Macintosh IIsi - Internet Access & Performance Improvements

In this fourth installment of videos about my Macintosh IIsi I attempt to get Internet access through a network card and I make some performance upgrades - some of which I kind of came across by chance.
Do check out the playlist with the earlier videos on this computer. Here is a link to the playlist and the individual videos:
Macintosh IIsi Playlist:
• Macintosh IIsi
Individual videos:
1. Macintosh IIsi with Portrait Display
• Macintosh IIsi with Po...
2. CD-ROMs on Macintosh IIsi - 90's nostalgia galore!
• CD-ROMs on Macintosh I...
3. Macintosh IIsi - Graphics & PSU fix + Retrobright
• Macintosh IIsi - Graph...
Here is the video with the new 'blanket-wrapped' IIsi:
• Mail Call #1 - The Str...
#Retrocomputing #Macintosh #IIsi #DaynaPORT #E/SI30 #FPU #RAMMuncher

[@evibes512]

Great IIsi upgrade video! I never knew about the RAM Muncher extension. Just tried it on my IIsi and it really makes quite a difference. I had always set the disk cache higher but never knew about this cool little extension boost.

[@retrotechguy]

Thanks! Glad you found the RAMMuncher - it really does improve performance noticeably.

[@insanelydigitalvids]

Even as an owner of a Mac IIsi, I still learned some new things from your video Thank you!

[@retrotechguy]

Excellent, great to hear!

[@InitialiseDisk]

I love these IIsi videos! I would keep the virtual memory off as it tends to just slow the system down. It’s so satisfying to see it all come together and it’s clear that you’re putting a lot of effort into it.

[@retrotechguy]

Thanks! Yes, I'm very pleased with how things turned out with this machine. The RAM and FPU really felt like a bonus.

[@superdude4402]

Had a IIsi back in the early 90s, did the 25mhz crystal swap and added a heatsink to the processor. The thermal paste had enough adhesion to hold it in place, It worked without any issues.

[@retrotechguy]

Excellent, I’ll probably do it sometime this year and I’ll add a heatsink - thanks for the tip!

[@ipaschke]

It's great to see the IIsi again! The Danaport was a great find for 40€ for sure. With the FPU and the network card, this IIsi would be a great candidate to try A/UX on. I upgraded my IIsi with a 50 MHz crystal and that worked out really well, no problems at all and the stock CPU doesn't even get warm, so that's definitely worth trying. And I'd love to see a video on the blanket IIsi. It's probably the darned PSU and caps again, but maybe there's some more interesting fault? 🙂

[@retrotechguy]

Yeah, felt great seeing it all working! True, A/UX would be nice to try out. Great that the crystal upgrade isn't giving you any trouble - that gives me courage. I'll probably do it as well. Yes, the blanket IIsi...the caps on the logic board seem very crusty and surely also the PSU. I'm looking forward to coaxing it back to life eventually!

[@bradcr152]

The IIsi can run 64MB of ram easily. I still use mine for an old copy of photoshop my parents bought in 1995. I overclocked it to 25MHz, upped it to 64MB of ram.. and it’s been incredibly stable. Outside of a basic recap of the board and psu

[@retrotechguy]

Good to hear - I’ll probably aim at more RAM at some point and also the crystal swap.

[@wskinnyodden]

If your network switch is managed or at least smart (therefore configurable via web ui or similar) make sure to set the network port used by devices like this to 10Mbps HALF DUPLEX. Older devices can get stuck on the wrong mode due to not supporting negotiation properly, typically stuck on 10Mbps full duplex, showing a link but not working (cause they do not support FDX, only HDX)

[@retrotechguy]

Ok, thanks - I’ll take a look at that! Would that be why it works with the transceiver and not in the RJ45 jack?

[@wskinnyodden]

@@retrotechguyDepends on how the transceiver reacts to auto-speed-sense, so it may as well be :)

[@retrotechguy]

@@wskinnyodden cool, thanks!

[@NozomuYume]

@@retrotechguy You should use transceiver anyway since you can get a transceiver that works in full-duplex, but the RJ-45 jack will forever be half-duplex since RJ-45 devices back then just plain didn't support full-duplex (since they expected to operate with hubs not switches)

[@retrotechguy]

I see - interesting, thanks!

[@dennisp.2147]

Now all you need to do is find some 4MB simms, and bump your ram up to 17MB! If you're feeling particularly froggy, it will also unofficially take 16mb simms for a total of 65 mb, but I'm not sure that would gain you much. It says a lot about Apple's engineering optimizations (or lack thereof) that you can increase the speed of the computer that much with a simple extension that pushes memory around. Don't be concerned about bumping the speed up to 25mHz either way you decide. In the early 90's it would have been a noticeable difference. It won't be in the 2020's. That being said, it you do decide to upgrade the crystal, it shouldn't be a problem for the CPU, even at this advanced point in its lifetime.

[@retrotechguy]

Yes, If I ever get 16mb simms for mu SE/30 I might try them in the IIsi first! True about Apple and optimization...there seems to have been a lot of marketing strategy and segment positioning going apart from capable hardware. I probably will do the crystal upgrade - if I manage to get hold of the right one.

[@95Comics]

What is the unpopulated socket on the internet card?

[@retrotechguy]

It’s for an FPU - I managed to find one and fit it in the video…but did it work…? 😊

[@95Comics]

@@retrotechguy what process was it supposed to handle ?

[@retrotechguy]

It does calculations on floating point numbers and frees up the CPU from having to do it in software. Some applications make use of this.

[@95Comics]

@@retrotechguy ah kewl thanks for the knowledge!

[@JSMCPN]

I was so jealous when my friend got the IIsi and I got the LC, which couldn't play any 640x480+ games. Apple was so good at selling inferior hardware at insane prices. I was an Apple Certified repair tech for a K-12 district (52 schools) for many years, eventually got tired of wasting gobs and gobs of taxpayer dollars on $400 hard drives and $900 motherboards, when a whole new PC with monitor was cheaper than that. Fortunately the taxpayers eventually got sick of it too and we saved over $100 million by switching to cheaper faster Windows hardware.

[@retrotechguy]

True, the 68k machines are finally affordable :) Is makes sense that a switch was made to PCs, but trying to make things work in MS-DOS makes me realise that the integrated Apple way probably was attractive despite of the price tag, for a while at least.