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Mac IIvx questions
- Thread starter maditgeek
- Start date
cheesestraws
Well-known member
The Quadra will have built-in Ethernet, though you'll need an AAUI dongle to use it. The Quadra's onboard Ethernet is pretty good, while combo RJ45/coax NuBus cards can be touchy, so I'd be inclined to go with it.
Yes, it has 8 chips soldered on.
jessenator
Well-known member
In that case, @maditgeek see my PM for an option with that listing link I sent.
Edit: an additional point on the Centris: IME, auto-inject floppy drives are much easier to maintain, if that's something you'll use, vs something like a BMOW FloppyEmu device.
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MrFahrenheit
Well-known member
The DSP chip was only utilitized for video input/out operations, and the speech recognition. I don't believe it ever served any other purpose.
Solvalou
Well-known member
As @cheesestraws said, I probably would have opted for the 660 too given the choice.
I do actually have the Quadra 650 and it's a friggin' beast with it's PDS 100Mhz 601 and 24-Bit video card fitted! Has great expandability and far more modular for parts since a variety of machines shared it's form factor (Eg: IIvx and 7100).
Better still, I can reboot it into 040 mode, if I need to run anything strictly 68K.
I think the 660AV has that funny adapter on the end of the board that can only use one expansion card, or nothing at all if it's that "DOS compatible card" installed. Still a cool machine though especially if you don't intend to expand it much, but be careful not to snap them big clips that release the lid!
As for the onboard Ethernet via a dongle, I'm not certain but it may have only been optional for the Centris like @cheesestraws said. I remember having a Centris 650 some years ago and it definitely had some (RAM) chips that were missing, possibly that Ethernet port too.
If it is fitted, it is virtually plug and play from my experience with that dongle. I've had no such luck with any Farallon or Asanté cards so far on my current network setup.
I'm very hopeful your 660AV (being a Quadra varient) will have it fitted which is definitely a big plus.
Hopefully you have some good times with it regardless. Be sure to share some pictures of that too.
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cheesestraws
Well-known member
My Centris 650 board does not have built-in Ethernet. It was definitely optional on those models. I think all Quadræ had onboard Ethernet.
Solvalou
Well-known member
I definitely concur with that. I wish I could remember for sure if mine did or not.
I sold it since I didn't feel there was much point having both machines.
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Solvalou
Well-known member
That's the one, near the centre, next to the SCSI port. Finding the dongle might not be so easy, but be patient and a reasonable prices one should crop up soon enough.
cheesestraws
Well-known member
That's it! The adapters aren't really rare or expensive, just keep an eye and one should turn up affordably in a reasonably short amount of time
.
bigD
Well-known member
I think the GeoPort telephony stuff made use of the DSP as well. The only other thing I remember seeing was a fractal application that (I believe) came with the DSP development tools - it had all the source code with it too. Interesting stuff, but I remember it being well beyond my meager programming ability!
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Yes, the 660/840 DSP did also see use for GeoPort.
In theory, the DSP was usable generally, but to my knowledge, no other programs ever used it. (Edit: Whoops, BigD already mentioned that, and that there's samples and everything.)
Just by way of fun historical sidenote:
W/re IIvx and Performa speed, they were roughly half the speed of a IIci when they were new, owing mostly to the bus. MacWorld did a review of the Performa 600 in late 1992 and it got a fairly good result, they were happy with it even though it was slower than the IIci, mostly because they saw it as a fairly good value for money and a reasonably good way for Apple to expand the potential Mac user base.
Plus, in 1992, the Quadra 700 and 900 had started to exist and if you needed ultimate performance in that moment, you could go buy one of those.
I had a Performa 600 as a kid and it was thoroughly "fine" -- basically just as beachycove said. It ran 7.1 fine, I think I played a little bit of SimCity 2000 on it, but this was in the early 2000s and so I also had an 840av, iMac/233 and a Performa 578 (which I think had been upped to a full 040) all laying around and so that machine didn't really hold a special functional place at the time, especially without networking and without, at the time, a whole lot of need for a super-basic productivity machine.
