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My White Whale of 90s Apple Software: Macintosh Print Pack

Ajaxermd

Well-known member
I've built up a nice collection of late 80s and 90's Apple boxed software, but one box continues to elude me. (see picture)

The Macintosh Print Pack.
You can see it highlighted in red. This is from a QTVR movie of the Apple Campus store from 1993.
https://www.reddit.com/r/VintageApple/comments/rmhjnz
Does anyone have any information about this product? It was likely an adapter to allow Macs to print on PC printers.
I'd love to get some high quality shots of the box.

5agfsnjzf6781.png
 

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NJRoadfan

Well-known member
Looking at The Apple Catalog from Fall 1993 doesn't have a listing for it. There are a few things in there that indicate that it is a rebranded serial-to-parallel adapter with GDT Softworks PowerPrint drivers. Such as:

-The PowerBook/DOS Companion: Includes a parallel adapter and drivers.
-The Portable StyleWriter: Photo for the product listing shows it with a parallel adapter connected. It's likely that Apple did very little modification of the original Canon BJ-10 it is based on. Usually they swap out the parallel interface for a serial 8-pin miniDIN.

Looking at the pictures of the adapter itself, it is the same unit that came with the PowerPrint software.
 

LaPorta

Well-known member
Ok, wait.....what is the "Macintosh Portable Video Output Card", and the "68060 Upgrade Card"? Are those real?
 

Ajaxermd

Well-known member
Looking at The Apple Catalog from Fall 1993 doesn't have a listing for it. There are a few things in there that indicate that it is a rebranded serial-to-parallel adapter with GDT Softworks PowerPrint drivers. Such as:

-The PowerBook/DOS Companion: Includes a parallel adapter and drivers.
-The Portable StyleWriter: Photo for the product listing shows it with a parallel adapter connected. It's likely that Apple did very little modification of the original Canon BJ-10 it is based on. Usually they swap out the parallel interface for a serial 8-pin miniDIN.

Looking at the pictures of the adapter itself, it is the same unit that came with the PowerPrint software.
Yes, it may be a subset of the Ppwerbook Companion and it definitely contained the GDT parallel adapter. Really want to see the box itself. I’ve been assembling a reproduction of all the boxed software from the Apple Campus Store in 1993.

this is the last box I need. If I can get pictures I can recreate the box in Photoshop.
 

LaPorta

Well-known member
I really did not know that, that’s pretty cool. How about the portable thing? From what I knew, it’s video output built-in port never had its adapter made…so what is that card?
 

Fizzbinn

Well-known member
Yeah, remember Daystar did an upgrade card with the 68060. It was nearly as fast as the 601.

https://www.reddit.com/r/VintageApple/comments/w5mlop
View attachment 64049

Yeah, I have a few of these, they work great. It's a shame Apple never marketed them well due to pressure from IBM. Even the version without the DSP daughtercard is better than the 100Mhz PowerPC Daystar Power 601 upgrade card with 68k apps. It was such a shame when the Illuminati, IBM's Deep Blue, and Colonel Sanders successfully conspired to shutter DayStar Digital in 1996...
 

Ajaxermd

Well-known member
Says in that post it isn’t real!
My apologies! The box itself is actually real, but I made it in Photoshop and had it printed during Covid. Same for the Portable video out card, another item that was never released. If you look carefully on the shelves you’ll also see boxed Pippin Dec Kits, Cyberdog and OpenDoc boxes. Also never made. If you look around on Reddt, I did make boxes for all of them.

i’d love to have a 68060 card, why should the Amiga folks have all the fun!
 

joshc

Well-known member
Ok, wait.....what is the "Macintosh Portable Video Output Card", and the "68060 Upgrade Card"? Are those real?
A Mac Portable video output card did exist, but it wasn't an Apple thing, it was a third party thing and the name of it now alludes me, something Publish, someone on this forum has one.

The 68060 upgrade card is obviously fantasy but Ajaxermd did a nice job of making the box look pretty real.

Back to the original topic...


This one is indeed hard to find any information for. Everything I've found suggests it existed in 1993 alongside the DOS Companion Kit, but it isn't listed in Apple's Product Library from 1993 (accessible via https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/applelink-cd-spring-93-promotional-edition).

It was in Apple's product list from 1995 as:

M7900LL/A Macintosh Print Pack

OK...so there is mention of it in a Macworld September 1993 issue:

Apple’s $219 DOS Companion Kit includes the full PowerPrint package, and the $99.95 Macintosh Print Pack (usually bundled with the Performa) includes a stripped-down version of PowerPrint, which supports fewer printers and lacks a spooler.

Interestingly, the DOS Companion Kit includes the 'full PowerPrint package' whereas the Print Pack did not!

Also from Macworld March 1993:

Print Pack Poilal to PC Printers

FOR A LONG TIME, Mac owners who wanted to take advantage of the big choice and low prices for PC printers had to scout around for third-party adapter products like those from GDT Softworks. Finally Apple has put out its own $99.95 Macintosh Print Pack, which lets Macs print documents on a wide variety of DOS printers. The Print Pack includes cables and printer drivers for most portable and wide-carriage printers that use the DOS-standard Centronics parallel port. The Print Pack supports TrueType, Type 1 PostScript, and bitmapped fonts, as well as PICT and TIFF graphics, portrait or landscape printing, different paper sizes, and enlargement or reduction. The package requires System 7.1; 4MB of RAM are recommended. Apple, 408/996-1010.

