The Early Mac Clones

Dynamac

Overview

Thanks to Richard Savary for sending information about the Dynamac. Mentioned in Byte (May 1988), the jet black Dynamac EL weighed 18 pounds, used an 8 MHz 68000 CPU, had an 800k floppy, and came with 1 MB RAM (expandable to 2.5 MB or 4 MB). Essentially, this was a portable Mac Plus.

The electroluminescent screen supported 640 x 400 pixels. 20 MB and 40 MB hard drives were optional, as was a 1200 bps modem. You had to use a mouse - there was no built-in trackball.

The EL version replaced the metal case of the 24 pound original with "Cycolac" plastic, shaving six pounds from the Dynamac.

There was also a version of the Dynamac produced for a short time in 1988 based on SE/30 architecture. The Dynamac SE/30 included a custom video board that could run a 640 x 480 monitor at 256 color and Apple's Two-Page Display (21" grayscale) in 2-bit mode.

Details, Dynamac

introduced 1987.02 at $7,000; discontinued 1988.12
requires System 3.2 to 7.5.5
CPU: 8 MHz 68000 CPU
performance: same as Mac Plus
ROM: 128 KB
RAM: 1 MB, expandable to 4 MB using pairs of 256 KB or 1 MB 150ns 30-pin SIMMs (memory upgrade requires clipping one or two resistors - details online at mia.net; cannot use two-chip 1 MB SIMMs)
9" b&w LCD, 640 x 400 pixels
last Mac with keyboard attached via coiled telephone-like cable
DB-9 mouse port
two miniDIN-8 serial ports
DB-25 SCSI connector on back of computer, slow implementation limited to 2,104 kbps
hard drive: 20 or 40 MB
floppy: 800 KB double sided
floppy connector on back of computer
size (HxWxD): unknown
weight: 24 lb.
PRAM battery: 4.5V #523
Gestalt ID: 4
addressing: 24-bit only

Differences, Dynamac EL

introduced 1988:04 at $6,000; discontinued 1988:12
weight: 18 lb.

More information on the Dynamac and Dynamac EL at EveryMac.

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