Apple Lisa Repair

The Apple Lisa is a desktop computer designed and developed by Apple and released in January 1983. The Apple Lisa was the first commercially sold computer to use a GUI (graphical user interface) and a mouse. The Lisa was marketed towards individual business users but was challenged by a high price, unreliable Apple FileWare floppy disks, insufficient software library, and the release of the Macintosh, which was after and less expensive. While a commercial failure, it’s often considered the root of most modern consumer electronics.

Because of its various issues, newer Lisa models were introduced at lower prices, but the Macintosh still surpassed the Lisa quickly in sales. In January 1985, the Lisa 2/10 was rebranded as the Macintosh XL and was given a hardware and software kit that positioned it as Apple’s high-end Macintosh. The 2/10 model had an optional 10 MB compact internal proprietary hard disk (called the “Widget”), 1 MB of RAM, and no external parallel port. produced by Apple. The Widget gained a reputation for reliability issues and was incompatible with earlier Lisa models. The Macintosh XL was discontinued and Apple’s high-end product line remained unfilled until the introduction of the Macintosh Plus in 1986.

To increase the reliability of the Lisa computers, Apple included several disk storage mechanisms that were considered innovative and were not included in early releases of the Macintosh nor the IBM PC. Another Lisa update included the redundant storage of critical operating system information that would enhance recovery in case of corruption.

Codename: Lisa

CPU: MC68000

CPU speed: 5 Mhz

FPU: None

Motherboard RAM: 512 k

Maximum RAM: 2MB (via 3rd party upgrade)

Number of sockets; 2 -- Lisa cards

ROM: 16k of diagnostic and bootstrap code present

L1 cache: n/a

L2 cache: n/a

Data path: 16 bit

Bus speed: 5 Mhz

SCSI: none

Slots: 3 Proprietary

Serial Ports: 2 RS-323

Parallel Ports: 1 (dropped in Lisa 2/MacXL)

Floppy: 2 internal 871k 5.25" (400k Sony 3.5" in Lisa2/MacXL)

HD: 5 MB internal (10MB in some configurations of Lisa 2/MacXL)

CD-ROM: none

Monitor12" 720 x 360 built-in (B/W)

Sound Output: beeps only

Sound Input: none

Ethernet: n/a

Gestalt ID: 2

Power: 150 Watts

Weight: 48 lbs - 20 kg

Dimensions: 15.2" H x 18.7" W x 13.8" D

Min System Software: LisaOS

Max System Software: LisaOS/MacWorks

Introduced: January 1983

Terminated: August 1986

• Wikipedia: Apple Lisa
• Mac History: Apple Lisa
• Apple Lisa Hardware Specifications