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Tim Stark - 12 Nov 2007 17:49 GMT

Hello folks,

I am looking for some technical manuals that provides I/O, video, etc..
programming for m68k-based Macintosh family (Mac 128K, Mac 512K, Mac SE, Mac
Plus, Mac II, etc...).

Thanks!
Tim

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Reinder Verlinde - 12 Nov 2007 19:26 GMT

> Hello folks,
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> Thanks!
> Tim

For programming, you will need Inside Macintosh volumes I through III.
These also describe Mac 128K hardware in some detail. IIRC, volume IV is
for the Mac Plus, V for the Macintosh II. The easiest way of getting
these probably is to find someone who can lend you some old Apple
Developer CD.

<http://www.vmac.org> probably contains some info.

<http://minivmac.sourceforge.net> gets you source from which you might
be able to deduce what the hardware looks like ;-)

I am not sure that it contains what you want, but are you aware that
<ftp://ftp.apple.com> still is alive? It contains fairly old files (I
found files timestamped 1994, but there might be even older ones there),
and allows anonymous login.

Reinder

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Gregory Weston - 12 Nov 2007 20:21 GMT

> Hello folks,
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> Thanks!
> Tim

Possibly this link:

<http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/hardware2.html>

If that's not what you're looking for, I can try again if you can be
more specific about what information you need (or what you hope to learn
from it).

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Matthew T. Russotto - 12 Nov 2007 21:45 GMT

>Hello folks,
>
>I am looking for some technical manuals that provides I/O, video, etc..
>programming for m68k-based Macintosh family (Mac 128K, Mac 512K, Mac SE, Mac
>Plus, Mac II, etc...).

You're probably looking for the Macintosh Family Hardware Reference,
as well as the original (I-V) Inside Mac.

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Melodious Thunk - 12 Nov 2007 22:50 GMT

On Nov 12, 1:45 pm, russo...@grace.speakeasy.net (Matthew T. Russotto)
wrote:

> In article <34qdnTkB5-4VD6XanZ2dnUVZ_o6dn...@comcast.com>,
>
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> You're probably looking for the Macintosh Family Hardware Reference,
> as well as the original (I-V) Inside Mac.

Ahem, just to be hopelessly anal, the "original" Inside Mac would've
been that "phone book."

I wore out two copies.

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Matthew T. Russotto - 15 Nov 2007 19:34 GMT

>On Nov 12, 1:45 pm, russo...@grace.speakeasy.net (Matthew T. Russotto)
>wrote:
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>Ahem, just to be hopelessly anal, the "original" Inside Mac would've
>been that "phone book."

To be even more anal, the Phone Book was not the original. The original
was in two looseleaf binders (updated occasionally by mailings from
Apple), and had the author's names as well as other interesting info.
I still have a copy. Some of the stuff in it was removed from the
phone book edition, and later appeared in the Macintosh Family
Hardware Reference.

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There's no such thing as a free lunch, but certain accounting practices can
result in a fully-depreciated one.

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Melodious Thunk - 15 Nov 2007 22:08 GMT

On Nov 15, 11:34 am, russo...@grace.speakeasy.net (Matthew T.
Russotto) wrote:

> In article <1194907837.314921.138...@i38g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
>
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
> phone book edition, and later appeared in the Macintosh Family
> Hardware Reference.

Heh. Yeah, that rings a bell. "I stand corrected."

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Simon Slavin - 17 Nov 2007 21:43 GMT

> On Nov 15, 11:34 am, russo...@grace.speakeasy.net (Matthew T.
> Russotto) wrote:
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> > removed from the phone book edition, and later appeared in the
> > Macintosh Family Hardware Reference.

The thing with the binders was that there was no consistency. What you
got in the binders depended on just when your copy was sent out. And not
only was stuff added, but stuff was taken out again when someone felt it
was unclear or misleading. Just like a few of the TechNotes disappeared
later on. You remember TechNotes ? Man, they were fun. "Don't Abuse The
Managers.". Wonderful. I see its official name is now 'Managerial Abuse'.

The Phone Book was the first set of documentation that was read by
managers before it was released. And it was good and, well, Mac-like in
its elegance. And the three-volume version was the first one properly
published where I felt that the Mac platform was going to be something
serious and not just a hobby for a bunch of geeks.

Simon.

