When I had a Mac 512k, the 400k drives I had didn't work very well. I used the later Apple IIgs 800k 3.5" drives (model# A9M0106) without a problem on them. Wikipedia notes that those drives were designed to be universally compatible with all Apple computers. Its weird that the prototype has the Twiggy still, but the external disk drive port is marked with what looks like the original 400k 3.5" external drive.
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Mac prototype I just acquired today
- Thread starter mactwiggy
- Start date
When I had a Mac 512k, the 400k drives I had didn't work very well. I used the later Apple IIgs 800k 3.5" drives (model# A9M0106) without a problem on them. Wikipedia notes that those drives were designed to be universally compatible with all Apple computers. Its weird that the prototype has the Twiggy still, but the external disk drive port is marked with what looks like the original 400k 3.5" external drive.
Druid6900
Veteran Member
On something that obviously unique, if you're not 100% confident that you can do it safely, I'd find someone local that was. 25+ year old glass is not something you want to screw around with unless you've done it many times before.
Alex Harris
New Member
If you have a source for a 400k external floppy drive, RescueMyClassicMac.com can make 400k System 1.1 Finder 1.1g MacWrite and MacPaint floppies yours for $10, and then all you need is some vintage Twiggy disks to copy the 400k floppy onto.
External 400k floppy drives can be had for $100-$200 on evilBay depending on condition (with the more expensive ones refurbished and tested), but Twiggy floppy disks are so rare I have never seen any online anywhere.
External 400k floppy drives can be had for $100-$200 on evilBay depending on condition (with the more expensive ones refurbished and tested), but Twiggy floppy disks are so rare I have never seen any online anywhere.
dorkbert
Veteran Member
are the signatures present in the rear cover?
I've written some more details about it:
I purchased this Macintosh on 1/18/2012 from an elderly gentleman who is a retired engraver. Apple had comissioned the company he worked for to design and produce some medallions, presumably for some sort of internal awards ceremony. He didn't recall the exact time period, but I assume it must have been at some point in 1983. They sent him this unit to use as an art model to work off of. When the job was completed they attempted to make arrangements to return it, but Apple ended up telling them to just keep it. After almost 30 years, he decided to sell it by posting an ad on the internet, and that's how I found it. He said he always knew he had something special, because he'd never seen another Mac with a 5.25" floppy drive in it. He was also aware that it was potentially very valuable, but that he didn't want to fuss with trying to sell it beyond a classified posting. I think he was just glad that it went to someone who could appreciate what a piece of history it is. It was a special moment just to be able to see it in person, nevermind being able to own it. He said that it never had any disks with it.
I went through the trouble of completely disassembling it out of both personal curiousity and desire to document it through pictures. I'm not a photographer, so don't mind my poor skills at taking them too much.
The purchase came with a prototype keyboard, but no mouse. The computer weighs 18lb 3oz in its current state. It has some cosmetic issues, the main one being a scratch on the front bezel. It could use a good cleaning, but I didn't want to mess anything up by doing it.
This unit's serial number seems to be "1031". It's written on both the underside of the screen on the front bezel and on the chassis. It boots up with a standard Mac beep from the 128K, and shows a flashing question mark in a 3.5" floppy disk. Seeing this graphic we can presume that it has the ROM code to use the 400k Sony 3.5" drives, giving some better hope to be able to get this machine to boot in the future. The picture on the CRT is tilted and a bit out of focus, but it should re-calibrate OK. The front bezel is very smooth and shiny, not having the rough textured finish as the back part of the case. The part number embossed inside the bezel is "815 0752REV A". The rear section of the casing does not have the vent holes in the top that production 128k's do. Where you'd find the "Macintosh" name badge on the rear is just the Apple name moulded into the plastic and a rainbow logo to the right of it. The battery cover was not present when I took posession. The torx screws that go in the top handle portion, along with all the rubber feet are also missing. The port icons for "Modem" and "Printer" are reversed compared to production model cases.
Opening up the case, the typical signatures of the Macintosh team are in the inside rear casing. The dark flat finish that's sprayed onto the inside of the front bezel hasn't been applied here. There wasn't any RFI sheild covering the logic board like in a production model. With the ROM riser card, it is a very tight fit trying to slide the board in and out of the chassis. The riser card is labeled "512 EPROM ADAPTER", with "MC1027-01" as the apparent part number. The board seems to expand the two normal ROM slots on the PCB with four. The riser board is secured to the logic board with soldered leads. The ROM's all have "7T" written in faded blueish felt tip marker on the label, along with the following writing on each of the 4 ROMS:
0 HI - H0 B6ED
1 HI - H1 A04A
0 LOW - LO0F332
1 LOW - LO 1 6CBC
The "Mac Man" figure is silkscreened on the logic board, suggesting this version of the PCB supported up to 512K of memory. The total amount of memory currently installed is 128K, on sixteen 64 kilobit MOSTEK/Apple branded chips. The part number on the top of the PCB is "630-0101A", on the bottom it's "820-0086-00", both with 1983 copyright dates. The hand written serial number on the board is "1042". One of the reset/interrupt switches is soldered with one side sticking way too far up, an error that was made at the time the board was assembled. The PAL chips seem to have version numbers written on the stickers on them. The IWM chip appears to be a prototype, with "8248 - xxx-x299 - APPLE 82" stamped on it.
