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Case Tweaking
A reader writes "I don't know what they were smoking, but these guys decided that the G4 case makes for a great LAN party box. Of course, without the G4 and all that yucky Mac hardware -- just the aesthetics. They go about hacking and modding the case, turning a low power (aka, weak) x86 box and toss it into the G4 casing, and don't end up destroying the case to make everything fit. Lotsa pictures and explanations of every step in the process"
My pesonal case mod. All aluminum CoolerMaster ATC-200, with window and sheetmetal biohazard symbol. Bundled cables, and neon light. It's definitively badass. Check it out here. Worth a looksee, trust me.
the liberator who destroyed my property has realigned my perception
www.quantumheresy.com
That case is missing what led these guys to do this in the first place - HANDLES!
So, thay got a Mac, converted it to a PC & started running IIS.
And before they even got the thing powered up, they got their first attack of Code Red.(check picture three down on the right.)
Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated up.
Insanity is the last line of defence for the master diplomat. But you have to lay the groundwork early.
Well computers are to people now, what cars where used to be. first you get it running AFAP, then befor you know it everybodys is running AFAP and the only way to distinguish your car or computer is with chrome, lights, etc...
Personally, I'm giong to go at and buy a lian-li and mod it to look "Juiles Verinish" so it will match my decor. I'm tired of having a nice place and then have this beige box standing out like a sore thumb.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I had thought about doing this exact mod for almost a year now, but haven't been able to find an empty g4 case. I suppose if a business bought some g4's and then rackmounted them they might have some g4 cases laying around or something..
Props to them for coming up with a quasi-creative case mod. In a time where stealth-mods, case windows, and neon lights are no longer creative but norm in the case mod scene, anything different is welcome.
/. readers.
My personal favorite is the case mod that throws a computer inside a case of beer. Thanks for the "light" news every now and then
--I hate big sigs.
As has been mentioned before, Apple is in a unique situation where they control nearly all the aspects of the computer. The ATX standard and most PC motherboards are designed with either tower or desktop cases in mind.
Separately sold cases, which have to be compatible with a wide variety of motherboards, have a hard time replicating Apple's designs. In particular, in a tower case, the internal devices are all above the motherboard, so the cable connectors are at the top. A swing out design, like in the G4, is hard to do because the cables will get in the way. Take a look ColorCases to see what "niche" case manufacturers are doing despite these limitations.
On the other hand, companies like Compaq, Sony, and Gateway already ship their computers with custom motherboards and cases, and so have fewer limitations. They do offer their own takes on PC case design, just not exact copies of Apple's design for legal reasons. I mean, check out Compaq's Ipaq and Sony's Vaio Line and tell me they're ignoring design considerations.
As for computer enthusiasts who actually prefer compatibility, performance, and value to fancy design, we typically opt for the kind of cases listed here. (My specific case isn't listed there; it's an Antec S830.) They offer better cooling, more expandibility, and better access than most of the cases that tend to form before function. We're not immune to the concerns of aesthetics either; we just prefer to take matters in our own hands. Granted, some of the mods are of questionable taste and talent, but there are as many clean, professional jobs as bad jobs. And every one is the pride and joy of someone, no matter what you think of them.
The quality that makes something laughable or amusing; funniness: could not see the humor of the situation.
Get it?
Evan - needs to hit preview before submitting
I guess its a natural reaction to kill what is alien to you but to throw away PowerPC hardware is a sin. Its just a better CPU than any Intel I have ever seen. I mean if you had that many G4's you could have built a killer cluster out of it and done some Vector processing on each node with the extra sexy AltiVec stuff that comes on those CPU's.
:)
At this point in my life I view the G4 as an equal to the x86 and the only reason x86 is equal is the range of software geared towards it. I personally find x86 to be "on the way out". Its design has been recycled so many times [16 bit - 64bit, new opcodes no one uses anywhere.] All in the name of backwards compatibility that your OS's don't provide.
If I had access to a G4 I certainly wouldn't throw it away. I would just get OS 10.1 when its out.
But that's just my $.02
And doubtful if they would sell it to you if you told them what you planned to do with it...
Looking for any old 8-bit Heathkit/Zenith software/hardware - http://heathkit.garlanger.com
I really wonder why none of the PC vendors I've seen use a similar swing-out case design.
m a_Display/ or the Apple site. This is by far the most easily maintainable consumer level machine I've ever encountered.
