Low End Mac Reader Specials
Memory To Go Special: MacPro 8 Core Memory 4GB kit $154 / 2GB kit $94, New 2008 iMac 2GB $46. 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.
OWC: NewerTech miniStack FireWire/USB 2.0 HD & Hub Up to 1.0TB of Performance Storage + FW/USB2 Powered Hubs - convenient & sleek 6.5" x 6.5" x 1.5" Featured: 500GB $169.99; 750GB $209.99; 1.0TB $339.99
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.
New MacPro Memory 800Mhz With Apple Spec Heat Sink 2GB $104 / 4GB $172 / 8GB $338. Click to Maximize your Macs...
GeoPort 'Modems'
Dan Knight - 1998.04.10
Second Class Macs are Apple's more compromised hardware designs. For the most part, they're not really bad - simply designs unable to work as well as they should have.
Some view the GeoPort Telecom Adapter as brilliant; others as a bizarre hardware kludge.
The Centris 660av (later Quadra 660av) and Quadra 840av were the first Macs with GeoPorts, an enhanced serial port. The DMA (direct memory access) ports can operate at up to 2 megabits per second (Mbps). By contrast, the typical Mac serial port ran at 230.4 Kbps or less than 1/4 Mbps. (For more on serial ports, read Macintosh Serial Throughput.)
With the GeoPort serial port, Apple introduced the GeoPort Telecom Adapter, commonly (though incorrectly) known as the GeoPort modem. Not only could the "GeoPod" be used as a 9600 bps modem, it could also fax and turn your Mac into a speakerphone.
Eventually software enabled the GeoPod to run at 14.4 Kbps, then 28.8 Kbps. No other modem ever offered such an upgrade path.
Of course, there was a cost. In the case of the GeoPort "modems," like the earlier Express Modems in early PowerBooks, the cost was CPU time. The faster it ran and the more it did, the more it slowed down your computer.
Worse, it tied up the serial port far more than a conventional modem, affecting printing, MIDI adapters, and LocalTalk networking adversely. And throughput never seemed as fast as with a conventional modem on the same computer and phone line. Never.
Like the Apple /// and the twiggy drives in the Lisa, the GeoPod was a clever hack that didn't live up to expectation. Well after the pod was discontinued, the idea resurfaced as an internal GeoPort Express modem in some Performa and Power Mac models.
Maybe Apple realized the folly of their ways and repented with the
Power Mac G3, which explicitly doesn't support the GeoPort
Telecom Adapter. 
Further reading
- Hardware: GeoPort revisited, The Clearer Picture, 2/17
About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts
Have a question?
Ask an expert!
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