The 5.25" Twiggy drive that's installed connects to the motherboard with the same type of ribbon cable used on the 400K Sony floppy drives. It's enclosed in an anodized aluminum enclosure, with the number "2" written on the rear. It attaches to the drive mechanism using two screws. The enclosure looks like it has been slightly modified with an indentation to accomodate the shaft of the stepper motor. It appears to be a standard Lisa Twiggy drive, but with an extra aluminum cutout on the top front installed. I presume this is to deflect disks from accidentally ending up inside the casing of the Mac. The eject button is present, but is inaccessable with the aluminum encosure in place. The hand written number "1043" is on the bottom PCB. It mounts to the chassis with 4 screws, but one of the screws seems to have sheared off at some point. I'm unable to test the functionality of the drive at the moment without a FileWare disk with a bootable operating system.
The CRT is a Samsung branded one, with the serial number "824400001". Could this possibly make it the very first assembled Mac ever? Hard to tell without being able to reference other date codes, or knowing if production sample CRT's sent by the manufacturer were sequentially numbered.
The analog board doesn't have any plastic safety covering on the solder side of the PCB. The part number is "630-0102" on the top side, and "820-0082-03" on the bottom, both with 1983 copyright dates. There are two hand written numbers on it, what appears to be the serial number "1053" and "3.9". The "Mac Man" logo is also present on this board.
The keyboard's outer casing has the same smooth texture finish as the front panel bezel. The serial number "268" is hand written on a label on the underside. All the rubber bumpers are missing. It attaches to the computer with the normal "telephone" connector used in the production Mac. The "BACKSPACE" key has a broken spring. I'm unsure of the functionality of the keyboard, because I have no means to test it.
I think that about wraps it up. If you have any questions, you can e-mail me at "mactwiggy83@gmail.com".
I purchased this Macintosh on 1/18/2012 from an elderly gentleman who is a retired engraver. Apple had comissioned the company he worked for to design and produce some medallions, presumably for some sort of internal awards ceremony. He didn't recall the exact time period, but I assume it must have been at some point in 1983. They sent him this unit to use as an art model to work off of. When the job was completed they attempted to make arrangements to return it, but Apple ended up telling them to just keep it. After almost 30 years, he decided to sell it by posting an ad on the internet, and that's how I found it. He said he always knew he had something special, because he'd never seen another Mac with a 5.25" floppy drive in it. He was also aware that it was potentially very valuable, but that he didn't want to fuss with trying to sell it beyond a classified posting. I think he was just glad that it went to someone who could appreciate what a piece of history it is. It was a special moment just to be able to see it in person, nevermind being able to own it. He said that it never had any disks with it.
I went through the trouble of completely disassembling it out of both personal curiousity and desire to document it through pictures. I'm not a photographer, so don't mind my poor skills at taking them too much.
The purchase came with a prototype keyboard, but no mouse. The computer weighs 18lb 3oz in its current state. It has some cosmetic issues, the main one being a scratch on the front bezel. It could use a good cleaning, but I didn't want to mess anything up by doing it.
This unit's serial number seems to be "1031". It's written on both the underside of the screen on the front bezel and on the chassis. It boots up with a standard Mac beep from the 128K, and shows a flashing question mark in a 3.5" floppy disk. Seeing this graphic we can presume that it has the ROM code to use the 400k Sony 3.5" drives, giving some better hope to be able to get this machine to boot in the future. The picture on the CRT is tilted and a bit out of focus, but it should re-calibrate OK. The front bezel is very smooth and shiny, not having the rough textured finish as the back part of the case. The part number embossed inside the bezel is "815 0752REV A". The rear section of the casing does not have the vent holes in the top that production 128k's do. Where you'd find the "Macintosh" name badge on the rear is just the Apple name moulded into the plastic and a rainbow logo to the right of it. The battery cover was not present when I took posession. The torx screws that go in the top handle portion, along with all the rubber feet are also missing. The port icons for "Modem" and "Printer" are reversed compared to production model cases.
Opening up the case, the typical signatures of the Macintosh team are in the inside rear casing. The dark flat finish that's sprayed onto the inside of the front bezel hasn't been applied here. There wasn't any RFI sheild covering the logic board like in a production model. With the ROM riser card, it is a very tight fit trying to slide the board in and out of the chassis. The riser card is labeled "512 EPROM ADAPTER", with "MC1027-01" as the apparent part number. The board seems to expand the two normal ROM slots on the PCB with four. The riser board is secured to the logic board with soldered leads. The ROM's all have "7T" written in faded blueish felt tip marker on the label, along with the following writing on each of the 4 ROMS:
0 HI - H0 B6ED
1 HI - H1 A04A
0 LOW - LO0F332
1 LOW - LO 1 6CBC
The "Mac Man" figure is silkscreened on the logic board, suggesting this version of the PCB supported up to 512K of memory. The total amount of memory currently installed is 128K, on sixteen 64 kilobit MOSTEK/Apple branded chips. The part number on the top of the PCB is "630-0101A", on the bottom it's "820-0086-00", both with 1983 copyright dates. The hand written serial number on the board is "1042". One of the reset/interrupt switches is soldered with one side sticking way too far up, an error that was made at the time the board was assembled. The PAL chips seem to have version numbers written on the stickers on them. The IWM chip appears to be a prototype, with "8248 - xxx-x299 - APPLE 82" stamped on it.
