Help with Web & Email on older Mac (System 7.x)?

Aaah memories! About twice a year, a client will show me an old "pizza-box" Mac such as your P450 (otherwise known as an "LC2") and ask if they can use it "just for the web and email". The answer is that this is possible, but from a professional POV isn't worthwhile as the time involved would cost more than the machine's value.

Having said that, here is your running order:

1. After doing the RAM, (which you have exactly right, and these SIMMs should be still available), you will need a new OS. The currently-installed OS will almost certainly be shagged, so you need to do a clean install. The machine has no CD drive, and although it has an external SCSI port (the internal HD is SCSI as well), SCSI CD drives are now unobtainable. You therefor need to be able to download the most recent OS installer that will work, which is MacOS 7.6.1, obtainable here. Ideally you should do this from your PowerBook, and connect a USB floppy drive in order to make a set of installer floppies.

2. You then boot the P450 from Installer Disk 1. You will be able to do this because it should contain a basic System. There will be a utility ("Apple HD/SC Setup") on the floppy for formatting the internal disk, which you should do, then just start the System installer and it will ask for disks to be swapped as it needs them. This can take about an hour...

3. You then need to battle with a Control Panel called "MacTCP", whose operation is moderately obvious once you open it. The PPP stack is handled separately, and since Apple's own PPP standards were at this point largely out of step, the supplied "ConfigPPP" Control Panel should be discarded and replaced with FreePPP. Instructions for setting it up can be found here. It should include everything required to get the USR modem to work, but you will need a Mac hardware-handshaking cable (mini-DIN 8 plug on the Mac end). Don't install any of the software which comes with the modem!

3. Email: You may be able to find a version of Outlook Express which will work, but I doubt it. However, arguably the best email client ever built for any computer (the only things it doesn't do are spam filtering and HTML) is Claris Emailer v2.0.3, an installer for which you can probably find online, failing which I can send you one.

4. Web browser: an early Netscape is the best bet, possibly 3.0 will work. However, don't expect rock-solid Java, Flash, etc., although many sites will work fine.

5. You don't say if you have a working monitor. Most Apple monitors of a similar vintage will simply plug in to the built-in (13-pin D-sub?) monitor port and work, but a VGA monitor can be connected using adaptors which are widely available. From memory, the video card will do a max of 832 x 624 in 8-bit video @ 72hz, which is fine. More colours at 640 x 480. Apple's "Performa" monitors were total crap (badged fish-bowl Panasonics), but the Apple 13" and later 14" "Multiple Scan Displays" were fantastic (Sony; blueprinted) and were designed so that the lateral curve matched the front face of the P450 box -- very cool.

Ironically, the P450 design had an expansion slot called PDS (Processor Direct Slot). This could be used to install an Ethernet card, and in this config., working with broadband is entirely possible and desirable since a lot of System resources would be freed by not needing to run PPP/modem "bossing" software. The System already knows how to talk to an Ethernet card, so the actual driver (more of a config. file) is about 24k (from memory!). I may have an suitable card somewhere.

Let us know how you get on!

Best;

Mark

Thanks, Mark, a lot of advice to digest which must have taken you a while to write. I'm up for the challenge - as much as anything to provide my parents with a 'free' computer which will meet their extremely basic needs - but obviously there's much to do.

I'm setting a budget of around £50 for the base unit update - and I've located and priced a suitable 32Mb SIMM at £32, so there's not so much left in my notional 'pot' for any other expenditure.

An alternative I wondered about might be buying a somewhat newer Mac with that money. Sure, I would prefer to be able to use the current one but it's very old and though I know it saw little use (it was my sister's) who knows whether it's all still working anyway.

Would I get much of a Mac for £50? Or even £100 (if I were to up the budget). My sister has the original Performa monitor which I recall was pretty crap, but I have an old but still good Sony 15" Trinitron which I think might work with it.

I'm keen to steer my folks away from a PC because I know from experience that they will end up disillusioned and it will sit there unused. They need something which is basic, but solid, and without the 'fragility' of older Windows versions.

John

John

Before you spend any money on the Performa check whether the floppy drive still works. Without a working floppy the machine is a write off.

I have an external NEC 8X SCSI CDROM drive here which you are welcome to have for the postage cost. I should warn you it is quite heavy.

I think you can install the System off the CD Rom if you have the CD but you will need to format the internal drive for which you will need the floppy drive. and I think you will need to boot the Performa off a basic instal floppy to start the install. The great thing is you will not need any driver softwre for the Mac to recognise the external SCSI CD drive.

Alternatively you could remove the hard drive and hook it up to your ibook or desktop mac using an USB to SCSI adaptor and install the system using your ibook CD drive or the downloaded system software I'm fairly certain that would work.

I used to run a Quadra 700 and still have a Powerbook 180 here which runs System 7.6 so if you run short of bits of software drop me a PT

eddie

TC -- that's a good offer from EddieP!

If you were going to change the machine, change to one where you get a real difference. The best used Mac "bang for buck" currently is with the final "beige" machines -- G3s in either Desktop or Minitower cases. These (IIRC) are currently changing hands at under 100 quid on eBay. The internal HDs are ATA (also internal CD-ROM drives in later models, earlier are SCSI), making replacement quick & easy, and if the motherboard is Rev. B or C, you can still expand the RAM to 768MB if required (3 slots, 3 banks, SDRAM). Machine will run any System from 8.1 onwards (again IIRC), but still has "trad" Apple serial ports ("modem" and "printer"). USB & FireWire can be added successfully with a PCI card (3 slots), and 10BT Ethernet is in-built. You may find MacTracker useful.

The 15" Sony CRTs ("15sf" 15sfII") were IMHO some of the finest screens ever made.

Best;

Mark

I've got a Mac Colour Classic machine at home which is gorgeous. IIRC the OS is 7.1. Any chance of making it internet-savvy?

Just curious as it's currently collecting dust at the moment.

Thanks and regards,

JonR

Hi again. Thanks for the various tips and offers. I'm going to speak to my folks first, before I do anything, and see what they'd like. I do have a PC I could give them but I'm wary due to the possible hassles they might encounter. A Mac makes much more sense for them, but seeing as I may have to purchase some bits, they might prefer to contribute to up the budget that bit further to their own 'proper' modern(ish) Mac. I'm thinking one of the all-in-one Macs as a possibility.

I'll talk to them tonight and see what they would like to do.

John

quote:

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Originally posted by JonR:
I've got a Mac Colour Classic machine at home which is gorgeous.

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Great, weren't they? If it's an original Colour Classic, no chance (10MB RAM max), but if it's a Colour Classic II, then it might be viable (36MB RAM max).

Best;

Mark

Hmm...could well be snookered.

Bugger.

Oh well, thanks anyway for the reply Mark.

Regards,

JonR