Pointers to Classic Mac Sites

THis page was most recently updated Dec 9 2014. Older links validated during March 2011.

I have a variety of systems, acccessories, and parts for the "compact" or "9-inch" Apple Macintosh line, the Mac II series, and PowerMacs. Check my Mac home page for links to my stuff for sale via this pointer.

Meanwhile, this page lists Web sites which offer supporting information for these and related Apple Macintosh products. When ordering or to email me, please follow this link for ordering information, terms and conditions, and info about orders outside the USA.

Finding other Mac Sites and more Mac info

It's all I can do to offer a variety of good Mac hardware: I can't also provide all the information and software for these products! Some common questions are answered by me on the following Web page:

My Web page of frequently asked Mac questions.

As for books and early software, I have a few, listed in my books and software Web page. that page includes Apple's archive site which offers older operating systems such as System 7.5.3, 7.0 & 6.0.8. You will need an older operating Mac to create Mac disks from these sites. I can provide copies of those 800K and 400K system disks as a courtesy for a modest fee.

Finally, there are many INFORMATIVE Mac sites and discussion groups. Specific and selective Web searches will find them. In the meantime, below are some pointers to some neat Mac sites I've come across.

How to obtain and install older Apple Macintosh software

Apple and others archive programs and diskettes as compressed files, or as files which contain diskette images. Apple's "Disk Copy" can create and process disk image files. Programs like "BinHex" and "Stuffit" can compress and decompress collections of files and programs. See this text note of mine about that process and about those tools.

Pointers to Apple.com

As of Dec 2014, it looks like Apple Inc. has decided to remove most information about early Macs from "apple.com". Many of the links in this section are "dead" or get redirected to "what flavor of iMac do you have that's less than five years old"? Some of the Apple technical documents remain. Seems it took Apple this long to forget their heritage.

Apple HAD documents and manuals for ALL their previous products. All of them - until about 2013 or 2014. Sorry to report that change. Apple has removed their "docs.info.apple.com" domain. I've found some notes at "support.apple.com/kb/TA38733?viewlocale=en_US" where the number represents a series of tech notes. The search Web page appears to be at this link. but it may not contain pre-G3 content.

There's also a n archived discussion about laptops, printers and pre-G3 Macs. - Herb

In 2013 I found this index and search page for Apple's technical notes back to about 1989.

Prior to that, here WERE some useful pointers. You can probably use some variation of them to find what you need. Or use some of these keywords and put them into a Google.com Web search. Look for Web site features like "support", "archive", "retired" "technical information", etc. However, Apple apparently blocks specific search-engine searches for specific Tech Notes on Apple's Web domain apple.com. - Herb

here's the link to search Apple's Knowledge Base Archive . Please note that to search for information PRIOR TO 1997, you must select "include archive" at the box for "Include or exclude archived documents" But some old Web links to "support.apple.com/kb/" may still work, as of 2011.

"Apple Developers Web site Tech Notes" USED to be available seperately. As of 2011, you have to search for them by title or keywords, in Apple's search for "archived documents"

Here's a list of ALL of Apple's monitors by model number (MXXXX), active as of Jan 2011.

Apple Discussion groups. This Apple site sponsors a number of discussions of Apple products and services, including "older products" forums.

Apple Legacy Product Support Web page. Links to some (but not all) of Apple's LEGACY (old stuff) documents, FAQ's and other information, and to Apple's legacy discussion groups. This link added July 2004.

the menu Web page for specifications (brief technical features) of Apple's older products;

the menu page for Apple's "legacy" manuals Another way to find them is to search in Apple's manuals Web page. You'll have to try different keywords to find the manuals you want.

to Apple's site to download older software;

a list of links to to more, older software from Apple for download;

An Apple article titled "Software downloads: Formats and common error messages". Read this to know what to do with Apples software archives. See this text note of mine about that process.

