Columns Focus on the Macintosh Plus©1994 by Michael C. LaBossiere The Macintosh Plus is a compact Mac that was released in January of 1986. The purpose of this column is to present the Plus’ capabilities and limits and discus a variety of expansion options. The heart of the Plus is a 68000 processor running at nearly 8 MHz. The Plus has no built in math coprocessor (FPU) or Paged Memory Management Unit. The Plus uses 30-pin, 150ns (or faster) RAM and can support up to 4 MB of RAM. The Plus has a built in 9 inch black and white monitor and has no built in video ports. The Plus has no expansion slots (no NuBus, PDS, or Cache slots) and has no sound in ports. A Plus can be equipped with one internal hard drive. The standard Plus does not have a SuperDrive and thus is limited to 800K disks. In terms of advantages, the Plus is quiet (no internal fan) and is quite light. If you need a computer that is easy to carry, a used Plus can be a useful investment. Also, as one of the earliest Macs (it is predated by the 128 and 512) it has a certain nostalgic appeal. Of course, nostalgia doesn’t make Word 5.1 run any quicker. In terms of disadvantages, the Plus is slow (slower even than the SE and the Classic), cannot support virtual memory (it only has a 68000 and no PMMU), and has no expansion slots. Unlike other Macs, the Plus does not have an ADB port. This means that an unmodified Plus cannot use modern keyboards, trackballs, mouses, graphic tablets, or other ADB devices. The Plus’ own mouse is bulky and cumbersome in comparison with current mice and its keyboard lacks some of the keys possessed by the modern standard keyboard. The Plus also lacks an internal hard drive, though one can be added. However, the maximum hard drive transfer rate is a very slow 260 KBps. In comparison, the Classic has a 660 KBPs tranfer rate and the LC III has a 3000KBPs transfer rate. In addition to its limits, the Plus suffers from some hardware problems. The Plus’ power supply and its SCSI system are often “quirky” and can cause some serious problems. Plus users have also reported problems with their video and their logic boards. In some cases, these hardware defects can be quickly and cheaply fixed. For example, one owner reported that he was able to fix his video problems with a couple drops of solder. Of course, the repair options available to you will depend on your technical skills and the problems you face. As always, only attempt repairs if you are aware of the risks and have the needed technical skill. If you can make these repairs yourself or get them done cheaply, it can be well worthwhile to fix up a Plus and keep it running. There are a variety of ways to enhance the Plus. If you have a hard drive, an easy improvement is to acquire SCSI Accelerator. This accelerator improves the Plus' hard drive read/write rate and is an extension (or, rather extensions) by Dolf Starreveld (Department of Mathematics and Computer Science University of Amsterdam). This accelerator should be available on most online archives. As the documentation indicates, it only works with the Mac Plus! If you need faster math functions, you can acquire FFP Control. According to the included documentation: "The SGIL company of France has provided a shareware INIT which replaces the SANE calls in your Macintosh with a faster mathematics library. It performs all calculations in REAL*4 precision (32 bits instead of SANE’s 80 bits) which results in a nice speed improvement for FORTRAN applications running on an SE or Plus without the floating point co-processor. " This software can be acquired at most major online archives. The shareware fee listed in the documentation is $30. This control panel seems to crash every other type of Macintosh and I have never actually tested it on a Plus or SE. One of the more straightforward upgrades is to increase the Plus’ RAM. The Plus has two banks which can each hold two SIMMs. The Plus can support 256K and 1MB SIMMs. Increasing the RAM will enable the Plus to run some current applications and perhaps System 7. Of course, System 7 runs rather slow on a Plus. The increase in memory will help in certain respects, but the Plus is a bit too slow to handle many current applications. In order to get the most out a RAM increase, it would be a good idea to enhance the Plus in other ways. Of course, if you purchase an accelerator, you will certainly want to acquire faster RAM. Otherwise the Plus' original, slow RAM will reduce the effectiveness of the acceleration. Naturally, when considering the cost of an accelerator upgrade, the cost of the new RAM should be considered, especially with the current prices. Since the Plus is an older computer, there has been plenty of time for companies to produce various upgrades for it. Since the Plus’ internal disk drive cannot handle HD disks or PC disks, if you need to use such disks, then you can buy an external drive. Applied Engineering (1-800-554-6227) sells its AEHD Plus Drive for $329. This drive supports 400K, 800K, and 1.44 MB floppy disks. The drive is external. Brainstorm Products (1-415-964-2131) produces a 16 MHz 68000 accelerator which sells for around $250. Since it is a 68000 accelerator, it cannot support virtual memory. On the plus side, it does have a 1 year warranty and has been praised as a