
Let’s Repair an Ancient Macintosh SE/30, Part 2 - bifrost
https://spun.io/2018/05/28/lets-repair-an-ancient-macintosh-se-30-part-2-what-the-hell-is-a-simasimac/
======
jasonjayr
I intercepted a SE/30 that was set to be discarded (in the late 90's), due to
a video problem -- the image was a single line across the center. The solder
for the vertical control had cracked and it turned out, all I needed to do was
reflow it, and it was good to go. Since this was my first 'spare' computer, I
promptly installed NetBSD on it, and learned unix there. I eventually got a
modem attached to it, setup PPP, and got a serial console to another 8086
laptop someone else gave me, that my brother and used to run
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAC_(software)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAC_\(software\))
to chat into the evening. I got a nuBus Network card on there too, and figured
out how to wire up our main family computer too!

A year or so later, I learned about Flyback Transformers and precisely how
large of a capacitor was in the vicinity, and thanked my lucky stars I didn't
accidentally discharge it.

The Se/30 will always be a special machine for me :)

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chongli
This is fantastic. I own a Macintosh Classic that still worked fine the last
time I booted it up (about a year ago). I've been afraid to keep it powered on
for very long lest the capacitors leak. When I get some time (probably after
school) I will look at replacing all of the capacitors with tantalum. Then see
about finding a way to connect it to the network.

There's so much classic Mac software out there to be used. It's actually
pretty amazing how productive you can be on a machine so many orders of
magnitude slower than today's computers. The low latency of the classic Mac UI
is a testament to the genius and hard work of Bill Atkinson. [1]

[1]
[https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&stor...](https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=I_Still_Remember_Regions.txt&sortOrder=Sort+by+Date&topic=QuickDraw)

~~~
jackvalentine
I’ve been thinking several years now practically nothing I do at work on a
computer can’t be done on a computer from 1995. The tools have been improved a
bit and made worse in other places but the basic work if you’re not in a
compute heavy field is pretty much the same.

~~~
nostrademons
That was sorta what fueled the smartphone revolution - everything useful could
be done on a computer from 1995, _and then a computer from 1995 could fit in
your pocket_. Then they kept on increasing in power, such that smartphones
today are good enough (modulo screen space) to compete with PCs from c. 2013.

Now we're just waiting the newest form factor that you can shrink 1995-era
processing power into. Brain implants?

~~~
paulirwin
Microcontrollers are already there, at least in terms of processing power, and
they open up all kinds of possible form factors. The Cortex M0-based Arduinos
can be made extremely tiny (see the Adafruit Trinket M0) and run at 48MHz.
RISC vs CISC means it might not be as fast as a 33MHz Intel from 1995, but the
new M4-based Arduinos are coming out running at 120MHz with the ATSAMD51
chips. When you have a 32-bit microcontroller at 120MHz in just 49mm^2 and
65µA/MHz power draw [1], all kinds of form factors are possible at speeds
meeting or exceeding your average 1995 PC.

[1]:
[https://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/en/ATSAMD51J19A](https://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/en/ATSAMD51J19A)

------
gvb
Part 1: [https://spun.io/2018/04/23/lets-repair-an-ancient-
macintosh-...](https://spun.io/2018/04/23/lets-repair-an-ancient-macintosh-
se-30-part-1-looks-like-its-broken/)

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dlevine
I had an SE/30 in college that I got for free somewhere (this was in the early
2000s). It worked fine, but I didn't have a network adapter that would get it
on the network, so it was of limited use to me. I think it was still sitting
in my parents' garage last time I looked.

Apparently (according to someone I went to college with), Apple postfixed the
names of their computers with 68030 processors 'x' (eg IIfx).

They couldn't call it the SEx, so they broke convention and called it the
SE/30.

~~~
labster
As the owner of an iPhone SE, I'm still hoping Apple releases a iPhone SE/30.

~~~
bifrost
YES!

------
peterburkimsher
My first Mac was a broken Mac Plus that my dad gave me when I was 8 years old.
He said that if I fixed it, I could keep it!

I didn't solder on new capacitors - I just got some screwdrivers and replaced
the motherboard.

[http://peterburk.github.io/blog/#theAppleGrows](http://peterburk.github.io/blog/#theAppleGrows)

I've collected a few old Macs, including two SE/30s, a load of LCs, Quadras,
and Performas, and even some older Apple IIc, IIgs, and IIe models, and newer
coloured iMacs. I also have a box of iBook G3 parts, including AirPort cards.
Right now they're in the grenier of my parents' house, and I'm starting to
admit that I won't get a chance to use them often. I'm sure there's value in
it all, but I'd just prefer that they go to someone who truly values the
machines.

If you live near Geneva or want to pay shipping, then please get in touch.

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news_to_me
I'm currently trying to rig up a Macintosh Plus I bought with a scsi2sd hard
drive and internet connection. It's fun! But I've also discovered just how
long a history Apple has of choosing "technically better, but much less well
adopted" tech in their products. For instance:

\- That RS-232 port in the back? Haha, nope! It's RS-422, which looks the same
except it has a different pin layout. Adapters exist, of course, but 232 is
_much_ more common.

\- 3.5" floppies - neat, I remember this form factor from my childhood fondly.
Wait.. no, these are 400k or 800k special format floppies, which aren't
interchangeable :(

I'm pretty close to getting a working dev environment on it though, and then
the sky is the limit :)

