I greatly enjoyed these two episodes of Twenty Thousand Hertz. I learned a ton about some of the sounds that have been in my life for decades.
Category: Apple History
Performa Month: February 1994 Updates
In February 1994, Apple released three new Performa models. Dubbed the Macintosh Performa 575, 577, and 578, these machines were essentially a Quadra 605 in the all-in-one Performa/LC 520 case, bringing the 68LC040 CPU to the all-in-one Performa for the first time.
Here is how the three models compared in some key metrics:
| Model | Memory | HDD Size | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 575 | 5 MB | 250 MB | $2,099 |
| 577 | 5 MB | 250 MB | $2,199 |
| 578 | 8 MB | 320 MB | $2,299 |
Each of these models ran at 33 MHz. This was a full 32-bit design, so both the CPU and data path were 32-bit, unlike some previous machines which were slowed down by narrower buses.
Performa Month: The 560 ‘Money Magazine Edition’
Today we are talking about a very weird Performa, announced in early 1994. Dubbed the “Money Magazine Edition,” this 560 is unusual, even by Performa standards.
A Very 90s Partnership
Looking at the specs, there’s not much to write home about here. This machine is just another 500-series Performa, powered by a 33 MHz Motorola 68030, but there’s more to this one, as reported by MacWEEK:
Apple and Money Magazine have made a bundle that pairs Mac hardware with a selection of multimedia finance-management software.
Performa Month: Fall 1993 Brought an Avalanche of Machines
In the fall of 1993, Apple released a virtual beige avalanche of updated Performa models. Let’s jump in!
Performa 275
Like the 250 before it, the 275 took the shape of a compact Mac. This time around, Apple based the Performa model on the Color Classic II, as LowEndMac writes:
First available in Canada (1993), and then Asia and Europe (and never sold in the home US market), the Color Classic II (also known as the Performa 275) shares the motherboard design of the LC III. Running at a relatively fast 33 MHz, memory can be expanded as far as 36 MB.
The SuperDrive
It seems that Apple’s USB SuperDrive has been discontinued, 16 years on the market, as Filipe Espósito reports:
As noted by one of our readers, it’s no longer possible to buy an Apple USB SuperDrive online via the official Apple Store in the US. The product’s webpage says that it’s “Sold Out,” and given that it’s a product introduced in 2008, it seems very unlikely that Apple will ever produce new units again.
Night of the Panther⇢
Michael Steeber, writing about a night I vividly remember:
Back in the days when software could be weighed and measured, the release of a new operating system was as big of a deal as any other hardware release. But let’s not forget: updates weren’t free. Mac OS X Panther, released on October 24, 2003 at 8:00 p.m., cost $129.
It was within this context that Apple created “ Night of the Panther,” a one-night special event hosted at all 65 U.S. Apple Retail Stores. (The first international Apple Store was still a month away.)
Performa Month: The 520 — A New All-in-One Design
Today, we explore the world of the Performa 520, which was a rebadged version of the LC 520. The two machines were put on sale at the same time, in June 1993. The Performa version was not sold in the United States and came with more bloatware than the LC. (The LC 520 was initially sold only to schools.)
For the sake of this article, I will refer to this pair of machines as the “520,” and unless specifically called out, everything in this column will apply to both machines.
Performa Month: The First Updates
Last time, we took a look at the very first Performa models that rolled off the line. Those machines shipped in the fall of 1992. By 1993, Apple was ready to revise the lineup:
Performa 250
The Performa 200 had been a rebadged Macintosh Classic II, so for the 250, Apple rebadged the Macintosh Color Classic.
The Color Classic would prove to be the last major update to the compact Mac line, and to mark the beginning of the end, Apple got weird.
Performa Month: The First of a New Line of Macintosh: The 200, 400, 600, & 600CD
In September 1992, the first batch of Macintosh Performas were announced. Last time, I wrote about what Apple hoped to achieve with these computers, so it’s now time to discuss the computers themselves.
In the initial press release about the systems, Apple’s Betty Taylor wrote:
All three Performa models use the powerful Motorola 68030 microprocessor, and share the I/O ports and expansion slots that customers expect to find in other Macintosh family members.
Welcome to Performa Month
From 1992 to 1997, Apple shipped over 40 Macintosh models wearing a Performa badge. In the years since, the word has become an anathema to many Mac users who were around in that era.1
Throughout August, I will be exploring the world of this computer line in a new series:
And what a confusing world it is!
At its heart, the Performa line is the fruit of badge engineering. This is often found in the car market, perhaps most famously in the Chrysler K-car platform that debuted in 1981. Over 14 years, Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth shipped a dizzying array of front-wheel drive cars, all based on the same platform. Features, options, and prices ranged between them, but under the covers, these were all the same car, more or less.
A Look Back at ResEdit⇢
The Macintosh was intended to be different in many ways. One of them was its file system, which was designed for each file to consist of two forks, one a regular data fork as in normal file systems, the other a structured database of resources, the resource fork.
Resources came to be used to store a lot of standard structured data, such as the specifications for and contents of alerts and dialogs, menus, collections of text strings, keyboard definitions and layouts, icons, windows, fonts, and chunks of code to be used by apps. You could extend the types of resource supported by means of a template, itself stored as a resource, so developers could define new resource types appropriate to their own apps.
maciNTosh: Windows NT for Power Macintosh⇢
Wack0 on GitHub has put together an incredible project: the ability to install and run select versions Windows NT on a handful of PowerPC Macs, including:
- iMac G3 (tray-loading)
- Power Macintosh G3 (Blue & White) “Yosemite”
- Macintosh PowerBook G3 Bronze Keyboard “Lombard”
- Power Macintosh G4 PCI “Yikes!”
A couple of videos showing the process have surfaced: