Lisa computer retrospective - Part 7 of 7 from David Craig on 2001-01-04 (lisalist1)

Lisa computer retrospective - Part 7 of 7

From: David Craig <dcraig_at_email.domain.hidden>
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2001 17:30:18 -0700

THE APPLE LISA COMPUTER: A RETROSPECTIVEPART 7 OF 7REFERENCES: MACWORKS-------------------------------------------------Those inquiring about MacWorks, which allows a Lisa to run(most) Macintosh software, should pursue the following:* MacWorks XL User's Manual (Apple Computer, 1984)* MacWorks Plus: Making a Lisa Speak Macintosh (MacTechQuarterly, Spring 1989)Several articles and manuals describe how to transfer Lisa datato a Macintosh using the Macintosh XL Migration Kit; the mostaccessible is probably:* Using the Macintosh XL Migration Kit (Apple Computer, 1985)REFERENCES: PATENTS-------------------------------------------------Several U.S. patents filed by Apple cover key Lisa technologies:* Lisa Twiggy disk drive front panel (Patent # Des. 266,426,		Oct. 1982)* ProFile hard disk case (Patent # Des. 273,295, Apr. 1984)* Lisa case (Patent # Des. 277,673, Feb. 1985)* Lisa mouse (Patent # 4,464,652, Aug. 1984)* Twiggy disk drive (Patent # 4,466,033, Aug. 1984)* Lisa QuickDraw "regions" (Patent # 4,622,545, No
v. 1986)* Lisa Memory Management Unit   (Patent # 4,926,316, May 1990)REFERENCES: REPAIR-------------------------------------------------There are several good Lisa hardware repair books which currentLisa (or Macintosh XL) owners should seriously considerpurchasing:* Macintosh Repair &amp; Upgrade Secrets (Larry Pina, 1990)* Lisa/Macintosh XL Do-it-yourself Guide (Sun Remarketing, 1990)* Apple Service Technical Procedures: Lisa/Macintosh XL (Apple		Computer, 1988)The Apple Service Technical Procedures manual is a very detaileddocument describing how to fix errant Lisas or Mac XLs. Theoriginal Lisa systems came with a wonderful disk called LisaTestthat allowed a novice Lisa owner to diagnose the Lisa'smaladies.REFERENCES: PRECURSORS-------------------------------------------------For an overview of prior art that Apple liberally "borrowed" forthe Lisa design, see various papers from Xerox and others (theentries marked "*" are contained in the Xerox publication "XeroxOffice Systems Technology: A Look into the 
W
orld of the Xerox8000 Series Products" [OSD-R8203A, Jan. 1984]).* The Star User Interface: An Overview (*)* Designing the (Xerox) Star User Interface (* [also in BYTE,		Apr. 1982])* Alto: A Personal Computer (Computer Structures, Principles,		and Examples, 1982)* The Smalltalk Graphics Kernel (BYTE, Aug. 1981)REFERENCES: MISCELLANEOUS-------------------------------------------------Finally, this article's author has written several other, morespecific Lisa papers:* Apple Lisa Graphical Object-Oriented User Interface (Oct.		1987)* A Review of Apple's Lisa Pascal (Oct. 1988)* A Review of Apple's Lisa Workshop (Oct. 1988)* Apple Lisa 7/7 Tool Deserialization (1988)SUMMARY-------------------------------------------------The Lisa may be seen in retrospect as an experiment that bothsucceeded and failed. It succeeded by introducing severalconcepts to the computing industry which revolutionized the way(some) computers were built and the ways (some) users used them.It failed to convince its dual target market (both p
ower usersand normal users) that it had met its goals of being easy touse, powerful, and reliable. Lisa marketing was both imaginativeand aggressive for its time but, even so, could not measure upto the accomplishments of the system itself.Apple Computer is one of the few companies in the world with thegumption to attack Lisa-sized, Lisa-radical projects. Apple'ssuccessful demonstration that a desktop system could be bothpowerful and easy to use, and its attempt to migrate LisaTechnology features to its newer computers, should be considereda feather in the hats of all participants in the Lisa adventure.In a few short years, a relatively small group of talented anddedicated people developed a system meant to endow ordinary men,women and children with computing resources barely even dreamedof. Whatever provoked this conjunction of technical talent, itresulted in a brief, unparalleled flash of brilliance that isnow a fading but alluring image.We can only hope that this fading flash will somehow berekindled in t h
e future. Having the Lisa legacy without learningfrom it would be worse than not having it at all.-------------------------------------------------NOTES [by CHAC]1) An earlier version of this article was published in LISALIVES, the newsletter of the Lisa Lives Users' Group, for Spring1993.This paper will shortly be available in an updated version whichwill include considerably more Lisa operational and technicalinformation. To request a copy of the revised paper, please send2 or 3 Macintosh 3.5" disks and a SASE to:David T. Craig941 Calle Mejia, Apt. 1006Santa Fe NM 87501
USA[ DTC: 22DEC2000
  STILL WORKING ON THIS :-(
  WILL BE AVAILABLE ON ONE OF MY "LISA INFO CDS" (I HAVE 2 OF THESE   CDS SO FAR WHICH I HAVE CREATED FROM SCANNED DOCUMENTS OR FROM   MATERIALS I FOUND ON THE INTERNET. ]2) Interesting conjectures as to "Lisa's" identity can be foundin Robert X. Cringely's _Accidental Empires_ (Addison-Wesley,1992) and in Owen Linzmayer's _The Mac Bathroom Reader_(forthcoming).

