pre mac operating system?

Post by **pizzaboy192** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 4:47 am

ok...
I have an Apple IIgs with the origional system disks...
the thing i noticed was that it looks stunningly like the early mac os systems, but needs no hard disk.
i love the Apple IIgs was really nice because it has a i486 processor card, a scsi card, blah blah blah...

i am wondering if anyone wants me to mail them a copy of the disk, or send them one...

i am considering this os a "beta" to the mac os, and close to abandonware...

this system is stunningly close to the mac, seeing as it had a removeable keyboard attached to an ADB port, it has a scsi port, an apple talk port, can support up to a 250 GB scsi (not a typo, its 250 GB) has network support, and i used to run this sucker with windows, and a 21" mac monitor from a nuclear powerplant (that really isnt that impressive)

anyone interested, or wants a picture of me running the system?

Post by **Hrimfaxi** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 4:53 am

wait, if I read that right you've had Windows installed on it?

pics or it didn't happen.

Post by **pizzaboy192** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 4:59 am

sadly, pics are not possible, because i do not have the i486 card anymore...

if you wiki the system, you will find that there was an i486 card (which i had) and custom ram cards werent hard to get... add around 16 mb ram, and throw 3.1 on, and you got windows on a mac...

i also have softwindows that runs 3.1 on any powerpc... you can even upgrade that to 98, but it runs really slow on my old powerpc mac... a 6100 or something...

i can get pictures of me running my apple IIgs system, but it will have to be when i get back to my iowa house...

Post by **Thlump** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 5:18 am

pizzaboy192 wrote:sadly, pics are not possible, because i do not have the i486 card anymore...

You can if you use a camera or cell phone camera, useless you don't have access to them

Post by **pizzaboy192** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 5:25 am

im saying that i sold the parts on ebay to make some quick cash... i kept the actual system with some parts as a keepsake, a bridge between mac and the II series...

that and i am way to cheap to have a cellphone with a camera... and my system is in iowa, i am in minnesota right now... sorry man no pics, i had no camera then, have no card now...

Post by **squidward_** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 9:56 am

I bet that computer must of cost something like $10,000! Now, it would probably be worth $70!

Post by **stitch** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 1:44 pm

squidward_ wrote:I bet that computer must of cost something like $10,000! Now, it would probably be worth $70!

The TAM was the only Apple device to ever cost that much.

yes various x86 cards existed for the Mac and plugged into the PDS slot, running 16 bit windows on a mac was not an uncommon thing in the past.

pizzaboy: GS/OS was a recreation of the finder and ran ontop of ProDOS afaik, quote me if i'm wrong though, but it's definallly abw. Feel free to ask in #macdomain on freenode, some guys there probably know where to get it.

ADD: it's likely on hotline too, try preterhuman if it's still alive.

Post by **pizzaboy192** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 7:50 pm

i have disks and copies of disks...

if it is possible, it could be uploaded to the FTP if it hasnt already...

just a suggestion though

Post by **Thlump** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 8:21 pm

Zimmy wrote:The TAM was the only Apple device to ever cost that much.

Actually, the TAM's MSRP was $7,499 USD. it's not the most expensive though, the Apple III costed $7,800 USD

Post by **mdogg** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 10:57 pm

I always thought that the Lisa was the most expensive (US$9,995). And it also counts as a Mac because it was later rebranded as the Macintosh XL with the emulator MacWorks which allowed the Lisa to run the Mac OS.

Post by **Vista Ultimate R2** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 12:48 am

Thlump wrote:
Zimmy wrote:The TAM was the only Apple device to ever cost that much.
Actually, the TAM's MSRP was $7,499 USD. it's not the most expensive though, the Apple III costed $7,800 USD

You can pay tens of thousands for a full-spec Mac Pro, so still not the most expensive Mac The Mac IIfx cost around $10,000 new as well.

Post by **happy dude** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 1:41 am

Vista Ultimate R2 wrote:
Thlump wrote:
Zimmy wrote:The TAM was the only Apple device to ever cost that much.
Actually, the TAM's MSRP was $7,499 USD. it's not the most expensive though, the Apple III costed $7,800 USD
You can pay tens of thousands for a full-spec Mac Pro, so still not the most expensive Mac The Mac IIfx cost around $10,000 new as well.

Quickly put this together...

top of the line mac pro

Post by **squidward_** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 5:40 pm

Why is it that Apple Macs are always more expensive then PCs?

Post by **ddew** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:24 pm

squidward_ wrote:Why is it that Apple Macs are always more expensive then PCs?

