My favorite Apple computer. This is a really gorgeous case that holds some nifty hardware. The LISA (more commonly "Lisa", originally the code name. It is unclear whether it was after Steve Jobs' newly born daughter, or one of the engineer's daughters, but, later it was defined as Local Integrated Software Architecture) was introduced January 1983. In its first generation (LISA 1) it had 1Mb RAM (expandable to 2Mb), integrated B/W bit-mapped display (720 x 364 pixels), and dual 860K "twiggy" floppy drives. These drives were very thin (like the British singer Twiggy), but high density - 860K each. They did not survive long for two reasons: they could only use a special type of disk, and they were unreliable. I have never seen a LISA with its original "twiggy" drives installed (see picture below). The CPU is a Motorola 68000 @ 5Mhz. The machine also had one parallel port, two programmable serial ports, a B/W video out port, the mouse port, and 3 expansion slots. The first version of QuickDraw graphic primitives that are found in the Mac ROMs were in the LISA's ROMs. The machine was shipped with the OS (called the "Desktop Manager"), LisaDraw, LisaWrite, LisaCalc, LisaGraph,LisaGuide, LisaList and LisaProject. All of the software packages were integrated, meaning that one could share info between them (something we take for granted today, but a first at the time).The entire system with a 5Mb external hard drive cost $9999.00, without tax. Two printers were available: the $645 dot-matrix or a $2165 Daisy Wheel.
The ProFile hard drive from the Apple III was standard. This was a 5Mb parallel drive. When one used the HDD, they needed to purchase a $195.00 parallel card for one of the expansions slots (if you needed parallel ports). This card also allowed the use of more than one hard drive. Apple engineers had ease of service in mind when designing the LISA. All of the components can easily be removed, most without the use of tools.
The LISA 2 is almost the same machine. Differences are: 512K RAM, no hard drive, 3.5" 400K floppy. Introduced in January 1984 (though less quietly than the Macintosh),the Lisa 2 was an attempt to realign the product and boost sales (only 11,000 LISA 1s were sold). The machine retained the high resolution display, but could also support text based OSs (UNIX/XENIX) on a 24 x 80 screen (not at the same time with the Lisa OS). The LISA (now Lisa) 2 could support 11 different operating systems: UNIX, XENIX, MacWorks, the WorkShop (software developing), Lisa 7/7, and Desktop Manager are the most common. Two hard drives were available, the ProFile 5Mb like the LISA 1's and an internal 10Mb drive. Both were parallel drives, therefore the Lisa 2/10 (Lisa 2 with a 10Mb HDD) had no parallel port on the rear of the machine - an interface card was required. The Lisa 2 had no external floppy drive support as the Mac did, therefore using a Lisa 2 without the hard disk caused suicidal tendencies :-).
Unfortunately, none of this really helped sales, and the only users of the Lisas were people who wanted to impress their friends, and those who were developing Mac software (Apple used Lisas for the original Mac software and code - the Mac was not powerful enough). In 1984 Apple offered MacWorks. This was an OS that ran Macintosh software. It was actually the Mac ROMs and OS dumped into RAM (512K was 4 times that of the first Macs) and mapped such that the software would be tricked into believing it was on a Mac. This worked, but the Lisas had more pixels on its 10" screen than the Mac on its 8", so icons and graphics appeared taller that they really were. Later there was a conversion kit containing new screen ROMs that would make the Lisa's display look correct running MacWorks (see below). WYSIWYIG was out the window. In January of 1985, Apple dubbed the remaining Lisa 2s as the Macintosh XL (X-tra Large? X-tra Lisas?). In April 1985, it discontinued the Lisa. The remaining were destroyed or sold off to Sun Remarketing (the only place for Lisa stuff today, if you are willing to pay for it). Rumor has it that Apple buried something like 5,000 machines and parts in a landfill due to a dispute with stock holders. A hell of a machine that lasted 3 1/2 years, but never did catch on.
Close up of the Lisa Screen. The open window is contents
of the hard disk. The screen is a bit fish-eyed because my camera is
not good at this type of shot.
This shows the
LISA 1 with the dual Twiggy drives. I have always felt this was one
of the best looking machines to come out of Cupertino.
The keyboard has little help cards that pull out from
under it.
The entire machine is modular. Here the card
carrier has been pulled out. There is an I/O card, the CPU card, and
two 512K memory cards.
The back has been removed to show the three
expansion slots on the left.Also seen are (from left to right): the
reset button, a video out port, parallel port, mouse port, two RS-232
serial ports, and the power supply.
The screen ROM
kit that made the MacOS look correct on the Lisa's display. No
instructions are included - only an authorized technician was to
install it.
Please note: All photographs and info are copyright 1996-1999 Justin Mayrand - if you would like to copy items, e-mail me with which one and what you would like to do with it, I should be back to you in 24 hours. Thanks!