68kMLA Classic Interface
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| The Absolutely Apple Macintosh IIfx | |
| Posted by: slomacuser on 2012-04-15 22:58:13 Nice pics, anyway the driver for scanner could be found here: http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English-North_American/Macintosh/Display-Peripheral/Scanner/ | |
| Posted by: spiceyokooko on 2012-04-16 01:14:34 It's well worth having a read (or re-read) through Apple's documentation on IIfx SCSI termination (as I had to do recently for my own IIfx) as the IIfx handles internal and external SCSI termination slightly differently to most other Apple desktops. The lack of or incorrect installation of the internal SCSI termination block and/or filter within the fx is the primary cause of 'SCSI voodoo' people often associate with this machine. https://support.apple.com/kb/TA42169 Very impressive collection of vintage Apple! | |
| Posted by: Trash80toHP_Mini on 2012-04-16 05:36:51 The VideoSpigot doesn't show up as being present in a slot either, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. IDK if it has a DeclROM on it at all, strange card. My guess is that they didn't follow Apple's guidelines for the PseudoSlot/Declaration ROM model at all for some reason or other. I figure this is most likely because it was available for several platforms and too much of a pain to revamp the software and board design to meet a guideline, since it wasn't actually a requirement. I need to re-iterate this, I LOVE what you've done, it's positively gorgeous. It's so 😎 it reminds me of one of my favorite FROGDESIGN Prototypes:  Add a fitted version of . . .  . . . these peripherals to the left side, move the scanner to one side of a U-Shaped workstation on the left with a tombstone shaped co-worker/client interface peninsula on the rightt and it would almost match what you've put together in terms of function. | |
| Posted by: beachycove on 2012-04-20 19:44:27 Presumably you've been benchmarking, etc. Do you have anything to add to what's usually said about the Rasterops 24xli? I find it hard to believe that a card that cost nearly $3000 when new is as bad as LEM suggests. | |
| Posted by: Trash80toHP_Mini on 2012-04-20 21:24:51 It's hard to believe the performance of a $10k+ computer system would be eclipsed by the lowliest of the first Quadras as well. Product cycles were longer back in the day, but basic technological changes came about at a quicker pace than today, or so it would seem to me. Heck, SOFTWARE advanced by leaps and bounds back then, as did operating systems. Today there are thousands of apps available for myriad platforms that nobody saw coming back then, but few of them make any real difference to the average computer user. < hyperbole mode > 90% of computer users could STILL get 90% of anything they really NEED to do on a computer done with Microsoft Works for DOS and a browser! < /hyperbole mode > We waste more computer cycles, transistor counts, computer hardware, telecom equipment, polygons and pixels on the WWW doing absolutely nothing PRODUCTIVE with our time than would have been conceivable when that card was developed and marketed. The IIfx and that VidCard were a High End Tools for a fast paced, High End Market doing revolutionary development on CAD systems, changing the face of the publishing industry and then annihilating it while torquing the InterNet into the WWW. Cost was relative, high dollar DTP/Lino and CAD "seats" dwarfed the cost of a IIfx, a Color TPD or three and the VidCards to run them. But there weren't that many "seats" to go around for amortization of R&D costs for the relatively low production runs of High End VidCards. Hence, the price penalties that seem ludicrous today for such equipment. Ubiquitous computing, however trivial, still adds up to incredible economies of scale . . . something Apple has only (fairly) recently learned to leverage. :-/ | |
| Posted by: Brooklyn on 2012-04-23 08:37:12 Awesome collection! | |
Posted by: spiceyokooko on 2012-04-24 14:54:06If you can find an Apple (Radius with a fruity logo) TPD to go with this system it'd be nearly the Apex of Absolutely Apple.You're absolutely right in both the points you make there Trash. Where I used to work as an Apple Systems Admin was a design studio that had that kind of a set-up in it. I first thought you meant the TPD as a Radius Tilt/Pivot Display, but then my brain kicked into gear and I realised you meant the Apple Twin Page Display. We had both those in the design studio, although the Radius Pivots were on the IIci's and the TPD on the SE/30. The IIfx I think had originally a 13" Apple RGB colour display but definitely ended up with a Radius 19" Precision Colour Display. We also had IIntx, IIf and IIg laserwriters an AppleOne Scanner and an Apple Tape Backup 40sc! (which I still have!) So that lovely lot of platinum boxes definitely represents the 'typical' design studio/service bureau of the day. Cheers! | |