:)
The G4 case is a work of beauty. I'd love to see a PC version for the next time I decide to buy a PC (probably not for a while, it seems my Athlon will last me a while). Here is what I think is very slick about it:
* To do maintenance, you pull a handle on the side, the side swings out (as shown on the site). The motherboard pulls out with the side panel, meaning you no longer have to dig inside the machine to add memory or put in PCI cards, and you don't have to worry about using tools to open it. For an example shot, see the first few photos at http://profile.sh:81/Collection/Apple_G4_and_Cine
* All of the cables for IDE and such are very taught, and held onto the edge. No mess of cables to worry about accidentally loosening up when you add RAM.
* Handles are very convienent for moving it around. As a hidden feature, your machine is actually elevated slightly, rather then completely on the table. You don't have to worry about scratching the beautiful case, just the corner handles.
* The CD burner is nicely hidden from view, with a blue spring-loaded bezel over it. You hit the little blue eject button, and out pops the white cd-rom inside of it. No more worrying about color matching.
* Suprisingly good built-in speaker for the newer models
* Power light is nice bright & white, which fades in and out during sleep mode. This is just a cutesy thing though
Overall, it's of very high quality, I'd love to see a similar 3rd party type case for my Athlon. It's got a nice ColorCase brand casing right now. Any ideas on a similar case?
That is definantly one uber case. Can't see myself spending 2 years working on one like he did though...
And Anonymous Cwards read what they want to every sentence. He said the organizers of the Case Mod competition were asked if the goldfish'd live. He didn't ask you or anyone here about it.
I dont know, the 7100 was a pain in the ass to add memory. I still have scars on my hand from that bad boy. Anytime you have to take the top off and remove the cd so you can then get a second person to help out really really sounds bad. And it was.
Why are Mac and PC enthusiasts so hateful to each other? What makes someone go from "my PC is cool" to "your Mac is the worst piece of crap on earth" and vice versa? Were you all abused by computers as children? Get a grip, just because you don't like doesn't mean it sucks.
Putting RAM in the new and old G3s, G4s and iBooks is really easy though.
From my experience, taking it out and putting to proper use is even easier. Sorry dude, couldn't resist.People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
Ok, yeah, floppies do suck, but they're a commonly used medium. Anybody with a slow modem at home or no net connection at all probably uses them a lot. I use them to back up important data (2 copies, because floppies aren't 100% reliable, true) cheaply, and without having to buy a CD burner/tape drive/Zip drive for my old steam-powered Pentium 233. Remember, not everyone has a PIII with a brand new CD-RW. And let's be honest, the drives cost what... twenty bucks new? It doesn't kill you to put one in. You may need to exchange files with unfortunate wretches like myself on occasion.
Freedom: "I won't!"
The old Ps/2 model 80's had a handle built in and whre very well made cases. I wonder if I could fit an ATX motherboard in one?
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
My bad. When I'm tired, my spelling gets homonymic. (Its a weird thing)
> * Power light is nice bright & white, which fades in and out :)
> during sleep mode. This is just a cutesy thing though
Actually if you have an Apple monitor the power light of the monitor fades in and out during sleep mode and it does it in synch with the desktop power light (I think it's synching through USB)
That's quite a sense of detail.
Short answer, no, you may not lick my balls.
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
I'm not entirely sure that's correct. It's true that older Macs had the MacOS Toolbox (the OS runtime, basically) in ROM, but I don't believe any Mac had the ability to boot to ROM directly.
On the other hand, Macs have had NetBoot-- which is basically bootp for diskless network booting-- at least since the debut of the iMac. Never used it myself, but it's cool that its there, built right into the hardware.
FireWire drives, which already exist, would be much better than IDE anyday.
I have a website. It's about Macs.
I would be much more impressed to the the original hardware run Windows.
In that case, you should really check out Front-X. I think it does pretty much what you want.
magic chefNext project: take a new PowerBook G4, and remove all the innards and transplant them in an IBM PCjr case! That way you can get rid of the yucky titanium case and downright sickening 15.2" wide-aspect ratio screen. Cool!
