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Interware device software

Franklinstein

Well-known member
Interware is a now-defunct Japanese manufacturer of Macintosh upgrades and accessories, most commonly known to the English-speaking world for their various Vimage-branded G3 upgrades. However, their history in Japan started in the early '90s where they were a provider of not only 68k-era accelerators (sold under the Booster brand) but also high-end video devices, from hardware MPEG encoders and/or decoders to graphics cards, in PDS, NuBus, PCI, or PC Card form.

Unfortunately, since their bankruptcy in the mid-'00s, drivers for their devices have essentially disappeared from the internet at large. Occasionally something will turn up in the Macintosh Repository or Garden, but it's rare. 

Does anybody have or know where to get copies of Interware device drivers? Some of our Japanese friends would probably be in the best position for this, if we have more than one or so. If someone has built a repository somewhere I can help out with software for a number of items (I did manage to get boxed examples of the Goomer MPEG1 encoder and a couple of Grand Vimage NuBus and PCI video cards) but I'm sorely lacking for others, such as the NuBus Video CD decoder card, Vimage graphics PC Card, and PicPom ZV PC Card.

 

Franklinstein

Well-known member
I'm also looking for Nakamich multi-CDROM drive software for Mac. This software may be universal for their entire product line from the MBR-7.4 to the MJ-5.16 and variants. I have about 10 of these various drives and I'd be happy to offer some of them to the community here but they're mostly worthless without the drivers, which look like:

nak cd ch cont.gif

nak cd ch ext.gif

nak cd remote.gif

 

Franklinstein

Well-known member
I managed to find a copy of the Vimage Graphics PC Card v1.1.0 software in a related box for the TV output adapter cable (I assume the software is an update to enable the TV adapter which was lacking in the original version). The card now works great with my 5300ce. Interestingly, though the software's documentation is in Japanese, when installed on a US English version of System 7.6, the Vimage control panel displays all information in English. I checked the same version of the control panel on a Japanese version of OS 9 and all information was output in Japanese. Very cool. I have otherwise yet to see a multi-lingual control panel.

Still missing the PicPom Video Capture PC Card software though; the Vimage software apparently doesn't do anything for it.

 

Alex

Well-known member
I found these on the old interware site.

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000125191540"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 299 Apr  6 08:54]  "~DV CinemaGear.sea.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000520085731"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 299 Apr  6 08:54]  "CinemaGearG3DT.sit.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000520120212"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 300 Apr  6 08:54]  "CinemaGear1.5.3.sit.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000520143306"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 302 Apr  6 08:54]  "PicPomTV_PCI_v1.1.sit.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000526051623"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 300 Apr  6 08:54]  "BOOSTERInfo_120.sit.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000526132342"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 300 Apr  6 08:54]  "BOOSTER6454_121.sit.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000604051733"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 298 Apr  6 08:54]  "BOOSTERv1.2.0.sit.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000604110118"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 299 Apr  6 08:54]  "VIMAGEPCCARD11.sit.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000713002731"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 302 Apr  6 08:54]  "PicPomMPEGPCIv1.2.sit.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000823122116"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 297 Apr  6 08:54]  "CinemaGear2B.sea.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000824040839"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 306 Apr  6 08:54]  "BOOSTERPB_Checker_120.sit.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000824174646"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 300 Apr  6 08:54]  "PicPomFMTV_v101.sit.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000902225346"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 298 Apr  6 08:54]  "BOOSTERPB_210.sit.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000930145519"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

│           └── [ 58K Apr  6 08:54]  "~CinemaGear9600.sit"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000930145526"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

│           └── [ 61K Apr  6 08:54]  "~CinemaGear7300.sea.sit"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000930145534"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

│           └── [ 60K Apr  6 08:54]  "~CinemaGearG3.sit"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000930145542"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

│           └── [175K Apr  6 08:54]  "DiskTest.sea.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000930145549"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

│           └── [ 95K Apr  6 08:54]  "VizItUniversal.sea.sit"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000930145604"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