Power Macintosh: Using FPM, EDO, SDRAM, and SGRAM [memory] article 19456 or HT3063 from Apple's Knowledge Base Archive

Power Macintosh: Memory Configurations article 20434 or HT2362 from Apple's Knowledge Base Archive

Apple HAD a list of Macintosh port pinouts (cable pinouts) at this link as of 2005 titled "technical note HW19 Pinouts" in their retired TechNOtes section. As of 2011, you have to use Apple's "Search" (include archived documents) and look for specific old Mac systems to find port pinouts.

Again - as of Dec 2014, many of the Apple.com Web links above are "dead".

Low End Mac site

Low End Mac's Web site has a tremendous amount of information about how to use, modify, and upgrade older Macs. Their descriptions are very informative. You'll probably create your own Web links to specific sections on this site.

Pointers to other Mac Sites

These are ordered from newest (to me) at the top, and roughly grouped by common topic. I cull out the dead ones as time permits. Check the top of this page for the last date I reviewed these links. Suggestions for other pointers would be appreciated. If you have a relevant Web page, please link to ME and ask me to link to YOU. I suggest you link to my Mac home page which will have links to all my major Mac pages.

As of 2012, I don't update this Web pointers page very often now. A lot of the older Mac Web sites are either stable or gone. And a Web search will (with effort) find sites for you, better than my list. Still, this Web page is useful for its more "classic" Web links.

2014

There's a Web site wiki "deskthority.net" dedicated to desktop keyboards and their keyswitches, and pointng devices. It describes issues of design and feel. Here's their page on Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) Keyboards for instance. I assisted the developer with photos of some keyboards and keyswitches from my site, in May 2014.

2013

A early Macintosh emulator program for Linux, OS X and Windows is available on SourceForge as MiniVMac. In Aug 2013, someone set Mini VMac on the Raspberry Pi, a small board Linux computer.

2012

Susan Kare apparently designed a number of the earliest Macintosh bit-pattern icons.She is offering signed prints of these icons from her Web site. In recent litigation (2012) between Apple and Samsung, she gave testimony about Apple's Iphone icons vs Samsung's recent smart phones.Here's a gloss of that testimony.

"Internet Starter Kit for the Macintosh, 3rd Edition", hosted by tidbits.com. The old Apple user's newsletter organization "Tidbits" has been tidbits.com for some time now.

This site macorchard.com, collects Macintosh Internet application software.

Apple has lots of Tech Notes. Here's one on Open Transport 1.1.2 Covers some old-school stuff like SLIP and PPP serial networking, as well as some TCP/IP basics.

2011

This page of former Radius product information is or was maintained (2006) on the vintagemacworld.com Web site.

Thanks to J Alexander Jacocks for these link to Radius software and docs: " One source for Radius Rocket software is this German archive. The standard software (RocketWare) doesn't require any kind of serial number. The software for running more than one Rocket, or a Rocket for Mac-on-Mac virtualization (RocketShare) does require a serial number, though. Both are available for download, from the above site. A good source for documentation (that I just found!) is [this eastrain.com domain site]. That site contains complete scans of all the documentation."

The 68K Macintosh Liberation Army has a series of forums and wiki's at 68kmla.org. They've been around for years, sorry I didn't have them on my list here! #(

A customer updates his Mac IIsi for Web use and describes how he did that on this Web page. Later he had a power supply failure, and also had to repair his IIsi motherboard after getting a supply from me.

Mac Driver Museum Yahoo discussion group. They also have Mac Driver Museum Web archive.

2010

Shiva Fastpath 4 or 5, Appletalk to ethernet bridge or converters I offered some Shiva Fastpath networking devices on my network Web page. A customer informed me of Shiva Fastpath drivers Web page at Walsh Computer Technology. Also, we acquired some PDF's of the "Shiva FastPath 4 Administrators Guide" and possibly some software. We'll provide these by postal mail on a CD for $5 within the USA.

2009

a System 6 "heaven" supporting Web site.

an Atari network application site for DaynaPort network adapters but they may have Mac software somewhere.

Mac driver Museum Web site, networking section.

A customer recommended this Mac take-apart Web site. Stuart and Darryl have a personal Web site which includes manuals and how-to-disassemble information on a number of Macs.

