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Technology (Apple) Businesses Apple Technology

Where Old Macs Go To Thrive 63

Posted by pudge from the mmmmmoney dept.
foghorn666 writes "Still have an old all-in-one Mac buried in your basement somewhere? Wired reports that Japanese collectors are paying a premium for the 'toasters,' including $500 for a HD-less Mac SE and $1000 for a used Newton."
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Where Old Macs Go To Thrive More

Where Old Macs Go To Thrive

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  • Stuff like this make me happy that I'm still holding onto old boards from some of the systems that my father worked on. I have a board of burned out tubes from ENIAC [eniac.com], a section of hand wired Cray 1A [computerhistory.org], and Altair 8800, and a whole room full of Tandy, and IBM boxes from the 8080 and 1810 families....

    Tell me japan... How long will I have to wait before this becomes worth the shipping charges to get it over there?
  • Looks like I'll have to resort to dumpster diving to weather this economis tech-funk.

    Know of any mac-happy companies?
    Whaddabout mac-happy companies who are buying new macs and tossing the old? Send their address my way!

    -Turkey
    • college campuses are great sources for things like this, though the cases are usually tagged in some permanant way. just in the last few years we got 4 or 5 Mac SE/30s that were on their way to the dumpster. they all can run System 8, and have ethernet jacks. still work great for telnet, screen savers bla bla bla. anyway, point is they were happy to give em to us and even though the cases have the university logo burned in, all the innards are fine. if nothing else it's parts. we actually also just found 2 Mac 1024s in the trash. have now powered them up yet, but basically it's the second Mac ever made (first being the 512k). the jack for keyboard and mouse uses a clip like a phone or ethernet cable.

      sorry for the rambling, but my point is that many universities still have lots of old Macs sitting around. if they really are worth that much in Japan, i don't see why they don't buy them on Ebay where a Mac SE goes for very little. I'm sure the origional box and/or books add some value. i'm pretty sure i still have all my sisters unopened books from her Mac SE, and maybe even some old MS software she got as a software pack and never bothered to open. anyone need a shrinkwrapped 1988 copy of Hypercard? how about MS word for mac still sealed? i also still have my Apple ][e, but i'm keeping that. i still need something to play beachhead and castle wolfenstein on (the origional one). oh, did i ramble again? sorry... just had my first pepsi in a few days....... bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
    • Funny thing... I just finished working for a school... and they trashed about 20 AIO computers, they figured no one wanted them. I offerend to pay them a few bucks but they said it would be easier if they pitched them.... other old computer stuff they where going to sell off. Schools are the best place to find old(er) computer junk. Great place to reaquire your old junk you once had.

  • Darn it (Score:3, Funny)

    by DeadSea ( 69598 ) on Wednesday April 24, 2002 @11:30AM (#3401505) Homepage Journal
    And I sold several hundred old macs for $1 to $5 apeice at the MIT Flea Market [mit.edu] last year.
    • And I bet I bought a bunch of them from you! I figured I'd stock up for future Macquariums while you can still get toaster Macs.

      I just wish I had an SE that worked. I still haven't gotten any type of *nix to run yet.

      • Find an SE/30, then you could run A/UX *giggle*. No really though, A/UX was pretty cool in its day, it was POSIX compliant plus it ran most MacOS apps of the day (upto system 7). I still have a copy of it, but nothing to run it on. Right now I have a Mac Classic and an SE that has been converted into a fish tank

  • What about eBay? (Score:3, Funny)

    by RevAaron ( 125240 ) <revaaron AT hotmail DOT com> on Wednesday April 24, 2002 @11:37AM (#3401545) Homepage
    Someone should tell these fine people about eBay- it's a great place to pick up used crap. They can get their Newtons and SEs for cheap. Oi. If not, I've an MP2100u that I'm willing to part with for a measly $500 (including keyboard, ethernet card, modem, nice carrying case, 4 MB and 2 MB flash cards) and an SE for $100! WITH A 10 MB HD! If you're really lucky, I'll sell you my AT&T UNIXpc or NeXT cube for $2000!
    • Nice try. They're selling proper MP2100's on there for $185 buy-it-now. The 3COM ethernet cards can be purchased (also on eBay) for around $20 and the keyboards I don't know anything about because *it's a Newton* -- it doesn't need a keyboard.
      • Huh? Newtons don't need keyboards. But there is a Newton keyboard. And it can be great for word processing, or programing NewtonScript or Lisp on the Newton itself. :)
  • "These young whippersnappers today, they ain't even got floppy drives! What is the world comin' too? Back in my day..."
    • ...the floppies themselves used to be bigger than these superflat-TFT-equipped ultra-slim notebooks!

