No Clone For Mac

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No Clone For Mac

1997.07.26 – Mac OS 8 ships. No clone allowed to ship with OS 8, although Umax eventually acquires a license, which marks the beginning of the end for the clones. 1997.08.06 – at Macworld Expo, Jobs has Bill Gates speak via satellite, announced 5-year technology alliance between Apple and Microsoft. Carbon Copy Cloner is a bootable backup solution for the Mac. Suppose the unthinkable happens while you're under deadline to finish a project - your Mac is unresponsive and all you hear is an.
No Clone For Mac Osx
No Clone For Mac Os
No Clone For Mac High Sierra
Over the summer of 1997, Apple brought the era of authorized Macintosh clones to an end to keep Apple solvent.*

The goal of authorized Mac clones had been to broaden the Mac market by producing lower cost Mac OS computers to complement Apple's higher-end PowerBook and Power Macintosh computers. At least that was CEO Michael Spindler's hope.
Although Bill Gates had recommended that Apple license its ROMs and operating system when the Macintosh was introduced in 1984 – which probably would have meant no Windows™ – Apple chose to keep its closed system and did everything within its power to prevent a clone market from arising.
Over the years, there were various attempts to clone the Mac, but most of them required using ROMs from a donor Mac to function. It wasn't until December 1994 that Apple began licensing Mac System 7.x and Mac ROMs and motherboard designs to Power Computing, Radius, and others at a flat rate of $50 per machine. The first clones shipped in 1995.
Unfortunately, this was also the year Windows 95 reached the market, the first version of Microsoft's operating system generally perceived as being Mac-like enough to give the Mac OS serious competition.
RadiusRadius was the first licensee to bring a clone to market. Without its own production facilities, Radius contracted with IBM to produce its computers.
The System 100, introduced in March 1995, was essentially a modified Power Mac 8100 motherboard in a heavy duty tower enclosure. It was available in 80 MHz and 110 MHz versions. Other than the case, which was built like a tank, the two big differences are that is uses the standard Macintosh DA-15F video connector on the motherboard (Apple was flirting with a 45-pin AV port at the time) and inclusion of a Radius Thunder IV GX 1600 accelerated NuBus video card that supported resolutions to 1600 x 1200 at 24 bits.
The System 100 was followed by the 110 MHz System 81/110, which Radius positioned as a lower cost alternative to the System 100. The secret to the lower price? It no longer included a Radius video card.
Radius didn't fare well in the Mac clone market and sold its clone division – along with the SuperMac brand that it had acquired in 1994 – to Umax in 1996, which we cover below.
Power ComputingThe first Mac licensee was Power Computing, a new company formed by Steve Kahng specifically to enter the Mac market. Unlike Radius, which used a modified Macintosh motherboard, Power Computing contracted with IBM to build a four-layer motherboard for its earliest clone, which was the second clone to market.
The first models, introduced in mid-1995, were the Power 80, which ran at 80 MHz, the 100 MHz Power 100, and the 120 MHz Power 120. They shared a pretty generic looking desktop enclosure that could easily be mistaken for a Windows PC. These were the clones Power Computing sold that used NuBus expansion slots exclusively.
Power Computing sold 50,000 computers in 1995. Over the two year clone era, Power Computing built several other models that used PCI expansion slots and Apple's CPU daughter card design.
'You can take my Mac when you pry my cold, dead fingers off the mouse!'
Power Computing was the first to lose its license to clone. Apple acquired Power Computing's Mac division in September 1997 for $100 million in Apple stock. Power Computing tried to enter the Windows clone market but failed, going out of business on December 31, 1997.
Before researching this article, is was not aware that Power Computing had licensed Mac OS 8. However, there were Power Computing Mac OS 8 install discs included with some late Power Computing models.
DayStar DigitalLike Radius, which made monitors and video cards, DayStar also had a presence in the Mac market before the clone era. DayStar's CPU upgrades were relatively popular, and the company leveraged its reputation when it entered the Mac clone market in October 1995 with its Genesis MP line of tower computers.
The Genesis MP distinguished itself as the first multiprocessor Mac OS computer: The Genesis MP 528 had four 132 MHz PowerPC 604 CPUs. It was later joined by the quad-processor MP 600 and the dual-processor MP 300. When the PowerPC 604e arrived, DayStar renamed the model the Genesis MP+, and the most powerful version had four 233 MHz CPUs. The computer was built like a tank and weighed 50 lb.
Unfortunately, DayStar CPU cards were sometimes afflicted with microfractures caused by heat. This occurred after long periods of extensive use. Fortunately DayStar used the standard Apple daughter card connector, so those suffering from failed CPU cards can upgrade to a G3 or G4 for a lot more computing power.
DayStar became the darling of the power user set, especially early high-end digital photographers who could take advantage of those additional CPUs in Photoshop. Unfortunately, the classic Mac OS itself was unable to use more than one CPU, and very few programs for the classic Mac OS were written to take advantage of additional processors.
DayStar licensed its multiprocessor technology to Apple, which incorporated it in high-end Power Macs. DayStar Digital went out of business in 1997, and Daystar Technology was launched to provide ongoing service and support for DayStar clones and accelerators. Daystar Technology went on to acquire the XLR8 brand and produced G4 upgrades for the Power Mac G3, WallStreet PowerBook, G3 iMacs (both tray-loading and slot-loading), Sawtooth Power Mac G4, Lombard PowerBook, Pismo PowerBook, Titanium PowerBooks, G4 iMac, and Aluminum PowerBooks using the XLR8 brand.
