Snuci's Finds...

[snuci]

I say keep that 1M/SCSI upgraded baby the way it is. It's an historical time slice, a powerhouse back at the dawn of DTP.

While I do like to keep my stuff original and restored back to factory specs, my original intent was to restore it back to it's original form.  this one is a time capsule and tells a story. As unity mentions, i can just put in an original board if I want to do that but I have decided to keep it as is.  This is a time capsule from 1987 which depicts a Mac 128k being upgraded to a Mac Plus which just came out the year before.  I imagine this would have been a costly upgrade.  

Two things to note:  It looks like the original RAM chips were replaced but not socketed because of the clearance issues with the daughterboard on top.  You wouldn't have been able to slide out the motherboard with that extra socket width.  This also still had the battery in it (with some corrosion) behind the Centronics connector.  The Centroics connector was placed in such a way that it could be taken out with no damage.      

I agree.  It stays as is. I'll see what I can do to find this upgrade in old magazines.  

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

edit: dang page break! :

While I do like to keep my stuff original and restored back to factory specs, my original intent was to restore it back to it's original form.  this one is a time capsule and tells a story. As unity mentions, i can just put in an original board if I want to do that but I have decided to keep it as is.  This is a time capsule from 1987 which depicts a Mac 128k being upgraded to a Mac Plus which just came out the year before.  I imagine this would have been a costly upgrade

________________________________________

Since you've got such a great example of a workstation from the dawn of DTP, let's put it into perspective. Here's a developmental timeline surrounding it's probable upgrade history:

I've fleshed this out using quotes from Wikipedia articles, the first section is devoted to the Applications used in DTP, but it was rapid hardware development that drove this software development. Enabled by the Postscript Design Language developed by Adobe's founders John Warnock and Charles Geschke (from Xerox PARC) a sea change in traditional typesetting and artwork production for print media took place.

The last quote is about the LaserWriter and how information about its development spawned the software of the DTP revolution.

Aldus Pagemaker 1.0 was released in July 1985 for the Macintosh and in December 1986 for the IBM PC.[6][7]Aldus Pagemaker 1.2 for Macintosh was released in 1986 and added support for PostScript fonts built into LaserWriter Plus or downloaded to the memory of other output devices. [8] PageMaker was awarded an SPA Excellence in Software Award for Best New Use of a Computer in 1986.

At this point, your 128K was already in use, well before the Plus became available, possibly having had its 512K memory upgrade professionally done even before the release of the 512K. The LaserWriter and Aldus Pagemaker were announced the same day, lighting the fuse of the DTP explosion.

Fontographer, developed by von Ehr for the Mac and released in January 1986 —before Adobe Illustrator— was the first commercially available Bézier curve editing software for a personal computer.[3][4] High quality fonts in the PostScript format could be developed for a fraction of the cost of all other existing methods (URW’s Ikarus required systems costing over $100,000[5]), leading to what has been called “the democratization of type design”:[6][7] [8] for the first time in history, numerous self-taught type designers without substantial capital investment produced fonts for professional use. Fontographer 2.0 was released eight months later in the Fall of 1986.

So Fontographer became the very first PostScript Illustration Program, widely used on Madison Avenue in the Graphic Design Shops and Advertising Agencies for a full year before the release of AI. It's "off label" prescription use for logo, letterhead and other scalable digital artwork for Linotronic output defined a ready market for Adobe's Illustrtator development.

The history of your find is something I find fascinating. I used Fontographer extensively as a tool for preparing artwork in its Postscript Font Type 3 output for import into my MacSignmaker vinyl cutting system. Illustrator's EPS  was indecipherable for others in my industry for at least another year with the introduction of the first PostScript interpreter for Gerber's signmaking equipment.

Do you have a date estimate for your 512K->1MB memory upgrade card? I was using Fontographer at home after dinner on a Fat Mac at the time. It was faster to do it on the SE/20/Radius16 in the shop, but oh so convenient at home, especially with ThunderScan running on the ImageWriter Wide Carriage there. That extra half Meg of RAM would have come in very handy!

The Macintosh Plus computer is the third model in the Macintosh line, introduced on January 16, 1986, two years after the original Macintosh and a little more than a year after the Macintosh 512K, with a price tag of US$2599.[1] As an evolutionary improvement over the 512K, it shipped with 1 MB of RAM standard, expandable to 4 MB, and an external SCSI peripheral bus, among smaller improvements.

