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| Author | Got a Mac LC III and have many questions (Read 34115 times) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chefsessel
32 MB  Posts: 40 
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on: April 04, 2010, 16:59
Hi all, when my friend came up with the news I was really suprised. What happened? He somehow got his hands on a Mac LC III that someone dumped and since he has no use for it, but knows that I love tinkering around with old homecomputers, he will get it for me. That is really special because I grew up with a Mac LC III that my best friend had and we spent hours and hours in front of that cool thing using Claris and playing lots of cool games. So, really, I'm excited about this reunion one and half decade later. However, checking the data sheet for the LC III model gives me a hard time. That is because I have no idea how to transfer data to and from it. It has (of course) no USB port, no firewire, no ethernet. Darn. First Question: How do I get data onto it without a floppy disk drive? Are there any adapters? Second Question: What's the best OS to use with this one? Mac Tracker says OS 7.6.1 is the maximum Mac OS that will run officially, but how is the performance? Third question: I remember my friends family had an external CD-ROM drive in use. Which should I get? |
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dpaanlka
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1024 MB Posts: 1646
Reply #1 on: April 04, 2010, 19:50
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Quote from: "Chefsessel" First Question: How do I get data onto it without a floppy disk drive? Are there any adapters? You might want to pick up an ethernet card for it super cheap, like this one: http://www.welovemacs.com/m2460za.html Quote from: "Chefsessel" Second Question: What's the best OS to use with this one? Mac Tracker says OS 7.6.1 is the maximum Mac OS that will run officially, but how is the performance? A little sluggish, entirely dependent on RAM. You can max it out to 36 MB by buying and installing a 32 MB module, like this one: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/72PS32MB/ If you go with 7.1.x series it'll be a lot faster but more limited (or maybe not since it's an 030). 7.5.x and 7.6.x will be like the same performance wise. 7.6.x is definitely the better of those two. Quote from: "Chefsessel" Third question: I remember my friends family had an external CD-ROM drive in use. Which should I get? A SCSI one specifically designed for Macs, like this one: http://www.welovemacs.com/4xcdrom-e.html
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Chefsessel
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32 MB Posts: 40
Reply #2 on: April 04, 2010, 21:58
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Thanks for the info.  I'll check for an ethernet card here in Germany, might be the best way to get files onto the LC III in the future. And I'll definately upgrade the machine to 36 MB RAM to run 7.6.1 on it. As for the CD-ROM, are there any other models of external Apple CD-ROMs that are compatible? I do not dare to ask, but is there maybe even an overview of external CD-ROM drives somewhere? And - do I need a special adapter for connecting it to my LC III? I'm a bit clueless now on how to proceed next. I expect the worst, which means I expect the LC III to arrive here completly formatted with nothing on harddisk, a defunct system battery, etc. etc. Certainly those weren't the days of plug & play, so I assume in order to use the ethernet card (or the CD-ROM) I will have to install some drivers first. But if the LC III comes without System 7 installed, how do I get the drivers on it to actually cooperate with the new hardware? Thanks in advance, appreciate it :-)
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Anonymous Freak
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32 MB Posts: 37
Reply #3 on: April 05, 2010, 07:16
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Any external SCSI CD-ROM drive will work; with a couple caveats: Apple's are the only ones that work "out of the box" with no fiddling. Third-party drives often require third-party drivers. Those can be found online without much difficulty, but you have to get the drivers on the system somehow. Apple CD-ROM drives are guaranteed to be bootable. While third-party drives are often bootable, it can be flaky. The standard for Apple drives is you hold down 'C' while booting, and it will boot to the CD-ROM drive. With third-party drives, this sometimes doesn't work, and you have to hold down one or more other keys to boot to it. As for the Ethernet: Make sure whatever card you get comes with a driver floppy! Otherwise, you'll have no way to get the drivers on the system. I find my LC III is perfectly usable on Mac OS 7.6.1 with 36 MB RAM. 7.1 is a much 'leaner' OS, but it does require you to have the right "enabler". You can't just install using a stock 7.1 install disk set.
