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Unknown Mobius Color Video Card for SE/30
Posted by: mshefa on 2021-09-27 15:34:23 Hello all, I just bought an SE/30 at a flea market and when I opened it up, I found a Mobius card that I don’t recognize. I have attached photos. The model number is MD012 Rev A and the date is 1991. The computer’s hard drive still worked and I noticed a bunch of color control panels installed. Please see all the photos. Does anyone know what this is or can anyone point me to where I can find out? Much appreciated, Mason S.
Posted by: mshefa on 2021-09-27 15:37:47 FWIW, the "Monitor" control panel photo is of the computer without the Mobius card installed.
Posted by: Trash80toHP_Mini on 2021-09-27 18:22:55 Very nice find! Back up that System Folder immediately! The Color Switch control panel and any other drivers for the card need to be preserved. Most of what you need will be on the Declaration ROM of the card, but it looks like you need that custom Control Panel for full function. After backing up, install the Mobius VidCard and see what options become available. Also run TattleTech to see what info pops up about it in the PDS/NuBus report. As far as that connector plug goes, it looks like your SE/30 was paired with a Full Page Display. It'll be interesting to see if that's a terminator block? Search the 1991-1992 issues in the MaUser/MacWorld archives for more info on your card. Mobius is a pretty good search term. Good luck!
Posted by: mshefa on 2021-09-27 20:33:42 Very nice find! Back up that System Folder immediately! The Color Switch control panel and any other drivers for the card need to be preserved. Most of what you need will be on the Declaration ROM of the card, but it looks like you need that custom Control Panel for full function. After backing up, install the Mobius VidCard and see what options become available. Also run TattleTech to see what info pops up about it in the PDS/NuBus report. As far as that connector plug goes, it looks like your SE/30 was paired with a Full Page Display. It'll be interesting to see if that's a terminator block? Search the 1991-1992 issues in the MaUser/MacWorld archives for more info on your card. Mobius is a pretty good search term. Good luck! Trash, thank you very much for your suggestion and insight. I searched every single issue from January 1991 to December 1994 and did not find a single mention of a Mobius card that was not the 030. I wonder what this could be! I don't have a way to load programs onto the computer yet—the floppy drive is inoperable. That also prohibits me from backing up the files. I may need to invest in a Floppy Emu soon . . . .
Posted by: Trash80toHP_Mini on 2021-09-27 21:30:49 You're welcome, I'm surprised you didn't find anything. If you have another Mac and a printer cable you can do a baseline AppleTalk connection between them.
Posted by: Trash80toHP_Mini on 2021-09-27 22:15:15 Took a whack at June 1990 MacUser, found two listings: Mobius Multiscreen Card 23530-$295 Mobius Multiscreen Video Card w/ Princeton 15" monitor ...................... 529.
Posted by: Bolle on 2021-09-28 00:20:35 That card isn't going to do any colour. Probe around the output pins if you can find signals that look like VSync, HSync and Pixel data and you should be able to wire them up to an analog multisync monitor. VSync and HSync are TTL anyways on VGA monitors, you just want to run the pixel data output through a resistor divider to get the voltage down to VGA levels.
Posted by: shirsch on 2025-09-14 10:50:13 Sorry to revive an old thread. I have one of these video boards (also a $5 flea market purchase) and would like to get it working with my SE/30. Simply plugging it in doesn't get me very far. There are no signals evident on either of the output connectors and I suspect a display driver is required to bring it to life. The only Mobius drive package I found is for a combination video/accelerator board. I tried installing them, but the system just hangs at boot. Anyone have a lead on the proper driver and/or control panel?
Posted by: franklyn on 2025-09-14 12:57:17 My guess is that because of the 88 MHz crystal oscillator and the MC10H124P Motorola chip, it is a monochrome graphics card for controlling an ECL monitor?
Posted by: shirsch on 2025-09-14 15:03:47 Perhaps, but I don't believe it generates any signals unless enabled by a driver extension of control panel. Need to find that first.
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