Umax acquired the Macintosh clone operation and SuperMac name from
Radius, going on to become one of the more innovative cloners.
Their corporate goal was to make quality Mac OS computers at prices
that would give PCs a run for their money, something I believe they
succeeded at.
From the entry level C500 to the professional single- and
dual-processor S900, Umax offered a comprehensive range of
Maclones. They also introduced the first PowerPC model with an
inline cache, their Cache Doubler design.
- Apple squeezes Mac clones
out of the market, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2007.08.30. Apple
started to license the Mac in 1994, the first clones arrived in 1995,
and they quickly into Apple's profitable high-end market.
- SuperMac
Insider
- Installing OS X on a
SuperMac S900, Bill Rose, Unofficial SuperMac Support Site,
2002.01.29. The trials and tribulations of installing Mac OS X on
an unsupported SuperMac.
- SuperMac, Seagate, and USB,
Charles Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11/13/00. Hard drive
nightmares, but a new USB card installs like a dream.
- SETIonMac:
SuperMacs team launched.
- SuperMacs email list
- PowerJolt
G3/280 for Umax C500/600 (Apus 2000/3000), Accelerate Your
Mac!, 3/26
Application tests show twice the performance of the 180 MHz
603e.
- Mac OS 8.5 Issues on Umax
SuperMac
- Umax suggests updating the J700 and S900 to version 2.0.2 of
the Licensing Extension if you're using Mac OS 8 or 8.1.
- RAM Charger from Jump Development
($40) lets you get the most out of your RAM - especially helpful
on Macs with 8 MB or less. By launching applications using the
minimum amount of memory they need, RAM Charger lets you run more
programs. It also works well with RAM Doubler. You can even
download a demo.
Caution
The version of FWB Hard Disk Toolkit that shipped with most
SuperMacs is not compatible with Mac OS 8 or later.
If you have a J700 or S900 and wish to use Mac OS 8.0 or 8.1,
you must use version HDT 2.0.6 or later* on the internal hard
drive, available on the Umax software updates page (sorry, dead
link). Be sure to install the new drivers on your hard drive
before you run the OS 8 installer. Also, you must be sure
that you do not update the driver on your hard drive during OS 8
installation. Using an older version of FWB HDT or the Apple driver
on the SCSI drive that came with the SuperMac may so botch the hard
drive structure that you will need to reformat it and reinstall
everything. (As always, you should do a full backup before
installing new drivers or updating your operating system.)
If you have a Umax C500 or C600, you should use the version of
Drive Setup that ships with the System 8.0 or 8.1 disk, or the one
that comes as part of the Mac OS 8.5.1 update. This is part of the
normal system installation or update.
* If you are upgrading to Mac OS 8.5.1 or later, your
hard drive is probably supported by the version of Drive Setup that
comes with the installer. If Drive Setup 1.6.2 or later will work
with your hard drive, use it. (And a big thanks to Apple for adding
compatibility to over 90% of the drives on the market.)
