You might not believe the cover from the November 1989 MacUser. They considered the Mac Portable so sexy it was photographed with a swimsuit model for the front cover! (Or maybe so unsexy it needed this treatment.) When the Mac Portable was introduced, it had roughly the same clock speed as the fastest prior […]
The Macintosh II High Resolution Video Card is a 12″ NuBus card compatible with 68K- and PowerPC-based Macs running up to Mac OS 8.1. It is not compatible with the Centris/Quadra 660AV. Details The Mac II High Res Video Card is unaccelerated. It supports resolutions of 640 x 480 and 512 x 384, which was the […]
SCSI Accelerator 2.1 is a set of INITs that work with a Mac Plus running a Mac OS earlier than System 7 and allows improved SCSI throughput. As a former Mac Plus owner, I will attest to the fact that SCSI Accelerator really does work. It’s been a few years, but I believe I had […]
The Macintosh Two-Page Monochrome Video Card is a 12″ NuBus card originally designed to work with the Macintosh Two-Page Monochrome Display. It was introduced at the same time as the Mac IIcx. It is compatible with 680×0- and PowerPC-based Macs running up to Mac OS 7.6.1. It may be compatible with higher versions of the Mac […]
The Macintosh II Portrait Video Card is a 12″ NuBus card designed for use with the Macintosh Portrait Display. It was introduced at the same time as the Mac IIcx. It is compatible with 680×0- and PowerPC-based Macs running up to Mac OS 7.6.1. It may be compatible with higher versions of the Mac OS, but […]
The Macintosh Two-Page Monochrome Display was Apple’s first 2-page monitor for the Macintosh. The 21″ Two-Page Display was introduced with the Mac IIcx and the Macintosh Two-Page Monochrome Video Card in March 1989.
The Macintosh Portrait Display was Apple’s first full-page monitor for the Macintosh, a field Radius had pioneered with its Radius Full Page Display and matching video card in 1987.
The Apple High-Resolution Monochrome Monitor was Apple’s first 640 x 480 grayscale display for the Macintosh. It was introduced with the Mac IIcx in March 1989 and uses a 12″ grayscale CRT.
Building on the success of the Mac IIx, the 1989 IIcx offered the same horsepower in a smaller case. This was made possible by eliminating 3 NuBus slots and using a smaller (90W) power supply. Although advertised as a 32-bit computer, the Mac IIx ROMs were “dirty,” containing some 24-bit code. Running in 32-bit mode […]
Rolled out in January 1989, the SE/30 was the first compact Mac to come standard with the FDHD 1.4 MB floppy drive (a.k.a. SuperDrive) and support more than 4 MB of RAM. It was essentially a IIx in an SEcase. Although advertised as a 32-bit computer, the SE/30 ROMs were “dirty,” containing some 24-bit code, meaning […]
1988 was not a year of breakthroughs for Apple. It was a year of evolution.
Building on the success of the Mac II, the 1988 Mac IIx housed a 68030 CPU and 68882 FPU (floating point unit) in the same case. Breakthrough features included the DOS-compatible 1.4 MB SuperDrive (a.k.a. FDHD for floppy disk, high density) and virtual memory. Although advertised as a 32-bit computer, the Mac IIx ROMs were […]
March 1987 was a milestone month for Apple: Apple built the one-millionth Macintosh, AppleShare file server software was introduced, the Mac SE and Mac II were introduced, ADB came to the Mac, and platinum replaced beige as the color for all new Mac gear.
The Macintosh II Video Card (a.k.a. Toby) is a 12″ NuBus card compatible with 680×0-based NuBus Macs running up to Mac OS 7.6.1. It was introduced at the same time as the Mac II. It is not compatible with the Centris/Quadra 660AV and only partially compatible with the Quadra 840AV. Details The Macintosh II Video Card is unaccelerated. […]
The Macintosh II Monochrome Video Card is a 1-bit 7″ NuBus card compatible with 680×0-based NuBus Macs running up to Mac OS 7.6.1. It was introduced at the same time as the Mac II. It is unsupported with the Quadra 840AV and is not compatible with the Centris/Quadra 660AV. Details The card will drive the […]
The 13″ AppleColor High-Resolution Monitor was Apple’s first color display for the Macintosh. It was introduced with the Mac II in March 1987 and uses a 13″ Sony Trinitron CRT, which is curved horizontally but flat vertically.
Rolled out in March 1987 along with the compact Mac SE, the Mac II was the first modular Mac – a revolutionary change in the Macintosh line (so revolutionary that it had to be kept secret from Steve Jobs, who loved the simplicity of all-in-one designs). Options include two 800K floppy drives and a hard […]
Introduced along with the Mac II in March 1987, the SE came with 1 MB of RAM, one or two double-sided 800K floppies, and space to mount an internal SCSI hard drive (the second drive bay held either a hard drive or second floppy – no room for both, although that didn’t stop some people from […]
After a whole year without a new model (unless you count repackaging the Lisa 2 as the Macintosh XL), Apple announced the Macintosh Plus, the first expandable Macintosh, on January 16, 1986.