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Chefsessel
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32 MB Posts: 40
Reply #4 on: April 10, 2010, 15:03
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Hi everyone, thanks for sharing the info. I got my LC III today just a few minutes ago! First of all I have to say I'm still baffled by the cool design and the few space that it consumes on my desk. Would be great if Apple at some point would release a modern Mac in that case. I also got a monitor, seems to be an original Apple monitor. It just reads "Macintosh Power Display" on the back. The power cord was missing but luckily it's a standard power cord and I have a few left. Also got a HP 550C DeskWriter printer, again without cables (people, what are you doing with those?  ). I suppose it will be hard to get the printer <-> Mac cable today from somewhere...I also noticed both the ADB mouse and keyboard are in okay shape, but again we have a missing cable. (the connection cable between keyboard & Mac) So I plugged everything in (mouse directly connected to the LC III) and put on the Mac. Guess what, I loved to hear that "beep" again - it has been so many years. And it seems it to work fine, I could hear the 80 MB harddisk to work. (Oh my god, it's so much space, how can I ever fill it up! :-)))) ) It would then go to the booting screen but I could see the monitor is obviously in the process of dying. Poor old fellow. I've taken a photo of him, I suppose he's gone, right? (http://yfrog.com/i3dyingmonitorccj) Anyway, it worked enough to let me check the installed System 7.1. Obviously the pre-owner did not delete his installation and has all his personal stuff there. (I just jumped through the folders and saw several files that appeared to be business letters written in Word 5.1). It's a shame people don't pay any more attention to this fact. Lucky for him / her I'll delete them. Oh and I was really suprised to see the LC III already has been maxed out to 36 MB RAM, which is of course great news. Also some games are on the hard disk (Diamonds, a Space Invaders clone etc.) But back to my questions: Any ideas on the monitor? (alternatives?) Any ideas on where to get the missing ADB cable? Any idea on where to get the missing printer <-> LC cable? As always, thanks a lot for your help.
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #5 on: April 10, 2010, 17:32
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I looked at the monitor picture. Perhaps some of the issues can be corrected by changing settings in the Monitor Control Panel. It appears that the resolution is not optimal and the refresh rate may be off as well. The shrunken image could also be a problem with the monitor itself, over time monitors tend to have shrinking screens. There should be adjustments for that. Sometimes they are located as a small hole in the back, and sometimes the adjustment is inside the case. The adjustments for image size are controlled by small coils of wire around a waxed/paper-plastic tube. A magnet is inside the tube and its positing in the tube is adjusted by turning the magnet. This is most easily done with a plastic tool. This sort of adjustment can be done by anyone who works on TVs. A Mac will work with a wide variety of monitors. The non Apple monitors often require and adaptor. You can check the specifications on your LC for its resolution capabilities, then look far a monitor that supports those refresh rates and resolutions. It is a let down to get new equipment and not have all the right cables to hook it up. On the bright side ADB cables, monitor adaptors, and Mac-PC serial cables (what you need for the printer) are fairly common and should not be difficult to locate. Congratulations on your new hardware. We look forward to hearing of your adventures in getting it working well and the types of things you find enjoyable doing on your new machine. bill
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Chefsessel
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32 MB Posts: 40
Reply #6 on: April 10, 2010, 22:30
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Hi Bill, thank you for this helpful answer. I've been trying to change the resolution under System 7.1 and reducing the colors to see if anything would change. Unfortunately, it didn't. Next I tried the adjustments on the back of the screen as you suggested (totally forgot about it), but to no avail - while the picture is perfectly centered now, it still has these "rainbow colors2 all over. I suppose the monitor is gone, too bad, really.
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Chefsessel
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32 MB Posts: 40
Reply #7 on: April 22, 2010, 14:01
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Hey everyone, here is some update from me. I've been able to get another monitor for the Mac, the missing cables are on it's way. So it's about to run again. :-) What I don't have yet is the external CD-ROM drive. I've found one but the seller doesn't know whether it will work with System 7.1. Can anyone of you help me out and tell me whether this one will work with the LC III? (does it need special drivers?) http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250615937576
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #8 on: April 22, 2010, 14:38
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Most 3rd party devices require drivers to work. Although there are several alternatives, Toast is by far the most common and easily obtainable software for external CDs. I believe with System 7.1 Toast V3.5(?) is the latest release you can use. If you can find a working installer for Toast, you will probably find a list of supported devices in the "ReadMe" file or the manual. bill
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Chefsessel
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32 MB Posts: 40
Reply #9 on: May 19, 2010, 08:33
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Thanks for the information! The problem is that I can't transfer the file to my LC III since I only have a disk drive - that limits file transfer to files smaller than 1,4 MB :-) Question: Do you know if there is something like a utility that allows to split up bigger files into 1,4 MB parts and then joins them afterwards on the target computer? I suppose my problem is not uncommon, especially in the old days..
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #10 on: May 19, 2010, 13:58
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Stuffit Deluxe will break a large file into smaller sized chunks and then put them back together again. bill
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Chefsessel
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32 MB Posts: 40
Reply #11 on: July 05, 2010, 17:51
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Thanks for the help, wove! I wonder - is there another way of sending data to my LC III? All I could find was one single floppy disk remaining in our household (yeah, the floppy days are definitely over!) and it's so painfully slow to copy data on it and then walk over to the LC III and copy it to the harddisk. Yeah, I know what you gonna say - "This is retro". :-D .. it is, but it can also be very time consuming. So my question is - is there a way I could set up a little network with the LC III and copying the files over? (I could finally update to 7.5.3 ... the imagination of copying on and off 19 disks make me very sad ...)
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24bit
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64 MB Posts: 91
Reply #12 on: August 23, 2010, 21:26
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Hello, I recall a networking software for Win2K or XP. Would that one help? You can setup PC volumes as Mac network disks and copy your files if Ethernet runs. Best wishes!
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