CNN featured the 25th anniversary of the Mac (story link dead), and asked people to send images of their old Macs. One who did, The Mac Museum of Franklin Park, NJ has a basement museum of Macs from the Lisa and 128K and many of the more obscure Apple products.

2007

Apparently in Dec 2007, the "info-mac" forum, retired in 2005, was revived! Check this Web site for the revived forum, and an archive of the previous forum. A referenced article on the TidBITS page was the retirement message and described Info-Mac as "the oldest of Macintosh services on the Internet".

Vintage Mac World has a lot of old documents about old Macs and vendors from the 80's and early 90's.

Another archive (in German) of a variety of old Mac documents and software.

Dec 2006

A private Web site devoted to the IIci is at this link.. There is a variety of info there including some repair info. Apparently last updated in 2005.

A private site full of older 68K-based Mac info is Home Page of Gamba. Subjects include very old Mac OS's, boot disks, Manuals, browsers, video card info, RAM and ROM IC codes, etc. Check it out!

Sept 2006

Here's a site which, in 2006, is offering discussion and support for System 7! System 7 Today "was created in the fall of 2005 by Bradley University student Dan Palka, after he realized that there was no real good internet resource covering the topics of using Mac OS 7.6.1 in the modern computing era."

July 2006

A FREE database of information about Macintosh systems. Runs on Windows or Mac. Check Mactracker at their Web site. Highly rated by a number of Mac oriented magazines. Run it on your own system, no Web access needed.

April 2006

Asante has some old Mac network card support at this link.

Jan-Feb 2006

A fan of the PowerMac 5300 laptop has a 5300 FAQ on a company Web site. Apparently Alksoft provides freeware to the Mac community, so the site says.

Nov-Dec 2005

An interesting Web site for old Mac info is Vintage Mac World "Mostly Neat Stuff" by Phil Beesley. It looks pretty comprehensive for Apple II, Apple II and the earliest Macs. Last date on home page is 2008.

While looking for Mac networking info, I noticed the mac512.com Web site has a good descritption of early Mac networking, and suggestions on how old and newer Macs can network. Check it out for mixed Ethernet and AppleTalk/Phonenet operation.

Aug-Sept 2005

Some information on Apple floppy drives is on this Web page, a private Web site. Yet another link is a press release on the FIRST flexible 3.5" drive, by Sony, which is still a good link as of 2011. I've added this link in 2014: Vintage Mac World has a page of Mac external floppy drives.

An unusual source of information for the oldest Macs - Apple's Web domain at mac.com - has a page on "pre-System 7 Macs" hardware and software. Check Apple Macintosh before System 7 by Eric Rasmussen written Aug 8 2005.

Mac speedups by "clock chipping" are on this page buried on mac.com's domain. Covers the very earliest Macs through G4's.

Jan 2005

Apple's C development tools WERE available for their 68K and PowerMac products for download. Check Apple MPW tools Web page for details. But you may have to "log in" and so be a member of Apple's Developer program, for some items. As of 2011, I can't find the oldest MPW tools for System 6 and 7. If you CAN, contact me.

Pointers Oct-Dec 2004

A lot of Apple/Mac repair manuals WERE in PDF format on this site. At some point Apple requested they be removed. But the site has a number of Mac repair resources. Check Apple's Web site for copies of their repair/service manuals, by Mac model.

An inquiry from an S-100 customer Kiel Bryant Hosier led me to the DigiBarn site which celebrates the 20th (later 25th) Anniversary of the Mac with exhibits of artifacts from Mac development and use. Very interesting, check it out! He also has an exhibit of "computer art". What is that, I asked? Turns out Kiel has artistic sketches of robots "made" from very old computers, including the earliest Macs of course. Ask him for details, mention my site if you wish.

The Web site C-trl 68K is about a facility, lounge, and resource in San Francisco (CA USA) which mixes "lo-tech" 68K machine restroration with performance art and DJ music. As of 2004 they have 300 (three hundred!) Compact Macs, many of them networked for gaming; and occasional events and performances. Thanks to local recycling support, they have piles of laptops too. A staggering collection of retrotech! They recently asked me for some network cards and mentioned their site. Check them out!

