Original 128k Macintosh - how many are left?

[olePigeon]

There were three kinds of upgrades. The very first was the HyperDrive from GCC, which could be done at home if you were very careful and good at following directions. This one clipped onto the CPU. Later versions used an easy Killy Clip so no special tools were needed. This one was especially cool, though, because this was well before the Plus. So GCC had to do all the SCSI implementation in-house working with the original 128k and 512k ROMs.

The second kind required soldering and dealer installation:

The third and easiest were ones like the Dove MacSnap. The RAM upgrade clipped onto the CPU either by using a killy clip or by just pulling the CPU out, but you could buy a separate SCSI board that clipped into the ROM socket and replaced the ROMs with Plus ROMs. Lots of companies sold variations of the SCSI upgrade since it was relatively simple to build and worked independent of any other upgrades. You could even stick it in a 128k, but when you add the SCSI manager, it left no RAM to actually run any apps.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

According to the M0001 Registry, there are 47 "Original Macintosh" still with only 128k RAM listed, with 44 marked as in "operational" condition. Obviously, this is an opt-in registry, but that is a good minimum to start from. Another 21 "Macintosh 128" (as opposed to "Original Macintosh,") with 15 marked as in operational condition.

I just managed to arrange a trade that will get me a working 128k-original logic board for my original Macintosh, so mine will be added to that number shortly. (Mine is listed in the registry as having a 512k upgrade.)

 

[AdamAnt316]

There were three kinds of upgrades. The very first was the HyperDrive from GCC, which could be done at home if you were very careful and good at following directions. This one clipped onto the CPU. Later versions used an easy Killy Clip so no special tools were needed. This one was especially cool, though, because this was well before the Plus. So GCC had to do all the SCSI implementation in-house working with the original 128k and 512k ROMs.

The second kind required soldering and dealer installation:

The third and easiest were ones like the Dove MacSnap. The RAM upgrade clipped onto the CPU either by using a killy clip or by just pulling the CPU out, but you could buy a separate SCSI board that clipped into the ROM socket and replaced the ROMs with Plus ROMs. Lots of companies sold variations of the SCSI upgrade since it was relatively simple to build and worked independent of any other upgrades. You could even stick it in a 128k, but when you add the SCSI manager, it left no RAM to actually run any apps.

Wow, great stuff! I've seen pictures of RAM upgrades that attached to the top of the board, but nothing quite that complex. That HyperDrive board must've been the cat's pajamas back in the day, since there was nothing quite like it for the Mac at the time. Wouldn't be surprised if Apple took a cue or two from it/them when designing the Plus, kinda like how the IIc Plus was supposedly their response to the Laser 128...

According to the M0001 Registry, there are 47 "Original Macintosh" still with only 128k RAM listed, with 44 marked as in "operational" condition. Obviously, this is an opt-in registry, but that is a good minimum to start from. Another 21 "Macintosh 128" (as opposed to "Original Macintosh,") with 15 marked as in operational condition.

I just managed to arrange a trade that will get me a working 128k-original logic board for my original Macintosh, so mine will be added to that number shortly. (Mine is listed in the registry as having a 512k upgrade.)

Very cool! 68 is a pretty good starting place for a number on these units; a fairly small fraction of the tens of thousands which were cranked out (have yet to find an official figure, aside from the fact that 70,000 were produced in the first 100 days), but a figure of 100-200 of these remaining wouldn't be too far out of line, methinks. Nice to see that such a database exists; I know there are/were ones for other rare computers (I entered the details of my SX-64 into the database on the long-gone sx64.net site), but I didn't know about that one (I've seen mac512.com, but not this site). I'll have to enter my 128K into that database (if it isn't there already) once I catalog its statistics.
-Adam

 

[yuhong]

Indeed, I think the Mac Plus copied John Bass's MacSCSI design, and GCC probably copied them too.

 

[olePigeon]

I sent an interview to GCC's former senior engineer. That was one of the questions. I hope to find out eventually.

Also, I have a boxed HyperDrive upgrade. It's an earlier one with the special CPU clip, but unfortunately it's missing he clip tool. I can't risk installing it without bending pins. Not sure if I'll be able to track it down.

 

[bear]

FWIW I have at least one. I've lost track of the specifics of other early macs which have accumulated while I wasn't paying attention and may have as many as three. None of them would be in the registry.

 

[mwillegal]

Based on the frequency that they are seen on ebay, I would assume that the number of machines with original 128K installed probably is in the thousands. In my opinion, not rare at all, but very desirable, which keeps the price up there. It's such a landmark product that almost any vintage computer collector with a wide interest could hardy do without one.

regards,
Mike Willegal

Wow, great stuff! I've seen pictures of RAM upgrades that attached to the top of the board, but nothing quite that complex. That HyperDrive board must've been the cat's pajamas back in the day, since there was nothing quite like it for the Mac at the time. Wouldn't be surprised if Apple took a cue or two from it/them when designing the Plus, kinda like how the IIc Plus was supposedly their response to the Laser 128...



