Fun uses for old Macintosh?

October 21, 2008 6:42 PM

I inherited a fully-functional Apple Macintosh Plus computer complete with external SCSI hard drive. What are some cool things I can do with it?

I picked up a fully functional and complete Apple Macintosh computer via Craigslist a while back. I have a thing for old computers and I felt pretty fortunate to find this fine a specimen to add to my small collection (added bonus - it was free!). Plus, it's just really cool to play with. It has, though, just been sitting in the corner of my room since I got it and I'm starting to wonder what cool things I can do with it.

I don't know what kind of specs it has (haven't figured out how to determine that) nor do I know what OS version it is running. I do know it seems pretty well useless without the external 20MB hard drive attached. The person I picked the Macintosh up from left a good amount of his personal information on it so besides finding a cool use for it (besides as a collectors item), I'd like to get it cleaned up properly and maybe do a clean OS install.

I'm hoping the HiveMind can give me some fun ideas. Thanks everyone!

posted by karizma to computers & internet (10 comments total)

MacQuarium?- alternately, there were some of the old 68K *BSD variants that could be installed on the SE, they may be able to run on the plus- I can't remember if the plus had the 68030 chip that was (I believe) necessary for paging virtual memory.
posted by jenkinsEar at 6:55 PM on October 21, 2008

Tis the season 'Mac o Lantern'

I have a broken one that I want to gut and do the same with a plain old bulb.. only 10 days left...
posted by edman at 6:58 PM on October 21, 2008

I have several of them there is lots of web sites/fourms out there for these early macs. I have software etc. old printers. If you want any of it contact [e-mail]
posted by patnok at 7:20 PM on October 21, 2008 [1 favorite]

Here's some games! (I loved Glider!)
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 7:29 PM on October 21, 2008

If it runs, do NOT gut it for an aquarium!

The two games you MUST have for any classic black and white Mac like the Plus are Fool's Errand and Dark Castle.

They work from 3.5 floppies, like everything from that era.

Also, all of the Infocom text adventures work great there, though for classic cool I prefer a green-screen and an Apple IIe.
posted by rokusan at 7:52 PM on October 21, 2008

Seconding text adventures. I had an old Mac Plus which I loaded up with text adventures and had a grand old time.
posted by raygan at 7:58 PM on October 21, 2008

Seconding Fool's Errand and, if you can find it, 3x3, which is by the same company. I remember them fondly.
posted by immlass at 8:42 PM on October 21, 2008

They make a great, if somewhat power hungry, clock.

Apple maintains free archives of old System software. You might want to upgrade it to System 7.1 or System 7.5 if you want a slightly more sane networking stack. With Word 5.5 and a network connection, a Plus is actually not a half bad little writing station.
posted by nathan_teske at 9:46 PM on October 21, 2008

Yes, immlass's game is actually 3 in Three which is the "sequel" of sorts to Fool's Errand by the same one man "company", Cliff Johnson. The story's a bit looser but the game is just as good.

Free download here, at least if and when you get that Mac Plus on the Internet, which is no mean feat.
posted by rokusan at 9:47 PM on October 21, 2008

Just want to jump in and repeat the advice about 3 in Three. Unlike most old-school recommendations, which generally rely on some sort of nostalgia, that game (if you're into word/math/logic type puzzles) is still unbelievably fun for someone who has never played it before. Fool's Errand is fun, but 3 in Three is on a different level.

If you want to be on the cutting edge of presentation/scripting circa the mid to late eighties, I also would recommend HyperCard.
posted by SpiffyRob at 6:59 AM on October 22, 2008