From: karches@utdallas.edu (Tom Karches)
Subject: Re: Brainstorm Accelerator for the Plus
Organization: Univ. of Texas at Dallas
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 16:58:14 GMT

In article <29E4C085.2108@intercon.com> mauser@intercon.com (Richard Chandler) writes:
>A recent MacWeek had an ad for the Brainstorm Accelerator for the Mac Plus 
>for $249.  It looks like a 16mhz 68000 and an attendant chip or two.  Has 
>anyone used one of these and what is their experience with them?
>Alternatively, what is the best (from a cost/benefit ratio) Mac Plus 
>accelerator?
>

I had a Brainstorm installed in my Mac Plus (along with an internal fan
for good measure; I've already lost 1 flyback transformer :-} ) and
am generally pleased with it.

I like the fact that it does not require any inits to be installed. There
is an optional CDEV which will give you accelerator status, but it is not
required (have noticed no conflicts.)

The installation consists of unsoldering a logic chip from the system
board, replacing it with a socket, and installing a Brainstorm provided
logic chip. A "header" is then soldered to the top of the existing
68000 chip, and the accelerator module is plugged into it. I think there
is also one additional wire that goes from the accelerator to the system 
board.

An installer program from a boot disk is then used to download firmware
into non-volatile memory in the accelerator. That's it.

They have a patched version of Appletalk that Brainstorm reccomends that
you use if you need it (I don't).

One problem that I don't find to be much of a problem is that some of
the sounds coming from the system are distorted. They have a init to
fix it, but it saps about 10% of the performance. I would rather live
with scratchy sound.

I have had some difficulty getting SCSI ethernet adapters to work with
my Plus also. It may be due to the accelerator since I know of people
using SCSI ethernet adapters with Mac Plusses.

The speed increase is phenomenal. I used a program called Speedometer
(I believe) and it comes out over twice as fast as a Mac Classic.
Graphics performance is just under 2X. Disk performance is 1.2X, and
Math performance is 4.2X (!) with an overall performance rating of 2.078.

I like the fact that everything is faster, not just the processor. SCSI and
graphics performance are both improved.

The accelerator is also completely removable (except for the soldered on
header) by unplugging the accelerator and replacing the logic chip with
the original (I had the installer save the old chip and give it to me.)

Overall I am quite pleased. I won't go back. Best $200 I ever spent.

Regards,
Tom Karches

>--
>People are more violently opposed to fur than leather, because it's safer to
>harass rich women than biker gangs.
>"Ride a motorcycle.  Save Gas, Oil, Rubber, Steel, Aluminum, Parking Spaces,
> The Environment, and Money.  Plus, you get to wear all the leather you want!"
> Rich Chandler, DoD #296


-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Karches          |"If rap music had been around when I was a kid,
karches@utdallas.edu | I would have become a musician instead of a politician."
---------------------'----------------------------------- Richard Nixon