I just got an SE! Now, what do I do with it?

[emw]

A guy at work was going to get rid of an SE he had, and he gave it to me. It's got a whopping 20MB HD and, of course, the floppy. It's running System 7.1.

I gotta tell you, turning it on to hear the old startup "bing" was magic!

Now, of course, I have no idea what to do with it! Any ideas? Right now, it's going to hang out at work as a nice conversation piece.

 

[gwuMACaddict]

buy and old scanner and send faxes with it?

(i think you could scan with that one... right?)

 

[rainman::|:|]

Get three more, arrange in square, piece of glass, viola: coffeetable.

 

[emw]

Get three more, arrange in square, piece of glass, viola: coffeetable.

Nice. Or just keep the one and make it an end-table. Better yet, set it monitor facing up, then the glass, and run After Dark.

 

[zelmo]

Cool. I have an SE/30 I got for $20 from a guy at work a few years back. Boots up and runs great, but I haven't done anything with it yet. My wife asks about ditching it once in a while, and I just start hyperventilating at her until she drops the subject.

 

[5300cs]

Where's our friend Spock? As far as I know, he seems to be the resident SE fanatic. I'm sure he could give you some suggestions

 

[yellow]

Now, of course, I have no idea what to do with it! Any ideas? Right now, it's going to hang out at work as a nice conversation piece.

Aquarium.

 

[emw]

Aquarium.

I'd like to keep it actually running, if there was something cool I could do with it. Don't know what, though. I don't even know how I'd get software onto the thing.

Not that I don't have plenty of room for loads of software - the thing's got almost 8MB of free disk space.

 

[yellow]

re-engineer a mini and a small LCD into it's guts.

 

[emw]

Surprisingly, I'd thought of that. But I'm a cheap, lazy bastard so would never do it.

 

[iJon]

All I know there are some kick ass older games you could run on that bad boy that would keep you busy at work all day. We recently put up our Apple II on display here at work, boots up just fine. Unfortunately I have no software disks, but there is bound to be some hidden somewhere here.

jon

 

[yellow]

But I'm a cheap, lazy bastard so would never do it.

Right on. I think I love you.

 

[zelmo]

Right on. I think I love you.

Platonically, right? Did they ever show up to get your W&D?

OT: emw, I'd love to find a use for my SE/30, so, if you ever come up with something that requires virtually no effort, let me know.

 

[aloofman]

I also have an SE at home, but it's because it was the first family Mac and I never parted with it.

But what to do with it? I'm afraid it just sits in a cabinet because there are no apps on it that I need anymore. I keep it for nostalgia purposes.

 

[chatin]

Put more vintage software on it.

The 20mb hard drive is too small for 7.5, but 7.1 would make a nice upgrade.

Apple still has downloads for all the older OS's. FREE! Does MS have a download area for DOS 6.2 or Windows 3.1?






Download your free older OS from Apple

 

[Heb1228]

The 20mb hard drive is too small for 7.5, but 7.1 would make a nice upgrade.

Apple still has downloads for all the older OS's. FREE! Does MS have a download area for DOS 6.2 or Windows 3.1?






Download your free older OS from Apple

That seems like a great resource I hope I'll need at some point in the future.

 

[aricher]

I had my SE/30 working as a word processor and old-school game machine in our den for years - loved it. That machine got me through college. It CRT finally went out in it after 15 years of steady use. Last summer I finally got around to the MacQuarium thing. Gutted it, dremmeled the hell out of the insides and bought the interior acrylic kit. It was a bit more work than I had anticipated but it felt fun to do a hands-on project. Had it running strong until the fish died while I was on vacation (friend forgot to feed). With the winter hibernation season coming I'll probably get it going again. Quite a conversation piece. I see it as a way to pay tribute to what really got me started in my design career.

 

[emw]

I had my SE/30 working as a word processor and old-school game machine in our den for years - loved it. That machine got me through college. It CRT finally went out in it after 15 years of steady use. Last summer I finally got around to the MacQuarium thing. Gutted it, dremmeled the hell out of the insides and bought the interior acrylic kit. It was a bit more work than I had anticipated but it felt fun to do a hands-on project. Had it running strong until the fish died while I was on vacation (friend forgot to feed). With the winter hibernation season coming I'll probably get it going again. Quite a conversation piece. I see it as a way to pay tribute to what really got me started in my design career.

Great story - this exact model (down to the HD and Memory sizes) got me through college as well. Hard to believe I was able to use that small screen to do word processing and engineering lab docs!

I like the aquarium thing, and perhaps I'm being unrealistic to think I can do anything worthwhile with the thing. Is there a website that describes how to do the mods to make it fish-friendly?

 

[5300cs]

The 20mb hard drive is too small for 7.5, but 7.1 would make a nice upgrade.

Apple still has downloads for all the older OS's. FREE! Does MS have a download area for DOS 6.2 or Windows 3.1?

Yeah, it's called LimeWire

Seriously if they did, would you still want to DL them? M$ just wants people to buy their newest OS, and what's bilking their customers to them?

 

[kalisphoenix]

Please, I'm begging:

Don't use working collectible computers to make Macquariums. Please. It causes me physical pain to think of a working non-x86 machine being killed just for lack of anything better to do. There are plenty of people who want an old Mac just for fun. I'm one of them. I've never met a computer I didn't like, and it breaks my heart to hear about one getting murdered.

 

[macg4]

I would agree, a working classic mac should never be killed off. The only macs that should be used for this sort of purpose should be one that is already dead due to other causes

 

[joecool85]

I also agree. I'm actually in the process of buying a SE right now. I love those little guys. Gonna use it to play shuffle puck and use Kid Pix! HAHAHAHAHAHA! I'll feel like I'm in elementary school again.

 

[aricher]

I like the aquarium thing, and perhaps I'm being unrealistic to think I can do anything worthwhile with the thing. Is there a website that describes how to do the mods to make it fish-friendly?

There are a lot of sites out there that walk through the whole process. You can either build your own tank out of acrylic or order a pre-made kit - which is what I did. The site that sells the tank kits is currently "under construction," but they apparently will still take orders over the phone.

MacAquarium.com

Here's a few other links for you:

LowEndMac.com's links

Great Step-by-Step Guide

 

[emw]

Please, I'm begging:

Don't use working collectible computers to make Macquariums. Please. It causes me physical pain to think of a working non-x86 machine being killed just for lack of anything better to do. There are plenty of people who want an old Mac just for fun. I'm one of them. I've never met a computer I didn't like, and it breaks my heart to hear about one getting murdered.

Much like the mini/LCD idea, it boils down to if I want to spend the time and money to do it. On one hand, it would be a nice conversation piece, vs. running After Dark on it all day. On the other, it's nice to have a working classic Mac.

So I'm torn. We'll see what happens after a couple of months of it sitting on my credenza.

 

[emw]

There are a lot of sites out there that walk through the whole process. You can either build your own tank out of acrylic or order a pre-made kit - which is what I did. The site that sells the tank kits is currently "under construction," but they apparently will still take orders over the phone.

MacAquarium.com

Here's a few other links for you:

LowEndMac.com's links

Great Step-by-Step Guide

Thanks for the links! Interesting to see what people do with these things.