      Back in those days I used to curse my flats fuses for being 16A only, as I couldn't boot the PDP-11s hard drives as they were too much to handle for the fuses... ...luckily we found out there was a 400V outlet in the basement we could wire to power the three washing machine sized computer and hard drive units. (And yes, there must be someone out there looking after me, as I'm still alive!)

      But still, I'm quite happy with my PB Titanium, as I can run all the emulators I want on it - and now I can fit all these relics in my backpack too...

  • OSX on a Mac SE 30 (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Dokushoka ( 570664 )
    THe real story here is how the hell they got OSX to run on that SE 30. http://www.wired.com/news/gallery/0,2072,51231-339 5~3394,00.html
    • It looks like someone took a motherboard from either an iMac (the iWhack version, not the iLamp) or an iBook, took the original monitor and wired it to the video card... as for the floppy, it's probably a USB floppy drive that was carefully mounted.

      I just hope they added FireWire ports to add a DVD-R drive or something. That would be a nice and small DVD burning machine or heck, even a web server.

  • Sell my Mac? Blasphemy! (Score:4, Funny)

    by realgone ( 147744 ) on Wednesday April 24, 2002 @11:42AM (#3401585)
    Confession #1: I still have an all-in-one B&W Mac Classic sitting in a corner of my office.

    Confession #2: I use the poor little thing regularly. Honest. Over time, it's become my word processing machine of choice (w/ Word 5.1, of course). Some people can't write unless they're seated in front of a manual typewriter -- yes, I have one of those, too: a cast-iron Royal relic -- but me? I need my Classic.

    For whatever reason, it gets me in the writing mood. Maybe it's because the experience is so focused: the WP completely fills the little 9" screen, so there aren't any distractions to worry about. No email. No IM. No surfing. Heck, not even color.

    Sorry, Japan. I'm keeping my lil' box. =)

  • I still have an old MSX from Phillips. It runs Basic, MSX-DOS and some other stuff. Anyone an idea what to do with it? I tried to get rid of it but nobody seems to want them and I don't want to put it in the bin.. :-(

  • A + B = D (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 24, 2002 @11:46AM (#3401620)
    "People care about Macintosh," Lee said. "I have no Windows PC customers."

    I'm going to go out on a limb and say that MIGHT be because you have no Windows PC's for sale.
  • I think that foghorn666 submitting this story is further evidence of Satan's profound influence over the Macintosh community.
    • Microsift wrote:

      > I think that foghorn666 submitting this story is further evidence of
      > Satan's profound influence over the Macintosh community.

      Mothra, the heroic wonder-working Goddess that parted the Pacific and resurrected herself after 130 million years entombed in the Egg of Eternity, is the protector, savior, and forever friend of Apple. She would never let such an evil being within a hundred miles of Apple.

      If you are a recent Apple convert, you might want to see these legendary old Macs in action. They appeared in the following Japanese movies:

      "Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 2". Mothra had a cameo, but it was cut.

      "Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla". Mothra has a cameo.

      "Godzilla vs Destroyer". Godzilla dies. Apple would soon follow.

      "Rebirth of Mothra 2". Fairy lands on a Mac, signifying Mothra's blessing. Mothra transforms into Rainbow and Aqua forms. Five months after the movie's release, Apple announces the iMac and the coming of OS X.

      The following are also important in Mac history:

      "Rebirth of Mothra 1". No Macs, just one scorched Apple sapling, and the Goddess who came and saved it. Days after its release in Japan (as "Mosura" on December 14, 1996), Apple announced the return of Steve Jobs.

      "Godzilla 2000" (released in Japan as "Godzilla 2000 Millenium") marked the first appearance of the iMac in kaiju eiga. When a store full of iMacs were menaced by the Millenium alien (the kaiju incarnation of Microsoft's Millenium research project, now marketed as .Net), Godzilla appeared in Tokyo Bay to save them.

