Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ogicse!decwrl!sun-barr!newstop!sun!concertina!fiddler
From: fiddler@concertina.Sun.COM (Steve Hix)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Wanted: help for Lisa
Message-ID: <130667@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 24 Jan 90 22:54:47 GMT
References: <1990Jan24.100814.16499@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us>
Sender: news@sun.Eng.Sun.COM
Lines: 73

In article <1990Jan24.100814.16499@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us>, alex@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us (Alex Pournelle) writes:
> Yep, due to low funds, I have a second Mac.  My home Mac is now
> an XL--a Lisa.  Best to hit "n" now if you aren't interested in my
> observations & questions, for this is a long 'un.
> 
> Y'know, after examining this machine, I'm pretty impressed.  Why can't
> the Mac have plug-in modules and "no screwdriver" assembly/disassembly,
See below
> and why did it take IBM six years to do the same with the PS/2?
No idea...
 
> Back to my requests.  Lisa (yes, and my old CP/M computer is named
> Helen--what's yours named?) has MacWorks 3.0 and Finder 5.3 on her 10meg
> hard disk, boots fine, and seems to run what apps are loaded already.
> What I'd like is:

(Where did you get your XL?) Most of your questions could be answered by
the folks at Sun Remarketing, somewhere in Logan, UT.  They currently
support the Lisa/MacXL, and have engineered some new stuff.
 
> --Geee, with this remarkably modular construction (listening, Apple?
> Nahh, this was Jobs's baby) 

Let's not start that one, again.  The Lisa was the way it was because of
the hard work of a lot of good people.  The Mac started out the way *it* did
(a "toaster") because Job's vision was one of an appliance that people
never needed to poke into for anything.  He took over the Mac group when
he was outmaneuvered in the Lisa effort.

> Or replace the CPU board with something speedy.

Sure *looks* like a straightforward notion.  Maybe someone at Sun has looked
into doing just that...

> --Can I attach a double-sided drive (and presumably modify the ROMs
> concomitantly) here?  At least another 400K drive to what looks like the
> appropriate connector on the backmost board?
Ask Sun Remarketing.

> --What, if any, I/O boards are/were available, or do those small slots
> also take RAM?

ditto

> --Can I use 'er on AppleTalk (as the control panel suggests) or
> with a cable to cross-load software?

Yes.

> --Does the "aspect ratio change kit" lower resolution, squeeze screen
> size, or just mess with the electron gun?

Basically changes the pixel shape to square, as on the Mac.  Makes Mac
software look a lot better.  Same number/arrangement of pixels on the
screen.

> It sure is fun watching the in-built screen saver work, and having "shut
> down" turn off the power AND un-light the power button.  Just like a
> Mac-][!

Wonder where they got the idea?...

> Now, back to the mystery of why the screen glows green after it's
> black...

The phosphors on the (fairly persistent) paper-white screen include
a mix of colors.  The green one just has the longest persistence of
the lot.

------------
"...Then anyone who leaves behind him a written manual, and likewise
anyone who receives it, in the belief that such writing will be clear
and certain, must be exceedingly simple-minded..."   Plato, _Phaedrus_