Pointers Aug-Sept 2004

If you want to hook up your old, non-Ethernet Apple printer to a Ethernet network, consider buying a "printer server". Those are Ethernet routers which also have a serial or parallel printer connection port - most are parallel port to support old Windows/IBM-type printers. But many Mac printers also have parallel ports. Recently (Aug 2004) a customer offered this recommendation: "I use a (LinkSys) EtherFastR 3-Port 10/100 PrintServer, Model: EPSX3. For more information check the Linksys section of the Cisco Web site and search for "EPSX3".

Pointers April 2004

Disk2FDI Web site claims to have software to read Apple II disks on a Windows/PC system. A trial version is all software, a registered version requires a simple cable adapter to the parallel port. I have no idea if this really works. Anyone who tries this, let me know.

New for Jan 2004

here's a 1997 Web page on jagshouse.com about how to get Compact Macs on the Web. I had a prior Web link to another site on this subject, which was dead as of 2011. Full of Macsis a site in Japan for fixing and using older Macs, mostly SE/30's and older.

New for Nov 2003

I came across an old Mac FAQ about Internet use and software from 1997. It supports Mac Plus, SE and Powerbook 100's. The sites referenced by it are dead, but I saved the document. Here is a link to it.

For System 6 or 7.0 users who want to use a Stylewriter II printer, check this page and search in Apple's old software archives for the download "GrayShare_Update_1.0.sea.bin". This is a printer driver and Chooser update. There are also later drivers for the Stylewriter II which may work, search that page for those.

Pure Mac Web site apparently has been around for several years. A well edited list of links to many Apple and Mac software downloads, with brief descriptions. Also a bit of help about downloading. No info about using PC's to download for Macs however. And in 2011, it looks too "modern" and may not have older stuff on it.

Mac Driver Museum. Private site for SOME Mac support software for older Macs and older Mac OS's. The home page for the site seems incomplete, this link should be OK. (The former macdrivermuseum.com was not there as of 2011.) There's a Yahoo group Web site associated with Mac Drivers and this site. (updated 2011)

New for June 2003

XPostFacto from Other World Computing apparently allows you to run OS X on PowerMac 7300, 7500, 7600 systems among other pre-G3 Macs. Claims to be open-source. Free download but $10 registration for access to on-line discussions.

New for Feb 2003

Various WEb links I had for "NewerTech" accelerators have gone away by 2011.
Here's a NewerTech Web link for legacy accelerator and related software. Other World Computing used to distribute NewerTech accelerators, here's their Web page to some legacy NewerTech MAXPowr software.

And old link for Daystar products is dead in 2011. xlr8.com seems to have some DayStar support here.

a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Macs.

Born Again runs OS 8.1 on many 68030 Macs. Was a Commercial product, now shareware. Lowendmac had an article about it.

School reburb, use of LC III's
Educator's site on how he acquired, fixed and distributed LC III's for student use. From year 2000, still on the Web in 2011!

New for Mar 2002:

Japan-based Powerbook users organization (in English)

Low End Macs has an index of Mac-compatible video cards here: NuBus cards are featured but there are links to other busses.

New for Dec 2001:

"Idiot's Guide to Mac Cases", to help install drives and other items. The original site was long gone by 2011. But I contacted the author, and he restored the decade-old files and pages to his current Web site. I told him maybe 2/3's of sites from a decade ago were still active. He told me "You're absolutely right. I'm glad to hear that that many of the "classic" sites are still out there. It brings back good memories. I was sad to see Geocities close down in 2009 -- it was full of a ton of those types of sites."

New for Oct 2000:

New for Apr 2000:

New for Mar 2000:

New for Feb 2000: info on big monitors

New for Dec 1999:

New for Nov 1999:

New for Oct 1999:

for July 1999:

for May 1999:

for April 1999:

Links up to Feb 1999:

Copyright © 2014 Herb Johnson