Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!mit-eddie!genrad!decvax!decwrl!exodus.dec.com!harrow From: harrow@exodus.dec.com.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Mac ][ First Impressions... Message-ID: <10396@decwrl.DEC.COM> Date: Mon, 15-Jun-87 21:44:40 EDT Article-I.D.: decwrl.10396 Posted: Mon Jun 15 21:44:40 1987 Date-Received: Thu, 18-Jun-87 01:46:40 EDT Sender: daemon@decwrl.DEC.COM Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation Lines: 97 Copyright, 1987, Jeffrey R. Harrow (I think I'll write an article based on this...) Well, It finally arrived, my new Mac ][. I'll be following up with a more detailed article once things settle down, but I thought I'd share some first impressions as well as pose a couple of questions: It's significantly more effort to set it up than the 'ol Macs. Not surprising, of course, but I did have to carefully follow the setup instructions so as not be mess up unfamiliar hardware. As usual, it goes together very well. The internal design is very clean and uncluttered. As my Apple monitor (color) is still a month or so away, I was able to borrow a NEC JC-1401P3A Multisync monitor and, thanks to the help of Joel West and others on the net, came up with the pinouts for the Mac ][ video board's male DB15 connector so that I could make the cable to the NEC monitor. For all of you who need this, the following worked just fine: NEC male DB9 Mac ][ male DB15 ------------- ---------------- 1 Red 2 2 Grn 5 3 Blue 9 6,7,8,9 Ground 1 That's all that's required (of course it should be shielded cable, with the shield tied to ground at each end. Although the NEC monitor specs. a maximum vertical scan rate of 62 Hz and the Mac ][ uses about 67 Hz, it synced up just fine with some range left over on the vertical hold control. The picture is completely stable, although there is some waviness in the vertical boarders (stable, but not quite straight). Convergence is just fine. However, I do not believe that the text is crisp enough to make me happy if I were looking at it for hours on end (who me?). I've heard that Apple's monitor is better in this department; we'll see. My Mac-Plus has a non-SCSI HD20 on it, so I could not directly connect it to the Mac ][ (no external drive port). Hence, I used my HFS Backup set of floppys. I was EXTREMELY impressed in how fast the Mac ][ ate those floppys; about one every 45 seconds while restoring them to the internal 40 Megabyte disk. I couldn't even get into reading the manual it was so fast! As advertised, Apple did NOT blast us out with color. If the video card is set at 16 colors, the Apple symbol is in color, and the cute little stylized Mac on the startup screen IS in color, but that's about it. However, if you have CricketDraw, CricketGraph, or one of a few other programs that correctly implemented the Imagewriter 16-color stuff, you WILL get to do some on-screen color drawing, and it looks GOOD, even in 16-color mode! You can even put such into the Scrapbook and it will show up in color. Anyway, a much more detailed list of what works and what doesn't in a day or so; I've filled up quite a few sheets on my pad. Sound: When you boot, you get a very pleasing "chime". However, the sounds that the control panel let you choose for your beep don't include that nice chime, and indeed sound a bit much (a monkey, funny sounds, etc.). Anyone know how to make that boot-chime the "beep"? (Note, Soundinit and BeepInit don't work on the Mac ][!) Has anyone upgraded the memory on their Mac ][? I've got 4 extra 256K SIMs and it appears that I have to remove the internal hard drive to mount them. Is it as easy as pulling the 2 connectors and removing the 2 end screws, then tilting the drive up and out? Any special considerations while installing the extra memory? Well, I could go on for hours, but perhaps tomorrow. Of course as with all good serials, I should end on a cliff hanger. This thing is FAST! How fast you ask? Well, I sat back down at my Plus to type this note (it was connected to the modem) and I REALLY noticed the difference. For example, return to the Finder is only about 2-3 seconds on a half-full 40 megabyte disk, and this is without Keeper (which does not work, but isn't missed)! Happy Macing. Jeff Harrow Work address: ARPAnet: HARROW%EXODUS.DEC@decwrl.ARPA Usenet: decwrl!exodus.dec.com!harrow or {allegra,Shasta,decvax}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-exodus!harrow Easynet: EXODUS::HARROW Telephone: (617)264-5128 USPS: Digital Equipment Corp. Mail stop: BXB1-2/E02 85 Swanson Road Boxboro, MA 01719