Discovered MicroMac PerformerPro 68030 accelerator card inside Macintosh Plus - help?

[pipkato]

I have a vintage Macintosh Plus recently removed from long-term storage. It seems to be working well and I added a BlueSCSI emulator which boots fine into Systems 6 and 7.


When I opened up the Mac to modify the logic board with a resistor enabling SCSI power to the BlueSCSI I discovered that it has a MicroMac PerformerPro 68030 Accelerator Card installed. Nothing appears on the Macintosh screen about this, I presume because the driver(s) are not installed. I’m new to all this but reading up (MicroMac still have an old functioning website from 2000 I think - https://www.micromac.com/products/compact_macs.html). I discovered the drivers apparently required to make the Accelerator Card work and I downloaded them.


The one for the Macintosh Plus was a .sit file but I unarchived it and it created a folder with the driver files MM PerformerPro1.6.1 for the non-FPU version of the card and MM PerformerPro1.6.1-FPU for the FPU version. I don’t think my logic board has the FPU installed but cannot be sure since I did not fully remove the logic board when installing the resistor. And according to the accompanying README file I don’t think it matters - the FPU will not be seen if the non-FPU driver is used, but it does not say it will not work.


I’d like to know how I can install the driver(s) on the microSD card of the BlueSCSI. I’m completely unfamiliar with how the system works since the BlueSCSI boots from a single .hda file. Can I just transfer the driver file across to the root of the microSD card or how do I make the driver a part of the booting process so that I can discover if the MicroMac PerformerPro Accellerator Card is working. If I understood the README file correctly a ‘Control Panel’ for the card will be created by the driver on boot-up.

And, if there’s a better forum to post this question in please let me know. Thanks!

 

[Phipli]

I have a vintage Macintosh Plus recently removed from long-term storage. It seems to be working well and I added a BlueSCSI emulator which boots fine into Systems 6 and 7.


When I opened up the Mac to modify the logic board with a resistor enabling SCSI power to the BlueSCSI I discovered that it has a MicroMac PerformerPro 68030 Accelerator Card installed. Nothing appears on the Macintosh screen about this, I presume because the driver(s) are not installed. I’m new to all this but reading up (MicroMac still have an old functioning website from 2000 I think - https://www.micromac.com/products/compact_macs.html). I discovered the drivers apparently required to make the Accelerator Card work and I downloaded them.


The one for the Macintosh Plus was a .sit file but I unarchived it and it created a folder with the driver files MM PerformerPro1.6.1 for the non-FPU version of the card and MM PerformerPro1.6.1-FPU for the FPU version. I don’t think my logic board has the FPU installed but cannot be sure since I did not fully remove the logic board when installing the resistor. And according to the accompanying README file I don’t think it matters - the FPU will not be seen if the non-FPU driver is used, but it does not say it will not work.


I’d like to know how I can install the driver(s) on the microSD card of the BlueSCSI. I’m completely unfamiliar with how the system works since the BlueSCSI boots from a single .hda file. Can I just transfer the driver file across to the root of the microSD card or how do I make the driver a part of the booting process so that I can discover if the MicroMac PerformerPro Accellerator Card is working. If I understood the README file correctly a ‘Control Panel’ for the card will be created by the driver on boot-up.

And, if there’s a better forum to post this question in please let me know. Thanks!

In System 6, just put the file in the System Folder, for System 7, while booted from System 7 drop it on the System Folder, and it will ask do you want to put it in the right place, you do. Then restart.

 

[pipkato]

Thank you once again, Phipli - the informed to the rescue of the ignorant.

But don’t underestimate the extent of my ignorance. I understand your suggestions and they seem really clear. But I have those driver files on my modern Mac running MacOS 13.5. I have .hda System OS boot files on the root of my microSD card in BlueSCSI. I just don’t understand how I can copy my PerformerPro driver files into the System Folder.

My Macintosh Plus has a working floppy drive, but how to get the PerformerPro driver files onto a floppy disk? BTW I didn’t mention that when I set up MacOS 7.1 it also allowed the creation of a ROM Disk on the MacPlus desktop and I also created a 20MB hard disk also on the MacPlus desktop. And I also got my hands on a PerformerPro Installation Manual.

I'm clearly missing some basic understanding about transferring files on the MacPlus using BlueSCSI. Are the .hda image files on the microSD card packages that I can open, find the System Folder, add the driver files, and close the package back to its .hda form? Is it similar to how such packages work on a modern Mac?

It's a steep learning curve, even for a Mac user, I wish I knew more, but thanks once more for your generous help.

 

[Phipli]

Thank you once again, Phipli - the informed to the rescue of the ignorant.

But don’t underestimate the extent of my ignorance. I understand your suggestions and they seem really clear. But I have those driver files on my modern Mac running MacOS 13.5. I have .hda System OS boot files on the root of my microSD card in BlueSCSI. I just don’t understand how I can copy my PerformerPro driver files into the System Folder.

My Macintosh Plus has a working floppy drive, but how to get the PerformerPro driver files onto a floppy disk? BTW I didn’t mention that when I set up MacOS 7.1 it also allowed the creation of a ROM Disk on the MacPlus desktop and I also created a 20MB hard disk also on the MacPlus desktop. And I also got my hands on a PerformerPro Installation Manual.

I'm clearly missing some basic understanding about transferring files on the MacPlus using BlueSCSI. Are the .hda image files on the microSD card packages that I can open, find the System Folder, add the driver files, and close the package back to its .hda form? Is it similar to how such packages work on a modern Mac?

It's a steep learning curve, even for a Mac user, I wish I knew more, but thanks once more for your generous help.

Mount your blueScsi disk image file in Basilisk II on your modern computer and copy the files over. Basilisk II mounts the modern computers filesystem so you can copy it into the image. You'll need something like a IIci ROM attached.

 

[pipkato]

Thanks Phipli, for that info and for the Zip file. I understand that Basilisk II is some kind of Macintosh Emulator that I should be able to run on my modern Mac, and hopefully I'll be able to understand about the attachment of that ROM file. I'll post details of how I do. Like I said, a steep learning curve made a little less steep by a supportive community.

 

[Phipli]

Thanks Phipli, for that info and for the Zip file. I understand that Basilisk II is some kind of Macintosh Emulator that I should be able to run on my modern Mac, and hopefully I'll be able to understand about the attachment of that ROM file. I'll post details of how I do. Like I said, a steep learning curve made a little less steep by a supportive community.

Basilisk II [E-Maculation wiki]

www.emaculation.com

 

[pipkato]

Thanks for that wiki link, Phipli!

 

[Phipli]

Thanks for that wiki link, Phipli!

No problem, good luck. It isn't the worst to get going, but it would be nice if it was simpler.

 

[SparrowRat]

BlueSCSI Toolbox allows you to place files on a folder called "shared" on the sd card and then move them to the hda file avaible here: https://bluescsi.com/toolbox

 

[pipkato]

Thank you very much, SparrowRat. Would you believe I just discovered that utility last evening and today managed to install it on my Macintosh Plus. I wasn't sure if I could just drag the drivers across to the MacPlus and have them work. I really know so little about the vintage Macs and how things work. But I'm going to give it a try.