Mac Forum / General / Hardware / August 2004

Presuming it boots, that would be under About This Macintosh or About
This Computer under the leftmost menu at the top of the screen.

<http://www.lowendmac.com/>

Possibly Apple's support page.

Performa 575? Without checking I'd say 8.1 and eBay.

<http://www.sonnettech.com/>

My wife's from Sicklerville.

G

As Greg posted, the about box on the Apple menu (upper-left corner of
the screen)

There should be a program called the "Apple System Profiler"
somewhere on the Apple menu (if the previous owner didn't remove it)
which will tell you a lot about what you've actually got in there.

In addition to lowendmac.com, I use a program called MacTracker
<http://www.mactracker.ca/> for this sort of information.  This is a
program (they make a version for Windows if you don't want to run it
on a Mac) that contains a database of most Apple/Mac hardware.

Here's what MacTracker has to say about a Performa 575:

   Processor: Motorola 68LC040
   Processor speed: 33 MHz
   Cache: 0.5K L1
   Data Path: 32 bit
   System bus: 33 MHz
   Hard drive size: 250 MB
   Media: 2x CD-ROM, 1.44M floppy

   Weight and dimensions: 40.5 lbs, 17.9" H x 13.5" W x 16.5" D

   Original Mac OS: 7.1P6
   Maximum Mac OS: 8.1

   Motherboard RAM: 4 M
   Maximum RAM: 36 M
   Memory sockets: 1 72-pin SIMM
   Minimum RAM speed: 80 ns

   Graphics card: none
   Video memory: 512 KB - 1 MB
   Built-in display: 14" RGB (640x480)
   Display connection: DB-15

   Slots: LC PDS, comm
   Hard drive bus: SCSI
   Modem: 14.4 Kbps (internal)
   PRAM battery: 4.5V alkaline
   Max watts: 40 W
   ADB ports: 2
   Serial ports: 2
   SCSI port: DB-25 connector
   USB: none
   FireWire: none
   Ethernet: none
   Sound-in: mono 8-bit (built-in microphone)
   Sound out: mono 8-bit (built-in speaker)

To put it on a network, you'll need to find an Ethernet card for this.
Ethernet cards for the LC-PDS slot or comm slot were made, but they
may be hard to find today.

If you want to use it with dial-up networking, the built-in 14.4
modem will work, but it will be slow.  You can get a faster modem
card for the comm slot, or you can get an external modem to attach
to the serial port.

If your RAM is not maxed-out, I recommend getting a 32M SIMM to
install in your only memory socket.  This will make system 7 happy
and will be necessary if you want to use system 8.  (Personally, I
don't think system 8 will be happy even with the maximum 36M, but
that's as much as this computer can take.)

Web surfing is theoretically possible, but you won't find a modern
browser that will run on this machine.  I think system 8 comes with
some version of Intenet Explorer and Netscape 3.

You can download floppy disk images for system 7.5.3, and an updater
to bring this to 7.5.5) from Apple's web site:
       http://www.info.apple.com/support/oldersoftwarelist.html

System 8 is not available for free download, unfortunately.  I picked
up a CD at a flea market several years ago.  eBay may be your best
bet to try and get this today.

The updater to go from 8.0 to 8.1 (the last version your Performa can
support) is available from Apple's web site (see the above URL)

So, at the very least, you can get this system running 7.5.5 for
free.  8.1 if you can find someone who will sell/give you a CD.

At this point, I'd recommend Google searches and eBay.  You've got a
pretty old model.  Most Apple dealers won't be stocking parts for it
anymore.

-- David