Dynamac

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Tech Specs

Dynamac and Dynamac EL

LEM Staff - 2016.07.03

Thanks to Richard Savary for sending information about the Dynamac. Mentioned in Byte (May 1988), the jet black Dynamac EL weighs 18 pounds, uses an 8 MHz 68000 CPU, has an 800K floppy, and shipped with 1 MB RAM (expandable to 2.5 MB or 4 MB). It was essentially a portable Mac Plus.

DynamacThe electroluminescent (EL) screen supports 640 x 400 pixels. 20 MB and 40 MB hard drives were available, 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 of weight.

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.

Further Reading

Keywords: #dynamac #dynamacel

Short link: http://goo.gl/SGZKwk