chuq%plaid@Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (07/02/87)
Well, it came, I saw, I conquered. My 512K->2Megabyte+SCSI upgrade came last night from MacConnection. As a firm software hack and hardware klutz (my work and friends are on good notice not to let me near a soldering iron) I figured if I could install it, anyone could. First, a few comments MacConnection. I bought this upgrade mail-order, the first time I've used a mailorder company (working a mile from ComputerWare is rather nice, but ComputerWare only stocks Mac+ upgrades). I ordered the 512K to 2Megabyte upgrade and the SCSI port, plus a set of Mac opening tools. Total cost, including shipping $509. The memory was backordered a week, but they shipped the mac tools the next day -- UPS 2 day. MacConnection's policy is that if they have to backorder something, they pay the shipping on everything but the first shipment. They also don't charge your account until they ship. Both of these are good policies. The MacConnection order person was quite friendly, knowledgable, and took some great pain to make sure I was ordering the right memory upgrade for my machine (she knew the difference between a 512K, 512Ke and Mac+ -- for a phone operator, this is impressive to me). The backorder was shipped in a week and a half, also UPS 2 day. If you weren't sure by now, I'm real happy with MacConnection after this limited experience, although I'll still use ComputerWare since I can walk in and talk to the folks. The upgrade consists of two PC boards, manuals, supporting hardware, and the opening tools. One hint that isn't mentioned anywhere -- install the SCSI board first, since the memory board fits over it (the installation procedures are completely separate, by the way). First thing you do is pull the Mac apart. There are pages and pages of warnings about things to not do (don't take a ball-peen hammer to your CRT monitor, that sort of stuff). This is pretty straightforward, involving pulling the back, unplugging two cables, and pulling the digital board. The SCSI upgrade involves pulling the Apple ROM's, plugging them into the SCSI board, and plugging the board into their sockets. If you're at all unsure about pulling chips, find someone who will help with this (or be very, very careful -- without ROM's, your machine is rather useless...). The memory upgrade involves pulling no chips, it connects by snapping over a series of chips in three areas of the Apple board. There are two chip connectors that might need to be modified depending on the chips on the Apple board (mine, of course, was one of those -- it requires an X-Acto knife to modify the Dove Board. The modification is simple and relatively safe: you would have to work to screw things up). It goes on cleanly and firmly. Reassembly is simple -- slide the digital board back in, plug in three cables (the third is the SCSI) and put it all back together. The SCSI cable comes out the battery port, and the plug covers the battery. The total time for me was about 2 and a half hours, partially because I was being very careful. I also had to make the chip modification, and uninstall the memory once to get the SCSI installed, and keep my cockatoo from helping. Under normal circumstances, I'd guess it could be done in between an hour and an hour and a half. Oh, it worked the first time, too. The Dove board seems well engineered and it works fine without having to modify the Apple boards. If the mac fails, you can unplug the boards and ship the machine for repair without having the tech have a stroke. If you're looking for a third party upgrade, the Dove board looks like a good candidate. Be aware, of course, that the two boards will generate more heat in your box -- if you don't have a fan, get one before you upgrade. chuq Chuq Von Rospach chuq@sun.COM Delphi: CHUQ Touch Not the Cat Bot a Glove -- MacIntosh Clan Motto