VOGONS


Macintosh Color Classic ( Extreme )

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First post, by Intel486dx33

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This is my Macintosh Color Classic.
I purchased it from goodwill store NOT working.
I took a chance on if I could fix it and I did.
Works great now.

So I bought this Color classic not working. I assumed it was just the logic board ( motherboard )
That was bad as the capacitors on these logic boards are known to go bad.
So initially I was going to get it re-caped. So I put it away for a while to work on it later.

I found another auction for a Performa 575 so I bought it only to have it arrive shattered in pieces from not being packaged correctly.
So I decided to use it for parts.

I took out the logic board and hard-drive and put it into the Color classic.
And it worked. It would not work with the old hard-drive so I had to use the one from the 575 which
Is larger capacity anyways.

The 575 CPU operates at 33mhz as opposed to the original Color classic logic board with 16mhz CPU.

I also added more ram for a total of 36mb( 2x16mb + 4mb ). But I read it can also support 128mb.

I also added a NEW Network card. 8mb is all the ram that is required to use the Netscape web browser and go online
But more ram is better.

I purchased a NEW copy of Mac OS System 7.5.3 and installed it from 16 floppies.
( Painful , but it worked ).

And put on some new games.

Works great now.
I really like the tiny display. It works like NEW and image is nice.

I have 2 SCSI CDROM’s attached and several game pads.

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Last edited by Intel486dx33 on 2021-02-05, 13:15. Edited 3 times in total.

Reply 1 of 20, by Vynix

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Ah it's the "Mystique" upgrade, hrm yeah you could say that it's indeed a very extreme Color Classic.

Kinda sucks about the 575 arriving in pieces, but unfortunately with how plastic tends to become brittle, it's eventually going to become hard to ship these.

Proud owner of a Shuttle HOT-555A 430VX motherboard and two wonderful retro laptops, namely a Compaq Armada 1700 [nonfunctional] and a HP Omnibook XE3-GC [fully working :p]

Reply 3 of 20, by Intel486dx33

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Yes, “Mystique” is what they call this logic board upgrade from a 575.
I plan on adding more ram up 128mb and a larger hard-drive.
This 575 logic board opens up allot of opportunities that were not available with the original logic board.

Reply 4 of 20, by Daniël Oosterhuis

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twiz11 wrote:

Is that an apple pippin controller i see?

Nope, Gravis Gamepad! The Pippin has a trackball in the middle of the controller, and a different shape entirely.

sUd4xjs.gif

Reply 6 of 20, by Intel486dx33

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I finally finished upgrading this computer.
With more RAM, Bigger hard drive and NEW apps and games.
This computer from 1993 can still go online and works great.
All that is needed is 8mb of ram and Netscape web browser 3x

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Reply 7 of 20, by Intel486dx33

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These 500mb hard drive upgrades really made a BIG difference in my setups.
I have lots of room for games and apps now.

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Reply 8 of 20, by Tommaso72

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I have a Macintosh Color Classic and when I bought it a couple years ago it worked perfectly. Then, a couple years later I decided to try it out again. It didn't work, and it turned out the caps were leaking. I took the board out, washed it down with a paint brush and slight soapy water in the sink, let it dry and it worked again! I know this usually is a temporary fix. Now I tried it the last time a couple months ago and it works with a boot disk, but the hard drive seems to not get noticed. I can hear it try to start, the motor turns but then dies out. It does this several times trying to start, but no go. Its as though the Hard Drive is not getting enough power?

Could this problem be related to the caps, even though it looks like the hard drive is not getting enough power to turn on? The board seems to work fine, so I am confused. I am wondering if caps could be gone in the power supply, not allowing enough power to the drive, or could the caps on the board effect the turning on of the Hard Drive? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. May be a mystic upgrade is in order until I fix this boards caps? Thanks in advance!

