The Color Classic marked the end
of the compact Mac line, (at least in the U.S. - a Color Classic
II was marketed in Japan in 19xx). The Color Classic was the Mac
that everyone was waiting for since it's introduction in 1984. It had a
built in hard drive, expandable RAM, a fast Processor, an optional
co-processor, an expansion slot, and best of all a color screen!
On the down side, the Mac Color
Classic had some short comings also. The biggest of which was the 16
bit data bus that severely slowed the 32 bit processor. this has been a
problem with all the compact Macs with the exception of the SE/30
which had a 32 bit bus. I do not know the reason for designing a computer
around a 32 bit processor and limiting it by only giving it a 16 bit data
bus. The first Macs were designed using the original Motorola
68000 processor. This processor was a 16/32 bit hybrid, and although
it was essentially a 32 bit processor internally, it could only access
data 16 bits at a time due to its external 16 bit address pins. So the
design of the original motherboards was to have only a 16 bit data bus. So
why, when later Macs such as the Classic, Color Classic,
and Classic II were designed using the more powerful Motorola
68030, a true 32 bit processor capable of addressing a 32 bit bus, did
Apple keep the 16 bit address bus?
This aside, the Mac Color Classic
is still one of the most popular and sought after collectable computers.
This is a great little computer. It's motherboard is similar to the LC
series of Macs and is able to use the PDS cards designed for
the LC. One of those cards is the Apple IIe card (a complete
Apple IIe computer reduced to a single chip on an expansion card).
With this card plugged into it's PDS expansion slot the Color
Classic can easily switch to emulate an Apple IIe and run
virtually all the software available for the Apple II series of
computers. Neat huh? Well, for a connoisseur of vintage computers it is,
anyway. The real purpose behind the Apple II emulation, was to sell
more advanced (meaning expensive) computers to the school systems with the
promise of maintaining compatibility with the loads of software that
the schools had already purchased for the Apple II's.
The Color Classic comes with a
built in 10 inch color screen capable of displaying 512 x 384 pixels in up
to 16 colors. It came standard with 256k bytes of Video RAM and
could be expanded to 512k. Above the screen is a built in microphone, a
first for the Mac series.
Inside the Mac is a built
in SCSI hard drive, configured to either 40, 80, or 120 MB and a
1.44 MB floppy drive. On the motherboard is a 16Mhz Motorola 68030
microprocessor and a socket for the optional 68882
co-processor. The Mac has 1 MB of built in ROM memory and 4
MB of RAM soldered onto the motherboard. It has two 30 pin SIMM
slots that will accept either parity or non-parity RAM (it doesn't
care, I've tried both). The computer can only recognize a maximum of 10 MB
of RAM (I don't know why). I put two 4 MB SIMMs in which
should have brought the total onboard RAM to 12 MB, but the system still
tells me there is only 10 MB installed. By the way PC SIMMs work
fine.
A nice feature with this Mac
is the ease at which the motherboard could be accessed. The rear of the
computer has an access door at the bottom. If you remove the two Phillips
head screws and pull down on the two tabs the door comes of revealing the
motherboard. to gain access to it for any upgrades you simply pull it out.
There are no wires or plugs that need to be removed it is plugged into a
slot inside the computer.
The Color Classic
like it's predecessors used the ADB to connect it's keyboard and
mouse, it comes with 2 ADB ports on the rear of the computer.
Unlike it's predecessors though it is the only compact Mac to use
the power button on the keyboard to power on and off (the power switch in
the rear must be on for this to work). Beside the ADB ports are two
8 pin DIN plugs for serial connections. Next is a 25 pin D-type
plug for connecting a SCSI device.
Another new feature on this Mac
is the manual controls for volume and contrast located under the screen on
the front of the computer. Prior to this with older Macs these
controls were done by software through the control panel on the desktop.
The Mac in this
exhibit is one of two in the museum. It was added on August 31, 2000. It
was purchased at a local thrift shop. The 2nd Mac Color Classic was
rescued from a computer junk yard on May 11, 2001. It came with the Apple
IIe card installed.
