Lisa computer retrospective - Part 7 of 7

From: David Craig <dcraig_at_email.domain.hidden>
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2001 16:27:10 -0700


> THE APPLE LISA COMPUTER: A RETROSPECTIVE
>
> PART 7 OF 7
>
> REFERENCES: 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 (MacTech
> Quarterly, Spring 1989)
>
> Several articles and manuals describe how to transfer Lisa data
> to a Macintosh using the Macintosh XL Migration Kit; the most
> accessible 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, Nov. 1986)
> * Lisa Memory Management Unit (Patent # 4,926,316, May 1990)
>
> REFERENCES: REPAIR
> -------------------------------------------------
>
> There are several good Lisa hardware repair books which current
> Lisa (or Macintosh XL) owners should seriously consider
> purchasing:
>
> * 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 detailed
> document describing how to fix errant Lisas or Mac XLs. The
> original Lisa systems came with a wonderful disk called LisaTest
> that allowed a novice Lisa owner to diagnose the Lisa's
> maladies.
>
> REFERENCES: PRECURSORS
> -------------------------------------------------
>
> For an overview of prior art that Apple liberally "borrowed" for
> the Lisa design, see various papers from Xerox and others (the
> entries marked "*" are contained in the Xerox publication "Xerox
> Office Systems Technology: A Look into the World of the Xerox
> 8000 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, more
> specific 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 both
> succeeded and failed. It succeeded by introducing several
> concepts 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 power users
> and normal users) that it had met its goals of being easy to
> use, powerful, and reliable. Lisa marketing was both imaginative
> and aggressive for its time but, even so, could not measure up
> to the accomplishments of the system itself.
>
> Apple Computer is one of the few companies in the world with the
> gumption to attack Lisa-sized, Lisa-radical projects. Apple's
> successful demonstration that a desktop system could be both
> powerful and easy to use, and its attempt to migrate Lisa
> Technology features to its newer computers, should be considered
> a feather in the hats of all participants in the Lisa adventure.
> In a few short years, a relatively small group of talented and
> dedicated people developed a system meant to endow ordinary men,
> women and children with computing resources barely even dreamed
> of. Whatever provoked this conjunction of technical talent, it
> resulted in a brief, unparalleled flash of brilliance that is
> now a fading but alluring image.
>
> We can only hope that this fading flash will somehow be
> rekindled in the future. Having the Lisa legacy without learning
> from it would be worse than not having it at all.
>
> -------------------------------------------------
>
> NOTES [by CHAC]
>
> 1) An earlier version of this article was published in LISA
> LIVES, the newsletter of the Lisa Lives Users' Group, for Spring
> 1993.
>
> This paper will shortly be available in an updated version which
> will include considerably more Lisa operational and technical
> information. To request a copy of the revised paper, please send
> 2 or 3 Macintosh 3.5" disks and a SASE to:
>
> David T. Craig
> 941 Calle Mejia, Apt. 1006
> Santa 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 found
> in 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 +1 801-755-3311
>
> 4) This, too, was a philosophical inheritance from Xerox PARC.
> See Aaron Alpar, "LOGO and Smalltalk," ANALYTICAL ENGINE V1#2,
> page 8.
>
> END OF PART 7
>
> END 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
> ###########################################################
>

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