The 600 has the distinction versus the IIci of, of course, having its own VRAM, and if you have the VRAM add-on it'll do 640x480 at thousands of colors, which, for what I imagine Apple thought the machine would be doing at the time (CD-ROM edutainment, Bookshelf/Encarta types of stuff, things that already ran fine on the original LC, basically) would be a benefit over most of the other Macs at the time.
Anyway, the other thing is basically "when are those games from?" and "can you find a system a little closer to that era" and a 660 would be a great system a bit closer to that era, and by my recollections, 660s accelerate to faster '040 speeds fine if you wanted to put a faster '040 in and chip it, although the 650 is slightly more flexible on that front, so choosing a Quadra is getting onto another plane of existence from any '030 Mac and then choosing among the Quadras and what acceleration/add-ons you want is mostly a matter of choosing what things are your priority within that realm.
In theory, the DSP was usable generally, but to my knowledge, no other programs ever used it. (Edit: Whoops, BigD already mentioned that, and that there's samples and everything.)
Just by way of fun historical sidenote:
W/re IIvx and Performa speed, they were roughly half the speed of a IIci when they were new, owing mostly to the bus. MacWorld did a review of the Performa 600 in late 1992 and it got a fairly good result, they were happy with it even though it was slower than the IIci, mostly because they saw it as a fairly good value for money and a reasonably good way for Apple to expand the potential Mac user base.
Plus, in 1992, the Quadra 700 and 900 had started to exist and if you needed ultimate performance in that moment, you could go buy one of those.
I had a Performa 600 as a kid and it was thoroughly "fine" -- basically just as beachycove said. It ran 7.1 fine, I think I played a little bit of SimCity 2000 on it, but this was in the early 2000s and so I also had an 840av, iMac/233 and a Performa 578 (which I think had been upped to a full 040) all laying around and so that machine didn't really hold a special functional place at the time, especially without networking and without, at the time, a whole lot of need for a super-basic productivity machine.
The 600 has the distinction versus the IIci of, of course, having its own VRAM, and if you have the VRAM add-on it'll do 640x480 at thousands of colors, which, for what I imagine Apple thought the machine would be doing at the time (CD-ROM edutainment, Bookshelf/Encarta types of stuff, things that already ran fine on the original LC, basically) would be a benefit over most of the other Macs at the time.
Anyway, the other thing is basically "when are those games from?" and "can you find a system a little closer to that era" and a 660 would be a great system a bit closer to that era, and by my recollections, 660s accelerate to faster '040 speeds fine if you wanted to put a faster '040 in and chip it, although the 650 is slightly more flexible on that front, so choosing a Quadra is getting onto another plane of existence from any '030 Mac and then choosing among the Quadras and what acceleration/add-ons you want is mostly a matter of choosing what things are your priority within that realm.
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beachycove
Well-known member
Search James Wong AV Macs FAQ for DSP info.
There used to be a list of DSP-aware software. It was used for sound recording as well as the things noted already. Not sure whether it was used for playing a CD or the like, but it was almost certainly used to make them.
There used to be a list of DSP-aware software. It was used for sound recording as well as the things noted already. Not sure whether it was used for playing a CD or the like, but it was almost certainly used to make them.
jessenator
Well-known member
Yes. It requires its own (and 610 used the same) right-angle connector for things like the Houdini II DOS compatibility card, and maybe other cards as well. There might have been a NuBus adapter for it... but I might be conflating that with the IIsi's PDS-to-NuBus arrangement. It's a different connector, physically, from the other Quadra style PDS slot where the said DOS card goes, as well as the hens-teeth 040 cache card, PowerPC upgrade card, and perhaps a few other items of esotery.
beachycove
Well-known member
Nope, afraid not, the 610 adapter is not the same as the one for the 660av (and the 6100 adapter is different again). The 660av angle adapter includes a DAV slot connector, and as I remember it (I used to have one of each), the PDS slot itself is also configured differently in the two machines.
My 610 adapter was sold on here years ago; the unobtanium 660av Nubus adapter will be going on eBay soon. Just saying....
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