DayStar's Genesis inventory was acquired by MacWorks, which built the DayStar Millenium from Genesis MP and MP+ components. Options included a low-end 132 MHz 604 CPU, dual 200 MHz 604e CPUs, and a 325 MHz G3 (in reality, an overclocked 300 MHz CPU).
Umax SuperMacUmax entered the field in 1996 with four models: the 'pizza box' C500 desktop, the C600 minitower, the J700 full-sized desktop, and the S900 tower. Umax's innovations included two CPU daughter card slots in the S900, which made it possible to add a second Umax CPU card and create a dual processor system, and CacheDoubler, a 1 MB inline level 2 cache for the C500 and C600 that ran at double the motherboard's 40 MHz bus speed, making a 280 MHz model possible.
Of the several Mac licensees, Umax seems to have been the most innovative and the most interested in broadening the Macintosh base. The C500 was probably the most compact PowerPC model before the Mac mini, and it was very attractively priced for entry-level buyers.
Umax designed two models specifically to accept G3 upgrades: The J710 desktop was built in the same case as the C500, and the S910 tower made some changes to the S900 design. They got around Apple's restrictions on new models needing to be certified by shipping these computers with 604e CPUs and including a G3 upgrade from NewerTech that the user would install.
Umax stretched out its license as long as possible, and Apple even offered Umax the chance to continue in the sub-$1,000 market, but without the more profitable high-end models, the SuperMac division would not be viable. Even though Umax was the lone cloner to acquire a Mac OS 8 license and actually shipped some computers with OS 8, it was too little, too late. On May 27, 1998, Umax threw in the towel, the last of the Mac clone makers to fall. A handful of staffers kept SuperMac support running until late December.
Kennedy Brandt, who worked for Umax at the time and runs SuperMac Insider, reports that Umax sold about 100,000 SuperMac computers 'before the line met its premature demise.'
My first PowerPC Mac was a Umax SuperMac J700, which I bought in June 1998 at a 'fire sale' price after Umax's license expired. I later added an S900, and both were great workhorses until I bought a PowerBook G4 in January 2001. I have each of the original SuperMac models in my collection.
Motorola StarMaxMotorola, one of Apple's partners in the AIM alliance that created the PowerPC family of CPUs, was another licensee. Its first clones, the StarMax 3000 and 4000, reached the market in September 1996. They had a motherboard similar to Apple's poorly received Power Mac 4400 but also included standard PC keyboard, mouse, and VGA ports.
One outstanding feature was Motorola's five-year warranty. MacKiDo reports that Motorola shipped over 40,000 units in 1996. Unfortunately, Motorola lost its Mac license in September 1997, months after its second-generation StarMax 5000 was introduced. It's next-generation CHRP-based StarMax 6000 was stillborn.
Motorola not only built its own clones, it also sold motherboards to other companies, such as MacTell.
Other ClonesThere were a few other clones from companies such as APS Technologies, MaxxBoxx, MacTell, Pioneer, and a handful of others. These clones were built on licensed motherboards created by IBM, which never produced a Mac clone of its own, or Motorola. None had a significant market presence.
The Pippin ProjectAt the same time Apple was creating a Macintosh clone program, it also developed Pippin, a multimedia player based on Macintosh architecture. Bandai was the only company to license the technology, and its @World Player, released in 1995, bombed in a market dominated by Nintendo, Sony, and Sega.
The Impact of Competition on AppleApple sold 4.5 million Macs in 1995, a level it wouldn't reach again for a decade. With the clone program in place and competition from Windows 95, that dropped to 4.0 million in 1996 and 2.8 million in 1997. That was the year the word beleaguered became widely attached to the Apple name.
Hard numbers are not available for most brands of clones, but it's generally estimated that they accounted for about 15% of all Mac OS computers sold in 1997, the last year with multiple clone to itself – still beleaguered, but a 20% drop in unit sales would have been much better than a 30% decline.
Not only did Apple ultimately lose money on the clone program, it also had two changes in leadership during this period. Gil Amelio replaced Michael Spindler in January 1996, and Apple acquired NeXT that December. That brought Steve Jobs back to Apple, the man who would oust Amelio and become 'interim' CEO in July 1997.
One of Jobs' first projects after returning to Apple was renegotiating the clone licenses to increase Apple's royalty on each unit sold. The increased royalty would have made it impossible for Power Computing, Motorola, Umax, and the others to continue undercutting Apple on price.
When the clone makers balked, Jobs took advantage of a clause in the agreement that specified that it only applied to System 7. By naming what was intended to be Mac OS 7.7 Mac OS 8, he left the licensees out in the cold. The renamed OS was released on July 26, 1997, and only one of the clone makers, Umax, agreed to the more costly licensing terms.
As many clone owners discovered, all of the authorized clones ran Mac OS 8 just fine. There are clone users who are running Mac OS 9 on their old computers, and some are even running hacked versions of OS X. Not being able to offer OS 8 made the licensees' models less attractive to buyers and put pressure on them to accept Apple's new license terms or leave the business.
DayStar Digital threw in the towel in August 1997, and on August 30, Apple ended support for clones in its Mac OS-Up-To-Date program. On Sept. 3, it announced the acquisition of Power Computing, probably the most successful cloner and the greatest thorn in Apple's side (Power Computing had been offering faster models before Apple could – and at lower prices).
