Aftermac's Personal Computer Cache

It has been five months since the passing of Steve Jobs. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, I was a bit distracted when Mr. Jobs passed and I wasn't able to give the proper respect that someone would expect to give to the passing of one of their idols. For as long as I live, I will never be able to forget the date Steve died. The next day my wife gave birth to our first children, twin boys, on 10/6/2011. March 2012 marks 15 years since I first learned that Apple acquired NeXT and Steve Jobs would be returning to the company. It's hard to believe that much time has gone by, but I remember it very well. Back in 1997, although I had only been using Mac's for about four years (and only owned one for two years) I was very staunch in my belief that the Mac was the superior platform, and could never see myself as a Windows user. I was a senior in high school at the time, and had carefully woven my way into a position where I was doing all of the technical support for m...

Well, this one is a bit embarrassing... I had this computer sitting on the shelf with a tag that read: "Power, Chime No Video, No Boot" An unfortunate misdiagnosis on my part. I pulled the SE off the shelf as part of this project, since it is one of my non-working machines that I am most interested in getting running. So, I plug it in, hook up the keyboard and mouse, and fire it up. Sure enough as my trusty note said, the fan spun up, the computer chimed, but the screen stayed blank. I give it a light tap on the side... Still nothing. Then I notice the HD light start flashing. That doesn't sound like "No boot" to me. I give the brightness knob a turn. At first there is no change in the screen, but as I keep turning the screen brightens up to reveal a Macintosh System 6 desktop. Hmm. Well, then. How could I have made a mistake like this?? I must have been hastily testing it and not really thinking about what I was doing. Regardless, I am thrilled relieved that i...

Just a quick video of my collection and the cramped quarters in which it resides. I have another 6 computers that are not in the video, but you get the point. :)

Might as well start with what's out in the open. This Classic II has been sitting on my workbench with its guts exposed for so long, that I don't even remember what I was doing with it when I opened it up in the first place! I'm not even sure if it works... First things first lets give it a visual inspection to see if everything is hooked up. Hmm... the motherboard is partially pulled out, but it looks like all the connections are hooked up... HD, floppy, power supply, battery is installed... A keyboard, mouse, and power cord are already hooked up, so lets see if it works... Lo and behold, it fires right up! Looks like it has a ton of extensions loaded. After the parade of icons finishes and the desktop loads, I opened "About This Macintosh". This particular Classic II has System 7.1 loaded, with 4 MB RAM, and a 40 MB HD - that is practically full! The screen is exceptionally sharp and clear. There is software for sharing DOS files, Microsoft Word 4.0, FileMaker P...

That is the question not just for this blog, but for the project that will be its primary subject. I have a sizable collection of vintage computers, consisting of 70+ machines from a handful of different manufacturers. My primary interest is Apple. I've been a Mac user since 1993, when my best friend received a Macintosh Quadra 605 for Christmas. One year later, for Christmas, I received my first computer, a used Macintosh IIsi that my mom bought from a co-worker. It had 9 MB RAM, 40 MB HD, and a 20 MHz Motorola 68030 CPU. I purchased my second computer in 1997, a Mac PowerBook Duo 270c. A laptop. The Duo and IIsi were my main computers until my first new computer purchase - The iMac, in 1998. After that it is all kind of a blur... How did I come to acquire 70+ computers? Honestly, I'm not quite sure. It just kind of happened. I'm not even sure where they all came from. The collection is relegated to a corner of my basement, where it resides out of sight, sitting on crude s...