Re: mac kybds on gs

[shack@deimos.frii.com (Randy Shackelford)]

In article <50shcr$1o7@epicycle.lm.com>,
Matt Portune <mportune@telerama.lm.com> wrote:

>Just an interesting note, before powerkey was standard hardware for macs, 
>they used to sell it as a little outboard unit that plugged into the ADB 
>port.  Way back when my friend bought his IIci, he got this unit with 
>it.  Just out of curiosity, we plugged it into the GS and it WORKED!  
>Instant reset-key power-up!  I played with it all day.  :)  Of course, 
>selecting "Shut Down" didn't shut down, but if somebody wrote an INIT 
>that would trigger the external powerkey unit to shut down properly, 
>we could have fully functional powerkey!  Of course, I'm still trying to 
>find one of these old units.  They seem to have "disappeared".

Actually soft power has been around as long as Mac ADB support has (the first 
Mac II had it). Later on a company called Sophistocated Circuits if my memory's
right on made a product called Powerkey. It lets you use the power key to turn
on non soft power equipped Macs. It also serves some purposes for those with
soft power, including providing switched outlets for peripherals so they can
be turned on/off soft power style, and can be set to power up when a connected
phone line has an incoming call and shut down at disconnect. It's still around
AFAIK.
-- 
Randy Shackelford                                 US Air Force officer
shack@frii.com                                    and Apple aficionado