history 💎. The first Apple iMacs offered a unique upgrade possibility through a slot called the mezzanine slot. One interesting card that utilized this slot was the Formac iPro RAID TV card.
This card by the German company Formac wasn’t just a simple upgrade. It packed two functionalities into one:
* **SCSI:** This provided a connection for high-speed peripherals like external hard drives and scanners. The iMac itself lacked many ports, so SCSI offered valuable expansion. Notably, the card used a slim SCSI 3 connector due to space constraints within the iMac.
* **TV Tuner with S-Video Output:** This allowed the iMac to function as a basic TV receiver. You could connect it to an antenna or cable and watch television on the iMac’s display. The S-video output provided a higher quality connection compared to standard composite video.
While the iPro RAID TV card offered a compelling combination of features, it’s important to consider the context of the time:
* **Limited Use Case:** Since the iMac was primarily marketed as an all-in-one consumer computer, the TV tuner functionality might not have been a major selling point for many users.
* **Uncommon Connector:** The slim SCSI 3 connector limited peripheral compatibility compared to the more standard SCSI interfaces.
Overall, the Formac iPro RAID TV card represents an interesting footnote in the history of the iMac. It offered a glimpse into the early days of digital convergence, where computers were beginning to take on new multimedia capabilities. However, its niche features and limitations on usability prevented it from becoming a mainstream upgrade.
#imacg3 #mezzanineslot #formacTV #scsicard #apple #macintosh #historytechtv
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