ZigZagJoe's Vintage

Booster V2.x Accelerators for Macintosh SE/30, IIx, IIsi

These are fully re-engineered descendents of the Interware Booster accelerator for the Macintosh SE/30. Using a modern CPLD I have redesigned the Booster 2.0 cards to eliminate several flaws in the original design, most notably the issues with System 7.5, Sound Manager, and Micron Xceed cards. Compatibility with other cards is improved. Performance remains similar to my Booster V1.x cards.

Booster 2.0 has a 68030 CPU and 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 the same as always: Plug 'n Play! No drivers or software required.

Newer (v2.1) cards have a ROM-boost function that increases ROM access speed by 2.5x when combined with a third-party ROM module.
This increases performance of Mac OS across the board, most notably in QuickDraw which may become 30% faster or more. Some technical discussion here and here.
Older 2.0 cards may be upgraded to have the ROM-boost function with a soldered jumper to control the state of the function. Contact me if you want this modification made!

PDS cards work in SE/30, 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. It electrically works and fits in an IIcx however it required the hard drive cage to be removed or modified. 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

Asante MacCon
Farallon TP594 (Ethernet)
Interware GrandVimage
SEthernet/30
30Video
Micron Xceed
NuCF PDS

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 incompatible

Colorboard/264
Shiva Etherport SE30
Radius FPD

Notes

System boot chime will play fast with a SE/30 ROM installed, this is normal.
Prior clones cannot be upgraded to include the 2.0 features due to the completely revised hardware design.
If using the ROM-Boost feature, software that "shadows" the system ROM such as DayStar and Synchr030 software should have that function disabled.
PGA Sockets are a 13x13 grid with either 124 or 128 positions, 2.54mm pin spacing. Can be found at Phoenix Enterprises.
These do not work in the original Macintosh II as it uses a 68020 CPU rather than a 68030. However, it may be possible to support in the future.

Benchmark (Speedometer 4.0.2)

FAQs

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

IIsi PDS Booster 2.0

Increases Macintosh IIsi CPU clock speed to 60mhz! Works with any version of Mac OS, works in A/UX too! No compatibility issues with IIsi specific PDS cards are currently known. You will not be able to use the NuBus riser as it can't mechanically fit.

Accelerator clock speed is 3x that of the system clock. You need to be at the stock bus speed of 20mhz, systems overclocked to 25mhz will need to be reverted before using the accelerator.

You need a recapped or refitted PSU, and the system fan should be installed.
These do (electrically) work in a SE/30, however they will run at 47mhz and have a host of mechanical incompatibilities, so there is not much of a point in doing so.

Don't forget to use the IIsi RAM Muncher Init or set the disk cache to 768K in order to get the most out of your IIsi. Sometimes this is not needed with 16MB of RAM installed, if your numbers match the below benchmarks then you're set.