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AWGS 8150/80

macuserman

Well-known member
Ok so recently on the trading post there were some boards that came up for sale on in particular was an 8100 board. I posted up that I wanted it and although I was not first LaPorta graciously allowed me to have it. I live pretty close so it already came today. When I swapped it into my machine it booted up perfectly! I was extremely pleased but when I went to system profiler it says Power Macintosh 8100/80 AWGS 8150. Does anyone know if that is just there because they were so similar and all boards show the same machine ID or is it actually from an AWGS? I really only care because this machine is actually an AWGS or at least that's what it says on the front even though I don't think there are any real differences other than software between the AWGS and the regular machines.

Anyhow any thoughts? I was just tickled to see it showed the right machine ID, but I'm not sure if that's what they all show it's been a long time since this machine worked.
 

Cory5412

Daring Pioneer of the Future
Staff member
To confirm: the 8100 and 8150 are identical systems, I don't think the ROMs were different and nothing on the board was. The only differences are basically: "things a user could have put in themselves" like cache/ram/hdd/cards, the labeling, and the software bundles. If specialized hardware was included (dual disks, DAT) then utilities for that hardware were also usually included.

Some AWGSes included AppleShare, some included other third-party utilities aimed at specific tasks, and some had more or less stock system 7/8/9 installs ready for you to put your own application or server software on. (There's another post hanging around with some more detailed notes, it'd take me a few minutes to find.)


This is an educated guess, because I don't have the hardware in front of me right now:
What you are seeing probably means that the system might be a Power Macintosh 8100 or an AWGS 8150/80. I have some models that probably dual identified (6100, 8500, 7200) but they're not set up now, someone else may be able to confirm.
 

macuserman

Well-known member
@Cory5412 Yeah that is kinda what I was thinking just wasn't 100 percent certain. In any case I've got a stack of nubus cards I can now play with and test out now that I have a working Nubus machine again.
 

LaPorta

Well-known member
Hey, I was happy to be of help! You were in far greater need than I: always happy to see another machine up and running again!
 

Franklinstein

Well-known member
AFAIK, there were really only two special WGS models: the WGS 95 and the WGS 9150. The WGS 95 was at heart a Q950 but it had a special PDS card with L2 cache and fast/wide SCSI and this is what turned it into the WGS 95. The WGS 9150 was only sold as a WGS for some reason (I really think they should have sold it as the PM 9100 but they didn't). Every other WGS is a normal Mac with a few minor configuration changes or special software (like how Performas, with few exceptions, were the "home use" computers, slightly different in configuration from their otherwise identical professional or educational counterparts): some had larger L2 caches, some had DAT drives, some had more or larger hard drives, etc, but the logic board was basically identical to the other machines of the same model. Most Macs that had a WGS counterpart will identify themselves to ASP as [Mac]/[Performa and/or WGS], in your example, a PM 8100/WGS 8150. None of them had any settings or custom ROMs or anything that differentiated between Mac/WGS. I think the only Mac that did have something like that was the Quadra 605/Performa 475 which had a jumper you could move to change the Gestalt ID and thus the ASP/About This Mac info would change accordingly.
 

Unknown_K

Well-known member
Apple went out of their way to make the WGS 95. You had the SCSI card that would not physically fit into another quadra and needed the included A/UX OS to work plus the optional 5 drive tray for massive internal storage (for the time). They also included backup software on the Unix side for the build in DAT drive. Networking was much faster than any other quadra with that setup.
 
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