I'm wondering if your 128K received its SCSI upgrade as it was relegated to something on the order of Font Library server status as design workstations were being upgraded to the Plus/4MB level? Dunno, but there's definitely some history there.

Adobe Illustrator was first developed for the Apple Macintosh in December 1986 (shipping in January 1987) as a commercialization of Adobe's in-house font development software and PostScript file format

Photoshop 1.0 was released on 19 February 1990 marking the establishment of the BIG Three of Desktop Publishing as it moved into the mainstream in the Nineties. PageMaker, Illustrator and Photoshop established the Macintosh with its revolutionary GUI and WYSIWYG interactivity as the content creation platform  of the decade.

__________________________________________

On to the fusion of the Page Description Language and the Printer designed to use it, which then sparked the very notion of Desktop Publishing.

Apple's development

Steve Jobs of Apple Computer had seen the LPB-CX while negotiating for supplies of 3.5" floppy disk drives for the upcoming Apple Macintosh computer. Meanwhile, John Warnock had left Xerox to found Adobe Systems in order to commercialize PostScript and AppleTalk in a laser printer they intended to market. Jobs was aware of Warnock's efforts, and on his return to California he started working on convincing Warnock to allow Apple to license PostScript for a new printer that Apple would sell. Negotiations between Apple and Adobe over the use of Postscript began in 1983 and an agreement was reached in December 1983, one month before Macintosh was announced.[6] Jobs eventually arranged for Apple to buy $2.5 million in Adobe stock.

At about the same time, Jonathan Seybold (John W. Seybold's son) introduced Paul Brainerd to Apple, where he learned of Apple's laser printer efforts and saw the potential for a new program using the Mac's GUI to produce PostScript output for the new printer. Arranging his own funding through a venture capital firm, Brainerd formed Aldus and began development of what would become PageMaker. The VC coined the term "desktop publishing" during this time.[7]

ReleaseThe LaserWriter was announced at Apple's annual shareholder meeting on January 23, 1985, [8] the same day Aldus announced PageMaker.[9] Shipments began in March 1985[10] at the retail price of US$6,995, significantly more than the HP model. However, the LaserWriter featured AppleTalk support that allowed the printer to be shared among as many as sixteen Macs, meaning that its per-user price could fall to under $450, far less expensive than HP's less-advanced model.

The combination of the LaserWriter, PostScript, PageMaker and the Mac's GUI and built-in AppleTalk networking would ultimately transform the landscape of computer desktop publishing.[6] At the time, Apple planned to release a suite of AppleTalk products as part of the Macintosh Office, with the LaserWriter being only the first component.[11]

While competing printers and their associated control languages offered some of the capabilities of PostScript, they were limited in their ability to reproduce free-form layouts (as a desktop publishing application might produce), use outline fonts, or offer the level of detail and control over the page layout.

TLDR or a reasonable synopsis?

 

[snuci]

It is reasonable.  I will ask the owner if they have any history on the computer but I tend to find those who owned a computer since the beginning would normally mention that and have other accessories like software floppies, etc.  I will ask the original owner if they know what it was used for.

I believe the upgrades were staged.  I am going with the latest IC date on the board for dates.

On board memory 128k -> 512k  - Memory is marked 36th week of 1985

Then...

512k -> 1MB daughter board - I believe memory is marked 41st week of 1987

SCSI daughter board - SCSI Interface controller is marked 43rd week of 1987

That tells me the two daughter boards were likely done at the same time and was probably where the "Micro Logic" sticker came from.  Still a guess at this point.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I was asking if the background info. was too long and boring or an interesting read?

About contacting the owners, think about it first. Never let facts get in the way of rampant speculation, they can be really boring. Figuring out the hows and whys such mods may have taken place in general or for specific uses like DTP often results in open ended questions and "new" information seeping out of the woodwork.

That SCSI compliant connectored card is well worth such research, but a simple question about its purpose/use from the original owners could be enlightening. Facts are a two-edged sword.

YMMV

 

[snuci]

I was asking if the background info. was too long and boring or an interesting read?

