MicroMac Power Workstation

[KennyPowers]

I posted a picture of this on Discord and received a lot of questions and requests for pictures. Apparently it was questionable whether any of these ever actually existed. Well, at least one of them did



I called my dad (original owner) to ask him what he remembered about it. He thinks he ordered it directly from MicroMac with the intention of using this Performa 410 as a file server (it has 3 hard drives installed in it, so that makes sense). There's a torn-off part of a UPS shipping label on the box that just has the tracking number and "10/97", so I'm guessing he purchased it in 1997 (that's also the copyright year in the manual). He isn't sure, but he think's he may have already had an accelerator installed in the Performa prior to adding the Power Workstation. The accelerator that's installed looks similar to pictures I've been able to find of MicroMac's ThunderCache and ThunderPro accelerators, but there aren't any identifying markings on the installed accelerator (other MicroMac accelerators I own all say "MicroMac" somewhere on them):



According to their website and manual, the Power Workstation was supposed to include one of their ThunderCache accelerators. It should also have included a dual-slot PDS adapter to allow installing both the accelerator and an ethernet card for example. Unfortunately, this PDS adapter is missing from mine. I have to assume that it wasn't included in this Power Workstation my dad bought. Every other unused accessory (cables, slot covers, etc) are still present in the box, and he has no recollection of ever having such a thing. There is a photo of the top of the PDS adapter in the manual though. The manual makes it sound like the PDS adapter and accelerator were typically packaged together in the box. I wonder if my dad already had an accelerator in this Performa and told MicroMac he didn't need one when ordering the Power Workstation and that resulted in him not getting the PDS adapter as well? Or maybe since they obviously never shipped a ton of these things, the adapter wasn't included for some other reason? There is a handwritten edit to a phone number on the back of the manual after all I don't know if that means this thing sat around so long that they changed phone numbers since printing the manual or what.

Here are links to a PDF I scanned of the manual:
https://tinkerdifferent.com/resources/micromac-power-workstation-manual.83/
https://archive.org/details/micro-mac-power-workstation-manual

Below are some more pictures. I haven't disassembled it yet (too many other projects), but I'll try to answer any questions anyone might have. Yes, I see the cap leakage on the Performa logic board. On pages 2-2 and 3A-2 of the manual, you can see that there were two optional upgrades available for the Power Workstation...a "Drive Option Upgrade" for adding 5.25" and 3.5" drives, and a "Power Option Upgrade" that included a second power supply, power distributor board, and fan. This unit appears to have both upgrades. The housing is all painted metal except for the front plastic bezel.

 

[skate323k137]

Thank you so much for taking the time to photo and share this amazing piece.

 

[Durosity]

Wow that’s amazing. Ugly as heck, but pretty damn amazing. I don’t remember ever seeing adverts for these so I guess they weren’t sold in the UK. It’s a pretty clever idea actually, I’ve often wondered how often people plucked boards out of machines and popped them into cases with more drive bays or used NuBus expansion chassis.

 

[olePigeon]

These are great pictures, thank you. Answered a lot of questions I had about my own partial unit. I have just the metal part that I got from a MicroMac group buy in the original box, some similar but unrelated bits and bobs. It's missing the bezel, expander card, and power distribution board.

It also looks to simply be a second LC power supply. I figured it would be something fancy. That's good to know. I have an extra power supply if I'm every able to cobble together a complete unit.

What I do have are a couple riser boards that can lift the LC PDS slot up various heights. I also have a couple of LC PDS slot expanders for similar products by DGR and Sonnet, but infuriatingly not for the PowerWorkstation. They convert the LC PDS slot into 3 addressable slots. Coupled with the riser boards, you can then utilize the openings on the back for ethernet and/or video cards. I assume that's why you'd also want the extra power supply. Not just for an extra CD-ROM and/or HDD, but also to power potentially 2 additional LC PDS cards.

I thought it'd be wonderfully ridiculous to have an LC with a Presto Plus, video card, and sound card all at once.

 

[LeadedSolder]

What I do have are a couple riser boards that can lift the LC PDS slot up various heights. I also have a couple of LC PDS slot expanders for similar products by DGR and Sonnet, but infuriatingly not for the PowerWorkstation. They convert the LC PDS slot into 3 addressable slots.

I’d be really curious to see some good pictures of this board. It’s not clear to me how they’d be able to do addressable PDS slots: I think the MicroMac one gets away with it because they assume one of the two cards is always an accelerator & therefore runs the bus.

 

[KennyPowers]

The inventory page in the manual also says there should have been a separate installation manual and software disks for the included accelerator, which I don't have. I think that gives further credence to the idea that my dad already had this accelerator installed in the Performa and ordered a Power Workstation without an included accelerator (and therefore maybe also without the dual-slot PDS adapter). Every other mac I got from him also had accelerators installed, so that wouldn't be surprising.

 

[Trash80toG4]

Accelerators don't tie up the Slot E interrupt of the LC PDS or any other PDS in any other Mac. The Accelerator is the computer (CPU) that needs to be interrupted to service the expansion card as I understand it.

In at least one of the expansion chassis implementations, the multiple cards are selected by switch on the back of the unit, with (presumably) only one active on the bus at any given time ie.

If networking, enable the NIC for internet of file serving
If mixing, activate the PAS 16
If capturing video, activate that card (can't think of the name of mine)

That config isn't for using all cards at once, but perfect for a multiuse computer lab machine in school or office.

