gwe@cbdkc1.UUCP ( George Erhart ) (09/24/85)
[ stay tuned for "Attack of the line eaters" after this brief message ]
Well, now that the Apple hard disk is out of the closet so to speak, I think
it's high time to express some new rumors I have heard (read).
1. The Beta test version of the new ROMs are out in isolated areas, but
it still has some bugs. The latest (and probably most accurate) date
for release that I have heard is Jan. at the shareholders meeting.
2. Twice now, I have heard that there are design efforts underway in
Apple to expand the current Mac hardware. One of the possible
out comes is a 512k+ upgrade from Apple. One rumor said it would
be a 512K upgrade to 1M via piggy back board. Another rumor said it
would go the 4M. (I'd put more faith in the 1M upgrade myself.)
I certainly hope that Apple will drop the price on the 512K upgrade
if this rumor is true.
3. The second possible hardware upgrade falls in the extremely wild
rumor department. There is a possibility that Apple is working
on a new board for the current Mac that will run a 68010 and have
other features. (I would hope that if they did this that they would
include an expansion connector.) The supposed price of this
upgrade would be ~$500. (WARNING: this is only a wild rumor.)
DISCLAIMER: These wild rumors are from the BMUG bbs at UCB in CA. Rumor
has it that employees of Apple post news items to this bbs's rumor board.
Just thought I'd stir up the mud!
--
George Erhart at AT&T Bell Laboratories Columbus, Ohio
614-860-4021 {ihnp4,cbosgd}!cbdkc1!gwegnu@l5.uucp (John Gilmore) (09/28/85)
In article <1150@cbdkc1.UUCP>, gwe@cbdkc1.UUCP ( George Erhart ) writes: > There is a possibility that Apple is working > on a new board for the current Mac that will run a 68010 and have > other features... The supposed price of this > upgrade would be ~$500. (WARNING: this is only a wild rumor.) The fun will really start to hit the fan when somebody (Beck-Tech?) comes out with a 68020 board, with 68881 socket and PMMU, for the lowly Mac. Not that it would cost $500 (the chip itself is a good fraction of $500) but it would make some real serious work possible, like Unix or image processing. PS: It needs a total redesign to run at a good speed; the 16-bit bus and the need to keep the clock speed compatible with the old one really limits it if you just plug it into the 68000 socket with an adapter.