 | |
| Developer | Apple Computer |
|---|---|
| Product family | Macintosh II |
| Release date | March 2, 1987; 38 years ago (1987-03-02) |
| Availability | May 8, 1987; 38 years ago (1987-05-08)[1] |
| Lifespan | March 2, 1987 – January 15, 1990 (2 years, 10 months, and 13 days)[2] |
| Introductory price | US$3,769 (equivalent to $10,400 in 2024) US$5,369 (equivalent to $14,900 in 2024) (with40 MB hard drive) |
| Discontinued | January 15, 1990; 35 years ago (1990-01-15) |
| Operating system | 4.1–7.1.1 (Pro),7.5–7.5.5 or with 68030 32-bit upgradeMac OS 7.6.1,A/UX 1.0 - 3.1 |
| CPU | Motorola 68020 @ 16 MHz |
| Memory | 1MB, expandable to 8 MB (128 MB via FDHD upgrade kit) (120 ns 30-pinSIMM) |
| Predecessor | Macintosh 512Ke Macintosh Plus |
| Successor | Macintosh IIx Macintosh IIcx |
| Related | Macintosh SE Macintosh SE/30 |
TheMacintosh II is apersonal computer designed, manufactured, and sold byApple Computer from March 1987 to January 1990. Based on theMotorola 68020 32-bit CPU, it is the firstMacintosh supporting color graphics. When introduced, a basic system with monitor and 20 MB hard drive costUS$5,498 (equivalent to $15,220 in 2024). With a 13-inch color monitor and 8-bit display card, the price was aboutUS$7,145 (equivalent to $19,780 in 2024).[3] This placed it in competition withworkstations fromSilicon Graphics,Sun Microsystems, andHewlett-Packard.
The Macintosh II was the first computer in the Macintosh line without a built-in display; a monitor rested on top of the case like theIBM Personal Computer andAmiga 1000. It was designed byhardware engineersMichael Dhuey (computer)[4] and Brian Berkeley (monitor)[5] andindustrial designerHartmut Esslinger (case).[6][7]
Eighteen months after its introduction, the Macintosh II was updated with a more powerful CPU and sold as theMacintosh IIx.[8] In early 1989, the more compactMacintosh IIcx was introduced at a price similar to the original Macintosh II,[9] and by the beginning of 1990 sales stopped altogether.[10] Motherboard upgrades to turn a Macintosh II into a IIx orMacintosh IIfx were offered by Apple.[11]
Two common criticisms of the original Macintosh, starting from its introduction in 1984, were the closed architecture and lack of color; rumors of a potential color Macintosh began almost immediately.[12]
The Macintosh II project was begun by Dhuey and Berkeley during 1985 without the knowledge of Apple co-founder and Macintosh division headSteve Jobs, who opposedexpansion slots and color, on the basis that expansion slots complicated the user experience and that color did not conform toWYSIWYG, as color printers were not common.[13] Jobs instead wanted higher-resolution monochrome displays[14] such as the ones chosen for his own "BigMac" project begun in 1984 to develop a Macintosh successor.[15]
Initially referred to as "Little Big Mac", the Macintosh II was codenamed "Milwaukee" after Dhuey's hometown, and it later went through a series of new names. After Jobs was ousted by Apple in September 1985, the Milwaukee project could proceed openly (while Jobs' own BigMac project was cancelled).[15]
The Macintosh II was introduced at the AppleWorld 1987 conference inLos Angeles,[16] with low-volume initial shipments starting two months later.[1] Retailing for US $5,498,[17] the Macintosh II was the first modular Macintosh model, so called because it came in a horizontal desktop case like manyIBM PC compatibles of the time.[18] Previous Macintosh computers use anall-in-one design with a built-in black-and-whiteCRT.
The Macintosh II hasdrive bays for an internal hard disk (originally 40 MB or 80 MB) and an optional second floppy disk drive.[19] It, along with theMacintosh SE, was the first Macintosh to use theApple Desktop Bus (ADB) introduced with theApple IIGS for keyboard and mouse interface.[20]
The primary improvement in the Macintosh II was ColorQuickDraw inROM, a color version of the Macintosh graphics routines. Color QuickDraw can handle any display size, up to8-bit color depth, and multiple monitors. Because Color QuickDraw is included in the Macintosh II's ROM and relies on 68020 instructions, earlier systems could not be upgraded to display color.[21]
In September 1988, shortly before the introduction of theMacintosh IIx, Apple increased the list price of the Macintosh II by roughly 20%.[22]AnimEigo notably used the Macintosh II for subtitling their earliest releases, includingMADOX-01,Riding Bean, andVampire Princess Miyu,[23] andIndustrial Light & Magic used the Macintosh II for image processing on films such asThe Abyss.[24]
The Macintosh II is built around theMotorola 68020 processor operating at 16MHz, teamed with aMotorola 68881floating-point unit. The machine shipped with a socket for an optionalMotorola 68851MMU, but an "Apple HMMU Chip" (VLSI VI475 chip) was installed by default and could not implementvirtual memory (instead, it translated 24-bit addresses to 32-bit addresses for the Mac OS, which would not be32-bit clean untilSystem 7).[25]
The standard memory was 1megabyte, expandable to 8 MB.[26] The Mac II had eight 30-pinSIMMs, and memory was installed in groups of four (called "Bank A" and "Bank B").
