Levco / SuperMac Prodigy SE accelerator and utility

[clh333]

About a year ago I bought - on eBay - a Prodigy SE accelerator board, which I intended to plug into the processor expansion slot on my SE which has a SuperDrive.  Not knowing much about compact Macs or anything about the board, I put it in a drawer for safekeeping until I was ready.  Recently I finished going over the SE (memory upgrade from 1 Mb to 4 Mb, fresh battery, clean the drive etc.) and I thought about installing the Prodigy board.  I dug out the board and the manual, which referred to a software utility disk.  I looked on line for the utility but no one has a copy. So I checked around here and found that I have the disk, too.

I don't want to screw this up:  I haven't stuck the disk in any drive yet nor have I attached the Prodigy board to the SE.  I'd appreciate some guidance on how to create a viable copy of the utility disk that others can reference and so that I have a backup of my own.  Yes, I know about Apple's DiskCopy; the question is about creating something that can be uploaded and downloaded without corruption.

Apparently the Prodigy board has its own RAM, one Mb from what I can see on this one, but can't use the SE's logic-board RAM without a helper application from Connectix.  Again, new territory for me; any guidance in locating and installing the proper utility will be appreciated.

Thanks for your replies.

-CH-

 

[Bolle]

DiskCopy will be fine for imaging the disk. Just be sure to convert the resulting image to binary before moving it onto a modern machine and uploading it.

Binhex 4.0 will work for that.

 

[clh333]

Thank you for your reply.  A copy of the software and user guide are now on Macintosh Repository.  Presently I will add the board to the SE I just finished updating and see what happens.

-CH-

 

[Bolle]

Most accelerators do just work without any software, however using the appropriate software will let you enable/disable certain features (caches, extra RAM, RAMdisks, etc...)

Install the accelerator in the SE at first and see if it still boots. Then install the driver software and see if it still boots and the software does what it should.

Afterwards see if you can get Connectix Compact Virtual to work. The 1MB accelerator RAM might limit it from actually being useful though because most of the time CV won't let you mix accelerator and onboard RAM.

There's also no easy way to see if it's using onboard RAM or the accelerator RAM sometimes. I like to run benchmarks to see what memory setting makes it run the fastest.

 

[ArmorAlley]

Thank you for your reply.  A copy of the software and user guide are now on Macintosh Repository.  Presently I will add the board to the SE I just finished updating and see what happens.

-CH-

Hi CH,

 It's much more efficient to upload it to the Macintosh Garden. The person running the Mac Repository scrapes the Mac Garden and so it will appear there anyway, complete with word-for-word text.

 I shouldn't complain about the Mac Repository. I'm happy that it's there and it has helped me a few times. It's just that the manner of the operation grates.

aa.

 

[LaPorta]

I personally keep my own library on my home server RAID drive. You never know when the web won't be there...

 

[clh333]

Hi CH,

 It's much more efficient to upload it to the Macintosh Garden. The person running the Mac Repository scrapes the Mac Garden and so it will appear there anyway, complete with word-for-word text.

 I shouldn't complain about the Mac Repository. I'm happy that it's there and it has helped me a few times. It's just that the manner of the operation grates.

aa.

I've used both and been grateful for their help.  When I dug out the board I found the manual and an installation guide with it in the foil bag.  The manual made mention of the software and my first thought was that I needed to find it somewhere.  I checked the Garden and then the MR, where I found someone had posted the contents of the Rev C ROM but nothing more.  Eventually I had the bright idea to look in my OEM floppy collection, where I found the Prodigy disk.  Copying and posting the items was my way of saying "thanks" for others who have helped me.  I don't do it very often and in this instance it was a pain in the @$$.  But I'll be conscious of the prevailing winds next time.

Thanks for your reply.

-CH-

 

[clh333]

Most accelerators do just work without any software, however using the appropriate software will let you enable/disable certain features (caches, extra RAM, RAMdisks, etc...)

Install the accelerator in the SE at first and see if it still boots. Then install the driver software and see if it still boots and the software does what it should.

Afterwards see if you can get Connectix Compact Virtual to work. The 1MB accelerator RAM might limit it from actually being useful though because most of the time CV won't let you mix accelerator and onboard RAM.

There's also no easy way to see if it's using onboard RAM or the accelerator RAM sometimes. I like to run benchmarks to see what memory setting makes it run the fastest.

Thank you for your suggestions.  Yesterday I added the board to the SE logic board and fitted the sandwich back into the chassis.  I was a little apprehensive as the Prodigy board, even with standoffs, sits right on the SIMMs and the other end is dangerously close to both the toroids and the chassis. 