—TOM NEGRINO

This does confirm what the Macworld March 1993 issue said, it was Apple's repackage of the GDT stuff - cables and drivers, and it looks like if you wanted a copy of the software itself then "PowerPrint" is what you want to look for.

I still haven't been able to find any good photos of the Print Pack box itself I'm afraid.

GDT Softworks PowerPrint 3.0 is in this 1996 catalog:


But no mention of Apple's Print Pack in that catalog... which makes me think this thing was gone by some point in 1995.

This has also made me realise, wow there isn't a very good archive of MacWarehouse catalogs online, at all. Archive.org have a couple, and VintageApple.org has a few, but it looks like most haven't been scanned at all !

Sorry... I wish I could've turned up more on this, including a better photo of the box. So weird that it was an Apple product but hardly anything exists about it anymore. If anyone has any Macwarehouse catalogs stored away maybe there is something in one of those.
 

MrFahrenheit

Well-known member
Just thinking... might there be something relating to it on one of the several Apple marketing/promotional info CDs you have? I think it should definitely be on various ones from 1993 / 1994.
They’re all on Macintosh Garden. There was often sales sheets and promotional material on them, so it is entirely possible.


 

dougg3

Well-known member
Interesting! Looks like the 10-94 CD 1 has some info in:

Info Center -> Datasheets -> AppleSoft -> Macintosh Print Pack Data Sheet

There's a MacWrite Pro datasheet document as well as an ASCII document. Here's the content of the ASCII doc:

Macintosh Print Pack

When you want to print on wide-carriage or portable printers, the Apple Macintosh Print Pack utility may be all you need. It allows you to print from any Macintosh personal computer on wide-carriage (132-column) printers, and it gives you direct access to a wide range of portable ink-jet and thermal printers.
Regardless of the Macintosh model you use, you can produce large spreadsheets on computer fanfold paper with point-and-click simplicity. And if you work with a Macintosh PowerBook personal computer, you'll especially appreciate how easily you can work with a variety of portable ink-jet and thermal printers when you travel.
Each Macintosh Print Pack utility comes with the hardware and software necessary to connect your Macintosh to hundreds of models of wide-carriage and portable printers that are popular in the MS-DOS/Windows environment. And you'll find that switching between printers is as effortless as attaching a cable and clicking the mouse.
When you print from your Macintosh application, you can expect the finest-possible resolution the printer offers. And in addition to using the printer's font selection, you have the advantage of printing in any style the computer supports, and in any size-from tiny footnotes to bold display headlines.
For added versatility, Macintosh Print Pack software allows you to reduce or enlarge a document when it's printed; adjust the spacing between words on a printed page; and select colors for printing on color-capable DOS printers.

Compatibility
· Popular wide-carriage dot matrix printers that are compatible with Epson FX and Epson LQ standards
· Portable ink-jet and thermal printers that are compatible with Canon BJ-10ex and Kodak Diconix 701 standards
· All Macintosh font formats, including bitmap, TrueType, and Adobe Type 1
· Most Macintosh graphics formats, including bitmap, PICT, and TIFF

Print quality
· The highest resolution available on the printer, up to 360 dots per inch (dpi) for text and graphics

Versatility
· Printing on US letter, US legal, A4, and B5 paper; envelopes; and computer fan-fold paper
· Landscape and portrait formats
· Reduction or enlargements (20% to 400%) in 1% increments
· Color selection for printing on color-capable printers

Ease of use
· Fast, easy installation
· Convenient switching between printers
· High-speed (57.6-kilobyte-per-second) printer connectivity

Technical Specification
Printers supported
· Wide-carriage dot matrix printers that can emulate the Epson LQ standard
· Portable ink-jet and thermal printers that can emulate the Canon BJ-10ex, Kodak Diconix 701, Epson FX, or Epson LQ standard
· 80-column dot matrix printers that can emulate the Epson FX standard
· Some line printers that emulate the Epson FX standard

Ordering Information
Macintosh Print Pack
Order No. M7900LL/A
· Parallel Printer Software disk with four printer drivers and a HyperCard guide to connecting to nearly 500 different printers
· Adapter cable
· User's guide
· System software
· One year of toll-free telephone support
· Limited warranty statement

© 1992 Apple Computer, Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. PowerBook, Print Pack, and TrueType are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Adobe is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated, which may be registered in certain jurisdictions. HyperCard is a registered trademark of Claris Corporation. MS-DOS is a registered trademark, and Windows is a trademark, of Microsoft Corporation. Mention of non-Apple products is for informational purposes and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation. Apple assumes no responsibility with regard to the selection, performance, or use of these products.
November 1992. Product specifications are subject to change without notice. Printed in U.S.A.
L0373LL/A
 

dougg3

Well-known member
I tried my best to convert the MacWrite datasheet to PDF and here's what I ended up with.
 

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