Get on the Bus: Data Busses Used in Macs, 1984 to 2000 – Low End Mac
a year ago
- #Ports
- #Apple
- #Macintosh
- The original Macintosh used DE-9 serial ports for mouse, printer, and modem connections.
- Apple transitioned from DE-9 to DIN-8 RS-422 serial ports in 1986, maintaining speeds up to 230.4 kbps.
- Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) was introduced in 1987, supporting keyboards, mice, and other peripherals with a 4-pin mini-DIN connector.
- USB replaced ADB, serial ports, and SCSI in 1998 with the introduction of the iMac, offering 12 Mbps speeds.
- SCSI was used for hard drives and removable media from 1986 to 1998, with various speed improvements over time.
- Parallel ATA (IDE) was adopted by Apple in 1994 for cost savings, starting with the Quadra 630 and PowerBook 150.
- FireWire was introduced in 1999, offering speeds up to 400 Mbps, significantly faster than USB 1.1.
- Ethernet ports evolved from AAUI to RJ45, with the first gigabit ethernet appearing in the Power Mac G4 in 2000.
- The headphone jack is the only connector from the original 1984 Macintosh still in use today.