tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60497592841032516302012-01-27T14:32:13.379-05:00The Vintage Mac Museum is a working collection of the pre-Intel Apple Macintosh:<br>68k and PowerPC Macinti, old Mac software, and period advertising &amp; memorabilia.<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.comBlogger581100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-47519781756766513062012-01-21T19:27:00.004-05:002012-01-21T19:36:20.053-05:00

Technology advances at a rapid clip, and what was once new and cutting edge becomes old relatively quickly. Many of us look back at old technologies with nostalgia for simpler times - or relief that they're gone - but for a small group of professionals old software holds much more current interest. Patent lawyers frequently work on cases involving software that is at least one of two decades

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-15988191892040970562012-01-07T17:09:00.005-05:002012-01-07T17:37:35.444-05:00

Since buying and acquiring old computers isn't generally something you can do at your local store, shipping is frequently a part of the process. For small items sent domestically, via ground services, this isn't usually a big expense. But for international addresses or heavy items, shipping costs can quickly add up to a large fraction of the purchase or sale price - a key factor for items which

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-69942489934560368332011-12-26T09:45:00.009-05:002012-01-08T11:13:43.663-05:00

The Vintage Mac Museum tends to get several emails per month from people with older model Macinti, looking to sell their systems and wondering how much they're worth. Being familiar with old Macs and visible on the web, I understand why folks are asking me this question. But the problem is this can be a tough value to determine, especially as a frugal Mac collector and professional Macintosh

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-59325856348904532662011-11-19T22:59:00.005-05:002011-11-20T10:31:34.740-05:00

As a potential destination for disposing of old, unwanted Apple crap - err, I mean as Curator of the Vintage Mac Museum - I am contacted fairly regularly by folks who are looking for good homes for their old equipment. A few months ago one such query came from a fellow with a few old Mac drives, several piles of software on floppy disks, and one never-say-die behemoth called the Apple

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-65039820973652400872011-10-06T19:23:00.004-04:002011-10-06T19:31:23.508-04:00

  If I had to name the single person who has had the most impact on both my personal and professional lives (besides my family), it would have to be Steve Jobs. I was wowed by the Macintosh from the first time I saw that 1984 commercial - during the Super Bowl - and became a Mac user soon after. That computer and the company behind it saw me through college, a professional career using Macs,

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-42106088901174687322011-09-18T21:03:00.000-04:002011-09-18T21:03:55.447-04:00

Regular readers of this blog know that I've found many of my old Macs at the MIT Flea in Cambridge, MA. This geek flea market happens April through October on the third Sunday of the month in a parking garage on campus. It's not an official MIT sponsored event, started out as a ham radio swapfest decades ago. These days you can find old tech of all kinds and ages, from vacuum tubes to SSD

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-85324290969181698382011-09-15T21:44:00.001-04:002011-09-15T21:46:14.784-04:00

Back at the turn of the century everyone was worried about the Y2K bug, the potential for our computing infrastructure to go awry and wreak havoc when the year 2000 arrived. Dates coded with only two digits would roll over from 99 to 00, resetting the clock back to the year 1900. Catastrophe did not strike but the problem was a nuisance, requiring updated software to deal with the date change.

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-74141014390396937822011-07-30T12:00:00.015-04:002011-07-30T21:42:28.656-04:00

Old Macs hold many charms, for both their original owners and Macintosh collectors. However it's risky to run your business on decades old computer technology. A recent combination of a working Mac IIvx, an electrical storm with nearby lightning strikes, and a subsequent flashing question mark at startup were all the ingredients needed for a Vintage Mac Crisis. The IIvx had lovingly been in

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-55437099132834249512011-07-08T09:24:00.005-04:002011-07-08T09:35:19.988-04:00

Ten years ago back in 2001, Apple released its long-awaited new operating system Mac OS X. That summer I picked up a Mac Plus at the MIT Flea, and downloaded some early Mac system disk images. Soon, across from each other in my small apartment sat the past and present of the Macintosh lineage: a classic Mac running System Software version 1, and a modern Mac running Mac OS X. For a geek, this

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-8352091846888561972011-06-19T18:13:00.002-04:002011-06-19T18:18:54.318-04:00

The mid-1990s were low point for Apple. The Mac's market share plummeted, a series of CEOs came and went, and the company was routinely referred to in the press as Beleagured Apple Computer. It was a tough time to be an Apple developer. How quickly things change. By 1998 Steve Jobs was again at the helm, the iMac was released and the Mac was Back! Apple wanted to promote its developer

