Wireless 20th Anniversary Mac (TAM)

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Level 1

15 points

Wireless 20th Anniversary Mac (TAM)

I've recently managed to get my hands on a 20th Anniversary Macintosh (original spec - no upgrades). Now, the thing is, I want to be able to get it on my wireless network at home. Can people suggest the best (cheapest?) way to do this? Is it even possible? Bear in mind:
1) The TAM has no ethernet/USB port (just the usual ADB,Printer,Fax ports)
2) It's running system 7.6 at the moment (I think the maximum OS the machine can handle is 9.something)
3) There's room for 1 PCI card
4) My wireless network at home is provided by an Airport Express

Any help you can give me would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,

John

Posted on Apr 25, 2005 11:35 AM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

85,308 points

Jun 21, 2005 10:11 AM in response to John Wyllie

If I recall correctly, the 20" Anniversary machine only takes 7" PCI cards. You may need to upgrade your operating system too to be able to take advantage of airport. The earliest airport capable Mac was the iBook G3/300, and came with 8.6.

http://www.macwireless.com/ sells a whole line of PCI 802.11b cards. Try to get the Mac OS 8.6 CD-ROM which is green with white splotches and do a clean install of 8.6 if you find that the current operating system won't let you install the airport extensions. It should not mention Upgrade on it nor a Mac model on the label. 8.5 CD-ROMs are solid green, and you can upgrade 8.5 to 8.6 with this link if you can't find an 8.6 CD-ROM:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60283

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Answer 2

Tim Harris

Level 4

1,481 points

Apr 26, 2005 2:52 PM in response to John Wyllie

I would go for a PCI ethernet card and use a linksys WAP54G which can sit on the end of your ethernet and give you wireless access. not done it myself, but I cannot see too many issues. or ... if you don;t want to install a card and speed is not a worry, use an localtalk to ethernet bridge for about $70.

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Answer 3

Tim Harris

Level 4

1,481 points

Apr 27, 2005 5:16 PM in response to John Wyllie

John,

I would be shocked if you needed a 'special' pci card for this machine. Any Mac compatible one should work. I just did a 1min trall on ebay and there are a few on there still boxed! From memory, apple did not start supporting ethernet till opentransport which i think was about 7.6.1 time. Not sure really, long time ago now. When you get the lan card, make sure they give you the drivers and you know which OS that driver works with.

tim

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Answer 4

Jun 24, 2005 12:53 PM in response to John Wyllie

John,

I'm in the process of trying to sell a TAM. Also original spec, no upgrades. Are you comfortable telling me how much you paid for yours? I tried going on eBay, but there weren't any for sale.

Thanks,
Elaine

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Answer 5

John Wyllie Author

Level 1

15 points

Jun 25, 2005 4:10 AM in response to Celia Weiss

Hi Elaine -

I paid 300 GBP for mine. But to be honest, I don't know if that was a good deal or a rip-off! I bought it off a friend at work who used to work for Apple. When trying to agree on a price, we found it quite difficult. As you've discovered, they're so rare they're not even on eBay. We had no idea what the going rate was. I think my friend might have wanted more than 300 for his, but he was keen to sell (as he was moving house), and knew it would be going to a good home and that I wouldn't sell it on for a profit if it turned out that it was worth a lot more. I'd be interested to hear what you'd be asking for yours. I have some friends who are jealous of mine and might be interested. The problem with them is that by today's standards they are so under powered and can't actually do much. I've managed to set mine up on my wireless network and use it to play MP3s streamed from my PowerBook. I can also browse the web on it, but even that seems slow compared to my PB. I hope that helps.

John

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Answer 6

Oct 9, 2005 5:21 AM in response to John Wyllie

Hi,

I love to appoint myself as a TAM expert, at least in the Australian context, as I know at least as far as the late 90's I was only of not more than 20 Aussies to own a TAM.

Last I knew (maybe 3 years ago) TAMs were going for around $500 US on eBay. But it's been a long while since I've seen any up for grabs. Occasionally they come up as "unopened, sitting in a cupboard" since 1998... which is believable given the firesale price in March 98 with the price dropping by 75%.

My advice... a TAM is worth whatever you have to pay, because in another few years they will indeed be such rare creatures, they're worth more than gold. Well... to a follower of the Mac Religion anyways 🙂

I've just today re-set up my TAM after buying an eMac last year. Still get a tingle up my spine when I hear that startup chime.

Cheers

Travis

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Answer 7

gda

Level 2

170 points

Oct 28, 2005 3:45 PM in response to John Wyllie

1) You can put an ehternet card into the Comm/II slot. I would then hook it up to a Wireless card (Airport Express or equivalent) that let you bridge to an existing Wireless network.

2) You can upgrade to 9.2.2 (see OS9FOREVER.COM) for the utility that takes you past 9.0

3) You'll need the correct Riser card, as well as the fatback --- you can actually put in 2 cards if you can find the rare 2 PCI slot riser card from a 56xx series. I put a firewire / USB combo board into mine

4) Good -- should have no issues.

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Answer 8

Dec 26, 2005 3:13 PM in response to John Wyllie

John/Anyone!

My TAM has been in storage for about a year and now is dead - wont start.. tried all the power stuff (cord, fuse etc.) but it is still dead!

I read somewhere in Dicsussions that the problem is I need a new PRAM battery. Do you agree with this??? Any ideas where I can get one??? And - finally - are they easy to fit???

Cheers from London!

Bob...

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Answer 9

Dec 30, 2005 8:38 PM in response to John Wyllie

The TAM uses the same (perhaps a faster version) motherboard as the 5500/6500. That motherboard has a Comm II slot along the right side as you look at the backpanel. Comm II slot Ethernet cards are a little more money, under US$20 on eBay, but they leave your PCI slot available for future upgrades. Then you can either go wired Ethernet or get a "bridge" aka "gaming adapter" to go wireless.

The biggest trouble with adding stuff to a TAM is that they expected you to open your bag and take out the extra plastic panels that stretched the case out enough to fit the extra stuff in, and nobody seems to have those extra panels any more.

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Answer 10

Dec 30, 2005 8:42 PM in response to Green, Bob

Bob Green-

consult this site for battery info. It has additional pages that suggest places to get batteries internationally. Your battery is the 1 inch cube 4.5 Volt Alkaline, like Ray-O-Vac 840, 841, or equivalent.

http://www.academ.com/info/macintosh/

The 5500/6500/TAM are by far the crankiest to get going after a low battery situation. If you have trouble after changing it, post back for more help.

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Answer 11

John Wyllie Author

Level 1

15 points

Apr 27, 2005 3:49 PM in response to Tim Harris

Thanks Tim. Do you know if I need any special kind of ethernet card? Getting hold a driver for one might be a problem...

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Answer 12

Jim S

Level 4

3,464 points

Jun 21, 2005 10:05 AM in response to John Wyllie

Check with a number of the online retailes - smalldog.com at times has old stuff laying around.

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