The Little Tank Hunter Mac OS

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The Little Tank Hunter Mac Os Catalina
The Little Tank Hunter Mac Os X
The Little Tank Hunter Mac Os 11

Daniel Knight - 2007.08.30 (revised)

Over the summer of 1997, Apple brought the era of authorizedMacintosh clones to an end.*

The goal of authorized Mac clones was to broaden the Mac market byproducing lower cost Mac OS computers to complement Apple's higher endPowerBook and Power Macintosh computers. At least that was CEO Michael Spindler'shope.

Although Bill Gates had recommended that Apple license its ROMs andoperating system when the Macintosh was introduced in 1984 - whichprobably would have meant no Windows™ - Apple chose to keep itsclosed system and did everything within its power to prevent a clonemarket from arising.

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Over the years, there were various attempts to clone the Mac, butmost of them required using ROMs from a Mac to function. It wasn'tuntil December 1994 that Apple began licensing Mac System 7.x and MacROMs and motherboard designs to Power Computing, Radius, and others ata flat rate of $50 per machine. The first clones shipped in 1995.

Also, I was playing the original BioShock on my Mac at the time. THANK GOD FOR FERAL. Thank you for bringing these incredible games to OS X and thank you for adding PS3 and PS4 controls (my PS4 controllers worked for both this and BioShock, it was great). This doesn't come with the PS4 file, however, only the PS3 file.

Unfortunately, this was also the year Windows 95 reached the market,the first version of Microsoft's operating system generally perceivedas being Mac-like enough to give the Mac OS serious competition.

Radius

Radius was the first licensee to bring a clone to market. Withoutits own production facilities, Radius contracted with IBM to produceits computers. The System 100,introduced in March 1995, was essentially a modified Power Mac 8100 motherboard in aheavy duty tower enclosure. It was available in 80 MHz and 110 MHzversions. Other than the case, which was built like a tank, the two bigdifferences were that is used the standards Macintosh DA-15 videoconnector on the motherboard (Apple was flirting with a 45-pin AV portat the time) and inclusion of a RadiusThunder IV GX 1600 accelerated NuBus video card that supportedresolutions to 1600 x 1200 at 24 bits.

The System 100 was followed by the 110 MHz System 81/110, which Radius positioned as alower cost alternative to the System 100. The secret to the lowerprice? It didn't include a Radius video card.

Radius didn't fare well in the Mac clone market and sold its clonedivision, along with the SuperMac brand that it had acquired in 1994,to Umax in 1996. We'll look at that below.

Power Computing

The first Mac licensee was Power Computing, a new companyformed by Steve Kahng specifically to enter the Mac market. UnlikeRadius, which used a modified Macintosh motherboard, Power Computingcontracted with IBM to build a four-layer motherboard for its earliestclone, which was the second clone to market.

The first models, introduced in mid-1995, were the Power 80, which ran at 80 MHz, the 100 MHzPower 100, and the 120 MHz Power 120. They shared a pretty genericlooking desktop enclosure that could easily be mistaken for a WindowsPC. These were the clones Power Computing sold that used NuBusexpansion slots exclusively.

Power Computing sold 50,000 computers in 1995. Over the two yearclone era, Power Computing built several other models that used PCIexpansion slots and Apple's CPU daughter card design.

Power Computing was the first to lose its license to clone. Appleacquired Power Computing's Mac division in September 1997 for $100million in Apple stock. Power Computing tried to enter the Windowsclone market but failed, going out of business on December 31,1997.

As far as I knew before researching this article, Power Computinghad not licensed Mac OS 8. However, there were Power Computing Mac OS 8install discs included with some late Power Computing models.

DayStar Digital

Like Radius, which made monitors and video cards, DayStar also had apresence in the Mac market before the clone era. DayStar's CPU upgradeswere relatively popular, and the company leveraged its reputation whenit entered the Mac clone market in October 1995 with its Genesis MP line of tower computers.

The GenesisMP distinguished itself as the first multiprocessor Mac OS computer:The Genesis MP 528 had four 132 MHz PowerPC 604 CPUs. It was laterjoined by the quad-processor MP 600 and the dual-processor MP 300. Whenthe PowerPC 604e arrived, DayStar renamed the model the Genesis MP+, and the most powerful version hadfour 233 MHz CPUs. The computer was built like a tank and weighed 50lb.

