DayStar Turbo 040 in an LC?

[zackl]

I've gotten my hands on a DayStar Turbo 040, ideally I'd like to use this in an original Macintosh LC.

I seem to recall that when I actually got the LC ~20 years ago that there was a special LC PDS adapter that would allow you to fit the Daystar Turbos in, and this seems to be backed up by random snippets I've found on the internets:

"There are also adapters to put the PowerCache/Turbo040 into an LC PDS slot (which is wierd since the slot is only 16 bits wide). And there was another upgrade called the Value040 which is basically a Turbo040 that plugs directly into the LC PDS slot." (1)

and another thread that I think is on topic with the turbo040, but may be referencing the powercache card:

"To install in the LC series there is a tab on the metal shielding on the lid that has to be flattened and on the early LC there is a large capacitor siliconed to the top of a chip that has to be carefully pried loose and bent out of the way."

So, all that said, anybody have some wisdom to pass along here?

(1) http://www.applefritter.com/node/10092?page=1

(2) http://www.mail-archive.com/vintage.macs@mail.maclaunch.com/msg02210.html

 

[Byrd]

Good luck funding that elusive adapter ... and I suppose the question is why? You're not going to get much out of putting that in a severely hobbled '020 16-bit data path Mac. That Turbo040 would be perfect in a IIci

 

[volvo242gt]

Wouldn't it be a lot easier to get a Q605 board? Keep the LC board for when you want to make the computer stock, but run the 605 board otherwise.

-J

 

[zackl]

and I suppose the question is why?

Haha - I ask myself the same thing - the short answer is nostalgia!

Getting the LC into our house in 6th or 7th grade was a life changer - just about everything to come afterwards has been tied to development / comp engineering and it started with this !%@!%@!# machine.

If only it could have been a IIci, or even a IIsi so I wouldn't be driven completely mad trying to get this thing dialed in and serviceable

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Instead of futzing with the unsupported accelerator on the lamest of all Road Apple system buses, take the Apple sanctioned new MoBo upgrade path. Snag a 475/605 with bad case plastics and do it to it.

It'll still be nostalgic, just way better than the accelerator OR that IIci you never had with the accelerator . . .

. . . and you'll have a backup power supply.

 

[volvo242gt]

Another benefit to JTs' and my suggestion - no more 10MB limit. The other thing, is that when you turn it on, the chime won't sound like a Macintosh II that's underwater.

-J

 

[olePigeon]

At this point, you'd probably spend less money on a IIci in which to put that Turbo 040 than a super rare adapter.

For the LC, really, the only worthy upgrade is a Presto Plus. It not only upgrades it to an 040, but gives it an ethernet port and upgrades the RAM to 32MB, bypassing the 10MB limit.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

8-o Wooo! I'll bet those go for a pretty penny as well. How seldom do they pop up?

 

[uniserver]

nice here is the PDF for it.

http://www.sonnettech.com/publicfiles/pdfs/pdf_onlinedocs/english/mac/presto_plus_lcandlcii.pdf

 

[zackl]

For the LC, really, the only worthy upgrade is a Presto Plus. It not only upgrades it to an 040, but gives it an ethernet port and upgrades the RAM to 32MB, bypassing the 10MB limit.

Absolutely right and I have been scouring the ends of the internet making solicited and unsolicited efforts to get one

If anybody has one and wants a solid offer please PM me, I also have some good stuff I'd be open to trading:

- Variety of accelerators eg Radius Rocket, Daystar Turbo, Apple Power Mac Upgrade Card (601 Nubus) - pm me if you're looking for something specific.

- Orange Micro 486 Nubus

- Working and complete IIfx w/32mb ram

- Color classic in good working order

So yah gauntlet is dropped!

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I take it Sonnet doesn't have a box of them sitting around somewhere? ;D

The Presto Plus processor upgrade card has an onboard RAM expansionSIMM slot with a 32 MB SIMM that adds additional RAM to your

system.

Way cool. Outside of the Radius Rocket, I can't think of any accelerators for Macs other than the Compacts with RAM on board. 32MB of RAM on the '040's local bus really would make the Presto Plus a workable upgrade for the LC. I'd love to know how they hacked the memory mapping, especially across that 16 bit bottleneck. It must be something like Compact Virtual? I see why you're keen to acquire one.

Notice, Sonnet included the 32MB SIMM on board. If they hadn't bundled it, customer service complaints and returns due to lousy performance would have been a nightmare. I wonder if it would work at all without it?

 

[NJRoadfan]

I wouldn't be surprised if Sonnett just used the 68040's onboard MMU to handle the memory mapping. Its possible the extension copies the content's of the LC's onboard RAM to the card's RAM when loaded and either disables the onboard memory or maps it after the card's memory so the OS and applications use it first.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

It's still booting from the LC's ROM/ASIC config with the 10MB limitation. The Compact accelerators used the '030's built in MMU as you described, so I'm curious about the way the memory is organized in the Presto Plus with a CPU intended to have MMU support. Does anyone know offhand from what system the LC's ROM was derived?