But I got everything back in place and hit the power switch.  I got the chime, a Prodigy SE splash below a smiling Mac with fangs, and then the message that OS 7.1 needed more memory to start.  At that point I couldn't do anything other than shut down.  The manual mentioned that the board always tries to take control on boot but can be defeated by holding the interrupt and pressing the restart buttons so I managed to recover control on the next boot.  I could boot from a 6.0.8 floppy but then the Prodigy board could not assume control.  I will either have to modify the board to add more memory - if I can find it - or revert to booting 6.0.8 from the HD.  I haven't tried running Prodigy's proprietary software yet for obvious reasons.

The Prodigy board has been wave-soldered; there are spare holes on the board for another 1 Mb of RAM but there are hundreds of holes that would have to be opened and then filled again to bring it into 7.1 spec.  For now I'm just letting the board burn in; in a day or so I'll make up my mind how to handle the rest.

Thanks again,

-CH-

 

[clh333]

I swapped the HD for one that had been initialized with OS 6.0.8.  The machine booted to the Prodigy board and ran - faster, but stably.  The System Index produced by the diagnostic utility says the board is 3.5 times the speed of a standard SE.

Unfortunately there isn't a lot of RAM for other programs.  I haven't added the Prodigy driver yet or experimented with Connectix software.

Here are some picture of the board: in-chassis, on top of logic board, and close-up of chips and memory.

 

[Big Ben]

Hello!

I recently got a Levco upgraded SE and decided to dig into it.

I've done some digging into the board ROM and found few things. For exemple you can start the on-board self-test with the interrupt button and the following command:

G 600056

But will focus on the RAM upgrade since it's the most usefull part for now. I bought a 68851 and plugged it into the Prodigy board in place of the BMMU (the not-a-chip with the levco or supermac sticker on it).

This will allow me to upgrade the RAM up to 32MB, but this mean I should build my own memory board. I've got some reverse-engineering to do!

The only part worrying me is the manual that indicates RAM upgrade need also a PAL and array chip upgrade.

 

[clh333]

Hello!

I recently got a Levco upgraded SE and decided to dig into it.

I've done some digging into the board ROM and found few things. For exemple you can start the on-board self-test with the interrupt button and the following command:

G 600056

But will focus on the RAM upgrade since it's the most usefull part for now. I bought a 68851 and plugged it into the Prodigy board in place of the BMMU (the not-a-chip with the levco or supermac sticker on it).

This will allow me to upgrade the RAM up to 32MB, but this mean I should build my own memory board. I've got some reverse-engineering to do!

The only part worrying me is the manual that indicates RAM upgrade need also a PAL and array chip upgrade.

Thank you for your post and the tip about G 600056.  

I too have acquired the 68851 and will be adding it to the Prodigy board.  I have already added the Prodigy utility software and accessed their control panel.  I have not attempted to use the Connectix software since I believe -from what I read - it depends on the presence of a 68851.  I guess I'll find out the hard way.

The lack of RAM on the Prodigy board is the biggest limitation at the moment.  When you refer to "the manual" are you referring to Prodigy SE User's Manual, P. 21, "Optional Features"?  In my copy of the manual the text states: "When it becomes available, the 68851 will allow the Prodigy SE board to utilize RAM configurations of 8, 16 and 32 megabytes."  At the time that was written (1987) apparently the 68851 was not yet released to the public. 

I don't know if any of the memory expansion boards were ever released, and if so in what capacity; I've never seen or heard of one.  And I don't have any schematics, alas.  But I wish you well with reverse engineering the memory expansion port.  In my view that would be a great achievement.

-CH-

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

View attachment 26032

Those interboard connectors(?) stick out like two sore thumbs to me. Could you buzz the connections to see if they're a continuation of the memory bus with lines (they'd be CAS and RAS) not connected to the rows of ZIP RAM? There's not a lot of overhead available, but it looks to me as if the board might be laid out to have another one inverted above it with the ZIP ICs pointing down in between the ones on your RAM board. Measure the spacing to see if that might work? Very curious.

edit: pics of the solder side of the memory card, the logic board underneath and the connectors would be much appreciated.

 

[Big Ben]

pics of the solder side of the memory card, the logic board underneath and the connectors would be much appreciated.

I've planned to take some high-res pictures of my board this week-end.

