Macintosh Quadra 605
Encyclopedia
Motorola 68040
The Motorola 68040 is a microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1990. It is the successor to the 68030 and is followed by the 68060. There was no 68050. In keeping with general Motorola naming, the 68040 is often referred to as simply the '040 ....
microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
-based Apple Macintosh personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
code-named "Aladdin" or "Primus" which was released on October 21, 1993 as part of the Quadra series
Macintosh Quadra
The Macintosh Quadra series was Apple Computer's product family of professional high-end Apple Macintosh personal computers built using the Motorola 68040 CPU. The first two models in the Quadra line were introduced in 1991, and the name was used until the Power Mac was introduced in 1994...
and discontinued on October 16, 1994. It is one of few Macintosh models to not share a case with another machine (although the internal layout is shared with the Performa
Macintosh Performa
The Macintosh Performa series was Apple Computer's consumer product family of Apple Macintosh personal computers sold through department stores and mass-market retailers from 1992 until 1997, when it was superseded by the Power Macintosh 5x00 series...
/LC 475
Macintosh LC
The Macintosh LC was Apple Computer's product family of low-end consumer Macintosh personal computers in the early 1990s. The original Macintosh LC was released in 1990 and was the first affordable color-capable Macintosh. Due to its affordability and Apple II compatibility the LC was adopted...
family.)
Specifications
- Central processing unitCentral processing unitThe central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
: 25 MHz MC68LC040, 32-bit bus. 8 kB of on-chip L1 CacheCacheIn computer engineering, a cache is a component that transparently stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster. The data that is stored within a cache might be values that have been computed earlier or duplicates of original values that are stored elsewhere...
is divided into 4 kBKilobyteThe kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
of Data and 4 kB of Instruction cache. There are no other caches, although an L2 cache is possible via an LC PDS card. The 68LC040 can be replaced with a 68040 which includes onboard Floating Point UnitFloating point unitA floating-point unit is a part of a computer system specially designed to carry out operations on floating point numbers. Typical operations are addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square root...
. This will approximately triple the speed of floating point operations. - Random access memory: 4 MBMegabyteThe megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
on the motherboard, one 72 pin SIMM socket for 80 ns or faster SIMMs. The official supported maximum RAM is 36 MB in one 72 pin SIMM, but larger SIMMs do work - up to 128 MB may be used, with some limits on RAM type. Physical limits might apply if the side of the SIMM facing the CPU has thicker chips, as the clips on the SIMM socket will not close around it automatically. It should be possible to manually push the clips enough to hold the SIMM in place. The DJMEMC memory controller used in the Quadra 605s predecessors (Quadra/Centris 610, Quadra/Centris 650 and Quadra 800) will only recognize SIMMs up to 32 MB, while the newer MEMCjr used in the Quadra 605 recognizes the larger sizes.
- Video: Video out is provided by one DA15FD-subminiatureThe D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of electrical connector. They are named for their characteristic D-shaped metal shield. When they were introduced, D-subs were among the smaller connectors used on computer systems....
connector, and is compatible with VGA monitors through the use of an adaptor. Two internal Video RAM slots can take either two 256 kB 80 ns 68-pin VRAM SIMMs, or two 512 kB SIMMs. Installing one 512 kB and one 256 kB VRAM SIMM garbles the display. Resolutions and colors available with the two VRAM configurations are shown in the table below.
| 512 kB | 1024 kB | |
|---|---|---|
| 512x384 | Thousands | Thousands |
| 640x480 | 256 | Thousands |
| 640x870 | 16 | 256 |
| 832x624 | 256 | Thousands |
| 1024x768 | 16 | 256 |
| 1152x870 | 16 | 256 |
- Audio
- Out - stereo 8-bit, 11 kHz or 22 kHz
- In - Line-level. The input socket is a stereo socket, and can input two channels of a stereo signal - however these are mixed and only accessible to the hardware as a combined mono 8-bit signal. An Apple PlainTalk Microphone provides line-level input by using a longer 4-contact plug which receives power from a 5 V supply within the input jack. Other microphones only give a mic-level input, and do not work with the Quadra 605.
Recording is possible at 11 or 22 k samples/second, with filters applied at 3.5 kHz and 7 kHz respectively while recording.
- Floppy Drive: 1.4 MB SuperDrive, manual inject.
- Hard Drive: 80 MB or 160 MB.
- Battery: Quadra 605s take a lithium half-AA cell 3.6 V battery. If the battery is drained, the video will NOT start up. To start up a Quadra 605 with a flat or missing battery, it can be turned on for a few seconds, then turned off for a second then on again. This leaves enough charge somewhere in the system for video to start up.
