Last updated on January 2, 2026
When I was trying to track down versions and information on Connectix Virtual, I learned of the existence of GEMStart Universal 7.1 an enabler written by Glenn L. Austin and sold by Galaxy Hardware Publishers Inc that provides System 7.1 support (only 7.1.x, not earlier, not later) for many of the 68030 accelerators released for the Plus, SE and Classic systems, and works with Connectix Compact Virtual. If you have one of the supported accelerators you may want to try GEMstart Universal.
Download
You can download GEMStart Universal from the Macintosh Garden, or the original upload by David Cook on 68kMLA.org
Serial number: GGS-0000-0002-1180 (see photo of disk)
Supported accelerators
The installer for GEMStart 7.1 lists the following accelerators:
- Total Systems Gemini 020\030
- Total Systems Gemini
- Total Systems Gemini Classic
- Total Systems Ultra
- Total Systems Integra
- Total Systems Mercury
- Total Systems Mercury Classic
- Extreme Systems
- Microspeed. I haven’t found any information on them making a accelerator, just a trackball
- Mobius 030
- Mobius Classic 030
- NewLife
- Novy (and the Mac Products releases)
GEMStart Universal may be used with a variety of compact Mac 68030* accelerators for the Plus, SE and Classic from: Total Systems, Mobius, NewLife, Novy, Mac Products and Extreme Systems. There should be some small improvement in performance for many of these boards once the new software is installed, and there will be a considerable improvement in overall reliability.
* Even though the readme says 68030 it appears that the Total Systems Gemini 020 may be supported.
GEMStart Universal 7.1 readme
History
The GEMStart Universal 7.1 readme states that ‘GEMSTART Universal’ is a trademark of GALAXY HP/in. 1994/1995 © GALAXY HP/inc, 1995.
I found the cached version of the www.galaxyhp.com website, the initial 1996 version has price lists that you can download, the accelerator price list mentions Gemstart 7.1
“Plus, SE, Classic” · GemStart Universal v 7.1 68030 Accelerator Driver [N] · $35.00 · new · SOFTW-90346
the updated 1997 version also includes price lists, including a list of Accelerators being sold, but does not mention GemStart.
I have also sent LinkedIn contact requests to David Shipway who lists himself as the past CEO of Galaxy Hardware Publishers Inc, and Glenn L. Austin who is named in the “get info” dialog for the installer.
For Glenn L. Austin, if it is the same person, in addition to writing GemStart Universal, he seems to have been employed by Total Systems as an Engineer, and Symantec as a Technical Support Engineer.
References
I haven’t been able to find references to GemSTART 7.1, but have found some information on the previous versions
- System 7: GemSTART 030 Accelerator Control Panel Upgrade (TA46593): MicroMac Technology, Inc. reports that GemStart version 2.03 or later is fully compatible with version 7.0 and AppleTalk Phase 2.
- Manual for the Gemini Ultra covers GemSTART for System 7.0.1