Reinstalling a 25 year old 'puter

[Dos_Box]

As part of the stand we are sharing with ICT Direct at BETT next week, we are to be displaying a selection of old computers (working), as well as their price on launch and how much they would cost today adjusted for inflation.
As part of our contribution, I'm taking my Mac Cube (very expensive at launch, and was only for sale for 1 year due to disappointing sales) and Studio display.
It was quite a journey and took several days. Not helped that I had to strip it down and replace the DVD RAM drive belt as well as remove the original 3.5" spinning disk (a hard drive should not make noises like that!) and put in a SATA SSD via and IDE to SATA adaptor.
It was very finicky and required the correct install discs. I then had to rush to @ICTDirect_Dave place and grab some blank CD's\DVD's from him. I mean who has these any more!
I then had to locate my old external USB DVD burner as the cheap USB one I usually use really didn't want to play on it and the DVD RAM drive on the cube wouldn't recognise disks. I suspect this is either due to the lens needing a good clean or the laser on the RAM drive not being able to read the disks due to them being dual level or just unrecognisable to a much older drive.

Anyway, after two attempts (1hr 40 mins each) to install OSX, I got there! So if you want a play on a rather rare computer then come and visit us and ICT Direct on stand NH31 and we shall let you have a play
One thing that did strike me though, apart from the very old network connection screen, was that it asked for a lot of personal information before it would let you finish the install. Thnakfully this didn't need an internet connection to complete. Pics below!
Oh, and credit to Apple for keeping the update servers on for a product discontinued in 2001!

 

 

 

[ovenchips]

There's something very special about reviving old hardware and playing around with old OS'es and getting them online, certainly makes me miss the old days & much simpler times!

 

If you want to have a bit of fun with them, check out protoweb.org to properly go back in time

[Dos_Box]

One thing I hadn't considered, is that it is only USB 1.0\1.1, so the external DVD drive took an age to install.
Well worth the effort though, it fairly motors along given its specs 😊
If you are at BETT next week, you can have a play on it!
I'll have to get it stripped back down after BETT to sort out the RAM drive as I do suspect the drive lens may be dirty and not detecting CD's\DVD's correctly.

[2ilent8cho]

Love looking and playing with old retro machines so will try and come and see on the Thursday. Miss those old Office for Mac icons, way cooler than the Office for Windows icons. I think 90s and early 00's operating systems and apps on both Windows and macOS were better designed, the user interface on modern OS's is my biggest annoyance with them, looking especially at Settings on both Windows and macOS, they are not an improvement. 

[synaesthesia]

You need to be dragging a BBC Micro/Master along next year and show the kids how it used to be done, properly!

[jthompson]

Nice. Will Jeff Goldblum be there?

[3s-gtech]

You can find some very old Firewire 400 external DVD drives. They're worth pennies of course, but the sellers don't seem to realise that. Would make a great addition to the Mac though.

[Ianellis]

Now if you can get an Amiga on the stand I would be very interested!

[ICTDirect_Dave]

3 hours ago, Ianellis said:

Now if you can get an Amiga on the stand I would be very interested!

 

I do have a working Amiga 500+ and a Commodore 64.

But sadly neither were particularly common school devices (and I'm a little too precious about them).

I am bringing my Acorn Archimedes A3020, though.  Guaranteed Lemmings all day long!

[DalekSec]

I have a G4 Mac Cube that i tried to put an SSD in back in lockdown, not touched it in years. Will try to revive again at some point

[Ianellis]

44 minutes ago, ICTDirect_Dave said:

 

I do have a working Amiga 500+ and a Commodore 64.

But sadly neither were particularly common school devices (and I'm a little too precious about them).

I am bringing my Acorn Archimedes A3020, though.  Guaranteed Lemmings all day long!

A school I used to go to did have an Amiga 500 in the art department.

But I'll challenge you to Lemmings!

[ICTDirect_Dave]

25 minutes ago, Ianellis said:

A school I used to go to did have an Amiga 500 in the art department.

But I'll challenge you to Lemmings!

That'll be for Photon Paint eh?  Loved that bit of sofware!

[Danp]

I've got a Sony PCG-C1XN Vaio, it was released 26 years ago. Not powered it on for a few years, though.

 

 

[ovenchips]

8 minutes ago, Danp said:

I've got a Sony PCG-C1XN Vaio, it was released 26 years ago. Not powered it on for a few years, though.

 

 

 

Incredibly Jealous! Those subnotebooks are legendary and worth a pretty penny these days, such cool devices even now.

[jthompson]

11 minutes ago, Danp said:

I've got a Sony PCG-C1XN Vaio, it was released 26 years ago. Not powered it on for a few years, though.

I had a job working in a big electricals retailer at around that time, and remember fawning over one of those that was on display. The year 2000 me would probably have opted for the Psion Series 7 that was slightly further along the display stand, though.

[synaesthesia]

1 hour ago, Danp said:

I've got a Sony PCG-C1XN Vaio, it was released 26 years ago. Not powered it on for a few years, though.

 

 

 

Very nice!

The rich mans Libretto!

 

[Danp]

The reason I have this is that I worked a lot with Sony Vaios from 2003 - 2009. When I saw this for sale on ebay about 10 years ago I snapped it up. I was in charge of all Vaio returns in the UK and worked with Sony UK (Weybridge and Pencoed) and Sony Europe (Brussels). I went over there a few times and trained some of their staff on how to efficiently test them! I used to test and record up to 100 a day.

 

Also, the C range nearly didn't come to Europe, it was going to be a Japan only range, but a friend of mine was part of the team that persuaded Sony Europe to bring them over here.