The Rise and Fall of the Macintosh Clones - Part 1: The Original Apple Hackintosh
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- Опубликовано: 16 июл 2024
- Today we're taking a look back at Apple's history and the interesting story behind copycat and unofficial Macintosh computers. This is the first part in a video series about the complete history about the Macintosh clones. This first video covers events from 1984 through 1991.
In these videos I'll be showcasing some interesting clone models and the stories behind them. So grab a startup disk, bless that System Folder, and sit back as we travel back in time to the mid 1980's... to find the original Hackintosh.
Correction:
When speaking about the BlueMaq models (27:07), I incorrectly said a "6800 desktop", I meant to say "68000 desktop", referring to the Motorola 68000 CPU common in Macs of the time.
RMC - The Cave (Neil's) video: Why did Apple allow Mac clones?
• Why Apple allowed Offi...
Mac84 Blog (Find out more about the Mac Clones here)
mac84.net/web/macintosh-clones/
Jecel's Website:
www.merlintec.com/lsi/jecel.html
The Cult of Mac's Unitron Article:
www.cultofmac.com/266710/meet...
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
02:04 1984 was like 1984
05:43 Macintosh Walled Garden
06:24 Macintosh ROM
07:15 Licensing, Please!
10:08 Unitron
14:50 Tempest Temptations
16:00 Colby's MacColby and MobileMac
19:06 Tempest Mac and the first WalkMac
20:10 Dynamac, Intellitec, and the WalkMac SE and SE/30
21:51 Outbound Systems Notebook
23:30 Apple's Macintosh Portable
25:14 Attack of the Desktop Clones
27:26 Policies and Prototypes
28:15 Apple's PowerBook
29:42 Outbound's Last Outing
30:31 Sculley's Scramble
31:16 Outro and RMC - The Cave's Video
🎹 Music Tracks Used (via the RUclips Audio Library)
Leveled Up - by Bad Snacks
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Spoiler alert (mostly for search result purposes), this video covers the following machines: The Unitron Mac, Colby System's Tempest, Lap-Mac, WalkMac, WalkMac SE, Colby SE & SE30 the Dynamac, Powder Blue BlueMaq machines, the adorable Akkord Technology Johnathan desktop, and the Outbound laptop and notebook system. 
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Great work Steve!
Hello
Yoooo mjd
Thank you Michael! :-)
:O
@MJD I saw your video!
Great job! Note that under the "reserved market policy" that Brazil had from 1977 to 1992 you needed to get government authorization for each computer model you wanted to sell. Unitron's two submissions (Mac512 with a copy of Apple's case and Mac1024 with a separate monitor and my "turbo" design) were rejected so there was nothing they could do but give up.
Though I helped them, I was their competitor and so only know what they told me. They claimed that in response to their request to license the Mac software, Apple requested a prototype machine to examine. An Apple engineer has posted a story about testing it and finding that the ROMs were cloned. Given that the goal was to show how well Unitron's hardware worked with Apple's software, they should have expected this. The effort to reverse engineer the ROMs was started after this and I think only one machine in the lab every ran that software (it was written in C) on ROM emulators rather than actual ROMs. All other Unitron Macs out there have pirated ROMs including my own machine.
Apple used the machine it got from Unitron to set up a demo to the US Congress showing it side by side with their own Mac. Later they brought their demo to the Brazilian Congress but when they turned on both machines the Unitron one worked but Apple's didn't. This happened right before the last time I talked to the Unitron guys and they were a little smug about this though very said that the project was ending. They showed me the Mac1024 prototype which had a separate 9 inch monitor and was built into an adapted printer case. Note that Unitron was not the first Apple II clone in Brazil, but the previous ones looked very different. Unitron was the first to copy the case and when nothing happened to them everybody else started doing the same. Doing so for the Mac turned out to be a really bad decision for them because the case is the only thing people can use to judge if a computer is a copy of another or not.
The part that people keep repeating about them getting "help from the government" is a misunderstanding. They had to design two chips: the floppy controller (IWM - Integrated Woz Machine) and the real time clock. They hired a government owned lab (now called Instituto Renato Archer but it was CTI back then) to patch their design to include the built-in self test (BIST) circuits that National Semiconductor demanded that their clients use before it would make the chips for them. The rumor that was spread at the time was the CTI had put Apple's chips under the microscope to give Unitron the designs.
Hello Jecel!! Thank you for the detailed response. I will be adding it to my website (under corrections) to clarify some details on Unitron.
Hopefully I was not too incorrect in my attempt to compress down some information.
I do hope I pronounced your name right in the video, my apologies if I did not.
Thank you again for the wealth of information, I will be re-reading this a few times. :-) Have a great day!
@@Mac84 You pronounced everything just right and your description of the Unitron story is the best I have seen.
Thank you! :-) That is wonderful to hear. I do appreciate your kind words and am thankful for sharing your story on your website.
Where's part 2
That was a really great video! I hope that part 2 is not scrapped ;) It would also be great to hear your take on the efforts to run Mac OS on other 68k machines of the time, like the Amiga and the Atari ST
We did it on an Amiga 2000 around 1995. The pixelation was almost hilarious.