Unfortunately, DayStar CPU cards were sometimes afflicted withmicrofractures caused by heat. This occurred after long periods ofextensive use. Fortunately DayStar used the standard Apple daughtercard connector, so those suffering from failed CPU cards could upgradeto a G3 or G4 for a lot more computing power.

DayStar became the darling of the power user set, especially earlyhigh-end digital photographers who could take advantage of thoseadditional CPUs in Photoshop. Unfortunately, the classic Mac OS itselfwas unable to use more than one CPU, and very few programs for theclassic Mac OS were written to take advantage of additionalprocessors.

DayStar licensed its multiprocessor technology to Apple, whichincorporated it in high-end Power Macs. DayStar Digital went out ofbusiness in 1997, and DaystarTechnology was launched to provide ongoing service and support forDayStar clones and accelerators. Daystar Technology went on to acquirethe XLR8 brand and produced G4 upgrades for the Power Mac G3, WallStreet PowerBook, G3 iMacs (both tray-loading andslot-loading), Sawtooth Power Mac G4, Lombard PowerBook, Pismo PowerBook, Titanium PowerBooks, G4 iMac, and Aluminum PowerBooks using the XLR8 brand.

DayStar's Genesis inventory was acquired by MacWorks, which builtthe DayStar Millenium from GenesisMP and MP+ components. Options included a low-end 132 MHz 604 CPU, dual200 MHz 604e CPUs, and a 325 MHz G3 (in reality, an overclockedG3/300).

Umax SuperMac

Umaxentered the field in 1996 with four models: the 'pizza box' C500 desktop, the C600 minitower, the J700 full-sized desktop, and the S900 tower. Umax's innovations included twoCPU daughter card slots in the S900, which made it possible to add asecond Umax CPU card and create a dual processor system, andCacheDoubler, a 1 MB inline level 2 cache for the C500 and C600that ran at double the motherboard's 40 MHz bus speed, making a 280 MHzmodel possible.

Of the several Mac licensees, Umax seems to have been the mostinnovative and the most interested in broadening the Macintosh base.The C500 was one of the most compact PowerPC models ever, and it wasvery attractively priced for entry-level buyers.

Umax designed two models specifically to accept G3 upgrades: TheJ710 desktop was built in the samecase as the C500, and the S910tower made some changes to the S900 design. They got around Apple'srestrictions on new models by shipping these computers with 604e CPUsand including a G3 upgrade from NewerTech that the user wouldinstall.

Umax stretched out its license as long as possible, and Apple evenoffered it the chance to continue in the sub-$1,000 market, but withoutthe more profitable high-end models, the SuperMac division would not beviable. Even though Umax was the lone cloner to acquire a Mac OS 8license and actually shipped some computers with OS 8, it was toolittle, too late. On May 27, 1998, Umax threw in the towel, the last ofthe Mac clone makers to fall. A handful of staffers kept SuperMacsupport running until late December.

KennedyBrandt, who worked for Umax at the time and runs SuperMac Insider,reports that Umax sold about 100,000 SuperMac computers 'before theline met its premature demise.'

My first PowerPC Mac was a Umax SuperMac J700, which I bought inJune 1998 at a 'fire sale' price after Umax's license expired. I lateradded an S900, and both were great workhorses until I bought a PowerBook G4 in January 2001.I have each of the original SuperMac models in my collection.

Motorola StarMax

Motorola, one of Apple's partners in the AIM alliance that createdthe PowerPC family of CPUs, was another licensee. Its first clones, theStarMax 3000 and 4000, reached the market in September 1996. Theyhad a motherboard similar to Apple's poorly received Power Mac 4400 but alsoincluded standard PC keyboard, mouse, and VGA ports.

One outstanding feature was Motorola's five-year warranty. MacKiDo reports thatMotorola shipped over 40,000 units in 1996. Unfortunately, Motorolalost its Mac license in September 1997, months after itssecond-generation StarMax 5000 wasintroduced. It's next-generation CHRP-based StarMax 6000 was stillborn.

Motorola not only built its own clones, it also sold motherboards toother companies, such as Mactell.

Other Clones

There were a few other clones from companies such as APSTechnologies, MaxxBoxx, MacTell,Pioneer, and a handful of others. These clones were built on licensedmotherboard created by Motorola or IBM, which never produced a Macclone of its own. None had a significant market presence.

