Thanks for your time and detailed explanation, "fogtown44".

Just this past weekend, I am sad to say I packed up my pair of
IIci's in a box, to store and prepare them for an upcoming move.
I am hoping that I will have these systems back out, and on my
boys desks by summer. Time will tell... I will definitely keep
your tips and hardware in mind for that appropriate time.

Thanks again,
moxieman

--- In classicmacs@y..., "fogtown44" <fogtown44@y...> wrote:
>> Have you had any experience with accelerators (good
>> or bad) that you care to eloborate with?
>>
> I've got several kicking around the shelves here, and can offer
> up a few comments, starting from general, and heading to
> specifics:
>
> 1. Although at the time of their production I'm sure all of the
> accelerators added significant speedups, if you're also using
> any Mac of recent vintage (G3, G4, iMac), the changes are now
> nearly unnoticable, unless you drag out benchmarking software.
> Installing them is more of an exercise in electronic archeology
> (hunting down documentation and drivers for companies that are
> in most cases defunct, figuring out which OS the modified
> machine is capable of running, etc.) and entertainment, than
> in most cases of any practical value (I argued value when I
> amassed my collection when broadband connection sharing routers
> were high-cost items and converting retired 68K machines was a
> cost-effective option, but this really isn't the case any more).
>
> 2. Personally I divide "accelerators" into three categories:
> a. main processor upgrades and replacements
> b. cache expansions
> c. cards to add or accelerate specific functions
>
> Of the three, most people focus on (a), but if you're actually
> using the Mac for something, (b) and/or (c) may have greater
> impact. As examples:
> - for day to day use offloading video processing and freeing
> up system RAM by installing a video card may have more impact
> than replacing a Mac IIci's 68030 with a 68040.
> - for my application, replacing the Mac IIci's 32KB cache with
> a 64KB Daystar FastCache IIci allowed routing software and
> tables to remain cache-resident, speeding things up.
> - for use as servers, the logic-board NCR 53C80 and NCR 53C96
> 8-bit SCSI interfaces on many Nubus Macs are the limiting
> factor for even discard SCSI drives these days. Adding a
> 16-bit SCSI-2 Fast host adapter (such as the FWB Jackhammer
> or ATTO Silicon Express) is a far better choice than a
> processor > replacement.
> - any nubus ethernet board beats the hell out of a SCSI to
> ethernet bridge such as the Asante Mini EN/SC.
>
> 3. The 68030 -> 68040 processor upgrade cards (for the IIci I've
> got both a Daystar `040 and a MicroMac Carrera) are transparent
> to the MacOS (which draws the line simply as PowerPC v 68K for
> all but the newest versions, which don't support 68K machines
> anyways) once you locate the appropriate extension. The Daystar
> PowerPro 601 (also sold by Apple in a crippled form) PowerPC
> upgrade for the Centris/Quadra 650s (and a couple of others,
> with adapters) is another story, being a dual-boot assembly
> (transparent to the end-user the machine boots as a 68040, the
> Daystar ROMs kick in, and the machine boots as a 601-equipped
> machine), with OS-level support scaling back, moving into the
> "hack" stage, and finally disappearing with each of the various
> MacOS 8.x releases. When you get applications installed, they
> do however, run fine on the machine.
>
> As I've been mumbling about selling off the accelerator collection
> for some time (as well as the 68K machines they go in), I'll make
> an offer - or anybody who can honestly swear that they're using a
> 68K Mac for a specific application (not as a toy for
> experimentation, not as a hobby, and most definitely not because
> you think you can get away with reselling it and make some money),
> drop me _private_ email explaining what you've got (base machine)
> and what you're doing with it (application) and I'll see what I
> can send you, for the price of shipping (I reserve the right to
> ignore stories about the little old lady next door, sunday schools
> struggling on abacuses, and similar bogosity - rather than
> stooping this low, just send me a note and we can try to work
> out something fair, rather than staining your mojo).
>
> - MicroMac Carrera 33/66 Mhz 68040 with 128K Turbo (Mobius)
> cache for IIci
> - Daystar Turbo 040 with 128K cache for IIci
> - Daystar Turbo 601 for C/Q-650 (best with Centris 650's because
> of clocking ratios)
> - (suspected dead dead dead) Daystar Turbo 601 for C/Q-650 with
> integral RAM slots and cache
> - Daystar FastCache IIci Cache Card
> - FWB Jackhammer Fast/Wide SCSI-2 Nubus host/bus adapter
> - Asante Nubus Ethernet Cards (tri-mode, 10Base-T, 10Base-2,
> and 10Base-5) [several NIB]
> - Asante SE Ethernet card
> - nubus video cards (gotta check and see what's still around)