In the course of the Eighties, Apple discovered itself with a number of choices relating to the way forward for its computing platforms. The Apple II was the corporate’s bread and butter. The Apple III was pitched as an evolution of that platform, however was clearly doomed resulting from {hardware} and Software Program points. The Lisa was costly and never promoting effectively, and whereas the Macintosh aimed to carry Lisa expertise to the plenty, gross sales have been sluggish after its preliminary launch.

These 4 machines are well-known, however there was a fifth risk within the combine, named the Jonathan. In his guide Inventing the Future, John Buck writes concerning the idea, which was led by Apple engineer Jonathan Fitch beginning within the fall of 1984. Buck quotes George Cossey, speaking concerning the thought:

I’d recognized Jonathan (Fitch) from my diagnostic days on the Lisa. He was one of many predominant board designers and I believe that after Lisa was sidelined for the Mac, Fitch was searching for what to do, what was the “subsequent era” Apple pc however not a Mac. Lots of the individuals engaged on the Mac wished to keep it up, simply go onto the following iteration of the Mac, as a result of they noticed it as “rising,” they usually didn’t wish to go do one thing that may by no means see the sunshine of day.

This idea envisioned a pc that may increase with the wants of the consumer, by way of the usage of modular elements:

Buck additionally writes:

It was a client mannequin pc that got here with pre-installed operations in addition to a base-level I/O, and it could possibly be upgraded throughout/or after buy to business-centric specs utilizing a novel set of plug- and-play modules. Prospects would be capable of add a sequence of book-sized modules (for software program and {hardware} choices) that clicked right into a slender docking station sitting below the monitor, that itself seemed like a bookshelf. The person software program modules, for the prototype, contained the O/Ss for Apple II, Mac, UNIX, or DOS, whereas the {hardware} choices have been DSP, Ethernet, GenLock (for video), further RAM, mass storage, or an influence provide (for various areas). There have been no cables.

Fitch believed that the machine’s literal spine design might grow to be the spine of Apple’s future gross sales technique. An ever-expandable pc that would cowl a number of markets with out Apple needing to make a number of gadgets.

A small workforce labored on the idea for about eight months earlier than partaking Frog Design — sure, that Frog Design — to work on a prototype design to point out the thought to Apple brass. Buck additionally writes about this in his guide:

When Fitch ultimately took Jonathan earlier than the chief group it appeared as a modern slate-grey pc, that seemed like nothing Apple had finished earlier than. It had a reverse-hinged 13″ CRT monitor that squatted over a line of changeable modules, with a modern-style keyboard and mouse tethered to the aspect. The workforce had added extra choices to the bookshelf for the demonstration together with the modules labeled “Floppy disk” and “third Occasion.”

The {hardware} additionally pops up in Paul Kunkel’s guide AppleDesign, which you’ll be able to nonetheless get on Amazon. In it, Kunkel describes the {hardware}:

Fitch wished to design a pc round a brand new microprocessor, the Motorola 68030, which might be highly effective sufficient for enterprise and high-end functions, however may be packaged in a type that may work within the dwelling. With the Macintosh division creating its personal high-end ideas — Huge Mac and a modular CPU that may ultimately grow to be the Mac II — Fitch’s idea would wish a very completely different structure to differentiate it from the Mac. As an Apple II product, it will have an “open” structure. However relatively than design one other circuitboard-and-slots system, Fitch proposed a extra radical strategy.

[…]

Fitch’s design referred to as for the backplane and observe to help book-shaped modules, every containing circuitboards and chips for operating the Mac OS, Apple II software program, DOS, Home windows, or Unix working programs, plus different modules for connecting disk drives, modems and networking {hardware}, all plugged into the identical observe. Because the backplane was horizontal, and the modules have been small and slender, Fitch imagined the system as a guide on a shelf. “A fundamental system would have a brief shelf with one or two books. A enterprise setup would have three or 4 books. And an influence system would have seven or eight books on a wider shelf.”

Happy together with his idea, Fitch named it Jonathan (after himself)…

There are very few photographs of this factor on the Web. This set of pictures is from Nicola D’Agostino’s glorious weblog submit on the topic:

The Kunkel guide comprises a number of photographs (taken by Rick English) of the mockup as effectively, together with one with a CRT that appears lots like a CRT NeXT would ultimately ship:

In more moderen years, Dana Sibera has created a number of superb renders of the Jonathan, and was type sufficient to share them with me for this submit. For those who don’t observe Dana on Mastodon or Bluesky, it is best to repair that as we speak.

I significantly love the Platinum model she created, which has some grounding in actuality, as not less than one mockup was constructed utilizing the lighter coloration.

Listed below are a number of of her renders within the slate coloration:

The overall thought was easy, however in apply, this machine would have been a nightmare.

The spine of the system would wish to simply accept modules from Apple and different firms, letting customers construct what they wanted when it comes to performance, as D’Agostino writes:

(Fitch) designed a easy {hardware} “spine” carrying fundamental operations and I/O on which the consumer might add a sequence of “guide” modules, carrying {hardware} for operating Apple II, Mac, UNIX and DOS software program, plus different modules with disk drives or networking capabilities.

This meant that each consumer might have their very own distinctive Jonathan setup, pulling collectively numerous software program platforms, storage gadgets, and {hardware} capabilities into their very own personalised system. Imagining what would have been required for all this to work collectively offers me a headache. Along with the shared spine interface, there would should be software program written to make an almost-endless variety of configurations work easily for probably the most demanding of customers. It was all very ambitions, however maybe just a little too far-fetched.

Buck’s guide experiences on how Apple executives responded to the idea:

Whereas the design and performance of the prototype drew reward, the general idea raised bigger issues. Fitch anticipated IBM customers to purchase a Jonathan with particular person DOS and Apple software program modules, then develop bored with Microsoft’s UI, and ultimately go for Apple’s OS full-time.

Kunkel expands on these issues:

Jean-Louis Gassée delivered the primary hit by observing that Apple must promote two or three Jonathans to equal the revenue of a single Mac II. Others complained that Jonathan would compete with the Mac II. Then Sculley delivered the coup de grâce — voicing the worry that when the Mac and DOS have been supplied on the identical platform, extra Mac customers would possibly transfer to DOS then DOS customers would transfer to the Mac. “That reasoning floored us,” says Fitch. “Apparently, Sculley had much less religion within the Mac than we did.”

Sculley was in all probability proper to be involved, and matched with the sheer complexity of such a mission, the Jonathan was scrapped in the summertime of 1985.

Paradoxically, Apple would supply DOS help through add-on playing cards years later. The workforce’s plans for utilizing the 68030 would additionally come in useful when that CPU landed within the Mac IIx and IIfx.

The phrase “forward of its time” is commonly thrown round when speaking about computer systems from the Eighties and Nineties, and within the case of the Jonathan, I believe it completely suits. Trendy Macs can run software program from the command line, all the way in which up by way of apps written for the Mac, iPad, iPhone, and the net. Home windows and Linux apps may also be run if the consumer is prepared to leap by way of the suitable hoops.

After all, all of that is finished in software program, not {hardware}. The Jonathan tried fixing a software program downside with {hardware} expandability, which made sense within the Eighties. Simply ask TI-99 followers. Even right here in 2024, there are of us making an attempt to make this kind of factor work.

My understanding is that the mission by no means made it previous the “conversations and mockups” stage. I get why the Jonathan by no means made it past the idea section, however a part of me needs I might spherical up a bunch of modules meant for this platform. Not less than we’ve some enjoyable pictures and renders to get pleasure from.