DayStar Digital
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| DayStar Digital, Inc. | |
|---|---|
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| Type | Private |
| Founded |  Georgia (May, 1983) |
| Headquarters | Flowery Branch, Georgia, United States |
| Key people | Andrew F. Lewis Gary Dailey Jack Kolk |
| Products | Power601, Genesis MP |
| Employees | 125 |
DayStar Digital, Inc., was founded in 1983 by Andrew Lewis as a subcontract manufacturer of electronic assemblies and circuit boards. In 1986, the company released memory upgrades for Apple Macintosh Computers, its first product. In 1987 the company began to co-market performance upgrades for the Mac, and then, in 1987, developed its own processor upgrade, the first one for the Apple Macintosh II computer. The company focused exclusively on this market for the full range of Mac computers through 1995, utilizing the Motorola 68030, 68040 and PowerPC 601 processors. These upgrades installed in various Macintosh platforms either in the PDS slot directly, as on the Macintosh IIci, or via an adapter.
[edit] High-performance Mac clones
In 1995 the company engaged with Apple a co-development of the first dual processor system, sold only as an upgrade by DayStar. Then, in 1995, DayStar received a clone license from Apple Macintosh clones to produce the industry's only multi-processor Apple systems as reported in BYTE Magazine, notably the DayStar Genesis MP dual and quad processor systems built around the PowerPC 604 chips. The license for all clone manufacturers was for version 7 of the operating system. When Apple did not extend the license to version 8, it effectively canceled the program for all the clone manufacturers. The company ceased operations in 1997 along with all the other clone companies. Daystar Technologies was formed at this time to continue support and service of the company's products.
[edit] References
- Andrew F. Lewis, personal memoirs, 1993, 2000.
