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I really want MicroMac Power Workstation for my Mac LC III

   Hey,

I am seriously looking for MicroMac Power Workstation so I can put it underneath my Mac LC III so I can have access to zip drive and CD-ROM. Do you have any idea where I can find it?

 
Good Luck! If you want those things out of a LC III you better install the board in an ATX case and rig up an ATX PS.

 
I wouldn't say give up on the search (I've found a bunch of things I never thought I'd come across), but put it in to context that anyone who has one isn't likely to be selling and if they do it's going to go for a whole lot of money.

 
I found part of one.  It was missing the slot expander and power supply.  I gave it to someone else on here, but I don't remember who.

 
Yeah, forgot there was no board. I'd probably have remembered seeing one.

It'd be easy enough to make a PCB with switch selected PDS slots to play around with a few cards at whim. You'd need to reboot to change between 'em though.

 
The LC actually supports the use of multiple PDS cards without the need to switch between them if you have the right adapter. I've seen such PDS adapters pop up on ebay but they are very rare. Not as rare as the Power Workstation though...

If you manage to find a nice large picture online, you could try and replicate that adapter yourself using KiKad. Then all you would need is a beefier power supply ('cos your board can't power all those cards all at once), connect its 5V rail to the correct power pins on the PDS adapter and you're golden. 

 
Nice pics AA! IIRC there even was a Three (!!) Slot card available at some point! It wasn't from MicroMac or Sonnet, it was more of a home-brew sort of thing I think.

@xboxown, this allows you to use more than one PDS card (e.g. a thundercache accelerator and an ethernet card). If you manage to replicate the card (the IC's there just for the Accelerator bit I suppose), and build an extension cable of some sorts, then the rest's relatively easy to do. 

The Power Workstation included two extra hard drives, a CD drive and a Zip drive. Well, just connect those up to the LC's SCSI interface, configure their SCSI ID and boom everything should work.

Then all you would need to do is create some box to house all of the above and 3d print it. 

 
What you could do is max out your LC III (RAM, LC PDS ethernet card) and start looking for an old CD-replication system, like the Lacie Duplicator 25.

If it is big enough (7-bays), this will allow you to put in 6 SCSi devices (say, a 2 CD-ROMs, a Zip drive, an MO-drive, a couple of hard-discs ... ). You'll need to get 2x IDC-50 to CN-50 cables.

Without case -front.JPG

 
Nice pics AA! IIRC there even was a Three (!!) Slot card available at some point! It wasn't from MicroMac or Sonnet, it was more of a home-brew sort of thing I think.

@xboxown, this allows you to use more than one PDS card (e.g. a thundercache accelerator and an ethernet card). If you manage to replicate the card (the IC's there just for the Accelerator bit I suppose), and build an extension cable of some sorts, then the rest's relatively easy to do.
Agreed, nice pics.

But that IC's more likely for enabling the second slot. LCIII adapter for PowerCache is passive, no logic on board. The LCIII PDS has unsupported Slot ID/Interrupts:

LCIII DevNote:

/SLOTIRQ.C Slot $C interrupt request. Not supported by the Macintosh LC III.
/SLOTIRQ.D Slot $D interrupt request. Not supported by the Macintosh LC III.
/SLOTIRQ.E Slot $E interrupt request. Generates an interrupt corresponding toa device in NuBus slot $E.

All LC PDS Slots are at location $E.

Seems like there might need to be a driver involved to enable support for Slots $C & $D?

 
There may well need to be. I haven't tried it out yet. I saw on eBay Germany, it wasn't too expensive and I thought that it might come in useful sometime.

 
Oooooh, a SCSI DVD-R!

I am jealous. Do take good care of it.

Can you boot from an Apple CD (say Mac OS 7.6.1)?

It may well be that the Toast extensions from Toast 5 will support it and may work under System 7.5.3

 
Oooooh, a SCSI DVD-R!

I am jealous. Do take good care of it.

Can you boot from an Apple CD (say Mac OS 7.6.1)?

It may well be that the Toast extensions from Toast 5 will support it and may work under System 7.5.3
Well here is the thing....the device can only read dvds for some reason it cannot read cds and while I see it powering off/on as my mac reboot and restarts it does not read the dvd or appear as an icon in my desktop. I did not realize what I have here is a treasure @_o. For a long time I have wanted to throw it but I kept melting for it when I saw it and refused and refused until I realized how much it is worth in eBay. Now I am more than ever wanting to keep it. Besides..I am a person who need white noise and my PC keeps freezing lately so now I use it to sleep at night. I power it on and the fan is humming and loud enough for me to sleep sweetly at bed. So this is what I am using it now for..I wish to use it more than a white noise machine but if all I can do is use it as white noise machine I am happy! I will keep it for life with me just for that! Worth it still. BUUUUUUT I prefer not to buy another scsi external cd drive and have this used for my mac lc III if possible. You are saying if I use toast extension there is a potential it may work? Well....I am waiting for my USB external disk drive to arrive and then i can start burning disk images in it. With the HFS explorer or whatever it is called I will put the toast extensions in that and burn it in my disk and hopefully this will work!!

I also received an email from the uthernet II guy saying he need people to test his new card and would give handful for free for testing purpose so I responded me me me! I hope I can get one for my apple //gs rom 03 and get her online and use IRC there!!

I AM JUST ADDICTED WITH MY APPLE //GS ROM 03 AND MAC LC III...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

You guys aware I want badly to get my apple //gs ROM 03 online and in IRC inside system 6.0.4 and my Mac LC III to go online in IRC. I already am enjoying my A500 on IRC and when I want the fetish of apple //gs I want to be able to go and use it to chat inside system 6.0.4 in IRC and when I have this fetish or fix fulfilled my next fetish is chatting in mac lc III online and repeat cycle. ooooh - fans face - I would love to do that...mmmm....- wipes forehead -. Also the idea of using ftp in my apple //gs aaaah - closes eyes - that is hot hot hot!

 
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Well here is the thing....the device can only read dvds for some reason it cannot read cds and while I see it powering off/on as my mac reboot and restarts it does not read the dvd or appear as an icon in my desktop.
Sounds like one of the lasers is out.

 
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