Motorola left the market at the end of 1997, when its license expired, and Umax SuperMac hung in until the bitter end. Apple was working with Umax to license Mac OS 8 for low-end clones – specifically the sub-$1,000 market – but Umax realized there wasn't enough money to be made if they abandoned the high end of the market.
No Clone For Mac Osx

Umax decided to close its SuperMac clone division on May 27, 1998 and liquidated its inventory, creating some incredible buys for those willing to take a chance on unsupported hardware.
That was just three weeks after Apple had previewed the $1,299 iMac, which would have had a devastating effect on the sub-$1,000 Mac market had SuperMac decided to pursue it.
Since June 1998, Apple has stood alone in the Mac OS market.
The Clones AheadAs we look back at the era of authorized Mac clones, it's interesting that Apple's transition from PowerPC to Intel CPUs created a new cloning subculture with people running Mac OS X on stock Windows computers (netbooks were once very popular) or machines they put together themselves.
These so-called 'hackintosh' computers provide the Mac experience to those willing to spend a little time hacking the OS to run on the kind of hardware the user prefers, whether that's a netbook, a Tablet PC, or a high-end video production or gaming machine.
* It's hard to pick a specific date for the end of the clone era. We could pick July 26, 1997, the date Mac OS 8 began shipping, since it was not licensed for most clones. We could choose Sept. 3, 1997, the day Apple announced its acquisition of Power Computing. We've picked August 30, as that was the day Apple announced that the Mac OS-Up-To-Date program would no longer support clones. The end of the end of the era came on May 29, 1998, the day Umax threw in the towel and discontinued its SuperMac line of clones.
Macintosh Clone Timeline1984.01 – Original Macintosh
The Unauthorized Clone Era, 1985-19911985 – Unitron clones the Mac 512K in Brazil
1986 – McMobile turns a Mac Plus into a portable, about 100 produced
1988 – Dynamac transportable based on Mac Plus
1989 – Outbound and Colby produce portables based on Mac SE and SE/30. Apple acquired Outbound in August 1990.
1989.09 – Mac Portable, Apple's first portable Mac
circa 1990 – 60000 Dash 30fx, an overclocked, repackaged Mac IIfx
The Authorized Clone Era, 1994-98early 1994 – Apple begins developing an authorized clone program
1994 – Apple, IBM, and Motorola announce Common Hardware Reference Platform (CHRP), a PowerPC platform that will be able to run the Mac OS, Windows, OS/2, and Unix. The only CHRP Macintosh clone ever produced was the unreleased Motorola StarMax 6000.
1994.11 – Motorola and Power Computing show clone prototypes at Comdex.
1994.12 – Apple licenses Power Computing as the first company authorized to produce a Macintosh clone.
1995.03 – Radius introduces System 100, first authorized Mac clone to market.
1995.05 – Power Computing introduces Power 80, 100, and 120.
1996.01 – Radius exits clone business, sells division to Umax.
1996.05 – DayStar and Umax SuperMac clones reach market.
1996.09 – Motorola StarMax computers begin to ship.
1996.12 – Apple agrees to acquire NeXT
1997.01 – Steve Jobs returns to Apple in an advisory capacity
1997.07 – Jobs ousts Michael Spindler, Apple's CEO
1997.07.26 – Mac OS 8 ships. No clone allowed to ship with OS 8, although Umax eventually acquires a license, which marks the beginning of the end for the clones.
1997.08.06 – at Macworld Expo, Jobs has Bill Gates speak via satellite, announced 5-year technology alliance between Apple and Microsoft
1997.08 – DayStar Digital exits clone business.
1997.09 – Jobs voted Interim CEO (iCEO) by Apple board of directors
1997.09 – Apple buys Power Computing, closes its clone business by end of year.
1997.12 – Motorola exits clone business.
1998.05 – Umax exits clone business. Apple stands alone.
The New Era, Running Mac OS X on Intel PCs, 2006-present2006 – Apple transitions from PowerPC to Intel CPUs, launching a new era as users hack the Intel version of OS X to run on stock PCs.
Major Macintosh Clone Brands, 1995-98This list is ordered by the date each brand first came to market. It is far from exhaustive. EveryMac has an exhaustive list of authorized and unauthorized Mac clones.
Radius, Mar. 1995 to Jan. 1996. Began selling video cards and monitors for early Macs in 1986. Sold SuperMac brand and cloning business to Umax in 1996. Attempted to refocus on video business. Acquired by Media 100.
Power Computing, April 1995 to Dec. 1997. Formed in 1994, first licensee, second to market. Clone business acquired by Apple. Power Computing closed its doors in Dec. 1997.
 Pioneer, May 1995 to Oct. 1997, Japan only. Longtime player in the consumer electronics field remains in business.
DayStar Digital, May 1996 to Aug. 1997. Started in 1983 to build circuit boards, released RAM for Mac in 1986, entered CPU upgrade market in 1987, went out of business at end of the clone era.
Umax SuperMac, May 1996 to Aug. 1998. Longtime maker of scanners, last clone brand to close up shop, remains in peripherals business.
Motorola StarMax, Sept. 1996 to Dec. 1997. Motorola has been around since 1928, long before the first personal computers, and remains in business.
MaxxBoxx, July 1997 to Feb. 1998. Built in Germany, these clones had lots of room for additional drives.
MacTell, Aug. 1997 to Oct. 1999. Shifted focus to CPU upgrades and video cards, went out of business in Oct. 1999.
