Re: LISA OS? where?

[bede0005@gold.tc.umn.edu (Rob Bedeaux)]

> 
> Mac XL isn't the same as Lisa. Mac XL is a Lisa converted to early Mac
> :-( My opinion is that the only real Lisa is a real Lisa! So, where do I
> get a new HD to my Lisa?
> 
> 
> Paul Dunkel
> 
> 
Paul, Actually, a Lisa II as sold by Apple is the exact same thing as a
Mac XL.  What apple did was send out 2 disks which made the Lisa act like
a mac.  On the first disk is a Lisa program which loads Mac roms into
memory.  This then brings up the familiar icon to insert a system disk. 
This was the second disk supplied in the set.  This disk booted the user
to the Macintosh finder.
  It was only when Sun purchased a quantity of them (5,000 i think), that
a Mac XL became something else.  What Sun did were several conversions. 
These included replacing the 400k drive with an 800k (required a rom
switch), replacing the 10 meg widgest drive with some strange 20mb
versions, and the worst of all forcing the square pixel ratio which the
mac had.  You can tell if you have one that has been corrupted beyond use
by checking the boot up procedure.  If as it starts up, it goes through a
series of internal tests (there are icons showing the procedure on
screen).  In addition, there must be a model/rome revision listing on the
top right.  It will have a a number and a year mine says H/88.  These
indicate the Rom revision "h" and the model type Lisa 2/10 "88"  I don't
remember the specifics for the others.  If these items are present then
you have a Mac XL which is capable of running Lisa Office and workshop.  
Also, Paul an external Apple Profile hard drive will work on a Lisa 2 and
2/5 with no additional hardware.  The 2/10 did not have a parallel port,
but there are cards around which when plugged into one of the interal
slots will give you an external parallel port.  
If you need more info you can e-mail me as I have several hundred pages of
Lisa articles, specs, and diagrams of the Lisa's subsystems.

rob
bede0005@gold.tc.umn.edu