Macintosh Model M0001
Posted on Tuesday, April 25th, 2006 at 11:05 pm under Mac Geekery.
12 years ago I acquired this old Macintosh from Otis, the Art School I was attending to at the time. I used to work part time at the computer lab there and this little machine was sitting in a closet collecting dust until I asked to take it home. Since then I have never been able to use it for lack of an Operating System. It turns out, the OS, the applications and it’s documents all get saved to 400k floppies, something virtually impossible to find nowadays. And I was never really sure what model exactly this computer was since it just says Macintosh on it. I eventually gave up on the quest of finding floppies and the Mac was stored away in a closet. Going from apartment to apartment and finally to our current home’s garage. Last week I decided, after many years of retirement, it was time to open it up and see if I can pull a Serang by replacing the innards with that of an iMac SE and a flat display from an IBM ThinkPad.
To my surprise I found all these signatures inside the box and realized this was no ordinary vintage Mac, this was model M0001, the very first Macintosh model ever built. So now I have a dilemma, do I continue the original plan of hacking it? or do i restore it back to it’s 128k glory?
NOTE ADDED: When I say the very first Mac model I am saying the first generation of the Mac not the very first individual unit.
Got LOTS of pictures!
Click the thumbnails to enlarge
Apr 25th, 2006 at 11:38 pm
128k Glory
It is a classic!!!!
Apr 25th, 2006 at 11:39 pm
Restore it. No brainer. ;)
Have you tried:
http://mes.emuunlim.com/software/macos/macos.htm ?
The older systems are towards the bottom.
Apr 25th, 2006 at 11:48 pm
Hell Yeah!!!!!!!
What an awesome surprise.
I reckon clean it up and build a glass case for it and a wooden base for it to sit on. Might be worth a hell of a lot in a few more years.
Otherwise give it to me :D
Apr 26th, 2006 at 12:06 am
You’ve got restore it, it’s a no brainer, that would be worth a bit. Or you could open some sort of Mac Museum.
Apr 26th, 2006 at 12:09 am
Hmm, not sure this is M0001… ALL the early Macs had the signatures of the whole team carved on the inner shell. Check out this story by Andy Hertzfled, from the original Mac team: folklore.org – Credit_Where_Due
Apr 26th, 2006 at 12:24 am
moose, the signatures are engraved, and it does say model m0001.
Apr 26th, 2006 at 12:32 am
Restore it, definitely.
Apr 26th, 2006 at 2:58 am
[...] The first Macintosh 128k, M0001 has been found by blogger Melvin Rivera of allforces.com. He recieved the ancient Mac from an Art School called Otis that he attended for some time. He mentions his amazement when he finds out the once-in-a-lifetime serial number: To my surprise I found all these signatures inside the box and realized this was no ordinary vintage Mac, this was model M0001, the very first Macintosh model ever built. So now I have a dilemma, do I continue the original plan of hacking it? or do i restore it back to it’s 128k glory? [...]
Apr 26th, 2006 at 3:01 am
[...] The first Macintosh 128k, M0001 has been found by blogger Melvin Rivera of allforces.com. He recieved the ancient Mac from an Art School called Otis that he attended for some time. He mentions his amazement when he finds out the once-in-a-lifetime serial number: To my surprise I found all these signatures inside the box and realized this was no ordinary vintage Mac, this was model M0001, the very first Macintosh model ever built. So now I have a dilemma, do I continue the original plan of hacking it? or do i restore it back to it’s 128k glory? [...]
Apr 26th, 2006 at 3:57 am
wow, you mean REALLY engraved… that’s impressive then… might be worth a couple $$$ actually.
Hang on, I’ll go and break my old Mac open, just in case ;-)
Apr 26th, 2006 at 4:17 am
You lucky son of a geek!
Apr 26th, 2006 at 4:34 am
Restore it, it is a priceless artifact. :)
Apr 26th, 2006 at 4:48 am
What a find! Congratulations. Do whatever you want with it, just don’t completely destroy it. ;)
Apr 26th, 2006 at 5:11 am
I have a 512ke case which also has the sigs in it. Apple did this for all of the beige Macs… at least through the 512Ke… not sure if they are found in the MacPlus case… so, at least the 128K, 512K and 512Ke have it…
Apr 26th, 2006 at 7:09 am
the whole macintosh 128k series has the model number M0001 – because its the first macintosh Model – NOT the first build mac”
the 512K Mac has the Model number M0001W/E or K. Note: its a MODEL Number, not a SERIAL Number.
macintosh Plus (january 8-90) has Model Number M0001A.Macintosh II has M5000, the blue/white G3 has Model Number M5183 and so on … and the whole Mac(PLus) Series, MAcSE etc … has the engraved signatures inside.
Sorry, buts its an simple macintosh from the first mac Series – nothing special, but Enjoy anyway :-)
Apr 26th, 2006 at 7:21 am
Looks like M0001’s are going for near a grand on ebay. Restore it!!!
Apr 26th, 2006 at 7:32 am
Definitely restore!
Apr 26th, 2006 at 7:39 am
Wow! I bet you can find the parts on eBay…maybe the floppies too.
What a cool thing to find out you have!
Apr 26th, 2006 at 7:48 am
In fact, this guy is selling his restored M0001 for $895.00. Good Golly!
ebay.com
Apr 26th, 2006 at 8:02 am
[...] Macintosh Model M0001 » All Forces [...]
Apr 26th, 2006 at 8:24 am
kai, from what i had read, the signatures where only on the first generation of the m0001.
Apr 26th, 2006 at 8:29 am
btw, for those curious, i am using Lightbox JS v2.0 for my images. It is a javascript app that uses Prototype and Scriptaculous. and involves absolutely no code on my part except adding a rel=”lightbox” parameter on my a tag.