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
Cool. You've got half an Apple Mac OS 9 logo, did you notice that?
sorta funny.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Of course, without the G4 and all that yucky Mac hardware...
yes, i dont know what is with the recent zdnetization of /. first the which-is-the-greatest-laptop-in-the-world story, then the antimac rant story, now these comments. seems like they are subscribing to the flamewars-generate-hits school of thought *sigh*
the animal doesnt even have opposable thumbs, focker!
the case serves as an encryption device; by removing the insides of the case and using them for your own purposes, you are violating the DMCA! And you don't get any Fair Use here, because the hardware itself isn't audio. ;)
Illustrator, Freehand, AfterEffects, Premier, PageMaker, InDesign, Acrobat, XPress, Dreamweaver, BBEdit, Director, Flash, LiveMotion, Office, Maya, Netscape, IE, Omniweb, Fontographer, Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio, Fetch, Transmit, ImageReady, Quake, The Sims, Summoner, iTunes, SoundJam, Warcraft, Starcraft, Apache, MySQL, WebObjects, FileMaker, Palm Desktop, the GIMP, X Windows, Eudora, Outlook Express, Web Star, 4D and more emulators and shareware apps than you can shake a stick at. I could list more, but that list right there is already complete overkill for anything I'm ever going to need to do with my Macs.
Ok, so we don't have Mattel's Barbie's 'N Sync Virtual Makeover. I think I can live without that particular software title.
Pooty tweet
I've been wanting to build a custom case but I run into the problem of having the PCI cards standing on the motherboard. Does anyone know where I can get cables that would let me relocate the cards? Or if they exist?
- Sig this!
My machine at work is an older G4/533... (533 MHz PowerPC 7410, 512 MB of CAS-3 [slower] PC133 SDRAM, and the stock OEM nVIDIA GeForce2 MX). While 95% of my time (ok, 85%, but don't tell my boss) is spent in Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, and Cleaner 5, I have installed and played with some of the latest wizbang games. Quake 3, FAKK2, DeusEx, and UT all play very smoothly. "Timedemo" benchmarks show numbers in the 50 - 75 frame-per-second area. Just how much better does a game player need? I would imagine that the GeForce 3 gives even better performance, as well as the CPU improvements in the current G4s (733, 800, and 867 MHz PowerPC 7450). And who doesn't replace the stock mouse with a real one? Just like I did with my old Dell, the first thing I did was buy a nice 3 button scroll-wheel mouse. Works great in Mac OS 9.1 and OS X.
Sure the Mac is no gamer's dream, but it plays games as well as I would ever want. Plus it's a great workhorse.
Don't forget Quakecon 2001 this weekend. They have their annual Case Mod Contest, and this year should be quite good. I heard rumour of a question asked of one of the organizers: 'You think a goldfish would live if its water was heated by my P4?'
Haha yeah so I do, I never noticed that. I just followed the inset edge of the case around the edge of all the drive bays.
So, why don't you just complete the picture, and add some lightstrip for the *other* side?
That'd be really kinda funny, in a guerilla logo-steeling kind of way.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Uh, external Firewire HD cases, maybe?
-- Colin
Actually, I agree with this.
I don't use floppies at all. For the most part I use CD-RWs.
But CD-RWs suck 'cuz it's a pain to burn a disk just for a few files.
Only if your CD-RW drive and it's software sucks. Any good Packet-Writing CD-RW drive will treat a RW disk just like any floppy. Sure, it only holds 512k and it has to be used in a drive the supports Packet Writing, but most high quality drives now days do.
My only real complaint here is that no Operating System as of yet has Packet-Writing as a standard available FS for use with CD-RWs.
(Perhaps if Amiga is smart AmigaOS 4.0 could take this opprotunity to further innovate by doing away with floppies and using CD-RW's with Packet Writing as the standard removable media...)
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
for smaller i found a micro atx form factor athelon mb on compgeeks.com for about $50. takes a socket a athelon up to 1.3 gig. i have no idea if it'll work though....
I mean: Why these guys (mod-freaks) are so eager to destroy good hardware just to make its appearance plase them? I can barely understand an out-of-order VAX being transformed in a bar, but when some idiot destroys a WonderSwan just to play GBA games in its case, or a G4 just to put a crappy PC Motherboard inside, I'm ashamed.
