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So, tell me about the Mac II.

Author	Topic
benightedbastard New Member Australia 62 Posts	Posted - 10 Nov 2001 : 08:48:28 It has to be one of the Mac lines I know the least about. I know I've used both the orginal Mac II and one of the lower end models as a young lad, but other than that I don't know 'em from Adam. I guess I could do the boring thing and look the info up, but I prefer the human element, y'know? So dazzle me with your knowledge, people.
Tallgeese Full Member USA 523 Posts	Posted - 10 Nov 2001 : 14:13:38 Quick runthrough... II: first expandable mac, IIx... er, dunno. IIci, compact & faster, IIsi, built in sound recording capabilities (sosumi!), IIcx... dunno, IIfx, fastest II ever, graphics workhorse until Quadras, IIvx, first with CD drive. PFC Tallgeese 68k Mac Liberation Army 68k Macs Liberated: 3
Captain Z Mobile Ops Commander USA 637 Posts	Posted - 10 Nov 2001 : 14:42:34 Those little expansions Apple placed on the name actually ment something. Mac SE: SE stood for System Expansion Mac II: II stood for second generation system, with new 68020 processor x = expanded processor (68030) cx = compact, expanded fx = fast, expanded (40Mhz 68030) ci = compact, integrated video si = slim or sound, integrated video vi = video, integrated video (had more VRAM than other Mac II's, sold in Japan only) vx = video, expanded (32Mhz 68030) Apple broke the tradition with the SE/30, because they though it wouldn't sit well with a system called the SEx. ------------------ Captain Z - Sniper 68K Macintosh Liberation Army 17 68K Macs Liberated
~Coxy Leader, Tactical Ops Unit Australia 2822 Posts	Posted - 11 Nov 2001 : 05:01:23 Damn! I was gonna talk about the Adults-Only SE/x. ~Coxy - Leader, Tactical Operations Unit 68k Macintosh Liberation Army (now with forums!) 00007 Macs liberated.
Tallgeese Full Member USA 523 Posts	Posted - 11 Nov 2001 : 22:16:19 And this may be just my being a crusty old-timer, but I wish Apple would've kept the names meaning something. Not only was it informative, but it lent character. I mean, "Power Mac G3" covers an incredible range, and is hence meaningless. The PowerBook names are even worse. PFC Tallgeese 68k Mac Liberation Army 68k Macs Liberated: 3
cinemafia Guerrilla Recon Leader USA 2965 Posts	Posted - 12 Nov 2001 : 09:55:09 When I think back to the late 80's and early 90's, the Mac II series was the stuff that dreams were made of. At home I had my prosaic Mac Plus with an 80MB external hard drive and an ImageWriter II. When I'd go with my dad to his office I'd sit behind the awesome power of a Mac II with 256-color(!) and a LaserWriter. I was in heaven... Fastforward a decade or so and here I am in the process of tricking out a IIfx and a IIci, reliving my youth! Private EL CINE 68K Macintosh Liberation Army Master of the Mac II series forums Total 68K Macs liberated: 4
Marchie Chaplain USA 911 Posts	Posted - 12 Nov 2001 : 10:47:00 the IIfx used 64pin SIMMS, unlike ANY other Mac ever made. It makes upgradeing them now insanely expensive. It came with a graphics card, the 8*24GX, that killed anything else on the market for quite a while. Apple offered a II-->IIx Upgrade, which was a logic board swap, and SuperDrive floppy. The difference between the II and IIx is that the IIx can use HighDensity disks, and has (I beleive) 32 bit clean ROMs you could also get the II/IIx-->IIfx upgrade, which again was a logic board swap. This is what I have, although, alas, not with the super graphcs card a "pure" IIfx would have. you can also SOMETIMES take the ROM SIMM out of a IIsi and put it in an SE/30 to make the SE/30 32bit clean. `Marchie `Marchie ~~"We are all Mad here."~~
Captain Z Mobile Ops Commander USA 637 Posts	Posted - 12 Nov 2001 : 11:07:37 quote: Apple offered a II-->IIx Upgrade, which was a logic board swap, and SuperDrive floppy. The difference between the II and IIx is that the IIx can use HighDensity disks, and has (I beleive) 32 bit clean ROMs you can also SOMETIMES take the ROM SIMM out of a IIsi and put it in an SE/30 to make the SE/30 32bit clean. The Mac II, Mac IIx, Mac IIcx, and SE/30 all had dirty ROM's. MODE32 was the solution to get a cleaned up ROM going. Swapping ROM's may work, but I may render both systems inoperable under the new setup. ------------------ Captain Z - Sniper 68K Macintosh Liberation Army 17 68K Macs Liberated
cinemafia Guerrilla Recon Leader USA 2965 Posts	Posted - 12 Nov 2001 : 15:46:25 The funny thing is I bought my IIfx for $10 and it came with four 16MB SIMMS in it! If you can find them at all on eBay, a set of four like that can fetch at least $50. I'm going to be trading some stuff to a guy on the AppleFritter forums to get four more, then I may be one of the few people who has a IIfx qith 128 megs of RAM. w00t! Private EL CINE 68K Macintosh Liberation Army Master of the Mac II series forums Total 68K Macs liberated: 4
~Coxy Leader, Tactical Ops Unit Australia 2822 Posts	Posted - 12 Nov 2001 : 17:40:15 My IIsi has an empty ROM SIMM slot. Somewhere out there is a SE/30 with a clean ROM... ~Coxy - Leader, Tactical Operations Unit 68k Macintosh Liberation Army (now with forums!) 00007 Macs liberated.
Jasoco Starting Member USA 41 Posts	Posted - 21 Nov 2001 : 15:22:24 I got a IIci a few months ago on eBay and it came with a RasterOPS video card in it. Up until a few days ago I couldn't use it with any of my monitors. Now that I've tried it.. It's SLOOOOOOOWWW.. You can literally watch each pixel draw on screen! It's faster to use the built in monitor port. Please! no more weasels! I'm full...
candyPunk Full Member USA 856 Posts	Posted - 21 Nov 2001 : 18:22:01 quote: w00t! Private EL CINE 68K Macintosh Liberation Army Master of the Mac II series forums Total 68K Macs liberated: 4 What did i say about "w00t" ?! Argh! Hey someone enlighten me: I have no idea what the difference is in these roms you're talking about. Clean vs dirty? { candyPunk } { 68k MLA } { Macs liberated: 6 } { My baby: Q660av }
Captain Z Mobile Ops Commander USA 637 Posts	Posted - 21 Nov 2001 : 21:09:47 Apple's first attempt to make a ROM that used 32-bit addressing failed, and the resulting ROM chips were only able to handle 24-bit. The chips are still able to go to 32-bit mode, but they were designed "dirty" and won't do it automaticly. It was fixed with MODE32 installed. ------------------ Captain Z - Sniper 68K Macintosh Liberation Army 17 68K Macs Liberated
~Coxy Leader, Tactical Ops Unit Australia 2822 Posts	Posted - 22 Nov 2001 : 19:51:27 Also, a 'dirty' ROM cannot address more than 8 MB of RAM. ~Coxy - Leader, Tactical Operations Unit 68k Macintosh Liberation Army (now with forums!) 00013 Macs liberated.
cinemafia Guerrilla Recon Leader USA 2965 Posts	Posted - 23 Nov 2001 : 10:25:20 There is another way to fix those older, 'dirty' ROM's. Just pop them in the dishwasher with some Palmolive and a dash of bleach. Lieutenant EL CINE, 666th poster to the 68K Macintosh Liberation Army Forums Master of the Mac II series forums Total 68K Macs liberated: 4

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