Stealth Macintosh Portable Case Mod

The Macintosh Portable was Apple’s first foray into mobile computing. This early laptop, err, luggable, weighed in at 16 lbs due to the 6V sealed lead-acid battery and desktop floppy and hard drives. But because of this, the Snow White designed case is roomy inside and a prime candidate for a overhaul.

My particular Macintosh Portable M5120 is the non-backlit version. It came with one floppy and a hard drive and retailed for $7,300 in 1989. I’ve tried over the course of several years to get this machine working. I’ve replaced the leaky capacitors on the motherboard, cleaned it in an ultrasonic bath several times, and tried two different hybrid modules but nothing was able to get this machine running again.

My goal is to give this beautiful machine a new lease on life while at the same time keeping the appearance the same and not making any permanent modifications to the case. I want it to look and work as close to the original Macintosh Portable (including the floppy drive!) while also having the capability of running a modern OS. The internal components have been removed and stored properly in the event there’s a new method for repair in the future.

Let’s get to the build!

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ImageWriter II Color Ribbon Fix

If you’ve attempted to use an original color ribbon in your ImageWriter II recently, you’ve quickly found out that the pinch rollers inside the cartridge have disintegrated over time. More specifically, the foam that goes around the rollers that pull the ribbon through the cartridge have fallen apart and turned to sticky dust.

I recently got a few new NOS color ribbons for my ImageWriter II and I wanted to see if I could salvage them. Sure, brand new ribbons are being made again [MacEffects, $29], but I wanted to see if it was possible to clean these up and get them working again.

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Installing an Ethernet card and video card and other upgrades for a Mac SE/30.

(The following was a Twitter thread on March 10, 2021 for #MARCHintosh.)

But there’s only one slot, you say? It’s all a matter of using a clever part to adapt a pass-through.

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