ĭuring development of this AppleBus system, computer networking became a vitally important feature of any computer system. This was initially done to allow multiple devices to be plugged into a single port, using simple communication protocols implemented inside the 8530 to allow them to send and receive data with the host computer. Like the similar PS/2 connector used in many PC-compatibles at the time, Apple Desktop Bus was rapidly replaced by USB as that system became popular in the late 1990s the last external Apple Desktop Bus port on an Apple product was in 1999, though it remained as an internal-only bus on some Mac models into the 2000s.Įarly during the creation of the Macintosh computer, the engineering team had selected the fairly sophisticated Zilog 8530 to supply serial communications. Apple Device Bus was quickly introduced on later Macintosh models, on later models of NeXT computers, and saw some other third-party use as well.
It was introduced on the Apple II GS in 1986 as a way to support low-cost devices like keyboards and mice, allowing them to be connected together in a daisy chain without the need for hubs or other devices. The Apple Desktop Bus icon and an early Apple Desktop Bus keyboardĪpple Desktop Bus (ADB) is a proprietary bit-serial peripheral bus connecting low-speed devices to computers.
