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In the movie Back to the Future 2, from 1989, Marty travels to 2015 and sees an original Mac sitting in an antique store window with a sign saying 'antique comp

In the movie Back to the Future 2, from 1989, Marty travels to 2015 and sees an original Mac sitting in an antique store window with a sign saying 'antique computer, circa 1984'. I remember that was a huge laugh at the time to think that these boring beige computers of the 80s would be collectibles someday. And yet here we are...

jointpdf 6y ago
My dad was pretty attached to his 1984 Macintosh when I accidentally destroyed it about 25 years ago. He instructed me to always put the dust cover on it when it was not in use. I interpreted that too literally, so this particular Mac suffocated in its own dust cover while I walked away to eat dinner. It was reportedly smoking when it was found by my sister. Its final act in life was to help me catalogue my rock collection in HyperCard. Anyways...it is still sitting around in its original box, so I’ve always wondered what it would take to resurrect it. I’d be interested if anyone had an intuition for whether such a project is DIYable, a specialist-only job, or a lost cause?
- agumonkey 6y ago
  Ask any electronics place, hackaday, reddit or else. I bet solid money they'll diagnose the sh*t out of your mac. As long as there's no massive charred spot / big burned area it may be a matter of replacing the few overheated components. It's a super well known piece of equipment, always a plus.
  - sneak 6y ago
    > It's a super well known piece of equipment, always a plus. I think they said it was the original 1984 mac.
    - agumonkey 6y ago
      Isn't that a pretty well known piece of equipment ?
      - sneak 6y ago
        It was a "Mac Plus" joke.
- npunt 6y ago
  Likely fixable, probably fried analog board and the whole thing will need new capacitors. 68kmla.org is where to go
- bombcar 6y ago
  I’d say the first step is find someone with a working one - and see if the various disks are readable. If they are - move forward. If not, it’s more a theoretical excercise.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]

jointpdf 6y ago

My dad was pretty attached to his 1984 Macintosh when I accidentally destroyed it about 25 years ago. He instructed me to always put the dust cover on it when it was not in use. I interpreted that too literally, so this particular Mac suffocated in its own dust cover while I walked away to eat dinner. It was reportedly smoking when it was found by my sister. Its final act in life was to help me catalogue my rock collection in HyperCard. Anyways...it is still sitting around in its original box, so I’ve always wondered what it would take to resurrect it. I’d be interested if anyone had an intuition for whether such a project is DIYable, a specialist-only job, or a lost cause?

agumonkey 6y ago
Ask any electronics place, hackaday, reddit or else. I bet solid money they'll diagnose the sh*t out of your mac. As long as there's no massive charred spot / big burned area it may be a matter of replacing the few overheated components. It's a super well known piece of equipment, always a plus.
- sneak 6y ago
  > It's a super well known piece of equipment, always a plus. I think they said it was the original 1984 mac.
  - agumonkey 6y ago
    Isn't that a pretty well known piece of equipment ?
    - sneak 6y ago
      It was a "Mac Plus" joke.
npunt 6y ago
Likely fixable, probably fried analog board and the whole thing will need new capacitors. 68kmla.org is where to go
bombcar 6y ago
I’d say the first step is find someone with a working one - and see if the various disks are readable. If they are - move forward. If not, it’s more a theoretical excercise.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]