      All praise to Mothra, forever friend of the Mac!
  • I am one of those people who actually took their old mac-in-the-box, and turned it into a working aquarium. I am watching my neon tetras swim about as I write this.
  • Apple Newton with soft case and all the bits for only 70UKP. I think it may still be there.
  • The other day, it occurred to me that in a few years time, my little 5GB iPod might be worth a lot of money to a collector. Logically following on from this, I wondered whether it might be worthwhile buying another iPod and not even breaking the seal on the box. Just keep it in mint condition.

  • Old macs don't die... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by dockthepod ( 540781 ) on Wednesday April 24, 2002 @01:36PM (#3402425) Homepage
    There is a certain charm that those old, all-in-one macs have. Would you beleive that I actually use one fairly regularly?

    I initially picked up my 8mhz, 1-bit display powerhouse down at the local goodwill as a kind of novelty. I thought it might be cool to bring back childhood memories. When I got it home and turned it on, the happy little mac face on the 9" black and white display was somehow pleasing. I got to rummaging around and the thing had a whole slew of software on it. Word, Pagemaker, Eudora... you name it. The version of word that shipped back then is sweet (can't remember the version number).

    And then I found the games. The games they made back then were perfect. Simple, fun, and addicting. If you have never played the game Crystal Quest, you have not lived.

    Eventually I became obsessed with getting the thing on the internet. I searched on e-bay for a network card that would work with the thing (well... actually i needed an external scsi box). I finally found one that would work, but the next day at work, i stumbled acroos the same box in storage. Some hours later, the mac classic was on net! Problem is, only mosaic www 1 ran on the thing (it runs system 6), and it's unusably unstable. So my good friend lynx came to rescue. I simply telnet to my linux box (sorry, no ssh for this puppy) and surf away. I actually use it to code on when I'm getting really distracted by other more full-featured computers.

    At any rate, I highly suggest even the most hardened anti-apple among you to pick up a mac classic, an SE/30, or any of the compact models and see what you can do with it.

    wiki = _[^o^]_ [uidaho.edu]
    • And then I found the games. The games they made back then were perfect. Simple, fun, and addicting. If you have never played the game Crystal Quest, you have not lived.

      Or "The Fool's Errand". I played the hell out of this thing one summer when visiting the college I was going to attend. Searches high and low have yielded no results for a copy of this amazing creation. At one point I heard the original programmer/designer (remember the days when a game was made by ONE person?) went to work for Disney as an Imagineer.

      I searched on e-bay for a network card that would work with the thing

      Baylor U cleaned out it's old inventory one time and I snagged and Mac Plus with all the periphs. In the back is what looks like a BNC connector that someone drilled into the case to install. I never cracked it open to see how they did it, but I'm sure it was done at an ACM programming competition to facilitate the play of some early networked games.
      • I never cracked it open to see how they did it, but I'm sure it was done at an ACM programming competition to facilitate the play of some early networked games.

        Like that other game you-have-not-lived-until-you-have-played: Bolo [irchelp.org].


  • 700 YEN

    not

    700 USD

    Who'd be that crazy?
    • "But at Goshu Trading, the 512K Mac -- blackened with age and covered with inky fingerprints -- is on sale for 49,800 yen (US$500). A Mac Plus, another dinosaur, commands 20,000 yen (US$200). In the United States, these machines are landfill; people can't get rid of them."

      Looks like it might just be 700USD. Of course, they'd have to pay shipping...

      I'm digging out my old SE/30 right now (8MB, Color NuBus card *yowza*)... *LOL*
  • maybe if i sell my PB140 and my Mac SE Plus, with carrybag, ill be able to afford to continue college next year.

  • I used to work in Akihabara.... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ryochiji ( 453715 ) on Wednesday April 24, 2002 @03:21PM (#3403202) Homepage
    I used to work at a used Mac shop in Akihabara (the famed "Electric Town" in Tokyo), and we got some strange requests.

    Customers would walk in asking if we had part# 20980928-2398T (or something like it) which would turn out to be the tiniest little plastic part in a Rev A PowerMac 7100 (or some other small unimportant looking part), which the guy would be willing to pay 1000 yen for (and then would go on talking about why it's so special, as opposed to the 20980928-2398Q).
    Or people would come looking for a "rare" Apple ADB mouse which was manufactured at a specific plant (and after digging through a box full of mice, inform us, with obvious disappointment, that none of the 50 or so mice we had were from that particular factory.