│           └── [193K Apr  6 08:54]  "MultiPlayer.sea.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20000930220256"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

│           └── [462K Apr  6 08:54]  "CinemaGear2.sit"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20001001084021"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

│           └── [951K Apr  6 08:54]  "PicPomFMTV_v101.sit"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20001011124155"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

│           └── [ 24K Apr  6 08:54]  "BOOSTERv1.2.3.sit"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20001012041103"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

│           └── [1024K Apr  6 08:54]  "MotionCamInstaller.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20001026233647"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

│           └── [ 24K Apr  6 08:54]  "BOOSTERv1.2.0.sit"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20001027232828"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

│           └── [ 13K Apr  6 08:54]  "BOOSTERInfo_120.sit"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20001102104400"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "support"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "CinemaGear"/

│           └── [ 19K Apr  6 08:54]  "jpgi2mjpa.cpt.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20001102222036"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

│           └── [ 38K Apr  6 08:54]  "GrandVimage_v1.3.1b.sit"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20110506015614"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

│           └── [ 51K Apr  6 08:54]  "DVCinemaGear121.sea.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20110506020151"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 50K Apr  6 08:54]  "DVCinemaGear121.sea.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20110601052055"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

│           └── [ 51K Apr  6 08:54]  "BOOSTER6454_110.sit"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20110601053030"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 300 Apr  6 08:54]  "BOOSTER6454_121.sit.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20110601053458"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 50K Apr  6 08:54]  "BOOSTER6454_110.sit.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20110601053655"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 50K Apr  6 08:54]  "VizIt201beta.sit.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20120103114345"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 299 Apr  6 08:54]  "VIMAGEPCCARD11.sit.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20120103114424"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 50K Apr  6 08:54]  "VIMAGEPCCARD2.sea.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20120214041805"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 51K Apr  6 08:54]  "GrandVimage_v1.3.1b.sit.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20120214041846"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

│           └── [ 50K Apr  6 08:54]  "GVimageUpd.sit"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20120214042531"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 50K Apr  6 08:54]  "VideoSystemII.sea.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20120214042723"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "OldSoftware"/

│           └── [ 51K Apr  6 08:54]  "VideoSystem_v1.0.2.sea.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20120214042931"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "OldSoftware"/

│           └── [ 51K Apr  6 08:54]  "PowerVideo_v1.1.4.sea.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20120301164434"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [ 298 Apr  6 08:54]  "BOOSTERv1.2.0.sit.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20120421191549"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "old"/

│           └── [ 51K Apr  6 08:54]  "VideoSystem_v1.0.2.sea.hqx"

├── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20121125173007"/

│   └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

│       └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

│           └── [ 51K Apr  6 08:54]  "BOOSTERPB_210.sit"

└── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "20130702144500"/

    └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "update"/

        └── [  96 Apr  6 08:54]  "dl"/

            └── [ 51K Apr  6 08:54]  "VIMAGEPCCARD11.sit"

 

Alex

Well-known member
This was also one of the old interware sites, http://www.iijnet.or.jp/interware

So I got these. On first glance they appear to be the same. 

└── [ 832 Apr  6 09:14]  "interware_IA"/

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "19981202152823"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 20K Apr  6 09:14]  "BOOSTERPBv1.1.0.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "19981206160917"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 33K Apr  6 09:14]  "BOOSTERv1.2.0.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "19981206232438"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "support"/