You asked "TLDR or reasonable synopsis?".  I answered with, it's reasonable.  To be honest, I had to look up "Too Long Didn't Read".  Being in IT Tech support/ Jack of all trades at the time, I wasn't into desktop publishing but knew of it from our Marketing department.  They were using Macs but I didn't support Macs (I think they were the only ones using Macs at the college) so I had very little exposure.  What I did have was exposure to X Windows and some of the stuff Xerox PARC was working on.  I had set up our first Gopher server from the University of Minnesota and watched the development of and set up our first Web server from Cern, if I recall. Might have been NCSA but we were seriously early on LDAP which evolved from our Ph/QI phonebook (our first dynamic Gopher app).  We bypassed POP3 and waited for IMAP before we moved from Novell based mail via Pegasus Mail/Mercury. Anyway, some of the early stuff was also made available by Xerox PARC and as I recall, I was using some of their work to process PostScript.  I don't recall why exactly but it was some sort of conversion.  That's as close as I come to the early days so for me it was an interesting read and not too long.

I hesitate to ask the owner about it's history as I don't think I'll get anything.  One of the messages from her stated that the floppy drive was missing.  The internal floppy drive is fine.  She may have thought the hard drive was a floppy drive so I don't know if it was a work machine that had the drive destroyed or if it was a hand-me-down.  I'm afraid anything I hear back may not be useful so I think I'll leave it at that.

I just wish I had that hard drive.  That would reveal something, even if it was for dating it.  I suspect it would have been from the same time as the SCSI upgrade. 

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

You asked "TLDR or reasonable synopsis?".  I answered with, it's reasonable.  To be honest, I had to look up "Too Long Didn't Read".  Being in IT Tech support/ Jack of all trades at the time, I wasn't into desktop publishing but knew of it from our Marketing department.  They were using Macs but I didn't support Macs (I think they were the only ones using Macs at the college) so I had very little exposure.

LOL! I had to do the same thing.

Because I was in the sign business, I came at the Mac from a different angle. I was was a traditional graphic design Jack of all Trades and only peripherally involved with DTP. As an apprentice after college I learned the ropes of  what was literally the cut and paste processes "pasteup," Letraset transfer graphics and lettering. I'd had a sales job in calculators/computers lined up at Burroughs (later UniSys) for September as a backup plan, but in August, as I dejectedly swept the floor making minimum wage, the flash bulb went off in my head with the realization: they're going to automate this s**t! So I stuck with the planned pathway toward working for myself with that in mind.

Learning to ThunderScan artwork, then cut and paste it from rough bitmap editing into a template for cleaning it up with Fontographer's Bezier curve "lofting" tools directly into scalable EPS was a revelation. After having done so for years in pencil, patterrnmaking on the workbench at full scale from opaque projected enlargements, getting it done at home at the bedroom desk after having dinner with the family was that realization come true.

I share this because that Fat Mac was my pathway into the world digital graphics, not the SE/20/4MB/Radius16 powerhouse workstation at the shop. The 512K was upgraded very similarly to your find with a NewLife Accelerator. I had my friends at Tekserve double-check the nasty job I'd done of soldering a 68000 socket to its Killy Klip resistant CPU package. It came back to me having been fully tested and upgraded to 2.5MB as a tacked on bonus. Had NewLife not gone under without realizing their promise of drivers for the higher resolution TTL video output on board, I might very well have it to this day. Like my Commodore 64 it was gifted to a relative, this time as a word processor for a Painter/Writer Aunt-in-Law.

Such a back story could very well be true of your Time Capsule.

 

[snuci]

Unfortunately, the owner doesn't have the hard drive nor mentioned the history when asked.  It will remain a mystery.  Thanks for sharing your experiences.

As thanks, this one's for you Trash80...

My ThunderScan unboxing in 2017   Extra pics posted here:  http://vintagecomputer.ca/thunderscan-turning-an-imagewriter-into-a-scanner/

Box front:

Box back:

Box side:

Packing list:

Box contents with printer shield removed:

Scanner head:

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Don't point that laser at me! :O

 

[ScutBoy]

"Do not look at laser with remaining good eye"

 

[jimjimx]

 This also still had the battery in it (with some corrosion) behind the Centronics connector.  The Centroics connector was placed in such a way that it could be taken out with no damage.      

If you're interested, I got my 512k & 1/2AA batteries from here:

http://www.batterybob.com/products/3975-exell-a21px/?bc=no

 

[CelGen]

It needs recapping and boots to a sad Mac. I need to figure out who provides recapping service.  Is there anyone in Canada?

Unofficially, as I'm buried in projects right now and cannot promise a fast return. I have two here myself that have been waiting for caps for the last month.

 

[snuci]

Bought a broken Apple PowerCD on ebay for $40.  Hopefully I can diagnose and fix it.  At least I have a base and power supply if all else fails.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/253193158211

Anyone seen an issue like this on a PowerCD?  I won't have it for a little while to check but I'm starting to do some research.

