[rescue] Quadra 650 - Newb questions/parts seeking

[Mark Benson]

On 25 Jan 2007, at 21:34, Chad McAuley wrote:

> Howdy folks.  There's a Quadra 650 here at work

Nice rig, lots of room for expansion etc. I've never specifically  
played with a 650 but I have played with many other models of Quadra,  
mostly 605s and 8x0s. If all else fails and you can't get on with Mac  
OS (for which I couldn't totally blame you, I hate System 7) they  
will run commandline NEtBSD pretty well :o)

> 1) This particular machine has no CD-ROM drive.  From what I can tell
> a 2x drive came standard on these machines, so it'd be safe to assume
> the original died and was pulled, right? Either way, do I need a
> specific Apple branded CD-ROM to go in here, or will any 50-pin SCSI
> drive work?

Any SCSI CD-ROM with Apple firmware ought to work, or alternatively  
you can use Apple CD-ROM extension version 5.3.1 (got a copy of it  
somewhere if you are stuck). I've had extraordinary luck with SCSI CD- 
ROMs in Macs. Almost all I've tried (and believe you me that's a LOT)  
boot the machine, but most non Apple ones require the 5.3.1 extension  
to actually mount CDs in Mac OS (although curiously almost any CD-ROM  
extension version will mount the CD in the drive at boot time - how  
very random!!).

> 2) It currently has System 7.1 on it.

I might get flailed for this, but I'd leave it on 7.1. It's very fast  
and lightweight for an 040 Mac, and later versions (7.5.x) have a lot  
more bloat and are a bit buggy in comparison. 7.6.1 and 8.1 are fine  
on 040s but don't give the best speed return for the slower 040s.

It's also a little known fact that practically any Apple written OS  
extension written for 68k from System 7.5.x right up to 8.1 will  
actually work ok in 7.1. I have an upgraded Mac IIci that is running  
the entire of Open Transport from OS 8.1, including the AppleTalk  
over IP support needed to log into OS X machines :D

> 3) It currently has the original 250MB HD in it.  What's the biggest
> drive I can put in this?

System 7.1 and I think 7.5 have an upper limit of 2GB. 7.6 has an  
upper limit of 4GB. 8.0 or higher is only limited by the extents of  
HFS. OS 8.1 supports HFS+ (yes it's that old!!) but HFS+ volumes are  
not bootable on 68ks.

> 4) I found some 72-pin memory hiding here in a box at work, and was
> able to take it from the 8MB on board up to 80MB.  It sees it all
> fine, and once I discovered I had to enable 32-bit addressing it was
> even available to programs.

Don't worry, that one still trips me up after over 6 years of playing  
with these things. It's even worse if the PRAM battery is dead  
because it loses the setting every time you unplug the computer!  
System 7.6.1 and 8.1 force the setting on at boot time (they boot,  
then reboot in quick succession).

> However, that setting isn't sticking, so I have to keep turning it  
> back on.  Is this a System 7.1 thing, or might I have a dead  
> battery or something on my hands?

Erm... just like that in fact :o)

> Now, a few things I'm looking for, in order of preference.
>
> - either an AAUI-15 to RJ45 transceiver or a nubus ethernet card with
> a RJ45 jack so I can hook  the Quadra up to my network
> - a CD-ROM
> - either the VRAM upgrade chips or a nubus video card that will allow
> me to run higher color depths
> - 3 more 32MB sticks of RAM so I can max this guy out
> - a larger HD

See my off-list note.

> If anyone has any of this stuff they'd be willing to part with, or can
> at least point me in the direction of somewhere I could pick some of
> these things up for cheap I'd appreciate it.

Although I'm usually agin advertising lists on lists, the LowEndMac  
Swap List is a great source for random Mac parts. I've picked up all  
sorts of old stuff on there, and a bit of more current stuff too.

http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/index.shtml

-- 
Mark Benson

My Blog:
<http://mdblog.68kmac.org>
68kMac.org:
<http://www.68kmac.org>

"Introducing Macintosh Classic II - pick one out on your way past the  
trash!"