Very Old Mac

[DonReactor]

Hi everyone,

Today my school got a very old mac the 512k system but with no OS on it.
It's asking for a floppy disc but there came no floppy disc with it that works.
So is there a way to get the OS? Buy or maybe Download?

Greetings from The Netherlands

 

[symphonix]

Most of the older operating systems are available for free download from Apple. See: http://www.info.apple.com/support/oldersoftwarelist.html#system

There are also lots of good downloads and so on at http://www.lowendmac.com/

Apparently system 7.5.3 will boot on any Mac that has a 1.4mb floppy drive, so this is probably what you want to use.

You can also look at http://apple-history.com/ to get some more specific specs for your machine before you start out.

 

[nixgeek]

Also, check out Jag's House at http://www.jagshouse.com.

There's also Gamba's site at http://home.earthlink.net/~gamba2/index.html

 

[fryke]

I think the 512K did _not_ come with an 1.44 MB floppy drive. You'll need 400K or 800K disks.

 

[maz94protege]

sad thing is, my neighbor had a set of those disks, we just cleaned out his computer room a while back, and threw them out. didnt think anyone would buy them on ebay. lol. Shoulda kept them..... Im sure somone has some they can duplicate or sell ya.

 

[albloom]

The 512 maxes out at System 4.1 and Finder 5.5. You can still
find that software to download.

It uses 400k or 800k floppy disks. Therein lies a major problem.
You'd have to find another way-old Mac that can use those old
disks. Well maybe not all that way-old. The Apple floppy drive
for my Wallstreet PB does 800K. Dunno how that would work with
the doubtless-400k 4.1/5.5 disk images.

You might better turn the 512 into a fish tank.

 

[gollum84]

You can easily turn a 1.4MB floppy into either a 400 or 800k disk. All you have to do is put a piece of scotch tape over the open hole in the upper corner of the disk. Then the drive will be confused and think that its an older disk. You can then format the disk in your older mac to whatever you need it to be.

I had to do this so that I could put an operating system on my Macintosh SE. It helps to have a mac that can go on the internet and have a 1.4MB floppy drive, so that you could can get what you need on the disk and transfer it.

 

[sinclair_tm]

try again, the 512 can use up to system 6.0.8, and 6.0.3, 6.0.5, and 6.0.8 can all be downloaded from apple's website (http://www.info.apple.com/support/oldersoftwarelist.html) [seems that the forum updates an't all done yet, i can't add a hyperlink. in fact none of the buttons for post text modification work]. then the drive only accepts 400k floppies. so if you can find a little newer mac with floppy drive and internet, then you can make the system floppy. just be warned, that thing doen not have a hard drive. all software needs to run off the floppy, which ment alot of floppy swapping with only one drive. good luck.

btw, if you are unable to make the diskes you need, and really, really want to fire the old boy up, i might be able to dig up my old floppies and see if i can get one of my pluses fired up to make you a copy. i make no garrenty that i can. its been over 5 years sence i have even plugged in one of those things, and floppies are known for not lasting very long. just post here and let us know how you did, and if you want those disks, then we can arange to send you some. *****NOTE: this offer is for DonReactor ONLY! so please don't everyone ask me for copies. i don't have the time, or desire, to provide everyone with something that they can get on their own with a little of effort. i made him the offer because its for his school, and i know school's don't always have the means to do things like this. my school didn't, but i had a friend that did, and thats how we got alot of things like this for the old macs my high school had.