reliable accelerator by many Plus owners. If you need a speed increase, but do not need external video or virtual memory, this accelerator can be a good investment. Novy Systems (1-800-638-4784) sells ImagePro cards, which are 68030 accelerators. These accelerators come in 25, 33, 40, and 50 MHz versions. They have a two year warranty, can be equipped with an FPU, and support up to 16 MB or RAM. The prices range from $549-$1248 (probably less). The ImagePro cards support external video. Novy also produces 16, 25, and 33 MHz accelerators that can be equipped with FPUs and support up to 16MB of RAM. These cards do not support external video, but cost only $395-828(probably less). I haven’t seen any Novy System’s ads in quite some time, so be sure to find out the current prices and availability. NewLife Computer Corporation (1-800-638-4784) produces accelerators that come in 16 and 25 MHz versions. These cards sell for $399-$499, include a FPU, and can support up to 16MB of RAM. These cards have a two year warranty. I haven’t seen any NewLife ads in quite some time, so be sure to check for availability. Mac Products USA ( 1-800-476-5295) offers a variety of accelerators for the Plus. These accelerators are all 68030 based and some (the Pro series) can support external black and white video. The 16 MHz version sells for $279 and the Pro version sells for $299. The 25 MHz version sells for $299 and the Pro version sells for $399. The 33 MHz version sells for $399 and the Pro version sells for $499. The prices MacProducts USA quotes is for the SE versions. These cards have a built in FPU and PMMU and support up to 16MB of RAM. The Plus will require special software (such as Virtual 3.0, which sells for about $49) in order to use virtual memory.These prices may well be higher for the Plus (last listed price was $99 higher). MacProducts also offers a 19” tow page black and white monitor for $349. The Pro series will support this monitor (and certain smaller monitors). If your Plus is in good condition and you only need an increase in speed, the Railgun accelerators can be a good investment. If you need a faster system and a larger monitor, but you don’t need color, a Railgun Pro card and a black and white monitor can be a good investment. For example, if you primarily do word processing or black and white page layout, an enhanced Plus might do the job for you. MacProducts’ prices are current . If you want to enhance your Plus, but it needs a new power supply, then a complete system rebuild might be what you need. MicroMac (1-714-362-1000) offers such a complete upgrade. For $998 you can purchase a kit that includes slimline enclosure, a new power supply, a new fan, a 15 inch monitor, and a 25 MHz 68030 accelerator. For an additional fee a FPU can be added. The MicroMac system will support virtual memory, with the appropriate software (such as Virtual 3.0). On the plus side, this upgrade replaces the power supply, speeds up the Plus, and provides external black and white video. On the minus side, the upgrade kit costs more than a brand new 4/80 Quadra 605(which would be vastly superior to the enhanced Plus, since it would be faster, support color video, and more). If you were able to sell your old Plus for $202, you could purchase a 8/160 Quadra 605 instead of buying the MicroMac upgrade. Overall, unless you have an extreme emotional attachment to your Plus’ logic board, buying a new computer makes more sense than purchasing the MicroMac upgrade. Overall, it can be worthwhile to accelerate a Plus (provided it is in good working order) if you do not need color video. However, in most cases the cost of enhancement is not worth the price, since a new computer would often be the same price as an enhancement, while offering much more. When deciding on whether to upgrade or purchase a new computer, be sure to take into account how much you could sell your Plus for. For example, if you could sell your Plus for $400, throw in the money you would have spent on the upgrade and add about another $100 (for tax, etc.) and get a 4/80 Quadra 605, a keyboard, and a 14” monitor. Since this system will vastly outperform the MicroMac upgrade and costs about the same, it would make more sense to buy the new computer. Of course, even if you decide that an upgrade would not be worth the cost, a Plus can be well worth keeping. Some uses that Pluses have been put to are as follows. First, since it is lightweight, a Plus can be used as a tranportable computer. With a $60 carrying case, you can easily and comfortably transport a Plus. Second, a Plus can be equipped with a hard drive and used as a communication computer. Since on-line operations tend to be slow anyway, an old Plus can be set aside to be a dedicated on-line computer, thus freeing up your main computer. Because the Plus doesn’t use much power and is quiet, it can be left on all the time, making it ideal for a fax receiving platform, a BBS computer, and so forth. Third, a Plus is still a functional computer and can be used as such. Although the Plus is old, its day still has not passed. Macintosh Musings by Jim Hines PowerPC? What about the rest of us? We’ve all heard about it. Some of you may have even seen one (but you can’t tell us about it!) Someday, Apple hopes we’ll all buy one. What am I