Quote from: bmwcyclist on October 10, 2026, 06:05:24 PMCan anyone confirm a few things about MacWorks Plus II?
Maybe not literally anyone, but yes.
In the following, I'm assuming we're talking about a real Lisa (not a LisaFPGA that does not have a real SCC - Z8530 or Z85230).
Quote1. Which Lisa connector is the Mac modem port and which is the printer
port: Serial A or Serial B?
A is the modem port in all MacWorks variants.
Quote2. Which baud rates are dependable on the Lisa's serial hardware under
MacWorks Plus II? I need 9600 and would like 19200.
Up to 115200 baud: all of them AFAIK, assuming you have a PFG installed.
It may be that more than 56k requires an XLerator to avoid dropped characters.
If you are writing software for high speed data transfer, then you need to make sure that interrupts are not disabled and you empty the buffer at a suitable rate to avoid buffer overflow. Depending on why you ask, you might need to ask a more specific question.
Quote3. Does the "Mac clock" keep a current date (2026) across a restart, or
does the Lisa clock's 1980-1995 limit show through? (Yes, I could check this myself but I am traveling)
The 16 year limit is in the RTC (COPS 421), the OS environment adds an offset to that 4 bit number to come up with the year, so what RTC year 0 becomes depends on which version of an environment you are using.
The COPS is powered by +5Standby, which is only available when line power is connected. (Unless you have a Lisa 2 with intact batteries... I hope no-one does.) If power is removed, the COPS RTC will reset. If power is not removed, then the date and time should be preserved across a restart (except perhaps the year... read on).
MW+II stores a portion of the RTC data as set by the Date & Time control panel in the PFG Parameter RAM (EEPROM on the PFG), so there is a chance that when power is re-connected, the date might be restored. IIRC, the time is lost, but the day of year is restored to the day after the last set date in the EEPROM (which is accompanied by some kind of beep, IIRC). (An EEPROM retains data even when power is removed.)
The 2.5.3 version of MW+II (https://lisalist2.com/index.php/topic,280.msg2112.html#msg2112) also stores additional bits of year information in the EEPROM, so you might get back the current year. Earlier versions will be limited to the standard offset of the environment, so may not hold 2026 across a restart (in particular, a reset to startup-from is bound to lose the year, while special -> restart might not).
Quote4. Is there anything about the serial ports that behaves differently
from a real Mac Plus? Handshake lines, input buffering, or AppleTalk
on the printer port?
It is not identical, but it is very similar when using the DRVR drivers (eg. SERD). The hardware is different, so directly accessing the hardware is different from the Mac Plus; such a technique will typically fail unless the software knows it is a Lisa.
The Serial A hardware on the Lisa isn't capable of LocalTalk, whereas the MacPlus Modem Port is.
AppleTalk (LocalTalk) is timing dependent, and since the Lisa runs at a different speed than the Plus, there are Lisa specific tweaks to the LocalTalk driver in MacWorks variants. The driver that the MacPlus uses for System 7 does not work at all on the Lisa, so MW+II uses an earlier version, which limits the functionality in some way that I don't recall.
QuoteAny pointers to documentation would be welcome too. Thanks!
See the MacWorks Plus II Manuals (https://lisalist2.com/index.php/topic,276.0.html).
You're welcome.