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Apple Color Classic-- what can I throw at this board??

Nice! Now I know what to look out for in the wild.

What about that large open socket? What is that for and is it necessary? Right now I can't remember what I read. Not really into this project as much as I am the 638, this is a consignment machine :( Though as it is, it's a $5 machine, and when I can I will be offering him that five bucks to get it. *Then* I start putting my own money into it.

I'll next want to see what kind of hdd I can make work in it.
 
The two slots to the far left I believe are video RAM, which have to be installed with 30 pin SIMMs in pairs. The longer slot to the right of those is the main RAM slot, expandable with a 72 pin SIMM up to 10 MB.

That's how it's laid out on my Quadra, but my Performa uses a different set up.

Oh, and a SCSI HDD will work just fine.
 
NathanAllan said:
What about that large open socket? What is that for and is it necessary?
Click to expand...

I believe you are referring to the FPU socket. Not really necessary at all for your typical Color Classic task, but if you feel industrious you can drop a Motorola 68882 in it.

You can also put a motherboard from an LC or Performa 550 in it, which would give you the Color Classic II's 33 MHz speed. That board and the FPU is nice, or you can install an LC or Performa 575 board to get 680LC040 power. This also allows you to add more RAM than you could possibly need in OS 8 or whatever..

If I'm not mistaken, replacing the HD in these requires disassembly of the case, which is a small pain in the ass. Definitely worth it if you have a 2 GB SCSI available, because most of the Color Classic are equipped with 40 and 80 MB hard disks.

The really treasured Color Classic Mod (aside from the maniacs installing Mac Mini boards and mini LCDs) is the 640x480 hack, which involves a couple different methods, and is apparently a huge pain in the ass.
 
Definitely not up to cramming a Mini in there, or doing anything with an LCD. I'll most likely get that 68882 proc for it, max out the ram and maybe get a scsi hdd for it if I can find one. If I can I'll go external I will.

Even if it needs parts now, I'm sure the guy will be happy to get five bucks for it. As I understand, it's been in a shed for years, along with a bunch of other computers he dropped off.

Also not gonna go for that 640x480, I don't need another pain in the ass.

I'll be posting about some 386/486 machines in that other thread. Got a Maganavox and a Compadd, both pretty unique machines.
 
service source of Macintosh Colour Classic

2790738222_9f1574472f.jpg
 
Unknown K, thanks for the clarification.

The ram from my Cisco 2600 router did not work, still looking for ram. I need a VRAM chip as U_K identified. Just a quick update for those watching and reading. Not much of an update, just that I'm still on it.
 
The ram came in today (olePigeon is rockin) but will have to wait until tomorrow to fire it up when I get a bit of time. Thanks!! I sent you a PM, too.
 
Finally the drama died down and I got to install the ram and fire it up. It works but the screen seems to be compressed a bit from the top and bottom, so I think I know why it was ditched. Still haven't put in the 30-pin simms, but just for a test I figured I wouldn't need them (true, it still worked).

It asked me for a system disk, and I have 7.5 on floppy so I'll try those on Saturday.
 
If the screen geometry is off, it isn't very hard to adjust. You'll need a hex-head TV adjustment tool (plastic, please!), and the willingness to poke around in the same general area as parts holding several kilovolts potential :cool:

The Color Classic repair manual(pdf) goes through the procedure step by step (look under "Adjustments"->"Geometry").

Do keep in mind the fact that the picture tube holds an impressive amount of high-voltage charge, even with the power off, and you'll probably want to make the adjustments with the power on so you can see the results right away. Someone taught me long ago to keep one hand in my pocket when poking around HV electronics, so you don't run the risk of creating a path for the current to pass through your body.

Contrary to what many believe, it's quite unlikely that the high voltage would kill you, but it's very uncomfortable to suddenly find yourself as the path to ground. As any TV repairman knows, it's quite possible to work safely around live picture tubes, as long as you're careful.

So be careful, and don't blame me if you get zapped!

--
wthorbjo
 
I won't be blaming anyone:) If anything I'll blame myself. My friend Joe works on high voltage things all the time so he'll educate me more if I need it (I will).

Looks like I'll be getting some plastic tools for this.
 
i think i have an Ethernet card that will work. came out of my performa 475 before random parts stared coming un-soldered from the mother board.
 
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