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Good idea, but butt-ugly. Check this one out: iCurve

Way better -- get a Griffin PowerMate (about $50). It has a glowy blue led that is software controllable (256 brightness values). Run a script that constantly sets its brightness to the current CPU load level.

Plus, the PowerMate acts like a knobby thing. I call it a mousewheel for my Wacom tablet.

I use Griffin iMic and a 1/4-inch to 1/8 adapter for my guitar chord - about $2 from radio shack. Works great.

Well, the G5 has optical digital audio ports on the logic board. If you need analog in that's a bit better than what's included by default, the iMic is an affordable option.

Already exists ... at least on Mac OS X:

Radio Shark

It's a really slick, fin-shaped device/antenna plus software; it records web radio or on-air broadcasts, pauses live radio, records scheduled shows, USB powered, uses the Mac hard disk for DVR-- er, DAR?, will transfer recordings to your iPod... all for $69.

d

Sorry, the iFM isn't comparable to the internal integrated radio, a la the iHPs. I mean have you seen that thing? It's huge. That's one of the reasons I got the iHP instead of the iPod. I didn't want to fiddle with an external add-on for a radio. (And why Apple hasn't added the option yet on the iPod is beyond me.)
Top battery life for me has been around 12. But then I listen to everything at 320 kps.
Additional pluses for me were the standard LCD remote (I never have to take my iHP out of my bag, except if I want to record something, as the internal mike is on the main player) and the fact that I don't need a software program to load music onto the device. Just drag and drop.

A scrollwheel is convenient. I won't deny that. But why must it be on the mouse.

I've been meaning to try one of these as a scroller to go with my scroll-less trackball.

Just need to find my desk first...

What planet are you living on? Thieves will take whatever you carelessly leave around for them to take.

I prefer my iPod to a discman because I travel a lot and I don't want to carry CDs around. I have all of my music inside the iPod and the laptop. Also, using it with an iTrip, I can play any or all of my music on ANY nearby radio / stereo. Very handy for the car, or house parties!

1. Six-plus hours of battery life is not always enough.

That's why they make car chargers, like the PowerPod from Griffin Technology. As long as I've got gasoline, I've got power for my iPod. As for flying, until someone makes an airline power adapter for the iPod, all you need is a laptop (PC or PowerBook will work) with an air adaptor and a free Firewire port to charge your iPod. If you have a layover, you can just use the iPod AC adaptor and leech off a wall outlet in the terminal.

2. Jogging with a hard drive-based player is not cool.

Jog? Sorry, I only run when I'm chased.

3. The iPod is expensive.

So is everything worth a crap. You get what you pay for.

4. You want to make high-quality digital recordings.

No, I don't. I want to listen to my freaking MP3's.

5. You want a choice in online music stores.

No, I don't. In my household, there are three Macs, two iPods, and zero iTunes Music Store audio files. Having an iPod does not mean you are automatically an iTMS customer. $0.99/song?? Yeah, right. Call when they hit a nickel a piece, and I'll think about it.

Lack of radio is a small but important one for me.

It isn't an issue for me, and only 1 out of 5 iPod owners I know wanted radio. For that 1 person, it was simple to buy a tiny inline receiver that works with the iPod.

Happy Halloween ... I'll start of with a little humor...

Look at this cartoon at HomeStarRunner.com. When Steve Jobs introduced Jaguar he pronounced it "JagWire" - seems he needs to take a lesson from the HomeStar gang.

So, if I were CEO of Apple or if my job was in product development here's what I would be developing/releasing:

A bluetooth "one/two" button scroll mouse - I say "one/two" because the scroll button could be the 2nd button - this would satisfy Steve's simplicity rule (and his ongoing contract not to make fancy mice with Logitech) - this would also satisfy those that finally want two buttons. The scroll wheel should be like the scroller found on new Microsoft mice that can move from side to side as well as up & down a page. Scrolling is overdue on Apple mice. I really don't think Apple should innovate beyond this, but I am aware of a very interesting mouse that's in development that will combine a Griffin PowerMate and a mouse - sounds odd, but it will be interesting to see.

