I'm looking to buy a Quadra 950. I am not yet sure of the precise configuration for this machine, but I'm looking for an idea of fair market value for a Quadra 950.
I saw one fairly local dealer (hour's drive away) is selling one for $75. Is that a fair price? What should I be looking to spend on a Quadra 950?
Also, I was looking at the various UNIX installs for the Quadra 950, and noted that the 950 has some problems with such installs due to the IOP's, has this problem been resolved?
Finally, I have some PDS type ethernet cards laying around that I would like to use in the 950. My research has revealed that the 950 has one 040 PDS slot. Will this slot accomodate an 030 PDS ethernet card?
I know that the 950 has built-in ethernet and I also know that the built-in ethernet is available via an AAUI port, thus requiring an ethernet transceiver. Depending on the answer to my previous question, would I be further ahead in sourcing an ethernet transceiver for the AAUI port or locating a NuBUS slot ethernet card?
Thanks a bunch,
I got an Apple Workgroup Server - a Quadra 950 with the addition of a special PDS SCSI/Video card - for $20 about two years ago. It all depends on what sources there are in your area (universities are great sources of these big machines, as they were often used as servers). But in general the only reason you should pay $75 for a 950 is if you can't find one locally, and that price therefore has to incude shipping.
If you can talk the dealer down to $50, I guess that'd be acceptable if you really want the machine. But otherwise, my opinion is, take a pass on it.
As for ethernet, I personally prefer the transceivers to the NuBus cards. The transceivers are cheap (I can sell you one for $5 plus shipping if you want, though I imagine you could source it locally). And, unlike with some NuBus enet cards, there's no worry about finding or installing drivers - with the transceiver you're still using Apple's built-in enet, and so it will work with a standard Mac OS installation.
Matt
There's not a snowballs chance of the '03 PDS card working in a 950 w/o major work. An AAUI dongle or a NuBUS card should get you networked quite nicely. I'd got for the AAUI first, and if you need another port, then get a card. Personally, I'd have a hard time paying more than $20USD for a 950 unless it was maxed out on RAM and had a big HDD and a nice video card.
Just to note the obvious: if you're buying the machine in order to run a free OS (NetBSD, Linux, etc.) you *will* be disappointed with any 68K Mac. They were fine machines in their day, don't get me wrong, but operating systems have gotten a *lot* heavier since then. Not to say running Linux on such a thing isn't educational, but I wouldn't spend $75 to do it. And if it comes to actually using the machine for anything useful as opposed to nostolgia, well, I'll be frank: personally anything less then "Pentium Class" hardware just pisses me off under modern *NIXi. (A 100Mhz 486 or 75Mhz Sparc CPU is about the minimum.)
As for the specific question, well, as of the last status documents the *BSDs are still completely unsupported. Serial I/O supposedly works under Linux, but I don't know about ADB.
--Peace
Thanks. I thought the $75 950 was overpriced too. I passed on that one, but I've found another one that's available a little closer to home. Like I said, I don't know the configuration of it yet and the people selling it haven't set a price.
I will use the information I got from you kind folks as a guide in helping me determine whether or not this is the right deal for me.
Now for the network stuff, I have yet to see a transceiver available locally. The last one I did see advertised close to this neck of the woods, was going for about $50. Heck, I can buy *current* PCI ethernet cards cheaper than that brand new.
I may take you up on your offer, Tom. $5 for a transceiver plus, say, $10-15 for shipping? That's alot cheaper than $50.
I'm just wanting to get a Quadra 950 because I have never had one and I think it looks kind of cool. I was just exploring the free OSes (NetBSD, Linux, etc.) as an optional toy.
So, that's my rationale: I don't want to pay through the nose for something that's only going to be used as a toy/novelty.
Again, thank you for your advice and guidance, you have made my purchase decision alot easier.
If you're looking for something to toy around on Linux or UNIX on, consider purchasing an older SPARC computer. Older macs (even older power macs) aren't particuarly good with UNIX. Anything above a Sparcstation 5 is good for general things, while an UltraSPARC will let do you pretty much anything you would want.
Actually, it's Matt, but that's okay.
I've sent you a PM about the transceiver.
Best,
Matt
I've agreed to pay $40 for the Quadra 950. That's probably still a bit much considering this particular 950 has no hard drive and has only 32MB's of RAM. Anyway, I kind of want the 950 and $40 is not too steep of a price.
Matt:
I knew your name wasn't Tom. I couldn't scroll back to your message while I was responding, so I just went by your handle. Sorry about that!
Ah crap, now I've forgotten who it was that mentioned the Sparc station. Anyway, how much do used Sparc systems go for? I've yet to encounter one of those in my various travels?
Sorry, my mind is a little scattered at the moment; I have too many things on the go.
Depending on the place, you can get a good sparc from free to around $80.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4604&item=5179511369&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
What you want to do (and what I'm in the (slow) process of doing) is to install A/UX on your Quadra. There you have Mac and a (Apple) UNIX on a single machine. You can leave me a message in my AF inbox for more info.
IC