 

[snuci]

I'm still on the fence if this was a good deal or not but I jumped on an Apple Color 100 with a best offer.  Been looking for one of these for ages.  It's beat up, has some chips missing in the corners but these just never come up for sale.  This isn't Mac related but it is a hard-to-find Apple item.  The last one sold for a crazy number so that's why I'm on the fence.  Shipping was cheap, however, so it's like a $75 discount also.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/182811659017

 

[EvilCapitalist]

I figure if the monitor works (the last few I saw come up were untested) and the motorized tilt still works (I'm cringing as they lay the monitor tube side down) then you got a pretty solid deal.

 

[Sherry Haibara]

Bought a broken Apple PowerCD on ebay for $40.  Hopefully I can diagnose and fix it.  At least I have a base and power supply if all else fails.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/253193158211

Anyone seen an issue like this on a PowerCD?  I won't have it for a little while to check but I'm starting to do some research.

Yes, mine did exactly the same thing.

A couple of things you can easily troubleshoot when you get it:

1) Check that the motor spins freely if you move it with your finger. When I got mine, it had become stuck just a little bit, so I was able to turn it manually but it wouldn't spin up on its own. As a precautionary measure, you can use some WD-40 or other lubricants directly on the motor, that should do the trick.

2) If it still doesn't work (or if the motor was fine), check the laser lens. It tends to get weaker with age, cleaning it gently with cotton swabs or cloth (like the one used for cleaning glasses) should help. I read that using isopropyl alcohol may help as well, but you have to be extra sure that the lens on the PowerCD is not coated, as the coating on laser lenses is easily damaged by alcohol. Don't use acetone, ammonia or similar solvents, they might damage the lens.

If all this fails, I have a theory about another failure that may happen on PowerCDs - in fact, it happened on mine, but I haven't read of it anywhere else, so take it with a grain of salt. In my case, the mechanism that held the door closed was slightly defective, probably because of age. It seemed to close fine, but on a closer inspection it turned out that it kept "popping out" of about 1-2 mm, which is hardly noticeable if you don't look for it, but it's enough to make the CD detection mechanism fail. In my case, I had to add a few thin sheets of tape on the hooks that keep the CD door closed. I'm still looking for a better solution to this, though.

 

[snuci]

Thanks for the reply Sherry.  I appreciate that.  I'll check for these specific issues when it arrives.

If all this fails, I have a theory about another failure that may happen on PowerCDs - in fact, it happened on mine, but I haven't read of it anywhere else, so take it with a grain of salt. In my case, the mechanism that held the door closed was slightly defective, probably because of age. It seemed to close fine, but on a closer inspection it turned out that it kept "popping out" of about 1-2 mm, which is hardly noticeable if you don't look for it, but it's enough to make the CD detection mechanism fail. In my case, I had to add a few thin sheets of tape on the hooks that keep the CD door closed. I'm still looking for a better solution to this, though.

I had a similar issue with an Amiga CD32.  The top door did not close all of the way (it was a little warped) so the "door is closed" sensor didn't register properly.  I had already purchased a second housing because my CD window had cracked in shipping.  Replacing the whole case fix it because this door held in place properly.  I'll watch out for this too,

Thanks again.  I'll let you know how I make out.

 

[snuci]

New acquisition in a small lot.  Can anyone tell me if this Daystar Digital Turbo 040 (model 01-00489) will fit a Macintosh IIci?  The seller wasn't sure if it was out of a cx or "ci".  If the crystal says 20MHz, is it a 40MHz model?



I do have a "ci" and hope I can use it there.  From what I've read, it might work in an SE/30 with some type of adapter?

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[patatas]

New acquisition in a small lot.  Can anyone tell me if this Daystar Digital Turbo 040 (model 01-00489) will fit a Macintosh IIci?  The seller wasn't sure if it was out of a cx or "ci".  If the crystal says 20MHz, is it a 40MHz model?

Daystar Digital 040.JPG

I do have a "ci" and hope I can use it there.  From what I've read, it might work in an SE/30 with some type of adapter?

Any help is much appreciated.

Works in Iici...

 

[olePigeon]

You have the later revision Daystar Turbo 040 that includes 128K of cache.  Should just plug right into the IIci's PDS slot with no adapters needed.  Earlier revisions had the cache on a separate daughterboard.

 

[Bolle]

And also do not plug it into the SE/30 even though it will fit into the slot. It will indeed need an adapter to work in the SE/30.