Macintosh Quadra Family Technical Overview
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Overview
This page documents the Macintosh Quadra family based upon the 68040 based procesors. The first two computers in the Quadra lineage were the Quadra 700 derived from the Macintosh IIcx and the Quadra 900 derived from the Macintosh IIfx. Later the Centris 650 and the Quadra 800 platform along with the Centris 610 platform. The Quadra 605 and Quadra 630 are a part of the Entry Level architectures and is documented there. The Qudra 660av and Qudra 840av are covered in the Audio/Visual architecture.
Linux/m68k (macLinux) Notes
Generally Linux/m68k runs on any MC68020 with an external MC68551 PMMU (Paged Memory Management Unit) processor. Other processors after the MC68020 have a built-in MMU (Memory Management Unit) with exception of the MC68EC030 and other EC processors which cannot work with Linux/m68k. It is good to have an FPU (Floating Point Unit) or math co-processor as it is slow to use an emulator and difficult to configure. Commonly, MC68881 math processor is used with the MC68020 and the MC68882 is used with the MC68030. The newer MC68040 contains a built-in math coprocessor. The MC68LC040 does not have the built-in math coprocessor.
Linux/m68k has the ability to run on any Quadra computer and is currently able to boot with a look in prompt on several machines. The Centris 610 and some models of the Quadra 610 contain the MC68LC040 processor which does not have a functional FPU or math coprocessor. For these machines will need to replace MC68LC040 with a normal MC68040 processor or use a software FPU emulator.
Currently the Quadra 900 and Quadra 950 does not have the needed support to get this machine to work properly. There are two IOP6502 ICs which control the floppy/serial and adb. Without public documentation, keyboard, mouse, floppy, and serial may not function.
Components
The following is a list of the components that make up the capabilities of the Macintosh II Family line:
- SWIM (Steve Woz Integrated Machine) controls the floppy drives and supports 1.44 MB floppies. This replaces the older IWM (Integrated Woz Machine) which only offers support 800K floppies.
- SCC (Serial Communications Controller) is an 8530 and provides independent ports for serial communication.
- ADB (Apple Desktop Bus) is a bus for supporting up to 7 different devices daisy chained onto each other. There are 16 addresses, and multiple-devices like a trackball and a mouse can connected and utilized.
- SCSI (Small System Interface) is built-in all Macintosh computers. The Macintosh Quadra family uses the 53C96 chipset which supports 32bit transfers.
- Enchanced ASC (Apple Sound Chip) supports 8 bit stereo audio output which made Macintosh famous for their sound capabilities until the arrival of SoundBlaster in the open PC Clone market.
- Ethernet - The Quadra architecture has the Sonic (DP83932) Ethernet controller.
- DAFB (Direct Access Frame Buffer) - This is the video buffer in the Macintosh Quadra series which includes its own VRAM.
Ports
The Macintosh Quadra series contains the following ports:
- 1 RCA Streo input (Macintosh Quadra 900/950 only)
- 1 sound 1/8" microphone (8bit mono)
- 1 sound 1/8" jack (8bit stereo)
- 1 or 2 ADB ports for mouse and keyboards,
- 1 Printer Port (RS422 8 mini-din)
- 1 Serial (RS232 8 mini-din)*
- 1 SCSI-1 port (DB25)
- 1 RGB Video port (DB15)
- 1 AAUI-15 (Apple AUI) Ethernet
* This port is incompatible with the familiar RS232 PC Serial port as it does not contain the missing 9th pinout. Most modem below 2.88K will work. Also note that the SCC chipset uses a different style of communication familiar in the PC clone world.
StatisticsMacintosh Quadra 610 (Centris 610)
- Processor: 50MHz MC68040 CPU (40MHz MC68LC040)
- Bus Speed: 25MHz (20MHz) at 32bit
- Memory ICs: MEMC
- Control ICs: IOSB IC for 2 VIA ICs
- Floppy: IOSB IC (SWIM2) for FDHD SuperDrive (1.44meg floppies)
- Expansion: 040 PDS (Processor Direct Slot)
Macintosh Quadra 650 (Centris 650)
- Processor: 50MHz MC68040
- Bus Speed: 25MHz, 32bit
- Memory ICs: MEMC
- Control ICs: IOSB IC for 2 VIA ICs
- Floppy: IOSB IC (SWIM2) for FDHD SuperDrive (1.44meg floppies)
- Expansion: 3 Nubus Slots (0x0C to 0x0E) and 040 PDS (Processor Direct Slot)
Macintosh Quadra 700
- Processor: 50MHz MC68040
- Bus Speed: 25MHz, 32bit memory bus, 16MHz I/O bus
- Memory ICs: MCU (Memory Control Unit)
- Control ICs: JDB (Junction Data Bus) and Relayer , 2 VIA ICs
- Floppy: SWIM for FDHD SuperDrive (1.44meg floppies)
- Expansion: 2 Nubus Slots (0x0D to 0x0E) and 040 PDS (Processor Direct Slot)
Macintosh Quadra 900 (Quadra 950)
- Processor: 50MHz (66MHz) MC68040
- Bus Speed: 25MHz (33MHz), 32bit memory bus, 16MHz I/O bus
- Memory ICs: MCU (Memory Control Unit)
- Control ICs: JDB (Junction Data Bus) and Relayer , 2 VIA ICs
- Floppy: SWIM/IOP for FDHD SuperDrive (1.44meg floppies)
- Expansion: 5 Nubus Slots (0x0A to 0x0E) and 040 PDS (Processor Direct Slot)
Macintosh Quadra 800
- Processor: 66MHz MC68040
- Bus Speed: 25Mhz, 32bit
- Memory ICs: MEMC
- Control ICs: IOSB IC for 2 VIA ICs
- Floppy: IOSB IC (SWIM2) for FDHD SuperDrive (1.44meg floppies)
- Expansion: 3 Nubus Slots (0x0C to 0x0E) and 040 PDS (Processor Direct Slot)
FeaturesQuadra Architecture
- Sonic Ethernet - All Quadra architectures contain Sonic Ethernet controller from National Semiconductor.
- Audio - All Quadra computers have mono audio input.
- Nubus '90 features - All Quadra computers have some Nubus '90 features. Traditionally Nubus has a throughput of 10MHz while Nubus '90 has a throughput of 20MHz.
- SCSI - All Quadra computers have higher speed SCSI with the NCR53C96.
Quadra 900 and Quadra 950
- IOP proccessor - Used to offload I/O processing from the main processor to these 6502 processors.
- Audio - Stereo input.
Other Pages of Interests
Pages of Joaquin:
Apple Related Developer Docs
These pages were created to illustrate the basic machine information of the Macintosh II Family as a service to the MacOS and Linux/m68k community. I would deeply appreciate any suggestions people may have regarding additional information they would like to have added. Email darknerd@mailexcite.com.
