Thread
A guy claims to be selling a "dual processor" IIfx
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250203927921&_trksid=p2761.l1259
He swears its true. Never heard of one myself and I have even owned about 15 IIfx's over the years. I wonder if he has a Stage II Radius Rocket and classifies it as a dual processor machine.
He swears its true. Never heard of one myself and I have even owned about 15 IIfx's over the years. I wonder if he has a Stage II Radius Rocket and classifies it as a dual processor machine.
That is an explanation, which the presence of, say, a DayStar PowerCache card would not be, but the description is inadequate to reveal the explanation. The seller should be asked to state explicitly what constitutes the 'dual' processor capability.
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My guess is that he has a Rocket.
Or as equill mentioned, he's trying to pass a processor upgrade in the PDS slot off as a second processor.
Or hell, maybe he's referring to the 6502s. Of course then it'd be a three processor machine.
Or as equill mentioned, he's trying to pass a processor upgrade in the PDS slot off as a second processor.
Or hell, maybe he's referring to the 6502s. Of course then it'd be a three processor machine.
I bet he sees the CPU and FPU and thinks there are 2 processors.
A PDS processor slot for a IIfx is so rare its not funny, could be a rocket but that would look like a normal card to most people anyway.
A PDS processor slot for a IIfx is so rare its not funny, could be a rocket but that would look like a normal card to most people anyway.
I scratched my head over that ad when I saw it also. Notice that there's no mention of Ram or HD size or what flavor video card, if any, all of which would make a big difference for appropriate bidding.
i just asked him, we'll see what he says.
A simple internal shot of the motherboard would explain quite a bit. I expect he has a generic system, from the picture he showed I am not even sure if it is a IIfx or an upgraded II/IIx.
He told me I was wrong when I told him it wasn't a dual processor machine. Said he was an Apple rep and sold them.
That's BS. Apple's 68k machines were not dual CPU Capable. At least, not the early 680x0 machines. I have never seen a blatent lie like that. That guy will be discovered and kicked off eBay if he keeps doing that.
Boycott the liars auctions!!
The only SMP 68k I've ever heard of is a Cray that wouldn't fit in any room in this house...
is there a way to bring it to ebay's attention so that they can prevent a scam? I am sure ebay just doesn't want a hindsight of 20/20 in their auctions. If you can present a clear case, they will shut down the auction because of false information (just like they do when someone claims a cheap replica as a real thing, and it's proven wrong by someone with credentials they WILL shut it down and ban the user)
Anyways, you might see if you can present it to ebay. If this thing goes for a lot, this could be a really huge scam, and this could mean that if this is on purpose, he may be doing more of these.
Anyways, you might see if you can present it to ebay. If this thing goes for a lot, this could be a really huge scam, and this could mean that if this is on purpose, he may be doing more of these.
i just messagged him and told him tht before he gets a barage of letters from mad mac collectors like people from the MLA, that he might want to check evverymac and LEM, cause he told me tht it was the dual processor model in the Mac II family
Okay, here's my guess. The seller doesn't have a clue. He looked under the hood and saw the 68030 and the 68552 (? FPU) chips which look similar if slightly different in size. Then assumed that the presence of two such prominent chips meant that it has two processors.
That's my totally foundationless guess.
Not-at-all foundationless. That was suggested above by UnknownK, and it is an appealing hypothesis. After all, the bloke has not had the simple nous to describe the machine's configuration, and even that the machine is a stock Macintosh II and therefore a possible upgrade is difficult to read from the pic., with or without the aid of command-option-8. But there is certainly a 68881 in a Mac II.
He hadn't posted an answer to gobabushka's query as of an hour-or-so ago. And yer gotta love the garbled snippet about the terminator.
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He hadn't posted an answer to gobabushka's query as of an hour-or-so ago. And yer gotta love the garbled snippet about the terminator.
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He claimed to be an Apple sales rep. Guess he doesn't know his product very well! [
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Well, he very well could be an Apple sales rep. I doubt there are many still at Apple that know the computers from the 'old days'. Especially since Jobs seems hell bent on pretending that Apple didn't exist prior to his (re)arrival.
Still, he certainly knows nothing about the IIfx, and his claim that being a sales rep for Apple somehow makes him a credible source of IIfx information just makes him look like an ass.
Still, he certainly knows nothing about the IIfx, and his claim that being a sales rep for Apple somehow makes him a credible source of IIfx information just makes him look like an ass.
$127.50 not too shabby considering it is just a shitty picture of the front of a II/IIx/IIfx box. Seller MUST be an Apple sales rep judging by the selling price and what was shown. 
The problem is he billed it as a dual processor. The winning bidder may have bid high thinking there was a radius rocket or something in there. If they bid thinking there was some sort of upgrade in there and get a plain vanilla IIfx, they are not going to be happy.
Buyer beware, I ask questions when I am not sure what is included. Bid accordingly.
The selling price was in part due to price gouging.$127.50 not too shabby considering it is just a shitty picture of the front of a II/IIx/IIfx box. Seller MUST be an Apple sales rep judging by the selling price and what was shown.
Do you mean what is usually called 'shill bidding'? That thought did cross my mind when I looked at the bidding list after the auction's end.
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It's a load of BS, that's what it is. I mean, read the part about the 'Black SCSI Terminator' and tell me he's not full of crap...
From LEM
The IIfx requires a special "black" SCSI terminator to accommodate its unusual architecture (see Technote DV 15 for more details).
