Building an internal grayscale card for the SE/30

[Apache Thunder]

I see someone mentioned Classic/Classic II versions which understandably would not be practical or even possible.
But what about the Macintosh SE? It was always a shame that one didn't have an equivalent to this despite having a PDS slot. Perhaps maybe the CPU can't handle it but since it does have a PDS slot I suppose you could integrate a CPU upgrade into the card if you ever did make an SE version.

Random idea but would be super cool: A video input port. Turn the SE/30 into a grayscale monitor for an external device. Not sure how feasible that would be and would be subject to the same timing limitations but I could see how one might be able to manage this with enough effort.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I don’t think any 68000 system ever did above black and white… more color output might be possible but I’d guess it would need additional logic to do it.

 

[jfaulken]

Also interested! What's the correct way to get "in line"? Thanks!

 

[ScutBoy]

Beautiful! Will be interested to see the final product/pricing, and how much money I have in the slush fund at that time

 

[eharmon]

I don’t think any 68000 system ever did above black and white… more color output might be possible but I’d guess it would need additional logic to do it.

SE/30 has Color QuickDraw (which is why color PDS graphics cards were common as well), so it supports 24-bit color natively despite the 1-bit screen.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Yeah, but it’s got a 68030 in it. The only 68000 systems were the original compacts up to the SE, the Classic I, Portable and PowerBook 100. All those are monochrome.

 

[dramirez]

Also interested! What's the correct way to get "in line"? Thanks!

Yup same here, please take my money Bolle!

 

[eharmon]

Yeah, but it’s got a 68030 in it. The only 68000 systems were the original compacts up to the SE, the Classic I, Portable and PowerBook 100. All those are monochrome.

Oh sorry, I didn't realize this was a reply to the SE comment!

Interestingly the 68000 systems could do ~8 color using (abusing?) standard QuickDraw's support for color printing, which some SCSI graphics adapters took advantage of to give what I guess would be the equivalent of 3-bit color: https://tidbits.com/1990/08/20/sexpanded/

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Very intriguing!

 

[Daniël]

No. PDS is not standard between machines and the Classic II does not have a PDS slot, it has a different type of expansion slot.

Still, the signals that are tapped into are similar, if not the same when it comes to Macs using the same 68k CPU. Theoretically, you could tap into them on a Classic II through soldering straight to the CPU or other points on the logic board. But it would not be practical, nor do I know if the SE/30 graphics cards in any way talk to other system components over the data bus, or if hardware differences outside of the 68030 on the SE/30 and Classic II would lead to other hardware or software (driver) conflicts.

 

[cheesestraws]

if hardware differences outside of the 68030 on the SE/30 and Classic II would lead to other hardware or software (driver) conflicts.

AFAIK the Classic II doesn't support the slot manager. The Classic II external video card that exists does not have a slot ROM, and only comes up when the extension loads off disc.

 

[joshc]

Had a few hours spare to install mine today.

There was a minor hiccup with getting one part of the wiring harness the wrong way round, and I had to adjust the machine's brightness cut-off pot on the analog board, but otherwise it is working fine.

 

[dramirez]

Love that SE/40 label!

 

[Mac-Man]

@joshc, probably a stupid question, but how did you get a fullscreen wallpaper working in system 7?

 

[djsudo]

I am not yet quite sure if I ever want to build any more wiring harnesses for those things

Ah well, I built one of your bare riser adapters and that worked out fine, how much harder could it be?

 

[joshc]

@joshc, probably a stupid question, but how did you get a fullscreen wallpaper working in system 7?

Using a utility called Decor.

 

[Mac-Man]

Using a utility called Decor.

Thank you! I wish I knew about this utility back in the 1990s.

 

[Cam]

Wow! A very interesting card. Going to have to keep a close eye on the forum for any 'open to order' type thread.

 

[Nixontheknight]

Using a utility called Decor.

you can actually get OS 8 and 8.1 on the SE/30, but it's a very hacky process and requires that you have a system 7 boot disk to boot off, as well as 32-bit clean ROMs, or Mode32 as an extension

 

[Paulie]

Love that SE/40 label!

I made these (with @jessenator's help getting the text layout correct). I also have loads of them, so PM me if anyone wants one, I'll send them out.