Besides, maybe they don't know that a G4 runs Linux. And Loki has released their games in PPC versions. Coming to a LAN with a G4 running Quake III on top of Linux would be IMHO more impressive (best of all, it would probably convince more Mac users to drop their crappy MacOS, more gamers to try Linux, etc.)...
Note that I'm not saying it's no good to tweak a machine, I'm just saying it's good if you're actually *improving* it, but destroying it for æsthetical purposes seems pointless to me...
Xenu brings order!
That's great and all, and I'm happy for 'em, but I hardly think it deserves it's own topic. But, props to the makers.
My Journal - 1,337 fans and countin
Somewhere in the company is a G3 case with a PIII motherboard running Win98 - I know because I've used it, and was rather suprised when asking for a windows box I was pointed to the blue case.
These mods are easy. The hacking to the case conducted here just shows he was a complete muppet who didn't understand what the hell he was doing. The G3->PIII conversion (mboard, drive, etc.) took about 15 minutes, and the G4 cases aren't that different. There was no way he needed to cut the case up the way he did if he had made a sensible choice of mboard.
Let's see... 64 bit PCI, gigabit ethernet, Altivec... Even story submitters can post anonymously so as to make stupid, stupid comments like this with no responsibility for answering to them.
There used to be quite a large market in taking the chassie from the VW Bettle (old body style) and putting fiberglass bodies on it. One I saw even had gull wing doors and a big ass spoiler on the back.
Well, not on the Mac - they don't have floppies anymore!
#include "disclaim.h"
"All the best people in life seem to like LINUX." - Steve Wozniak
If it is of value than, as you say, you can just get one. There are a variety of USB floppy drives out there including combo drives that also read CF, Smart Media, etc, great for digital photography and such, that are trivially easy to hook up to your Mac and use. Myself? I have a floppy drive on my older Mac at home, but I have not used a floppy drive in many years. I think somewhere I still have some floppy disks but I'm not sure. Keep in mind that Macs have always been able to boot from CD (well, once CD drives came into existence, of course.) Maybe Windows PCs require such ancient technology as a floppy, but Macs do not.
--- What?
Advantage two: We Windows users have an OS that will run cool games for much, much more than the cost of a PS2, xBox or GameCube. It's fun to spend!
Advantage three: Mac users are forced to have sex with their mates while we get the opportunity to fight trojans and viri for fame and glory!
Advantage four: Windows allows us to have more "quality time" with our computers.
--- What?
this really pisses me off - this guy makes a valid and intelligent comment and its obiously flamebait, what did he forget to praise linus
:-)
:-)
Everyone knows that anything even remotely touching on mac vs pc is a sensitive issue for some moro... er people. Therefore, if you have a valid point to make, you make it tactfully.
Not only did he seem to fail here, one gets the impression he didn't really try at all (which on a delicate matter like this is flamebait, regardless of how insightful his point or question might be).
For example, in order to make the point that a G4 case contains some seriously nice hardware, he didn't say "a state-of-the-art PowerPC 7400 that rocks the socks off even the more intensive PS filters", he instead leapt at the opportunity to claim that the 7400 blows away the best pentiums - something that so many people consider an outright lie (apparently resulting from an idiotic benchmark from a faulty photoshop port) that it is hard to see how he could have intended it to be taken lying down by said people. Valid point or not, that's flamebait.
He could have made his point without trumpeting the battlecry of an irrelevant, ongoing, seething flamewar. He choose not to. He was moderated down for this. Everything is exactly as it should be.
If we want light instead of heat in these forums (ha!), then it's a GOOD thing to have moderators who can distinguish between a person making a good point, and a person making a good point in a needlessly inflamatory manner.
Sure, you might argue that I'm overstating how inflamitory his post was. Technically, you'd be right. The thing to consider however is that in this real world, we get loosers who are so stupidly oversensitive about these "issues" that you do have to tread carefully to keep the discussion from denegrating to heat. If all it costs to do this is a few points of Kharma, I'd say that's a great solution
I'm not advocating tact for tact's sake or some other kind of censorship-like sounding concept, I'm pointing to a known cause-and-effect, and saying that tact is sometimes a "necessary evil" that must be taken into account to ensure meaningful dialogue. If other people here agree with me, then it will show in the moderation.