    Personally, I found it all quite comical... and scary, at times.
    • Disclaimer: I use and love PC's, Macs, and various other machines regularly.

      I think that this may be due to some strange Japanese obsession with anything American. Ever taken apart a mid-period Power Mac? Everything's plastic and snaps into place with little clips. All I have to do is take the back panel off my 8100, and i can disassemble the rest of the machine into parts. They certainly did a lot of time into designing the chassis and whatnot.

      I can totally see the Japanese obsessing over collecting something so quirkily American, so identifiable with our culture.
      • >>I think that this may be due to some strange Japanese obsession with anything American.>>

        I actually think it might have something to do with the zenlike simplicity of these early machines, both in hardware and software. This was before feature bloat, color, the corruption of the interface due to too much cross-platform integration, etc. Simple single box, simple software (that one could actually master in a relatively short period of time) much more coherent experience overall. Japanese culture loves complexity in some ways, but has always revered simplicity.
    • OK, I am a Japanese, so those things don't sound strange.

      I can't comment on that PMac 7100 part episode, but I remember the mouse deal.

      There were three or four kinds of mice, apparently for those square ADB mouse, respectively manufactured in Taiwan, Singapore, and Ireland, oh and perhaps Mexico. IIRC Irish mice had the best reputation while Taiwanese the worst and considered rare. The major difference between the Taiwanese (or Singaporish(sp?)) and the rest was that the ball inside the mouse. They apparently didn't have the metal inside the rubber, therefore, one could not glide the mouse using its mass as momentum. And there was a difference between the button touch. Simply put, some mice were easier to use and felt classy.

      I remember similar obsession with keyboards. We, the Japanese loved the original Mac Keyboard. After Apple Keyboard II came around, people were complaining how horrible they feels, the wrong position for the control key, etc. Finding the original Apple Keyboard was like treasure hunting. Naturally people who had the keyboard almost never abondoned. Even after purchasing new machines, they kept using the keyboard. Remember that you had to buy a keyboard when you bought a Mac? The mouse came with the machine but not the keyboard!

      One time, when I was at PENN, I poured OJ or coffee on my Saratoga keyboard and visited computer store in the bookstore wondering if they could fix. (After washing thoroughly, some keys were still stuck.) The guy there said that they can't and offered me to pick up one of old keyboards lying around. I found the original Apple Keyboard and jumped on it, hiding my excitement for getting the much favored keyboard for free. I remember those keyboards were sold for like 30,000 yen at some point in Akihabara.

      Also, on one morning in Philadelphia, I saw a dumpster full of old Macs, IIs, IIfxs, Radius monitors, etc. I really felt like picking up as many things as possible, but I was about to move and decided not to. In the afternoon of the same day, the dumpster was gone. I still regret that I didn't pick up the IIfxes a bit.

      Oh, but my SE30 should still be in my parents house. I am dreaming of firing up one day when I get back to Japan!

      So, the episodes you mentioned sound not special at all to me.

      We, the Japanese, do have strong affection with ``things.'' This vintage mac things are one of the revelations(?) of the culture.

      The japanese have a word that could be translated as ``obsession'' but without a negative connatation, and a bit milder sense. G-Shocks, Air Max, Vintage Levi's--those markets were created by the Japanese.
  • One of my favorite moments this past year was grabbing a Mac SE from company 'surplus' and setting it up on my desk, turning it on, and finding it still running system 7.x like a champ. It's amusing to glance from the two Mac OS X servers on one side of the cubicle -- dual 800Mhz each, 1GB RAM, many fine GBs of hard drive -- to the lowly Mac SE with 4MB of RAM and 40MB HD.

  • I think it would be really cool to "upgrade" it to OSX like in this article. I wouldn't tear into my old Mac Plus, but I'd love to buy a used one and upgrade it.

    Here's the link [wired.com] to the picture of a Mac SE running OS X. I'm psyched. That's really cool. Beige all the way. ;-)

    Anyone have a link where we can find out how to do this?

  • $500 for a Mac512K?!

    someone gave me one for nothing earlier this year ;)

    obviously if i become destitute i can sell my retro mac collection in that shop :D
  • Where do I sell it?

    I have Word 4.0 on it and 80 meg HD and 8 mb of RAM

    I am willing to trade it for an iBook! :)

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