Macintosh ED Addendum

[BadGoldEagle]

Hey guys 

Today I received a very special manual from Holland. It's the Macintosh ED Addendum.

It's quite rare. Just type 'Macintosh ED Addendum' on 'the google' and you'll see what I mean. 

To the best of my knowledge it is the only manual with the Bicycle prototype logo (aka Mac University Consortium logo).

For those of you who don't understand what I'm on about, read this.

More about the ED: It was made for the education market, hence the name. In Europe, you can find them in Holland, and that's it. Apparently, some were sold to a handful of colleges in the US too. It was based on the 512ke (or 512k/800 as it's sometimes referred to), and came in two flavours: From 1985 to 1986, the M0001D looked just like a standard 512k. In 1987, Apple introduced a revised design, it looked a lot more like a Plus.

   OR 

Why is this Addendum interesting though? Well, this little manual contains some very important information about the ED.

Until now, we couldn't know for sure if the 1987 edition was beige or platinum (The Plus got the Platinum treatment in '87). Some people argued it couldn't possibly be Platinum, as it would have required a brand new platinum rear bucket, which would have been way too expensive to produce. Remember, this Mac was discontinued in September 87, a mere 6 months after its facelift.

But look what we have here:



It's in dutch, so here's a rough translation (from Google Translate):

This Macintosh ED Addendum describes the differences between the Macintosh ED and the Macinotsh Plus, of which you have the User's Guide. A brief description of the most up to date Apple Macintosh programs is also provided. This information is not included in the Macintosh Plus User's Guide.

The main differences between Macinotsh Plus and Macintosh ED are:
-The color: The pictures in your User's Guide show a beige housing. Your computer has a gray case.
-The memory: Your Macinotsh HD has 512 Kilobytes of internal memory. The Macintosh Plus manual has about 1 Megabyte.
-The SCSI port: The Macintosh Plus has a special connector on the back for connecting SCSI peripherals. On your Macintosh ED, no SCSI peripherals can be connected.
-The System Software: your Macintosh ED comes with the most up to date system software. Between the Macintosh Plus manual and the Macintosh ED, there are various changes and improvements made in the System Software. As a result, the images in the User's Guide may differ from what you see on your screen. (This applies especially to the "Chooser" desk accessory. In the manual, it is indicated by "Select Printer." The "Control Panel" has also been changed.)

So now we know for sure. The 1987 Macintosh ED isn't beige, it's Platinum.

And interestingly enough, it shipped with the beige Mac Plus manual, which is weird, because it's not as sophisticated as the Plus and it's basically a 512Ke in a fancy suit...

 

[Gorgonops]

Weird.

It's sort of odd, given they produced it late enough to revise the case, that they never added an Appletalk netboot capability to the ED. The IIgs has it, and it's sort of a no brainer that it would be handy in an educational environment. They could have spun a special version of the Plus/512ke ROM that replaced the SCSI driver with the netboot code!

 

[unity]

I thought it was already figured the rear bucket was probably produced in platinum. (not sure why anyone would say it would cost too much, its just a plastic change) The only things not platinum were the original faceplates and keyboards from the 128/512. No one has found the original faceplate in platinum. So the 512k ED would have a Plus face (In either color), 512k rear bucket (In either color) and it would not say Macintosh ED on the face. Only the Plus version of the ED had the face stamp. At least that my understanding.

With that said. People need to produce samples and manuals are not alway 100% right. I don't think I have seen a 512k ED properly color sampled at platinum yet. But the best way seems to be with the serial label as they are not prone to color shift.

 

[mactjaap]

Great find!

Macintosh ED are quite common in the Netherlands. I even aranged one for a fellow forum member in the USA, because they are quite rare over there.

I have two. One acquired quite recently, but not working. Has a nice DOVE logo on it. 

https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/31036-macintosh-ed-dove-enhanced/

About the manual.... could I ask for a (huge) favour? Could you make a PDF out of it? Dutch is my native language, so I would really like to read it!

 

[BadGoldEagle]

@ unity: Well now we're extra sure.  |)

@ mactjaap: Sure, I can do that! I've scanned the Hyperdrive manual a couple months ago and it was a lot thicker! But can I ask for one in return? I live in France and I've been to the Nederlands only once (I brought back a souvenir. No that's not the kind of souvenir tourists usually bring back from there...). I'm thinking about visiting Delft next time. If there's a good ED that pops up on marktplaats or eBay, would you mind if I ask the seller to ship it to you (only if I can't come to pick it up directly)? There's quite a demand for these machines apparently and they often go fast or people don't want to bother with international shipping for these large items. I don't get that much holidays (3 days in December, that's it...) but I could come and pick it up on a Saturday for example.

IF my schedule allows it though, I'll go pick it up directly from the seller, I ask you this just in case he or she doesn't want to wait.

 

[mactjaap]

Thanks for the scan in advance!

And yes. I will help you. I live only 45 minutes by car from Delft. And I'm watching Marktplaats anyway. So if a nice ED pops up I will let you know. If I have to do a not to far pickup I will do that to. Nice if I can help you to!

 

[BadGoldEagle]

Thanks mate! Awesome. 

As promised, here's the manual: http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/macintosh-ed-addendum-manual-only-dutch

Enjoy. 

 

[mactjaap]

Thanks for the PDF. What a lot of scan work. I really appreciate this!

 

[mactjaap]

Very nice to read this adddendum. So one of my ED's is also pimped. It has a DOVE board to dubble it memory and a SCSI port.

I always thougt that an ED was always a kind of Plus.

 

[panman_gr]

This is my own 512k ED, bought new in Athens in 1987, even the floppy protector is original:

(M0001D, platinum, with ED lettering, rear 512k bucket, front Plus faceplate)

Price was 215.000 drachmas, that's about 3900 euros adjusted for (huge 1987-2000) inflation.

...and a bonus 6128 as I couldn't find a Mac-only picture [ ]