thanks to everyone for the website pointers! I've just tried the three systems and they all seem to work; unfortunately the LC and the Performa have been cleared of application software, but the Mac II stil has Word on it. Word feels faster to use on that than the modern version on my 1GHz PC - progress, huh!? :-) yes, this one has both an 800K and 1.4MB drive installed. Not sure what speed the CPU is yet, I haven't dug around inside too much. well I'm not short of spare SCSI drives if you mean the hard disc, but floppies are another matter. I put SCSI in any PCs that I build so I have a stack of older drives spare as a result of upgrades. What I don't have is any OS or application software for these critters, so when the disks fail I'm currently stuffed. I haven't tried any of the floppy drives yet to see if they work... I'll probably pass a couple of the machines on to a good home in a few weeks as I don't really have space for everything; I was just curious about them as I haven't used macs for about ten years now. Strangely enough, I used to live around here and I've just found at that the mac II is the very same machine that I used to use at college! Funny seeing it again - I bet it's changed hands a few times in the meantime... Not sure which system I'll hang on to yet... the II has the advantage of having ethernet and the twin drives, plus the application software - but the LC III is perhaps the more usable machine if I can get software for it and get it on the ethernet LAN somehow. With a copy of Word on it I'd probably use it now and then; I'd forgotten how nice those keyboards were and it certainly feels like a quick machine for its age. I noticed those on the boards. They seem to be OK, at least no complaints on startup... cheers Jules Everything you'll ever need on one web page http://uk.my.yahoo.com