Macintosh se

Correction:

>That system version was introduced several years before the start of the Web

This is not correct. In fact, System 6 was introduced 1988, but version 6.0.8 is newer (from 1991). The Web started 1990 (https://home.cern/science/computing/birth-web/short-history-web). So, the Web existed before System 6.0.8.

Hello,

To begin with, for your safety, a warning: Please note that the internal circuits work with high voltages. All work inside a compact Mac (such as the SE) can be very dangerous, and must be performed be qualified personnel only. Dangerous charges can remain in various components even with the computer turned off and disconnected from the mains.

Old hard drives can sometimes suffer from a "stiction" problem. Normally, one would remove the hard drive and try to swing it, or knock on it, in an attempt to make the disk move. Without removing the hard drive, a temperature change may or may not make the drive work.

The Macintosh SE did not include a modem. There were external modems specifically for Macs. However, you can easily connect an old external (PC-style) serial dial-up modem to the MiniDIN-8 modem port. More or less anything between 9.6 kbps and 56 kbps will do; throughput is not going to be high anyway. The typical dial-up modem has a DB-25F port, so a normal Mac modem cable (MiniDIN-8M to DB-25M) can be used.

If you have access to two landline phone lines, you could connect the Windows 2000 laptop (which besides a DB-9M serial port may have an RJ-11 built-in dial-up modem port) and the Macintosh SE over the public telephone network.

Alternatively, it is possible to connect two modems locally, via a standard RJ-11 to RJ-11 phone cable. A simple line simulator (consisting of a 9 V battery, a 330 Ohm resistor, and a modified RJ-11 cable) may or may not be required in this case (do not use a line simulator for connections to the public telephone network).

For transfers modem-to-modem (or via a null-modem link), communications programs (terminal emulators) will be needed.

Finally, with a Macintosh SE, System 7, and a modem, one could per se connect to the Internet (I once did that with an SE with 2.5 MB of RAM), but there is not much practical use for it today. First of all, there are very few Internet providers with dial-up services. Secondly, a browser such as the old MacWeb, could not do anything with modern web pages. Old email clients will have a problem with authentication. FTP might still work.

So, look through the software available to you. Do not hesitate to post back with any questions.

https://support.apple.com/kb/sp191

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_classic/specs/mac_se.html

http://www.nic.funet.fi/index/mac/info-mac/comm/_Terminal/

http://www.knubbelmac.de/

You mean an original 6.0.8 floppy? That system version was introduced several years before the start of the Web, so unfortunately not. Perhaps you can find an 800K disk with a communications program among the things that you have access to. Once you have an appropriate program, you should have the basis for further modem transfers.

Is there an Apple User Group in your area? Someone there may be able to help you.

User Groups - Apple

Hi,

Do you have the Macintosh SE variant with one internal floppy drive and a hard drive?

There was a 1.44 MB internal floppy drive kit, with a necessary ROM upgrade set in addition to the new drive. If you could find the parts, it would be very expensive.

An 800K Mac drive has a variable speed. That is why a PC drive cannot handle the 800K DSDD/2DD Mac floppies. A PC drive does not have the variable speed (it can use DSDD/2DD PC-formatted diskettes and 720K only).

Do you have access to a communications program on the hard disk or on 800K Mac floppies? This could be a small terminal emulator with file transfer capabilities. If not, do you know someone with a pre-1998 Mac with a built-in floppy drive (for both 1.44 MB and 800K) who could help you download and copy a freeware terminal emulator to an 800K Mac disk?

The idea is to set up a null-modem link between the MiniDIN-8 modem port of the Macintosh SE and the (normally DB-9) serial port of the Windows 2000 laptop (I guess that it has one). The link can be a MiniDIN-8M to DB-25M Mac modem cable combined with a standard DB-25F-to-DB-9F PC-style null-modem cable. The Windows 2000 machine could use HyperTerminal.

An eBay or web search for something like serial dial-up modem (you do not have to mention Mac here) and mac serial modem cable should provide you with a number of alternatives. As mentioned earlier, you do not need a fast modem (models between 14.4 and 33.6 kbps may be less expensive). Regarding the cable, check that the connectors match. The Mac-side plug must be MiniDIN-8M. The modem-side plug is typically DB-25M (for a modem with the "normal" DB-25F connector).

However, you would still have to get a communications program (terminal emulator) onto the SE, so check what you have available already.

One possibility would be the 1.44 MB internal floppy drive upgrade with a new set of ROMs. Probably difficult to find, and expensive.

There was an Applied Engineering HD+ external drive that could use 1.44 MB, but with some limitations. Probably rare today.

https://lowendmac.com/2000/applied-engineering-ae-hd-floppy-drive/

Another possibility could be a SCSI Zip 100 drive connected to the SCSI port of the Macintosh SE. However, you may need access to another suitable Mac in order to properly format the Zip 100 (100 MB) disk for the SE. Otherwise, this would allow transfers from/to a more modern Mac or PC, where the USB version (or parallel for a PC) of the Zip 100 drive would be used. One disadvantage is that SCSI drives are expensive today.

So, a modem may still be the most cost-effective solution, if only someone can be found to help you download a communications program (such as Terminal 2.2) and perhaps an old version of StuffIt Expander, and put those as ready-to-use files on one or two Mac-formatted 800K floppies.

By the way, there is a lot of information on the knubbelmac.de site (if necessary, use a web translation service; with Google one can even paste a URL and get a full page translated).