dan@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Dan Schwarz) (04/10/90)
One of the reasons that slots are a good thing, is that they allow you to expand the capabilities of your system in a way the manufacturer never intended. That's why the Apple II, IBM-PC, and Mac II are such popular architectures, and the Mac Plus seems doomed to oblivion. Apple has a nasty habit of upgrading its systems in such a way that older machines can only catch up by a "brain transplant" (motherboard swap) which is very expensive and usually unnecessary. I wonder, would it be possible to use the SE's expansion slot to turn it into the equivalent of a Mac SE/30 at a REASONABLE cost? Here's what you would need on the expansion board: An '030 processor, '882 math chip, and supporting circuitry, running at 16mhz as a minimum. 25mhz would be preferable. Space for SIMM expansion to 8MB RAM (or more with the new 4mb SIMMS) New ROMs, licensed from Apple, with support for Color Quickdraw A connector for an (optional) display card, which would support color or greyscale output. This would not give you the other more subtle benefits of the SE/30, such as the advanced ASC sound chip, FDHD, or faster SCSI circuitry, but it would be enough for me. I'd love to write and use software that supports color quickdraw, virtual memory, and all the other goodies that come with the SE/30 but I cannot afford to sell this machine and upgrade to the latest & greatest. I suspect the major stumbling block would be obtaining permission to use a copy of Color Quickdraw in conjunction with this card. Apple just doesn't do things like that (possible exception: use of Mac Plus ROM guts for the MacWorks Plus package on the LISA) , but the existence of RISC CQD accelerators in non-Apple products may mean that cloning CQD is a possibility. Otherwise, CQD ROMs could be purchased on the "black market," just like Atari owners get the Mac Plus ROM set for their Spectre GCR boards. This would also be a wonderful upgrade for the Mac Plus, which probably needs it just as badly. I doubt the power supply could handle the extra hardware though. Any comments, especially from Apple people? Does anyone know if a project like this is underway? If so, I'm first in line for a board! :-) -- | some rise... | Dan Schwarz, MB 2926 Brandeis U. | RECYCLE YOUR JUNK| | some fall... | I'NET dan@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu | SUPPORT EARTH DAY| | some climb... |----------------------------------| tradetapes?mailme| | to get to Terrapin ... GRATEFUL DEAD | FloydRushDeadEtc.|
joe@amos.ucsd.edu.ling.ucsd.edu (Joe) (04/10/90)
In article <1990Apr10.021412.17885@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu> dan@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Dan Schwarz) writes: >One of the reasons that slots are a good thing, is that they allow you to >expand the capabilities of your system in a way the manufacturer never >intended. That's why the Apple II, IBM-PC, and Mac II are such popular >architectures, and the Mac Plus seems doomed to oblivion. I am sorry to have to say anything good about an IBM-compatible (yuck!) here, but here goes anyway: I got to work with an Amdek 286 the other day, and when I cracked it open, I noticed that its motherboard was in fact but one of several cards installed in the computers slots. That's right! A card! There was _no_ traditional mother board. I am not sure what implication this has on bussing and other issues, but otherwise it occured to me that this was a very good idea indeed. Say you want to upgrade to a 486: no problem! Swap the board. Now, Apple's architecture is a bit large for a card. But with developing technology, who knows? Computers are obsoleting themselves faster and faster these days, and manufacturers are absolutely going to have to provide an easy route for expansion. Either now, or soon. Otherwise, as the pace picks up, we user will freak out. In fact, I'm frothing at the mouth. Slobber. Slobber. :-) Joe. (disclaimer: I hate IBMs!) ***************************************************************** * * * Joe Kraska * * System's Engineer * * Salk Institute for Biological Research, La Jolla, Ca * * * * INTERNET: joe@amos.ucsd.edu * * BITNET: joe%amos.Bitnet * * * *****************************************************************