- Power supply: 30 watts standard, but many second hand machines come with replacement PSUs, either third party, Apple replacement or stripped from earlier LC models. Some of these go up to 45 watts. The Quadra 605 is a registered Energy StarEnergy StarEnergy Star is an international standard for energy efficient consumer products originated in the United States of America. It was first created as a United States government program during the early 1990s, but Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan and the European Union have also adopted...
Compliant product. - Weight: 8.8 lbPound (mass)The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
/ 4 kg standard. A Quadra 605 can support a monitor up to 35 lb / 15.9 kg. - Dimensions: 2.9"InchAn inch is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, and United States customary units. There are 36 inches in a yard and 12 inches in a foot...
high x 12.2" wide x 15.3" deep / 7.4 cm high x 31 cm wide x 38.8 cm deep.
Expansion
The Quadra 605 contains one LC III style 68030-compatible LC Processor Direct SlotProcessor Direct Slot
Processor Direct Slot or PDS introduced by Apple Computer, in several of their Macintosh models, provided a limited measure of hardware expandibility, without going to the expense of providing full-fledged bus expansion slots.Typically, a machine would feature multiple bus expansions slots, if any...
. While this is mechanically compatible with previous models' LC PDS (it will take 96-pin or 114-pin LC PDS slot cards) it is not a true LC PDS, but emulates the previous machine's 68030 slot. Due to the success of the LC PDS in earlier Macs and with many expansion options already manufactured Apple kept the same slot type in these 68040 machines. While the Quadra 605's LC PDS is mostly 68030 compatible, expansion cards made specifically for 030 processors such as 68881 or 68882 FPUs will not work. In addition it could utilize the Apple IIe Card
Apple IIe Card
The Apple IIe Card is a compatibility card which allows compatible Macs to run software designed for Apple II computers...
, which allowed the 605 to emulate an Apple IIe
Apple IIe
The Apple IIe is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer. The e in the name stands for enhanced, referring to the fact that several popular features were now built-in that were only available as upgrades and add-ons in earlier models...
.
The Quadra 605 has one SCSI
SCSI
Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...
bus, with a 50 pin internal connector (with space for one low profile 3.5" SCSI device) and one 25-pin DB25F
D-subminiature
The D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of electrical connector. They are named for their characteristic D-shaped metal shield. When they were introduced, D-subs were among the smaller connectors used on computer systems....
external connector. SCSI is provided by an NCR 53C96 controller, which can achieve 6 MB/s internally with a fast enough drive, or 4 MB/s externally.Apple.com: Macintosh - SCSI Data Transfer Rates.
Two serial ports are provided on a Quadra 605; one 8 pin Mini DIN Printer port and one 9 pin Mini-DIN Modem port similar to the Printer port, but with an extra pin to supply +5 V power from the ADB power supply. Apple recommends no more than 100 mA should be drawn from this pin.
The Quadra 605, like most other Macintoshes manufactured before 1999, includes an Apple Desktop Bus
Apple Desktop Bus
Apple Desktop Bus is an obsolete bit-serial computer bus connecting low-speed devices to computers. Used primarily on the Macintosh platform, ADB equipment is still available but not supported by most Apple hardware manufactured since 1999....
port for use with a keyboard
Computer keyboard
In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...
/mouse or other low-speed low-power peripheral
Peripheral
A peripheral is a device attached to a host computer, but not part of it, and is more or less dependent on the host. It expands the host's capabilities, but does not form part of the core computer architecture....
s. Devices may be powered from the ADB port; Apple recommend a maximum combined current draw of 200 mA over a maximum of three ADB devices.
Some earlier models also contain a ROM SIMM socket, located just to the left of the VRAM. No SIMMs were made for this slot, and most boards only contain the solder pads indicating its position. The ROMs as used in production machines are two surface mount chips located directly behind the CPU. Quadra 605s use a 1024 kB
Kilobyte
The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
ROM, version 7C.
PowerPC Upgrade
The Quadra 605 was compatible with Apple's Macintosh Processor Upgrade CardMacintosh Processor Upgrade Card
The generically named Macintosh Processor Upgrade Card was a central processing unit upgrade card sold by Apple Computer, designed for many 68040-powered LC and Performa model Macintoshes. The card contains a PowerPC 601 CPU and plugs into the 68040 CPU socket of the upgraded machine...
which provided a 50 MHz PowerPC 601 CPU. DayStar Digital
DayStar Digital
DayStar Digital, Inc., was founded in 1983 by Andrew Lewis as a subcontract manufacturer of electronic assemblies and circuit boards. In 1986, the company released memory upgrades for Apple Macintosh Computers, its first product. In 1987 the company began to market processor upgrades exclusively...
and Sonnet manufactured 100 MHz versions of this card which could also be used in the Quadra 605.
Installation of these cards was inconvenient at best, as LC PDS expansion cards had to be removed in order to fit the processor upgrade.
