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IIci and (5|6)500 logic...

MidnightCommando

Well-known member
So... It's been a while, guys!

On Tuesday I met Danamania, did a tech trade...

I gave her my SE/30 and Colour Classic (they needed a loving home ...) and got in return that most prized of 68ks ... the IIci! I'm planning to A/UX it up when I get said IIci working, especially now I've put in a 24AC and NuBus Ethernet card :approve:

Also got a 6500/225 logic to repair my 5500 which has been demonstrating incredibly alarming on-boot behaviour ( won't recognise any boot volumes :disapprove: ) ( and after i gave it tasty upgrades too, the ungrateful little thing ) ... We'll see if this fixes things :)

Photo of the IIci to come :)

 

basalgangster

Well-known member
Can't speak for anybody else, but my own attraction to the IIci is because it is a color video-supporting 68030 that can boot into both System 6 and System 7. Are there any others?

 

MidnightCommando

Well-known member
WTF Beachycove, the LC doesn't have a 68030, it has a 68020...

Also the II and IIx don't possess onboard colour video, or onboard video at all, IIRC.

Also I wanted the IIci because it's pretty much the fastest reasonably available Mac II (Mac IIfx is too weird in terms of acquisition, parts, maintenance) ... and not only can it do both System 6 and System 7, but also System 8 (via some hackery) and A/UX (which is my main reason for wanting it) ... pretty sure it's well supported by NetBSD too, including having a colour X server :)

 

beachycove

Well-known member
True enough about the 68030; written in too much haste.

On the video question, you are right also. The IIci and IIsi are the only ones with on-board video of any sort. However, the IIci's on-board video is crap, and so is the IIsi's. The IIfx, which was left in the running, doesn't have any.

There really isn't any System 6 capable machine with really good on-board video, so I just lumped them all together on that score. You're best with a Nubus card with the lot of them.

 

beachycove

Well-known member
The one limitation if you are wanting to run A/UX on the IIci would be that (as I understand it) there is no accelerated video in A/UX. You can, however, still output millions of colours at high resolutions.

In my experience, however, it can help to use a Nubus card from Radius or SuperMac with A/UX for these purposes, as the key combinations that can be used on startup with cards from these manufacturers to force varied resolutions can help the machine to recognize a large monitor. You could try this with the 24AC also, I suppose, as it is essentially a Radius card, isn't it? It may also depend on the monitor in question, but A/UX would give me only 640x480 without this extra (SuperMac-enabled, in my case) "push."

Nowadays I just have my AWS95 hooked up to a 12" B&W, as it mostly only does occasional Appleshare duties and otherwise just sits there looking the part.

 

Trash80toHP_Mini

NIGHT STALKER
While it is true the:

Mac II

IIx

IIcx

IIfx

. . . do not have built in video, they are true Color QuickDraw Machines. The IIfx came AFTER the IIci and even has the IIci's incredibly crappy main system RAM/non-VRAM based Video SubSystem listed in a Pseudo-Slot Address when you look at a TechTool or SlotInfo report on the cards installed in it.

The IIci's ONLY real saving grace was that its Cache Slot was the main point of entry for all kinds of Accelerator Cards for the many thousands of them bought as DTP workstations before the intro of the IIfx. The total cost of a IIci, the tiny color monitor that ran off its Video Port, a TPD Display Card/Monitor (for doing real work) and an '030 accelerator for it. cost far less than the finicky insanely (expensive) fast10k$ IIfx! With the advent of '040 and then PPC upgrades for the IIci, it outstripped the performance of the IIfx and probably had the longest productive lifetime of any Mac ever introduced.

The IIci was also the very first 32bit "clean" Mac. Apple made the folks at Connectix insanely rich by buying their (software patented, ONLY possible software fix for 32 bit addressing) Mode32 product. This was done in order to release it as a freebie for all those who'd bought "dirty ROM" equipped, 24 bit limited, "32 bit" machines from Apple: Mac II, Mac IIx, Mac IIcx & SE/30! Avoiding THAT massive class action suit by a hair's breadth taught Apple to put ROM upgrade slots and, later on, the unimplemented Pads for them into MoBo designs during ROM development and testing for quite a few years.

When the first gen PowerMacs were released they sure had ROM (upgrade?) slots in them! :lol:

 
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