[ DTC: 22DEC2000
  OWEN'S BOOK "THE MAC BATHROOM READER" WAS PUBLISHED IN AROUND 1994.   HE HAS A 2ND EDITION TITLED "APPLE CONFIDENTIAL" PUBLISHED IN 1999   OR 2000 THAT IS MUCH IMPROVED. TO ORDER COPIES OF THIS GREAT BOOK,   CONTACT OWEN AT www.owenink.com ]3) Sun Remarketing Box 4059 Logan, UT 84323-4059 +1 800-821-3221 FAX +1 801-755-33114) This, too, was a philosophical inheritance from Xerox PARC.See Aaron Alpar, "LOGO and Smalltalk," ANALYTICAL ENGINE V1#2,page 8.END OF PART 7END OF PAPER

> Regards,
> David T. Craig
>
> ###########################################################
> # David T. Craig -- CyberWolf Inc. -- ACI 4D Developer #5
> # Aspen Plaza, 1596 Pacheco, Suite 203
> # Santa Fe, NM 87505 USA
> # voice 505.983.6463 ext 15 -- fax 505.988.2580
> # dcraig_at_email.domain.hidden
> ###########################################################

MacResQ Specials: LaCie SCSI CDR From $99! PowerBook 3400/200 Only $879! Norton AntiVirus 6 Only $19! We Stock PARTS! <http://www.macresq.com>

Shop buy.com and save. <http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/ stat?id=O7sajHhUCjc&offerid=13541.10000001&type=1&subid=0>

    / Buy books, CDs, videos, and more from Amazon.com \    / <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/lowendmac> \ - - - - - - - - - -
This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to LisaList.

List info               <http://lowendmac.net/lists/lisa.html>
Send list messages to:  <mailto:lisalist_at_email.domain.hidden>
To unsubscribe, email:  <mailto:lisalist-off_at_email.domain.hidden>
For digest mode, email: <mailto:lisalist-digest_at_email.domain.hidden>
Subscription questions: <mailto:listmom_at_email.domain.hidden>
List archive:           <http://mail.maclaunch.com/lists/>

Host your mailing list for free at Maclaunch http://www.maclaunch.com/forms/list.shtml Received on 2001-01-04 16:28:40

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : 2020-01-13 12:15:18 EST