On January 15, 2005 12:05 pm, Mark Benson wrote: > On Jan 15, 2005, at 07:16 pm, Lyndon Tiu wrote: > > Yes. PDS is a standard for Apple but not for the whole industry. > > At that time there were no industry-wide standards in interfaces. >
That's true. The fact that MiniMac has an industry standard interface should give it a longer life. > > Back then in the early 90s, Apple had something like 7-9% market share > > of PCs > > at it's peak so PDS (and SCSI in Apple computers) were only present in > > 7-9% > > of computers vs. USB and Firewire which is present in most new > > computer sold > > today for an effective 100% market share. Hopefully, that will mean > > more > > peripherals and more expandability and longer life for the MiniMac > > than the > > original LC. > > Without doubt it will do. Unfortunately, however, not all USB > peripheral manufacturers are wise enough to make Mac compatible > peripherals, although the situation has improved a lot since I first > got a Mac in 2000. > Only if the peripheral is specialized, like USB modems, USB ethernet cards, USB KVM and video cameras with specialized interface software. Storage devices/input devices are all standard and require generic drivers. Printers are also an issue. It seems that Epson is the only major printer company producing Mac printers? A way around this issue of hardware support is Open Source. A lot of hardware is supported on Linux because of Open Source. Wish it were the same on the Mac. > > SCSI standards also changed over time with not so much backwards > > compatibility. > > SCSI is still backwards compatible. You just have to talk to it right. > I run a pair of 68-pin U160 drives off an LC 475 board in a custom > case. I also use an 80-pin U160 drive in my Quadra 840av (via an > adapter and a NuBus SCSI card). It's not as hard as it looks. Basically > if you can get an upper-byte terminated wide-to-narrow SCSI adapter > then you are most of the way there. I have however found that in some > machines the 68-pin drive won't work without you put a terminator on > the end of the 50-pin ribbon. Other than that it's pretty > straight-forward. > > > If anything new comes in the USB/Firewire standards, hopefully, > > backward > > compatibility remains. Unlike the SCSI we have in old LCs which are not > > compatible with modern day SCSI. if backward compatibility remain, > > then the > > MiniMac will have a longer happier life than the original LC. > > The LC series machines are far from dead, trust me :o) > I agree, I have one. I find it useless without a printer and old printers with a good supply of printer ink are hard to come by. Know of anywhere I can get an old Apple StyleWriter with ink supply? So that I can start my own desktop publishing revolution? -- Lyndon Tiu -- Vintage Macs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Vintage Macs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[email protected]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/vintage.macs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com