 

[Trash80toG4]

@KennyPowers are you in the US? Making a plaster cast, negative mold of that front bezel would be a fabulous project! I like that your dad had a removable drive cage set up in his server, that kind of thing was right up my alley back then.

Is the surface of the case smooth or textured?

 

[retr01]

the Power Workstation

Wow! Nice!

Here's a link to a PDF I scanned of the manual: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nc97gxw2b5quwpt/power_workstation_manual.pdf?dl=0
Can someone upload this somewhere more permanent so I can stop hosting it from my DropBox?

Add that to the resources section here on TinkerDifferent.

Below of some more pictures. I haven't disassembled it yet (too many other projects), but I'll try to answer any questions anyone might have.

Amazing! Did MicroMac produce this type of expansion box for other vintage Macs that are "compromised" in pizza boxes?

 

[olePigeon]

I’d be really curious to see some good pictures of this board. It’s not clear to me how they’d be able to do addressable PDS slots: I think the MicroMac one gets away with it because they assume one of the two cards is always an accelerator & therefore runs the bus.

Trash already replied, but I was going to comment that I think he had done some PDS poking on the LC and found that it is actually able to have 3 slots, but there's only physically 1 connector. So with an adapter you could have up to 3 slots again.

Honestly, I would love to donate one of my adapters to science if the GALs could be deciphered. I feel like it'd be trivial to hack out an external PDS breakout box for the LC to load up more cards. The LC would be a lot more useful with 2 additional slots because combo-accelerators like the Presto Plus are so rare. You could instead get a standalone CPU accelerator, then an LC ethernet card, and then a video card or sound card. In the end I thin it'd be cheaper than trying to find and purchase a unicorn accelerator.

Another option is to send a letter to Sonnet. I mean, who knows. Perhaps Sonnet would be willing to open-source their 2-slot adapter with all the GAL and ROM code.

 

[LeadedSolder]

Trash already replied, but I was going to comment that I think he had done some PDS poking on the LC and found that it is actually able to have 3 slots, but there's only physically 1 connector. So with an adapter you could have up to 3 slots again.

Honestly, I would love to donate one of my adapters to science if the GALs could be deciphered. I feel like it'd be trivial to hack out an external PDS breakout box for the LC to load up more cards. The LC would be a lot more useful with 2 additional slots because combo-accelerators like the Presto Plus are so rare. You could instead get a standalone CPU accelerator, then an LC ethernet card, and then a video card or sound card. In the end I thin it'd be cheaper than trying to find and purchase a unicorn accelerator.

Another option is to send a letter to Sonnet. I mean, who knows. Perhaps Sonnet would be willing to open-source their 2-slot adapter with all the GAL and ROM code.

I haven’t tried dumping GALs before, but it would be a fun reason to build a DuPAL. Maybe a good project in a few months.

Having three cards in an LC would be amazing, although I wonder if INITs and drivers would need to be patched as they probably make the assumption they’re all alone in the computer. Maybe the LC TechNote has something.

Do you remember if they are 22v10s or something smaller?

 

[olePigeon]

I know very little about the technical aspects of such things. I could take pictures if you like.

 

[LeadedSolder]

I know very little about the technical aspects of such things. I could take pictures if you like.

Sure, please do if it’s not too much trouble. If nothing else, having good photos of a working one might help someone in the future piece together a fix.

 

[KennyPowers]

@KennyPowers
Is the surface of the case smooth or textured?

Kind of "eggshell"...not totally glossy-smooth, but not really rough. About the same texture as the plastic Performa case.

are you in the US?

Ya, I'm in Pittsburgh.

 

[Trash80toG4]

Trash already replied, but I was going to comment that I think he had done some PDS poking on the LC and found that it is actually able to have 3 slots, but there's only physically 1 connector. So with an adapter you could have up to 3 slots again.

IIRC, there are three interrupts on the LC PDS, but the PDS docs asy tha only one is supported, so that wouldn't be a lack of physical connectors. Read another way, you could be right, the three interrupts might be supportable in additional slots?

I wonder if someone figured out how to map additional slots into the equivalent of NuBus SuperSlot Space so that three cards might be supported on just the $E interrupt?

 

[olePigeon]

@LeadedSolder @KennyPowers @Trash80toG4 Found the pictures from my thread on 68k MLA so I didn't have to wait until I got home from work to take new ones. First picture is of the DGR adapter. I was mistaken, it's four slots. Really impressive. The the last two pictures are of the Sonnet TwinSlot adapter which has a completely different orientation. Makes it a little easier by putting any two cards perpendicular to each other instead of trying to layer them vertically.

 

[Trash80toG4]

Ya, I'm in Pittsburgh.

Great, when I feel up to it, I'll detail a couple of methods to go about doing a life mask of that beautiful thing.

 

[olePigeon]

I would love one. Then we'd have three known PowerWorkstations. Someone else on 68k MLA has one, but I don't recall who. Also, Compgeke over at 68k found (from what I can tell) an identical 4 slot LC PDS adapter by a company called MicroQue. I highly suspect they also made the adapter for DGR.

Maceffects expressed interest in cloning the adapter. I think I might just donate it to him. I like the adapter, but without anything to use it in, it's just collecting dust in my garage.

 

[Trash80toG4]

First picture is of the DGR adapter. I was mistaken, it's four slots. Really impressive.

I see you have only the jumper for Slot 4 enabled. That's likely for the accelerator . Are the other three selected for use of one card at a time? Does a cable plug only into the other three headers and if so, what kind of switch setup?

 

[olePigeon]

Your guesses are as good as mine. It needs tinkering with.