| Posted by: CelGen on 2012-04-25 22:49:48 Well I do have access to both the Apple Portrait display and the matching Portrait monitor card, however I do not have the authentic Apple 13W3 monitor cable. | |
| Posted by: maceffects on 2012-05-11 17:34:17 Just wanted to chime in... Totally amazing collection. Such rare items all with on hot rod of a computer. Imagine that setup in the late 80s!! Youd have been king 🙂 | |
| Posted by: uniserver on 2012-05-29 13:09:19 i wonder how much you would of had to pay (retail) of bought new back when it came out… 🙂 | |
Posted by: Trash80toHP_Mini on 2012-05-29 13:30:03. . . I do not have the authentic Apple 13W3 monitor cable.I'm not a purist . . . and I do have one, so source an appropriate second source cable and dig up a trade trinket for the Apple AAUI Card I offered . . . . . . I'll gladly send you both Amazingly Absolute Apple IIfx giblets! :approve: IIRC, the IIfx was released in 1990, the late 80's version would have to have been the IIx king-o-the-hill. 😱) | |
| Posted by: Charlieman on 2012-05-30 12:03:59 Yes, try to find an Apple TPD to go with that. Keep the Apple Color Monitor but add an Apple Workstation Card (that's the one for the TPD) or a suitable third party card. The TPD is important because so much graphics work is/was based around A4/US Letter in portrait layout. You would have assembled the page on the TPD, with palettes and the content to be imported on another monitor. Even if the page was in colour, you'd have done the layout on the mono TPD for convenience. | |
| Posted by: LOOM on 2012-05-30 12:10:15 Great setup! All you need now is some '80s office furniture to go along with it:  | |
| Posted by: uniserver on 2012-05-30 12:17:43 not trying to start an argument with you… i simply do not believe you paid 100 us dollars or even pounds for all of what is in the picture… i need a break down as to where you got each item, and how much you paid +shipping or +gas i think you will find that you have much more invested then a hundred bucks. If you found all that then 8 x 4MB SIMMs should not bet that expensiveDepends on what you mean by "expensive". Everything you see above cost me less than $100 total. | |
| Posted by: CelGen on 2012-05-30 22:20:35 A lot of the items came from FreeGeek Vancouver. Their prices on anything that is not modern are damn good. For example, the CD SC and the modem cost $10 and the IIfx was $15. The other local source is The Hackery. I used to work for them and know them well. When they get especially interesting things in (like the One Scanner or the LaserWriter IIg) they ring up me and a friend and if we show interest, we buy it. The One Scanner was a $5 + some computer work, the IIg was free, and the monitor, keyboard, and cables were all free. For everything else I had a stockpile of stuff I had been making for almost seven years. Back when I had a paper delivery job I had to make $30 a month go a long way. that was also back in the time when stuff like SE/30's and such sold on ebay for next to nothing. All my NuBus cards and the likes all came in a massive lot. That did technically cost me $150 but we are talking for a lot that filled a 20'x4'x4' crawlspace and consisted of computers, cards, software, documentation and part of a kitchen sink, a few NuBus cards from the lot is technically a couple of dimes worth. Trash80: I'm extremely interested in just the cable. Like I said before, I'll veer away from extreme purity by using some non-apple Nubus cards.The network card I currently have installed is perfect. | |
| Posted by: Trash80toHP_Mini on 2012-05-30 23:10:20 If they call you about a DOA Portrait Display and you can ship me just the plastics, I think I've got a cable and adapter that might work already. Otherwise I need a replacement cable, as I said before. BTW, mine is the DA-19 <-> 13W3 version, if you need 13w3 <-> 13W3, then I can't help you out anyway. Dunno, what's on the back of Apple's Portrait Card? Your NIC is likely period perfect for the setup anyway, AAUI came about later, IIRC. | |
| Posted by: CelGen on 2012-06-01 09:25:42 Rats. Yeah, I need the 13w3 - 13w3 version of the cable. The real Apple portrait display card has 13w3 as well however I have only ever seen one of the Apple cables years ago when it was cut up to make a Y-cable for a NeXTstation Color. | |
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