The 5.25" Twiggy drive that's installed connects to the motherboard with the same type of ribbon cable used on the 400K Sony floppy drives. It's enclosed in an anodized aluminum enclosure, with the number "2" written on the rear. It attaches to the drive mechanism using two screws. The enclosure looks like it has been slightly modified with an indentation to accomodate the shaft of the stepper motor. It appears to be a standard Lisa Twiggy drive, but with an extra aluminum cutout on the top front installed. I presume this is to deflect disks from accidentally ending up inside the casing of the Mac. The eject button is present, but is inaccessable with the aluminum encosure in place. The hand written number "1043" is on the bottom PCB. It mounts to the chassis with 4 screws, but one of the screws seems to have sheared off at some point. I'm unable to test the functionality of the drive at the moment without a FileWare disk with a bootable operating system.
The CRT is a Samsung branded one, with the serial number "824400001". Could this possibly make it the very first assembled Mac ever? Hard to tell without being able to reference other date codes, or knowing if production sample CRT's sent by the manufacturer were sequentially numbered.
The analog board doesn't have any plastic safety covering on the solder side of the PCB. The part number is "630-0102" on the top side, and "820-0082-03" on the bottom, both with 1983 copyright dates. There are two hand written numbers on it, what appears to be the serial number "1053" and "3.9". The "Mac Man" logo is also present on this board.
The keyboard's outer casing has the same smooth texture finish as the front panel bezel. The serial number "268" is hand written on a label on the underside. All the rubber bumpers are missing. It attaches to the computer with the normal "telephone" connector used in the production Mac. The "BACKSPACE" key has a broken spring. I'm unsure of the functionality of the keyboard, because I have no means to test it.
I think that about wraps it up. If you have any questions, you can e-mail me at "mactwiggy83@gmail.com".
Well someone got money hungry, I knew it wouldn't be long until eBay saw this one. I just wish you would have kept it or gave it to a musuem, not try and get a few bills off of it, but in this economy do what you have to do.
Sucks but it happens, of course even at that with a true auction which perhaps it'll turn into at some point after expiring a few times it'd still go for way more than any of us would be happy with ;-) Even on the cctalk list they're comparing the value higher than an Apple I.
k2x4b524[
Veteran Member
I agree, even though i'm not a mac man myself, i agree that you should have held on to the little bugger, but it is agreeable that in this economy, money is needed. I would have advertised it for sale in the forum first, maybe it was and i wasn't looking, but i'm sure some of us may have wanted a chance to get it.
EvanK
VCFed Founder
Mactwiggy turned out to be a greedy asshole.*
*unless he's giving the ebay profit to the previous owner.
RWallmow
Veteran Member
I have to agree, I guess he doesn't appreciate it.
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DOS lives on!!
Veteran Member
Money, money, money, and stupidity. First he braggs about it to us, then he sells such a rare piece with a typical knothead sellers price. Then we find his Photobucket account and get some laughs. And now lets see how many times he relists this piece. This has been pretty interesting.
It is a nice Mac, I'd love to just see it in person.
It is a nice Mac, I'd love to just see it in person.
Al Kossow
Documentation Wizard
It also isn't the oldest prototype Mac
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/apple/mac/pictures/Mac_Proto_Case_#15.jpg
is in the Computer History Museum collection, and is from the second batch of prototypes built.
DOS lives on!!
Veteran Member
Now that is a cool looking piece of ingenius work!
dfnr2
Experienced Member
If anyone has a couple of bucks lying around, here's one on Ebay right now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/160781780426
Chuck(G)
25k Member
That's the selfsame one we're talking about. Start at the beginning of the thread to see how this developed.
k2x4b524[
Veteran Member
Yea i looked at that, it IS a nice looking mac prototype, he's got that twiggy disk, betcha he's got a Lisa 1 floatin around there too, but 10k?!! Sheesh. He either knows what he's got, if it is even worth that much, or there is a collector willing to PAY that much for it in the first place, and has the software to get it workin. But i agree, he is kind of a greedy douche.
33black
Experienced Member
10k? Try 100k kid. I know any one of us would love to have and appreciate it.
If someone would just cast me in a solid franchise movie I'd be happy to buy it and let you all come use it. Haha.
If someone would just cast me in a solid franchise movie I'd be happy to buy it and let you all come use it. Haha.
Exactly the way I look at it but I really wanted to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. I'm glad someone asked that question for me
. He said he paid way less than what the value was. We can put it this way, it's not like anyone else has a prototype macintosh with prototype keyboard to put on eBay.I do believe that this is the most "complete" finished version of the twiggy mac as you could say. That other one is very interesting though, the disk drive is identical to my TRS-80 Model 4.