--- title: Apple MACINTOSH categories: - Computers types: - Home Computer origins: - U.S.A. years: - '1984' cpus: - Motorola MC 68000 params: name: MACINTOSH image: /media/museum/photos/apple_mac128.jpg company: /companies/apple company_name: Apple specs: - label: NAME value: MACINTOSH - label: MANUFACTURER value: Apple - label: TYPE value: Home Computer - label: ORIGIN value: U.S.A. - label: YEAR value: January 1984 - label: END OF PRODUCTION value: October 1st, 1985 - label: KEYBOARD value: Full stroke 59-key - label: CPU value: Motorola MC 68000 - label: SPEED value: 7.83 MHz - label: RAM value: 128 kb (expandable to 512 kb) - label: ROM value: 64 kb - label: TEXT MODES value: 40 chars x 32 lines bit-mapped pseudo-character mode - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: 512 x 342 dots - label: COLORS value: black & white 9'' monitor - label: SOUND value: 4 voices, 12 octave sound @ 22 kHz - label: SIZE / WEIGHT value: 13.6'' (H) x 9.6'' (W) x 10.9'' (D) / 16.5 lbs - label: I/O PORTS value: Two serial (RS 232/422) for printer and modem, mouse, external floppy drive, sound out - label: BUILT IN MEDIA value: One 400k 3.5'' internal floppy drive, 400K external drive optional - label: OS value: Macintosh System 1.0 - label: POWER SUPPLY value: Built-in power supply unit - label: PRICE value: $2495 (USA, 1984) - £1795 (U.K., 1984) tabs: - photos - emulators - links forum_thread: 281 photos: - title: OPENED MAC subtitle: '' text: Here you can see the screen, the disk drive (metal box), the video-board (vertical) and the motherboard (bottom) with the 68000 CPU right in the middle. image: /media/museum/photos/apple_mac_opened.jpg - title: INSIDE A MAC subtitle: '' text: |- It goes without saying that the Macintosh was the result of intensive research and development. The result is a simple architecture composed of 2 electronic boards (power/video card and motherboard) plus a disk drive. The design work that went into the Macintosh is impressive. **(1)** The 3.5" disk drive was manufactured especially for the Macintosh by Sony. It could hold 400 kb on one side. A 800 kb double-sided version would appear a few months later.\ **(2)** The contrast ajdustment potentiometer is mounted on the power/video card.\ **(3)** There is only one magnetic head on the single-sided disk drive models.\ **(4)** Built-in loudspeaker. The sound could also be sent to an external Hi-Fi amplifier.\ **(5)** This card contains the general power supply as well as the video electronics. Notice that the Macintosh does not use a fan, but coolers in the form of metal plates are spread along the case.\ **(6)** There are very few connectors and internal cables in the Macintosh. This one transmits all data from the power/video card to the motherboard.\ **(7)** Audio output.\ **(8)** Serial connector for printer.\ **(9)** Serial connector for other peripherals.\ **(10)** Connector for an external floppy disk unit.\ **(11)** Mouse socket.\ **(12)** Specialized 6522 input/output chipset. It manages the mouse, the keyboard and the real-time clock.\ **(13)** This circuit controls serial-mode communications.\ **(14)** This one controls the internal and external disk drives.\ **(15)** Motorola 68000 16 bit microprocessor.\ **(16)** 128 KB RAM composed of two 64 KB rows. The weak point of the Macintosh was its limited memory size, but it was possible to replace the original memory chips to get 512 KB. RAM.\ **(17)** The mouse is used to move the cursor on the screen and to select objects to perform operations (this may seem obvious to you now, but it was not then !).\ **(18)** Keyboard connector.\ **(19)** The separate keyboard has its own microprocessor which enables it to recognize all the specific characters from each country. It does not include a numeric keypad, nor cursor keys as Apple's designers believed that the mouse would fulfill these functions. This gap was to be corrected in following models.\ **(20)** Eight chips offering 22 KB of video RAM. image: /media/museum/photos/eclate.jpg - title: FREMONT FACTORY subtitle: '' text: This legendary factory was producing a Macintosh every 27 seconds in 1984 ! image: /media/museum/photos/apple_mac_fremont_factory.jpg - title: MACS RECYCLED FOR THE GARDEN! subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/apple_mac_jardinieres.jpg emulators: - title: Executor url: http://www.ardi.com/ platform: Windows text: Demonstration version of a commercial software (MS DOS & Win95) - title: Gemulator url: http://www.emulators.com/ platform: Windows text: A commercial Software which emulates the Atari ST/TT and the Mac 128/Plus/2 (Win95 / Win NT) - title: LisaEm url: http://lisa.sunder.net/ platform: Windows text: Same as Apple lisa emulator for unix but ported to windows - title: PearPC