~~~
monocasa
To be fair, RS-422 is way better for this use case. The signals are
differential pairs.

And at the time, serial didn't automatically imply RS-232. RS-422 was a
totally valid choice, and typically the technically better option.

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
Serial did imply RS-232 because it was an established industry standard, and
by the 80s more than twenty years of hardware supported it. It's still in use
today on technical equipment, although most of the world has moved on to its
descendant - USB.

It's true that RS-422 was technically better, but it was only ever used in the
Apple ecosystem.

Existing RS-232 hardware needed an adaptor or a complete redesign. This
severely limited the appeal of the Mac in industrial automation, scientific
control, and electronic development, and often made basic printing more
complicated than it needed to be.

Realistically, most of those were never going to be prime Mac markets. Even
so, sales and market niches were lost to the PC and to competitors like HP.

~~~
vidarh
In the 80's a huge variety of systems used entirely different options
altogether. RS-422 looks weird today because the other weird options have died
out or become even more niche.

E.g. Commodore used IEEE-488 variations on it's 8-bit lines. Many others were
used by others. Peripherals were commonly expected to be specific to a
specific computer manufacturers products still.

In retrospect it's clear it wasn't ideal, but at the time RS-232 was just one
more alternative that didn't really stand out as a winner yet.

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nategri
I've got a 512k, a plus, a classic, and an se, but I've always wanted an se/30
because it's probably the oldest mac you can run linux on [1].

[1]
[http://lowendmac.com/unix/02/0319.html](http://lowendmac.com/unix/02/0319.html)

~~~
Someone
The Macintosh XL (aka Apple Lisa) ran Xenix
([https://virtuallyfun.com/wordpress/2009/02/10/apple-lisa-
xen...](https://virtuallyfun.com/wordpress/2009/02/10/apple-lisa-xenix/)), so
Linux probably could be ported to it.

------
SmellyGeekBoy
"Ancient?" Kids today huh!? ;)

These old computers are very easy to work on and there are plenty out there in
broken or semi-working state in need of rescue. Good work saving another
classic from the scrapheap!

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jamesfmilne
I’ve been collecting compact Macs over the last year or so. I’ve got 3 SE/30s
and one SE.

My most recent SE/30 exhibited this failure, but came back to life after I
repaired all the axial and SMD capacitors.

I currently have it working with 80MB of RAM, and a SCSI2SD.

It’s got the following OS installed:

* System 7.5.5 * A/UX 3.1 * NetBSD 6 * debian Linux

I’m currently working with one of my electronics guru colleagues on designing
a new PDS slot 100Mbit Ethernet card for the SE/30, using a modern Ethernet
interface chip, since working Ethernet cards are getting hard to come by.

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wwweston
Hey! This "simasimac" thing appears to be exactly the problem I have with my
SE/30.

I was planning to get A/UX on the thing a few years ago and see what I could
still do with it when the failure appeared and I kindof shelved the whole
thing. Happy to have a log I can draw tips from.

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dcminter
Where does the "simasimac" name of the failure mode come from?

~~~
duskwuff
"simasima" is allegedly a Japanese word referring to a striped pattern.

~~~
news_to_me
Confirmed:
[https://jisho.org/word/%E7%B8%9E%E3%80%85](https://jisho.org/word/%E7%B8%9E%E3%80%85)

Although the more common romanization would have it "shimashima"

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1800walrus
And then when one of those tantalum capacitors exhibits combustion mode
failure due to Dv/Dt, the whole thing will go up in smoke...

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jason_slack
Ancient? I'm almost 41 and the machine is about 35? Poor me and everyone else
over 36 :-)

~~~
jacquesm
Lucky you I remember when it came out ;) That should make you feel better.

~~~
stcredzero
The SE/30 is the model that came out after _my_ first Macintosh's model.
"Ancient."

~~~
jacquesm
I will raise you my KIM-1.

~~~
stcredzero
I lose. The best I can do is an Apple ][+ 48k.

~~~
jacquesm
No, I lose, it probably means I'm slightly older than you ;)