The Pippin Project

At the same time Apple was creating a Macintosh clone program, italso developed Pippin, amultimedia player based on Macintosh architecture. Bandai was the onlycompany to license the technology, and its @World Player, released in1995, bombed in a market dominated by Nintendo, Sony, and Sega.

The Little Tank Hunter Mac Os Catalina

The Impact of Competition on Apple

Apple sold 4.5million Macs in 1995, a level it wouldn't reach again for a decade.With the clone program in place and competition from Windows 95, thatdropped to 4.0 million in 1996 and 2.8 million in 1997. That was theyear the word 'beleaguered' became widely attached to the Applename.

Hard numbers are not available, but it's generally estimated thatthe clones accounted for about 15% of all Mac OS computers sold in1997, the last year with multiple clone makers. If this is correct,Apple could have sold 3.2 million Macs in 1997 if they'd kept themarket its alone. Still beleaguered, but a 20% drop in unit sales isbetter than a 30% one.

Not only did Apple ultimately lose money on the clone program, italso had two changes in leadership during this period. Gil Amelio replaced Spindler inJanuary 1996, and Apple acquired NeXT that December. That broughtSteve Jobs back toApple, the man who would oust Amelio and become interim CEO in July1997.

One of Jobs' first projects after returning to Apple wasrenegotiating the clone licenses to increase Apple's royalty on eachunit sold. The increased royalty would have made it impossible forPower Computing, Motorola, Umax, and the others to continueundercutting Apple on price.

When the clone makers balked, Jobs took advantage of a clause in theagreement that specified that it only applied to System 7. By namingwhat was intended to be Mac OS 7.7 'MacOS 8', he left the licensees out in the cold. The renamed OSwas released on July 26, 1997, and none of the clone makers agreed tothe more costly licensing terms that would have allowed them to offerit.

As many clone owners discovered, all of the authorized clones ranMac OS 8 just fine. There are clone users today who are running MacOS 9 on their decade old computers. (Some are even running hackedversions of OS X.) Not being able to offer OS 8 made thelicensees' models less attractive to buyers and put pressure on them toaccept Apple's new license terms or quit the business.

DayStar digital threw in the towel in August 1997, and on August 30,Apple ended support for clones in its Mac OS-Up-To-Date program. OnSept. 3 it announced the acquisition of Power Computing, probably themost successful cloner and the greatest thorn in Apple's side (PowerComputing had been offering faster models ahead of Apple - and at lowerprices).

Motorola left the market at the end of the year, when its licenseexpired, and Umax SuperMac hung in until the bitter end. Apple wasworking with Umax to license Mac OS 8 for low-end clones - specificallythe sub-$1,000 market - but Umax realized there wasn't enough money tobe made if they abandoned the high end of the market.

Umax decided to close its SuperMac clone division on May 27, 1998and liquidated its inventory, creating some incredible buys for thosewilling to take a chance on unsupported hardware.

That was also just three weeks after Apple had previewed the $1,299 iMac, which wouldhave had a devastating effect on the sub-$1,000 Mac market had SuperMacdecided to pursue it.

Since June 1998, Apple has stood alone in the Mac OS market.

The Clones Ahead

As we look back at the era of authorized cloning, it's interestingthat Apple's transition from PowerPC to Intel CPUs has created a newcloning subculture: People are running Mac OS X on stock Windowscomputers or machines they've put together themselves.

These so-called 'hackintosh' computers provide the Mac experience tothose willing to spend a little time hacking the OS to run on the kindof hardware they prefer, whether that's a subnotebook, a Tablet PC, ora high-end video production or gaming machine.

If Apple chooses not to create hardware to address the needs ofthese users, it would be great to see them either create a new versionof the authorized clone program or simply start selling a version ofOS X that can run on stock Windows PCs out of the box. Until then,they seem to be unofficially tolerating the hackintosh market.

* It's hard to pick aspecific date for the end of the clone era. We could pick July 26,1997, the date Mac OS 8 began shipping, since it was not licensedfor most clones. We could choose Sept. 3, 1997, the day Apple announcedits acquisition of Power Computing. We've picked August 30, as that wasthe day Apple announced that the Mac OS-Up-To-Date program would nolonger support clones. The end of the end of the era came on May 29,1998, the day Umax threw in the towel and discontinued its SuperMacline of clones.

Macintosh Clone Timeline

1984.01 - Original Macintosh.