Maybe not always more expensive, but a lot of the time. The simple answer is build quality. The machines are far more well engineered (in my experience) than the average OEM computer out there. That's the reason I bought my MacBook Pro, I refuse to run OS X on it but it's a great Vista slaptop.

Post by **ddrmaxromance** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:29 pm

ddew wrote:
squidward_ wrote:Why is it that Apple Macs are always more expensive then PCs?
Maybe not always more expensive, but a lot of the time. The simple answer is build quality. The machines are far more well engineered (in my experience) than the average OEM computer out there. That's the reason I bought my MacBook Pro, I refuse to run OS X on it but it's a great Vista slaptop.

Very true. I mean, take a look at all the videos Apple makes when they release a new product (PowerBook G4, MacBook Pro, the new MacBooks, etc.). They always take great pride in engineering and designing their products. I love typing on this keyboard, regardless of it now being the non-newest MacBook Pro out there.

Post by **ddew** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:32 pm

troyoda1990 wrote:
ddew wrote:
squidward_ wrote:Why is it that Apple Macs are always more expensive then PCs?
Maybe not always more expensive, but a lot of the time. The simple answer is build quality. The machines are far more well engineered (in my experience) than the average OEM computer out there. That's the reason I bought my MacBook Pro, I refuse to run OS X on it but it's a great Vista slaptop.
Very true. I mean, take a look at all the videos Apple makes when they release a new product (PowerBook G4, MacBook Pro, the new MacBooks, etc.). They always take great pride in engineering and designing their products. I love typing on this keyboard, regardless of it now being the non-newest MacBook Pro out there.

The backlighting and great hinges were worth the extra money just by themselves.

Post by **squidward_** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:54 pm

If I had an Apple Mac computer, I would dual-boot Mac OS X with either Vista, XP, a Longhorn build or the current leaked build of Windows 7/Windows 7 when RTMed.

Post by **ddew** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:59 pm

I'm running Server 2008 Enterprise on mine with a small 4GB partition for OS X. You can technically install Server 2008 or Vista on a barebone mac but I cba.

Post by **ddew** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 7:22 pm

squidward_ wrote:Doesn't an Apple Mac computer start-up differently to a PC, like, it does that signature sound plays as soon as you turn it on. Here is it http://squidward.07x.net/Gallery/Macstartup.mp3

Yes, macs don't have a BIOS. It's running something called Open Firmware. Thankfully it emulates the BIOS well enough to run Windows and Linux on it.

Post by **squidward_** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 7:27 pm

Sorry, I meant http://squidward.07x.net/Macstartup.mp3 . I accidentally made a typo.

Post by **Bas** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 10:50 pm

ddew wrote:It's running something called Open Firmware. Thankfully it emulates the BIOS well enough to run Windows and Linux on it.

PowerPC Apple systems use OpenFirmware, which does not even have BIOS emulation. x86 based Apple systems use a EFI implementation, which usually contains a BIOS emulator, but still has driver support for, for example, sound.

Post by **ddew** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 11:46 pm

Bas wrote:
ddew wrote:It's running something called Open Firmware. Thankfully it emulates the BIOS well enough to run Windows and Linux on it.
PowerPC Apple systems use OpenFirmware, which does not even have BIOS emulation. x86 based Apple systems use a EFI implementation, which usually contains a BIOS emulator, but still has driver support for, for example, sound.

Yeah, my bad. I got confused by the way Apple is still referring to Open Firmware for the basic EFI functions like which disk to boot and password protection. Figured they'd implemented Open Firmware in the EFI framework or something.

Post by **milatchi** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 10:22 pm

Zimmy wrote: various x86 cards existed for the Mac
running 16 bit windows on a mac was not an uncommon thing in the past.

The PowerMac 6100 comes to mind.

Zimmy wrote: pizzaboy: GS/OS was a recreation of the finder and ran ontop of ProDOS afaik, quote me if i'm wrong though, but it's definallly abw. Feel free to ask in #macdomain on freenode, some guys there probably know where to get it.
ADD: it's likely on hotline too, try preterhuman if it's still alive.

You are correct sir!
From what I can tell GS/OS is ProDOS with the Macintosh Toolbox and Finder ported to it.
You can actually get GS/OS 6.0.1 free from Apple in their Older Software Downloads section. I got it from them 8 or 9 years ago to run on my TransWarp IIgs -- they also have Mac OS 7.5.3 and System 6.x free for download. Prior to GS/OS 6.0.x there was GS/OS 5.x.x, and prior to that there was simply ProDOS for the Apple II line.