Vintage Mac Museum - 68k Macintosh

128k/512k Mac
Macintosh - Systems 1 thru 5
The one that started it all. Case design was identical in the 128k and 512k Mac models, with a 9" black & white screen, small keyboard, separate numeric keypad, and a 3.5" 400k floppy drive; the 512k "Fat Mac" added badly needed RAM. System Software ran off one floppy, and a second external drive (if you were lucky) held your program or data files - swapping floppies was a way of life for Mac pioneers. The original Mac System Software did not yet have a Shut Down command, just Eject Disk and the power switch on the back. But Windows and Menus were there, the Mouse got introduced to the masses, and the classic Calculator desk accessory survived virtually unchanged all the way to Mac OS 9! The GUI had arrived.

At the VMM a Mac 512k has boot floppies for Macintosh Systems 1 through 5, tracing the early evolution of the Mac OS.

Macintosh Plus - System 6.0.8
Apple's longest selling 68k Macintosh model (1986-1990), the Mac Plus brought SCSI support, a full keyboard, a significantly larger RAM capacity (4MB) and an external hard drive option - yay, the end of floppy swapping! The Plus became a big business seller, and teamed with the original Apple LaserWriter and Adobe PostScript fonts offered a reasonably priced entry into the new world of Desktop Publishing. The Mac's role in defining this industry had an indelible effect on publishing and the dissemination of information worldwide.

The VMM Mac Plus is loaded with copies of Apple's original MacPaint, MacWrite and MacDraw, some classic Mac games, and helps read old 400k and 800k floppy disks for Oakbog's old Mac file transfer and conversion services.

This Mac IIci has copies of two seminal early web applications, NCSA Mosaic (the first graphical web browser) and Netscape 1.1N. Let the Browser Wars commence!

Macintosh TV - System 7.1
A black Mac! The MacTV was a limited edition Performa 520 all-in one, clad in a black case and including a TV tuner card. A Control Panel or supplied infrared remote control switched the whole screen between the Mac's desktop, the TV tuner or a composite video input - no video-in-a-window on this puppy. Nothing the Performa couldn't do, but Apple offered very few black machines during this period (or since) in North America (they were more popular in Europe), and it looked very cool! Unfortunately it was ahead of its time, and underwhelming performance plus slow sales led to a short lifespan. It has since become a desirable collector's model.

At the VMM a MacTV is connected to a DVD player running a loop of Apple TV commercials and demos from throughout Apple's history.

Macintosh SE/30 - System 7.5.5
The SE/30 was the compact Mac on steroids. A 68030 processor gave this machine the processing power of a Mac IIx, a PDS expansion slot allowed for ethernet capabilities, and it had a power supply that couldn't be beat - to this day there are still SE/30s running in dusty closets around the world. This machine powered many home MIDI studios running MOTU Performer and Opcode Vision software, and often found a second life as a back room fileserver (just like your hand-me-down iMac).

The VMM SE/30 can go wireless using an ethernet-to-WiFi bridge! There's nothing like surfing the 'net in black & white with Netscape 2.0 to impress the friends and neighbors!

Quadra 840AV - Mac OS 8.1
The Motorola 68040 processor was the powerhouse of the 68k era, and the Quadra series (replacing the Mac II) was named after this fourth-generation chip. The 840AV was the ultimate 68k Macintosh: 40MHz '040 processor, fastest NuBus architecture, 16 bit stereo sound with video input/output, the ARTA chip (Apple Real Time Architecture - another fine technology doomed before it's time), and a sporty minitower case. This machine was faster for many tasks than the first generation PowerPC machines introduced a year later, and Quadras dominated the professional audio and video production industries in the early 1990s.

At the Museum a Quadra 840AV is running Mac OS 8.1 and showcasing Apple's legendary "1984" commercial on its AudioVision monitor. It also serves as an Ethernet-to-LocalTalk bridge for the Mac Plus with old Mac file transfer projects.