Tech Note DV 15 located here
http://developer.apple.com/technotes/dv/dv_15.html
One of the features of the now obsolete Macintosh IIfx was a new SCSI chip that provides SCSI data transfer rates up to 3 megabytes per second, faster than any Macintosh model prior to the Macintosh Quadra. To achieve these transfer rates, components on the Macintosh IIfx logic board were smaller and faster, requiring different termination configurations from those of previous Macintosh models.
The Macintosh IIfx requires the use of a combination of the following three new termination parts. Users need to use these parts instead of existing SCSI termination parts to configure a Macintosh IIfx with SCSI devices. The Macintosh Quadra does not require special termination as the Macintosh IIfx does, but it does have some special rules of its own and these are discussed in a later section.
Apple SCSI Cable Terminator II: The Apple SCSI Cable Terminator II is a revised external terminator for the Macintosh IIfx. All finished goods Macintosh IIfx systems ship with this terminator in the box. It is easily recognized because of the black color. Under no circumstances should one use more than a single Apple SCSI Cable Terminator II on an external SCSI chain--doing so may damage the logic board.
Internal SCSI Termination Block: The Internal SCSI Termination Block provides internal termination resistance for Macintosh IIfx systems without internal hard drives. All finished goods systems shipping without internal hard drives have the Internal SCSI Termination Block installed.
Internal SCSI Filter: The Internal SCSI Filter provides termination capacitance for internal Macintosh IIfx hard drives that shipped prior to March 19, 1990. All finished goods systems shipping without internal hard drives have the Internal SCSI Filter installed.
The new termination configurations are simple, and you can remember them with a single rule: Macintosh IIfx systems with external SCSI chains require a terminator at both ends of the SCSI chain. One is internal to the system, while the second is external, located at the end of the chain.
The reason for the new terminator is that on the Macintosh IIfx and future hardware, the SCSI controller chip is a 2 micron part, which makes it very fast. One of the results of this speed is that the chip now thinks that glitches in the /REQ line are real signals. This problem is not likely to occur on all of the Macintosh IIfx machines, but if you have a problem with your hard drive not getting mounted on the new machine, you should try a new terminator first. The symptom is more likely to show up on machines with several (three or more) external SCSI devices attached to the computer and long strands of SCSI cables. Figure 1 illustrates the old-style terminator with the signal showing the spike propagation.
Old-Style Terminator (Gray)
Figure 1 - Old-Style Terminator (Gray)
Basically, if a majority of the data lines change state at once, there is a sudden drain on the TPWR line, which is resistively coupled to all of the lines, including the /REQ line. This sudden drain causes a spike in the line, and this spike is propagated into the /REQ line and to the SCSI controller chip. The newer SCSI controller chip in the Macintosh IIfx interprets this spike as a /REQ signal and starts reading data from the data lines; however, since the data lines need 55 ns to settle, the data that the controller chip reads is junk.
All internal hard disk drives sold by Apple with the Macintosh IIfx and later machines have the Internal SCSI Filter installed; however, most third-party drives do not yet have this filter installed and must be modified by a qualified service provider to work correctly with the Macintosh IIfx.
How to Stop the Terminator
Since the problem is caused by a drop in the TPWR line, the fix is to smooth out the line. One need only add a 2.2 uF capacitor and a 0.01 uF ceramic capacitor as illustrated in Figure 2. These capacitors act like a battery and provide a little extra current when it is needed. This extra current results in a smoother signal, which the SCSI controller chip does not interpret as a /REQ signal.
New-Style Terminator (Black)
Figure 2 - New-Style Terminator (Black)
This new type of filter is only for internal hard disk drives. The Macintosh IIfx ships with a new and improved external terminator (black in color), so hard drive manufacturers do not need to worry about external termination. Apple also ships an internal filter with every Macintosh IIfx that handles the capacitance problem. This internal terminator has two parts. The first is the resistors for the terminator. This part should already be installed on all internal hard disk drives, so it is used only for CPUs that do not have an internal hard drive. The second part of the internal terminator is the capacitor filter. This filter should be installed on the hard disk drive end of the SCSI internal cable. If your hard drive implements the new capacitors, you can, and should, install the capacitor filter--you cannot have too much capacitance.
External Termination
If you manufacture an external SCSI device, do not include termination in it. The only terminator that should be outside a Macintosh IIfx is Apple's external terminator, and it should be at the end of the SCSI chain. If you make a SCSI terminator, it is most likely incompatible and may cause damage to the hardware or the data. If your SCSI device cannot connect with Apple's terminator, then you should provide an adapter that allows your SCSI device to attach to the provided terminator.
Note: A notice in the Macintosh IIfx finished goods box instructs customers to return self-terminating SCSI devices to the service provider to disable termination.
I have (2) IIfx units none of which have or need the black terminator. From what I read some of the 1st IIfx systems were noisy and needed that part, the rest were not.
My IIfx needs one.
Too bad I don't have one.
It will work only with one single internal SCSI device, and that one single internal device can not be a hard drive. No external devices. I have been using a Magneto-Optical drive as the primary drive on it for years.
Of course, that may also be a sign that there is something else horribly wrong with it.
Too bad I don't have one.
It will work only with one single internal SCSI device, and that one single internal device can not be a hard drive. No external devices. I have been using a Magneto-Optical drive as the primary drive on it for years.
Of course, that may also be a sign that there is something else horribly wrong with it.