Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

OWC: Get the Right Memory for Your Mac Top Quality, Competitive Price, Lifetime Backed Free Expert Support + Installation Videos too! MacBook & mini 8GB, iMac 16GB, Mac Pro up to 32GB. Click here

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Vintage Mac Living

Elsie, a Prototype of the Macintosh LC

- 2006.06.26

I recently acquired a very special Macintosh LC. I say it's special because of two things:

It has a vintage DynaMac LCDisplay, which was designed specifically for the LC.
This isn't an ordinary LC, it's a prototype Elsie!

Yes, you heard me right, a prototype.

Elsie ROMs There are several ways to tell that this LC is a prototype, the most obvious is the Stickers on the ROMs that say "ELSIE ROM 6/1/90 ©Apple Confidential" (right).

Other identifiers that differentiate this from a normal LC motherboard include, but are not limited to:

A CUDA reset button on the logic board,
The RAM SIMM slots are positioned next to the ROMs, not next to the power supply.
There is no VRAM slot, and the internal video only displays 1-bit black & white.
The Logic Controller (VSLU chip) is located near the DB-15 video connector, not next to the ROM chips.

Here are pictures of two LC boards with the differences marked. The image on the right is a normal LC motherboard, and the one on the left is the prototype board. (Please excuse the crudity of these pictures. I don't have a digital camera, so I had to use my scanner.)

When I first got Elsie home, it seemed to work fine (although I only used it for a few minutes). It's running System 6.0.7, and it has a bunch of old Mac software on it, like MacWrite Pro, Word 4, Pyro 4 (a screen saver from the late 80s).

It also has some cool old programs that allow the Finder to make sounds, much like the Apple IIgs did with the GS/OS.

When I first turned it on, I was greeted with HAL saying "I am completely operational, and all of my circuits are functioning perfectly." And then with James Brown with "Ah, I feel good".

Something really strange about this Mac is that the PRAM battery is still good - it appears that this machine has not been used since some time in 1992.

I soon ran into problems, which may have been there all along, but I can't say for sure.

I tried putting in a different hard drive that has a universal install of System 7, but when I did that, Elsie started acting crazy. It would freeze when the "Welcome to Macintosh" screen appeared, and the internal speaker started picking up radio frequencies regardless of volume.

It sounded as if it was looking for a radio station, but it could never find it.

I let it sit overnight and tried again the next morning. Now it didn't make the noise, but it started restarting itself randomly, constantly, and then it gave the chimes of death.

I put my other LC's logic board in the case, and it worked, so I can't figure it out.

Maybe it's a flaw with the ROM, so trying to use System 7 with it screwed something up. Maybe it's some booby trap Apple put in to keep the prototype out of the wrong hands. Or maybe it was like this all along, and it just didn't do it to me right away.

If anyone knows more about this machine (maybe someone from Apple), please email me. All I know is it's a really cool thing to have, and I got it for free!

Link: higher resolution scan of Elsie prototype motherboard (640 x 524, 187 KB)
Link: higher resolution scan of LC motherboard (640 x 522, 176 KB)

Recent Vintage Mac Living articles

If a Mac Plus can run System 7.5.5, why can't an 800 MHz G4 run Leopard?, 10.19. Apple supported the Mac Plus for over 10 years after its introduction. Why should Leopard cut off support for Macs released 4-6 years ago?
60 Mac models left behind: The ridiculously high cost of Leopard, 10.17. Mac OS X 10.5 officially doesn't support any G3 Macs, most G4 Power Macs, most titanium PowerBooks, half the G4 iMacs, early eMacs, or the first 12" G4 iBook.
What a waste! Some schools would rather store old computers than put them to use, 09.12. Denver Public Schools is one example of a school district so ready to buy new computers that it has tens of thousands of old, usable computers sitting in storage.
Why I don't want an iPhone - and really want an iPod touch, 09.06. The iPhone offers a lot of capabilities, but at too high a cost for someone who doesn't need a mobile phone or doesn't want to change carriers. The iPod touch is nearly perfect.
More in the Vintage Mac Living index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: 17" iMac G4/800 MHz, July 2002 - The iMac 'grows up' with a 17" 1440 x 900 display.
Group of the Day: LisaList supports Lisa users.
November 8 in LEM history: 99: OS 9: I think I like it - 01: The simplified Mac life - Soured on Windows - Flea market Mac - 02: Little room for improvement in new 'Books - Combo drive upgrade for iceBooks - 04: Re-Porter - 05: Fix the old iMac or buy a Mac mini? - Apple's Copland project - 06: MacBook Core 2 - MacBook value equation - Cheap is as cheap does - 07: Problems with Classic mode in Tiger - The G4 Power Mac that won't run Leopard
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.03. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 8-core. $2,299; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.26 8-core, $2,799; 2.93, $4,999.
Best iPhone Deals, 11.03. New 8 GB iPhone 3G, $$99; refurb 16 GB 3GS, $149; new, $199; 32 GB, $299.
Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.03. Used 867 MHz SperDrive, $348; 1 GHz, $499; 1.33 Combo, $298; SD, $559; 1.5 Combo, $448; SuperDrive, $589.
Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used beige 300 MHz, $25; G4/366, $49; blue & white 350, $80; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15; shipping additional.
Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used 400 MHz, $50; 733 MHz, $69; 933 MHz, $209; 1.25 GHz dual, $299.
Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 11.02. Used 2.0 GHz, $800; 2.2, $900; 2.4, $1,000; refurb 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,949; 3.06, $2,169; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more.
Best Mac mini Deals, 10.30. Used 1.33 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.42, $389; 1.5, $419; 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $350; Core 2, $439; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $770; Server, $990.
Best G4 iBook Deals, 10.30. Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $225; 1.33 GHz, $298; 14" 1 GHz, $349; 1.33 GHz, $398; 1.42 GHz SuperDrive, $498.
Best Classic Mac OS Deals, 10.30. System 6.0.8 floppies, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5, $20; 7.5 CD, $4; 7.6 $13; 8.1, $11; 8.5, $20; 8.6, $90; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $30.
More deals in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Vintage Mac Living articles copyright ©2005-07 by Ted Hodges. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.