Eggcelent video ! I love these quirky early Mac clones.
Amazing video Steve! Very informational and interesting! Can’t wait for part two!
Better to get the licensed version, than dealing with the police because of the pirated version. The pirated version exists for those who want to get acquainted with the system or just try it out on a virtual machine. Very informative video, good job Steve!
Just watched the RMC clone video and was introduced to this channel from there. Great video!
Thank you for checking out the channel, I appreciate it! I'm glad you enjoyed the video. :-)
Early in my USAF career I used a Tempest-converted Macintosh IIci. I remember it looking externally identical to a stock civilian IIci my college friend had. I had completely forgotten about it until watching your video tonight.
I never knew about the Akkord before. I'm definitely looking forward to future installments in this series. Keep up the great work Steve!
Hi Steve, love learning more about the history of these products. Looking forward to future parts.
Fantastic video! I'd heard of some of these machines but had no idea there were so many clone makers back in the 80's. Looking forward to part 2 :)
Using CRTs to display your Computer Chronicles standard def stock footage? Very cool! Just wanted to point that out as being great production value I haven't seen on YT before. Perfect solution to that problem
Thank you 😊 I thought it was a clever way to present media of that time period. Even if it took a LOT of effort.
I bet, I know syncing the camera to the refresh rate is a non-trivial task, not to mention getting that output. Came here from RMC and glad to see high quality channels like this getting shout outs c:
🤓 Thank you again for the kind words! Yes, it required a few tricks haha. Glad you found your way here. 👍
Great video and I'm excited to see the entire series! I've been an Apple guy since the mid 80's, but I've never heard of the couple of clones that you talked about today. Keep up the great work! EEP!
I've been an Apple kid (8 years old then) since 1986. We're like Freemasons. Let the Windows crowd kick & scream. They chose blindness 🧿
Great video! I almost forgot about these. The era when Apple said "You know what we need, is more BEIGE"
Thank you far that brief history! I knew of the Mac clones from the ones I saw in college but not the earlier models!
Awesome video Steve! Really looking forward to the next parts!
Awesome work - :) Interesting period from a dark time in Apple's history.
This is a great video, Steve. Your passion and knowledge of early Macs is infectious, and the documentary format works really well. Can't wait to see part 2!
Great video! I'm looking forward to the next installment of this series!
Awesome video. The production is pro quality, nice work. Looking forward to the next part.
WOW Exceptionally detailed vid Steve!
I'm so excited to absorb this new video!
great video Steve can't wait for the next episode.
Great video! You put a lot of work into that!
Wonderful history lesson Steve!
Really enjoy your videos Steve
Nice video! We had at work a Power Computing desktop that had nothing but problems in 96. I still have radius 81/110.
This was a very enjoyable video. I was not aware of the various models and companies that were involved in the Mac environment. I remember the clones of PowerPc, etc but was not aware of the others. Thanks for an interesting video.
Love your work Steve.
Thanks again for creating this video. Being in the Apple industry for over 30 years I have not heard of most of these, except for the Apple Portable and PowerBooks. I'm looking forward to the next instalment.
So if I am to produce and present my own history video in 4 years time, I should start researching now? Great effort and research.
My High School in Australia here (student from 1991 - 1996) was equipped with these clones. They were SUPERIOR to Apple! Humans even came to talk to us when installing them & shook our hands. Government wholesale prices saved the school 33% on each unit.
Hey did you do a part 2 for this yet? Part 1 is excellent !
I’m still working on it. Hopefully soon.
Very well made video!
Thanks for this video! I was hoping for more episodes, but I can’t seem to find a part 2. I still own a Radius 81/110 and I used to own a PowerCenter. Maybe someday you will get around to a follow up. 😀
This is brilliant! Thank you!
WoW Great Info Steve I Knew About Apple Clones But Did Not Realized So Many Other Company's Also
Greetings from Australia. Thanks for sharing your wonderful knowledge of apple products
Thank you for the memories... cheers!
Great video! Thanks!
A+++++, Great Video. Thank You for this.
Great video 👍☺️
Great video! I wonder if part 2 (or others) will discuss the other "hackintoshes" that were in use in the late 80's and early 90's.
As for Apple not appearing to care about Unitron's clone of the Apple II, it's probably because Steve Jobs really wanted the Apple II to go away in order to put all focus and attention into the Macintosh, despite the financial success of the Apple II. Though that's my opinion, not necessarily fact.
Part II will be diving into some other unauthorized clones from the early 1990s and the rise of the PowerPC clones from the mid 1990s.
When we can get part 2?
Cool video Steve from Mac84 featuring Steve from Mac84.
My first PowerMac was a Motorola Starmax, I later upgraded to a Power Computing PowerBase 240 just so I could play Starfleet Academy :)
Great video about little-known early third-party 'Macintosh' computers. But will we ever see the other parts of the series?
I’m working on it, hopefully in the next month or so.
@@Mac84 Great news, thanks!