Of course, the moderators might simply be acting out of spite or whatever, but let's be optimistic for a change
Now if they could only try this with a Cube... that would be sweet.
But I can definitly see why someone would think it's ugly.
Sure, it only holds 512k
CORRECTION! UGH!
I meant 512 megabytes. I can't believe I made such an error. Talk about an FS that really cripples! Shesh!
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
Funny as hell, but I hate to say it guys- this is laughing AT rather than laughing with. You lusers :)
You misspelled "Outlook" as "the Internet" Then again, before the internet there were BBSes which were pretty handy too in spreading virii.
I really wonder why none of the PC vendors I've seen use a similar swing-out case design.
because you don't look in the right places?
http://www.fkusa.com/chassis/FK900/901f.htm
Check out http://httpd.chello.nl/~h.bertrams/ for a Athlon in a G4 case. I think this is really cool but there is no way I would do it unless i got a empty G4 case with no hardware in it. And thats also what this dude (at the link) did.
The Apple tower series designers were really onto something when they came up with the G3. You gotta hand it to Apple, when it comes to aesthetics and the melding of form and function, they've got the monopoly.
Dancin Santa
Apple won't be happy about this! They'll claim their trademarked logo is being violated by running software not meant to be used on Apple hardware. The casual observer will associate that software with Apple, and as a result their good name will have suffered.
SOMEBODY CALL THE POLICE!
Gah! What's everyone's obsession with the floppy drive? They suck, get over it.
To take that beautiful Mac hardware and replace it with disgusting PC crap? Just to have a nice case?
You can BUY imacky cases.... why ruin a G4 to do it, I don't know.
Look at http://virtual-hideout.net if you have any interest in case modding. They have projects that put this to shame.
I am Providence.
It somehow seems strange that people can be so obsessed with computer cases. I'm all for cool/personal cases but wow how much work goes into this?
But then I guess I'm a bit of a hippocrite, I've got a pretty wild case for my work PC also.. check out the titan case at Trans2000.
__ No registration required to read this message. They did it in the Matrix.
if you read the article, they got the case for like, 169 bucks or so. They didn't actually buy a G4 system.
Perhaps you mean the 128-bit-path PowerPC 7400, which has this terrible tendency to rock the Pentium right off the scale. Or the board, with its firewire interfaces, Gigabit ethernet, and 802.11 capabilities?
Nope, don't see any yuckiness there. Now why you would spend your time and money on violating a really great machine to put a sub-par low-tech x86 box in there is absolutely beyond me. I would love to have that kinda extra time and money. And you probably put Windows on there, for Pete's sake.
Now, I'm no biased Mac fanatic, I'll look at all the sides (and I merrily use Linux), but... why destroy an awesome machine like that? Why?
"All your base are belong to this file I send in order to have your advice."
It's nowhere nearly as cool as this case (http://www.eugenesargent.com/case1.htm). ;)
Thanks, Jethro
Jooleem. Get Addicted.
Did they do this to such a beautiful machine? As a mac-lover this brings me to tears. Seriously, though, a Mac can still be a decent LAN machine. It does runs Quake III (quite nicely under OS X) and Unreal Tournament. Starcraft and Myth II as well. Beyond those, of course, you are going to have trouble.
This case is spiffarifficus. Completely Rocketeer approved!
Now, if you've read this article all the way through and you've got bright ideas swirling in your head about doing this yourself, you're probably wondering where to get the chassis. I got mine through connections, but if you're looking to obtain one for yourself, you might want to check with your nearest Apple Authorized Service Center. Ordering the chassis cost me about $160, and the 3.5" and CD bezels should cost you about $45 total.
By fancy case standards, that's not so bad.
Geeesh, where does one get the money to buy a G4 just to remove out all the internal parts?
Watch next week as we disembowel an SGI O2 to make a bird feeder!
I posted to
you got it all backwards! you're supposed to take Mac guts (now that they use ATX power supplies) and put them into fat PC cases so you can add more drives than just two internal 3.5s! eesh, some people...
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
No, no... not a Ford Pinto. He did actually replace it with a functional machine (unlike the Pinto). But it is like ripping the core out of a Dodge Viper, and slapping say, a Dodge Neon in there. Why?
"All your base are belong to this file I send in order to have your advice."
