Description

Designed by HKZ Lab, this board is a remix of the Micromac Performer reversed by Bolle, resized for installation on the Macintosh Plus, with added JCM exclusive extras to allow installation in your Mac Plus with no logic board modifications.

This design uses a 3D printed CPU clip that allows the accelerator to snap directly onto the 68000 CPU in your Mac Plus. Just plug in, install the Performer INIT into your System 7 or earlier System folder, and you’re off to the races.

Parts Not Included

Users will need to acquire and install their own CPU and FPU into the unit. The supply and costs on these are too variable for JCM to be able to supply them and guarantee a specific sales price.

Installation Notes

Installation is simple.

1. Remove  your Mac Plus Board from the system chassis.
2. Clip the MiniPerformer+ over the 68000 CPU. Ensure it is firmly seated, and properly aligned (i.e. not off by one pin, etc!). You can check the proper orientation on the product pictures above.
3. Install your Mac Plus Board into your system chassis.
4. Power up your system and ensure it runs correctly.
5. Download the Performer INIT from Macintosh Garden [performer2.2.1.sit]
6. Install the Performer INIT into your System folder and restart.
7. Notice how fast your Mac Plus is now!

Removal Notes

The 3D Clip is held to the accelerator board by the friction of the connection pins against the 3D Clip. When you remove the MiniPerformer+ from your machine, it is very important to use use a prying tool (flat bladed screwdriver, for example) to pry between the 68000 chip and the 3D Clip. Failure to do so may result in the MiniPerformer+ assembly sliding out of the clip, while the clip stays behind on the 68000. Repairing the unit after this is difficult.

Sound Playback Issues

Most early Mac accelerators cause issues with sound playback. The MiniPeformer+ is no different.

For the self-assemblers

Assembly Order

We suggest starting with the 3D Clip, then the GAL sockets, then the rest of the components.

The small “bird seed” components are already assembled for you.

Attaching the 3D Clip

Installing the 3D clip is a bit tricky. The basic steps are:

1. Put the 3D Clip over your 68000 CPU.
2. Align the MiniPerformer+ over the 3D clip.
3. Insert a set of pins through the holes in the clip, and ensure they are fully planted as far in as they can go.
4. Bend the black pin holder back more than 45 degrees, but not so far that the bending motion will cause the pins to rise up in holes.
5. Solder each pin at the base.
6. Use snips to clip each pin from the MiniPerformer+
7. Repeat with the rest of the pins until all are soldered in place.

A video of this process will be available in the future.

Soldering The GAL Chip sockets

We suggest the following process to make surface mounting the GAL Chip Sockets easier.

1. Cut the plastic bottoms out of the sockets.
2. Align the sockets on the pads. Watch the orientation marks!
3. Apply a liberal amount of soldering flux.
4. Solder each pin to its pad.

A video of this process will be available in the future.