An SE/30 that has a socketed motherboard is on eBay

[equill]

Speculations could run rife this long after the event, but some may have germs of truth in them. Recalling the reported difficulty that Apple engineers had in getting some capacities incorporated into MLBs, even to the point of having to resort sometimes to subterfuge (Classic II, perhaps?), it is just possible that the SE/30, as the 'wickedest' of the closed-box AIOs, did have some grand things conceived for it as possible aftermarket upgrades. If that was canned, it still left the way open for a company such as DayStar to be invited, overtly or covertly, to consider a plug-in CPU replacement. DayStar did offer to replace soldered-in CPUs with socketted CPUs at one stage, but they and others settled for the PDS in the end.

I have seen the SE/30 referred to as a 'condensed IIcx', which makes it clear that if the IIcx can be made into a zinger (mine has a DayStar 33MHz PowerCache), the SE/30 might have done at least as well with a socketted adapter and a suitable accelerator-card, and thereby saved the PDS for other expansions. The saddest part, however, is the apparent disappearance of all things to do with CPU-oriented plug-ins, with the PDS-oriented not far behind.

de

 

[Charlieman]

At the same time that Apple produced SE/30 variants with socketed/soldered 68030s, they did the same thing with the IIcx. Hence the existence of the Daystar IIcx PowerCache adapter that provides a IIci cache slot from a 68030 socket. I own one of the IIcx adapters, as does at least one other member here.

Don't ascribe the existence of socketed/soldered boards to commercial conspiracy -- it is more likely that Apple adjusted their production lines according to what Motorola could ship. The 68030 was a very desirable chip, so whilst Apple may have been the best customer, they may have needed to be flexible for a few years.

Daystar became very cosy with Apple in late 1992 and 1993, in order to create the PPC 601 accelerators. Before that time, there is evidence of cosiness in the way that IIci PowerCache accelerators are so well supported, particularly in A/UX. The manual for my SE/30 68030 socket accelerator PowerCache is dated 1992.

As Equill notes, owners of a soldered processor board could return it *for free* for a socket transplant. If the SE/30 production lines were shifting predominantly to soldered processors, this would provide an incentive to Daystar to produce an accelerator for the PDS slot.

 

[equill]

What Motorola could supply in the way of 68030/16MHz processors at any given moment throughout the 2-3 years of the SE/30 and IIcx is indeed a plausible reason for Apple to have given itself the ability to switch at will from socketted to soldered-in assembly. I have fewer IIcx socketted MLBs (to wit, 1) than I have socketted SE/30 MLBs, but I have the impression that that for the IIcx is much less commonly found.

Physical as well as electronic considerations impelled DayStar's dedicated adapter for the IIcx, but the SE/30 and IIsi share a PDS electrically, if not the geometric orientation of an attached adapter card. I have two (differing) IIsi/IIci PDS adapters, one of which is more suited to the SE/30 in its shape. Was there a dedicated IIsi/IIci adapter for the SE/30? Or have I misremembered what JDW's monochrome pic. is about?

de

 

[JDW]

have I misremembered what JDW's monochrome pic. is about?

Here is the lone monochrome pic in my Flickr collection.

 

[synthcity]

So, it isn't as simple as swapping out a single oscillator as in the IIsi ?

pull the existing stock XC68030RC16B and replace with a XC68030RC50B ?

the new 50MHz processor will run at 16MHz / Typically accelerators require a combination of hardware and a software INIT/CDEV.

What if I found the correct INIT/CDEV software on the web and tried that?

It would have no effect whatsoever.

The CPU speed is set by an oscillator on the motherboard. That is part of the reason all CPU accelerators have an extra electronics board between the CPU and the motherboard. There's another oscillator (and other stuff) on that board that sets the upgrade CPU's speed.

And before you ask - no - swapping out the motherboard oscillator for a faster one won't get you up to 50MHz either. Every other component on the motherboard is specified for the 16MHz clock as well. At best, you might be able to get to 20MHz. Output Enablers have oscillator kits.

[mistake redacted]

 

[Bunsen]

It's exactly as simple * - to go up a small amount, say to 18 or 20MHz, tops. No way are you getting to 50MHz without something asplodicating.

Think about it - would you expect a 1966 Volkswagen beetle to do 250MPH, even with a Ferrari engine in it? That's what you're asking the poor little SE/30 to do, to run every component inside more than three times as fast as it was built for - and it's a twenty year old machine.

No matter how many times you ask, the answer will be the same - not gonna happen without a proper upgrade card with a separate clock - and no, you can't build one.

BTW, we bottom post and edit quotes here >

* /edit/ in fact the Master says Not Possible!

 

[JDW]

It's the same on the Newton. You can't accelerator it and retain serial port functionality at the same time. That's why many Newton acceleration solutions have a switch. But an SE/30 would be a different case. I would think that you would really need to have the acceleration and access to your I/O ports at the same time, making a switch an unrealistic solution here.