Duo Dock II: 280c doesn't fit

[Byrd]

Hi,

I purchased off eBay a Duo Dock II, which is labelled as such on the underside of the case and says "Duo Dock" on the front white top lid.

Went to slide in my Duo 280c ... and it doesn't fit So I'm assuming I've a Duo Dock II with the original Duo Dock lid (later models I believe used a slightly higher lid to fit a slightly thicker colour Duo) ... which is really disappointing

Can anyone please shed some light on this - how can I identify if I've the original lid, and are there any modifications I can perform to make it fit? Otherwise, this thing is useless.

Cheers

JB

 

[Mac128]

Does it have a door flap to cover the front? It should also say "Duo Dock II". The lids are interchangeable. So it's possible someone swapped them for some reason. It should look like this: http://img.wiki.excite.co.jp/upload/apple/33/33181428ef35c158f090dcf4b6e18f35_600x354.jpg

The original dock looked like this and just said "Duo Dock": http://img.wiki.excite.co.jp/upload/apple/2f/2fb9b9a6b58d8dc421703053cb5d499a_600x418.jpg

The first Dock had the Snow White stripes on top. The Dock II was just a smooth flat top, no lines as was the Plus. There may have been a revised original dock which added the door flap and/or removed the stripes before the Dock II lid was released, but probably not. http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/Developer_Notes/Macintosh_CPUs-68K_Portable/PowerBook_Duo_Dock_II.pdf

Apple indicates the stock Duo Dock II should support a 280c. If your lid has lines on top and no door flap, then it has definitely been swapped somewhere along the way. If not, it may still be an original lid, or you may have a problem inside. It's easy to remove so you can check. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=13740-ja

Interestingly the Duo Dock Plus looks just like the Dock II lid except it says only "Duo Dock", like the original: http://img.wiki.excite.co.jp/upload/apple/41/412f9c2d434f5dd58cbff94f11909172_600x363.jpg

FYI, the dock works just fine without a lid, though that doesn't do you much good if you want to set a monitor on top. Then again, it might be fun to put a sheet of glass across the top so you can see the inner workings.

EDIT: Here's some good ideas, including cutting off the front half of the useless lid: http://www.mail-archive.com/duolist@themacintoshguy.com/msg02897.html

 

[Bunsen]

If you disable the Declaration ROM IC in the Dock, you can use the Duo's internal screen while it's plugged in.

if you can disable the ROM in your DuoDock (I) / You will lose function of everything in the dock except NuBus, ADB, Sound i/o and the modem passthru, IIRC.
It is soldered to the logic board, so it won't be as easy as pulling the ROM out of a Dock II /

You could "PROBABLY" put in a switch or a header for a jumper for re-enabling ROM support. I've been looking into this, check the DuoBoomBoxDock Update II thread for links to the info in older threads about LCD/NuBus/Dock issues.

 

[Mac128]

If you disable the Declaration ROM IC in the Dock, you can use the Duo's internal screen while it's plugged in.

Whaaaa!? Seriously?

Back in the day, I never knew there was a declaration ROM and went out of my mind trying to figure out how to enable the LCD when docked. Only much later did I finally read the developer's notes and discover this.

Am I to infer from the quoted info that the declaration ROM is different than the dock ROM? Or they are one in the same? In which case, it sadly defeats most of the advantages of the dock, including Ethernet, SCSI, floppy, 2nd internal drive and an external monitor for spanning. I am impressed that NuBus continues to work, so that would make up for ethernet, SCSI and external monitor. The floppy is still a problem though, though not really in this day & age.

I wonder what would happen if you replaced the Dock ROM with the ROM from the MiniDock, assuming they were pin compatible?

 

[Charlieman]

A nice hack, but even nicer if you could do it in software.

 

[Bunsen]

I wonder what would happen if you replaced the Dock ROM with the ROM from the MiniDock, assuming they were pin compatible?

Well, Trash80toG4 was working in that direction, but he ain't been seen around these parts in quite some time.

 

[Mac128]

Well, Trash80toG4 was working in that direction, but he ain't been seen around these parts in quite some time.

I noticed, not anywhere else on the web for that matter. I hope he didn't inadvertently trigger the Dock's self-destruct mechanism by tinkering too far into Apple's alien engineering secrets.

He seemed to indicate that the ROMs were pin compatible, so I guess if I am going to modify my old dock to try this, it would not be too difficult to swap them. I also have an E-Machines MiniDock which uses Apple's exact dock, with an Ethernet port in place of the modem pass through. I would guess that the declaration ROM is identical between the two and E-Machines just bought the dock minus modem circuitry from Apple, added custom circuitry and re-badged it, so all the support I would need for the full dock should be built-in. Seems the NuBus technology works regardless of the Dec. ROM.

As for Byrd's original post, depending on what he wants to do with it, removing that ROM might be the best solution. I may well try Trash80toG4 's mod and see how many of the dock's features are actually disabled. I assumed above that anything he did not specifically mention had been disabled and he may have only been concerned with those things he needed for his project. SCSI & floppy port may still be operational, in which case this is a great solution.

 

[Bunsen]

Pretty sure he lost the floppy, too. Have a trawl around the old AF forums and see what you find.

I hope the ole' Trash hasn't let the magic smoke out ....

 

[LCGuy]

I've been wondering where he went, he was indeed a valued member of the vintage Mac community. I know that just before he vanished he'd had a bit of a hard time, I hope he's doing ok....