Pretty soon we'll have to have flames shooting out of the floppy drive just to get chicks. I'm sorry man, but as a geek, if I modding my case will get me chicks, shit hell yeah, I'll do it.
Just for the record--
Last time I added RAM to my G3 B&W (same basic enclosure, flip-down-door mounted logic board) I went for speed, just to see. Not the safest thing in the world, but I'd been drinking...
Anyway, measuring from powerdown to powerup I added two sticks of PC100 in 27 seconds.
Don Negro
Perl 6 will give you the big knob. -- Larry Wall
I have a bondi blue Mac monitor connected to my PC. Whenever I'm at a lan party people always ask "When did Tribes 2 come out for Mac?"
I just laugh.
While you may be able to argue that the pulsing itself is "cutesy", there is good reason to have some sort of indication that the computer is sleeping as opposed to being on or off. It's trivial to make it pulse and it looks cool, so why not?
--- What?
As for floppies being redundant I use floppies all the time, Why? because they are the lowest common denominator of booting on PC's and boy will I be glad to see the end of them. But with all the old hardware out there it will take ages. Hint I'm a computer technician I have to fix old beasts when they break.
My brother is just inserting a PC inside a aluminium tool case but I can't work out how to fit my PC inside my Gameboy
-- RTFM:Slackware::Beer:Saturday
Insanity is the last line of defence for the master diplomat. But you have to lay the groundwork early.
if your looking for a place that makes a swing out side for a PC check out Toms Hardware and look for a article that talks about a "Submarine Case"
what is this for? oh well
Which person is so bored they'd gotta spend time not only building this useless piece of crap, but also writing an entire article about it?
Whoever did such a thing is someone I call a "True Dork with no life".
Instead of doing such a ridiculous and useless thing why not save all the money you've lost to build this thing and spend it on a health gym membership and get your flabby pink stomach down to size?
Damn people really have no life. Pathetic.
eTrade SUCKS
That is odd, he placed the motherboard on the non-lowering side of the case. G3 and G4 motherboards go on the fold down door. That makes access to the motherboard that much more easier. So he/she more or less went against the entire point of the G3/G4 tower design.
Pretty soon we'll have to have flames shooting out of the floppy drive just to get chicks.
Ug
Evan - needs to hit preview before submitting
Oh dear God is this the world's worst pain in the ass. I am not going to burn CDs just to boot.
then boot from the os cd that came with your machine, unfuck the hard drive, and reboot.
--saintScrew fancy case mods, what I want is a case that puts the back of the case in front, and then moves a few bays so they are accessable, as well as the power buttons. If you have a lot of connections that you change frequently in the back of a PC, you know the feeling.
It would have to be a full tower, to get enough height above the motherboard for the cd drive and floppy, and it should have 2x 5 1/2" bays, but as long as everything is excessable from one side, I'd be happy.
By far the coolest case I've seen in a while =)
d =1 87889
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?threadi
Apple Computer Inc.
V.S.
These dudes
It has come to our attention that you have violated our computer cases by installing x86 motherboards. This behavior is somehow (not sure yet, but we can prove it in court!) no allowed by the DMCA. You will stop installing x86 systems in our case as they MIGHT, possibly appear to run faster than our current boxes.
Lameness filter encoutered. Post aborted...
Reason: Junk character post
WTF?? Give me a break!! The lil Asteriks added so much to it!!
Geesh...
*QH takes ball and goes home*
LFS. Have you built your system today?
Has anyone else noticed that G4s have ungodly high resale value??
Even a heavily used G4/400 with just a Rage128 AGP card goes for a fortune on eBay. The going rate on the usenet is no better.
It's not like a new G4 is -that- expensive. At my university's campus computer store, the 733 model with DVD-ROM/CD-RW starts at about $1599 and the 867 MHz model with the neat dvd burner DVD-R/CD-RW is about $2399.
Reminds me of The Exorcist. Beautiful exterior -- evil inside.
--Rick "If it isn't broken, take it apart and find out why."
VirtualPC's been out for a while, there, chappy..
Just raise the taxes on crack.
Back during the "glory days" of the Internet boom, a friend had rack-mounted a few G4s and had the gutted cases laying around. He asked if I wanted one, and being the cheapo I am, I said, "sure."
it's been sitting in my room all this time, and I *AM* thinking of getting one of those Athalon 1.4Gig machines... Hmm. Anyone know the ideal motherboard model that might work? I guess you need a smaller one than usual or something....