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-57533396035352551732011-05-18T21:00:00.017-04:002011-05-18T22:29:10.666-04:00

At the dawn of the Age of Macintosh, several groundbreaking pieces of software were released into the wild along with the computer itself. MacPaint and MacWrite harnessed the power of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) and that new-fangled input device, the mouse, to bring powerful graphics and publishing capabilities to the nascent platform. These basic but seminal tools set the tone for

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-16601957962877360712011-05-15T18:07:00.037-04:002011-07-30T21:49:56.377-04:00

The final release of Mac OS 9 occurred 10 years ago in 2001. Mac OS X was launched that same year, and Steve Jobs symbolically buried his old nemesis in 2002. The old Mac OS survived for another few years, running on dual-booting G4s or as Classic mode under OS X until the release of Leopard and the Intel Macs. Apple is a very forward thinking company, but sometimes you can't escape your

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-62326994186664937222011-04-03T21:15:00.021-04:002011-07-09T07:46:51.139-04:00

Reading data from old Mac disks and drives is one of the services I offer at Oakbog, I add new formats to the mix as needs demand (and costs are reasonable). Recently a client asked me what my current list was, so I spent a few hours doing an inventory of formats that I have available in the Vintage Mac Museum. I pulled out all the drives to do a beauty shot. Here's the list as of April 2011:

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-58493567134309644572011-03-18T18:23:00.032-04:002011-08-06T07:44:30.694-04:00

The PowerMac G4 MDD was Apple's last Mac capable of dual-booting into both Mac OS 9 and OS X. The last of the G4 towers, this model was originally introduced in 2002, briefly evolved into an OS X-only configuration with FireWire 800 in 2003, then returned to the original design for another year. Due to the need for some customers to run Mac OS 9 for several years after the introduction of OS X

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-38002337351553920782011-02-26T20:09:00.032-05:002011-02-27T10:48:39.290-05:00

Most of the file transfer work done at the Mac Museum involves fairly common vintage formats - MacWrite, Microsoft Word and Excel, MacDraw, etc.. A recent request for assistance involved bringing some old music files back to life in a variety of ways. My client was a classical music composer who had his body of work in an old format called Professional Composer running on a Mac IIsi with System

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-56309119165606481992011-02-05T18:20:00.025-05:002011-02-05T19:54:22.406-05:00

The PowerMac G4 is one of Apple's most successful and longest-running series of machines. Spanning the transition from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X and providing good value for the money, G4-based systems are still in use more than 10 years after the architecture debuted. Yet not all models were smash hits on arrival. Rounding out the set of VMM Workhorses is one of the most iconic designs, and flops,

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-73115751858226095982011-01-09T16:48:00.003-05:002011-01-09T17:00:13.530-05:00

The PowerPC G3 CPU is ideal to run software from the final years of the Classic Mac OS era. Its design is optimized for the core assembly language routines of the Blue Box (aka System 7, Mac OS 8 and 9) and it spans a wide variety of Old World (beige) and New World (colored) Macs. Perhaps not surprisingly, one of the most used machines in the Vintage Mac Museum is a PowerBook G3.VMM Workhorse -

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-52184950013009575042011-01-04T22:40:00.013-05:002011-01-04T23:15:28.721-05:00

With the recent sale of an Apple 1 computer at a Christie's auction for $213,600 (after taxes), and the (former) Mac Museum of Franklin Park NJ selling on eBay for $10,000, there's been some interest from the antiques marketplace in ancient Apples. Are old Macs becoming valuable investments yet? Antique Week contacted me last month while researching this question. Short answer: not yet. Few

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-77917397220141675532010-12-10T17:38:00.021-05:002010-12-10T18:54:18.405-05:00

The 68k Macintosh era spanned over a decade and four generations of Motorola processors. The first VMM Workhorse, the Mac Plus, used an 8MHz 68000 CPU as found in the original 128k Mac. At the other end of the spectrum is the Motorola 68040 CPU and the Macintosh Quadra line. These speedy machines (for their day) remain useful today as bridge machines between the very old and the less old among

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-32655082540317765092010-11-30T17:04:00.028-05:002010-11-30T19:16:51.550-05:00

