Rare Macintosh Plus with Total Systems Accelerator Board

[fairchild]

Picked this guy today, and was wondering if the hard core enthusiasts here may have any insight as to what the additional ports on the back might be for.  The Machine starts, but at this point I don't have a plus mouse and keyboard anymore to navigate with! Based on my research, the machine probably contains a Total Systems Gemini Accelerator board with 030/020 CPU and potentially additional RAM.  Sometime soon i'll have to open it up!

Cheers,

Mark 

 

[olePigeon]

Whoa, that's one serious accelerator.  The port where the battery used to be is probably SCSI.  The port in the lock is possibly an external video port, but not sure.  Could also be an extra port for an additional mouse (like if you wanted both a mouse and a precision trackball... or if you had a tablet that used the mouse port.)

 

[olePigeon]

Added that sticker to my collection of accelerator badges.

 

[Elfen]

I would agree with OlePigeon on this being a serious make up for a Mac Plus. The port at the battery side looks like a SCSI Port, probably for the accelerator, though the Plus already has SCSI, this would be a faster SCSI. I think the added port is for a graphics tablet of some sort, it is was probably used as a serious CAD system at one time. Too bad you do not have the hard drive it came with back then - who knows what goodies in software it might have had.

 

[Macdrone]

I would guess a floppy port hard disk or scsi hard disk had the excelerator software.  Probably got seperated from the unit since its not complete.  Happens alot.

 

[olePigeon]

Here's the software:

http://vintageapple.org/macdrivers/accel.shtml

 

[fairchild]

Thanks for the info guys! At this point, I am considering selling the unit, because I think some of you would really appreciate it for what it is, and would have the use or need for it.  This plus definitely represents the pinnacle of performance at the time from what I have read.  What I find most interesting about about the old computers are their back stories.  I've had a lot of fun tinkering with Macs, but have to be very selective as to which units I keep due to space restrictions!

 

[Unknown_K]

It would probably be a good idea to open it up carefully and see what is inside, you never know.

 

[olePigeon]

Inside photos would be great.  It'd at least solve the mystery of the port in the lock area.

 

[bitguru]

That's a crazy looking upgrade.

The third image in this ebay auction http://www.ebay.com/itm/221979310109shows an accelerator board marked "TOTAL SYSTEMS" above the mainboard. Do you think yours is the same? The seller calls it a Gemini 20Mhz 68030 accelerator and describes it a bit.

Hey, I have a Mac Plus with a Brainstorm accelerator installed. Is it worth anything? (Some other guy describes this 16MHz 68000 Brainstorm upgrade here: http://goo.gl/nGX2fK )

 

[Macdrone]

Its cool, it could be worth something  if someone were looking for one.

 

[fairchild]

Well, it’s been a couple years and I recently moved and rediscovered this special Mac Plus. Upon opening it, I discovered it not only had the Total Systems Gemini 68030 board laden with 4 additional ram modules, but also some sort of graphics card that connects the DB9 connector on the back of the unit.  This must be one of the most hopped up old macs I’ve ever seen! I didn’t dare take out the boards just yet, as they’re crammed in there also with an additional power supply and fan.

Attached are a few photos for you guys to check out.  

 

[Crutch]

Cool! Couldn’t quite tell what’s going on there, the blue guy is the graphics card? Is it connected to something on the Total Systems accelerator underneath? Did you mean to say it’s connected to that DB25 connector in the battery port (normally that would be for faster external SCSI)? The only DB9 connector on a Mac Plus is the mouse port. 

 

[fairchild]

The db25 in the battery port is a faster scsi bus, and the second db9 above the serial port is what is connected to the graphics card for outputting video.

 

[EvilCapitalist]

Very nice, especially that blue PCB.  Always a treat when you find something other than the standard green or yellowish green in a machine of this age.  The original owner must have really loved that Plus as I'd imagine the accelerator / video board combo cost nearly as much as an entirely new machine back in the day.

 

[Crutch]

Oh I see it now.  Looks like there is a DB9 cable threaded through some (?) opening in the case back.  Interesting.  Do you have an external monitor that works with this?

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

That looks like the same Chassis/PSU combo used for internal HDD installation detailed in another thread. 128K-512Ke didn't have SCSI, the DB-25/Battery Door was standard for SCSI upgrade boards. I've never heard such implementations were any faster than SCSI implemented on the Plus board, does anyone have references on that available? My take would be that the Graphics/SCSI card might be compatible with the pre-Plus series and provides a second bus and not accelerated SCSI performance for the Plus. It might even be slower, benchmarking time. :approve:

edit: can you get the copyright date off the board? I'm sure it pre-dates the SCSI-2 Fast/Narrow spec by a fer piece.

 

[Crutch]

If that is the same Total Systems Gemini accelerator I have hiding under there, it is indeed compatible with pre-Plus Macs and offers them SCSI on board the accelerator (not on the graphics card). I had thought the SCSI port add-on was sold separately as the “Gemkit” and was hyped, at least, as offering faster SCSI for a Plus. Mine at least definitely provides term power, which the native Plus SCSI of course does not, and which is awesome because it allows me to pop a SCSI2SD 5.5 right on there and go, like a tiny little Jasmine Backpac. 

 

[fairchild]

If that is the same Total Systems Gemini accelerator I have hiding under there, it is indeed compatible with pre-Plus Macs and offers them SCSI on board the accelerator (not on the graphics card). I had thought the SCSI port add-on was sold separately as the “Gemkit” and was hyped, at least, as offering faster SCSI for a Plus. Mine at least definitely provides term power, which the native Plus SCSI of course does not, and which is awesome because it allows me to pop a SCSI2SD 5.5 right on there and go, like a tiny little Jasmine Backpac. 

I gathered that it would work with 512k, plus and SE.  The grey ribbon cable that connects to the new scsi port at the battery compartment has marker written on it that states "Ultra Only", so i would assume that it is much faster.  That SCSI2SD device looks pretty cool! Would it work with the standard SCSI port on an SE?

It's a shame that the Plus display is no longer staying on (typical resodder required on the video connector), so i can't test it out with the Gem Start software and the Lapis video card.  I could migrate the setup to an nice SE that i've got.