W
-------------------
This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
This is a truly kick-ass case.
Causation can cause correlation
--Richard
- A 440LX-based motherboard
- A Celeron 466 MHz
wouldn't he be better off with the original Apple hardware? i mean, if you're hacking an Apple case, at least put something faster in it, like dual T-Birds!Just raise the taxes on crack.
They were all Mac-only shindigs.
I've got to mention the most amazing thing I saw in all that time, though. It was something so brief that I might have missed it since I was busy setting up systems and greeting people...
This guy shows up to the gaming session with a green iMac. He walks in carrying every damn thing he needs, plugs in, and is booting in about ten seconds. Within a minute of arriving, he's gaming!
My other buddies still drag around CPU boxes, cables, monitors, towels to wipe sweat from their foreheads, etc., etc., etc.
I learned that day that the iMac is one MF'n great game machine.
--Richard
Yeah thats cool except the cdrom/floppy drives are god aweful ugly.
..There's a-dooin's a-transpirin'
I hate having to wait half a day before I can visit a page that's been slashdotted. I propose I post after I've viewed the page and then everyone else gets a turn.
No sig for you!!
great post. of course, i'm slanted too :-)
oh, by the way [fellow mac users]. Cocoa's killer app: http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=113 61&db=mac
The shell was easy to remove.. but woe to you if you wanted to add memory. Gads, I love apple with a passion (my first computer purchase was a Mac+, followed by a SE/30 I still own) but that box's internals still gives me flashbacks.
-'fester
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
Yeah, booting. Don't forget; we're talking about a Mac here, which has been able to boot from a CD, external FireWire drive, Zip drive, or whatever for about 10 years. The old Mac Classic could even boot from ROM (they had a complete version of the system software built onto ROM) for complete diskless operation. Thus the lack of a floppy for about 4 years.
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
Invalid form key iTXPURWLGP
I don't see a date right away, but this was done months if not a year or more ago.
Considering the pageload times that the server is(n't) giving me, I'm beginning to wonder if this isn't being served from the same "low power x86 box."
This site(xlr8yourmac.com) has a couple of articles on putting mac motherboards into PC cases (mainly for the extra drive bays). I used to have a G3 with SCSI and IDE on board, but could only put 2 HDs, zip and CD in it. One of the reasons I got rid of it is because I wanted an extra 3 or 4 drive bays.
What is this thing, the PimPC? All it needs are the curb-feelers, the floppy hat with ostrich plume, and, of course, the stable of bitches.
~Philly
*Hold down the Option key after you hear the boot beep to see a list of bootable devices
Boy, that's tough! Yeah, Microsoft sure has the edge for hardware/software integration!
I have a rackmount 4U AT (not ATX) case with 5.25" drive bays. Unused, nothing in it but a power supply. Anybody have any ideas on what to do with the thing?
If I properly recall my Computer Voodoo course, placing an x86 motherboard into an Apple case conjures up Clarus the Dogcow in his most terrible form.
/ do gcow/
l
Normally, he lives in the "Page Setup" dialog box in Classic Mac OS. He makes sure you know what you're doing with your printer options. Further, he's kind of cute.
However, placing the untamed power of a x86 board inside the sleek, modern design of a G4 case causes an energy imbalance which disturbs Clarus. Clarus rises from the "Page Setup" and MOOFs until every last screw holding the system together falls out. Rejoing the parts will only result in IRQ conflicts, although each part will work fine in another machine.
For more information on Clarus:
http://developer.apple.com/products/techsupport
http://www.multimania.com/maddog/MOOF/index.htm
And to help Clarus make the transition to Mac OS X, sign the following petition:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/sod/petition.html
Know what I like about atheists? I've yet to meet one that believes God is on their side.
yeah, thats cool shit.
Spring is here. Don't believe me, look outside!
I like all your ideas, but apple is in a unique postition to do this. It isn't so much the proprietary hardware, but the low number of base models and setups that you can choose from. I imagine Compaq, Dell, etc. all buy their cables in bulk and not different sizes. Since PCs are mostly office machines there is no reason for easy access to the Mobo in their eyes. I would like to see a snazzier case though.