The Vintage Mac Museum contains several dozen models of Macs, but most only get used occasionally. A few carefully chosen machines are all that are really needed to bridge the generations and provide access to the vast majority of Macintosh software and files. With the arrival of a few large file transfer jobs at Oakbog - one contained 111 floppy disks worth of archives - I thought I'd devote a

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-68204695712858071722010-10-17T20:28:00.023-04:002010-10-20T20:07:51.667-04:00

A few weeks ago I was talking with a couple Geniuses at my local Apple Store, and the subject of Vintage Macs came up. Apple has been around long enough that it's not uncommon for some store employees not to have been born when I started using the Mac, but these guys were pretty knowledgeable. After some discussion about SE/30s and Mac LCs, one of them mentioned an old animation called Pencil

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-18952585935763761482010-08-29T01:32:00.023-04:002010-08-29T09:21:11.975-04:00

Summer's winding down, and with the change in season come migrations of various sorts. One this year involves a friend and fellow Mac consultant who is moving out of state. He is heading West, and a few of his old Macs have migrated to the Vintage Mac Museum.The first is a Macintosh Portable, Apple's initial attempt at freeing your Mac from your desk. At 16 pounds with included lead-acid

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-57293246097315503452010-08-15T09:48:00.021-04:002010-08-15T12:03:31.491-04:00

The iPad is all the rage today, but Apple's been working on tablet computers for a long time. The Newton is the obvious example of an ancestral form of iDevice, but it was far from the only (or oldest) concept Apple dallied with. While doing some research online I came across these photos of early Apple prototype tablet. Designed as concept pieces in 1983 (pre-Macintosh) by the legendary Frog

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-56486014140906648562010-07-31T19:38:00.067-04:002012-01-03T10:39:43.526-05:00

I got the email on a Wednesday afternoon: Guy Kawasaki was releasing his work The Macintosh Way as a free eBook, and was looking for help to promote the effort. A group of local companies in Cambridge MA had volunteered to digitize the book and produce a promotional video, and they in turn were looking for some old working Macs on short notice. A few tweets later they learned of my old Mac

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-29905485501720799132010-07-18T19:18:00.019-04:002011-07-30T21:53:20.269-04:00

Back in the 68k era Apple used small form factor 2.5" SCSI hard drives in the PowerBook 100, 500 and Duo lines of notebooks. Use of the SCSI format provided compatibility with desktop Macs of the same era and permitted the use of external SCSI Disk Mode - the precursor to today's Target Disk Mode. The 2.5" SCSI form factor was not widely used throughout the industry, however. Most vendors (and

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-82418408200659927382010-06-21T18:01:00.008-04:002010-06-21T18:15:10.263-04:00

And in this case, it's authors:Inside the Apple MacintoshJim Heid and Peter Norton, 1988. Two names which have become legends... Found this at the Flea. Peter "Dr. Utilities" Norton looks just like his photo (and animated avatar) from all those copies of Norton Utilities for Mac. His suave, cool certainty - and the tie - helped calm many a nerve when an Undelete was needed. Meanwhile Jim Heid

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-68492369728893850062010-06-14T07:02:00.024-04:002010-07-24T09:07:31.719-04:00

Today I'm happy to announce Vintage Mac Museum TV, a new addition to the VMM website. Over the years I've acquired a lot of Apple marketing and promotional materials related to the Mac, in addition to the systems themselves. As we know Apple excels in this field, and much of their advertising remains impressive and enjoyable many years later.I have copies of old Apple ads and promo videos

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-28171212325426467452010-05-18T08:12:00.026-04:002010-05-18T15:54:48.010-04:00

This past Sunday was the monthly MIT Flea, always a worthwhile event for geeks and a good source of old Macs for the collection.  I picked up a PowerBook Duo 280c, a 68LC040 version of Apple's mid-90s sub-notebook, along with more old Mac floppy and Zip drives. I already have a Duo 230 but what caught my eye about this one was the sticker next to the screen: Ready for PowerPC UpgradeThe 280c was

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-59232931307333685512010-05-08T21:11:00.070-04:002012-01-03T10:32:35.085-05:00

As someone who works with vintage Macinti I get contacted occasionally by people who still have files on the hard drives of their old Macs but aren't sure how to move them to a newer machine. These are typically SCSI-based systems with floppy drives. They might also be early iMacs or other models without FireWire. Sometimes the old Mac is still working, sometimes not. As long as the hard drive