APS Technologies, Nov. 1996 to Jan. 1998. Company began selling Mac peripherals and continues to do so.
Macintosh Unit Sales, 1990-2000No Clone For Mac Os1990, 1.3 million
1991, 2.1 million
1992, 2.5 million
1993, 3.3 million
1994, 3.8 million
1995, 4.5 million – first clones ship
1996, 4.0 million – more clone brands, app. 275,000 clones sold, Windows 95 widespread
1997, 2.8 million – biggest year for clone sales, estimated at 400,000 units
1998, 2.7 million – last clones shipped
1999, 3.8 million
2000, 3.8 million

The goal of authorized Mac clones had been to broaden the Mac market by producing lower cost Mac OS computers to complement Apple's higher-end PowerBook and Power Macintosh computers. At least that was CEO Michael Spindler's hope.
Although Bill Gates had recommended that Apple license its ROMs and operating system when the Macintosh was introduced in 1984 – which probably would have meant no Windows™ – Apple chose to keep its closed system and did everything within its power to prevent a clone market from arising.
Over the years, there were various attempts to clone the Mac, but most of them required using ROMs from a donor Mac to function. It wasn't until December 1994 that Apple began licensing Mac System 7.x and Mac ROMs and motherboard designs to Power Computing, Radius, and others at a flat rate of $50 per machine. The first clones shipped in 1995.
Unfortunately, this was also the year Windows 95 reached the market, the first version of Microsoft's operating system generally perceived as being Mac-like enough to give the Mac OS serious competition.
RadiusRadius was the first licensee to bring a clone to market. Without its own production facilities, Radius contracted with IBM to produce its computers.
The System 100, introduced in March 1995, was essentially a modified Power Mac 8100 motherboard in a heavy duty tower enclosure. It was available in 80 MHz and 110 MHz versions. Other than the case, which was built like a tank, the two big differences are that is uses the standard Macintosh DA-15F video connector on the motherboard (Apple was flirting with a 45-pin AV port at the time) and inclusion of a Radius Thunder IV GX 1600 accelerated NuBus video card that supported resolutions to 1600 x 1200 at 24 bits.
The System 100 was followed by the 110 MHz System 81/110, which Radius positioned as a lower cost alternative to the System 100. The secret to the lower price? It no longer included a Radius video card.
Radius didn't fare well in the Mac clone market and sold its clone division – along with the SuperMac brand that it had acquired in 1994 – to Umax in 1996, which we cover below.
Power ComputingThe first Mac licensee was Power Computing, a new company formed by Steve Kahng specifically to enter the Mac market. Unlike Radius, which used a modified Macintosh motherboard, Power Computing contracted with IBM to build a four-layer motherboard for its earliest clone, which was the second clone to market.
The first models, introduced in mid-1995, were the Power 80, which ran at 80 MHz, the 100 MHz Power 100, and the 120 MHz Power 120. They shared a pretty generic looking desktop enclosure that could easily be mistaken for a Windows PC. These were the clones Power Computing sold that used NuBus expansion slots exclusively.
Power Computing sold 50,000 computers in 1995. Over the two year clone era, Power Computing built several other models that used PCI expansion slots and Apple's CPU daughter card design.
'You can take my Mac when you pry my cold, dead fingers off the mouse!'
Power Computing was the first to lose its license to clone. Apple acquired Power Computing's Mac division in September 1997 for $100 million in Apple stock. Power Computing tried to enter the Windows clone market but failed, going out of business on December 31, 1997.
Before researching this article, is was not aware that Power Computing had licensed Mac OS 8. However, there were Power Computing Mac OS 8 install discs included with some late Power Computing models.
DayStar DigitalLike Radius, which made monitors and video cards, DayStar also had a presence in the Mac market before the clone era. DayStar's CPU upgrades were relatively popular, and the company leveraged its reputation when it entered the Mac clone market in October 1995 with its Genesis MP line of tower computers.
The Genesis MP distinguished itself as the first multiprocessor Mac OS computer: The Genesis MP 528 had four 132 MHz PowerPC 604 CPUs. It was later joined by the quad-processor MP 600 and the dual-processor MP 300. When the PowerPC 604e arrived, DayStar renamed the model the Genesis MP+, and the most powerful version had four 233 MHz CPUs. The computer was built like a tank and weighed 50 lb.
Unfortunately, DayStar CPU cards were sometimes afflicted with microfractures caused by heat. This occurred after long periods of extensive use. Fortunately DayStar used the standard Apple daughter card connector, so those suffering from failed CPU cards can upgrade to a G3 or G4 for a lot more computing power.
DayStar became the darling of the power user set, especially early high-end digital photographers who could take advantage of those additional CPUs in Photoshop. Unfortunately, the classic Mac OS itself was unable to use more than one CPU, and very few programs for the classic Mac OS were written to take advantage of additional processors.
DayStar licensed its multiprocessor technology to Apple, which incorporated it in high-end Power Macs. DayStar Digital went out of business in 1997, and Daystar Technology was launched to provide ongoing service and support for DayStar clones and accelerators. Daystar Technology went on to acquire the XLR8 brand and produced G4 upgrades for the Power Mac G3, WallStreet PowerBook, G3 iMacs (both tray-loading and slot-loading), Sawtooth Power Mac G4, Lombard PowerBook, Pismo PowerBook, Titanium PowerBooks, G4 iMac, and Aluminum PowerBooks using the XLR8 brand.
