ZigZagJoe's Vintage

Booster V1.x Accelerators for Macintosh SE/30 and IIx

Interware Booster 30-SE50F was a PDS-based accelerator developed by Interware of Japan in the early 90s. I reverse engineered it and created clones in early 2024 in both a PDS and a new Socketed PGA form factor. Additionally, I created a replica of the original design as I liked the allmost entirely through-hole design. These have now been supersceded by the Booster 2.0 cards.

In all forms these accelerators have a 68030 CPU and optional 68882 FPU running at 47mhz , 3x the speed of the original 15.66mhz CPU. In practical use, this gives around a 2x performance improvement over the stock CPU making System 7 much more pleasant to use. System 6 positively screams!

Installation is easy: Plug 'n Play! No drivers or software required.

My clones are compatible with IIsi ROMs and other custom ROM images based on the IIsi ROM such the Rominator. No extensions or software installs are required - it is plug and play. Also works with A/UX! Recommended for use with System 6 through 7.1. System 7.5+ will work, but sound will have "glitches".

PDS clones work in SE/30 only, and provides a passthrough slot to which an additional card can be "stacked".

The socketed PGA models fit in place of the original CPU in a SE/30 or IIx leaving the PDS slot free for cards. To identify if you have a socket, look for a gold-topped CPU - these were almost always installed in a socket. It's possible to install a PGA socket, but I recommend this to be done only if you're comfortable with soldering and have an appropriate desoldering iron. Otherwise, contact someone like Amiga of Rochester to install a socket for you.

PDS Cards tested working

Carrera 040 (PGA Only)
Asante MacCon
Farallon TP594
Interware GrandVimage
SEthernet/30
30Video (all)
NuCF

PDS Cards with limited compatibility

Synchr030 - Only works with Synchr30 mounted on top of PDS Booster

PDS Booster is not expected with Synchr030 passthrough slot.
Socket Booster is not expected to work with Synchr030.

PDS Cards known to not work

Micron Xceed
Colorboard/264
Shiva Etherport SE30
Radius FPD

Notes

The startup chime will be changed slightly when using the SE/30 ROM. This is normal. Join the silly chime club today!
Replica cards requires a hard to obtain SC11346 clock generator; last sourced from Littlediode in the UK.
Vintage interware cards will not work with IIsi ROMs correctly: floppy will not work and sound will have issues. My clones do not have this issue.
PGA Sockets are a 13x13 grid with either 124 or 128 positions, 2.54mm pin spacing. Can be found at Phoenix Enterprises.
V1.2 Socketed cards electrically work in an IIcx. However, the support for the HDD/floppy cage will hit the accelerator and must be modified if you want to use this configuration.

Benchmark (Speedometer 4.0.2)

FAQs

Do the booster cards have additional cache?
- No, the booster design does not incorporate additional cache.

Development log and other notes
Schematic and GAL files of original card