jim@jagmac2.gsfc.nasa.gov (Jim Jagielski) (07/18/90)
There has been some interest as of lately on the net concerning the MaraThon
030 "card" for the Mac. For about 6 months I had used one (until I upgraded
to a 50MHz Daystar Card -wow!) so I'll offer my advice and experience.
First of all, the MaraThon requires that your stock MacII have the "new"
MacIIx ROM's. This upgrade is called the FDHD/SuperDrive ROM Upgrade, since
these ROM's also allow the Mac to recognize the FDHD drives if installed.
As far as the MaraThon is concerned, these ROMs are needed since the original
MacII ROM's will not recognize that there is a PMMU on the CPU (as on the
68030). This upgrade is about $100 with the return of the old ROM's.
Once that is done, the MaraThon works like a dream. I had no trouble at all
with it and it noticably increased my performance, both under MacOS and
A/UX (1.1). I guess the increase was ~1.5x (real world). For the bucks,
it was a great option...
I hope this helps!
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#include <std/disclaimer.h>
=:^)
Jim Jagielski NASA/GSFC, Code 711.1
jim@jagmac2.gsfc.nasa.gov Greenbelt, MD 20771
"Kilimanjaro is a pretty tricky climb. Most of it's up, until you reach
the very, very top, and then it tends to slope away rather sharply."