Along the same lines, Apple needs to put this same scroller on PowerBooks - an up & down and side to side scroller

Here's the big one - a TV tuner in everything except the iBook - all 15" & 17" PowerBooks, the high end 15" & 17" iMacs, the high end G5's, and the high end eMac should all have TV Tuners - a TV/FM/AM tuner would be awesome. Make the svideo port on the back an i/o rather than just output. This would make macs not just computers but entertainment centers as well. This is Steve's vision isn't it? Mac Users would go APES to have a Mac TV in their bedrooms - and it would be an immense value to the consumer as 17" LCD TVs are premium priced at $799 - a TV integration should cost no more than $30 in volume production. Sell a bluetooth remote, get a company like Griffin, Macally, XtremeMac in on the idea, ask them if they want to produce a premium remote. One that could say control an iPod OR the TV. Now get this - here's a side advantage - have a retractable antenna that can act as a 802.11g signal booster OR an over the air antenna!!! Apple could already have something similar to this if they'd just integrate a PCMCIA slot into iMacs & G5s. But still, I'd rather it be Apple's total solution, integrated and slick.

Next: The iSight needs a line in - this would cost pennies to integrate - the back should just screw off or a little popout svideo port would be cool - a $149 camera/firewire digitizer would SHAKE that entire market - the current firewire/analog converters are VERY expensive.

Next Up: The iPod - it needs to be this. Apple could have the iMovie store - what about Movies in Mp4 for $1.99 !! Burn once to DVD capable, authorized on 3 computers or the iPod. Think of it!!. Truthfully, I'd rather my car passengers have something like a video iPod than one of those integrated DVD/TVs that are popping up in minivans now. I saw an accident happen on the highway the other day because the driver behind a minivan with a TV was watching the TV and not the road/car in front of him. (The guy behind the minivan was actually watching the TV!!) Photo & video sharing, iPhoto integration, wow. Then, somebody with better design thinking than Belkin ("what the hell" was my reaction when I saw this) could make a media dock that could transfer photos to a Mac OR to the iPod. The media reader Belkin made was VERY short sighted. They should have made it firewire, then ALL Mac users might have been interested as well as some PC

Seriously. I have an iTrip and, while it's great for long trips in the van with the family, it's nothing you want to use with your home stereo.

The iMac I am going to be hooking up to my stereo soon will have one of these attached to it. Is this what you're looking for?

Another option would be the iMic USB audio I/O device. It also is a USB device which has a line in and line out. I got one because my TiPB 500 doesn't have audio in but it would work just as well for this purpose. Plus it's only $39.99

http://www.griffintechnology.com

... but until Griffin comes out with a new product (my money is on them) or Belkin updates its 'voice recorder' with a mic-in jack, the Mini-Disc still has the edge over the iPod as to being a great portable recorder/bootlegging device.

then again, the MiniDisc "should have" supported optical transfer from it to a digital optical in, such as the one the new G5s ship with, to really stay 'interesting'. right now, it's only useful to record. soon, it won't be useful at all. :-)

Greg

I e-mailed them (a while ago) to ask if their software supported mouse emulation, as in twisting left would scroll the mouse left and vice versa, and they said the PowerMate does not do that and they don't plan to ever add that feature. I even mentioned how much people spend on creating their own knob controllers and how this could be a new market for them if the added that one feature (which I can't see being very complicated, really) but they weren't interested. I sent links to arcade sites and all, to emphasize the size of the market (mostly, that I just wasn't making this up in case they hadn't ever heard of it.) Their software only lets you set it up to control software they already support, or software controllable by keyboard shortcuts. Seems insane that a knob like that would translate into keyboard commands, but...

Secretly, I'm hoping someone's written their own drivers or something for it. I'd buy a PowerMate just for this, if it did, but since they said it doesn't I haven't bothered. I've searched everywhere for alternate drivers or info. Anyone have any ideas?

If someone doesn't know what we're talking about, here's the web page ... it's a universal knob with a USB plug, and looks killer, except for the lack of mouse support...

Possibly you could config it to use the keyboard and reconfig MAME to take keyboard input instead of mouse/trackball, but I doubt you'd be able to get the fine control you'd want from a setup like that... especially after shelling out for a killer knob, man it just kills me, it would be perfect!

I may be naive, or cargo culting, but have you considered Bluetooth devices? For at least part of the problem, bluetooth seems to have been designed exactly to meet these needs: my impression is that Bluetooth keyboards & mice could take care of at least that portion of the devices you're trying to attach, provided that the connection distance isn't too far (the ranges needed are never stated in the original posting).

