I wanted to know if anyone has created or is in the progress of recreating the PCB for the logic board of the 128k Macintosh. It is a far fetch anyone has but I do want to know... Thanks!
- Froggy
- Froggy
Okay, dumb question has anyone cloned the 128k Logic Board yet?
- Thread starter Froggy814
- Start date
I believe so? But in many ways, it is just Plus with less memory and no memory slots, so I wouldn't really be looking that far back. The experience is just like using a Plus but you run out of Memory all the time.
Why are you asking? Considering it as a project? Or do you need one?
Most of the world anything older than a Plus is pretty rare - there aren't many 512s or 128s here in Europe.
I had a quick rummage and I couldn't see an actual layout.
We do have schematics and people have reverse engineered the programmable logic though. Also they're well documented in Apples published info (they got more reluctant to share technical info later). Worth having a read through the "Guide to Macintosh Family Hardware".
We do have schematics and people have reverse engineered the programmable logic though. Also they're well documented in Apples published info (they got more reluctant to share technical info later). Worth having a read through the "Guide to Macintosh Family Hardware".
If someone can provide me with a 128K logic board, even a faulty one, I could probably make a PCB clone from it. I have quite a bit of experience cloning logic boards, and I’d be interested in taking this on.
I was thinking of working on a project. Didn't want to get anyone's hopes up though and more of an idea right now. I was just curious and gathering intel to see what is there right now. Thanks for the Info!
I wasn't quite thinking of cloning the original board but making a modded version. With all the upgrades... But a clone of the original board PCB is always appriciated!
I'd start from the Plus because you can always fit less RAM to a Plus based design, but if you want to go up to 4MB, it is good to have the address lines there from the start.
There are Apple Schematics available, I'd start there, combined with some high resolution photos of a board for the layout. You'll also find it easier and cheaper to get hold of a Plus if you decide you need one for reference, they made them for the second longest period of time of any Mac.
Apple Schematic Archive - MacDat
A complete archive of available board schematics for vintage Apple Macintosh computers.
www.macdat.net
Schematics are there for the 128 / 512 and the Plus.
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I was just thinking of using a 128k instead of a plus because no one has done it. But it is (definetly) smart to start with something known instead of unknown! Thank you very much!