talking about? Well, unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for about the last year, you know I’m speaking of the Power PC, now known as the PowerMAC. These computers, according to industry spokespeople, represent the next wave in both personal and corporate computing. Much like the Macintosh changed the world about 10 years-ago, Apple, IBM and Motorola are hedging their collective bets that the PPC will change the world for the betterment of both the users and the corporations who designed and built the studly silicon-based machines. But, the nagging question in my mind is: what about the rest of us? Sure, Apple’s been schmoozing everyone about how compatible the PPC will be with existing applications. Why, just slap in a new version of the System Software and bingo, you’re ready to run just about every program in the Mac universe with only minor speed degradation. What? In case you’ve not gotten every fact about the PPC, sources say the original release based on the Motorola PowerPC 601 processor will run software written for the 680x0-based Macs at speeds somewhere between that of a IIci and a Quadra 700. Jeez, both of these machines have been dead for, what? A year now? Those folks with Quadra 800’s sitting on their desks will see a performance hit, and in some cases, the software just won’t run at all. Ouch. Migrating to a new platform always hurts, be it speed-wise or in the pocketbook. Remember the problems when we switched from System 6.x to System 7? I remember having to upgrade most of my software to run under System 7. And now, although I wouldn’t return to System 6.x unless I had to, I remember cursing Apple for not making it more compatible. And I think the same thing will happen with PPC-based machines. Oh sure, the software may run, but what happens if it’s a mission-critical program that now runs so slowly you have to wonder if the decision to upgrade was worth it. Only time will answer this one. But, my fellow Mac-enthusiasts. The software compatibility and performance issues for the initial evangelists is not what concerns me the most. Oh no. Because the way I see it, if you have the cash to buy a PPC, you have the cash to upgrade those applications. If you don’t, well, then, don’t come crying to those of use stuck with 680x0-based Macs when the image-editing program of your choice refuses to run. Nope, what bothers me here is what will happen to the rest of us. Those of us with aging (but still perfectly good) Mac Pluses, SEs, SE/30s and so on. Will Apple forget about us? Will the software companies around the world remember that we need future updates to the software we use daily? I truly do wonder what’s going to happen in the coming months with the big-league software publishers. Now, I ‘m not going to pick one company and try to make an example of them. Nope, not gonna do it. What I am gonna do is make up a fake company and illustrate what I see happening in the near future. Someone in the Northwest, there’s this company that write big-time software. Really big-time software. Best-selling stuff. But, in these uncertain economic times, the leader of this company has a tough decision to make. Does he continue to pour valuable resources into his Macintosh, Windows and PPC products? Or does he devote a lot of people talents to the Windows and PPC products and just let the 680x0-based Mac products get updated with the leftover time the programmers are going to have. Personally, I think there’s more money to be made, initially, in the PPC market and thus that’s where the bulk of the development is going to go. And frankly, this scares the hell out of me. Most of us just can’t afford to plunk down $2,000+ for a new machine. Let alone the costs of the software updates needed to take full advantage of the PPC technology. That leaves us, the average user, in the low-end funk. Seemingly forever we’ve been dumped on, forgotten and hounded. Ever try running Photoshop 2.5 on a 4mb machine? Can’t do it. At least not with any predictable results. Same goes with the stuff of our dreams. 3-D rendering, Multimedia; high-end publishing. You just can’t do it. Call me a purist, but I remember when I could run PageMaker nicely on a 1MB Mac Plus. Granted, this was in 1989, but 4-6mb of memory should be enough for the average user. The gist of this now-lingering, long-running piece is to remind software companies that their installed user base is, in some cases, geared around the 68020 and lower Macintosh. Please don’t forget about us. Pretty please? Macintosh Musings, written by Jim Hines. jhines@iglou.com (if you have to ask, forget it) Jim Hines (AOL) UseNet! Dennis The MacMenace As you AOL people may know, UseNet access has finally arrived! HURRAY! HURRAY! HURRAY! Here are some groups that I really think you should join! Alt.SPAM Alt.Barney.Die.die.die alt.2600 comp.mac.games Here are some tips for posting on UseNet: When you are being flamed and have no good comebacks, go for grammar. POint out the mistakes the person made in his message. That always gets people pissed off. Unfortuantely, this is all I have this month because I've been working on an Opera, a Term Paper, a School Operated BBS, and general High School. :( See ya next month! ============= Dennis T. Cheung has no further comment at this time. :)