As for display, sound card & CD drive, I'm not sure what the best approach is. As another poster noted, the best way to find out would be to test your ideas to see if they'll work. I'm not sure what sound card you're considering; the only external one I'm personally aware of is the Griffin iMic, but the sample of it that I saw only had a 2 foot long USB cable. I have no idea if it would work with an extended cable, or if there's a faster Firewire version; I also don't know if the iMic only works with Macs (the original poster also doesn't give any platform constraints that may exist). I wouldn't be surprised if there are, or will be, Bluetooth devices (or Bluetooth optical drives, or at least housings for optical/hard drives), but again I'm not aware of details, if they exist.

As for VGA, I've set up a PC to connect to a display that was about 100 feet away, using a chain of server room VGA cables. The picture was awful, but servicable -- lots of ghosting & blurriness, but large screen features were clearly recognizable. While this was amusing as a prank on the person who's desktop was showing up down the hall, if you actually want your display that far away you might want to find a more professional solution :-)

The big constraint for all the things you want to attach is range: I'd always had the impression that USB wasn't reliable over distances greater than 10 feet or so, and again it isn't known how far these studios are going to be from the computers. Right on the other side of a wall? A dozen feet away? A hundred? The longer it is, the more work this is going to take.

Taking a different approach, this could possibly be an appropriate application for some kind of "small", self-contained devices, like PDAs or tablet PCs, using some kind of wireless networking (bluetooth or 802.11b/g). That takes care of your input & display issues, but may or may not meet the sound card constraint. I know that PDAs run quiet & cool; I assume that tablet PCs run louder & hotter, but hopefully they aren't as noisy or hot as a normal desktop or laptop. In any case, it's an option to consider.

Veering off in yet another bizarre direction, this could be an appropriate application for a beefy server & a bunch of VT100 terminals. They're quiet & cool, but they force you to use character based interfaces, and you'll *have* to use some kind of separate sound card (which you seem to be planning on anyway).

But again, this is an "interesting" problem, which is to say that the right solution might be sensitive to constraints that haven't really been spelled out (range, budget, hardware & software constraints, etc), and barring more information along those lines it's possible to come up with all kinds of creative, and possibly not very helpful, suggestions :-)

...many recommend the MacAlly iKey keyboard as a close replacement.

Why they specify it as a 'mac keyboard' is beyond me - it's a USB keyboard. Maybe if you need Windows keys or something it might be a problem. I use the Apple keyboard on linux via an iMate USB /ADB adapter and it works like a champ. This keyboard is at least ten years old - they used to come with the $6500 computers.

Fortunately I haven't had to try a MacAlly myself yet as Old Faithful is still going strong, but at least the pipe is nice and fat, where a unix geek needs it to be.

Playing music from the portable over FM radio is a great feature that I wish was available in the iPod.

They buy a Belkin TuneCast or a Griffin iTrip.

It'll cost you about $35 to add FM capability to your iPod.

There is a thingy on the market now that almost does the same thing as your HP knob, called the Griffin Powermate. It's a wee bit expensive for what it does, but any device with a programmable blue LED can't be all bad.

The iTrip connects to an iPod and transmits songs by FM radio to any radio receiver in the vicinity that can tune into 87.7-107.9MHz.

A recent story in TheRegister reminds us of how it is illegal to use in the uk. (unless you want to buy a licence for 339 ($548) and pay 500 ($808) a year in royalties to the Performing Rights Society).

The Article doesn't mention the bands covered and in Slashdot style I cba to find out for myself.

I do wonder if these snippets are somehow related.

p.s. I can't seem to get £ to display , oh well

RTFA. Apple does not make the iTrip. Griffin makes it.

The iTrip allows you to select from over 100 stations on which to broadcast. That means that you can find an open band, no matter how many radio stations are in your area. Now you can choose to use ANY station - not just the typical '4 stations' you might find on other transmitters.

ooh! someone could hack a griffin powermate to be the world's slickest morse tapper!

/me waits patiently

Triv

Direct link to RadioSHARK.

The URL points to Griffin Technologies, a strange manufacturer with a poorly-designed site. It should point to Griffin Technology instead.

The website has been stating "shipping soon" for a very long time now. At any rate, this could be an easier connection than a tape cassette, except for the possible trade-off of sound quality.

I've been fortunate enough to pick a few up at yard sales as backups - they're often in great condition as they're well built and lightly used by the home user.

I've been using mine every day several hours a day for at least ten years, and I've only had to replace one. I've been using the Griffin iMate to connect them to USB computers since ADB went away.

