Macintosh IIci
Encyclopedia
The Apple Macintosh IIci was an improvement on the Macintosh IIcx
. Sharing the same compact case design with three expansion slots
, the IIci improved upon the IIcx's 16 MHz Motorola 68030
CPU
and 68882 FPU, replacing them with 25 MHz versions of these chips. The IIci came with either a 40 or an 80 megabyte hard disk. A logic board upgrade was available for IIcx owners.
The IIci introduced a lot of technical and architectural enhancements, some of which were important in preparing for System 7
(which was then called the Blue project) and would influence future Macs, though some of them came at the cost of compatibility:
The IIci was one of the most popular and longest lived Mac models of all time. For a short time in 1989, before the introduction of the 40 MHz Macintosh IIfx
, the IIci was the fastest Mac available.
Possible upgrades include 25, 33, 40 or 50 MHz Daystar 68030 boards, a couple of different 68040 upgrades, and two PowerPC 601 upgrade cards running at either 66 MHz or 100 MHz, exclusively from Daystar Digital, which was bought by XLR8, which still holds the Daystar product logo and name for its line of products. 68030 and 68040 upgrades were also made by Sonnet, Diimo and other companies.
An easter egg
exists in the IIci ROM. If the system date is set to September 20, 1989 (the machine's release date) and the Command - Option - C - I buttons held during boot time, an image of the development team will be displayed.
The signatures of the product design team can be seen in the molded plastic of the case if one removes the motherboard.
Macintosh IIcx
Half a year following the release of the Macintosh IIx passed before Apple introduced the Macintosh IIcx in 1989. Despite resembling the IIx to a great extent and providing the same performance, the IIcx was quieter than its predecessor. The design was also made much more compact by reducing the...
. Sharing the same compact case design with three expansion slots
Expansion slots
Expansion slots are specific slots on a PC motherboard that facilitate the placement of expansion cards.All such expansion slots are colour coded, and are built in such a way that only a specific type of card or device can interface with/ be inserted into the device.- Types :Common types of...
, the IIci improved upon the IIcx's 16 MHz Motorola 68030
Motorola 68030
The Motorola 68030 is a 32-bit microprocessor in Motorola's 68000 family. It was released in 1987. The 68030 was the successor to the Motorola 68020, and was followed by the Motorola 68040. In keeping with general Motorola naming, this CPU is often referred to as the 030 .The 68030 features on-chip...
CPU
Central processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
and 68882 FPU, replacing them with 25 MHz versions of these chips. The IIci came with either a 40 or an 80 megabyte hard disk. A logic board upgrade was available for IIcx owners.
The IIci introduced a lot of technical and architectural enhancements, some of which were important in preparing for System 7
System 7
System 7 is the name of a Macintosh operating system introduced in 1991.System 7 may also refer to:* System 7 , a British dance/ambient band* System 7 , 1991 album* IBM System/7, a 1970s computer system...
(which was then called the Blue project) and would influence future Macs, though some of them came at the cost of compatibility:
- a completely new, 32-bit clean ROMRead-only memoryRead-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...
with built-in 32-bit QuickDraw that consists of 2 parts: one part that is the same across all Macs, and another area (called the overpatch area) that is specific to each Mac. - discontiguous physical memory that are mapped into a contiguous memory area by the MMU. Some of the System 7System 7System 7 is the name of a Macintosh operating system introduced in 1991.System 7 may also refer to:* System 7 , a British dance/ambient band* System 7 , 1991 album* IBM System/7, a 1970s computer system...
VM functions had to be added to the ROM to support getting the physical address of the memory. - an optional 32KB Level 2 cacheCPU cacheA CPU cache is a cache used by the central processing unit of a computer to reduce the average time to access memory. The cache is a smaller, faster memory which stores copies of the data from the most frequently used main memory locations...
. The cache card, which fitted into a special slot on the motherboard, was later included in all systems at no charge. Third-party cards offered up to 128KB, but the added RAM yielded little benefit over the base card. - a first for a non-all-in-one Mac — onboard graphics for an external display. This freed one of the system's three NuBusNuBusNuBus is a 32-bit parallel computer bus, originally developed at MIT as a part of the NuMachine workstation project. The first complete implementation of the NuBus and the NuMachine was done by Western Digital for their NuMachine, and for the Lisp Machines Inc. LMI-Lambda. The NuBus was later...
slots. However, because the integrated graphics used the system's RAM for its frame buffer, some users used a NuBus graphics card to reclaim the lost memory. Also, it was popular to install faster memory in the first bank of SIMM slots, as this is the bank used by the video subsystem.
The IIci was one of the most popular and longest lived Mac models of all time. For a short time in 1989, before the introduction of the 40 MHz Macintosh IIfx
Macintosh IIfx
The Macintosh IIfx was a model of Apple Macintosh computer, introduced in 1990 and discontinued in 1992. At introduction it cost from US $9,000 to US $12,000, depending on configuration, and was the fastest Mac...
, the IIci was the fastest Mac available.
Possible upgrades include 25, 33, 40 or 50 MHz Daystar 68030 boards, a couple of different 68040 upgrades, and two PowerPC 601 upgrade cards running at either 66 MHz or 100 MHz, exclusively from Daystar Digital, which was bought by XLR8, which still holds the Daystar product logo and name for its line of products. 68030 and 68040 upgrades were also made by Sonnet, Diimo and other companies.
An easter egg
Easter egg (media)
Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
exists in the IIci ROM. If the system date is set to September 20, 1989 (the machine's release date) and the Command - Option - C - I buttons held during boot time, an image of the development team will be displayed.
The signatures of the product design team can be seen in the molded plastic of the case if one removes the motherboard.
External links
- Macintosh IIci technical specification at apple.com