OK, I save almost everything techy: Computers, printers, electronic test equipment (stay tuned for an upcoming “Archaeological Dig”), Videoconferencing stuff, CD’s, telephones, well……the list goes on and on and on and on……I got a lot of stuff in that garage.
The problem is, I pack the stuff away very nicely, and after 20 years or so, I forget what I have, or what I no longer have. If I do happen to remember what I kept, I have no idea where it is buried….
Thus the need for a formal dig. TechyMike the Archaeologist. 🙂
Starting my Archaeological Dig in the garage this past May looking for long lost test equipment, I was shocked to unearth these old Apple Macintosh computers!
I had completely forgotten them…..
Oh, the memories!
That aside….on with the dig!
Unearthed Apple Macintosh Computers
Mac IIsi (on top in the picture)
The Macintosh IIsi is the oldest of the unearthed computers. Here is a great Wikipedia article on the IIsi, but, I will give you some specifications here to save you from jumping back and forth.
Introduced October 15, 1990 we probably spent the $3,000 it cost to buy it when it first came out. It was discontinued March 15, 1993. Somewhere in that range, Kristen was born and started to get curious about computers. 🙂
A few of the specs of the Mac IIsi are (See Apple’s page here):
Memory: 1 MB to 17 MB
Hard Drive: 40 MB or 80 MB
Floppy Drive: 1.44 MB
CD Drive: Not invented yet. 😉
System Clock Rate: less than 25 MHz
Network: I think this was stand-alone since the Internet was, well, not really available. Go here for a nice history of the Internet.
There was a lot of educational software available for kids. Broderbund’s Living Books “Just Grandma and Me” by Mercer Mayer being the best ever. 🙂
Power Macintosh 7100/80 (the bottom computer in the pic above)
The next Apple computer we purchased was the much bigger and heavier Power Mac 7100/80. You can read all about it on Wikipedia.
The Power Mac 7100/80 was introduced March 14, 1994 and discontinued January 6, 1996. We still have ours. (Note: After I wrote that sentence a few months ago: Obviously…..duh…… since it is the bottom computer in the picture above. 😉
A few of the specs of the Power Mac 7100/80 are (See Apple’s page here):
Memory: 8 MB to 136 MB (it was expandable!)
Hard Drive: 350 MB to 700 MB
Floppy Drive: 1.44 MB
CD Drive: 2x speed
System Clock Rate: 66 Mhz and 80 Mhz
Network: It had an “ethernet” port, but, we most likely connected to the “Internet” (probably AOL) via dial-up modem.
The same educational software was used by Kristen.
PowerBook 520c
Apple Specs page here. See more information and specs in the Wikipedia article here.
I used this when I started my first consulting business: TelBitConsulting. (Try this link: TelBitConsulting.com) and then again in our 2nd business: Innovative Telecommunications Solutions.
Truthfully, this laptop was slow as molasses even though it was “state-of-the-art” at the time I was using it. It had limited memory, limited storage, limited networking, limited software, limited everything. A very difficult tool to use in a high-pressure working environment. One client even commented how shitty it was (or was he talking about me? Whatever….)
On the bright side…..You gotta love how technology has improved since this laptop was introduced.
Conclusion
Doing this article over the past few months (yeah, I dropped it in DRAFT for awhile) was kinda fun, but, 2019 has a lot more useful tools for working and collaborating.
I have some test equipment to unearth…..I will post that bit of fun next.
Geek On!
TechyMike: Technology Made Easy 