From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.vintage

As part of my never ending quest to reclaim the garage I came across an original iSub boxed and apparently functional.

Can it still be used? My silicon MacBook doesn't seem to recognise it - although the system does ask if I want to allow the accessory to connect.

Any thoughts?
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.vintage

David Kennedy <[email protected]> wrote:

As part of my never ending quest to reclaim the garage I came across an original iSub boxed and apparently functional.

Can it still be used? My silicon MacBook doesn't seem to recognise it - although the system does ask if I want to allow the accessory to connect.

Any thoughts?

A very quick Google suggests limited or total incompatibility with the
original iSub and Silicon (and, it seems, Intel Macs, too!). Which seems
odd considering it’s just a speaker but I’ve never had my hands on one so have no lived experience to draw from to understand its obvious quirks.

I do remember seeing an iMac G4 on display in PC World that had an iSub and SoundSticks hooked to it, belting out music at an obnoxious volume. I was absolutely mesmerised - I’d never used a Mac before but seeing that set-up made me want to grab the lot - until I looked at the price of it all… I
ended up buying a cheap eMachines Windows XP system instead that day, and
it would be a good number of years after before I finally got my first Mac.
--
STC
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.vintage

On 2026-02-01 14:30:48 +0000, scole said:

David Kennedy <[email protected]> wrote:

As part of my never ending quest to reclaim the garage I came across an
original iSub boxed and apparently functional.

Can it still be used? My silicon MacBook doesn't seem to recognise it -
although the system does ask if I want to allow the accessory to connect.

Any thoughts?

A very quick Google suggests limited or total incompatibility with the original iSub and Silicon (and, it seems, Intel Macs, too!). Which seems
odd considering it’s just a speaker but I’ve never had my hands on one so have no lived experience to draw from to understand its obvious quirks.

Technically, it *might* work if you use a USB->phono adapter on the Mac
and then and phono->USB on the iSub, then plug them togetther with a
regular phono cable ... but it would be a relatively expensive and
klugdey way to do it.

I do remember seeing an iMac G4 on display in PC World that had an iSub and SoundSticks hooked to it, belting out music at an obnoxious volume. I was absolutely mesmerised - I’d never used a Mac before but seeing that set-up made me want to grab the lot - until I looked at the price of it all… I ended up buying a cheap eMachines Windows XP system instead that day, and
it would be a good number of years after before I finally got my first Mac.

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