User guide

Outbound Clones
The Outbound is a Macintosh Clone Portable that
was designed and manufactured in Boulder,
Colorado a long time ago. There are two different
models of portable Outbounds, the Notebook
and the Laptop. They are a rarity among clones
because Apple was very cautious about allowing
its technology to appear in portables. All of the
other clone-makers did desktop models but only
Outbound did a pair of portables.
The Outbound clones were fairly low-perform-
ance in some respects but were adequate for their
time. Both Outbound models use the ROMs from
a Macintosh Plus or SE and run Macintosh
System software versions 6.0.7 thru 7.1 so- both
machines have the look and feel of an Apple
Macintosh computer. Here’s a picture of Mac SE
ROMs, top; Mac
Classic ROMs, bottom.
ROMs from both the
Mac SE and Mac
Classic ) can be used in
the Outbound Notebook. In order to make the
Notebook functional, Apple ROMs had to be
installed. If the user already owned a Macintosh,
pulling the ROMs from that unit was the most
cost-effective way to go.
Outbound Systems is the only pre-PPC clone
manufacturer to actually receive Apple's bless-
ing. Not coincidentally, the Notebook is the most
plentiful clone, and Outbound Systems the most
successful clone manufacturer.
The Outbound Notebook's processor, RAM, and
ROM are all stored on a removable daughter
card. This is very fortunate, as the rest of the sys-
tem is nearly impossible to get apart. Access is
easily provided to all components that the user
may want to swap out.
The Outbound Notebook uses generic video-
camera batteries, an incredible advantage over
other laptops. Batteries for the Notebook are
cheap ($30 at Radio Shack) and plentiful.
Compare this to Powerbook 100 batteries, which
must be specially ordered through an Apple
Authorized Dealer for $80, and are often deplet-
ed beyond recovery on arrival.
Perhaps the best known early portable Mac clone
came from Outbound in August 1989, just weeks
before Apple announced the Portable. The
Portable Plus used the same 68000 CPU as the
Plus and SE, but runs it at 15 MHz. It had a
unique built-in pointing device, the Isopoint
TrackBar, that rolled to scroll up and down,
moved sideways to scroll right and left. The
TrackBar was part of the detachable keyboard.
Still, at $3,995 with a 20 MB hard drive and a 10
pound weight, it was an attractive alternative
even after Apple's Portable shipped.