Q&A for the Macintosh (128K) through the Macintosh 512Ke

System 6.0.8 on a Macintosh 512K
Q. Can I run System Software 6.0.8 on a Mac 512K?

A. Yes, System 6.0.8 will think your Mac 512K is a Mac Plus once you load the HD20 INIT. The Mac 512Ke is already a Mac Plus with 512K of memory.

The minimal space for a Minimal System for the Mac Plus is 348K which will fit on a 400K disk the Mac 512K needs. The trick is - System Software 6.0.8 will only install on a HFS diskette. So either format your 400K disk with HFS (instead of the default of MFS) or install it on a 800K disk, then move the files (excluding the System Folder) to a 400K disk. It will boot. The disk will have 42K left of free space.

System 6.0.8 gives you 352K of memory free for applications.

Here is the skinny
- ImageWriter v2.2 printer driver takes 31K
- ImageWriter AppleTalk v2.2 printer driver takes 40K
- LaserWriter v3.0 pritner driver takes 36K
- LaserWriter Prep v3.0 takes 23K
- AppleShare client software takes 74K
(To access a file server)

Identifying a Macintosh 128K
Q. How can I tell a 128K Mac from a 512k - I've found a compact mac...says nothing but Macintosh on the back and shows Model M00001. Is this a 128K mac? I thought I read somewhere that the 512K's also were labeled M00001 as well. Did apple make an upgrade to the 128K to the 512K fat mac? Could the case be a 128K mac with a 512K's innards?

A. Yes, many Mac 128K's were turned into a Mac 512K by changing the motherboard.
o One way to tell is to boot it up and see how much RAM is in there.
o The other way is to open it up and look at the motherboard, it will tell you what it is.

Not to confuse the issue, you could have one of three motherboards in there; the Mac 128K, 512K and 512Ke motherboards are the same size and connectors.

Plus, to confuse the issue more, it could have a third-party upgrade to turn it into a Mac 512K or Mac 512Ke.

As for the case, if you look at my Mac 128K and Mac 512K pages:
- 128k.htm
- 512k.htm
- 512ke.htm

It will show you what the "Macintosh" logos on the back look like.

800K drive working on a Mac 512K
Q. Will the external 800K drive work on a Macintosh 512K?

A. The external 800K drives will work on a Macintosh 512K that does NOT have a ROM upgrade. However, to use the external 800K drive with the Macintosh 512K, copy these three files:

1. System
2. Finder 5.1 or greater
3. Hard Disk 20

to your startup disk from the disk "Macintosh System Update for Macintosh 512K".

Old Mac question-
Q. I just purchased two compact Macs (a 512 and a plus) from a thrift store for dirt cheap. As far as I know they are in great condition. However I am a latecomer to the world of Macs and I don't know how to get them up and running. When I turn them on they display a disk icon with a question mark. Do I need to install system software? How do I do that?
Is there a way to make disks readable from my 8600 to the classics? I would love to resurrect these computers any help would be much appreciated.

A.  The Mac 512 is not permitted to allow Macintosh users to download System Software, per a decree from Apple Computer, Inc.'s legal team.

A source for double sided/double density diskettes-
Q. I will soon be adding to my classic mac collection a 512k <not a 512ke> with one 400k floppy drive and a whopping 512k of RAM. First and foremost, I need to know if someone out there knows of a ready source for 800k/400k disks to be used with this little guy.

A.  Office Max has a steady supply of DS/DD

Life expectancy of DS/DD disks-
Q. I tried reformatting a double sided <800k> disk to single sided <400k> on my Plus, and I'm not sure if the disk is usable in the 512, since I keep getting finder error type 3's when the format is finished <problem with
the disk, or with the system - sys 7.0.1?>

A.  It sounds like that perhaps the disk is going bad.  I am using 7.1 on a Plus with no formatting problems.
Using new disks, most of my 7+ year disks are failing me now.

Old Macintosh System Software
Q. Where can I obtain older System software or other applications for my Macintosh?

A. The Mac 512 is not permitted to allow Macintosh users to download System Software, per a decree from Apple Computer, Inc.'s legal team.

