Apple Lisa

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Overview

Details

• announced 1983.01.19 for May delivery at $9,995 with 5 MB Apple ProFile hard drive; also available with 10 MB hard drive; discontinued 1984.01
• requires Lisa OS
• CPU: 5 MHz 68000
• ROM: 16 KB
• RAM: 1 MB, expandable to 2 MB
• 12" b&w screen, 720 x 360 rectangular pixels
• keyboard attached via coiled telephone-like cable
• mouse attached via DB-9 connector
• two DB-9 serial ports
• parallel printer port
• three expansion slots
• floppies: two 5.25" 860 KB ultra-thin Twiggy drives
• sound: beeps
• size (HxWxD): 15.2" x 18.7" x 13.8"
• weight: 48 lb.
• Gestalt ID: 2
• upgrade path: Lisa 2/Macintosh XL

Online Resources

• Lisa's DNA is all over modern computing, Ray Arachelian, Apple Seeds, 2007.06.06. Those who label Apple's Lisa a failure are ignoring the computer's legacy that shows up in every personal computer sold today.
• Using Apple's Lisa for real work, Ted Hodges, Vintage Mac Living, 2007.04.02. The Lisa Office System has some advantages of modern computers for word processing and other production work.
• Bringing my Apple Lisa back to life, Ted Hodges, Vintage Mac Living, 2007.03.26. The floppy drive wasn't working the keyboard was rough. Some homebrew fixes got everything working again.
• Lisa emulator released, allows OS X and Windows users to experience Apple's Lisa, Ted Hodges, Vintage Mac Living, 2007.02.27. Nearly a decade in the making, the Lisa Emulator Project now has a working Lisa emulator for Windows PCs and OS X Macs.
• Interview with Ray Arachelian, creator of the Lisa emulator, Ted Hodges, Vintage Mac Living, 2007.03.13. Ray Arachelian spent most of a decade creating the world's first working Lisa emulator. Why he did it and some of the obstacles he had to overcome.
• A history of Apple's Lisa, 1979-1986, Tom Hormby, Orchard, 2005.10.05. Originally envisioned as a business computer to replace the Apple II, the Lisa brought the mouse and GUI to the computer market - only to be felled by the less costly Macintosh.
• The Lisa legacy, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2003.01.20. On the Lisa's 20th anniversary, we should remember how Apple's innovation paved the way for all future computers.
• The innovative Lisa, Dan Knight, Online Tech Journal, 2001.05.31. Perhaps the most innovative computer before the Macintosh, Lisa paved the way for a GUI future.
• The History of Human Computer Interaction, Gerhard Erich Mischitz, 2001.01.23. Human computer interaction from the first computers through Windows 1.
• Tales from Tessler: History of the Lisa Computer, Larry Tesler, 2000.11.28
• What ever happened to Lisa?, John C. Dvorak, Computer Shopper (republished by Jags House)
• Apple's Twiggy Disks, Eric, Retro Computing, 1996-99
• 20 Spectacular Failures, Byte, 1995.11. One paragraph on the Lisa - and one on the ill-fated Apple ///.
• Heart of the Apple Lisa, Jordin Kare, 1995
• The Legacy of the Lisa, David T. Craig, 1993.02.16
• Lisa Emulator Project. A work in progress.
• Apple Lisa, Obsolete Computer Museum
• Apple Lisa Tribute, Simon White
• Apple Lisa 1 and 2 XL, DigiBarn Computer Museum
• Apple Lisa: The First Affordable GUI, Apple Museum
• The Lisa Computer System, Gregg Williams, reprinted from Byte, 1983.02
• An Interview with Wayne Rosing, Bruce Daniels, and Larry Tesler, Chris Morgan, Gregg Williams, and Phil Lenunons, reprinted from Byte 1983.02

<go to Lisa index or LEM home page>

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