Finished partially restoring my Macintosh Portable! A bit late for Marchintosh!
Posted by L064N@reddit | retrobattlestations | View on Reddit | 44 comments
Amazing toolless design, I am able to tear this machine down to the bear PCB without any tools. What a cool machine!
TechIoT@reddit
Welp it I took my Newton on a cruise
Then taking the Mac Portable on a cruise ain't too much of a stretch
t8ag@reddit
Ugh I really need to get one of my portables working, I have one of the backlight models but I think the logic board is cooked from the previous owner trying to recap it
ChemicalHungry5899@reddit
Are you using a HDD emulator or blue scsi mod or something? And also does it have xterm and or some kind of wifi mod? Just curious
L064N@reddit (OP)
Nope the original HDD is still working but I'll probably get a blue scisi or something similar since I know that won't last for long. No xterm or wifi mods yet either!
nmrk@reddit
Nice! You could run A/UX on this machine. I have an old Bernoulli 20MB cartridge machine designed for the Mac Portable. It also has a lead-acid battery, and the Mac and Bernoulli can run solely off battery power with enough computer horsepower to do a decent Unix.
ChemicalHungry5899@reddit
That seems impossible for this type of computer, the SE 30s couldn't really handle to from my research and honestly AUX apparently didn't really catch on because it lacked things Xorg and POSIX but I've only being been using Unix like OSs since Ubuntu 8.04 or so.. I'm sure I'm wrong on some of these points but AUX seems way beyond the scope of a Mac portables purpose. I imagine it was intended for wealthy people to write novel on and does basic budgeting and asset valuations and checkbook balancing back in 1990. More of a toy than anything else.
nmrk@reddit
It was a full implementation of Unix. I have documentation.
https://www.reddit.com/r/vintagecomputing/comments/1k898dh/1990_macintosh_aux_20_sales_training/
wotmp@reddit
Is there a hack to get A/UX on the Portable? I don’t believe it’s supported on any portable Mac, even faster ones with 030 or 040 processors. I’ve never seen anyone running A/UX on it and if it did run, it would be painfully slow. Even worse than the very slow performance on a much faster SE/30.
L064N@reddit (OP)
That's awesome! A/UX is definitely next on the list for this machine. Are you able to install sorry from floppies or do I need to track down an old apple cd drive?
wotmp@reddit
I’d recommend getting a BlueSCSI for it. It will make it easier to load new OS hard drive images, and the internal spinning drive will likely not last long…
nmrk@reddit
I vaguely recall these machines could use a CDROM because they had a SCSI interface and so did the Bernoulli. They shouldn't be too hard to track down, they were used by other models of early Macs. I think the CD images are available in the usual places, I think I saw them on Archive.org. I am kind of pessimistic about restoring old floppies these days, there is a lot to go wrong and everything has to work like new.
pbrunnen@reddit
Those era keyboards were just such a joy to use... the travel and feel.
Possumbox2000@reddit
I remember repairing those a lifetime ago. The pizza box LC was the easiest. All snap and pop construction. I just knew I would walk into the student computer lab and all hard drives would be missing.
CraigLearmont@reddit
Is that the 5120 or 5126?
L064N@reddit (OP)
5120
daccount97@reddit
Solid
cch123@reddit
What batteries did you use?
L064N@reddit (OP)
I used a small 6v lead acid battery from Amazon. I want to take apart the original battery and install this one in that housing but for now I have it installed in the machine with leads attached to the battery terminals and it fits fine.
Manualcarlove18@reddit
I took this on a plane once. It broke the tray. 😕😳🫤
L064N@reddit (OP)
Haha I bet. It's such a beast.
Manualcarlove18@reddit
I’m not kidding. My arm muscles though looked great.
Mccobsta@reddit
Just something industrial about apples design back then that they've somewhat lost today
Fragholio@reddit
Please don't spraypaint it in camo.
L064N@reddit (OP)
I'm leaving it as original as possible! Might install A/UX though if that's compatible but that's a whole other project...
RichardGereHead@reddit
I think the minimum Mac for A/UX is the SE/30, so probably a non-starter.
L064N@reddit (OP)
I've heard many conflicting things! I've read and found documents showing it running on mac portable so I'm sure it's possible somehow....
Choice_Magician350@reddit
I also have one. Bought it when it came out.
_Erin_@reddit
The sunlight is giving that space bar something to think about.
L064N@reddit (OP)
I know haha, not sure how to properly whiten it again. I've heard retrobrite and similar treatments further degrade the plastics!
MelAlton@reddit
Leave it as it is and embrace the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, which "encourages appreciating the patina of age, wear, and flaws rather than seeking perfection."
Whiskeejak@reddit
I had one of these I built from spare parts! I think I managed to get 1MB of RAM, a 20MB scsi drive, a 2400 baud modem, and I managed to somehow get System 7.0 onto it.
invokes@reddit
When I was a teen my mum brought one home from work as thought I'd like it. I couldn't get it working and my mum eventually got rid of it. I've been absolutely kicking myself for the last 25 years! 😭
PikwikHazel@reddit
That Earth sticker really ties it together
L064N@reddit (OP)
I agree! It was on the machine when I bought it at a thrift store and I think I'll just leave it
PikwikHazel@reddit
Definitely. It adds charm to it
BigBlackHungGuy@reddit
But the plastic gets brittle as heck. I refurbed on and it likes to disintegrate.
L064N@reddit (OP)
I think I got lucky with this one it's in very good condition. But I still had a small pile of little plastic standoffs that broke off after repairing it haha. Went back together alright though.
KansasHayseed@reddit
Was working at Apple when this came out. The recess in the right upper corner of the display was for the trackball. Seems to me that the identical recess in the left upper corner was so the trackball could be on the left side, for left handed users.
L064N@reddit (OP)
Yes! That's so cool. When I took it apart I saw a connector on each side of the chassis for mouse connection. It can be easily swapped! So neat.
Accurate-Campaign821@reddit
Late? Nah you're early... For 2027
PuzzleheadedPea2401@reddit
But just in time for Appril! Great job!
SuccessfulFigure3133@reddit
Maybe late for Marchintosh, but exactly right for Apple’s 50th birthday 😁
Aggravating-Exit-660@reddit
Luggable on vacation
L064N@reddit (OP)
Oops I meant bare PCB not 🐻 PCB