Macintosh SE/30

History

SE/30's are fun. Expandable to 128MB of RAM this little computer essentially a Macintosh IIx in an SE case. And it's Apple A/UX ready. For those of you who don't know what A/UX is it's UNIX System V OS written for certain Macintosh computers with a Motorola 680x0 series of processor. My big project recently was replacing the capacitors on the Motherboard after it started experiencing the SimasiMac problem (essentially it wasn't starting up). I'm using MacSSH on it now to administrator my server!

One item I have noticed. The SE/30 is a 32bit dirty machine... That means that if you want to use more than 8MB of RAM you need to install Mode32 (available from Apple). The Finder will show that you have more than 8MB installed but you will not be using that memory unless you have this system extension!

Revision Differences

I've come across a couple of interesting differences between the 1988 and 1989 motherboard revisions for the SE/30. Check out the differences below (1988 is left 1989 is right):

Please excuse the lack of capacitors on the 1988 revision board. The picture was taken during restoration. The 1988 has a socketed 68030 processor, and an extra capacitor in the bottom right corner below the ROM SIMM. On the back the 1988 revision features a soldered wire between two points. The '89 lacks both the extra capacitor and soldered wire and features a soldered 68030.


Benchmarks

Here's a benchmark test of this machine using Speedometer 3.23.

P.R. Results (Uses Mac Classic as 1.0):
CPU: 4.178
Graphics: 3.559
Disk: 3.761 Name of Hard Disk tested: Macintosh HD
Math: 6.648
Performance Rating (OLD PR): 4.156
Performance Rating (NEW PR): 4.028

Benchmark Results (Uses Mac Classic as 1.0):
KWhetstones: 62.695 8.588
Dhrystones: 3846.153 3.947
Towers: 3.692
QuickSort: 4.439
Bubble Sort: 5.159
Queens: 4.626
Puzzle: 5.638
Permutations: 4.720
Fast Fourier: 5.522
F.P. Matrix Multiply: 5.506
Integer Matrix Multiply: 6.050
Sieve: 6.947
Benchmark Average: 5.403

FPU Tests (Uses Mac II as 1.0):
FPU Fast Fourier: 1.450
FPU KWhetstones: 909.090 1.272
FPU F.P. Matrix Mult.: 1.356
FPU Test Average: 1.359

Color Tests (Uses Mac II as 1.0):
Black & White: 0.894
4 Colors: 0.000
16 Colors: 0.000
256 Colors: 0.000
Color Test Average: 0.894

Current Specifications

Processor: 16Mhz 68030
FPU: 16 MHz 68882
RAM: 20MB (4x 4MB SIMM Bank A, 4x 1MB SIMM Bank B @ 70ns)
ROM: 256KB
Addressing: 32 with Mode32
Video Resolution: 9" b&w screen, 512 x 342 pixels
HDD: 2GB
External 1: 6x SCSI CD-ROM
Floppy: 1.4MB Superdrive
Internal Expansion: SE/30 PDS Slot (Same as IIsi but different speed)
External Expansion: Floppy, DB-25 SCSI, ADB x2, DIN-8 RS-422 x2, Audio-In, Audio-Out
Battery: 3.6V Lithium
Gestalt ID: 9
Production Dates: January 19, 1989 - October 21, 1990
Original Price: $4,400 ($4,900 with HDD)
Size (HxWxD): 13.6" x 9.69" x 10.9"
Weight: 19.5lbs
Part #: M5119
OS: 7.5.5 (or Apple A/UX)

Links

Mac SE/30 Restoration: SimasiMac
SE FDHD
Repair Macintosh SE/30
Low End Mac: Macintosh SE/30
A/UX Server Penelope


Downloads

Mode32
MacSSH 68K