Easiest to obtain Mac Plus CPU upgrade

[Stephen]

I'm interested in purchasing a Mac Plus CPU upgrade but I understand they're not particularly common. Can anyone suggest an upgrade? Ideally it's '030 but I guess that's not a hard requirement. I'm also open to buying one from within the community.

 

[joshc]

It’s probably worth creating a WTB thread in the Trading Post forum.

This page has info about the different Plus accelerators: https://www.savagetaylor.com/2020/09/07/macintosh-plus-upgrades/

Be prepared to pay a reasonable sum for one.

 

[Stephen]

Thanks, appreciate the suggestion. I know there's a few options but I was hoping someone could suggest something that's actually obtainable — they seem hard to find on eBay.

 

[joshc]

The ones I've seen the most are the Novy Systems or Total Systems ones, they tend to be already installed in machines and sometimes pop up on eBay. But you have to have saved searches and be persistent - you will find one, it will just take time.

 

[Bolle]

Soon… I’ll have it tested one of these days.

 

[WakelessFoil]

Soon… I’ll have it tested one of these days.

This is awesome. Should sell these as a kit or something.

 

[Stephen]

The ones I've seen the most are the Novy Systems or Total Systems ones, they tend to be already installed in machines and sometimes pop up on eBay. But you have to have saved searches and be persistent - you will find one, it will just take time.

Thank you, appreciate the tips!

 

[joshc]

The best Plus upgrade is an SE or SE/30 though.

 

[68kPlus]

Soon… I’ll have it tested one of these days.

You're making a Plus accelerator??

 

[Chopsticks]

im probably wrong but don't those micromac Plus/SE boards have driver issues or something with respect to reliability?

 

[Phipli]

im probably wrong but don't those micromac Plus/SE boards have driver issues or something with respect to reliability?

Some of us have better luck than Action Retro with the Gemstart drivers. There is something more going on in his video but there wasn't enough information shown.

First things first, most of the drivers say up to 7.0.1 and he was running 7.1. Also there are drivers for 6 and drivers for 7... and other things. I don't know what he has tried.

 

[Chopsticks]

Some of us have better luck than Action Retro with the Gemstart drivers. There is something more going on in his video but there wasn't enough information shown.

First things first, most of the drivers say up to 7.0.1 and he was running 7.1. Also there are drivers for 6 and drivers for 7... and other things. I don't know what he has tried.

I haven't seen action retros video, its not really the kinda stuff I watch on YouTube. a friend of mine had one of these a few years back for his SE I seem to remember him mentioning there were some issues. like I said last post though im probably wrong, in fact you mentioning about the different versions of system 6-7, makes me think it was a driver/init problem for action retro...

 

[Phipli]

I haven't seen action retros video, its not really the kinda stuff I watch on YouTube. a friend of mine had one of these a few years back for his SE I seem to remember him mentioning there were some issues. like I said last post though im probably wrong, in fact you mentioning about the different versions of system 6-7, makes me think it was a driver/init problem for action retro...

Ah sorry, it sounded like you were repeating his experience. He released a Plus accelerator video two days ago.

 

[Chopsticks]

Ah sorry, it sounded like you were repeating his experience. He released a Plus accelerator video two days ago.

no need to be sorry, I did just watch his video actually as I got curious. and I agree there's most likely something else going on with his Mac and that accelerator being used together, the scsi booting issues he had would probably have me looking at the scsi controller and related circuitry along with looking for other drivers to try on the software side of things...

 

[omgmonsters]

Soon… I’ll have it tested one of these days.

holy crap!

 

[omgmonsters]

Some of us have better luck than Action Retro with the Gemstart drivers. There is something more going on in his video but there wasn't enough information shown.

First things first, most of the drivers say up to 7.0.1 and he was running 7.1. Also there are drivers for 6 and drivers for 7... and other things. I don't know what he has tried.

I think it was the BlueSCSI I was using, since it did boot from floppy nicely.

 

[Phipli]

I think it was the BlueSCSI I was using, since it did boot from floppy nicely.

Did you try the System Folder from the floppy copied onto the bluescsi? Guessing you did.

Accelerators change the timings of ROM routines, usually it is subsystems like floppy, sound and serial that play up. I haven't seen SCSI problems before, but I don't have a BlueSCSI. The accelerators' ROMs or drivers patch the system to correct the timing issues (but seem to struggle with sound!).

How were you powering the BlueSCSI? Have you done the termination power diode mod, or are you using external power? The SCSI on the Plus is wonky enough that some accelerators provide better, less broken, SCSI implementations.

What versions of the drivers do you have? Have you got GemStart 3.*? I saw the Extreme Systems logo briefly in your video. Generally GemStart 2 is for System 6, and 3 is for 7 and 7.0.1. 7.1 wasn't officially supported. I think the Extreme Systems version supports 7.1.

 

[Bolle]

Confirmed to work in the SE... I'll have to dig out the Plus to test it in there as well.

 

[Phipli]

Confirmed to work in the SE... I'll have to dig out the Plus to test it in there as well.

View attachment 48293

Tempted to separately clock a 50MHz 68882 Bolle?

 

[Bolle]

The Plus doesn’t seem to like it. It looks like the 5V supply can’t keep up. It’s dropping low to around 4.5V which doesn’t seem to be enough to power the accelerator.
Did anyone ever run one of those successfully in a Plus?
I guess most of those accelerators for the Plus and Classic did come with auxiliary power supplies for a reason.