A Green Jade Upgrade: RAM Upgrades, Custom ROMs, and running Mac OS 8 on an SE/30

I recently posted about restoring an SE/30 – but the story didn’t end there. Since then, I’ve made some additional modifications including more RAM (more than double the Apple-supported amount), a custom Rominator II 32-bit clean ROM, and an installation of an unsupported Mac OS 8. Along the way I uncovered some interesting SE/30 nuances about RAM installations and custom ROMs that I’d like to share. Additionally, I have the steps required to install Mac OS 8 on unsupported 030s like the SE/30. Read on!

SCSI2SD

One problem with working with computers that date back to the 80s and 90s is that hardware failures become more and more common. One device in particular that is prone to failure in older machines is the mechanical hard drive. Finding new hard drives for these older SCSI-based 68k Macs can be challenging – but fortunately there’s a better option out there today!