Miscellaneous
Some Quadra 605s have a CudaCUDA
CUDA or Compute Unified Device Architecture is a parallel computing architecture developed by Nvidia. CUDA is the computing engine in Nvidia graphics processing units that is accessible to software developers through variants of industry standard programming languages...
reset switch
Reset (Computing)
In a computer or data transmission system, to reset means to clear any pending errors or events and bring a system to normal condition or initial state usually in a controlled manner. It is usually done in response to an error condition when it is impossible or undesirable for a processing activity...
which is used to manually reset the PRAM, located towards the rear of the motherboard just to the front of the audio out port and labeled "S1". Others do not include this switch, instead having two solder pads within a silkscreened square.
The keyboard power-on key will not start up a Quadra 605 as there is no soft power-on. Only the rocker switch at the back will turn a Quadra 605 on or off. Pressing the power-on key while running is the same as selecting shut down in the Finder
Macintosh Finder
The Finder is the default file manager used on Mac OS and Mac OS X operating systems; it is responsible for the overall user-management of files, disks, network volumes and the launching of other applications...
, and once a Quadra 605 has completed its shutdown process it will prompt the operator to manually turn it off.
Quadra 605s have no reset button or programmer's button, but key combinations
Keyboard shortcut
In computing, a keyboard shortcut is a finite set of one or more keys that invoke a software or operating system operation when triggered by the user. A meaning of term "keyboard shortcut" can vary depending on software manufacturer...
can perform the same functions. To reset, users can hold down the Command, Control and Power keys. For a programmer's button click, users can hold down the Command and Power keys. There are some hard crash situations where even this is not enough to restore the system, in which case the power switch is the only recourse.
A modified Quadra 605 motherboard was used as the basis of early Apple Interactive Television Box
Apple Interactive Television Box
The Apple Interactive Television Box was a set-top box developed by Apple Computer in partnership with a number of global telecommunications firms, including British Telecom and Belgacom amongst others...
prototypes. Later prototypes used their own board design, but still retained a resemblance to the 605.
Gestalt IDs
The standard Gestalt IDGestalt (Mac OS)
Gestalt was the name of a system call introduced into the Apple Macintosh operating system System Software 6.0.4 in 1989 to allow applications to dynamically query what capabilities were present in the running system configuration....
for a 25 MHz Quadra 605 is 94. The ID of the logic board that the Quadra 605 shares with other LC/Performa models depends on two things. Jumper J18 (located just behind the hard drive) will identify the computer as a Quadra 605 (ID 94 @ 25 MHz) if it is ON, and as an LC475/Performa 47x (ID 89 @ 25 MHz) if it is OFF. Over-clocking and under-clocking the motherboard also changes the Gestalt ID. A list of Gestalt IDs returned with various logic board modifications (speed as reported by Newer Technology's "Clockometer") are as follows
| J18 | Gestalt ID | Name | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| ON | 93 | 20 MHz Quadra 605 | 19.93 MHz |
| ON | 94 | 25 MHz Quadra 605 | 24.75 MHz |
| ON | 95 | 33 MHz Quadra 605 | 32.89 MHz |
| OFF | 86 | 20 MHz LC475 | 19.93 MHz |
| OFF | 89 | 25 MHz LC475 | 24.75 MHz |
| OFF | 90 | 33 MHz LC475 | 32.89 MHz |
System software
The Quadra 605 is capable of running Mac OSMac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
versions 7.1, 7.1.1 (Pro), 7.5, 7.5.1, 7.5.3, 7.5.5, 7.6, 7.6.1, 8.0, 8.1, 8.5*, 8.5.1*, 8.6*, 9.0*, 9.0.1*, 9.0.2*, 9.0.3*, 9.0.4* and 9.1*. Versions of System Software below 7.5 require the use of System Enabler 065. If a Quadra 605 is running a version of System 7.1, over-clocking it from the standard 25 MHz to 33 MHz will change the gestalt ID, but the enabler will recognise the new ID. Under-clocking to 20 MHz however will change the gestalt ID to one the enabler doesn't recognise as compatible, and the system won't boot. System 7.5+ is not affected by this issue.
See also
- Macintosh QuadraMacintosh QuadraThe Macintosh Quadra series was Apple Computer's product family of professional high-end Apple Macintosh personal computers built using the Motorola 68040 CPU. The first two models in the Quadra line were introduced in 1991, and the name was used until the Power Mac was introduced in 1994...
- List of Macintosh models grouped by CPU type
- List of products discontinued by Apple Computer
External links
- Apple.com: Technical Specifications for Macintosh Centris and Quadra
- Developer Note - Macintosh LC 475 and Macintosh Quadra 605
- Macintosh Quadra 605: Specifications
- Quadra 605: Description
- Applespec Database
- Quadra 605 profile at lowendmac.com
- Quadra 605 at everymac.com
- Quadra 605 at apple-history.com
- the pickle's Low-End Mac FAQ