How to create 800K disks for Mac Plus

Apple's Built-in drives for the Mac used a variable-speed motor that was more expensive, and shunned by other computer makers. A Hi-Density external drive (with 19-pin floppy connector) will only work on a Mac that shipped with a Hi-Density Built-In drive.

Any older Mac with a Built-in drive issued after the Mac Plus can read, write and format 800K diskettes. Macs issued after the Mac IIx can also read and write Hi-density disks that can hold 1.4 MB, and can read and write IBM-format drives in 1.4 MB and 720K.

I recommend the beige G3, as it has all the older ports and is modern enough to also run Mac OS X. Later models started to drop the legacy ports and are harder to use as a "bridge" to older Macs. Other older Macs will work, but may not be useable for other tasks, such as Internet access.

sacsr,

Two questions. What are your sources for older Mac equipment? How willing are you to have multiple computers available to revive the old stuff?

The G3 does not have an external floppy port, that went out before the Centris/Quadra lines. It does share another port with the Mac Plus that is far more useful than any floppy. It is the external SCSI port.

Find an external CD-ROM drive at a thrift store and pull the CD drive. Replace it with a hard drive from an LC II or similar throw away Mac. You now have the most versatile drive possible. Change the SCSI ID to 1 and it will plug into any Mac from the Plus to the platinum G3. Contrary to popular usage, Apple never made a beige G3. Starting with the SE, Macs were grey. Anyway, the SCSI port will span more years than even a mouse.

Ji˜m

Message was edited by: Appaloosa mac man

You can have up to 8 SCSI devices on any Mac with a SCSI Bus, provided you do not attempt to put a Scanner or an Iomega Zip-PLUS drive in the middle of the Bus and properly terminate the end of the Bus.

sacsr,

"Can I take MacPlus-appropriate software from the internet, burn it on a CD on my Mac Mini, and load it into the Mac Plus?

Yes! : ) That simple. The Plus was the first 'business Mac' and I loved it until I got a dual floppy SE with an external SCSI HD and an excellerator card with a math co-processor. It was a very capable computer. But, as soon as you used a faster Mac, you never went back to the Plus. You could fix lunch while waiting for disk swapping to boot and load MS Word 3.

What we are saying is that the SCSI bus on the Mac Plus has far more options available for someone shopping for resources.

We have over 300 Macs of almost every model. We have been given over 100 floppy drives. We shop at government surplus stores and auctions. In all that stuff, we only have a couple of 800 k drives but hundreds of SCSI devices. They are SO much easier to find and are so much cheaper to buy and customize.

If you can find a Macintosh 800K (M131) floppy drive, great. Then you also have the problem of finding double density floppy disks ( high density disks with tape over the hole are not reliable in the older drives.)

here is a website with the whole list:

http://www.mandrake.demon.co.uk/Apple/drives.html

I remember buying an 800k floppy drive new in 1986 for several hundred Dollars. The external CD-ROM drives sold for $300.

It will probably be much easier to find an Apple 300 or 600i CD-ROM drive that should read CDs burned in your modern Mac. Your original question was about floppies. The real question is "How do I get data from a new computer to an old computer." That question offers more possibilities. I am suggesting a better and cheaper alternative. Having fun with older equipment requires purchasing intermediate equipment.

Jim

Adding a SCSI Hard Drive to your Mac Plus means you could operate it like a modern Mac: boot, run, and save your files with the Hard Drive.

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Having fun with older equipment requires purchasing intermediate equipment.

If you do decide to acquire some more-capable intermediate equipment, You can easily set up a Localtalk network that will allow file sharing and printer sharing among up to 8 macs and LocalTalk printers. Adding a Localtalk Bridge can connect the LocalTalk device onto your Ethernet (but not onto the Internet) for extended file and printer sharing.

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This website will give you a number of tips for getting stuff into your Mac Plus: http://www.Mac128.com