Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hoptoad!tim
From: tim@hoptoad.uucp (Tim Maroney)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Is the Mac 512 still a semi-viable system?
Message-ID: <9271@hoptoad.uucp>
Date: 12 Dec 89 22:07:54 GMT
References: <272@spot.wbst128.xerox.com>
Reply-To: tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney)
Organization: Eclectic Software, San Francisco
Lines: 37

In article <272@spot.wbst128.xerox.com> powers@jade.UUCP (Mike Powers) writes:
>I have the opportunity to adopt a Mac 512 that currently is
>sitting unused in a friends closet. The upgrade to a Plus isn't
>worth the price since I can get a new Plus for close to the same
>amount.

True of the Apple upgrade.  I've never understood why they seem to want
to discourage upgrading to a Plus.  Last time I checked, the price was
something like $900, which is only $100 less than the retail cost of a
new Plus after rebate.  However, if you already have a new ROM and
double-sided internal floppy drive, then you can get a cheap Mac Plus
equivalent upgrade from Dove Computer.  They are easy to install and
pretty reliable.  If you don't have new ROM and double-sided drive, you
need to get it; otherwise, the computer ain't worth the price of the
plastic.

>(besides, the Plus will be in the same boat as the 512 after
>system 7.0 arrives :)

Not so.  The Plus is the computer that made the Mac a going concern.
A large segment of the installed base is still Pluses, and it remains
a fairly strong seller.  No way Apple will be breaking it for at least
a few years.  I'd be surprised if it became unsupported before 1994.

>Sooo...my question is, is the Mac 512 still semi-usable (eg. what's
>the most recent release of the OS that it will run, MacWrite?, etc.).
>Are there any bandaids that can be applied (such as memory enhancments)
>that will help out?

See above note.  Dove upgrades are widely advertised from the magazine
mail-order houses, and you can call Dove to find out which one you need
to get.  Go for two megabytes and a SCSI port.
-- 
Tim Maroney, Mac Software Consultant, sun!hoptoad!tim, tim@toad.com

"The time is gone, the song is over.
 Thought I'd something more to say." - Roger Waters, Time