unity Posted December 30, 2016 Report Share Posted December 30, 2016 I can not seem to find any markings on this one. The only "branding" I found was on the SCSI interface board "© 1989 NSI". But its an 030 and the crystal is for 25Mhz with 4MB of RAM. So this appears to be a pretty big upgrade for a 512k. No clue if it would work on a 128k. It only interfaces with the 68000 and taps into the logic cable presumably for some extra power. It can be removed since it attached with the solder-on pin type connection. There are no case labels to indicate upgrade was performed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheWhiteFalcon Posted December 30, 2016 Report Share Posted December 30, 2016 So...how fast is it? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
unity Posted December 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2016 I assume 25Mhz until I can find a way to clock it. The CPU has its speed rating removed. So I can only go by the crystal for now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Carboy7 Posted December 30, 2016 Report Share Posted December 30, 2016 Woah! Can you socket an FPU in that baby? You'd certainly have a good 512k... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Compgeke Posted December 30, 2016 Report Share Posted December 30, 2016 That same upgrade is shown here, still no mention of who made it though. https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/23456-512k-hyperdrive-gamble-on-ebay/?p=243335 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
unity Posted December 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2016 Interesting, that one is on a Plus. Mine has a SCSI card that connects to it for an external port. Maybe technight has since figured out more. Over the weekend I will get some better pics and take a much closer look at it. I wish it was KILLY clipped, would make it easier to try out on other boards. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trash80toHP_Mini Posted December 30, 2016 Report Share Posted December 30, 2016 With component revision levels labeled like that, I'm thinking it's a late prototype/development board. The only thing that looks stock is the warranty seal, but placement makes it look like a joke to me. Note the hand written "D" on the cx14/14 label. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
khannonnd Posted December 31, 2016 Report Share Posted December 31, 2016 Someone in the Monterey, CA area is selling a 128k with a "Gemini" 020/030 processor upgrade -- there aren't any pictures of the inside, but I guess there was at least one company called "Gemini" that made such an upgrade? https://monterey.craigslist.org/sys/5928855151.html Quote Link to post Share on other sites
unity Posted December 31, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2016 I know of Gemini, but not sure if this is one. I have a Gemini upgrade in a Classic. I dont *think* they made anything for the 128 to Plus but could be wrong. I think the SE and up is where Gemini concentrated. Im not sure about the prototyping thing, I have two other accelerators for the SE that are labeled in a similar fashion. I think the chips are custom ICs or something, not sure. Or because of engineering paranoia, some companies scratch off the actual chip part number then use their own labeling. That was it take a lot more work to figure out the board and copy it. A practice like that is not common anymore. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
techknight Posted December 31, 2016 Report Share Posted December 31, 2016 (edited) Well since this is the 3rd thread thats been brought up with this particular accelerator including mine, I will say this. IT DOES work in the plus, but it only identifies itself as an 020, and of course the RAM isnt accessible. Likely because there is no DeclROM, so there is a special driver needed. Also, System 7 hangs on shutdown with this accelerator as well. Otherwise it works. Now, this accelerator was found in my "hyperdrive 2000" labled plus but there was no signs of the drive left inside, However, that accelerator was inside! and along with the cabling to hook the accelerator up to the power supply, so that accelerator was installed alongside the hyperdrive. Edited December 31, 2016 by techknight Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trash80toHP_Mini Posted December 31, 2016 Report Share Posted December 31, 2016 (edited) Novy Quick30Plus Had a hunch it might be a NewLife Accelerator: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=macintosh+%22newlife+accelerator%22 Found some neat info and also found this gem which proved me wrong: The Macintosh Do-It-Yourself Upgrade Book 1992.pdf p.152 of this fabulous .PDF/p.129 of the book Courtesy of: http://vintageapple.org/macbooks/ OM#GAMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! edit: also found snuci's thread in that search: 512k Hyperdrive Gamble on eBay Edited December 31, 2016 by Trash80toHP_Mini Quote Link to post Share on other sites
unity Posted December 31, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2016 Sweet! Thanks much for the detective work. And Novy make sense, they seem to make a lot of accelerators for the compacts, yet never label their dang boards with a name! Ugh! I'll have to do some more reading for sure. Thanks again! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trash80toHP_Mini Posted December 31, 2016 Report Share Posted December 31, 2016 (edited) De nada! Love this schiznit! ]'> Random curiosity strikes again. Spec the wrong thing and turn up what you really need . . . first page . . . go figure! Now you folks can try drumming up some drivers for your boards. Edited December 31, 2016 by Trash80toHP_Mini Quote Link to post Share on other sites