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-8324855308138509492010-04-15T21:38:00.025-04:002010-05-09T08:09:33.797-04:00

As many collectors know there's usually more to a collection than what gets displayed. Space constraints play the largest role, as does redundancy of items and an often seemingly bottomless pile of new stuff to go through. Rarely seen are my systems not on display and the large quantities of spare parts necessary to keep one-to-two-decade old machines running. The VMM currently takes up all or

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-73183870426315478472010-03-31T17:07:00.024-04:002010-04-04T08:20:09.553-04:00

The VMM grows in fits and spurts. Nothing happens for a while, then a bunch of donations occur or a particular model hits the point of "no commercial value" and becomes available in bulk on craigslist or at the local flea market. The PowerMac G4 MDD tower, aka the "Wind Tunnel" Mac, appears to have reached this point.The PowerMac G4 MDD (Mirrored Drive Doors) was the final iteration of the very

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-2945827638799853502010-03-13T21:38:00.016-05:002010-07-24T09:11:04.734-04:00

In addition to the multitude of Macs in the VMM, I have several items from other Apple product lines which seem to fit the Macintosh Zeitgeist. The Lisa is one such product; the Newton is another.As many Apple fans know, the Newton was the first Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). The brainchild of then-Apple-CEO John Sculley, the Newton was the grandfather of the Palm Pilot, Blackberry, and

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-52111426068985244722010-02-14T19:48:00.027-05:002010-02-16T08:51:05.335-05:00

One of the things which makes Mac files different from their DOS and UNIX brethren is the inclusion of metadata in the file called "type" and "creator" codes. A part of the Macintosh file system from the very beginning, these two codes convey important information about what kind of document a file is and what program created the file.The type and creator codes are four character strings, e.g.,

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-56368980470141704002010-01-22T21:11:00.024-05:002010-01-22T21:41:55.442-05:00

One of the things I enjoy as a Vintage Mac Collector is getting contacted by people around the country (and beyond) who are looking for new homes for their old Macs. Often several times a month I receive notes such as these:Mac friend, I was just about to take a bunch of older Macs to the dumpster or to Goodwill. Are you interested in anything more for your museum? ... Thanks for what you're

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-83432716396085536652009-12-27T11:01:00.014-05:002009-12-27T12:02:41.663-05:00

Greetings and Happy Holidaze from Boston! A few recent donations to the Mac Museum got me musing about unusual bits of PowerBook Esoterica, and how good ideas are often repeated but skip product generations. A colleague of mine recently donated a PowerBook 3400c and assorted box of Mac items to me, which I was happy to give a good home. The 3400c was the top of the line PowerBook in the pre-G3

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-18628467878905797642009-12-03T00:02:00.011-05:002009-12-03T00:53:19.913-05:00

Haven't had a lot of time recently to attend to VMM tasks, dealing with issues on other fronts: home repairs, car repairs, Thanksgiving weekend, and (fortunately) a busy consulting schedule. Just a few vintage odds and ends between other projects.I have enough classic Macs now (512k/Plus/SE variants) that when I get new ones I tear them down for useable parts - logic board, power supply, screens

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-79970587409197001522009-11-19T20:25:00.063-05:002011-04-23T15:00:50.754-04:00

With most Mac collectors the beginning of one's collection is usually a rather random event. We have either been given or somehow acquired an old Macintosh, or decided to pickup a piece of our computing past. One model becomes two, then four, and soon the first space constraints emerge. Another Mac Collection is born.The Vintage Mac Museum (Boston, MA, US) had such roots, beginning in 2001 with

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-35140998146494443052009-11-06T21:27:00.019-05:002009-11-06T22:46:31.881-05:00

A nice reminder this week of the value of old Macs, and a bit of crossover between Current and Vintage Macintosh computing. Always an enjoyable Low End Mac experience!I recently acquired several old Macs while working with a client, one of which was an eMac. The eMac is a very capable G4-based system, the descendent of the G3 iMac. Originally designed for the education market (hence e-Mac), it

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-89960110409576600922009-10-30T20:14:00.033-04:002009-10-31T13:42:50.629-04:00

Several months ago I mentioned that a pair of Apple Lisa computers were donated to the Vintage Mac Museum (see: Lisa Joins the Family and Why We Collect). The Lisa is a seminal item, both in general computing and Apple Macintosh history, and I'm lucky to have a pair that even partially work.The resurrecting experience to date has been most challenging, and has only just begun.The First Challenge

