Compact Macs

Micron Xceed for Mac SE/30

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Memory To Go Special: MacPro 8 Core Memory 4GB kit $192 / 2GB kit $109. MacBook Pro / MacMini / iMac Intel Core2 DUO 2GB $44 1GB $23--Free shipping available.

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, Apple Displays, MacBooks, iMac's, MacBook Pros, Laptop and iPod accessories and more. Apple A/C Adapters for laptops starting at $25.00 Call 1-800-941-7654 or Click Here.

OtherWorld Computing: Better than new Batteries for iPods NewerTech NuPower, up to 20+ Hours! Complete with Tools from $19.99. Online videos. Professional installation available.

Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.

Memory For New Intel Core2 DUO MacBooks, MacBook Pro, MacMini & iMacs" 4GB Kit $80, 3GB Kit $60, 2GB Kit $40, 1GB $20. Click to Maximize your Macs...

Paul Gooch

Here is the quick scoop on the wonderful internal grayscale video setup from Micron or Xceed.

The video card identifies itself as a "Micron Xceed 3MT" in the Monitors control panel (with an external monitor attached so the Monitors control panel sees the card). I will have to check again (I'm on my favorite Mac Plus right now) as to what it says about the internal video from the card.

My card is an older Micron video card. All Micron products for Mac where either sold to, or turned into, another company a number of years ago. The new company is called "Xceed Technology" (hmm, the Micron card is called Xceed too). I saw an old ad and called about the SE/30 video card with internal gray, even though I already had a Micron card inside the SE/30 (really wanted gray scale on the go, not just at home).

I was told that the Xceed SE/30 card was long out of production, and that all stock was gone, but they still had some of the gray scale adapters. I was advised to get them the numbers on my card itself - this is where they explained that they are the Mac Micron products. Some of the old Micron cards had an extra plug on them. This plug, kinda like an internal HD or floppy plug, except shorter (less pins) was what the adapter hooked to, and the last produced adapter (the one they still had some stock of) would work on a number of these cards. The part number, serial number, and having the plug soldered on the card would tell them if my card could use the internal gray scale adapter.

A little about installing this adapter. The adapter replaces the CRT board with its own (which works with both the internal video and the card gray scale video). The wire tangle to hook everything up (one harness) replaces the cable from the motherboard to the analog board, the internal video cable, and hooks to the card. Fortunately all the plugs are different sizes. This harness has 5 plugs (2 to the analog board, 1 to motherboard, one to the Micron card, and one to the replacement CRT board), and two ground screws. It's a pain to get everything plugged in as the harness has those ferrite tubes around parts of it, and you need to keep fingers away from the high voltage.

Once installed, everything works great. The setup is smart: it knows whether you have an external monitor or not, and remembers the settings both ways (which monitor to start on, display the menu bar on, and color settings). There is a slight bug, if you open the General Controls control panel (in System 7.1) the Finder (only the Finder, not your programs) will forget that its in grayscale. Opening the Monitors control panel will remind it again. I was also told that you needed to keep using the Monitors control panel from System 7.1, if you wanted to upgrade to System 7.5. The System 7.5 monitors control panel won't see the internal gray scale option. There is no Micron or Xceed software to install to make all this work. This card is also works fine on system 6.0.7 or 6.0.8, if you install the extension "32-bit Color QuickDraw" (without that you cannot have more than 16 colors or grays in system 6).

The documentation that came with the card was dated as a 1991 printing, it referred to the company as Micron, not Xceed. I purchased the card in June of this 1997. The phone number for Xceed is (810) 598-8003.

Go to SE/30.

Recent Content on Low End Mac

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2008 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, PowerBook, MacBook, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.


Have a question?
Ask an expert!

Low End Living

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Best Used Macs
Video Cards
Email Lists
InfoMac's Low
End Mac Forum

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
MacMall
TechRestore
MacResQ
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.