Very cool! 68 is a pretty good starting place for a number on these units; a fairly small fraction of the tens of thousands which were cranked out (have yet to find an official figure, aside from the fact that 70,000 were produced in the first 100 days), but a figure of 100-200 of these remaining wouldn't be too far out of line, methinks. Nice to see that such a database exists; I know there are/were ones for other rare computers (I entered the details of my SX-64 into the database on the long-gone sx64.net site), but I didn't know about that one (I've seen mac512.com, but not this site). I'll have to enter my 128K into that database (if it isn't there already) once I catalog its statistics.
-Adam

 

[AdamAnt316]

Based on the frequency that they are seen on ebay, I would assume that the number of machines with original 128K installed probably is in the thousands. In my opinion, not rare at all, but very desirable, which keeps the price up there. It's such a landmark product that almost any vintage computer collector with a wide interest could hardy do without one.

regards,
Mike Willegal

That very well could be correct, though it's hard to tell if each one listed is newly 'out of the woodwork', or has been sold on the 'bay before. I don't know much about the history of my own machine, except that someone obviously went through and examined the contents of its carrying bag prior to it showing up at the swapmeet I bought it at. Some of the original system and software floppy disks have notes written on the label in pencil (I hope), like the MacWrite disk has "unreadable" written on it. It obviously saw some use back in the day, given the presence of disks besides the system ones in the accessories box, including a few containing fonts.

Anyway, the main objective of my original query was to figure out how many of these might exist which avoided being upgraded in one way or another past the initial 128KB of RAM. Given the fact that numerous upgrades (both factory and aftermarket) were available, and that you couldn't do a whole lot with a stock 128K Mac, it stands to reason that said number is a small fraction of whatever the total 128K production was. The above-mentioned database (which I've just added my machine to) is far from comprehensive, of course; not everybody knows about the database (I certainly didn't until AF mentioned it), or feels the need to boast about their 128K on it. Besides, said database specifically says not to include non-stock upgrades in the stated memory for each machine, so it's hard to say for sure.
-Adam

 

[mwillegal]

I've spent considerable effort tracking several really rare landmark machines, and I can tell you that a really rare machine will hardly ever show up on ebay at all, let alone be available almost all the time. For instance, since I have been tracking them, I have never seen a SCELBI on ebay, though I do know of several that have changed hands via other auctions or through private sales. I have never seen a Micral change hands at all and I know serious collectors with deep pockets that can't find them. Early Apple II's with the ventless case are also difficult to find. The list goes on...

I think a lot of Macintoshs were simply set aside when it was realized that it wasn't what the owner needed. However limited they were, they were only unusable when compared to todays technology. The one I bought received a ton of use, even before it was upgraded.

regards,
Mike Willegal

 

[AdamAnt316]

I've spent considerable effort tracking several really rare landmark machines, and I can tell you that a really rare machine will hardly ever show up on ebay at all, let alone be available almost all the time. For instance, since I have been tracking them, I have never seen a SCELBI on ebay, though I do know of several that have changed hands via other auctions or through private sales. I have never seen a Micral change hands at all and I know serious collectors with deep pockets that can't find them. Early Apple II's with the ventless case are also difficult to find. The list goes on...

I think a lot of Macintoshs were simply set aside when it was realized that it wasn't what the owner needed. However limited they were, they were only unusable when compared to todays technology. The one I bought received a ton of use, even before it was upgraded.

regards,
Mike Willegal

Very good points, Mike, thanks. I know that the original Macintosh was a high-production machine, especially compared to the early micros you mentioned (did the SCELBI or Micral even go into full-fledged production? There doesn't seem to be much info out there about them). It stands to reason that there are still a fair amount of them out there, but I wouldn't be surprised if most of them received some sort of upgrade at some point in their useful lives. Granted, Apple didn't make it easy, but given its price tag, I'm sure many owners found a way, be it factory or otherwise...

Perhaps I've been unfair when I've said that "you couldn't do a whole lot" with a 128KB Mac. There were indeed things that could be done with them, namely word processing, drawing, and games. Beyond that, though, I just don't think 128KB is a whole lot of memory for a primarily GUI-based system. As mentioned by others, early reviews of the Macintosh pointed out that the amount of RAM was limiting; less than a year after its introduction, Apple quadrupled the amount of RAM offered, and even more than that was offered for a brief period of time with the 1MB Macintosh XL (and later the Plus, of course). Heck, a Lisa was required for Mac software development purposes in the early days, since the 128K Mac didn't really leave a whole lot of RAM for developers to work within...
-Adam

 

[allmacs]

I had an original 128k macintosh and it had some pretty funky fan inside. It was a base with two blades in a v configuration, they would vibrate pretty fast and move some air inside.
I kept a picture of it, but lost it . I was never able to find another fan like it

 

[allmacs]

I had an original 128k macintosh and it had some pretty funky fan inside. It was a base with two blades in a v configuration, they would vibrate pretty fast and move some air inside.
I kept a picture of it, but lost it . I was never able to find another fan like it

This is what it looks like it is called a maxchill... would have been right up Steve Job alley , by having no noise