jww@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU (Joel West) (04/21/87)
From previous discussions, it's clear that there are some owners of
stock Macintosh 512's on the net. I would like to suggest that if
you plan to keep and continue to use your Macintosh 512, you
should now order a Level-1 upgrade to the 128K ROM. Every indication
is that these are currently scarce and I expect that if any are
still available in the 2nd half of 1987, the waiting lines will be
even longer than today as everyone else rushes to upgrade.
Why upgrade? Why will others upgrade? Basically, because a Mac
512 will be obsolete by the end of the year:
1. Software developers will be shipping on 800K HFS disks.
2. Their programs will begin to use the 128K ROM; less than
20% (my guess) of the machines today have old ROM's
and the percentage will decline as new machines are sold.
3. Apple has told developers to target for 128K or later, because
their market research says those who don't have money for
a ROM upgrade (particularly one that doubles disk capacity)
don't have much money for software.
4. The 256K Macintosh II ROM includes hierarchical menus, the
Script Manager and extended TextEdit, while the SE includes some
of these. System 4.1 (summer) will reportedly include RAM-based
patches for other machines so that developers can use these
features immediately for their products. Unfortunately, the
patches will not be available for the 64K ROM.
This last point may seem controversial. "Why is Apple screwing its
early customers?" I hear the cry. (I sold my Mac 512 at a loss to
buy a Plus, but I understand the complaint.)
Unfortunately, it is TECHNICALLY INFEASIBLE to provide the new features
for the Mac 512. This hit me today as I was looking at the new traps.
The 64K ROM has an overloaded OS/Toolbox trap table. This means
that the new TextEdit trap _TEGetOffset ($A83C) is in the same slot as
_CmpString (Pascal EqualString, $A03C) and on it goes. To fix this
means RAM-based patches for the trap dispatcher (which are also needed
for many of the overlapping 128K ROM traps). To include the 128K ROM
and some of the 256K ROM features you'd need an 80K patch in the
system heap or high memory, and this is getting a bit much. If you
want the new features, Apple will be glad to sell them to you on a ROM...
So, as of January 1988, there will be two worlds in the Macintosh
universe: those with the 128K ROM features and some RAM-based traps
(90-95%); those with 64K ROMs that can run old software only. (< 10%)
I applaud Apple for protecting the investment of the Macintosh Plus
owners and pushing the state of the art available to Mac developers.
So run, don't walk to buy that Level-1. If your budget can afford it,
you might try a third-party memory upgrade, such as Levco's Monster Mac
and then, if you don't mind not having a SCSI port, I think you'll have
a machine that will be usable for a long time.
On the other hand, keep that old keyboard. If you really don't want it,
I'd like to buy it off of you :-) (for when I travel with my Mac.)
--
Joel West
{ucbvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!jww (ihnp4!gould9!joel once I fix news)
jww@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu if you mustbc@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (bill coderre) (04/21/87)
Levco's Monster Mac upgrade does provide a SCSI port. Works good, too....bc
wmcb@ecsvax.UUCP (William C. Bauldry) (04/21/87)
In article <3022@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU> jww@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU (Joel West) writes: > >Why upgrade? Why will others upgrade? Basically, because a Mac >512 will be obsolete by the end of the year: Reminds me of the IBM5100 Desktop series; remember those? (cf. flotsam and jetsam) wcb
zrm@eddie.MIT.EDU (Zigurd R. Mednieks) (04/21/87)
In article <3022@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU> jww@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU (Joel West) writes: >From previous discussions, it's clear that there are some owners of >stock Macintosh 512's on the net. I would like to suggest that if >you plan to keep and continue to use your Macintosh 512, you >should now order a Level-1 upgrade to the 128K ROM. I wholeheartedly agree that those of you out there with original Macintosh 512k machines with teh old 64k ROMs should upgrade. I bought a pair of 512k Macs when I started writing a book. Later, I transferred them to a consulting firm. To keep them useful, the firm upgraded these machines using the MacMemories 2Mb upgrades after having a local computer store upgrade the ROMs and internal drives. One has an aftermarket SCSI port and a SCSI disk, the other has a Hard Disk 20. Both systems work very well, and they can be upgraded to 4Mb whenever that might make sense. The useful lifespan of these machines should be at least as long as that of a new SE In a way, this is very good news for 128k Mac owners: If they can find a dealer willing to perform the strange operation of adding the 128k ROMs and 800k drive to a 128k machine, they can then upgrade it to 2Mb with an aftermarket upgrade. People hunting for Mac bargains might be able to pick up 128k machines for a song and upgrade them. So while Apple has not provided a comprehensive upgrade path, it is possible to keep even the very first Macintosh useful. Apple should keep the ROM/disk upgrades plentiful or they will cultivate a black market in copied ROMs. The companies that do aftermarket upgrades are certainly savvy enough to buy PROM blasters and compatible 800k drives, and their customers come way ahead of copyright laws and Apples's interest in this matter. I'm certain Apple wants to make that practice as unattractive as possible. An active black market in ROMs would only lead to such unappealing outcomes as illegal clones from the Far East. A shortage of ROM/disk upgrades is bad for Apple, bad for software companies that want to make use of the new ROMs, and bad for users who might feel that they are stuck with obsolete machines. The upgrades were always in short supply in Boston -- I had to go all they way to New Hampshire for mine. I knew not to take the BS from dealers who wanted to sell me the full Mac+ upgrade, but the less sophisticated users might not know what to do. They will take it out on Apple if they feel ripped off. -Zigurd
wbell@utgpu.UUCP (04/22/87)
Along these lines, I have been hearing rumors that Apple may have decided
to stop making the upgrades entirely. (dealers around here haven't gotten
shipments for over a month, some say there may be one more shipment followed
by termination of the 'product', others say there may be more after that
but not for a long time, others say its still up in the air (i.e. that Apple
hasn't decided yet))
I don't know how reliable any of this is.