@@Mac84I hope you finish it soon, I've been waiting so long for part 2
If Apple has licensed the Mac OS in the 80s, the same thing would have happened as did happen in the 90s - the cloners would build more capable macs, using cheaper off-the-shelf parts, for the lucrative high-end market. Rather than growing the user base, the clones would cannibalize Apple's existing user base.
Apple's hardware was rarely competitive. No co-processor hardware like the Amiga. Relatively slow processors compared to the competition. Slow to adopt color. Never enough RAM. Limited expansion.
They should have adopted the IBM-PC hardware standard instead and the x86 processor. Keep building their own hardware but based on standardized PCs just as they eventually would do decades later.
Is it possible to buy old retro Macintosh? I love them so much
...It was smart to use a Mac Clone. You where able to purchase hardware that was cheaper and often had better performance, and where highly customizable.
What I wouldn't do for a Tempest SE case.
Being a Brazilian company, Unitron is pronounced Oo nee tron, from latin Unis (One) and from Ancient Greek tron, a suffix denoting an instrument.
Nice one Steve! Let me know if you need any shots or footage of a Umax Pulsar.. you covered most of my conversion clones in this video - apart from my Taiwanese one - apparently by the same people as Akkord but after they were forced to behave by Apple
Oh and I’d never heard of the Colby LapMac before. That was quite something - what an amusing little drawer for the keyboard!
Thank you!! 😄 Yes, I’ll be emailing you for sure, thank you for the offer! I’d be interested in the other Taiwanese model if you have photos too. 👍 And yes, that Lap-Mac was an interesting one... 😦
@@Mac84 oh and I forgot I have a Radius 81/110 as well
@@Mac84 for the Taiwanese conversion kit check my Instagram post from 26 December 2019 - DTC Technology LPA001 (what a catchy name!). Interesting and different because it was (I believe) a DIY kit that an end user could convert their Macintosh Plus with themselves
? Apple gui, just a modified Unix gui like earlier WIMP design from the 1070;s
i love your shirt i have a macintosh performa it was my first mac i loved the mac computer alot i had a mac clone for a while macs i have is my imac my main computer , emac , macintosh performa
i had my first mac clone by running an emulator on the Atari STF . it run better and better picture than the original machine ...One a nother subject a friend of mine developed a big screen board for the mach plus ..Yes because of the lack of an expansion bus he used a connector adaptor that was inserted on top of the 68000 cpu to grab all the data and address buses ..It was funny to see a tiny computer with a huge 21" monitor
Can you please find a Nutek Duet or Nutek one?
I’ve been trying - no luck, just old photos from old magazines.
Did this series die? I was hoping to see the rest.
No. But as I’ve said before - this takes a lot of time and research. Hope to continue this soon.
@@Mac84Understandable! Looking forward to seeing the rest.
I hate to nitpick, but you did catch me off-guard saying "6800" instead of "68000" for the low-level CPUs of the Macintosh of the era. The Motorola 6800 was completely different from the 68000 - it was an 8-bit CPU that served as the inspiration for the MOS 6502 et al.
Yes, this was obviously just a misread line. Nobody else caught it on Patreon so I didn’t realize it until the premiere. But if that’s the only mess up then I’ll take it.
It’s corrected in the video description text box and noted on my blog.
I trust that 99% of my fellow Mac heads will understand what I meant.
Deus diz que Quem estiver correndo ou isso Mesmo vera este Macintosh show
A coolly told story of clone models. It's a pity that using photos of our copy OUTBOUND Laptop Mod.125 you didn't sign that it's from Apple Museum Poland. We put it up for sale because we have two copies. The author of the photos you use in the film is Jacek Łupina. On our website you can find another interesting model of Colby WalkMac which is a prototype unit coming from Chuck Colby's private estate www.applemuzeumpolska.pl/colby-walkmac.
I’m sorry, I believe I originally grabbed those photos from the eBay auction but the original listing is long gone from eBay. I’ll be sure to link to your website and credit the photos on my site, as I am a big fan of your museum!! 👍 The prototype unit you have is very interesting, you have a wonderful collection.
somaro. the lemon II from italy
Hi Steve i have a Apple clone portatil, you can helpme find which is? Mi from chile sudamerica, tomorrow can send you pictures. Have a Macintosh motherboard inside.
Hello Pablo, please use my website to contact me mac84.net/web/contact/
So uh… when’s part 2?
It’s being worked on. I hope sometime soon. Thanks for your patience.
@@Mac84 I just got here, but it’s good to know it’s coming.
Back around 1992 or 1993 when I couldn't afford a Mac, I had an Amiga 4000. I remember buying a Mac emulator board for my Amiga called the emplant. You had to provide your own Mac ROM by using a floppy utility to copy a Mac ROM to a file. The emplant was said to be faster than the Mac you were emulating because it used the Amiga's dedicated video and sound chips. It was also recommended that you connected a dedicated SCSI drive to the emplant. I remember running an emulation of a colour Mac for a few years until I sold my Amiga around 1995 and got a real Mac.
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