Q: I just got an used Mac IIvx, but I don't know how to do
Good day! Everyone,
The Max IIvx I got now as following :
It's still alive!!! But the floppy driver can't eject the old disk inside, suppose it was already dead. Is it possible change the dead floppy to the other SCSI CD driver? How fast the CD driver can be? 2X、4X...etc
By the way, I am also a electronics engineer, so I can program and implement software and hardware as I want, however I couldn't find any manual or disks came with this Max IIvx.
Is there still any chance to get necessary information to program and implement Mac IIvx? I think I will need some informations in Assembly、C and BASIC, OS7 system call and interrupt service routines, even the NuBUS specification to make my own cartridge.
Max IIvx, Mac OS 8.6 or Earlier
Posted on Jul 21, 2013 7:50 PM
It depends a bit upon whether the internal hard drive contains a working system right now. Does the IIvx start up to a Desktop (with hard disk and Trash/Wastebasket icons)?
If so, go to the Apple menu and check (under About This...) the exact system version installed. Also, do check whether the hard disk contains a program called ClarisWorks.
If not, you would need a startup disk of some kind. This could be the Network Access Disk 7.5 from the link below, but that would obviously require a floppy drive. The floppy can be created from disk image on another old (pre-1998) Macintosh computer with a built-in floppy drive (via the Make A Copy button in the Disk Copy 4.2 utility).
Alternatively, one could use an external SCSI hard drive (with a suitable operating system) connected to the SCSI port of the IIvx.
I do not know whether the IIvx ROM would allow booting directly from a CD-ROM disc in a CD-ROM drive installed in the internal 5.25" space, but that would in any case require access to an appropriate Apple system CD (which I assume is not available here).
It would probably not be a bad idea to try to solve the floppy drive problem first.
BTW, which other computers (old Macs, new Macs, PCs) do you have access to for downloads and file transfers?
Jan
Posted on Jul 23, 2013 3:26 AM