Everytime you look at porn a devil gets their horns.
Am i the only person who thinks that case looks like a pile of crap? And as to some of the earlier questions about why PC cases aren't easy to access like G4s are, the answer is some are, some aren't. I build about 10 computers a month (not alot compared to some of you i'm sure, but a good amount nonetheless), and therefore i see a lot of cases. Many i've seen lately have only a thumb screw required to get inside, with panels that all slide off easily. Also, if you want the power of a desktop and the portability of a notebook, you get a rackmount case. You can have as much power as any desktop, with convenient handles and a protective shell. If you want to see a WAY cooler case hack (with about 1/10th the work), check out this guys.
"The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw."
Uhm, these G4s (and the G3s) are in what are pretty much ATX cases. Big deal. Add some screw posts, lengthen some cabes, and tada! You've made a G4 that's worth about $150. Good freakin' job.
SIGFEH
Am i the only person who thinks that case looks like a pile of crap? And as to some of the earlier questions about why PC cases aren't easy to access like G4s are, the answer is some are, some aren't. I build about 10 computers a month (not alot compared to some of you i'm sure, but a good amount nonetheless), and therefore i see a lot of cases. Many i've seen lately have only a thumb screw required to get inside, with panels that all slide off easily.
Also, if you want the power of a desktop and the portability of a notebook, you get a rackmount case. You can have as much power as any desktop, with convenient handles and a protective shell. Plus it just looks cool.
If you want to see a WAY cooler case hack (with about 1/10th the work), check out this guys.
"The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw."
This is the first thing that I found on something that sounds similar to it:
http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US06097591__
Well, hopefully Apple doesn't own a patent on the case, they don't like to share :(
unless you are using an Athalon, I wouldn't compare x86 to a G4... especially if that x86 is a pentium 4 (note: intel stopped using roman numerals after 3 because their customer base wouldn't understand why the new pentium is intraveneous)
Check out the sgi linux boxes, such as the 230. The cases are fairly nice, they swing down on a hinge and only have thumbscrews to retain the case. It's no Apple design, but its better than other PC cases I've seen.
Chris Kuivenhoven is a thief, beware
they'll take a Ferrari body and put it on a Dodge Neon.
Lemmings are silly; dinosaurs are extinct.
That's most likely because it wasn't designed by a PC engineer - don't quote me on that one :-) Although to be pleasing, both aesthetically and functionally is a bonus.
So where are the PC alternatives? This has been mentioned so often, yet nothing seems to have come of it. Current designers seem to think that by adding a couple of translucent plastic panels to a bog standard case makes it a funky design. I'm yet to see anything that comes close to the G4 (without being a clone).
The majority of differentiation promoted by PC manufactures focuses on the internals. Until the PC becomes a truly consumer item, exterior design won't be taken seriously. Perhaps there's a niche for a smart manufacturer to benefit from this foresight.
Do not try to think outside the box. That's impossible. Instead, realise the truth. There is no box.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
This is a great idea, considering that this case has such usefull handles for LAN party transportation! Now all these guys need to do is to hack the G4 cube remove the rotten (apple)core and replace it with nice PC componenents. Nice work :)
Ohh my spleen
how many years has Mr. King been dead at 54?
oh look, its a multiphasic chronoton particle generator, with optional dual airbags and a heizenberg buffer modulator!
And I made a fishbowl out of a Mac SE when I broke the tube.
Course, the tandy box i inherited was made into a pansie plant box.
best,
c.
oh look, its a multiphasic chronoton particle generator, with optional dual airbags and a heizenberg buffer modulator!
Well, the point of that story was that, from that conversion, I thought similar cases, perhaps comforming to ATX, did exist, but were simply below the standard of Apple's version. I never did have any problems with cables pinching in that case, anyway. :)
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
What exactly did they do with the Mac part of the G4?
At least since he was 53, and that's just here on Slashdot.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Dissing Mac hardware is so 1993... Apple's got plenty of things wrong, but their hardware isn't really one of them.
Catch up with the present...
Potato chips are a by-yourself food.
Some of you people don't even know what a troll is.
Computational Madness in a round package.
Well, the main reason is that Apple has a tendency to sue anyone that infringes upon their designs.
I hope you meant Pentium 30, not 300. 300 would be CCC, not XXX
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