url: http://pearpc.sourceforge.net/ platform: Windows text: PearPC is an architecture-independent PowerPC platform emulator capable of running most PowerPC operating systems. - title: SoftMac url: http://www.emulators.com/ platform: Windows text: good 68K Emulator For Windows - title: Executor url: http://www.ardi.com/ platform: Unix / Linux text: Demo version of a commercial software (Linux / NextStep) - title: vMac - The Virtual Macintosh Emulator Project url: http://www.leb.net/vmac/ platform: Other platform text: '' - title: Basilisk II url: http://basilisk.cebix.net/ platform: Multiplatform text: Basilisk II is an Open Source 68k Macintosh emulator. Good emulator, runs on several platforms, even Amiga - title: Mini vMac url: http://minivmac.sourceforge.net/ platform: Multiplatform text: Mini vMac, a spin off of the program vMac, emulates a Macintosh Plus and Macintosh SE. So far it works on Macintosh OS, Microsoft Windows, and the X Window System. links: - title: Apple History url: http://www.apple-history.com/ text: History of Apple computers with detail information about all of the computers to come out of Apple. - title: Applefritter url: http://www.applefritter.com text: Excellent site about all Apple models,clones,prototypes,etc... A must see ! - title: CMQ - Groupes d'usagers Apple url: http://www.cmq.qc.ca/cmq.html text: (french) - title: CMQ - Groupes d'usagers Apple url: http://www.cmq.qc.ca/Groupes.html text: (french) - title: Everything for the Mac url: http://www.everythingmac.com/ text: '' - title: Homepage of Gamba url: http://home.earthlink.net/~gamba2/index.html text: A lot of interesting Mac links, for example "How To Transfer Files From PC to MAC " - title: Jag's House url: http://www.jagshouse.com/ text: Lot of info on all non PowerMac models - title: Low End Mac url: http://www.lowendmac.com text: Great site with a full catalog of ALL old macintoshes. - title: Mac 512 url: http://www.mac512.com/ text: Macintosh 512k User's Group - title: Mac Forums at MacForumz.com url: http://www.MacForumz.com text: Mac forums, a resource on the latest and greatest, as well as vintage, Macintosh hardware, software, and internet. Free registration. - title: MacDebate url: http://www.macdebate.com text: Macintosh discussion forum - title: Nerd World MACINTOSH COMPUTERS url: http://www.nerdworld.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?MACINTOSH_COMPUTERS/503 text: '' - title: The Vintage Mac Museum url: http://www.d4.dion.ne.jp/~motohiko/ text: Nice dedicated website with tons of screenshots ! - title: Web Wiz CAPTCHA url: http://www.webwizcaptcha.com text: Discussion of Macintosh software system related: - /museum/apple-lisa-lisa-2-mac-xl - /museum/apple-macintosh-color-classic - /museum/apple-macintosh-ii - /museum/apple-macintosh-plus - /museum/apple-macintosh-portable - /museum/apple-macintosh-se - /museum/apple-macintosh-se-30 oc_id: 271 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230608162426/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=271 date: '2023-06-08' --- With their [II](/museum/apple-ii/) and [III](/museum/apple-iii/) series getting rather long in the tooth, and the [Lisa](/museum/apple-lisa-lisa-2-mac-xl/) being rather pricey, Apple had to do something to get back into the small-business market. They did. The Macintosh can be considered the very first commercially successful computer to use a GUI (Graphical User Interface). It was, however, not the first GUI based computer, the first GUI based computer ever sold was the Xerox Star 8010 in 1981. It was launched a while after the Lisa and was a very attractive alternative to PC compatibles and their old MS-DOS, and text-based applications. After uncertain beginnings, it met with great success despite having no hard disk, single-sided floppy disks, no expansion slot and very little memory! It was replaced later by the Macintosh 512 (the same but with 512 KB RAM) then later, by the [Macintosh Plus](/museum/apple-macintosh-plus/). The Macintosh 128 and Macintosh 512 were non-upgradeable, non-expandable in almost all departments, but especially with regard to memory. The 128 and 512 had memory chips soldered directly to the main logic board. The original System file was designated 'Macintosh System 1.0'. Apple went as far as System 7 before changing the name to 'Mac OS'. The System/Finder suite was designated 'Macintosh System Software 0.0.'. It wasn't until System 6 that the System file version and System Software designation coincided. There were also two variants of Macintosh 512K. The 512K was shipped with a 400K floppy drive and 64 KB ROM, which did not support hierarchical file systems. The 512K Enhanced was shipped with 128 KB of ROM, an 800K floppy drive, and supported HFS right out of the box.