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-1459783303915687162009-10-19T16:56:00.022-04:002009-10-19T17:39:41.181-04:00

I recently learned of a hidden capability of the Apple Installer application, namely the ability to display the installation log in real-time. While the Installer is running, choose Window --> Installer Log or type Command-L (aka Apple-L). If you then choose "Show Errors & All Progress" from the log window's popup menu, you'll be able to view what's happening while the wait cursor spins.I

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-89831547306297917512009-10-04T20:49:00.018-04:002009-10-04T22:42:54.900-04:00

Spent some time this weekend managing the growing piles o' stuff which accumulate at the VMM. It's an ongoing challenge to make sure the collection doesn't outgrow me in my own home, and one of the reasons the Museum is not a comprehensive one of all pre-Intel Macs made.I like to keep spares around of the models I collect, and have periodic tear-down sessions to extract key parts while reducing

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-40906198213237821172009-09-23T01:21:00.027-04:002009-09-27T15:22:24.348-04:00

One of my favorite Macs is the PowerBook G3 "Pismo", the final iteration of the black G3 lineage. The Pismo is a marvel of elegance, in terms of aesthetics, design and serviceability. It is very reliable and has been a favorite of Mac fans since it's introduction.Until last weekend I only had one Pismo in the collection. In order to keep the VMM functional I try to have redundancy among

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-7767288032675639982009-09-12T16:59:00.040-04:002009-09-13T23:54:14.715-04:00

So a few weeks ago I wrote about my experience assembling the World's Ugliest Jaz Drive, a 3.5" internal Jaz mechanism in an external SCSI enclosure. After criticizing the aesthetics of the beast, the end of my post fatefully noted that "hopefully it will even work when I need it."Well wouldn't you know, I didn't need to wait long to find out. A new client contacted me to ask if I could do some

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-4910536286559029142009-08-29T19:35:00.029-04:002009-08-30T11:21:40.176-04:00

Well the event was inevitable, but with the release of Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" Apple has officially ended Operating System development for PowerPC Macs. There will be Security Updates and other patches issued for 10.5.8 "Leopard" for some interim period, but even those will eventually stop by the time Mac OS X 10.7 "Name Your Big Cat" arrives.Apple's move to Intel processors has been a

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-46703619213245606822009-08-21T20:04:00.020-04:002009-08-29T19:21:37.850-04:00

Did a conversion job today for a client who had some files on old Mac floppy disks, he needed them useable on his PC. There were an assortment of old Word and Excel documents, along with a few MacDraw & MacDraw II files that needed migration. I was able to use my trusty PowerBook G3 Wallstreet (Mac OS 9.2.2) for the task.Most people don't need to manipulate their old drawings, just view and

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-64806547181390381462009-08-17T15:15:00.016-04:002009-09-26T11:25:39.465-04:00

This weekend was the August MIT Flea, a monthly all-things-geek flea market in Cambridge MA (computers, electronics, ham radio, etc.) - well worth attending if you're in the area when one occurs. Not a big haul this time, but I did pickup a couple of Iomega Jaz drives, in varying states of useability, in my quest to support more older Mac formats for my file transfer work.For those who don't

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-5552506149576930752009-08-05T08:12:00.005-04:002009-08-05T08:27:21.145-04:00

An amusing reminder this week of the march of progress. I need to write floppy disks from time to time in the VMM, generally creating installers from disk images or transferring data to/from really old Macs. From donations to the Museum I have a large box of used disks ready for reformatting - which works about 2/3 of the time - but a dwindling supply of floppy disk labels.Went over to the huge

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-38571878343009588132009-07-29T23:02:00.022-04:002010-07-24T09:12:41.121-04:00

One of the services I provide with the Museum is old Mac file transfers and conversions, allowing people with data created in obsolete Macintosh software a way to retrieve and access this information. Sometimes it's possible to run the old files through a batch converter like MacLinkPlus, but often it's necessary to actually run the old software and individually open each file, then do a Save As

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-33390437614001685812009-07-22T20:23:00.017-04:002009-07-25T09:12:53.821-04:00

