Found a Neat Mod From Back in The Day in My 128k
- Thread starter jajan547
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Indeed, this appears to be a "fat mac" (Dr. Dobbs, "Fatten Your Mac", 1985 PDF).
This is my favorite mac... even if it isn't officially a Mac! This represents a brief period of time when eager enthusiasts were willing to "risk it all" to reach the dream they were sold with the 128k (and 512k).
Pretty neat someone did a decent job on this one I’ve seen some that are a mess, the upgraded RAM has very well done joints on the bottom of the board.
Indeed, it was a dream, all but totally useless without adding a second, external FDD to the "AIO" Computing Appliance for the rest of us. The eviscerated (Scullied) 128K was the introductory RoadApple sold to those who would become the faithful by an unscrupulous huckster. He introduced it in a presentation so far beyond its meager capabilities that a prototype 512K was substituted without even the need for sleight of hand.
Thank heavens the development team left that upgrade path open!
There was a huge cottage industry of startups extending the capabilities of the what I like to call the Plus-Minus Macs to meet the demands of DTP.
It's wonderful that you now have such a nice example of what the 128K was designed to be from the get go. I'll never understand the appeal of, nor notion that "restoring" a 128K to its dysfunctional "original state" makes any sense whatsoever.
Enjoy, I'm envious.
Yeah. It was cheaper than getting the mobo swapped out for $995. More information is explained on MacGUI:
macgui.com
Mac GUI :: Fatten Your Mac
Apple news, photo galleries, downloads, and discussion forums.
macgui.com
Neat stuff! I have a 128 and a 512 both upgraded to "Macintosh Plus 1MB" units (or so it says on the rear) - as in, the front chasis' are the orginal aforementioend models (no name silkscreened on the front beside the Apple Logo) but the rear chasis, logic board, and presumably floppy drives are all upgraded to being a Macintosh Plus.
It was a facinating evening discovering the serial numbers on the rear and logic boards didn't match up to the front-chasis "M0001" or so model numbers. I also have a 512KE logic board all by its lonesome that is presumably working but a by-product of this upgrade program as well.
Does anyone have PDF/JPG scans of this program, or a URL where I may read more about how they Apple sold these upgrade packages? interested in a piece of history of how they marketed and sold these upgrade kits.
It was a facinating evening discovering the serial numbers on the rear and logic boards didn't match up to the front-chasis "M0001" or so model numbers.
I also have a 512KE logic board all by its lonesome that is presumably working but a by-product of this upgrade program as well.Does anyone have PDF/JPG scans of this program, or a URL where I may read more about how they Apple sold these upgrade packages? interested in a piece of history of how they marketed and sold these upgrade kits.
I actually have the full information on these upgrades but haven't yet gotten around to scanning them, here's a brief example of some of the things offered. I'll see if I can at least scan that bit in later today. The whole collection of manuals will be going out to @retr01 to scan and upload because my scanner is eh.Neat stuff! I have a 128 and a 512 both upgraded to "Macintosh Plus 1MB" units (or so it says on the rear) - as in, the front chasis' are the orginal aforementioend models (no name silkscreened on the front beside the Apple Logo) but the rear chasis, logic board, and presumably floppy drives are all upgraded to being a Macintosh Plus.
It was a facinating evening discovering the serial numbers on the rear and logic boards didn't match up to the front-chasis "M0001" or so model numbers.
Does anyone have PDF/JPG scans of this program, or a URL where I may read more about how they Apple sold these upgrade packages? interested in a piece of history of how they marketed and sold these upgrade kits.
Great thread, janjan! Looking forward to your Plus upgrade kit info.
I've got a cattle branded Drexel 128k that was upgraded to Plus with a 16MHz Performer accelerator upgrade that brought it up to almost stock SE30/4MB configuration. The branding process means it was not a student's pre-release 128K, those had silk screened Drexel logos.
