Mac Clone Software (StarMax, PowerBase etc)

[protocol7]

I never really paid much attention to the clones. Mainly because I've never seen one in the wild. That and most looked pretty ugly.

Anyway, I had a look through a PowerBase install CD earlier out of curiosity and a couple of items caught my eye. The first was a "PC Input" control panel which allowed you to configure a PS/2 keyboard and mouse. Sadly, both copies on the disc were corrupt (bad master I guess). The second was the "Mac OS Licensing Extension". I gather that each of the clone makers had this and it was used to differentiate the licenced Mac OS from the Apple-supplied one. It did this by injecting the clone's brand into the ATM screen.

So this got me wondering about what other interesting tools might have been on the clone install CDs. Anything else PC-centric like the PC Input CP? After scouring around Google for a while I found the last version of the Licensing Extension from the Umax site. While it was quite basic (the Power Computing logo was gone) it did come with an interesting 5-page PDF about the extension.

 

[ClassicHasClass]

I'd like to see that licensing extension. I wonder what fun you can do to the OS with that (or if it's just a branding system).

 

[protocol7]

It's just for branding. One use I did see is being able to change your ATM screen without having to ResEdit the Finder. You can find a couple of copies here. The PDF lists the resources that can be modified.

It would be nice to find any others (and a good copy of the PC Input control panel).

 

[ClassicHasClass]

Good to see such support for those machines from someone who was part of the company.

 

[protocol7]

Yup. I guess there's still quite a few of these clones in use. The company history on the site also makes for interesting reading.

 

[trag]

Good to see such support for those machines from someone who was part of the company.

Kennedy Brandt was an active member of the LowEndMac "SuperMacs" email list while the company was still in business. He dropped off for various reasons. But he came back later when circumstances were different and continued to help out all of us who bought Umax Mac clones. A great guy.