Power Macintosh 6100

The Power Macintosh 6100 was Apple Computer's first computer to use the new PowerPC RISC type processor created by IBM and Motorola. It came in the Centris 610's "pizza box" low-profile case, and superseded the Quadra series that used Motorola's 68040 processor, Apple's previous high end workstation line.

Overview

Power Macintosh 6100 was first introduced in 1994, and featured a 60 MHz (later 66 MHz) PowerPC 601 processor. It was later complemented by an AV version, which featured additional audio and visual enhancements such as composite and S-video input/output and full 48 kHz 16-bit DAT-resolution sound processing, invaluable to multimedia professionals. Apple also released a PC-compatible model of the 6100 called the Power Macintosh 6100 DOS Compatible. This version came with a card that featured an Intel 80486DX2 processor and a single SIMM RAM slot that used the same type of RAM to that in the Power Mac itself, and also sported standard PC VGA and joystick ports. One could easily run the Macintosh interface and DOS/Windows 3.1 side by side, even on different monitors if one so desired.

Notable was the new startup and "sad mac" chimes: instead of the electronic "bong" that was the previous norm, it played a guitar chord strummed by jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan, and instead of the "Chimes of Doom" arpeggio that played when there was a hardware error at startup, there was the sound of a car crashing.

This model and the other early NuBus-based Power Macs (7100, 8100 and Workgroup Server 9150) were replaced by the Power Macintosh PCI series released in 1995, although the 6100 DOS compatible continued in production until 1996, even though Apple had already released the anticipated "PC Personality Card" in 1995 that plugged into one of the PCI slots of the newer Power Macs. This card featured a 66 MHz Pentium processor, which was considered very fast at that time.

Generally considered to be the slowest of all the Power Macintoshes in terms of processor speed, the 6100 series was eventually able to be upgraded through third party solutions such as Sonnet Technologies Crescendo G3 NuBus (up to 500 MHz) and G4 NuBus (up to 360 MHz; discontinued) and Newer Technology's MaxPower G3 processor upgrades. However, it was revolutionary enough at the time to replace Jerry Seinfeld's state-of-the-art PowerBook Duo as his ubiquitous desktop Mac.

pecifications

AKA: Performa 6110CD, Performa 6112CD, Performa 6115CD, Performa 6116CD, Performa 6117CD, Performa 6118CD, WG Server 6150 series

*Codename: Piltdown Man
*CPU: PowerPC 601
*CPU Speed: 60/66 MHz
*FPU: integrated
*Bus Architecture: NuBus
*Bus Speed: 30/33 MHz
*Data Path: 64 bit
*ROM: 4 MiB Old World ROM
*RAM Type: 72 pin EDO or FPM SIMMs (install in pairs of equal MiB amounts and equal types)
*Maximum (fastest) RAM Speed: 60 ns
*Minimum (slowest) RAM Speed: 80 ns
*Onboard RAM: 8 MiB soldered to logic board
*RAM Slots: 2
*Maximum RAM: 72 MiB (Apple's old official amount) (higher RAM amounts are possible but only with increased risk of heat and stability issues)
*Level 1 Cache: 16 KiB data, 16 KiB instruction (32 KiB total)
*Level 2 Cache: optional
*VRAM: 640 KiB DRAM "borrowed" from system RAM (2 MiB w/ Power Macintosh AV card)
*Maximum Resolution: 1152x870 at thousands of colors (w/ AV card)
*Slots: PDS or 7" NuBus (AV card fills both)
*Floppy Drive: 1.44 MB SuperDrive
*Optical Drive: optional 2x CD-ROM Apple 300i (internal 50-pin SCSI)
*Hard Disk: 250 MB - 700 MB (internal 50-pin SCSI)
*Ethernet: AAUI-15
*ADB: 1
*Serial: 2 (printer & fax/modem)
*SCSI: DB-25
*Video Out: HDI-45
*Audio Out: stereo 16 bit mini
*Audio In: stereo 16 bit mini
*Speaker(s): mono
*Gestalt ID: 75
*Power: 210 watts
*Weight: 14.5 lb
*Dimensions: 3.4" H x 16.3" W x 15.6" D (86 mm x 414 mm x 396 mm)
*Minimum OS: 7.1.2 (60 MHz version), 7.5 (66 MHz version)
*Maximum OS: 9.1
*Introduced: March 1994 (60 MHz version), January 1995 (66 MHz version)
*Discontinued: January 1995 (60 MHz version), May 1996 (66 MHz version)

External links

* [http://www.apple-history.com/frames/body.php?page=gallery&model=6100 apple-history.com]
* [http://lowendmac.com/ppc/6100.shtml Power Macintosh 6100 at LowEndMac.com]
* [http://www.kan.org/6100/ Power Mac 6100 Upgrade Guide]