Yes, I saw that. What's still a little murky is how best to exploit the thing
in the context of "normal" (if there is such a thing) home computing. I
certainly don't know what's normal. There's software installed that's
undocumented (unsupported by registration doc's), so it will have to go, but I'm
not interested in going out and buying software to load the thing up so that it
can do some basic correspondence. They both have Claris Works loaded, but since
there's no CD and no doc, I have to say it's got to be flushed. Too bad since
that purports to have all the stuff that's needed. There's even a (single) copy
of the manual suggesting that the software stayed wherever these boxes came
from. (makes my skin crawl to end a sentence with a preposition, but it would
sound too "stilted" to construct the sentence correctly ... )
You've gathered by now, I'm sure, that there were actually two complete systems
rather than just one. One has a Stylewriter II and the other has a Color
Stylewriter 2400, not that I know what the differences are. Unlike what I
originally read the drive size to be, these are, indeed, the minimally equipped
Performa 630CD, with a CD, 8 MB of RAM and a 250 MB hard disk. They have
essentially useless (2400 Baud) GV Teleport Bronze modems, which I guess I'll
upgrade in order to make the system useful for internet browsing, and I suppose
it won't hurt to upgrade the things to 36 MB of RAM.
I'm still in the throes of figuring out how, exactly to equip these things with
"legal" software, or at least useable software that I can install myself, so
that I can get back to where I started if I have to, without having to make a
major investment. I've had some useful suggestions, and I'll get back to doing
this stuff after Turkey Day, since I have to put away my toys in the meantime.
My SO knows where I sleep, so I have to do this ... <sigh> ... the sacrifices
one makes ...
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Maginnis" <celt_at_chisp.net>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2001 9:52 AM
Subject: Re: OT: paging MAC expert(s) --- What's a Performa?
> Here's a pretty good description of what you've got:
>
> http://support.info.apple.com/info.apple.com/applespec/applespec.taf?RID=80
>
> Mike
>
> Richard Erlacher wrote:
>
> > I had a mental lapse today and, as I was unloading the stuff in my car,
noticed
> > that I had, among the rest of the stuff, a pretty complete Mac Performa
630CD.
> > This found its way into my car because it was fairly complete, i.e. included
> > keyboard/mouse, monitor, modem, color printer, cables, etc. including some
> > documentation including CD's, registration doc's, instructions, etc. I'm
> > curious what interesting hardware I should find in the box? Is the hard
disk
> > worth salvaging? What sort of memory is likely to be found inside?
> >
> > Any suggestions as to how best to exploit this thing? I noticed among the
> > documentation that it apparently has the ability to process PC diskettes and
run
> > some PC software. What does that include?
> >
> > Dick
> >
Received on Sun Nov 18 2001 - 11:43:40 GMT