18 Jun
2003
18 Jun
'03
3:18 a.m.
> OK,
> You talked me into getting a "new" Mac!
> When did they start having expansion slots?
The MacSE was the first to have an expansion slot that
I know of. I
have a graphics card and a couple of 10Base2 network cards (one from
Asante, IIRC; one from Novell). It's called a "PDS" slot
("P"rocessor
"D"irect "S"lot) - completely custom to whatever particular Mac
it's in (with a few exceptions, like the MacIIsi and MacSE/30 sharing
a slot and backplate design). *Standard* slots didn't come along
until the MacII line - those are called "NuBus". Those phased out
in the PowerPC days and have been supplanted with PCI slots in modern
PPC Macs (for those models that have slots at all).
In my opinion the LC 475 and Performa 630 are the best coices for
a classic (68k) Mac. Both hafe the 32 Bit PDS slot, where you may
find network cards or even video cards. Beside that you may with
low effort design your own cards, since the PDS is nothing else
than a 68k bus, ment for machine specific add ons.
The Mac approach is something like the Amiga approach
- give little
boxes a proprietary processor-specific slot
Now, let's get setious, isn't the ISA bus exactly the same?
A Processor specific bus for an 8088 system (and an extension
to 16 Bit for the AT) ?
As a real difference, Apple adopted a CPU independant standard
by using the Nubus for their slot Macs (and PCI today).
(Amiga 1000, Amiga 500,
Amiga 1200), and give the high-ticket boxes something standard
(Amiga 2000, Amiga 3000, Amiga 4000...) The difference is that you
can electrically fit an Amiga 1000 peripheral on an Amiga 500, but
not a MacSE card into even something as close to an SE/30 (68000
vs 68030, so incompatible PDS slots). There are several flavors of
Mac PDS slots, but one flavor of NuBus and PCI, AFAIK.
Basicly you'll have a 16 Bit and a 32 Bit PDS Version. Way
like the XT/AT thing for PCs.
Gruss
H.
--
VCF Europa 5.0 am 01./02. Mai 2004 in Muenchen
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