Apr 26th, 2006 at 9:59 am
Restore it.
There will ALWAYS be the fascination of DIY modifications of old devices: taking old shells and dropping-in contempoary small components. Why? Because YOU CAN. It’s our great chance to play Industrial Designer for a day.
I mean, really, you could do the same thing to a $100 13″ color TV/VCR combo from Wal-Mart. Or use the Mini for your car stereo. Or mod a refridgerator, ad absurdum.
What I really want is a wood computer;) You know, get a great piece of turned wood for the iMac G4 base, wooden keys with a mellow clickety-click and they only get better with age & use…
Apr 26th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
I think this is a tough call. It kind of depends on if you want to sell it or not.
One big reason to restore it, is to sell it. If you restore it, but don’t sell it… the cool factor will probably eventually wear off and it will just sit in a display case, or in the closet, because there isn’t much you can really do with it.
On the other hand if you stick new guts in it, it may not be worth as much later, but you have a working, useful computer in a cool old case.
I wonder what the market is on hacked M0001’s. Maybe the old case with a new computer in side is worth something too?
Apr 27th, 2006 at 4:37 am
no restore!
Apr 27th, 2006 at 6:46 am
Nothing to do but RESTORE it!
What a wonderful piece of history!!!
This evening I’ll open mine lying in the basement!!!
A question: what does you use to obtain that slideshow?
Thanks
Apr 27th, 2006 at 8:03 am
The sigs were definitely on later compact Macs too – my own Mac Plus had them inside.
Apr 27th, 2006 at 9:07 am
My platinum Mac Plus (which I still have) has the engraved signatures as well.
Apr 27th, 2006 at 9:08 am
My first mac was an SE 2/20 and when I opened it up to put in some ram it also had the sigs
Apr 27th, 2006 at 10:39 am
Wow I like your slideshow. How did you make it like that. Can I have the code to do that?? lol
Apr 27th, 2006 at 12:46 pm
Don’t restore it! it’s a clasic!
Apr 27th, 2006 at 4:12 pm
I’ll buy it. I have System 4.2 amd it runs FAST on ramdisc.
Jerry
Apr 27th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
If you hack it, I’ll hunt you down and eat your brains.
Oh and I may have the disks you need to get it up and running.
Apr 28th, 2006 at 5:31 am
Hi Melvin thanks a lot for the lightbox info, I didn’t see it before…
S
May 12th, 2006 at 7:49 pm
The riot is that for the longest time, the floppy drive was the incense burner in our apartment. Gotta love it, Melvita.
May 30th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
After I read this I went upstarirs to my closet to check if our 128k was M0001. It is!
Jun 1st, 2006 at 8:12 am
For those of you that want to but a old mac M0001.
One guys have one for sale on Ebay for $99.99 with the free shipping.
Jun 5th, 2006 at 3:58 pm
Hi oldMac friends,
at
http://myoldmac.net/FAQ/Mac-Serialnumber-decoder-e.php
you find a Classic Mac Seral Number decoder to decode your Macs Serial number.
Find out where it was produced, on wich day, in wich year and more !
Greetings,
Oliver
Jun 6th, 2006 at 12:30 am
Hello Oliver, thank you very much for the link!
It was long time I was searching for that, infact I had only this one:
http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html
that didn’t traced My Old Mac, so thanks again
S
Jul 4th, 2006 at 7:41 am
Have a Macintosh Plus M0001A #1575 manufactured in Fremont California in 1986. Unit is untested minus any periperals. Accepting offers…
Dec 6th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
I have 5 of these.. All of them say M0001 and all of them have the signatures in them..
Is this guy for real? Dude, you have no idea what you are talking about. There is nothing special about your Mac. It’s just like the 5 I have sitting here.
Jan 9th, 2007 at 2:35 am
Restore it
wow
Jan 21st, 2007 at 6:33 am
Don’t dare to touch that thing!
Go kill a panda, or nuke a whale, instead :P
Jul 28th, 2007 at 7:54 am
I have the guts of a Mac Plus (not the HD) lying around if anyone wants them. I Would only want the cost of packing/posting them to you.
Please express an interest here in the first instance.
Oct 1st, 2007 at 10:38 pm
[...] E’ un approccio che è stato molto importante, ad esempio, per il successo del primo Macintosh. Soprattutto seguire le Human Interface Guides rende più semplice l’utilizzo di un programma [...]
Mar 20th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Yep I have one also, in perfect condition, still in the travel bag, with original software. Hmm what’s it worth?
Jun 2nd, 2008 at 2:42 pm
just bought an M0001 today for $10 from qa pawn shop.. did a serial number decode on it…
Manufactured in Fremont CA, USA
year of production: 1984
week of production: 17
Production number: (044) ==> 140
modell ID: M0001 => original Macintosh 1984 (128k)
your original Macintosh 1984 (128k) was the 140th Mac manufactured during the 17th week of 1984 in Fremont, CA, USA
interesting, now, do i hack it up and make a fish tank out of it, or try and re-do the memory and get it running?? email me with your responses.. SUBJ: MAC ADVICE
Aug 5th, 2008 at 10:05 am
If anyone is going to do the SERANG thing and refurbish to upgrade to Mac OS X wow…go for it. What an awesome remake. I love the glowing colour striped apple start button…smart stuff.
I have a working Mac Plus M0001A with original keyboard/number pad, mouse and system disk. I’d be interested in finding a good home for it, with wealthy parents as I can’t take care for all its wants and needs….do you know what size 11 Nikes run now a days? ;-) …C
Mar 8th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Hi everyone. I got a Mac M0001 in my collection of old computers but lacking an operating system. Is there anyone who have a OS 1, 2 or 3 on a 400kb floppy that I could acquire a copy of. Cheers