Recommended Posts

First of all, you need to know what Freecycle is. If you don't, it's a "nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own town". You basically put up and Offer and Wanted ad, and someone responds with the item you asked for, or asking to take the item you offered.

Well, one came offering:

Vintage Macintosh computers

The iMac is a 1998 PowerPC G3 - 233 MHz - 32 MB RAM, 4 GB HD, 512

cache. The regular desktop is a Macintosh Quadra 610, maybe about 17

years old. We also have some CRT monitors.

I'm thinking of getting one of them. It doesn't matter which one, I like old electronics, haha. Is this, (in your opinion) a good deal? They're free, so I'm thinking they are, but I don't know. I sent the guy an email asking if they work, come with keyboard/mouse, etc. He hasn't responded, but I sent it an hour ago, so I don't expect him to have. I'm not going to do anything "real" on the computer. I just like to fool around, see whats up (I guess you could say) on older computers and such.

Thanks in advance!

-Joe

Link to post
Share on other sites

The imac will work fine, you might even be able to run os x on it although painfully slow. os 9 will run very well on it and it will surf, e-mail and run old apps just fine.

The Quadra is best used as a doorstop. If it runs you can always use it to remind yourself how far we have come.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, I was thinking about getting the imac simply because its newer. This will be my first mac ever, so I'll probably be on it forever seeing what I can do. Thanks for the help!

-Joe

Link to post
Share on other sites

OS X requires (for some value of requires) 128 MB of RAM and I think the last version that supported the Bondi Blue iMac was 10.3.

It's an interesting pair of machines. The Quadra 610 and the Bondi both have symbolic value: the 610 was one of the last 68k Macs, released the year before the first PowerMacs, and the Bondi was the first iMac. One represents the end of the Old Macintosh, the other the beginning of New Mac.

Edited by jcl
Link to post
Share on other sites
This will be my first mac ever, so I'll probably be on it forever seeing what I can do. Thanks for the help!

-Joe

Don't expect much, the old imac and os 9 are very much part of Apple history but both the G3 PPC processor and the operating system have been abandoned some time ago. OS 9 and OS X are two different operating systems unlike Windows 95 and Vista that although very different, still share many of the characteristics and DNA. OS X has no ties to OS 9 and earlier OS's it is Unix based and was brought to Apple along with Steve Jobs from NexT computer.

Link to post
Share on other sites
OS X requires (for some value of requires) 128 MB of RAM and I think the last version that supported the Bondi Blue iMac was 10.3.

It's an interesting pair of machines. The Quadra 610 and the Bondi both have symbolic value: the 610 was one of the last 68k Macs, released the year before the first PowerMacs, and the Bondi was the first iMac. One represents the end of the Old Macintosh, the other the beginning of New Mac.

Is the 1998 a Bondi? It doesn't say that anywhere, but you know a lot more about macs than I do.

This will be my first mac ever, so I'll probably be on it forever seeing what I can do. Thanks for the help!

-Joe

Don't expect much, the old imac and os 9 are very much part of Apple history but both the G3 PPC processor and the operating system have been abandoned some time ago. OS 9 and OS X are two different operating systems unlike Windows 95 and Vista that although very different, still share many of the characteristics and DNA. OS X has no ties to OS 9 and earlier OS's it is Unix based and was brought to Apple along with Steve Jobs from NexT computer.

I don't know. I like my '98 more than my XP, not including gaming, so I might like it more. I'll just have to wait and find out.

The guy hasn't emailed me back yet. I hope he does soon, I can pick it up Thursday, after that not until the weekend...... :unsure:

-Joe

Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, I definitely have the Quadra, and maybe the iMac.

Here's part of the email:

"You are welcome to the Quadra and possibly the iMac, but I'll need to confirm the latter."

I want both of course, but I don't know if he has other offers. So if he says the iMac is open I'll get both if there are no other offers. But I definitely have the Quadra! It may be old and crappy by todays standards, but thats exactly why I want it and the other one. To kind of experience what it was like back then.

-Joe

Link to post
Share on other sites
Don't have to tell me about old computers. I have a old Mac Plus vintage 1988 boots off a floppy and somewhere I may still have a Atari 1200XL.

Thats pretty sweet! I like the cases they used for the old macs. I wonder if something like that would work today?

-Joe

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...