Introduced on 24 January 1984, the Lisa 2 adopted the same 400 KB 3.5″ floppy drive as the simultaneously introduced Macintosh. It was available with the same 5 MB ProFile hard drive as the original Lisa or an internal 10 MB hard drive.
Best of all for Lisa 1 owners, the Lisa 2 was available as a free upgrade.
The Lisa 2 was repackaged as the Macintosh XL in January 1985, then discontinued in April 1985.
With MacWorks XL, the Lisa 2 and Macintosh XL can run a fair bit of legacy Macintosh software compatible with System 3.2 and earlier. In 1988, MacWorks Plus was introduced, which emulates the Mac Plus and can run System 6.0.3. A later version, MacWorks Plus II, supports System 6.0.8, the last version of System 6.
- Got a Lisa? Join LisaList.
Details
- announced 1984.01 at $3,500 to $5,500; discontinued 1985.04
- requires Lisa OS or MacWorks Mac emulator
- CPU: 5 MHz 68000
- ROM: 16 KB
- RAM: 512 KB, expandable to 2 MB
- 12″ b&w screen, 720 x 360 rectangular pixels
- keyboard attached via coiled telephone-like cable
- mouse attached via DB-9 connector
- two DB-9 serial ports
- parallel printer port (used by internal hard drive on Lisa 2/10)
- three expansion slots
- floppy: 3.5″ 400KB drive
- sound: beeps
- size (HxWxD): 15.2″ x 18.7″ x 13.8″
- Weight: 48 lb.
- Gestalt ID: 2
Online Resources
- Apple Lisa group on Facebook.
- The Five Weirdest Macs of All Time, Benj Edwards, Macworld, 2012.10.12. Flower Power and Blue Dalmatian iMacs. Twentieth Anniversary Mac. Power Mac G4 Cube. Macintosh XL. Power Mac G3 All-in-One.
- Lisa’s DNA is all over modern computing, Ray Arachelian, Apple Seeds, 2007.06.06. Those who label Apple’s Lisa a failure are ignoring the computer’s legacy that shows up in every personal computer sold today.
- Using Apple’s Lisa for real work, Ted Hodges, Vintage Mac Living, 2007.04.02. The Lisa Office System has some advantages of modern computers for word processing and other production work.
- Bringing my Apple Lisa back to life, Ted Hodges, Vintage Mac Living, 2007.03.26. The floppy drive wasn’t working the keyboard was rough. Some homebrew fixes got everything working again.
- Lisa emulator released, allows OS X and Windows users to experience Apple’s Lisa, Ted Hodges, Vintage Mac Living, 2007.02.27. Nearly a decade in the making, the Lisa Emulator Project now has a working Lisa emulator for Windows PCs and OS X Macs.
- Interview with Ray Arachelian, creator of the Lisa emulator, Ted Hodges, Vintage Mac Living, 2007.03.13. Ray Arachelian spent most of a decade creating the world’s first working Lisa emulator. Why he did it and some of the obstacles he had to overcome.
- Retro computing: First impressions of a newly acquired Apple Lisa, Ted Hodges, Vintage Mac Living, 2006.02.14. Saved from the trash and given a new home, this old Lisa is a slow, friendly computer.
- Which system software is best for my vintage Mac?, Tyler Sable, Classic Restorations, 2005.11.22. Which system software works best depends to a great extent on just which Mac you have and how much RAM is installed.
- A history of Apple’s Lisa, 1979-1986, Tom Hormby, Orchard, 2005.10.05. Originally envisioned as a business computer to replace the Apple II, the Lisa brought the mouse and GUI to the computer market – only to be felled by the less costly Macintosh.
- The Lisa legacy, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2003.01.20. On the Lisa’s 20th anniversary, we should remember how Apple’s innovation paved the way for all future computers.
- The innovative Lisa, Dan Knight, Online Tech Journal, 2001.05.31. Perhaps the most innovative computer before the Macintosh, Lisa paved the way for a GUI future.
- Tales from Tessler: History of the Lisa Computer, Larry Tesler, 2000.11.28
- What ever happened to Lisa?, John C. Dvorak, Computer Shopper (republished by Jags House)
- Apple’s Twiggy Disks, Eric, Retro Computing, 1996-99
- 20 Spectacular Failures, Byte, 1995.11. One paragraph on the Lisa – and one on the ill-fated Apple ///.
- Heart of the Apple Lisa, Jordin Kare, 1995
- The Legacy of the Lisa, David T. Craig, 1993.02.16
- Lisa Emulator Project. A work in progress.
- Apple Lisa, Obsolete Computer Museum
- Apple Lisa Tribute, Simon White
- Apple Lisa 1 and 2 XL, DigiBarn Computer Museum
- Apple Lisa: The First Affordable GUI, Apple Museum
- Macintosh XL: Technical Specifications, Apple
Keywords: #applelisa2
Short link: http://goo.gl/K54Ify
searchword: applelisa2
