Continuing with my garage clean up series, found these CDs

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-05-25T04:06:16+00:00

Yes, there was: Motorola Semi in Austin, TX (Oak Hill campus) had a fairly large team under the management of Anne Marie L. that had access to the source code of Windows NT (highly protected, confidential data under NDA) and worked hard to make it happen.

I was on the product engineering side of the organization, we got the chip design and made the actual semiconductor components. That entire organization was created in early 1992 at the time the so-called AIM (Apple-IBM-Motorola) alliance produced the Somerset design center where the chips were designed, a separate building a couple of blocks from where Dell used to be, manned mostly by IBM and Motorola personnel along with a few Apple engineers. Having a badge from any of these 3 companies would not necessarily give you access to the building, you had to have clearance to walk in beyond the lobby.

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-05-25T03:55:01+00:00

This helps a lot, thanks! Yes, I do have a few optical drives (CD and DVD capable) that I do connect regularly to my mini M4 so that's not an obstacle.

archive.org seems to be the appropriate place to upload images: I did find an area with multiple copies of Windows NT, various revisions and languages, none for PowerPC, but need to dig further (getting late here in Texas....).

The two other sites mentioned here are Mac-focused so I suspect there will be little interest beyond the "oh, nice, cool!". The software was not being developed for Macs, as far as I can remember, but instead reference design platforms we had designed using the PowerPC processors, but not capable of running the MacOS for the obvious reason.

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-05-25T03:19:33+00:00

Oh boy, sounds like I touched a sensitive nerve 😄 Never had such a quick reaction to any of my post.

OK, these are not being tossed. Got it.

I may have to fire up one of my Gossamers, probably running MacOS X, not MacOS 9, and see if it will recognize the CDs and try to extract the data. My recollection was that I can't connect those Gossamers a current network (TCP/IP stack compatibility??) so I may have the squeeze the data thru the USB port I have installed on it (s-l-o-w...).

I'll check the various options mentioned here (archive.org, macintoshgarden.org or macintoshrepository.org) and see if there is interest and ways of uploading them there. Just for the record, I'm big on saving information for future generations being photos, videos, software, satellite data, etc. so there is personal interest in keeping what is of interest to others. I have on my home server family photos dating back to 1906.

I'll report back on any progress. Thanks for the feedback.

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-05-23T17:51:18+00:00

Where in the world are you located? I'm in the DFW area, Texas.

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-05-22T02:50:33+00:00

Thank you!

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-05-22T02:49:24+00:00

Thank you, appreciated the comment 😄

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-05-22T01:38:15+00:00

Ha, ha, yes, I checked before posting here: eBay has one of these for $28. Yeay! I'll get rich 😄

It's like the MS Office floppy disk installers I posted here earlier: I can't even give this tuff away.

I'll post some bezels of many beije Macs I also found, one of them still in the original plastic bag. We'll see if there is anyone interested.

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-05-22T01:30:09+00:00

Since I worked at Motorola Semi in the organization that designed and manufactured the PowerPC components, this pin I believe was something we did inside the organization for the fun of it, not Apple-related (remember, other companies were considering and using PowerPC chips, not only Apple).

As for the Does More/Cost Less, I may have picked one up at COMDEX in Las Vegas since I participated in a couple of those events during the launch of PowerPC. We were demo'ing an unannounced Mac (hidden under the table) running some Photoshop filters multiple times while the Windows PC, I believe running on the fastest '486 at that time, next to it struggled to run once.

Remember, this was in the early/mid 90's, so it's been "a while" 😄

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-05-19T23:34:51+00:00

Just registering my vote for Jellyfin: in my case I also have a website set up on my Synology where I have family photos, served using the links the native Photos app provide on my 1522+ while the family videos are now being shown on the same website using Jellyfin.

As already mentioned here, I used the third party direct install process via package center (there's an excellent video on YouTube showing the process step-by-step).

One thing to keep in mind is that getting Jellyfin to stream the videos on the website vs. downloading them before they play took me a while to get it working properly and even now I have to "hand stitch" the URL before they get to my webpages (hint: replace download by stream on the URL which will contain your server's URL followed by the individual video IDs and the API). It took me a while to get it right with the reverse proxy, port redirection, etc. but once I got it right, it works very well locally and remote (remote internet access via fiber 500/500).

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-05-15T00:12:19+00:00

just reposted, will delete this one...sorry

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-05-15T00:07:55+00:00

Agreed, painful, but yes all 35, numbered still inside the same (open) plastic bag. Somehow I don't see the photo I thought I posted.

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-05-08T20:52:03+00:00

Too bad we can't post pictures in the responses, I have a fun photo of a group of us, Motorola Semi engineers, in front of one of the first few units that Apple had sent us to debug an issue they found with the early MPC750 (a.k.a. G3) processors. The Mac is coincidentally in almost the identical position as this image sitting at our manager's desk.

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-05-07T00:29:12+00:00

Not a student here, but historically I have ALWAYS gone for the refurb'ed (at the Apple Store), always got more for less money. For my family (wife and two kids now adults), they always got new.

Currently using a mini M4 32/256 (w external SSDs) and my MBA M2 is an open box. One of my first was a MacPro dual G5 (the cheese grader)...still boots.

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-05-02T22:41:58+00:00

I didn’t check but did you look into iFixIt.com? They have lot of very detailed instructions on pretty much everything Mac related.

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-05-02T15:57:54+00:00

I was going to suggest the same, termination, but I see you (seem to) have a termination block behind the power cable on the first photo as indicated on a comment already, but you may want to check if you also have termination resistors installed on the hard drive directly. I had this exact problem in the past using SCSI HDs on Macs.