    │           └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "CinemaGear"/

    │               └── [ 19K Apr  6 09:14]  "jpgi2mjpa.cpt.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "19990423223532"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 236 Apr  6 09:14]  "BOOSTER750_110b3.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "19990505193457"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 17K Apr  6 09:14]  "BOOSTER6454_102.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "19990902052211"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 234 Apr  6 09:14]  "~DV CinemaGear.sea.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "19990902060622"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 235 Apr  6 09:14]  "DVCinemaGear121.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "19990902065113"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 239 Apr  6 09:14]  "GrandVimage_v1.3.1b.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "19990902082820"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 236 Apr  6 09:14]  "PicPomTV_PCI2_BW.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "19990902091046"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 234 Apr  6 09:14]  "VizItUniversal.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "19991004110515"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 235 Apr  6 09:14]  "BOOSTER6454_102.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "19991004130605"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 241 Apr  6 09:14]  "BOOSTERPB_Checker_101.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "20000115143606"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 238 Apr  6 09:14]  "VIMAGEPCCARD2_Beta.sea.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "20000422154450"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 232 Apr  6 09:14]  "CinemaGearG3.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "20000516142125"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 232 Apr  6 09:14]  "DVCinemaGear.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "20000709101846"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 235 Apr  6 09:14]  "BOOSTERInfo_110.sea.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "20001101163120"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 235 Apr  6 09:14]  "BOOSTERPBv1.1.0.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "20001101174533"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 243 Apr  6 09:14]  "GrandVimage17DUv1.4.1b2.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "20051224143146"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 242 Apr  6 09:14]  "GrandVimage17DUv1.4.1b2.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "20130204044738"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 237 Apr  6 09:14]  "VIMAGEPCCARD11.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "20130310104902"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 246 Apr  6 09:14]  "GrandVimage17DUv1.4.1b2.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "20130310111855"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 239 Apr  6 09:14]  "BOOSTER750_110b3.sit.hqx"

    ├── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "20130630042601"/

    │   └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

    │       └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

    │           └── [ 232 Apr  6 09:14]  "GVMM-VDIG.sit.hqx"

    └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "20130630042737"/

        └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "Interware"/

            └── [  96 Apr  6 09:14]  "update"/

                └── [ 234 Apr  6 09:14]  "VizItManual.sit.hqx"

 

Alex

Well-known member
It turns out that the Japanese in the following quote means "Interware" --> インタウェア ・PicPom 

So I did a google image search just to be sure and it looks promising. I should be able to now do another search on the waybackmachine using "インタウェア" or some variation of "インタウェア ・PicPom" to dig deeper. If I find something I'll get back but I will likely be scraping sites and download whatever gets pulled down as I take steps along my 'investigation' as it were.

 

nickpunt

Well-known member
インタウェア is katakana (Japanese loan word characters) for “interware” since that’s a compound loan word from English (inter + ware). Phonetically “intauēa”. Could be fruitful to use the katakana in search tho.  There’s a few members based in Japan like jdw who might be able to help with leads or have some connection to what’s going on there (my Japanese is pretty bad)

 

Alex

Well-known member
Not sure if this page is helpful but if you install a google translator into your browser it will translate inline. It's titled, Compatibility with G3MT series and video card Picpom but it has software screenshots and if translated it could provide you some context. Sorry if it's not helpful.

 

Franklinstein

Well-known member
That's pretty impressive. Do any files actually come through? If so it looks like you found a good number of files. I didn't see anything that looks like software for the MPG-1B/Video CD Player NB (ビデオCD プレイヤ NB) board but if I could get copies of all of these files then I could maybe test them to see if one (probably Video System or Power Video) works with it. 

The CinemaGear software would be awesome if it works. The card is probably the only one I've seen that actually uses the DAV connector in the 75/76/8500 machines. 

 

Alex

Well-known member
Those are all on my HD as I write this.

I will make them available in a little bit, I will probably just use google drive to make it easier, not in front of the main mac right now.

 

Alex

Well-known member
Sadly true. They must be around somewhere. I did download that site anyway, it's on the FTP server I gave you access to. The are in "Downloads/ Maybe Nakamichi?/page.sannet.ne.jp_IA". Feel free to download it.

 

Franklinstein

Well-known member
That looks like a rebranded Nak MBR-7.4 mechanism. I didn't see any Mac drivers mentioned from Mountain, though. Could be worth a bit of searching. 

Unfortunately all of the Interware stuff you gleaned from their defunct pages seems to have been only names and/or pointers to software; no software is in either of those downloads. 

 
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