The lack of RAM on the Prodigy board is the biggest limitation at the moment.  When you refer to "the manual" are you referring to Prodigy SE User's Manual, P. 21, "Optional Features"?  In my copy of the manual the text states: "When it becomes available, the 68851 will allow the Prodigy SE board to utilize RAM configurations of 8, 16 and 32 megabytes."  At the time that was written (1987) apparently the 68851 was not yet released to the public.

Yes, last paragraph of the "Prodigy RAM modules" section.

Note that PALs and gate-array are OTP (one-time programming) so if it's mandatory to upgrade them we'll need new-old stock or replacement, and of course the actual logic implemented.

First step is to provide at least the ability for everyone to upgrade to 4MB. Then develop some open source alternative tools for the prodigy more System 7 friendly, and even some customization tools.

 

[MacOSMonkey]

I also have a Rev C Prodigy SE board that has a Rev A 4mb RAM daughter card. The RAM card uses 32 1Mx1 18-pin PDIP DRAM. I would be happy to compare notes. I would also like to compare part labels - we might find out some interesting info. In addition, I have v1.29 of the RAMDisk app. However, both 1.28 and 1.29 crash on my board when I try to launch them. Are either of you able to get the RAMDisk to work? Otherwise, there is a Test App that will auto-launch into test mode (instead of entering the code). I originally used a 4 or 8mb Prodigy SE in 1988 that was fully populated with OKI zip RAM, as I recall. Anyway - my card is 4mb, but using DIP.

 

[MacOSMonkey]

Here are the basics for my board:
U3 ROM ID: 1002813-2001B (3.0B)
U13 Gate Array: 1002812-1B
U26 PAL: 1002809-1B
U27 PAL: 1002806-1A
Board Rev: C
RAM Card Rev: A
RAM Card Size: 4Mb (specifically labeled)
PMMU: Yes
S/N: 1974167
Status: Working

By comparing S/N and parts, we may be able to figure out if there are time-related production changes in the PALs and Gate Arrays. The Zip RAM and Rev B daughter card obviously came later.

 

[Big Ben]

Thanks for share all this information.
My SE is in the store since I discovered the Prodigy was not compatible with Super Drive. I will pull and get more information about my board.

Also my board doesn’t boot on cold boot, it sad mac and I need to reset it…

Is your Mac SE equipped with super drive ROMs? Or are you stuck like me with 800k drives?

 

[MacOSMonkey]

Great! Thanks - very interested to see what parts #s are on your board. My SE is an 800K/older ROM SE and is compatible. The reason for the problem is that the ProdigySE incorporates/loads/remaps the older ROMs (and, therefore, can theoretically provide memory expansion up to 32mb). So, in an FDHD SE, the drives will be limited to 800K unless you disable the Prodigy at startup - a known problem since 1989-90. If you get a sad mac at startup, it may be a RAM error/failure.

 

[MacOSMonkey]

The point in my last message about the MacSE ROMs is that Prodigy SE pre-dated the new ROMs with FDHD support and never got an update after the fact.

 

[joshc]

This is an interesting board. I picked one up with an SE recently.





Does anyone have the sound patch for the Prodigy? This old comp.sys.mac post from 1988 mentions a sound patch did exist. Currently I have either no sound or very intermittment sound on mine.

Prodigy SE

groups.google.com

I have the Prodigy control panel installed but it hasn't helped resolve my sound issues.

I've done some digging into the board ROM and found few things. For exemple you can start the on-board self-test with the interrupt button and the following command:

G 600056

I've tried this with MacsBug installed under System 6.0.8 and I get an error when entering that command, perhaps I'm doing something wrong.

Another issue... I cannot disable my Prodigy by using the Interrupt/Reset button trick, not sure why it won't work for me as the manual and various online posts suggest it should.

Furthermore, I cannot run the test application as it complains I'm using MultiFinder when I'm not... Perhaps I'll have to try with an even older system software than System 6 to get this SE test application working?



I also tried the Prodigy RAMDisk application and it said I don't have enough RAM...



I originally thought my board had 16MB RAM but it lacks the 68851 PMMU and only 2MB is recognised by the system so I'm going to assume it has just 2MB.

It kinda feels like my Prodigy is a bit of a paper weight until I find a 68851 for it; that would at least allow Compact Virtual to work with it I think. The lack of sound is a show stopper too, as I wanted a SE to play some of the original B&W games that either don't like System 7 or don't run well on a 68030 Mac, so for the time being I may just use my SE without its Prodigy board.

 

[joshc]

Tried the Prodigy SE test program on an earlier system software version and I get a system bomb error