The Macintosh II does not have aPMMU installed by default. Instead, it relies on thememory controller hardware to map the installed memory into a contiguousaddress space. This hardware has the restriction that the address space dedicated to Bank A must be larger than that of Bank B. Though this memory controller was designed to support 16 Megabyte, 30-pin SIMMs in each available slot (for a total of up to 128 MB of RAM), the original Macintosh II ROMs have problems that limit the amount of RAM that can be installed into each slot to just 8 MB SIMMs. Although the later Macintosh IIx ROMs that shipped with the Macintosh II FDHD upgrade fixes this initial problem, these newer ROMs still do not have a 32-bit memory manager and cannot boot into 32-bit address mode, at least, not without software assistance in the form of "MODE32", thus limiting thetotal amount of RAM to a mere 8MB.[27]MODE32 (originally published byConnectix, and later licensed by Apple) contains a workaround that allows for larger SIMMs to be installed in Bank B if a PMMU is also installed. With this configuration, the Macintosh II boot ROMs will believe that the computer has 8 MB or less of RAM installed. Meanwhile, MODE32 then reprograms the memory controller on the fly to dedicate more address space to Bank A, thus allowing access to the additional memory installed in Bank B. Since this makes the physical address space discontiguous, the PMMU is then used to remap the address space into a contiguous block.[25]
The Macintosh II includes a graphics card that supports a true-color 16.7-million-color palette[28] and was available in two configurations: 4-bit and 8-bit. The 4-bit model supports 16 colors on a 640×480 display and 256 colors (8-bit video) on a 512×384 display, which means thatVRAM was 256 KB. The 8-bit model supports 256-color video on a 640×480 display, which means that VRAM was 512 KB in size. With an optional RAM upgrade (requiring 120nsDIP chips), the 4-bit version supports 640×480 in 8-bit color.[29] The video card does not include hardware acceleration of drawing operations.
Display: Apple offered a choice of two displays, a 12" black and white unit, and a more expensive 13" high-resolution color display based on Sony'sTrinitron technology. More than one display could be attached to the computer, and objects could be easily dragged from one screen to the next. Third-party displays quickly became available. TheLos Angeles Times reviewer called the color "spectacular."[19] Theoperating systemuser interface remained black and white even on color monitors with the exception of the Apple logo, which appeared in rainbow color.
A 5.25-inch 40 MB internalSCSI hard disk was optional, as was a second internal 800 kilobyte 3.5-inch floppy disk drive.[25]
SixNuBus slots were available for expansion (at least one of which had to be used for agraphics card, as the Mac II had no onboard graphicschipset and the OS didn't supportheadless booting). It is possible to connect as many as six displays to a Macintosh II by filling all of the NuBus slots with graphics cards. Another option for expansion included theMac286, which included anIntel 80286 chip and could be used forMS-DOS compatibility.[25]
The original ROMs in the Macintosh II contained a bug that prevented the system from recognizing more than one megabyte of memory address space on a Nubus card. Every Macintosh II manufactured until approximately November 1987 had this defect. This happened because Slot Manager was not 32-bit clean.[30] Apple offered a well-publicized recall of the faulty ROMs and released a program to test whether a particular Macintosh II had the defect.[30]
The Macintosh II andMacintosh SE were the first Apple computers since theApple I to be sold without a keyboard. Instead the customer was offered a choice of the new ADBApple Keyboard or theApple Extended Keyboard as a separate purchase.[19] Dealers could bundle a third-party keyboard or attempt toupsell a customer to the more expensive (and higher-profit) Extended Keyboard.
The Macintosh II was the first Macintosh to have theChimes of Death accompany theSad Mac logo whenever a serious hardware error occurred.[31]
The new extensions featured for the Macintosh II at the time wereA/ROSE and Sound Manager.[32][33]
The Macintosh II was offered in three configurations. All systems included a mouse and a single 800 KB 3.5-inch floppy disk drive; aMotorola 68851PMMU was available as an option and required for runningA/UX.[34]
| Timeline ofMacintosh II family models |
|---|
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...the color is spectacular. Unlike most color monitors, it also displays very readable text.