Apple replaced the Mac 512K with a model supporting double-sided 3.5″ disks, just like the Mac Plus. Unlike the Plus, the 512Ke used RAM chips rather than SIMMs, just like the 128K and 512K. This precluded upgrading RAM beyond 512 KB by simply plugging in higher capacity chips, although some companies did make memory upgrade […]
Introduced in January 1986, two years after the original Macintosh, the Mac Plus shipped with 1 MB of RAM, a new double-sided 800 KB floppy drive, and a built-in SCSI port (the first Mac so equipped). Not only was 1 MB more RAM than PC-class machines could handle, but the Plus could be expanded to 4 MB total […]
In January 1985, Apple announced the Macintosh XL, which was nothing more than a new name for the wildly unsuccessful Lisa 2. In April, Apple discontinued the model.
Although PC compatibility isn’t a big deal since Apple’s transition to Intel CPUs in 2006, there is a long history of PC emulation and DOS cards that let Macs run PC operating systems and software. Dayna’s MacCharlie was the first solution to the “problem” of PC compatibility.
On January 24, 1984, Apple announced the Macintosh to its Board of Directors – and to the world. The tiny computer was a radical departure from the large Lisa with it’s 12″ screen, just as Lisa itself had been a huge departure from the Apple II series and the growing family of MS-DOS computers on […]
Introduced to replace the Mac 128K in September 1984, the 512K had four times the RAM of the original Mac. This made it possible to work with larger files, more powerful software, and have more files open (running more than one application was still in the future, awaiting MultiFinder). There’s really not a lot more […]
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 […]
Introduced in January 1984 (along with a revised Lisa), this Macintosh didn’t have a model number – it was simply the Macintosh. There was no name on the front. Early 128Ks simply said Macintosh on the back, while later ones were marked Macintosh 128K to distinguish them from the later Macintosh 512K. Equipped with 128 KB […]
Introduced in January 1983, Apple’s Lisa shipped that June. The first consumer computer with a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) display, a GUI (Graphical User Interface), and a mouse, its $10,000 price tag made it anything but successful. Only 11,000 original Lisas were sold. Lisa had a whopping 1 MB of RAM, […]
E-Machines Colorlink SX/2 The E-Machines Colorlink SX/2 card is a 12″ NuBus card compatible with 680×0-based NuBus Macs running up to System 7.5. Details The card provides standard QuickDraw acceleration. E-Machines Colorlink SX/t The E-Machines Colorlink SX/t is a 12″ NuBus card compatible with 680×0-based NuBus Macs running up to System 7.5. Details The card […]
The E-Machines DoubleColor LX is a 12″ NuBus card compatible with 680×0-based NuBus Macs running up to System 7.5. Details The card provides standard QuickDraw acceleration. Anyone with resolution or bit depth information with this card should e-mail me. Other Resources
The E-Machines DoubleColor SX is a 12″ NuBus card compatible with 680×0-based NuBus Macs running up to System 7.5.1. Its software is incompatible with System 7.5.3 and higher if loaded at boot, but it will work if used as a standalone application with up to Mac OS 7.6. Details The card provides standard QuickDraw acceleration […]
The E-Machines Futura LX is a 12″ NuBus card compatible with 680×0-based NuBus Macs running up to System 7.5. This card has 3MB VDRAM onboard. Details E-Machines Futura cards have a rotary switch for setting the resolution. The following is a list of switch settings. This setting is overridden when using a supported monitor with […]
The E-Machines Futura MX is a 12″ NuBus card compatible with 680×0-based NuBus Macs running up to System 7.5. This card has 3MB VDRAM onboard. Details The card provides standard QuickDraw acceleration and supports the following resolution/color combinations: 640 x 480 up to 24-bit 832 x 624 up to 24-bit 1024 x 768 (at 75 […]
The E-Machines Futura SX is a 12″ NuBus card compatible with 680×0-based NuBus Macs running up to Mac OS 9. This card has 1.5MB VDRAM onboard. Details The Futura SX provides standard QuickDraw acceleration and supports the following resolution/colour combinations: 640 x 480 up to 24-bit 832 x 624 up to 24-bit 1024 x 768 […]
The E-Machines Futura II LX is a 7″ NuBus card compatible with 68K- and PowerPC-based Macs running up to System 7.5. Details The card provides standard QuickDraw acceleration. Anyone with resolution or bit depth information for this card should contact me. E-Machines Futura cards have a rotary switch for setting the resolution. The following is […]