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From: jfr@locus.com (Jon Rosen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: How to upgrade a Mac 512K for more ram and 800K drive?
Keywords: 800K drive, 1MB ram, Mac 512K upgrade
Message-ID: <19196@oolong.la.locus.com>
Date: 6 Nov 90 19:26:27 GMT
References: <1990Nov6.080233.19912@ucselx.sdsu.edu>
Organization: Locus Computing Corp, Los Angeles
Lines: 64

In article <1990Nov6.080233.19912@ucselx.sdsu.edu> coxc0011@ucselx.sdsu.edu (David Tse) writes:
>
>	I hope someone knows about this subject. I have a friend who
>recently purchased a Mac 512K and an Imagewriter II without any upgrade
>being done (not that I can see), but for only U.S.$ 400. The owner will
>have another $200 to $400 to spend on an upgrade.
>
>	Is there a software to make the Mac 512K do HFS and also work
>on an external 800K drive (and get 800K)? if yes, which brand drive will
>work? and where can I find that software (commercial or PD)?
>
The standard upgrade from Apple for the 512KE includes the new 800K
drive (they take away your old 400K one), the "new" (at that time)
128K Rom and the system software.  This usually costs $299 (which is
the list price for the upgrade and almost NOBODY discounts it)...
This upgrade does NOT include more memory... Best bet there is to 
add a MacSnap or Dove board for 2M which mail orders for about $300...
You may find it for less now... I havent looked in a while...
You will also need a SCSI if you want to add any reasonable hard
drive whch you can usually get them to add while doing the Apple
upgrade for about $50... All told to get to two meg or so with
the latest Plus stuff you need to spend about $600+ .... Unfortunately,
you could get a brand new Plus for about the same and a Classic is
only a couple hundred bucks more... Of course you now have the
Image writer, so thats a positive...

>	How much memory can I add/change the Mac 512K to? what kind of
>memory chips do I need? I can do soldering well, but not too familiar
>with the inside of the Mac.
>
See above paragraph on memory... soldering AIN't recommended... get
the MacSnap or Dove boards which clip on... 

>	The Apple logic upgrade kit for the Mac 512K to Mac Plus is avail.
>at our school computer store, but is quite expensive (compare to UCLA is
>now dumping Mac Plus for $500). What is the extra advantage of that kit
>? (I believe ROM version is newer 128K vs. 64K)
The Apple upgrade to a Plus is outrageous (always was)... All you get
is the extra memory and the SCSI (the 128K Rom is already inbcluded
in the relatively cheap 800K disk drive upgrade)... get your own 
memory and SCSI as noted above and you save about $500... Of course,
it would be INSANE to get the Apple upgrade for a Plus now since it
costs more than a new Plus or Classic...

>
>	What is a good solution to add a harddisk? there are some third
>party SCSI board thru the battery cover. Price may be more important
>than performance. so I want to know how much to fit my friend's budget.
>
Once you add a cheap SCSI, any old hard drive will dooo.  Jasmine sells a
20M for about $399 which is pretty good (not quite PC prices, but a lot
better than the $799 I spent two years ago...)

>	What is a good word processing software for that system? (before
>and after upgrade), my friend uses it to type papers (grad. student in
>Linguistics Dept.). Is WriteNow best? and won't run out of memory? which
>version? (MacWrite 4.5 is being used, seems ok on a small document).
 
I use Microsoft Word... You might find someone with a *legitimate* copy
of 3.0.1 who will sell it to you for cheap... 4.0 probably won't run on
the stated machine unless it is REALLY upgraded with more memory...
 
Good luck... Jon Rosen