaced. Could that be? Anyway, it is well now. Thanks again.

Where can I get System 7.0.1 (in Spanish, if possible). I got that with the
first Classic II I bought, and now one of the disks has something wrong,
and I can't install the System from that set of disks. I know that this
version should be available at some Apple site, but I just don't know
where. I have tried a couple of ftp sites, but I haven't found the 7.0.1
disk images (I found it, in Russian, at ftp.apple.support.com. Could anyone
point me to the right web or ftp site, and (if possible) to the right
directory?

[MODERATOR'S NOTE: If no one can suggest a site for the Spanish version,
then I can take the English version and translate it for you into Spanish
using ResEdit to change all text. Yo he tenido tres años de español en el
bachillerato, y creo que puedo hacerlo sin problemas.)

Oscar Chavez
Ciudad de Mexico