1. The Unauthorized Clone Era, 1985-1991

1985 - Unitron clones the Mac 512K in Brazil
1986 - McMobile turns a MacPlus into a portable, about 100 produced
1988 - Dynamac transportablebased on Mac Plus.
1989 - Outbound and Colby produce portables based on Mac SE andSE/30. Apple acquired Outbound in August 1990.
1989.09 - MacPortable
circa 1990 - 60000 Dash 30fx, anoverclocked, repackaged Mac IIfx.

2. The Authorized Clone Era, 1994-98

early 1994 - Apple begins developing an authorized cloneprogram
1994 - Apple, IBM, and Motorola announce Common Hardware ReferencePlatform (CHRP), a PowerPC platform that will be able to run the MacOS, Windows, OS/2, and Unix. The only CHRP Macintosh clone everproduced was the unreleased Motorola StarMax6000.
1994.11 - Motorola and Power Computing show clone prototypes atComdex.
1994.12 - Apple licenses Power Computing as the first companyauthorized to produce a Macintosh clone.
1995.03 - Radius introduces System 100, first authorized Mac cloneto market.
1995.05 - Power Computing introduces Power 80, 100, and 120.
1996.01 - Radius exits clone business, sells division to Umax.
1996.05 - DayStar and Umax SuperMac clones reach market.
1996.09 - Motorola StarMax computers begin to ship.
1996.12 - Apple agrees to acquire NeXT
1997.01 - Steve Jobs returns to Apple in an advisory capacity
1997.07 - Jobs outs Michael Spindler, Apple's CEO
1997.07.26 - Mac OS 8 ships. No clone allowed to ship withOS 8, which marks the beginning of the end for the clones.
1997.08.06 - at Macworld Expo, Jobs has Bill Gates speak viasatellite, announced 5-year technology alliance between Apple andMicrosoft
1997.08 - DayStar Digital exits clone business.
1997.09 - Jobs voted Interim CEO (iCEO) by Apple board ofdirectors
1997.09 - Apple buys Power Computing, closes their clone businessby end of year.
1997.12 - Motorola exits clone business.
1998.05 - Umax exits clone business. Apple stands alone.

3. The New Era, Running Mac OS X on Intel PCs, 2006-present

2006 - Apple transitions from PowerPC to Intel CPUs, launching anew era as users hack the Intel version of OS X to run on stockPCs.

Macintosh Clone Brands, 1995-98

This list is ordered by the date each brand first came to market. Itis far from exhaustive. EveryMac has an exhaustive list of authorized and unauthorized Mac clones.

Radius, Mar. 1995 to Jan. 1996.Began selling video cards and monitors for early Macs in 1986. SoldSuperMac brand and cloning business to Umax in 1996. Attempted torefocus on video business. Acquired by Media 100.
Power Computing, April 1995 toDec. 1997. Formed in 1994, first licensee, second to market. Clonebusiness acquired by Apple. Power Computing closed its doors in Dec.1997.
Pioneer, May 1995 to Oct. 1997, Japan only. Longtime player in theconsumer electronics field remains in business.
DayStar Digital, May 1996 to Aug.1997. Started in 1983 to build circuit boards, released RAM for Mac in1986, entered CPU upgrade market in 1987, went out of business at endof the clone era.
Umax SuperMac, May 1996 toAug. 1998. Longtime maker of scanners, last clone brand to close upshop, remains in peripherals business.
Motorola StarMax, Sept. 1996 toDec. 1997. Motorola has been around since 1928, long before the firstpersonal computers, and remains in business.
MaxxBoxx, July 1997 to Feb. 1998.Built in Germany, these clones had lots of room for additionaldrives.
MacTell, Aug.1997 to Oct. 1999. Shifted focus to CPU upgrades and video cards, wentout of business in Oct. 1999.
APSTechnologies, Nov. 1996 to Jan. 1998. Company began selling Macperipherals and continues to do so.

Macintosh Unit Sales, 1990-2000

1990, 1.3 million
1991, 2.1 million
1992, 2.5 million
1993, 3.3 million
1994, 3.8 million
1995, 4.5 million - first clones ship
1996, 4.0 million - more clone brands, app. 275,000 clones sold,Windows 95 widespread
1997, 2.8 million - biggest year for clone sales, estimated at400,000 units
1998, 2.7 million - last clones shipped
1999, 3.8 million
2000, 3.8 million

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