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Matthew T. Russotto - 19 Nov 2007 01:15 GMT

>> On Nov 15, 11:34 am, russo...@grace.speakeasy.net (Matthew T.
>> Russotto) wrote:
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>later on. You remember TechNotes ? Man, they were fun. "Don't Abuse The
>Managers.". Wonderful. I see its official name is now 'Managerial Abuse'.

I only know of two disappearing tech notes. One was Tech Note 31, probably
the most well-known technote of them all by now (Moof!). I think the
other one was numbered 299, and I have a copy somewhere, but I don't
remember the subject matter.

>The Phone Book was the first set of documentation that was read by
>managers before it was released.

Lack of managerial oversight, that's what made the loose leaf stuff so
great

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There's no such thing as a free lunch, but certain accounting practices can
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Paul Russell - 19 Nov 2007 09:24 GMT

>>> On Nov 15, 11:34 am, russo...@grace.speakeasy.net (Matthew T.
>>> Russotto) wrote:
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> other one was numbered 299, and I have a copy somewhere, but I don't
> remember the subject matter.

There were some Tech Notes on the document formats for MacWrite,
MacPaint, MacDraw, etc, which got pulled, I think. TN 11, 12, 13, 27, 86.

Paul

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glenn andreas - 15 Nov 2007 22:46 GMT

> >On Nov 12, 1:45 pm, russo...@grace.speakeasy.net (Matthew T. Russotto)
> >wrote:
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> phone book edition, and later appeared in the Macintosh Family
> Hardware Reference.

And some stuff (like info related to the twiggy drives) was removed and
never appeared again...

I vaguely remember a third binder, but don't remember when it came out
(maybe it was the early Mac II stuff), and don't feel like fighting the
dust monsters in the closet to try to dig it out!

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Matthew T. Russotto - 16 Nov 2007 19:43 GMT

>> To be even more anal, the Phone Book was not the original. The original
>> was in two looseleaf binders (updated occasionally by mailings from
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>And some stuff (like info related to the twiggy drives) was removed and
>never appeared again...

Well, the comment that the Mac would always have 128K of RAM, 64K of
ROM, and one or two 880K 5.25 drives just wasn't accurate by the time
of the later revisions :-).

>I vaguely remember a third binder, but don't remember when it came out
>(maybe it was the early Mac II stuff), and don't feel like fighting the
>dust monsters in the closet to try to dig it out!

I have the early Mac II stuff, but I never got an actual third binder to put
it in.

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There's no such thing as a free lunch, but certain accounting practices can
result in a fully-depreciated one.

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Walter Bushell - 17 Nov 2007 23:51 GMT

> Well, the comment that the Mac would always have 128K of RAM, 64K of
> ROM, and one or two 880K 5.25 drives just wasn't accurate by the time
> of the later revisions :-).

I wish it had come with the 880 disk, that 400K disk was a killer. Many
moons later the second 400K disk was $500. Ouch.

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Matthew T. Russotto - 18 Nov 2007 01:20 GMT

>> Well, the comment that the Mac would always have 128K of RAM, 64K of
>> ROM, and one or two 880K 5.25 drives just wasn't accurate by the time
>> of the later revisions :-).
>
>I wish it had come with the 880 disk, that 400K disk was a killer. Many
>moons later the second 400K disk was $500. Ouch.

400K of reliable storage beats 880K of Twiggy any day of the week.

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There's no such thing as a free lunch, but certain accounting practices can
result in a fully-depreciated one.

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Tim Stark - 13 Nov 2007 00:14 GMT

> In article <34qdnTkB5-4VD6XanZ2dnUVZ_o6dnZ2d@comcast.com>,
> You're probably looking for the Macintosh Family Hardware Reference,
> as well as the original (I-V) Inside Mac.

Ok thank for some replies. I reviewed some PDF files on Apple web site.
How about emulation developement like Mini vMac, etc?

Thanks!
Tim

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Matthew T. Russotto - 15 Nov 2007 19:35 GMT

>> In article <34qdnTkB5-4VD6XanZ2dnUVZ_o6dnZ2d@comcast.com>,
>> You're probably looking for the Macintosh Family Hardware Reference,
>> as well as the original (I-V) Inside Mac.
>
>Ok thank for some replies. I reviewed some PDF files on Apple web site.
>How about emulation developement like Mini vMac, etc?

I updated vMac to emulate the Mac II using the books I described.

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There's no such thing as a free lunch, but certain accounting practices can
result in a fully-depreciated one.

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Mac Forum / Programming / Mac Programming / November 2007

Looking for technical manuals