DayStar's Genesis inventory was acquired by MacWorks, which built the DayStar Millenium from Genesis MP and MP+ components. Options included a low-end 132 MHz 604 CPU, dual 200 MHz 604e CPUs, and a 325 MHz G3 (in reality, an overclocked 300 MHz CPU).
Umax SuperMacUmax entered the field in 1996 with four models: the 'pizza box' C500 desktop, the C600 minitower, the J700 full-sized desktop, and the S900 tower. Umax's innovations included two CPU daughter card slots in the S900, which made it possible to add a second Umax CPU card and create a dual processor system, and CacheDoubler, a 1 MB inline level 2 cache for the C500 and C600 that ran at double the motherboard's 40 MHz bus speed, making a 280 MHz model possible.
Of the several Mac licensees, Umax seems to have been the most innovative and the most interested in broadening the Macintosh base. The C500 was probably the most compact PowerPC model before the Mac mini, and it was very attractively priced for entry-level buyers.
Umax designed two models specifically to accept G3 upgrades: The J710 desktop was built in the same case as the C500, and the S910 tower made some changes to the S900 design. They got around Apple's restrictions on new models needing to be certified by shipping these computers with 604e CPUs and including a G3 upgrade from NewerTech that the user would install.
Umax stretched out its license as long as possible, and Apple even offered Umax the chance to continue in the sub-$1,000 market, but without the more profitable high-end models, the SuperMac division would not be viable. Even though Umax was the lone cloner to acquire a Mac OS 8 license and actually shipped some computers with OS 8, it was too little, too late. On May 27, 1998, Umax threw in the towel, the last of the Mac clone makers to fall. A handful of staffers kept SuperMac support running until late December.
Kennedy Brandt, who worked for Umax at the time and runs SuperMac Insider, reports that Umax sold about 100,000 SuperMac computers 'before the line met its premature demise.'
My first PowerPC Mac was a Umax SuperMac J700, which I bought in June 1998 at a 'fire sale' price after Umax's license expired. I later added an S900, and both were great workhorses until I bought a PowerBook G4 in January 2001. I have each of the original SuperMac models in my collection.
Motorola StarMaxMotorola, one of Apple's partners in the AIM alliance that created the PowerPC family of CPUs, was another licensee. Its first clones, the StarMax 3000 and 4000, reached the market in September 1996. They had a motherboard similar to Apple's poorly received Power Mac 4400 but also included standard PC keyboard, mouse, and VGA ports.
One outstanding feature was Motorola's five-year warranty. MacKiDo reports that Motorola shipped over 40,000 units in 1996. Unfortunately, Motorola lost its Mac license in September 1997, months after its second-generation StarMax 5000 was introduced. It's next-generation CHRP-based StarMax 6000 was stillborn.
Motorola not only built its own clones, it also sold motherboards to other companies, such as MacTell.
Other ClonesThere were a few other clones from companies such as APS Technologies, MaxxBoxx, MacTell, Pioneer, and a handful of others. These clones were built on licensed motherboards created by IBM, which never produced a Mac clone of its own, or Motorola. None had a significant market presence.
The Pippin ProjectAt the same time Apple was creating a Macintosh clone program, it also developed Pippin, a multimedia player based on Macintosh architecture. Bandai was the only company to license the technology, and its @World Player, released in 1995, bombed in a market dominated by Nintendo, Sony, and Sega.
The Impact of Competition on AppleApple sold 4.5 million Macs in 1995, a level it wouldn't reach again for a decade. With the clone program in place and competition from Windows 95, that dropped to 4.0 million in 1996 and 2.8 million in 1997. That was the year the word beleaguered became widely attached to the Apple name.
Hard numbers are not available for most brands of clones, but it's generally estimated that they accounted for about 15% of all Mac OS computers sold in 1997, the last year with multiple clone to itself – still beleaguered, but a 20% drop in unit sales would have been much better than a 30% decline.
Not only did Apple ultimately lose money on the clone program, it also had two changes in leadership during this period. Gil Amelio replaced Michael Spindler in January 1996, and Apple acquired NeXT that December. That brought Steve Jobs back to Apple, the man who would oust Amelio and become 'interim' CEO in July 1997.
One of Jobs' first projects after returning to Apple was renegotiating the clone licenses to increase Apple's royalty on each unit sold. The increased royalty would have made it impossible for Power Computing, Motorola, Umax, and the others to continue undercutting Apple on price.
When the clone makers balked, Jobs took advantage of a clause in the agreement that specified that it only applied to System 7. By naming what was intended to be Mac OS 7.7 Mac OS 8, he left the licensees out in the cold. The renamed OS was released on July 26, 1997, and only one of the clone makers, Umax, agreed to the more costly licensing terms.
As many clone owners discovered, all of the authorized clones ran Mac OS 8 just fine. There are clone users who are running Mac OS 9 on their old computers, and some are even running hacked versions of OS X. Not being able to offer OS 8 made the licensees' models less attractive to buyers and put pressure on them to accept Apple's new license terms or leave the business.
DayStar Digital threw in the towel in August 1997, and on August 30, Apple ended support for clones in its Mac OS-Up-To-Date program. On Sept. 3, it announced the acquisition of Power Computing, probably the most successful cloner and the greatest thorn in Apple's side (Power Computing had been offering faster models before Apple could – and at lower prices).
Motorola left the market at the end of 1997, when its license expired, and Umax SuperMac hung in until the bitter end. Apple was working with Umax to license Mac OS 8 for low-end clones – specifically the sub-$1,000 market – but Umax realized there wasn't enough money to be made if they abandoned the high end of the market.