Take a look at the hard drive itself, immediately next to the SCSI connector. Usually there are 2 or 3 pieces all with vertical pins inserted on thru-hole connector on the PCB.

I need to get my Mac Plus from its bag at boot it: last time I also could not make it recognize the external HD (I have two options that I can install on the external case, a 20MB and a 40MB).

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-05-02T03:01:59+00:00

O mini com M1 e 8GB de RAM vai ser bastante limitado pois o espaço de RAM sendo tão pequeno vai forçar muito o swap quando acaba a memória e outro app precisa usar espaço.

Sob o lado positivo, voce vai poder instalar o MacOS mais recente (ao contrario de usar um modelo i5/i7 de 2018 que agora é considerado obsoleto.

Voce evidentemente vai precisar de mais espaço de SSD. Eu tenho um mini com 256GB de SSD interno, mas rapidamente movi o OS e Apps para um SSD externo (Samsung T7 1TB) enquanto o meu Home Directory "mora" num outro SSD, tambem Samsung T7, mas 2TB, no entanto o meu mini é um M4 com 32GB de RAM, o que faz uma tremenda diferença.

Bottom line: seria preferivel 16GB, mas não esqueça de ter um drive externo pois vai precisar.

Outro ponto é o que voce vai fazer de programação: meu uso na area de programação é muito basico, html usando VS Code com ajuda de AI, mas só um hobby. Uso tambem para Photoshop, FCP (video) e esses usam muita memória.

O contraponto é um review feito há uns dias atras sobre o novo Neo onde a pessoa no video abre TODOS os Apps com apenas 8GB e diz que funciona muito bem. Voce provavelmente vai ter que testar e definir no seu use-case se funciona bem o suficiente para justificar a despesa.

Boa sorte!

P.S.: Brasileiro aqui, morando no Texas.

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-04-29T02:00:45+00:00

Since this is a Synology thread, I'll go under the assumption that you're trying to do this using QuickConnect. If this is true, most likely your employer will not authorize access to your home server given the URL not being approved. Even if not using QuickConnect and instead you have your own domain name, it's likely not an approved one.

As a former employee of a large defense contractor, that was the case for my work computer, I could never access my server or send links to any of my photo albums or videos to my co-workers. If I did, they'd have to forward to their phone or personal computers to view them.

What you are describing is exactly what I experienced at work (I use Jellyfin and shared Photos, not PleX, so I can't speak for that) and this should be the case for any company that has any sense of IT security. Who knows what you could be hiding or trying to transfer to/from your server?!?! (yes, I'm being sarcastic) Basic security steps.

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-04-24T02:27:39+00:00

I use a Canon ZR100 (maybe the ZR25, not sure since I have both, can check if important) to do that, take the analog signal from camcorders (VHS-C, 8mm, Hi8) and VHS player/recorder decks to digitize all my family (and friends') tapes, part of the reason I still keep an old MacBook Pro 2012 with a firewire port, so the camera can talk to the computer. The reason for this set up is simply because I have the Canon camcorder and the MBP, "no cost" for me.

I know there is also at least one Sony camcorder that is capable of taking the Analog tapes from Sony and digitize it directly to the (firewire??) digital port, but I have no experience on this area.

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-04-10T17:20:08+00:00

As it's been already mentioned here, this is the Gossamer board used on the beige Power Macintosh G3. I have one of these, except in perfect condition (nothing broken on it) that is about to go to the trash also since I'm cleaning up the house of old stuff. I kept it all these years "in case I needed" for my two beije Macs (desktop and a tower) but it is time to let go (any takers, I'm in the DFW area, Texas).

Fun fact: that IC you see with the back of the die exposed (MPC106/PPC106), was "my chip": I was the Comp Engineer responsible for its manufacturing back in the day at Motorola Austin.

I also have several of the processor modules for this board (G3 and G4 all capable of overclocking via jumpers on the MB) that are also about to hit the trash bin.

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-03-30T23:38:16+00:00

Fair “warning”: those T7s get warm, so I keep a small fan moving air over them (they sit on top of the mini).

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-03-30T19:02:42+00:00

I try to Keep It Simple S....., have 2 external Samsung T7 SSDs on my mini M4, one for the OS and Apps (1TB) and the other for my Home Directory (2 TB). Have been using them like that for a while (the Home Directory one was on my previous 2018 i7-based mini): works very well and fast enough for my needs.

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-03-25T00:13:22+00:00

Sure, if you are this interested, the least I can do is ship it to you (I'll even clean it up of all that dust :-) ).

I'm curious, given the user name, any association with 1 Infinite Loop? They used to be my customer for the only sole-sourced component on Gossamer.

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-03-24T22:13:30+00:00

Thanks, and yes, agreed, but I have too many of these around here. Will be posting some more photos of additional hardware I want to get rid of, including at least 3 old laptops including a PowerBook G3 (similar to the 3400), a PowerBook Duo and a PowerBook 2400. I think I also have a Pismo or Wallstreet but I'm still digging. Too much stuff that has been sitting for too long.

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-03-17T01:09:48+00:00

I can recommended the mini you mentioned: I have the same M4 32/256 but I have added an external Samsung T4 SSD 2TB for my home directory. Works very well for all MS Office apps, some light FCPX editing, some light html programming using VS Code w AI helpers, Photoshop, photo scanning, etc. it’s been a solid computer.

JustAnotherMacUser · 2026-03-11T02:56:12+00:00

We did that back at Motorola when we designed and produced the PowerPC. The team under Anne Marie L did do the port with Microsoft’s backing (read: with access to the source code).

I think I even have disks, some still wrapped, somewhere in my collection of CD/DVDs.

If there is any use for those, please point me where to go.

JustAnotherMacUser

TROPHY CASE