[comp.sys.mac.hardware] Mac Plus to SE/30

earleh@microsoft.UUCP (Earle HORTON) (10/15/90)

What if I rip out the logic board in my Mac Plus, and stuff in an SE/30
logic board, an ADB keyboard, and an ADB mouse?  Anyone care to comment
on how this will work?

Earle Horton

minich@d.cs.okstate.edu (Robert Minich) (10/15/90)

earleh@microsoft.UUCP (Earle HORTON):
| What if I rip out the logic board in my Mac Plus, and stuff in an SE/30
| logic board, an ADB keyboard, and an ADB mouse?  Anyone care to comment
| on how this will work?

  First, where would you get an SE/30 motherboard without the case? (!)
I don't know about differences in the analog board and things, but I
know that you'd have to do some work on the case to put the back on
correctly since the ports are different. I assume this is just blue
sky thinking...
-- 
|_    /| | Robert Minich            |
|\'o.O'  | Oklahoma State University| A fanatic is one who sticks to 
|=(___)= | minich@d.cs.okstate.edu  | his guns -- whether they are 
|   U    | - Ackphtth               | loaded or not.

laird@chinet.chi.il.us (Laird J. Heal) (10/15/90)

In article <58220@microsoft.UUCP> earleh@microsoft.UUCP (Earle HORTON) writes:
>What if I rip out the logic board in my Mac Plus, and stuff in an SE/30
>logic board, an ADB keyboard, and an ADB mouse?  Anyone care to comment
>on how this will work?
>
I believe even the SE->SE/30 requires a chassis mod.  I am sure that your
plan would work if you include a hacksaw in your tool set and a new analog
board and power supply in your parts list. .

There are reasonably priced accellerator boards for the Macintosh Plus.
There are also reasonably priced SE/30's around, if you absolutely have
to have something to plug a color monitor into.

If you find a way to stuff the SE/30 into a _Portable_ chassis, now, then
I would be very interested indeed (big grin).

>Earle Horton

P. S. Wouldn't you rather be in New Hampshire?  I'll be back there by Friday
so: replies to laird@slum.MV.COM

-- 
My .signature is on vacation ------------- like me!

stevel@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Steve Ligett) (10/15/90)

In article <58220@microsoft.UUCP> earleh@microsoft.UUCP (Earle HORTON) writes:
>What if I rip out the logic board in my Mac Plus, and stuff in an SE/30
>logic board, an ADB keyboard, and an ADB mouse?  Anyone care to comment
>on how this will work?
>
>Earle Horton

It's been a year and a half since I did this to a KE.  The Mac has been
running fine (fast!) since.  Here's my recollection of what I did:

1.  Bought the SE/30 internal sheet metal piece from our shop.  Otherwise
    it's tough to get the logic board in and out.  And you won't be able
    to use the slot, etc.

2.  Sawed out the whole I/O area in the back of the KE case so the SE/30
    ports would stick out.

3.  Made a cable to go from the Plus power supply to the SE/30 logic
    board.  There are a couple of things that the cable has to do.  (Most
    cables don't "do" anything...)

I put a -5 volt regulator in the cable since the SE/30, sensibly,
expects the power supply to supply power.  The old Macs have a voltage
regulator on the logic board.

I put a one-shot in the cable to lengthen the vertical sync pulse.  I think
it's supposed to be about 800 microseconds.  This is from memory...

4.  For sound, I lengthened the cable from the speaker.  My power supply
    had the speaker lead on a connector; many of them have it soldered
    on.  You could put it in the cable made in #3, above.

I put a lot of grounds in the cable, just like the SE/30 one has.  I put
a ferrite on the cable, like they have.

What I thought about doing, but didn't get any farther than a drawing on,
was a PC board that gloms on the Plus power supply connector, that has
the SE/30-type Mini-fit Jr. connector on the other side.  The PC board
would do the stuff that I put in the cable, and you'd use a standard
SE/30 power supply-to-logic board cable between it and the logic board.
Is there a market for that, or what??

I don't remember any big problems.  Cutting the slot for the ports was
the hardest part.  I don't know if you can get an SE/30 logic board at
a reasonable price.  Our shop will sell parts like that.  Apple says
it's ok, as long as it's for use in a Mac, and not for resale.  Drop
me a line for more info.

Disclaimers about you being responsible go here.
-- 
steve.ligett@dartmouth.edu or ...!dartvax!steve.ligett

earleh@microsoft.UUCP (Earle HORTON) (10/16/90)

In article <1990Oct15.021938.3740@d.cs.okstate.edu> minich@d.cs.okstate.edu
	(Robert Minich) writes:
>earleh@microsoft.UUCP (Earle HORTON):
>| What if I rip out the logic board in my Mac Plus, and stuff in an SE/30
>| logic board, an ADB keyboard, and an ADB mouse?  Anyone care to comment
>| on how this will work?
>
>  First, where would you get an SE/30 motherboard without the case? (!)
>I don't know about differences in the analog board and things, but I
>know that you'd have to do some work on the case to put the back on
>correctly since the ports are different. I assume this is just blue
>sky thinking...

     There is a mail order place advertising in this month's MacWorld
an SE/30 upgrade kit for $1399.  It's possible that if I looked around
I might dig one up for even less.  The new product announcement by Apple
could have the effect of driving the price of this item down far enough
to make this sort of brain transplant feasible.

     I was thinking of getting a 16 MHz 68030 accelerator plus 68882.
A quick check of magazine ads suggests the price for this would be in
the $700-$900 range.  An argument in favor of this approach is price.
An argument against is reduced compatibility, with no guarantee that
the result would have virtual memory capability under System 7.  The
SE/30 board, on the other hand, would be more expensive but should
run Apple system software through the next release, anyway.

     Anyone know of a source for SE/30 upgrade kits, cheap?

Earle Horton
ZZ
.quit
STOP
HUH?
^D^C

gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu (10/17/90)

Re: Homebrew MacKE->SE30 upgrades

Where do you get a 1.4Mb floppy disk?  Did you have a high density
disk drive in your upgraded machine?

omh@cs.brown.edu (Owen M. Hartnett) (10/17/90)

[Earle's looking for a place for SE/30 logic boards]

Shreve Systems in LA (318) 635-1121 may or may not have them, but they
generally carry a lot of surplus Mac parts - their inventory will shrink
and expand, so they're worth a call to find out.  Their prices have been
reasonable.

-Owen

Owen Hartnett				omh@cs.brown.edu.CSNET
Brown University Computer Science	omh@cs.brown.edu
					uunet!brunix!omh
"Don't wait up for me tonight because I won't be home for a month."