No Clone For Mac OsxUmax decided to close its SuperMac clone division on May 27, 1998 and liquidated its inventory, creating some incredible buys for those willing to take a chance on unsupported hardware.
That was just three weeks after Apple had previewed the $1,299 iMac, which would have had a devastating effect on the sub-$1,000 Mac market had SuperMac decided to pursue it.
Since June 1998, Apple has stood alone in the Mac OS market.
The Clones AheadAs we look back at the era of authorized Mac clones, it's interesting that Apple's transition from PowerPC to Intel CPUs created a new cloning subculture with people running Mac OS X on stock Windows computers (netbooks were once very popular) or machines they put together themselves.
These so-called 'hackintosh' computers provide the Mac experience to those willing to spend a little time hacking the OS to run on the kind of hardware the user prefers, whether that's a netbook, a Tablet PC, or a high-end video production or gaming machine.
* It's hard to pick a specific date for the end of the clone era. We could pick July 26, 1997, the date Mac OS 8 began shipping, since it was not licensed for most clones. We could choose Sept. 3, 1997, the day Apple announced its acquisition of Power Computing. We've picked August 30, as that was the day Apple announced that the Mac OS-Up-To-Date program would no longer support clones. The end of the end of the era came on May 29, 1998, the day Umax threw in the towel and discontinued its SuperMac line of clones.
Macintosh Clone Timeline1984.01 – Original Macintosh
The Unauthorized Clone Era, 1985-19911985 – Unitron clones the Mac 512K in Brazil
1986 – McMobile turns a Mac Plus into a portable, about 100 produced
1988 – Dynamac transportable based on Mac Plus
1989 – Outbound and Colby produce portables based on Mac SE and SE/30. Apple acquired Outbound in August 1990.
1989.09 – Mac Portable, Apple's first portable Mac
circa 1990 – 60000 Dash 30fx, an overclocked, repackaged Mac IIfx
The Authorized Clone Era, 1994-98early 1994 – Apple begins developing an authorized clone program
1994 – Apple, IBM, and Motorola announce Common Hardware Reference Platform (CHRP), a PowerPC platform that will be able to run the Mac OS, Windows, OS/2, and Unix. The only CHRP Macintosh clone ever produced was the unreleased Motorola StarMax 6000.
1994.11 – Motorola and Power Computing show clone prototypes at Comdex.
1994.12 – Apple licenses Power Computing as the first company authorized to produce a Macintosh clone.
1995.03 – Radius introduces System 100, first authorized Mac clone to market.
1995.05 – Power Computing introduces Power 80, 100, and 120.
1996.01 – Radius exits clone business, sells division to Umax.
1996.05 – DayStar and Umax SuperMac clones reach market.
1996.09 – Motorola StarMax computers begin to ship.
1996.12 – Apple agrees to acquire NeXT
1997.01 – Steve Jobs returns to Apple in an advisory capacity
1997.07 – Jobs ousts Michael Spindler, Apple's CEO
1997.07.26 – Mac OS 8 ships. No clone allowed to ship with OS 8, although Umax eventually acquires a license, which marks the beginning of the end for the clones.
1997.08.06 – at Macworld Expo, Jobs has Bill Gates speak via satellite, announced 5-year technology alliance between Apple and Microsoft
1997.08 – DayStar Digital exits clone business.
1997.09 – Jobs voted Interim CEO (iCEO) by Apple board of directors
1997.09 – Apple buys Power Computing, closes its clone business by end of year.
1997.12 – Motorola exits clone business.
1998.05 – Umax exits clone business. Apple stands alone.
The New Era, Running Mac OS X on Intel PCs, 2006-present2006 – Apple transitions from PowerPC to Intel CPUs, launching a new era as users hack the Intel version of OS X to run on stock PCs.
Major Macintosh Clone Brands, 1995-98This list is ordered by the date each brand first came to market. It is far from exhaustive. EveryMac has an exhaustive list of authorized and unauthorized Mac clones.
Radius, Mar. 1995 to Jan. 1996. Began selling video cards and monitors for early Macs in 1986. Sold SuperMac brand and cloning business to Umax in 1996. Attempted to refocus on video business. Acquired by Media 100.
Power Computing, April 1995 to Dec. 1997. Formed in 1994, first licensee, second to market. Clone business acquired by Apple. Power Computing closed its doors in Dec. 1997.
 Pioneer, May 1995 to Oct. 1997, Japan only. Longtime player in the consumer electronics field remains in business.
DayStar Digital, May 1996 to Aug. 1997. Started in 1983 to build circuit boards, released RAM for Mac in 1986, entered CPU upgrade market in 1987, went out of business at end of the clone era.
Umax SuperMac, May 1996 to Aug. 1998. Longtime maker of scanners, last clone brand to close up shop, remains in peripherals business.
Motorola StarMax, Sept. 1996 to Dec. 1997. Motorola has been around since 1928, long before the first personal computers, and remains in business.
MaxxBoxx, July 1997 to Feb. 1998. Built in Germany, these clones had lots of room for additional drives.
MacTell, Aug. 1997 to Oct. 1999. Shifted focus to CPU upgrades and video cards, went out of business in Oct. 1999.
APS Technologies, Nov. 1996 to Jan. 1998. Company began selling Mac peripherals and continues to do so.