Does anybody know what actually makes these keyboards so great? I'm always on the lookout for a replacement, but so far no dice.

I have had a house-based MP3 server running over NFS for years now... My solution has been to have a stereo near each computer that has local ethernet access, and just run the output from each computer's sound card to the stereo next to it. I have customized shell scripts for Linux, FreeBSD and Mac OS X that take the best advantage of the system's ps, mpg123 and kill programs -- if you would like a copy (and instructions for use), email me.

While this setup allows for independent songs to be played on each system (which is great for most purposes), there are times when you want to play the same song on each system -- in essence, creating a "concert" around your house. To do this, I set up Icecast on a Linux machine, gave it all of the MP3s to play, and then connect to it from each other computer via mpg123. This approach does work, but the result is less than excellent -- each connection can be timed up to a second or so off from the other ones, which creates a really weird echo effect in the house. While this can be fun for a little while (standing between two stereos you get a "live" effect from studio material), it gets old real quick.

My proposed solution to this would be find a low-power FM transmitter that you can hook up to one machine -- play MP3s from a soundcard into the FM transmitter, then tune each other stereo to the FM frequency that the transmitter is using. I must admit that I haven't tried this, so I don't know how well it would work -- I do know that the signal would sound synchronized because radio waves travel at the speed of light. I know that Griffin Technology makes the iTrip, which is an FM transmitter specifically made for Apple's iPod. It claims to only have a 10-30 foot range though (limited by FCC regulations), so I'm not sure how well it would work. I'm sure there's a company or two out there that makes a low-power FM transmitter that would work well on any output source, in any situation.

Don't get the iMike mixed up with the iMic! See also the ThinkGeek site for more information.

A similar, but non-linux solution is to use the extremely useful Griffon Technology iMic (USB audio) and their software, Final Vinyl on MacOS X (not everyone runs x86 hardware).

F.V. allows you to rip to wav or aiff and allows you to split tracks based on cue marks. It includes built in RIAA filtering and auto or manual gain and equalisation.

You just plug the iMic into you USB port on your Mac, plug the turntable directly into the iMic's input socket (well, ok, with an RCA to 3.5mm plug adapter), setup your preferred gain in F.V. and off you go.

A similar, but non-linux solution is to use the extremely useful Griffon Technology iMic (USB audio) and their software, Final Vinyl on MacOS X (not everyone runs x86 hardware).

F.V. allows you to rip to wav or aiff and allows you to split tracks based on cue marks. It includes built in RIAA filtering and auto or manual gain and equalisation.

You just plug the iMic into you USB port on your Mac, plug the turntable directly into the iMic's input socket (well, ok, with an RCA to 3.5mm plug adapter), setup your preferred gain in F.V. and off you go.

Um equivalently featured? One of the major features of the iPod is the size. Beyond that, I have yet to see any mp3 player that has as elegant a solution to navigation.

They have no digital line-in recording, no mic facility, no FM radio, and no easy way for users to replace or expand the device's batteries or hard drive.

True, and for the majority of people out there, an mp3 player is supposed to play mp3s, not act like a bunch of other things. Also, how many players allow expanding batteries?

Unlike most of the new generation media players they also feature no MPEG 4 video playback or recording.

Right, video on a 2" is useful. Again, this is an mp3 player, not a video camera.

They have a weird, all-or-nothing metadata approach to storing music that forces you to use the moderately featured iTunes freeware to utilise the iPod to its fullest instead of being able to use some other full-featured, non-freeware media jukebox software.

This is where I decided I had to reply. iTunes is far and away the best music manager/player that I've ever used, and beyond that it is *free*. Apple again shows that they just seem to get it. iTunes makes managing a huge collection trivial in ways that are so easy it's silly. I looked and looked for a system that could deal with a large library (3000 ish songs) in a useful, *quick* manner and never found one. Then I got iTunes and realized the search was over. On-the-fly searching through 3000 songs? Integrated ripping, tagging, & burning all well done. (For example, when editing the tags, you have type-ahead completion for artist & album.) I'm honestly curious what mp3 manager you use that makes iTunes look moderately featured. As for your dig about freeware vs non-freeware, I don't understand. The implication is that being freeware makes it inferior in some way, surely this isn't what you mean.

On the plus side, they do look cute, and fit in most pockets easily.