Tommaso

Reply 10 of 20, by Intel486dx33

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I have some new Apple speakers. They are actually pretty BIG.
They sound okay, but not great for there size.
When you turn up the volume on high you do get some distortion.

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Last edited by Intel486dx33 on 2021-02-09, 13:00. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 12 of 20, by Intel486dx33

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I have a bunch of NEW games for testing.
This Apple is a reliable little powerhouse.

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Reply 13 of 20, by twiz11

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Intel486dx33 wrote on 2021-01-26, 22:35:

I have a bunch of NEW games for testing.
This Apple is a reliable little powerhouse.

that's cool, I remember games like nanosaur but I never had an extreme mac gaming collection, but when I did use macs, I found it quite easy to install stuff, just drag and drop, hehe *sad face*, for growing up with windows, though I am rectifying that with GNU/Linux and MACOS with the new GNU/Linux distros on it to have the best of both worlds... there are other OSes out there but Win/Mac/Gnu seems to be the top three.

Reply 14 of 20, by Intel486dx33

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Yes, Right now I am using a logic board with a 16mhz Motorola CPU, 8mb ram. 5400rpm SCSI hard drive and Ethernet card which I think is 10/100 mbps.

This computer still works good and surfs the internet just fine with Netscape 3x.
Originally it came with an 80mb hard drive so I am glad I upgraded that to a 500mb hard drive.

Depending on that logic board you use the firmware can support up to a 2gb or 4gb harddrive
But I am going to use an external SCIS harddrive..

Last edited by Intel486dx33 on 2022-03-17, 19:50. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 15 of 20, by twiz11

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Intel486dx33 wrote on 2021-01-26, 23:31:
Yes, Right now I am using a logic board with a 16mhz Motorola CPU, 32mb ram. 5400rpm SCSI hard drive and Ethernet card witch I t […]
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Yes, Right now I am using a logic board with a 16mhz Motorola CPU, 32mb ram. 5400rpm SCSI hard drive and Ethernet card witch I think is 10/100 mbps.

This computer still works good and surfs the internet just fine with Netscape 3x.
Originally it came with an 80mb hard drive so I am glad I upgraded that to a 500mb hard drive.

Depending on that logic board you use the firmware can support up to a 2gb or 4gb harddrive
But I am going to use an external SCIS harddrive..

scuzzy, I remember that's how hard drives were swapped out before data hot swappable

Reply 16 of 20, by keropi

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Very nice!!!
I also got a SE/30 in excellent condition a couple months ago and was envying the color classic 🤣
I think there is a mod to make the color classic CRT to display 640x480 instead of modding the new motherboard to work at 512x384

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 17 of 20, by Intel486dx33

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I have a new game controller to try out.
The “Gravis Firebird”.

I just love these old Macs.

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Last edited by Intel486dx33 on 2022-03-17, 13:03. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 18 of 20, by Jo22

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Really cool!

The 68k platform is still new to me, since I started with PPC Macs,
but I think that a 68040 machine should be capable of running SoftPC/AT or SoftWindows 1.02 (m68k version), even..

The first 68k Mac game that I downloaded *purposely*, was this one, I think:
https://www.mobygames.com/game/macintosh/systems-twilight

The first commercial games I bought were Myst and Creatures!, I believe.

Also, there are many early emulators that run on the Macs..
Frodo, Silhouette etc.

I know, it's kinda off-topic, but I'd like to mention this on a side note, because it's kinda funny and ironic :

In the 1980s it was the other way run - people were eager to run System on about everything with an 68k (Atari ST, Amiga, Apple Lisa.. ). 😉

Edit :

keropi wrote on 2021-01-27, 06:48:

I think there is a mod to make the color classic CRT to display 640x480 instead of modding the new motherboard to work at 512x384

Yes, just saw a video by this dude:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DnvSfoIi7Q&t=0s

He mentions logic board modding at about 17min30..
It's also possible to make the monitor 640x480 compatible, he says.

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In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

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