Macintosh Unit Sales, 1990-2000No Clone For Mac Os1990, 1.3 million
1991, 2.1 million
1992, 2.5 million
1993, 3.3 million
1994, 3.8 million
1995, 4.5 million – first clones ship
1996, 4.0 million – more clone brands, app. 275,000 clones sold, Windows 95 widespread
1997, 2.8 million – biggest year for clone sales, estimated at 400,000 units
1998, 2.7 million – last clones shipped
1999, 3.8 million
2000, 3.8 million
Further ReadingMacintosh clone, Wikipedia
Send Out the Clones?, Dan Knight, 1997.08.23
Radius (computer), Wikipedia
Power Computing, Wikipedia
Power Computing: Fighting Back for the Mac or Stealing Apple's Customers?, Tom Hormby, Orchard
Motorola StarMax, Wikipedia
SuperMac history, Kennedy Brandt, SuperMac Insider
DayStar Digital, Wikipedia
Apple's Pippin and Bandai's @World: Missing the Mark(et), Cortland
Keywords: #macclones #macintoshclones #supermac #starmax #powercomputing
Short link: http://goo.gl/jzxNQw
searchwords: macclones, macintoshclones
We're happy to help you troubleshoot your bootability problems. Before you ask for help, please try the troubleshooting steps below. If you're having trouble with the steps or have run out of options, please let us know how far you got, or how far your Mac gets into the boot process.
Troubleshooting firmware discovery problemsWhen you boot your Mac while holding down the Option key, the Mac Startup Manager will display a list of available startup devices. Using only device drivers that are stored on your Mac's firmware chip, the firmware will scan all of your SATA, PCI, USB, Firewire, and Thunderbolt busses for hard drive devices, then read those hard drive volume headers to determine if a macOS system is available on each volume. Ordinarily, a CCC bootable backup volume will appear in this list, but occasionally your Mac's firmware may have difficulty discovering the hardware that hosts your backup.
If CCC's Task Plan didn't report any configuration concerns for your backup volume and you are having trouble booting from it, try the following troubleshooting steps (in order).
Make the Startup Manager load additional driversSome third-party external devices use Option ROM firmware. Macs with 'up-to-date software' don't automatically load Option ROM firmware, so your Mac won't see devices that have Option ROM firmware until you load that firmware. Press Option-Shift-Command-Period at the Startup Manager window to load Option ROM firmware from any currently-attached hard drive enclosures. Here's a partial list of devices we've received reports of that use Option ROM firmware:
Rule out generally incompatible configurations and filesystem anomaliesIf you are using an external hard drive enclosure or adapter, see whether your enclosure is listed at the bottom of this page as an enclosure that we've seen problems with in the past. Also, for good measure, use Disk Utility's 'First Aid' utility to verify and repair any filesystem problems that may be present on the destination volume.
Troubleshoot discoverability issues in the Mac's Startup ManagerReboot your Mac while holding down the Option key.
Wait about 30 seconds to see if the backup volume appears. If your backup volume appears at this step and the boot process proceeds past the Apple logo, skip to the next section below.
Press Option-Shift-Command-Period at the Startup Manager window to load any Option ROM firmware that is present and required for an external hard drive enclosure.
Detach, then reattach the backup volume's Firewire, USB or Thunderbolt cable from/to your Mac and wait up to another 30 seconds. If your backup volume appears, select it and proceed with the startup process.
If the backup volume still does not appear as an option, shut down your Mac completely. Then start it up holding down the Option key, waiting another 30 seconds for the volume to appear.
Repeat the steps above, but using another interface (e.g. USB if you tried Firewire, Firewire if you already tried USB) and see if the volume appears.
If the hard drive enclosure is bus powered, try plugging in its DC power supply before starting up your Mac. Bus powered enclosures often take a bit longer to spin up or simply don't make themselves available that early in the boot process.
Additional USB device troubleshootingMacs' support for booting from USB volumes has always been second class to Apple-invented interfaces such as Firewire and Thunderbolt. We strongly recommend using Firewire or Thunderbolt for your bootable backup; those interfaces are consistently more reliable when it comes to bootability. If you have a USB-only device in hand, though, here are a couple additional steps you can perform to try to get your Mac to 'see' it early in the startup process.
Reboot your Mac while holding down the Option key.
If your Mac has multiple USB ports, try attaching your destination disk to each port (and be sure to use the ports on your Mac directly — not a hub, keyboard, or display)
If you are using a USB 3.0 enclosure, try using a USB 2.0 cable (yes, it will work!). USB 3.0 devices are backwards compatible to USB 2.0, but they don't always play well with the older USB device drivers that are embedded within your Mac's firmware. Using a USB 2.0 cable elicits different behavior from the enclosure that often works around compatibility problems that are only exposed when using the Mac's firmware USB drivers. Here are some pictures that show what the ends of USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 cables look like:
Reset the Mac's Parameter RAMLastly, try resetting your Mac's parameter RAM. PRAM maintains settings related to starting up your Mac, and it's possible that invalid settings are interfering with your Mac's discovery of the external enclosure. To reset your PRAM:
Hold down Command+Option+P+R on startup
Hold down those keys until you hear the second startup chime.
Release all but the Option key after you hear the second startup chime.
Definitively rule out an incompatible enclosureIf the volume still won't boot, it may be impossible for your firmware to detect your enclosure (despite that macOS, once booted and having access to far more device drivers, can see the enclosure just fine). The Golden Litmus Test for bootability would be to install macOS directly onto the volume. If that fails to make the disk bootable, then it definitely isn't going to happen. Please report these enclosures to us so we can assemble a list of troublesome enclosures.