The latter of which matters to me, the former of which matters to a *lot* of people.

think iPods are "training wheel" MP3 players for many people. It remains to be seen whether Apple can manage their new users' experience growth and release more compelling iPods using latest technologies so that these maturing users graduate to more fully-featured iPods and do not desert to other manufacturer's media player offerings.

My god, it's an mp3 player. Period. And a damn good one. This isn't like learning to ride a bike, this is listening to music. Sometimes you get a product right and don't need to continually add bells and whistles. I have yet to see very many overly compelling features anywhere else (the fm transmitter might be the exception, though I'm happier with one I can remove like an iTrip than one permanently adding weight). Some of us want a great mp3 player that doesn't think it needs to be a geek swiss-army knife.

-Ted

iTrip + iPod == SOLUTION

That, and it's still much, much lighter :D

Umm... if your friend can get his voicemail into MP3 format, then an Apple iPod has been able to play it for nearly two years...

Likely, if you can get it into text, mp3, or aac, the Apple iPod will be able to play, display, or present the data to you. For example, using text to speech the iPod can grab newsfeed headlines. Using QuickSpeech you can similarly turn any text into an MP3 the iPod can play... unread emails from prospective employees? Messages from your dad? Intrusion alerts from your web server mailed to your computer?

Lots of fun stuff :)

The point being that the Neuros isn't the only toy on the block that can do this stuff.

Oh, and the FM transmitter stuff? Griffin iTrip, since you're already willing to live with a backpack and 9 oz of weight. Still lighter, still more intuitive, and still more portable :D

Griffin makes one.

Hate to rain on your parade, but the new iPods that just came out can use Firewire, USB 2 or USB 1. Sure you have to buy an adapter to use USB, but it's a lot better than having to buy a completely different model to get that functionality like I would have to do if I wanted to use Firewire with the Nomad Zen. Isn't $20 for a different cable a much better deal than $400 for a different MP3 player? Also, the iPod is compatible with both Macs and Windows out of the box. From what I can tell the Nomad Zen isn't, and I haven't seen any indication that it will be. And speaking of optional remote controls that enable FM tuning, you might want to look at the iFM from Griffin Technology. It allows you to turn your older iPod into an FM tuner. Sure it's only for the older models right now, but I've been informed that there will be an updated version that works with the new iPods shortly. Oh, and in addition to MP3 and AAC the iPod also supports WAV, AIFF, and Audible (books-on-tape). But I don't see why how many file formats a device supports is really important. I mean, do you really have any of your music encoded as WAV or WMA?

IPod almost gets it but no FM tuner.

I've been lusting after an iPod for a while now, but one of my reservations was a lack of an FM tuner. However, it seems that may be solved with the iFM. Griffin products have been favorably reviewed at iPod Web sites, so with luck the iFM will be of good quality.

iPod almost gets it but no FM tuner.

/me wonders why the FUCK anyone would want an FM tuner when they can carry 7500 songs around in their pocket. Sometimes you get tired of just the music that YOU like and want to sample whatever vapid claptrap ClearChannel is shitting out onto the airwaves? Do you miss having to listen to a shitload of annoying commercials in a row?

/me sighs. Fine. Here. $35.

Griffin Technology's beaten you to it:
iFM

This article at MacCentral brought me to a conclusion:

The iPod may turn out to be the most useful piece of computer hardware ANY computer or electronic hardware company has ever developed.

That is a very general, seeming overly biased, statement coming from an Apple Computer Consultant; I'm sure.

Apple created a wonder in ease of use and portability with the iPod. Until the iPod was intrduced not only were Creative and Archos Jukebox series bulky, but 10, 15, and 20 gigs was impossibly slow to load to download to the units. They were also about as easy as a car stereo Mp3 player to navigate. Apple came out with a unit that essentially put a miniature iTunes (one of the easiest, most elegant MP3 players on any platform) on the iPod, made it a hard drive to boot, but added a firewire interface. This allowed the full 5, 10, and 20 gig transfer in minutes rather than the 3.3 hours it would take for the 20 gigs through USB.

The iPod is becoming a status symbol. Shaq uses one and CONSTANTLY talks about his in interviews. He made everyone on the team purchase one before they went to the playoffs last year.

