One PDS slot to rule 'em all... (Mac SE question)

larwe · Dec 26, 2025

I am trying to decide if I want to put something in the PDS slot of my daily driver SE. I currently have a BlueSCSI on it, 4MB RAM, and I use it for writing without distraction. Given that I mostly use MS-Word or equivalent - should I get an Ethernet card, an accelerator or extra RAM? Or a weird extended video card?

Durosity · Dec 26, 2025

Accelerators are always fun.

Byrd · Dec 26, 2025

The cloned Micromac Performer accelerators by MacEffects are a good price and would make it more fun:

MacEffects Performer PDS 68030 Accelerator for Apple Macintosh SE

MacEffects Performer accelerator is the perfect hardware upgrade for your Macintosh SE. The Performer accelerator features a 68030 clocked to 16mhz and a 68882 FPU (math coprocessor) to speed up CPU performance and math calculations. With the Performer accelerator you can enjoy a new level of...

maceffects.com

zigzagjoe · Dec 27, 2025

An accelerator and an external daynaport-capable scsi emulator such as the ZuluSCSI Slim for ethernet probably makes the most sense. Enough to open some new possibilities without losing the "spirit" of the machine.

Nixontheknight · Dec 27, 2025

zigzagjoe said:
An accelerator and an external daynaport-capable scsi emulator such as the ZuluSCSI Slim for ethernet probably makes the most sense. Enough to open some new possibilities without losing the "spirit" of the machine.

Or the BlueSCSI V2

larwe · Dec 27, 2025

Nixontheknight said:
Or the BlueSCSI V2

What's that going to do for me that my DB25 BlueSCSI doesn't already do? I looked at the announcement page for it but ... am not yet excited?

Nixontheknight · Dec 27, 2025

larwe said:
What's that going to do for me that my DB25 BlueSCSI doesn't already do? I looked at the announcement page for it but ... am not yet excited?

DaynaPORT emulation over wifi (if you use a Pi Pico W)

larwe · Dec 28, 2025

Byrd said:
The cloned Micromac Performer accelerators by MacEffects are a good price and would make it more fun:

MacEffects Performer PDS 68030 Accelerator for Apple Macintosh SE

MacEffects Performer accelerator is the perfect hardware upgrade for your Macintosh SE. The Performer accelerator features a 68030 clocked to 16mhz and a 68882 FPU (math coprocessor) to speed up CPU performance and math calculations. With the Performer accelerator you can enjoy a new level of...

maceffects.com

I was looking at those just before Christmas actually

hmmm. Tempting. I'm still maxed at 4MB RAM right?

Byrd · Dec 28, 2025

Yep, keeps using onboard 4MB. Real world performance is improved but don’t expect SE/30 snappiness. I’ve just put one in my Plus and it’s good to be able to switch between 68000 and 68030 easily.

Bolle · Dec 28, 2025

If you want to go beyond the 4MB of onboard RAM you'll need one of the more sophisticated accelerators.
Running more than 4MB in an SE is hacky... don't expect it to behave like a real 32bit capable 68030 machine. There are going to be things that just don't work due to the old SE ROMs.

larwe · Dec 28, 2025

Bolle said:
If you want to go beyond the 4MB of onboard RAM you'll need one of the more sophisticated accelerators.
Running more than 4MB in an SE is hacky... don't expect it to behave like a real 32bit capable 68030 machine. There are going to be things that just don't work due to the old SE ROMs.

Mmmm, maybe I don't want to live quite that close to the bleeding edge. 4MB is okay I guess.

croissantking · Dec 28, 2025

Bolle said:
Running more than 4MB in an SE is hacky... don't expect it to behave like a real 32bit capable 68030 machine. There are going to be things that just don't work due to the old SE ROMs.

What kind of issues crop up in your experience?

Phipli · Dec 28, 2025

croissantking said:
What kind of issues crop up in your experience?

They don't support 32bit addressing, or colour QuickDraw and some functions are missing from the toolbox that you might normally expect from a 68030 based Mac.

The biggest issue for me is that F/A-18 Hornet won't run

LaPorta · Dec 29, 2025

Phipli said:
They don't support 32bit addressing, or colour QuickDraw and some functions are missing from the toolbox that you might normally expect from a 68030 based Mac.

The biggest issue for me is that F/A-18 Hornet won't run

View attachment 93721

Hellcats should!

nathall · Dec 29, 2025

I just yesterday installed a RasterOps ClearVue, which is an accelerator and video card in one, in one of my SEs. I now have two “SE/16”s. One of these days I’ll have to do some benchmarks between the two (the other has a Brainstorm) and see if there are any notable differences. One big difference is this RasterOps supports an FPU, which I’ll have to track down eventually.

Now I just need an Apple Portrait Display to go with it.

ObeyDaleks · Dec 29, 2025

Imho, the 030 accelerators with on-board RAM are the ultimate SE upgrade, some far exceeding SE/30 speeds and quadrupling your RAM to 16MB. Unfortunately they are not easy to find these days, and usually priced accordingly. The only issue I’ve experienced with these is some of them can be finicky with sound drivers.

larwe · Dec 29, 2025

Thanks for all the replies here people. Mulling my options

One PDS slot to rule 'em all... (Mac SE question)

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