The backup volume starts to boot the Mac, but is slow or never gets to the FinderThere are several visual hints that can indicate how far your backup volume is getting in the startup process:
Apple logo: The 'booter' file was found and executed.
Spinning progress indicator: The OS 'kernel' was executed and now has control over the startup process. The kernel will load kernel extension caches, mount the startup disk, then execute 'launchd' which kicks off all of the other system processes.
Blue screen: The WindowServer has loaded, so the system is ready to start loading regular applications or the loginwindow.
Loginwindow or your Desktop: The system has finished loading, and is ready for user interaction
If your backup volume showed up in the Option key startup disk selection screen, but doesn't display the Apple logo when you choose to start from it, then your Mac is having trouble finding the 'booter' file on this volume. This can occur due to hard drive enclosure interference, due to filesystem corruption on the backup volume, or due to the volume being improperly 'blessed' (blessing a volume stores certain information about the startup files in the volume's header, and your Mac uses that information to start the boot process).
Repartition the backup disk in Disk Utility, then reclone your startup disk to the destination.
Try booting from the backup volume again.
If you see the universal 'No access' symbol after selecting your startup diskThis indicates that the kernel cannot load the kernel extension cache, or that it cannot mount the startup disk. This could be due to trying to run an incompatible operating system on your Mac, due to an extension conflict with the enclosure you are trying to boot from, or due to a firmware compatibility problem bewteen the Mac and the enclosure.
We see this quite frequently when trying to boot from a USB 3.0 enclosure, especially on pre-2013 Macs. We also see this more frequently on Yosemite when a critical kernel extension's code signature is invalid. This can happen, for example, when using something like TRIM Enabler to modify macOS Storage drivers.
Try booting into Safe Boot mode (hold down the Shift key as you start your Mac, after selecting the backup volume as the startup disk).
Try installing macOS directly onto the cloned volume while booted from the Apple Recovery volume. If the installation also fails, there is a compatibility issue between the enclosure and your Mac that makes it unsuitable as a startup device.
If you used a third-party utility to modify macOS software (e.g. TRIM Enabler), undo that modification, then run the backup task again.
If your Mac never progresses past the spinning progress indicator (below the Apple logo) or stalls at the blue screen while booting from the backup volume, there is probably a problem with some of the system files that are called early in the startup process. The system log on the backup volume can be very useful in troubleshooting these problems. To view the system log:
Boot your Mac from its usual startup disk while holding down the Shift key. This will start your Mac in Safe Boot mode, and will cause macOS to rebuild the kernel cache on the startup disk.
Run your backup task again, then try again to boot from the backup volume. If the same problem occurs, reboot from your regular startup disk and proceed to the next step.
Choose 'Go to folder' from the Finder's Go menu.
Type '/Volumes/Backup volume name/var/log' (no quotes, and substitute the actual name of the volume) and click the Go button.
Double-click on the system.log item in this folder.
No Clone For Mac High SierraLook for any error messages, indications of crashes, etc., or simply attach the system.log file to a support request on the Bombich Software Help Desk.
'unapproved caller. security agent may only be invoked by apple software' message appears on startupThis message generally appears when the volume you are trying to boot from is full or nearly full. You can remove items from the _CCC SafetyNet folder (or the entire folder itself), then empty the Trash to free up some space before trying to boot from that volume again. macOS should be given at least 2GB, preferably 5-10GB of free space to accommodate the creation of cache and virtual memory files on startup.
Configurations with which we have seen some problemsReports indicate that, contrary to its published documentation, the NewerTech Voyager Dock enclosure is not bootable via Firewire.
We have received a report that the Nexstar 6G USB 3.0 hard drive enclosure is not bootable due to a discoverability issue. The Nexstar TX from Vantec was bootable (using the same internal hard drive). We have received another report, however, that the Nexstar 6G was bootable, so there may be Mac-specific firmware issues at play regarding this enclosure.
We have received a report that the CineRAID Home CR-H212 USB 3.0 Bus Powered Dual Drive RAID/JBOD Portable Enclosure may provide inconsistent bootability results. In at least one case, only one of the hard drives in the enclosure was discoverable by Mac firmware, and it appeared to be position-dependent within the enclosure.
Like the line above, we have received a report that the StarTech S3520WU33ER USB 3.0 Bus Powered Dual Drive RAID/JBOD Portable Enclosure provides inconsistent bootability results. Only one of the two hard drive slots is capable of booting a Mac. If you have trouble booting from a disk in this enclosure, try swapping the drive positions within the enclosure.
We have received a report that the Orico 3588US3 USB3 enclosure is not bootable due to a discoverability issue.
We have received a report that agreeing to Webroot SecureAnywhere's request to 'remove threats' during a backup task can produce a non-bootable backup.
Some users report problems booting pre-2013 Macs from USB 3.0 devices that use the 'ASMedia 1051E' chipset (e.g. this IOCrest adapter and this OWC Mercury On-The-Go enclosure). A firmware compatibility issue was introduced by a 2015 firmware update to these Macs that prevents them from booting from a USB 3 device with that older chipset.
We have received a report that the Mobius 5-Bay FireWire 800, eSATA, USB 3.0 RAID Hard Drive Enclosure is not bootable via the USB connection. This enclosure can boot a Mac via the Firewire 800 connection (confirmed via a Firewire-to-Thunderbolt adapter).
Related Documentation