5260/120 Mac

People buying a Mac new would receive a little story book about a Spanish fellow named manual which would have explained all your questions. And now that we've put Mr. Sarcasm behind us...

The power switch on the back of the machine is like the switch on an ATX power supply. It's for maintenance, disassembly, only. Once that switch is turned on, the Mac is powered up by the large button on the upper right of the keyboard.

Ejectable media are controlled from the desktop. Dragging a CD, floppy, Zip to the trash will eject it. Alternatively, select the icon and hit Cmd-Y with later versions of the classic Mac OS.

1) The power button on the back is for the power supply, and should be on pretty much at all times. DO NOT simply turn off the power switch to shut down the computer. Use the Special>Shut Down command to do that. Just like you'd go to Start>Shut Down on your PC.

2) Once the computer is set up (CPU, keyboard, mouse, mains, etc.) use the startup button on the keyboard to start the machine. It's either a flush-mounted, rectangular button along the top of the keyboard (above the row of numbers) or the key with an open, left-pointing arrow sitting all by its lonesome at the top right, above the numeric keypad. Your Mac should chime and come to life. Any icon other than a smiling Mac would indicate that the hard drive or the system folder are hosed. More help with that later.

3) You eject a floppy from the operating system, by dragging its icon to the Trash. This prevents a user from trying to eject a floppy from the Mac before the Mac has finished reading from it or writing to it, which on a Windows system is a very quick way to make a fancy square coaster. Once a CD is in the computer, it's ejected the same way: by dragging its icon to the Trash.

4) I should mention that the 5260 is an oldie-but goodie. It was made in about 1995 or 1996, and should be compared to the Pentium I's of its day, which ran Windows 95. Since, as you say, you're new to Macs, I'd hate to think you're going to compare this vintage experience with a modern Pentium IV running Windows XP. Obviously, the newer, faster PC is going to blow an old Mac out of the water.

Judging from most of the Mac-bashing sites I see out there, this is exactly what the bashers are doing: comparing a vintage Mac with a modern PC. A similar comparison would be for me to compare a brand-new MacBook Pro to a 1995 Gateway. Or a Model T with a new Corvette. Or an F-16 with a Sopwith Camel. Not exactly going to be a fair fight, is it?

5) Generally speaking, sarcasm is not a great way to get help on this site. Treat us, and your Mac, as you'd like to be treated, and all will go well.

Looks like eeun responded as I was typing. Thanks, eeun!

"Bad" besign decisions generally come from not knowing how to do something. I've got a Compaq Presario 4910 that has a button on the front, and a switch on the back. Know that what the rear switch does? It turns on the machine. Know what the front botton does? It puts it to sleep. And that's all. You can jab the front button all you want, and it will only sleep and wake. Apple wasn't the only one to put a power button on the back, but Compaq certainly made it be the only official power button. Be sarcastic about Apple all you want, but PC makers genrally screw things up worse. On your Apple you turn that switch on and leave it. Then you power up and down with the keyboard and the OS, like a useful computer should. Suns do it this way too, and they are dang fine machines that any geek loves to own.

It also just so happens you were given one of the worst Macs ever built.
http://lowendmac.com/ppc/5260.shtml

I think I had one of these given to me, as well. I'm also a cradle PC guy, but a Mac convert- though my PC's and kin outnumber my Macs 2:1. This might not be the machine to convert an obvious sceptic with. Eeun and cwsmith are right on, this is about like my Pentium 180MMX laptop in terms of horsepower. You can probably putter around on the net (after you get a AAUI to 10B-T adapter), and run OS/CPU appropriate apps (which hopefully are on the machine). I still use my Pentium laptop as a terminal, "emergency" internet surfer, and so on. Don't expect to set the world on fire.

Incidently, there are (were) some design differences between a mac and a PC. The power switch thing is one of them. Unless you have a really really old Mac, the everyday power switch is on the keyboard. Mac's with floppys eject from the OS (there should be an emergency paper clip ejector hole near the drive, though). It's just like when I jump in my volkswagen- it's just got some different design philosophies from, say, my Honda. Are they all good? Well... no. But, my volkswagen absolutely whups up on the honda in several areas (like mpg and feel). I think of the Mac the same way.

Sarcasm isn't really needed. You'll get plenty of help on this site without it!- because

1. Folks that routinely read these forums like macs (obviously), and a bunch really know their stuff. They WANT you to succeed with your "new" Mac.
2. There's plenty of converts here, who appreciate PC's and Mac's and know where you might be coming from.

Maybe check lowendmac.com and check out some of their recommended Macs. Alternatively, you might start a thread asking suggestions for macs for PC converts. They needn't cost a lot of money, and might even be free.

Good luck with your 5260.

Mike

Jon- I was going to let the owner figure out how underwhelming the 5260 is at lowendmac

Oh well. Yeah, I sold mine to a collector (imagine).

Dimocules- maybe you should solicit donations for a better machine! I wouldn't judge Apple's efforts from this box alone!

Mike

Hi eeun
Your right. Hey a little sarcasm is behind us but I couldn't resist seeing how this is a "Mac Forum" It a totally different world without the manual. I did as you said and the monitor now has icons all over it. She said it was in perfect working condition so this is why I knew I needed help. My dad always said.."It's a big man that can ask for help".........:) The screen looks sorta half way between a windows 3.1 and a windows 95...but it's old so this should be interesting. I've got a lot of old computers. Ah a new learning experience is on the way. I now have a place to come to exchange mac ideas and situations. I don't see anything on the keyboard to correspond with Cmd...what is this? The Y I see..:) Does the mac just use regular floppy disks? If so do you have to format them using the mac before you can use them? Hey I just initialized the floppy. It failed but it is basically the same as on a pc. Well it looks like I have a bit of learning to do to get to know me mac buddy.

1) The "Command" key doesn't actually say "command" on it -- it's got an Apple logo and a cloverleaf-type shape. But Command-Option-Escape is a lot easier to say than Cloverleafthingy-Option-Escape.

2) Yes, the Mac uses regular floppy disks, and if you're running System 7.1 or later, you can even read and write DOS floppy disks. If you're using 7.1 or later and still can't use a DOS floppy, go to the Apple Menu>Control Panels>Extensions Manager, enable the PC Exchange extension & control panel, and reboot.

1) Oh, it can be opened alright -- just gotta know how to do it! Do a google search for "macintosh 5200 service manual" and see what you find.

2) Entirely possible the CD-ROM drive could be toast -- this machine is 10+ years old, after all. Try inserting a straightened paper clip into the hole in the face of the CD tray. It should open and you can try inserting a CD to see if it works. If not, use the same technique to get the CD out.