Many times I’ve longed for the possibility of turning vintage Macintosh computers into a manufacturable design. Sure, there are a lot of standard chips inside a vintage Macintosh, however inevitably there is some custom silicon for the floppy disk controller, the clock/PRAM circuit, and so on. What if these parts could be recreated via modern manufacturing?
Well, reading about the 6551 ACIA, which is used in the Apple II computer for serial communications, I’ve come to the right place. Rochester Electronics “specializes in fully authorized device duplication.” So, there you go. If you’re looking for the know-how on how to recreate silicon chips that do not have design documentation for them, Rochester Electronics is the place to go.
Of course… there is a substantiated reality in all of this, though. Rochester Electronic’s biggest customers are large corporations and governments that have clear long-term contracts that are making money for them. Inside of this market, they can easily command higher prices for parts that are specifically designed for embedded systems. And, unfortunately, a vintage Macintosh falls pretty far away from the desires and requirements of this main market.