A Clear Mac SE/30 With a CD ROM hacked into it (still cursed?)
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The Cursed Mac is getting a spooky upgrade for VCF East - We're modding a transparent MacEffects case to fit all the upgrades, and let people gander at the crazy accelerators inside!
But will the Cursed Mac lose some of it's Cursed Magic with this new set of digs? Let's find out!
Brian's Instagram: Instagram: bklindgren
🍎 The FULL Cursed Mac story, per its original builder! 🍎
---------------------------------------------
I'm sure like most of the vintage mac people, I was really into computers as a kid. You name it, I was into it: taking my parents computer apart and putting it back together again, screwing with the system files and trying to fix when things stopped working, computer games, pretty much anything having to do with a computer.
At the same time I had been studying viola since I was 8 years old. By the time I started high school in 1997 I was very serious about the viola and mid-way through HS I decided to apply for music conservatories for undergrad and pursue a career as a professional violist. It was a very rigorous process applying to these music schools, as admission was solely dependent on performing ability -- so there was a very conscious awareness that each day required lots of effort in preparing for these auditions.
At the same time it was the late 90s, and, as you know, the internet and power of the home computer opened up all sorts of possibilities. My interest in computers continued to grow through this time. I never really did anything especially 'useful' on the computer except taking programming classes in high school. Most of my interest was on the internet, downloading pirated software via Hotline (which was a p2p kind of server client thing), playing computer games, and even just getting really excited when a new MacOS update came out.
Here's where the big blank spot is in my memory: I can't remember where I bought (or acquired) the Mac SE (before upgrading to SE/30) or why I bought it. Could have been a local classified ad? At any rate, I can't remember my initial impulse to acquire it, but I do remember quite clearly where I ended up wanting to take the 'project'.
One of the big themes in my life at the time was feeling a pull between needing to practice viola and wanting to have fun with computers (before I got the SE, I used my mom's Performa 6300 and then iMac DV). Being quite aware that I would need a computer when I would go off to music school (email, papers, AIM lol) but not wanting to get incredibly side-tracked with just fooling around on the computer, I decided that the Mac SE would be my college computer. The idea was kind of how simple or 'dumb' cell phones became popular again once people realized how addictive smart-phones where. The dumb phone would give you enough functionality to get by, withouth the distractions. That was the idea for the SE. Except I wanted to make it super cool, not 'dumb'.
Of course, the SE would need to be on point, I was going to bring a 1980s computer to college, it had to look cool, it had to be able to play CDs (I had a huge classical collection), it needed a proper hard drive, of course, but it also needed some sort of removable media as well. Jaz made the most sense. I added an ethernet adapter, I believe. I think the audio cable hanging out the back was so I could use the speakers with an external audio source...
As you saw with the insides, I really had no idea what I was doing. I looked up a ton of stuff and got inspired from vintage mac websites back then, but there was only a certain amount of effort and resources I was going to be able to put forth to do a 'good job' with the computer. My main focus was music and this was ultimately a project that would help me focus on music. So yes, lots of bad practices: taped in components, speakers with no amplifier, an a ton of other things.
Ultimately, there were some insurmountable issues that forced me to abandon the idea of taking it to college. The first was that the hard drive kept getting erased somehow. I'd install the OS and get things working and then the next day I'd get the '?' on startup. My guess was that since the HD was so close to the CRT, some sort of electromagnetic emission would mess with the drive? Not sure. I had thought about trying to get a lead sheet to insulate it lol. Never did that. Another issue was that the Jaz drive stopped working. I thought it was because I had at one point tried to force eject a disk and heard a grinding sound... But I remember seeing that you had gotten it working? Which makes me think that I had probably overloaded the power supply with too many components. Those two things were probably what derailed the project ultimately. I must say, the paint job was on point though! :)
The Cursed Mac is getting a spooky upgrade for VCF East - We're modding a transparent MacEffects case to fit all the upgrades, and let people gander at the crazy accelerators inside!
But will the Cursed Mac lose some of it's Cursed Magic with this new set of digs? Let's find out!
Brian's Instagram: Instagram: bklindgren
🍎 The FULL Cursed Mac story, per its original builder! 🍎
---------------------------------------------
I'm sure like most of the vintage mac people, I was really into computers as a kid. You name it, I was into it: taking my parents computer apart and putting it back together again, screwing with the system files and trying to fix when things stopped working, computer games, pretty much anything having to do with a computer.
At the same time I had been studying viola since I was 8 years old. By the time I started high school in 1997 I was very serious about the viola and mid-way through HS I decided to apply for music conservatories for undergrad and pursue a career as a professional violist. It was a very rigorous process applying to these music schools, as admission was solely dependent on performing ability -- so there was a very conscious awareness that each day required lots of effort in preparing for these auditions.
At the same time it was the late 90s, and, as you know, the internet and power of the home computer opened up all sorts of possibilities. My interest in computers continued to grow through this time. I never really did anything especially 'useful' on the computer except taking programming classes in high school. Most of my interest was on the internet, downloading pirated software via Hotline (which was a p2p kind of server client thing), playing computer games, and even just getting really excited when a new MacOS update came out.
Here's where the big blank spot is in my memory: I can't remember where I bought (or acquired) the Mac SE (before upgrading to SE/30) or why I bought it. Could have been a local classified ad? At any rate, I can't remember my initial impulse to acquire it, but I do remember quite clearly where I ended up wanting to take the 'project'.
One of the big themes in my life at the time was feeling a pull between needing to practice viola and wanting to have fun with computers (before I got the SE, I used my mom's Performa 6300 and then iMac DV). Being quite aware that I would need a computer when I would go off to music school (email, papers, AIM lol) but not wanting to get incredibly side-tracked with just fooling around on the computer, I decided that the Mac SE would be my college computer. The idea was kind of how simple or 'dumb' cell phones became popular again once people realized how addictive smart-phones where. The dumb phone would give you enough functionality to get by, withouth the distractions. That was the idea for the SE. Except I wanted to make it super cool, not 'dumb'.
Of course, the SE would need to be on point, I was going to bring a 1980s computer to college, it had to look cool, it had to be able to play CDs (I had a huge classical collection), it needed a proper hard drive, of course, but it also needed some sort of removable media as well. Jaz made the most sense. I added an ethernet adapter, I believe. I think the audio cable hanging out the back was so I could use the speakers with an external audio source...
As you saw with the insides, I really had no idea what I was doing. I looked up a ton of stuff and got inspired from vintage mac websites back then, but there was only a certain amount of effort and resources I was going to be able to put forth to do a 'good job' with the computer. My main focus was music and this was ultimately a project that would help me focus on music. So yes, lots of bad practices: taped in components, speakers with no amplifier, an a ton of other things.
Ultimately, there were some insurmountable issues that forced me to abandon the idea of taking it to college. The first was that the hard drive kept getting erased somehow. I'd install the OS and get things working and then the next day I'd get the '?' on startup. My guess was that since the HD was so close to the CRT, some sort of electromagnetic emission would mess with the drive? Not sure. I had thought about trying to get a lead sheet to insulate it lol. Never did that. Another issue was that the Jaz drive stopped working. I thought it was because I had at one point tried to force eject a disk and heard a grinding sound... But I remember seeing that you had gotten it working? Which makes me think that I had probably overloaded the power supply with too many components. Those two things were probably what derailed the project ultimately. I must say, the paint job was on point though! :)
3 سال پیش
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