Can anyone comment?
(I have the new ROMs, but I'd like to get the Logic board upgrade so that
I can attach a SCSI and run with more memory (for Switcher/Servant/?Juggler?),
and the thought of getting a 3rd party board isn't too appealing as it cuts
off any chance of AppleCare)
--
----
University of Toronto Computing Services Warren Bell
UUCP: {cbosgd,ihnp4,utai,utcsri,utzoo}!utgpu!wbell
Internet: wbell@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu
BITNET: wbell at utoronto, wbell at utorgpu
Disclaimer: the views expressed above are mine alone, and do not
in any way reflect the views of the University of Toronto, nor
the views of University of Toronto Computing Services.mlwh%sphinx@Sun.COM (Martin Hall) (04/22/87)
Is it possible to upgrade a Mac XL (nee' Lisa) to 128K ROMs?
I would love to hear any information on how I can upgrade my machine, we
have other machines but I would like to be able to continue to use the
Mac XL. Any help would be appreciated.....
----Martin L. W. Hall----
Sun Microsystems 2550 Garcia Avenue, Mountain View, Ca. 94043
Mail Stop 1-40 (415) 691-7995 HASA member in good standing
{allegra | hplabs}!sun!mlwh@sphinx or mlwh@sun.COMmyers@uwmacc.UUCP (04/22/87)
> Levco's Monster Mac upgrade does provide a SCSI port. Works good, too....bc
So does the SuperMac 512K --> 2Meg w SCSI upgrade. Also includes some
gizmos which supposedly take some of the screen I/O burden off of the
68000. Now, if only the one I ordered would arrive at my local
dealership (it's only 5 weeks late!)...
If it ever arrives, I'll post further info about it to the net.dbw@crash.UUCP (04/23/87)
In Joel's article in which he mentioned several excellent reason to upgrade from a 64KROM machine to a 128K ROM machine, he stated that in his last paragraph to get a memory upgrade like Levco's if you don't mind not having a SCSI port. WHile I don't know about 3rd Party memory upgrades other than Levco's, the memory upgrade currently offered by Levco for the 512k machine includes a SCSI port at no extra charge. Of course you need the 128K ROMs to use it.
denbeste@bgsuvax.UUCP (William C. DenBesten) (04/23/87)
in article <3022@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU>, jww@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU (Joel West) says: > Why upgrade? Why will others upgrade? Basically, because a Mac > 512 will be obsolete by the end of the year: > > 2. Their programs will begin to use the 128K ROM; less than > 20% (my guess) of the machines today have old ROM's > and the percentage will decline as new machines are sold. > 3. Apple has told developers to target for 128K or later, because > their market research says those who don't have money for > a ROM upgrade (particularly one that doubles disk capacity) > don't have much money for software. What about "Higher Education"? We have probably 100 512K macs on campus. To upgrade these would cost us about $17,800, _including_ our educational discount. We could buy ourselves another 18 mac 512Es for this kind of money. This would be another 18 macs to help spread the load in our seriously overcrowded labs. We have been pouring all of the money that we have for hardware into new machines. This is the only thing that we can reasonably do when there are people waiting for machines to become free. We do, however, swap drives so that every machine has an 800K drive. It occurs to me that apple could make life much simpler for developers by selling the ROMS without the disk drives for $5.00 to $10.00. ( ROMS cost perhaps $.10 in the quantities apple buys. ) We could probably convince the powers that be to spend $500-$1000 to upgrade the existing macs. This would also virtually guarantee that every remaining mac would be upgraded to new ROMS. It would then become unnecessary to support 64K roms.
mdjones@castor.usc.edu (Mitch Jones) (04/23/87)
>>Why upgrade? Why will others upgrade? Basically, because a Mac >>512 will be obsolete by the end of the year: AAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH! Anybody want to loan me $300? ;-)
roberts@cognos.uucp (Robert Stanley) (04/24/87)
In article <3022@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU> jww@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU (Joel West) writes: >From previous discussions, it's clear that there are some owners of >stock Macintosh 512's on the net. I would like to suggest that if >you plan to keep and continue to use your Macintosh 512, you >should now order a Level-1 upgrade to the 128K ROM. Sadly, there is another group of users for whom this option doesn't exist, those who have a Lisa with the Mac/XL upgrade (new ROMs and MacWorks). I have no wish or intention of giving up my machine, and am more than prepared to free a few 100K of memory (I have 4Mb on the 68000, plus a pair of 68020 co-processor boards with 4Mb and 8Mb). No trade-in came close to covering the functionality of this system, with larger screen, big disk, etc. Apple's response is that I should buy a newer Mac (plus, SE, II), but to gain the functionality I currently have I would have to add a big screen, and some largish upgrades, for a total price in the $10K range. When does the new software become worth it, when the existing equipment works so wonderfully? My only problem in several years has been broken keyboards. Just thought that I would be an unquiet martyr to the advancing state of the art; my apologies to the net. << there's no future in time travel, don't 'cher know? >> -- Robert Stanley decvax!utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!cognos!roberts Voice: (613) 738-1440 (on EST) Tuesdays only don't ask-----' Cognos Inc., 3755 Riverside Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1G 3N3 CANADA