The Motorola StarMax was a line of licensed
Macintosh clone
A Macintosh clone is a computer running the Classic Mac OS operating system that was not produced by Apple Inc. The earliest Mac clones were based on emulators and reverse-engineered Macintosh ROMs. During Apple's short lived Mac OS 7 licensing ...
s produced by
Motorola Information Systems Group in 1996 and 1997. They used versions of
Apple's Tanzania
motherboard
A motherboard, also called a mainboard, a system board, a logic board, and informally a mobo (see #Nomenclature, "Nomenclature" section), is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expandable systems. It ho ...
, which was designed to use standard
IBM PC compatible
An IBM PC compatible is any personal computer that is hardware- and software-compatible with the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC) and its subsequent models. Like the original IBM PC, an IBM PC–compatible computer uses an x86-based central p ...
components in addition to
Apple-proprietary components then in common use in the
Power Macintosh
The Power Macintosh, later Power Mac, is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Inc., Apple Computer, Inc as the core of the Mac (computer), Macintosh brand from March 1994 until August 2006.
Described by ''Mac ...
family. StarMax computers featured
SVGA
Super VGA (SVGA) or Extended VGA is a broad term that covers a wide range of computer display standards that extended IBM's Video Graphics Array, VGA specification.
When used as shorthand for a resolution, as VGA and XGA often are, SVGA refers to ...
video ports rather than the proprietary port Apple used at the time, and
PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports in addition to
ADB.
The motherboard was also capable of using manual-eject
floppy drives, though Motorola disabled this functionality and shipped the computers with software-eject drives.
The StarMax line was discontinued on 11 September 1997 after Apple terminated the Macintosh clone license program that year.
The StarMax's termination resulted in strained relations between Motorola and Apple
and later Motorola's expulsion from the
AIM alliance
The AIM alliance, also known as the PowerPC alliance, was formed on October 2, 1991, between Apple Inc., Apple, IBM, and Motorola. Its goal was to create an industry-wide open-standard computing platform based on the IBM POWER architecture, POWE ...
.
Licensing
Shortly after
Gil Amelio
Gilbert Frank Amelio (born March 1, 1943) is an American technology executive. Amelio worked at Bell Labs, Fairchild Semiconductor, and the semiconductor division of Rockwell International, and was also the CEO of National Semiconductor and Appl ...
was appointed CEO of Apple in February 1996, Motorola Computer Group acquired a license for
Mac OS 7.5 to ship with its own computer systems that it plan to release in China later that year. The license also allowed Motorola to sub-license
Mac OS
Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc. in a succession of two major series.
In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the classic Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system ...
to its customers along with motherboards it would sell as
OEM. Ultimately Apple terminated the license in 1997.
Reportedly, a heated telephone conversation between Jobs and Motorola CEO Christopher Galvin resulted in the contentious termination of Motorola's clone contract, and the long-favored Apple being demoted to "just another customer" mainly for PowerPC CPUs. Apple later expelled Motorola from the AIM alliance as retaliation, leaving IBM to make all future PowerPC CPUs.
Product line
The StarMax was sold in four different product lines. In addition, the StarMax 6000 was based on the
PowerPC 750 processor, but was never shipped due to the termination of the Macintosh clone program. The StarMax 6000 would have been the first
CHRP machine and the first machine with the
PowerPC G3 months before Apple released the
Power Macintosh G3
The Power Macintosh G3 (also sold with additional software as the Macintosh Server G3) is a series of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Inc., Apple Computer from November 1997 to August 1999. It represented Apple's fi ...
.
StarMax models numbers were derived using a standard system: (product line)/(CPU speed)(case type)
*product line was 3000, 4000, 5000, or 5500 and designated the CPU used in the machine
**3000 and 5000 used
PowerPC 603e processors.
[
**4000 and 5500 used ]PowerPC 604e
The PowerPC 600 family was the first family of PowerPC microprocessor, processors built. They were designed at the Somerset facility in Austin, Texas, jointly funded and staffed by engineers from IBM and Motorola as a part of the AIM alliance. Som ...
processors.clock speed
Clock rate or clock speed in computing typically refers to the frequency at which the clock generator of a processor can generate pulses used to synchronize the operations of its components. It is used as an indicator of the processor's ...
, in megahertz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base ...
*case type was either DT or MT and designated the type of case used
**DT was a desktop case suitable for placing under a monitor
References
*
External links
*{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961222141436/http://www.mot.com/, title=Official website of Motorola Information Systems Group, date=December 22, 1996
Motorola StarMax page
Low End Mac
(at EveryMac.com)
StarMax-talk YahooGroup
Macintosh clones
Starmax
Products introduced in 1996
PowerPC computers