unity Posted December 31, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2016 I also see that the Total Gemini Classic is the thing in my Classic - has a separate power supply. Weird bugger, but that one I knew was a Gemini of sorts because of case label. Just not sure which one. I will have to do more reading on the other accelerators I have. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trash80toHP_Mini Posted December 31, 2016 Report Share Posted December 31, 2016 (edited) Looks like you need Compact Virtual 3.0 to access 15.5MB of SIMMs (or so) as a Silicon Disk under VM. ]'> Edited December 31, 2016 by Trash80toHP_Mini Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bolle Posted December 31, 2016 Report Share Posted December 31, 2016 And Novy make sense, they seem to make a lot of accelerators for the compacts, yet never label their dang boards with a name! The Novy I just got is labeled: https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/29201-macintosh-se-goodies/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trash80toHP_Mini Posted December 31, 2016 Report Share Posted December 31, 2016 Nice stuff! Now if your driver disk is universal, we're talking major breakthrough on the Quick30Plus front. Hoping the "Plus" part refers only to the expansion connector, that's be about perfect for getting the basic card up and running. I'm assuming yours is a later iteration of the line. In that case you just might have a full set of drivers. Is Compact Virtual on the disk? < crosses fingers > Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bolle Posted December 31, 2016 Report Share Posted December 31, 2016 (edited) Compact Virtual is not on there. Driver version is 5.35 and it seems it is just an older version of what you can get here: http://vintageapple.org/macdrivers/accel.shtml What is on my floppy: -Systech Control Panel -SystechInit -an init that patches sound issues -SmartCache Software -RamDisk+ I did not yet come around to install Compact Virtual to see if it gets me anywhere. I also have yet to check the exact contents of what drivers are installed on the HD that came with the SE. I can attach an image of the driver floppy here but I am not quite sure if this complies with the rules or not. Edited December 31, 2016 by Bolle Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bolle Posted December 31, 2016 Report Share Posted December 31, 2016 IT DOES work in the plus, but it only identifies itself as an 020, and of course the RAM isnt accessible. Just checked with the Total Systems Mercury 030 in my SE. It identifies as a 020 as well without any drivers installed. As soon as I installed the drivers from the floppy that came with the Novy accelerator it is seen as a 030 and the extra RAM also shows up as a RAM disk. Now if I had Compact Virtual installed, I could use this RAM disk for virtual memory and would be able to use the additional RAM beyond the 4MB barrier. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trash80toHP_Mini Posted December 31, 2016 Report Share Posted December 31, 2016 (edited) So cool, just do it! Things appear to be SIMMering very nicely on this front! ]'> Edited December 31, 2016 by Trash80toHP_Mini Quote Link to post Share on other sites
james_w Posted January 1, 2017 Report Share Posted January 1, 2017 That is one crazy upgrade, and some brilliant detective work! I love how all these esoteric old gems surface now and again with their own stories Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trash80toHP_Mini Posted January 2, 2017 Report Share Posted January 2, 2017 (edited) THX! ]'> I know it's been Holiday Season, but have any of you lucky three had the chance to take a stab at getting the Quick30Plus up and running. The info Bolle provided is a treasure trove for this project. I used RAMdisk+ back in the day, great stuff. That alone sounds like it's getting the job done in setting the onboard SIMMs up in Silicon Disk mode. Add Compact Virtual and you're in extended RAM heaven for the Compact series. < /impatient mode > Edited January 2, 2017 by Trash80toHP_Mini Quote Link to post Share on other sites
techknight Posted January 2, 2017 Report Share Posted January 2, 2017 My accelerator came in the Plus upgraded 512k, and a HyperDrive 2000 Sticker which the drive is long gone, but its power supply and fan wasnt. But they did leave that little "gem" inside there. I think I paid $15 for the machine at hamvention. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bolle Posted January 2, 2017 Report Share Posted January 2, 2017 So I got around to installing Compact Virtual 3.0.2 on the SE with the Total Systems card. The installer will ask you what kind of card you have in your machine and will automatically set the correct amount of RAM to be used as virtual RAM in the control panel. It also disables the "Use RAM >4MB as RAM disk in finder" option in the accelerator control panel. In System 6 it now shows up with 8MB RAM (4MB+4MB - my Total Systems only supports 4MB) In System 7.1 it also shows 8MB but things are looking a bit strange. The unused RAM does not show up correctly and I am not sure if the OS can use all of the 8MB. Then again I think that Compact Virtual never really supported System 7 that well. I will test the Novy as soon as the caps for my analog board arrive. The Classic is spread out in parts around the house right now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bolle Posted January 2, 2017 Report Share Posted January 2, 2017 (edited) Adding some pictures: System 6 about dialog Compact Virtual Panel Compact Virtual explanation on how it moves around the hardware addresses Gemstart control panel - notice the disabled "Copy ROM to RAM" option. This has been disabled since I installed Compact Virtual because memory addressing magic is now handled by Virtual and not the accelerator init. I did the same in System 7.1: About Dialog - notice how the system notices that there is something "wrong" with RAM. Instead of just displaying 8MB like System 6 it shows that it is using virtual memory on the HDD. Accelerator Control panel - notice how the RAM disk option is currently not active even though boot settings say it should have been activated. This is due to Compact Virtual - most probably - using the RAM disk for VM in the background. This different driver allows the ROM to RAM thing even though Compact Virtual is installed. I just had the idea that this most probably explains the difference in "unused memory" in the about panel. If you add up the numbers for "used by system", "free" and the size of the ROM you end up with roughly 8MB as well. So at least this - to me - mystery has been solved. I am still not 100% sure if it really is using the RAM Disk as VM, as Compact Virtual also puts a swap file with the size of the complete RAM size on the HDD. But I did some benchmarks already yesterday: 1. Compact Virtual disabled 2. Compact Virtual enabled set to 8MB - so only "real" RAM used 3. Compact Virtual enabled set to 16MB - using 8MB real RAM and 8MB VM on the HDD From fastest to slowest the outcome was 1->2->3. So at least to me this seems as if Compact Virtual is indeed using the motherboard RAM (and additional RAM - say >4MB - from your accelerator) for virtual memory. I will do this test again with the Novy as soon as the Classic is up and running again. Edited January 2, 2017 by Bolle Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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