Connect a hard drive to the Macintosh 128K, 512K & 512Ke-
Q. Can I connect a hard drive to my Macintosh 128K?

A. Maybe.

Apple says: The discontinued Apple HD20, a non-SCSI drive does work with the early Macintoshes.
The Mac 512 says: No, I could not get my HD20 (both of them) to work with my Macintosh128K.

You cannot use a SCSI drive, those Macintoshes lack a SCSI port. The Macintosh Plus and above can use a SCSI hard drive. You might find a third-party SCSI add-on card to add a SCSI port to an early Macintosh.

Sad Mac Error Codes-
Q. I've just inherited a classic Macintosh and when it is powered up the sad Mac icon is the first and only thing to appear, with this code, 01E3BE and some bits cycling underneath the icon, it does this whether there is a valid system disk in there or not.

A. Your Mac is reporting a very rare "Bad ROM" error. You will need to replace the ROMs on the motherboard.
01 is the Class code, E3BE is the Sub Code - in this case it doesn't mean anything. Here is the full chart of Sad Mac codes.

Error 02 from external floppy drive-
Q. When I use my external drive on left side of my Macintosh I get a 02 errors.

A. You could be getting RFI interference from the power supply. Use the external drive on the right side of the Macintosh.

Problems with a LaserWriter-
Q. When I use my LaserWriter it is slow to print. When the pages come out, I have excess spacing between the words.

A. It sounds like you are using large screen fonts (like Venice and London) or are switching among screen fonts a lot in a document. The excess spacing can be caused by having the Font Substitution option selected in the Page Setup dialog box. To speed it up select a LaserWriter font.

Problems with the Switcher application-
Q. Switcher cannot load a set I have created. What could be causing this?

A. Switcher needs the applications in the same folder as the Switcher application. Also try turning the RAM cache (aka Disk Cache) off or reduce the memory allocated to it. It is best for Switcher to use as much available memory in your Macintosh.

Hooking up a modem to a classic Mac (Mac 128K - Mac 512Ke) -
Q.  Anyhoo, I was also wondering if there was any way to hook up a modem <what do the ports on the back look like? I know the keyboard and mouse are pre-ADB, but what about the serial ports?> - also, is there a free/shareware term program that will fit <with a system> onto a 400k disk, so I can actually USE the modem? Something like the perennial ZTerm (which is happy on the SE, under sys 6 and 7) but more compact?

A.  The connectors are the DB-9 pin connectors, you can get cables from MacWarehouse or MacConnection.
See if there is a program called MacTerminal on the web, I'm pretty sure you can find it using some of the links listed in other Classic Posts postings.

As for the ports, look at my Mac 128K and Mac 512K pages:
- 128k.htm
- 512k.htm
- 512ke.htm

Mac 128K keyboard Cable
Q. I need to create a keyboard cable for my Mac 128K, how can I do that?

A.  You need to pin the cable as follows (A phone cable will work with repining):
o 1st end- Yellow, Green, Red, Black - looking at the end with the metal pins facing you.
o 2nd end - Yellow, Green, Red, Black - looking at the other end with the metal pins facing you.

A regular phone line (in the US) is reversed.

Pin Name Comments
1 CGND Chassis Ground
2 KBD1 Keyboard Clock
3 KBD2 Keyboard Data
4 +5V

Connector Type: RJ-11 Connector, 4 pin male

WARNING: Macintosh Keyboard cable connectors are just like those used in modular telephones, but the cables themselves are not. Never connect these cables to your telephone, and never connect a phone cable to your Macintosh.

Identifying a Mac 512 & Mac 512Ke
Q. How can you tell the difference between the Mac 512K and Mac 512Ke?

A.  This is not as easy as it seems. As both share the same case and have the same ports on the back.

- One way is to turn it on, insert a blank disk and tell the Finder to erase the disk (Special menu / Erase Disk...). If the dialog box pops up with One Sided and Double Sided, it is a Mac 512Ke. A stock Mac 512K does not support 800K disks without help.
- Look at the internal floppy drive, if there is a red light inside of there the disk drive is a 400K drive. This is a Mac 512K as Mac 512K's cannot boot from an 800K disk. They need help from the HD20 INIT.

The Mac 512 is a gYounk design & programmed site.