Macintosh IIci Logicboard recreation

[max1zzz]

Something I have been working on recently:


It's a near 1:1 reproduction with some minor rerouting where this made sense.

Boards are on order, should be here in a couple of weeks

Not much more to say (other than thanks to @Kai Robinson for providing the donor board I used) you have all seen this before

 

[Phipli]

Well, that's everything complete for the retro community. We now have a PCB design for the best Mac ever made.

 

[akator70]

Well, that's everything complete for the retro community. We now have a PCB design for the best Mac ever made.

Not to derail this thread and the awesomeness of the IIci logicboard news, but which logicboards are done? I know of:

• SE
• SE/30
• Classic
• (and now) IIci

Are there others?

 

[beachycove]

Why the best Mac ever?

 

[GRudolf94]

Why the best Mac ever?

A few of us, I would think, agree that the IIci/cx is the turning point where Apple got the design right for a mostly one-size-fits-all computer. They have good basic features, are expandable in a few ways, were not eye-wateringly expensive (looking at you, IIfx), etc.

It's not the fastest Mac, but it's a tidy machine.

@max1zzz props!

 

[Bolle]

Are there others?

LC, LC II, LC III, LC 475, IIcx, Plus…

 

[akator70]

Why the best Mac ever?

I'd say the IIci is definitely one of the best. It was attractively designed, expandable, and powerful enough to do a ton of stuff in its heyday. Even years later, when there were faster machines out there, the IIci was still in use by many design houses.

 

[akator70]

LC, LC II, LC III, LC 475, IIcx, Plus…

Wow. Is there some master list with links to all of these (resources, fabrication, purchasing, etc.)?

 

[Arbee]

Other '030 Macs did specific things better, but as a total package the IIcx/IIci are great machines. The IIvx was great on pricing and had non-vampire onboard video, but the case isn't as nice.

 

[Phipli]

Why the best Mac ever?

Yeah, the IIci was the point that they made a computer that I don't have anything at all to complete the sentence "it's a good machine but it is a shame it doesn't..." Other than retrospectively wishing for faster CPUs. Even then, it was the first easily at home upgradable Mac (the SE was allegedly a "do not open" safety screw case, and pulling socketted CPUs isn't without risks). It is the first properly 32bit box, easily upgradable to 128MB RAM, the onboard video was pretty good (and if it wasn't enough there were nubus slots).

They were just an excellent workhorse. Sold in huge numbers for a long run, and were often in use well into the 2000s.

An excellent photo editing rig, audio/music rig, page layout, research, server (AUX), etc etc etc.

 

[Phipli]

I actually wouldn't say I have the same feelings about the IIcx - the dirty ROM and requirement for a video card, plus 16MHz and a lack of a PDS. There is quite a list of ways that it is less good.

 

[Phipli]

The IIvx was great on pricing and had non-vampire onboard video, but the case isn't as nice.

Only after the price drop (if even then) - initially it was inexcusably expensive for a machine that was effectively the same speed as a 4 year old Mac.

 

[max1zzz]

Wow. Is there some master list with links to all of these (resources, fabrication, purchasing, etc.)?

Board designs are all on github (well except form the IIci as it's untested currently and it looks like @Bolle hasn't posted the 475 yet)
LC/LCII/LCIII/IIcx and Plus are on my Github: https://github.com/max234252
SE 30 (and proably eventually the 475) are on Bolle's: https://github.com/TheRealBolle
SE and Classic are on Kai's: https://github.com/kr239

 

[Phipli]

and it looks like @Bolle hasn't posted the 475 yet)

https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/wtb-lc-475-logic-board.46276/post-516460

Posted there

 

[Bolle]

https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/wtb-lc-475-logic-board.46276/post-516460

Posted there

They will go on github as well, just haven’t taken the time yet to do a little writeup and take a few nice pictures to make everything look nice.

 

[max1zzz]

They will go on github as well, just haven’t taken the time yet to do a little writeup and take a few nice pictures to make everything look nice.

I should provably do that one day for all my boards!

 

[SophieRose]

Wow amazing work.. that can’t have been easy.

 

[LaPorta]

Interestingly, for all the praise this machine is getting…I’ve never used, owned, or even seen one in real life before.

 

[Phipli]

Interestingly, for all the praise this machine is getting…I’ve never used, owned, or even seen one in real life before.

IIci Amore

 

[Melkhior]

It's a near 1:1 reproduction with some minor rerouting where this made sense.

Another awesome piece of work Pure tracing, or is there some associated schematics? Been working on those, but it's not moving very fast...

I have a bombed IIci that could use one of those replacement board, if someone could do the transplant in Europe for me (I suck at soldering anything finer than 1.27mm TH, and even at that I'm not very good).,

However, I don't like the cache slot. With schematics, it should be reasonably easy (famous last words!) to rewire it in a 'true' PDS'030 compatible with the SE/30 and IIsI (guess why ). As far as I can tell, all other parts have the wiring for the interrupts of the missing 2 slots (video uses one, I believe). Also, perhaps those 30-pins SIMM could be replaced by a pair of space-saving 72-pin SIMMs. And that 10-pins power connector is useless with all the dying PSU, might as well put some ATX in there straight away...

It feels like purists are going to scream at me for daring to suggest 'fixing' the IIci