🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <9606@boulder.Colorado.EDU> fozzard@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Richard Fozzard) writes:
>I personally think it would be wonderful to go to Compaq or AST or
>whomever to buy a cheap powerful and flexible piece of hardware (maybe
>even laptop :-)), then pay Apple $500 (*) or so for the OS+ROMs. This would
>be the real victory for the consumer. (Ralph Nader, where are you?)
>
>Richard Fozzard					"Serendipity empowers"

Well, two days ago we have visited this kind Japanese person, who intends to
market the Jonathan in Europe. In this article I will describe the machine and
also discuss some of the legal aspects. Please note that the opinions expressed
herein are strictly mine and not those of our Japanese contact nor of one of the
companies mentioned in this article.


Jonathan: the hardware.
-----------------------

The Jonathan comes in a casing very similar to the ones being used for so 
called baby-AT's. It's dimensions are about the same as the average Macintosh
external harddisk. But _this_ box contains a complete Mac, power supply, 3.5"
drive _and_ a harddisk. When I opened it, I was impressed by the way they had
managed to stuff it all in that small casing. When I lifted the frame with the
drive and the harddisk, I was even more surprised. 

I saw a board having the same dimensions as the Macintosh board. But that was
the only physical resemblance. The IC's were positioned in a completely 
different manner. Furthermore, the board had much more on it. There was a 
row of pins on each side of the 68000, allowing for much easier/less expensive
installation of extension boards than the conventional 'clip-on' stuff that's
commonly used in the Mac. It also had the AppleTalk hardware on board, with two
AppleTalk connectors coming out of the back. Another striking feature was the
Centronics port on the back, driven by a small Z8 microsystem to convert
ImageWriter control codes to codes for EPSON compatible printers. Needless to 
say that the Z8 + ROM were on the motherboard too...

It had all these extensions in addition to the standard connectors you normally
find on the back of a Macintosh Plus. I have been told that the design is about
15% faster than the Plus, but functionally the same. The hardware has been
reverse engineered.


The software, legal problems?
-----------------------------

On the motherboard as well as in the accompanying documantation there were 
notes in huge print, saying that ONLY THE ORIGINAL MACINTOSH ROMS were to be
used in the ROM-sockets of the Jonathan. These can be obtained for about $100,
but wether they will be included will depend on the answers to several legal 
questions.

Once the Jonathan hardware is completed with such a ROM set, it actually
behaves like a Plus. I have seen several packages run on it without any
problems. The speed increase is barely noticeable.

It all sounds very good. The hardware is reverse engineered. No problem with
that. The original ROMS are used. Theoretically nothing wrong with that. But
yet... sales of the product are being delayed in order to find out more
about these issues. 

There are two companies that are _considering_ to sell the Jonathan, _provided_
that the legal issues are perfectly clear. One company is the 'A1 Group'
from Belgium (currently selling all kinds of Macintosh peripherals, upgrades
and original Macs). The other company is 'Chipmunk International' from the
Netherlands (They are also in the market for peripherals. They are especially
known for their kits to modify SE keyboards so they can be plugged into the
classic Macintoshes and for their SCSI interfaces for classic Macintoshes).

It definitely is true that if Apple does not like these plans, they can take
legal action. And since Apple is huge, they can spend huge amounts on lawsuits.
In such a situation right or wrong doesn't matter. The Big one wins. It's as
simple as that. But does Apple really not like these plans?

This brings me to a very interesting thesis. In Germany, the Atari ST is a
pretty popular computer. One very important reason is, that Macintosh
emulators for this machine are readily available. It also is a known fact,
that once people have seen the Macintosh software, they can not easily be
satisfied with less quality software. It is also a known fact that they always
want more and better hardware. This theory is stressed by the fact that 
many Atari ST owners - after having used an ST with emulator for a while -
switch to the more expensive Macintoshes. Indeed Apple does not mind this.

It won't take long anymore until Apple does not make the Plus anymore. An
entry-level Macintosh (to attract people to the Macintosh technology) would
be most welcome to Apple, I reckon, regardless of the brand. 
But that's just a my humble opinion.

Another area not covered by Apple's activities is the laptop market. Our
Japanese contact has plans for a portable Macintosh as well. As soon as I
know more about it, I will post it on the net.

All we can do now is wait until the legal fog will clear up or until Apple
clearly says they don't mind.


Michel 'Mikki' Waucomont
rcbamw@eutrc3.urc.tue.nl