Always thought my Drexel had been upgraded to 512K and then to Plus. But as it was likely an Apple University Consortium program purchase, it would have been ineligible for that upgrade program. WAG now would be that it may never have been brought up to 512K? I'd put a shiny nickel on it having been surplussed out to a faculty member or employee and twice upgraded for personal use.
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Dr.Dobbs link's still not working. Doesn't give me the option to open in browser and downloads still wont open in Reader? I'll have to try to look at it online at work.
I've got a cattle branded Drexel 128k that was upgraded to Plus with a 16MHz Performer accelerator upgrade that brought it up to almost stock SE30/4MB configuration. The branding process means it was not a student's pre-release 128K, those had silk screened Drexel logos.
Always thought my Drexel had been upgraded to 512K and then to Plus. But as it was likely an Apple University Consortium program purchase, it would have been ineligible for that upgrade program. WAG now would be that it may never have been brought up to 512K? I'd put a shiny nickel on it having been surplussed out to a faculty member or employee and twice upgraded for personal use.
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Dr.Dobbs link's still not working. Doesn't give me the option to open in browser and downloads still wont open in Reader? I'll have to try to look at it online at work.
Got it, many thanks, what do you think was the problem?
As s fellow lover of 128K limitation remediation, what are your thoughts on "restoring" 128K boards? Such are not "original? in any way shape or form as far as I'm concerned, merely re-borked to Scullied status.
A reloaded 128K/512K hybrid board would be very cool in my view. Being able to compare performance of the 128K as shipped with the 512K his Steveness used for its intro at the flip of an A/B repurposed reset switch would be incredible, even with reboot required?
edit: 128K/512K reloaded hybrid board should be in the Plus Port/Bucket form factor I think? So many folks could use such a setup (as could I) without mucking up a Plus-Minus Mac most of us lack for playtime. Those are thin on the ground, whereas almost everyone has an extra Plus spawned in a dark closet breeding ground.
Just thought of A/B config setup: hold down A or B selection at startup or reboot ought to work, no? Would rebooting in 128K/B or 512K/A config via repurposed Programmer's Switch circuit be possible for hot swapping brain dead/usable variants?
As s fellow lover of 128K limitation remediation, what are your thoughts on "restoring" 128K boards? Such are not "original? in any way shape or form as far as I'm concerned, merely re-borked to Scullied status.
A reloaded 128K/512K hybrid board would be very cool in my view. Being able to compare performance of the 128K as shipped with the 512K his Steveness used for its intro at the flip of an A/B repurposed reset switch would be incredible, even with reboot required?
edit: 128K/512K reloaded hybrid board should be in the Plus Port/Bucket form factor I think? So many folks could use such a setup (as could I) without mucking up a Plus-Minus Mac most of us lack for playtime. Those are thin on the ground, whereas almost everyone has an extra Plus spawned in a dark closet breeding ground.
Just thought of A/B config setup: hold down A or B selection at startup or reboot ought to work, no? Would rebooting in 128K/B or 512K/A config via repurposed Programmer's Switch circuit be possible for hot swapping brain dead/usable variants?
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@Trash80toG4 are you just saying you want to be able to run a 512K as if it only had 128K of RAM? That can be done in software at boot time. You just need to twiddle with some lo-mem globals I’m pretty sure.
Yes, but I'm suggesting that it would be fun to be able to do it in a Macintosh Plus as most of us don't have 512K nor 128K at all much less as spares for playtime.
A reloaded board with the unused DB25 port of the Plus broken out to headers inside the bucket, beyond the bar might also make for fun upgrade playtime?
Upgraded memory chip to underutilized SIMMs (without hacking) and ROM Slot might be great for hardware/firmware playtime as well? I hope someone takes this up, it's so far beyond my capabilities it's ridiculous!
These days I'm less impassioned. If people want to use their 128k as a door stop then I wish them all the best. That being said — as the owner of upgraded 512k macs and original 128k macs, I am still on the look out for my very own fat mac.As s fellow lover of 128K limitation remediation, what are your thoughts on "restoring" 128K boards? Such are not "original? in any way shape or form as far as I'm concerned, merely re-borked to Scullied status.