Getting the Most out of your LC

HARDWARE

Here are the steps to getting your LC up to scratch:

Install a Larger Hard Disk
The LC series computers were budget machines made between 1990 and 1995. As such they were given small hard disks as they were not intended for anything substantial. Upgrading the hard disks in the flat pack LCs not only increases their capacity but can speed them up too as newer hard drives are most often faster.

Install More RAM
The LCs come with 2MB (LC) or 4MB (others) soldered onto the logic board. They have either 2 30-pin SIMM slots (LC, LCII) or 1 72-pin SIMM slot (LCIII to LC475).The early 30-pin LCs will only take up to 2 4MB SIMMs giving them a less than stunning 10MB (LC,LCII) of RAM. The 72-pin machines, starting with the LCIII will take up to 32MB* SIMMs giving a significantly better 36MB of RAM. As with any computer, more RAM is better.

Upgrade the Logic Board
This seems a difficult task but in actual fact the early flat pack LCs are very easy to upgrade the logic board in. You can upgrade to a 68040 easily this way.

Upgrade the CPU
If you have an LC475 with a socket CPU (not soldered) then it is possibly to replace the CPU and upgrade it to a full 68040 (for those with 68LC040s) or a 601 PowerPC upgrade card. Similar upgrades can be fitted as cards in the LC PDS expansion slot on older systems. It is also possible to clock chip the CPU to make it go faster but you may need to add a CPU heatsink and/or fan.

*The LC 475 will also take a select few 64MB and 128MB SIMMs, more info in the RAM section for details.
Further information on the methods and processes of upgrading your computer will appear on the Projects page when I gather enough information together for each upgrade. I am also available for questions although at this stage I am still learning all the ins and outs myself so bear with me. Feel free to e-mail me though.

SOFTWARE

System Software
It is critically important that in order to get the most out of your LC you use the correct version of the Macintosh System Software. Although all the LCs are compatible with multiple versions of Mac OS and Macintosh System Software, some run better than others. See the Mac OS section for details on optimum OS versions for your LC.

Keep it simple
Keep the things you do on you LC simple. They are not the most powerful of the 68k Macs, although the LC475 model is a reasonablely capable little machine. Also the graphics are quite slow so they are not exactly a great machine for running Quicktime movies or anything else that involves a great deal of pixels shifting. Don't let that put you off however, an LC 475 will do a great job of running early versions of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop and once upgraded to 1MB of VRAM is able to utilise Millions of colours mode, allowing you to edit photos, albeit slowly. Web browsing is also entirely possible. Using iCab68k (current version at time of writing is 2.8.1) you can happily browse the internet as long as you have the patience to let graphics load. See the Internet and Networking sections for details.
Perhaps the best application of the LC series is probably e-mail and word processing. If you don't need a lot of pictures in your documents, and your friends are not the type who e-mail you huge 1280x960 pictures of the kids every few weeks, you will find them surprisingly handy. Eudora or Claris Emailer are still available fo the 68k MAc, if you do a little digging. Also old copies of Office (versions up tot 6.0 work on 68k Macs) can be found on the LEM Swap mailing list at LowEndMac for next to nothing. WordPerfect for the Mac and, if you are really into going retro, MacWrite and are available free from various sources.