The iPod is also versatile beyond it's intended uses:

iPod as a remote control The beauty linked here was ORIGINALLY planned for the iPod and is being redeveloped now

iPod as a mouse

iPod with FM radio and here

iPod as a gameboy and game controller

Some of the coolest accesories have popped up for the iPod too. Some are linked here. Check out the transpod and of course the cool iTrip and iFM availible from Griffin.

Here are two great resources for iPod info:

http://www.ipodlounge.com

http://www.ipodhacks.com

I have already seen future incarnations and "in development" iPods. Apple is planning for it to change the future direction of the company!

To answer a question common in the forums, there WILL be an update to allow 10 and 20 gig rev 2 iPods to work, it will be released sometime next month.

This article at MacCentral brought me to a conclusion:

The iPod may turn out to be the most useful piece of computer hardware ANY computer or electronic hardware company has ever developed.

That is a very general, seeming overly biased, statement coming from an Apple Computer Consultant; I'm sure.

Apple created a wonder in ease of use and portability with the iPod. Until the iPod was intrduced not only were Creative and Archos Jukebox series bulky, but 10, 15, and 20 gigs was impossibly slow to load to download to the units. They were also about as easy as a car stereo Mp3 player to navigate. Apple came out with a unit that essentially put a miniature iTunes (one of the easiest, most elegant MP3 players on any platform) on the iPod, made it a hard drive to boot, but added a firewire interface. This allowed the full 5, 10, and 20 gig transfer in minutes rather than the 3.3 hours it would take for the 20 gigs through USB.

The iPod is becoming a status symbol. Shaq uses one and CONSTANTLY talks about his in interviews. He made everyone on the team purchase one before they went to the playoffs last year.

The iPod is also versatile beyond it's intended uses:

iPod as a remote control The beauty linked here was ORIGINALLY planned for the iPod and is being redeveloped now

iPod as a mouse

iPod with FM radio and here

iPod as a gameboy and game controller

Some of the coolest accesories have popped up for the iPod too. Some are linked here. Check out the transpod and of course the cool iTrip and iFM availible from Griffin.

Here are two great resources for iPod info:

http://www.ipodlounge.com

http://www.ipodhacks.com

I have already seen future incarnations and "in development" iPods. Apple is planning for it to change the future direction of the company!

To answer a question common in the forums, there WILL be an update to allow 10 and 20 gig rev 2 iPods to work, it will be released sometime next month.

The Apple / Bandai Pippin Controller had something similar to the trackball you are speaking of and it was/is the easiest to hold, most comfortable, game controller I have ever used. In fact, I use it with my Mac still -- with the ADB adapter and the USB adapter.

I would love for Apple to bring this down to wireless bluetooth mouse size. For now I like to use a Logitech Trackman Marble due to the fact I hate moving mice on the desk and the pippin controller.

iPod iFM radio to debut next month

Pretty cool, but I've not read any reviews about the quality of the sound, however.

...those things that allow you to broadcast iPod output on an FM frequency... bring back bad memories of CD/cassette adapters with wires all over the place...

It's the first FM transmitter device that looks well-suited to the iPod -- so far I've only seen its pictures in magazines and haven't seen one at a local Apple Store or in online stores yet.

Ambient should sell an accessory that let's you remotely configure your ambient device through another device.

For instance, send an orb to your son. Then have a jog dial with similar pager technology in your house, and let you set it to several different states to control the color of a remote Orb. Could be a great way to discretely message amungst people.

I was quite tickled when I stumbled on the iTrip.

It turns your iPod into an FM transmitter, so that you can listen to your mp3's on your home hi-fi, or on the car radio!

Don't know why this hasn't been thought of before. It's a really cool idea.

If the only thing wrong is the monitor, and you're willing to invest a bit, then just buy the iRack (watch out though, the US might try to DDoS it...), and put it in your rack in the closet...

Or rip out it's guts, copy the iRack's install guide, and install all the parts on a piece of plywood...

Or, as another poster said, rip out the drive, install VNC, then put the drive back in...

Also, I know that thay there is something that looks suspiciously like a VGA port and does connect suspiciously near the monitor on the motherboard of my Rev A iMac...

Or you could buy the iPort from Griffin Technology that adds a serial port and video out to your Rev A or Rev B iMac for only $60...

Or, as a last dich effort, you could rip out the guts, and make an aquarium....

Or you could send it to me, I'm in the Boston area and would love an old iMac to do the above with... ;)

Seriously, there are so many posibilities. I'm sure with the above you can make the iMac a nice file server. Or whatever.

Orange