68kMLA Classic Interface
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| Blackbird Prototype AKA PowerBook YYY | |
| Posted by: mcdermd on 2013-05-28 22:23:10 I'm sure there are many that don't read my "My Latest" thread so I figured I'd link up to this find I procured the other weekend. It came from a former Apple employee and is fairly well worn. But what can you say, it's a prototype. I figured it's interesting enough to put a heads-up for pictures.   Here's the full page | |
| Posted by: Byrd on 2013-05-28 22:54:59 Nice PB! Thanks for posting up the pics. Does the motherboard itself have any unusual markings or writing etc, or is the flash EEPROM chip the main difference? Noting the YYY moniker wasn't the Powerbook XXX a prototype PB 5300/Mustang? Most PB 5x0 units I've come across have looked very worn, even though they probably weren't as thrashed out as you'd think. They looked amazing when new but the plastics on these tend to scratch, fade and discolour easily over time. The plastics also tend to snap easily with a minor drop. Still, a souped up PB540c is my idea of the ultimate retro Powerbook, in terms of design and power under the hood for its day. JB | |
| Posted by: mcdermd on 2013-05-28 23:03:28 I'm thinking it's fairly late in the design process. But here's a large pic of the logic board: http://www.applefool.com/applefool/Blackbird_Prototype_files/Media/DSC06924/DSC06924.jpg There appears to be a dearth of resistors under the floppy area and the chips are different than the production design.You can eagle eye the rest of the pics and tell me if you find anything 😉 I like the power button with the standard circle line instead of the ADB-standard triangle. | |
| Posted by: uniserver on 2013-05-28 23:23:55 i think its funny how you wanted a 540c and this lands on your lap 🙂 Pretty awesome!! | |
| Posted by: mcdermd on 2013-05-28 23:25:15 Heh, yeah. And Byrd, the 'Book is actually in fairly good condition - the plastics are all in decent shape. It's really just the rubberized top case that's beat up. Not much I can do about that either. | |
| Posted by: Brooklyn on 2013-05-29 07:54:24 Thanks for posting all of the pictures | |
| Posted by: techknight on 2013-05-29 18:55:26 with that EEPROM, you can do some rom hacking. such as netbooting, modified icon, chime, etc... | |
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