What's that saying: art imitates life, which imitates art, which... Recently I wrote an article for my Low End Mac column about Tips for Installing or Reinstalling Mac OS X Tiger, based on the many experiences I've had in getting that OS installed onto a Mac. Since Tiger (the 10.4.x) series is now discontinued by Apple, it falls into the realm of systems I include in the Vintage Mac Museum. It

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-75810877145231785312009-07-15T07:55:00.027-04:002010-04-04T08:19:10.006-04:00

People ask me from time to time why I collect old Macs, and devote so much time and space in my home to such an endeavor. Partly it's fun, a reminder of my own computing past - I am a geek, after all - but mainly it's to preserve a shared past in a form to study and access in the present. Computer collectors don't do this for resale profit - it costs money to maintain the collection and

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-85755140311007571452009-07-11T00:35:00.013-04:002009-07-11T01:03:54.766-04:00

Acquired a major addition to the VMM today, a pair of Apple Lisa computers! Lisa is the Mac's predecessor (Older Sister) and the first GUI computer ever offered for retail sale. The Lisa is the system Apple developed after seeing the groundbreaking work being done at Xerox PARC on Graphical User Interfaces and a strange new interface device called the mouse. My units are Lisa 2 systems, the

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-57062272079036396262009-07-05T17:16:00.009-04:002009-07-05T17:33:48.983-04:00

Added some new photos to the existing bunch on my RetroMacCast page, these show a nice representation of the room and collection in it's current condition. Finally added some framed prints and other artwork to the walls for a finishing touch. Vintage Mac Museum Photos RetroMacCast is a weekly podcast about old Macs and related topics: http://retromaccast.ning.com

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-74064113565310661982009-06-21T13:30:00.009-04:002009-06-21T13:49:36.782-04:00

In preparation for the upcoming VMM Open House, I'm setting up a Mac 512k running System 1.1 from a 400k floppy disk. Last time I used the 512k (several years back) I had 2 working internal and external Single Sided drives, plus a few spares. However these old 400k mechanisms do not age well, the lubricants slowly dry up over time and then you can't insert or eject a disk. I primarily use a

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-77555657870599713802009-06-11T23:31:00.011-04:002009-06-14T09:22:29.777-04:00

Acquired a major pile o' stuff for the VMM this week, donated by a Cult of Mac member who wanted to see his old items go to a good home. My favorite way to grow the Museum!The batch included a Mac Plus and an SE/30 (neither fully functional but good for parts), an Apple ImageWriter I, MacWorld magazine issue #1 (in mint condition), a clean beige Mac carry bag with the Apple colored logo, and

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-1370479107552595192009-06-07T18:12:00.022-04:002009-06-08T08:06:58.206-04:00

Performed a rather straightforward Old Mac file transfer job this weekend, but it highlighted many of the issues involved in the retrieval process, so thought I'd post details here.My client sent four double-sided (800k) disks containing old research data in Microsoft Word v3 format. Three of the disks were readable right away with my Wallstreet floppy drive, but the fourth disk gave the dreaded

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-44170281766365731022009-06-05T20:08:00.018-04:002010-07-24T09:13:25.292-04:00

I'm lucky to already have many of the Macs I want for my Museum, but there are still a few rare or relatively current items which await addition to the collection. I checked another one off the list this week with acquisition of a PowerBook 2400c, a long awaited prize.As noted on my VMM website, the x400 series of portables (1400c, 2400c, 3400c) were a solid set of systems, after the lackluster

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-86234667888712637842009-06-02T21:00:00.014-04:002009-06-10T22:15:56.365-04:00

OK I need to start actually posting to this site so I can publicize it, no better time than the present!An interesting New and Vintage Mac mixed job last week. A client was migrating from an iMac G4 to a new (Unibody) MacBook. They also had an archive of ClarisWorks files on a Performa 62xx series machine that they wanted to use on the new laptop. And, they preferred to use ClarisWorks instead

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6049759284103251630.post-69888099400219762792009-05-17T14:18:00.021-04:002010-07-24T09:13:56.528-04:00

The Vintage Mac Museum is a working collection of 68k and PowerPC Macinti tracking the System Software, hardware design and period memorabilia of the pre-Intel Apple Macintosh. The Museum got started in the summer of 2001 while I was playing around with the then-just-released (and long awaited) MacOSX. Reminiscing a bit on Mac history, I realized I'd been a Macintosh user since the Mac Plus but

<b>Adam Rosen</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00837487730601384854noreply@blogger.com0