Re: Apple Lisa data on Wolfram Alpha

]]]
The only point I'm still stuck on is the audio. Can anybody clarify if the Lisa actually used the Motorola 3417 chip I saw mentioned in the 1981 Lisa Hardware Manual (but not in the 1983)? Or is it just logic chips driving a speaker, like I suspect it actually is? [[[

My understanding is the Lisa's audio capabilities are just memory mapped i/o to generate sound. No speical audio chip was used. I'm not even sure if the chip mentioned in the 1981 hardware manual was ever really part of the Lisa. Maybe part of the design. The Lisa deisgner interview in BYTE magazine talks about this chip.

Will send you other primary Lisa documents which may be useful. At least these provide accurate data from Apple itself about the Lisa.

Concerning 10,000 Lisas sold, I think this is way too high. I think the 6,000 figure for Lisa 1 and around 20,000 for Lisa 2 are more accurate. Sales numbers are very hard to find. The closest I have are legal documents relating to the Lisa twiggy disk drive suit which mentions a few monthly numbers which I recall are around a 1,000 Lisas a month for the Lisa 1.

I think Larry Tesler's comment to me about 30,000 total is much more accurate.

• David Craig

On October 16, 2010, at 2:12 AM, Rebecca Bettencourt wrote:

> Thank you for the clarifications.
>
> 100000 is indeed counting all generations of Lisas, not just Lisa 1's.
> I've changed it to 6500, the number listed on the oldcomputers.net
> site for the number of Lisa 1's sold (before Apple converted them to
> Lisa 2's).
>
> I contacted W|A and they told me to leave the Graphics Processor field
> blank, so that solves that problem.
>
> There's no field in the spreadsheet for the capacity of the floppy
> drive, but I added a note about it.
>
> The only point I'm still stuck on is the audio. Can anybody clarify if
> the Lisa actually used the Motorola 3417 chip I saw mentioned in the
> 1981 Lisa Hardware Manual (but not in the 1983)? Or is it just logic
> chips driving a speaker, like I suspect it actually is?
>
>
> On Oct 14, 9:21 pm, Shirl Casner <shirlg..._at_email.domain.hidden> wrote:

>> Rebecca:
>> 
>> A few points of clarification about your Lisa 1 data specs which I'm sure others will have more detailed and more correct replies.
>> 
>> | Original Price: $9985
>> 
>> Recall $9995 (source: Apple Product Introduction Plan [PIP])
>> 
>> | Number Sold: 100000
>> 
>> This is way too high from what I recall. I remember corresponding with one of the Lisa developers (Larry Tesler) many years ago and he mentioned a number around 30,000. Not sure if this is for the Lisa 1 only or both Lisa 1 + 2. Suspect this is for both.
>> 
>> | Graphics Processor: ?
>> 
>> Lisa supported a bitmapped screen which means there was a dedicated portion of memory which a simple circult just streamed out to the video tube. There was no dedicated video processor.
>> 
>> | 5.25" Floppy Drives: 2
>> 
>> Should list capacity of 860 KB each.
>> 
>> - David Craig
>> 
>> ====
>> 
>> On October 14, 2010, at 8:58 PM, Rebecca Bettencourt wrote:
>> 
>>> I just became the owner of the Apple Lisa Computer Data project on
>>> Wolfram Alpha Volunteer Central. I have almost all the specs filled
>>> out, but there are a couple points where I'm stuck. Also, I want to
>>> run the data by this community before I send it out to be etched in
>>> stone. Here's what I have:
>> 
>>> Manufacturer: Apple
>>> Model: Lisa 1 (this is the only model for which I'm collecting the
>>> data, at least for now)
>>> Date Announced: January 1983
>>> Date Released: June 1983
>>> Date Discontinued: April 1985
>>> Original Price: $9985
>>> Number Sold: 100000
>>> Operating System: Apple Lisa Office System
>>> Height: 350 mm
>>> Width: 475 mm
>>> Depth: 388 mm
>>> Weight: 22 kg
>>> CPU: Motorola 68000
>>> CPU Speed: 5 MHz
>>> RAM: 1 MB
>>> RAM Speed: 1.25 MHz (converted from 800 ns, as listed in the Lisa
>>> Hardware Manual)
>>> Audio Processor: Motorola 3417 (I saw this mentioned in the 1981 Lisa
>>> Hardware Manual, but not the 1983. I actually doubt this is the case.
>>> Can anybody verify this?)
>>> Audio Processor Speed: 16 MHz (same here)
>>> Graphics Processor: ? (Here is where I'm really stuck. The video is
>>> controlled by a bunch of logic chips that just read the image from RAM
>>> and send it off to the analog video circuitry. There's no processor of
>>> any kind. What should I put here? Leave it blank? None? N/A? Motorola
>>> 68000?)
>>> Graphics Processor Speed: 5 Mhz (same here; I'm just copying the value
>>> from CPU Speed)
>>> Graphics Memory: 32 KB
>>> Display Type: CRT, monochrome
>>> Display Size: 10.595 in (calculated from what the Lisa Hardware Manual
>>> says; other sources say 12 in. Which one is right?)
>>> Cassette Tape Drives: 0
>>> 3.5" Floppy Drives: 0
>>> 5.25" Floppy Drives: 2
>>> Internal Hard Drive: N/A
>>> External Hard Drive: 5 MB
>>> Other Storage Devices: N/A
>>> Interface: keyboard and mouse
>>> Ports: 1 parallel, 2 serial, 1 mouse, 1 keyboard, 1 composite video
>>> out
>>> Expansion Slots: 3 internal
>> 
>>> Sources:
>>> http://oldcomputers.net/lisa.html
>>> http://www.1000bit.it/support/manuali/download.asp?id=186(Lisa
>>> Hardware Manual 1981; anyone got a better link?)
>>> http://lisa.sunder.net/LisaHardwareManual1983.pdf
>>> http://lisaem.sunder.net/cgi-bin/bookview2.cgi?zoom=-1?page=389?book=29
>> 
>>> Any corrections? Clarifications? Advice? Wolfram Alpha wants sources
>>> for everything I put in there, of course, so please point me to any
>>> that can help.

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