So You Got Yourself A 128K Macintosh

So You Got Yourself A 128K Macintosh

This site is dedicated to the original Macintosh, later dubbed the 128K, first introduced in January 1984. if you’re here, you probably own one yourself and are looking for resources, tips, tricks and other tidbits.

This may also be your first vintage Mac. If it is, you’ve found this site looking for answers.

Startup Disk

If the 128K is the only old Mac you own, you’ll need a startup disk for it. Hopefully, when you got it there was one with it. However, unless you bought a complete system with old software, it’s unlikely you got a copy of MacTerminal, which you’ll need to use this site effectively. If you did not get a startup disk, then you have a problem. There is no modern way to make a 400K MFS formatted disk, required by the 128K to startup.

If you need that first startup disk, start with eBay as 400K disks turn up frequently. Both system disks and applications tend to have system files so it’s only a matter of time.

Everything you need to know about the original system software for use on your vintage Mac can be found on Eric Rasmussen’s fantastic site:
Apple Macintosh before System 7

You can learn more about much of the hardware referenced on this site via Phil Beesley’s terrific tribute to the vintage Macintosh site:
Vintage Mac World

Another invaluable resource for me has been Dan Knight’s classic site:
Low End Mac

To get a good sense of Apple’s History, I recommend Glen Sanford’s thorough site:
Apple History

And I would be remiss if I did not credit to my own inspiration Gy Younk’s original 512K site:
Classic Macintosh Preservation

If you need additional help, I recommend this forum for some expert help and advice from diehard enthusiasts, like yourself, site:
68K Macintosh Liberation Army

For now, this is a handy little tutorial that will acquaint you with the vintage world of Macintosh if you are new to all of this, or simply want to reminisce. It contains a few inaccuracies, but overall I think you will find Dan Vanderkam’s a useful site:
System 1.0 Headquarters

I reference these sites all the time and heartily recommend them. I certainly don’t want to slight any others, so please feel free to add any you think are deserving of this particular list in the comments and I will continue to add more as I come across them and evaluate them for their relevance here.

Now here’s a few just for fun:

This site continues to represent the spirit of the vintage Macintosh in a modern context. In short I love everything about it, despite it’s otherwise frivolous nature (FYI, it will resize your browser window):
http://www.1bitmac.com

This site is a few generations ahead of the subject matter I present here, but fun nevertheless, especially if you need to drive an vintage Mac while away from your own: My Old Mac/WebSE

Finally, Motohiko Narita is a guy after my own heart. His site presents the vintage Mac in a way that someone who’s never seen one can get a real feel for them and what you could do on one without the real deal:
The Vintage Mac Museum

More to come ...

Though this site primarily is concerned with the original Macintosh 128K and it’s bigger brother, the 512K, I would be remiss if I did not give credit where credit is due: the Mac Plus. Without it, much of what I’ve been able to do with my 128K would not be possible. It runs all the same early software and systems up to 7.5, enables use of widely available SCSI hard drives and devices and has interchangeable ROMs with the earlier Macs for ultimate compatibility. That’s why I heartily recommend that if a 128K or 512K Mac is the only one you own, that you immediately expand your collection with a Mac Plus. Even if it simply sits in a closet most of the time (as mine does). Having one will make your life far easier in creating disks and troubleshooting problems with your 128K. Though I am not a big fan of the SE series of Macs for a number of reasons, I would also recommend an SE FDHD for ultimate compatibility in creating disks. The FDHD models will read and write 400K, 800K and standard 1.4MB disks allowing you to transfer files physically and create 128K boot disks from modern computers. It must have FDHD (or SuperDrive) in the name (not just “SE”), or seller confirmed it has been upgraded to FDHD or else it will not use 1.4MB disks. Both the Plus and SE are very inexpensive choices.

This site is a work in progress and a labor of love. Many of the tutorials will eventually have pictures to make things clearer and links will be added to make finding resources easier. In the meantime, if you need help with any of these steps, please let me know by posting comments to help me revise the tutorial. If you need a direct response, please also include an e-mail address.

Getting Started

Software Sources

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Help

Macintosh Plus

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