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Build Your Own Macintosh and Save a Bundle (Review)

"Build Your Own Macintosh and Save a Bundle"

Bob Brant

Windcrest Books, 1991

Cover price: $17.95 (US)

The blurb on the back cover summarises the book accurately: "Users of DOS-based computers know that no matter what a PC manufacturer does, it's always possible to get lower-priced components and add-on peripherals from third-party vendors. Now Mac-lovers can put together the same low-cost homebuilts that have been available to the IBM world for years. Build Your Own Macintosh and Save a Bundle contains all the information you need to assemble your very own "CAT Mac" -- a Macintosh made up entirely of easy-to-obtain mail order catalog parts."

Well it's an interesting idea -- buy various Mac bits, some from Apple and some from third-party vendors, and assemble the system of your dreams. Brant discusses systems and upgrades based on the 128, 512, 512Ke, Plus, SE, SE/30, II, IIx, IIcx, IIci and, for the speed hungry, IIfx.

The procedures are a lot less dramatic than, for example, contemporary SE/30 and Colour Classic hacks. And if you weren't too bothered about having an ugly beige box on your desk (and your labour is cheap), the resulting computer would almost certainly work. But for most of us, a Mac is more than a box than runs Macintosh system software. Does anyone collect PowerMac 4400s for their aesthetic merits?

I bought my copy of this book for £3.50 from a local second hand bookshop; I wouldn't recommend paying much more for it. For a computer historian, there is some interesting stuff on prices and dealers but most (all?) of the technical information is available on the internet in one form or another.

The book in brief

Introduction

An explanation of what all old Mac hackers know: Anyone with modest technical skills and the ability to read a manual can assemble the right components into a usable Mac that is faster or more capable than a standard machine.

Chapter 1: Why build your own Macintosh

Brant's argument is simple: it's cheaper. The computer illustrated on the front cover is pretty hideous, of course.

Chapter 2: How much can you save

An interesting comparison of prices for used Macs, new Mac prices and upgrades. Recommended and not recommended "CAT Macs" are discussed. Some of the third party options that he discusses are now much more desirable (ie expensive) nowadays than an early Power Mac.

Chapter 3: Atari, Mac clones, Mac portables

I wish that this chapter were longer as it contains some interesting stuff about the Atari MEGA 2 as well as Mac portables from Colby Systems, Daynamac Computer Products and Outbound Systems. Clones from Powder Blue Computers and Akkord Technologies get an even briefer mention. Apart from the Outbound, do any of examples of these exist in the wild today?

Chapter 4: Logic board, memory, upgrades

This chapter describes Apple motherboards used in then-current Mac models and their possible use in a "CAT Mac". It's familiar stuff to old Mac hands but would be a good primer for someone new to compacts and the Mac II family.

Chapter 5: Accelerator boards

Brant's comprehensive list of then-current accelerators is included below.

Manufacturer/accelerator

Logic board

CPU speed

List price (1991)

Accelerators Using 68000 CPUs

AOX Double Time 16

SE

16

395

Irwin Excelerator XL

SE

16

495

Newer MacSelerator

SE

16

345

Siclone Turbo SE

512, Plus, SE

16

398

Super Mac Speed Card

SE

16

399

Accelerators Using 68020 CPUs

Computer System Assoc FasTrack

Plus, SE

8

599

Dove Marathon 020

SE

16

699

GCC Hypercharger 020

SE

16

549

Irwin Excelerator XL 20

SE

20

995

Irwin Excelerator XL 25

SE

25

1695

MacProducts USA Railgun 020 Plus

128, 512, Plus, SE

16

549

Microtech 68020 Accelerator

Plus, SE

12

599

Novy Mac 20 MX/16

512, Plus, SE

16

895

Novy Mac 20 MX/25

512, Plus, SE

25

1595

Orchid Mac Sprint II

Mac II

16

299

Radius Accelerator 16

Plus

16

795

Radius Accelerator 25

SE

25

1395

Spectra Micro Development Proboard

128, 512, Plus, SE

16

995

Total Systems Gemini 020

128, 512, Plus, SE

16

995

Accelerators Using 68030 CPUs

Daystar Power East Cache IIci

Mac Ilci

N/A

995

Daystar Power Card 16/030

Mac II, IIx IIcx

16

1495

Daystar Power Card 33/030

Mac II, IIx, IIcx

33

1995

Daystar Power Card 40/030

Mac II, IIx, JIcx

40

2495

Daystar Power Card 50/030

Mac II, IIx, IIcx

50

2995

Dove Marathon 030

Plus, SE, Mac II

16

699

Dove Marathon 030

SE, SE 30, Mac II, IIx

32

1599

MacProducts USA Railgun 030 Plus

128, 512, Plus, SE

25

995

Microtech 33/68882 Accelerator

Mac II

33

1799

Newbridge Ultramax NM 030 MX

512, Plus, SE

25

1595

Siclone SI3033

Mac II

33

3995

Siclone S13050

Mac II, IIx, IIcx

50

5495

Total Systems Gemini 030

SE

16

1395

Total Systems Voyager 33

Mac II

33

4195

Chapter 6: Hard disks

The information about SCSI options for early compacts is interesting but this chapter is pretty much irrelevant now. Even the cheap hard disk prices seem scary today.

Chapter 7: Floppy disk

A useful primer on Apple 400K, 800K and 1.4Mb floppy drives. Brant also discusses a third party 800K drive from Fujitsu and two 1.4Mb drives, the Kennect Drive 2.4 and PLI TurboFloppy 1.4. The DaynaFILE PC compatibility drives get a brief mention. Presumably, the Applied Engineering FDHD drives had not been released at the time of publication.

Chapter 8: Video display

This chapter is disappointingly short of detail -- the third party Mac display/video card market was thriving by this time but few options are mentioned. A kit for building a TTL adapter for 128 and 512 Macs (made by a company called ATS and presumably the same as the adapter mentioned in Larry Pina's book) and the Power R cable/adapter for compacts are discussed briefly. There is a reference to a series of "Hackintosh" articles in Computer Shopper, a US magazine, on homebrew TTL video adapter and monitor options -- does anyone have copies?.

Chapter 9: Keyboard and mouse

Some interesting stuff on cordless mice manufacturers can be found here.

Chapter 10: Chassis and wiring

A theoretical guide to installing a Mac logic board in a PC case (heresy!), this chapter contains some useful information on pinouts.

Chapter 11: Putting it all together

The title says it all. Novice assemblers are provided with lots of pictures and diagrams on how a "CAT Mac" is assembled.

Chapter 12: The end of the beginning

Peripherals such as printers, modems and CD ROMs get a mention here.

Appendix: The world of Macintosh

Details of companies and user groups who no longer exist.


Copyright information: If you wish to use any images on these pages, please contact the author, Phil Beesley on beesley@mandrake.demon.co.uk.