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ATX Power Supply Adapter for Macs?
Swift Guru asks: "I've seen many comments on Slashdot stating that people would love to try out Mac OS X if only they could afford the hardware. Many roll their own Macs, but unfortunately have to rely on proprietary Apple power supplies (or hack together their own), a caveat that hinders Mac geeks from delving into the wide world of case modding (mmm.. watercooling), and prevents PC users from using familiar ATX case hardware. The PPC platform requires its own processors and logic boards, but last I checked computers all used the same kind of electrons. Hardware hacking is supposedly the next killer app, so why isn't there a simple adapter solution to allow current Macs to use ATX power supplies? Or is there?"
there are like 10 voltages that go into the motherboard, I don't know for sure but I think on macs they're different.
taking the voltage down is easy, you can use a diode or something like that, stepping it up when needed is a different story (we're talkin an adapter half the size of a whole power supply)
computer power supplies have to be really spot on, otherwise everything blows up.. anyways, you really should compare apple power supplies to GOOD ones in the PC world, because to do otherwise is playing down the fact that cheap power supplies suck
Step 1: Figure out how to get an OSX capable motherboard & processor w/o the bulky case, power supply, HD, RAM package they all seem to come with. Step 2: Worry about stupid crap like why I can't just buy an adapter to use one of the many ATX power supplies I've got lying around. Step 3: No, dude! This is HARDWARE you want hardware hacking - then hack it! The specs are online, it has been done.
Apple embraced the idea of using some commodity parts. This is evidenced by the Apple / ATX PS jumper you can find on the Beige G3 motherboards (specifically the "Gossamer")
You can flip that jumper from 1-2 to 2-3 and slam your ATX supply on there, and you're juiced and ready to go!
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
since i was wondering after my previous post (above) here is the link for the p/s with voltages and pinouts.
:)
posted anonymously to supress karma whoring
xlr8yourmac.com is probably the place to go for something like this. They've got articles on converting a Beige G3 and converting a Blue & White G3.
Apple's machines seem to use different voltages than what's on a standard ATX power supply, at least in some machines.
Step #3 - ATX Power supply
[Reminder: The ATX supply does not have 28VDC used on Gigabit G4 and later Towers for ADC. The pinout of the power supply connector/motherboard connector on the Gigabit and later G4s is not the same as earlier Sawtooth models. See my notes above.-Mike]
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
My $2000 PC's power-supply exploded after two years of use, seriously fucking everything up. That's why I have an iBook now. The funny thing is that I think I spent more money making the PC work the way I wanted it to (replacing broken components, upgrading, etc.) than the total cost of my iBook, which works great (although the baclight is kind of dim when it's really bloody cold). So now I've got a mac and everything is fine and dandy, except my wireless router is non-apple, from SMC, in fact. Damn thing never fucking works (with macs or PCs). One of these days I'll replace it with an airport. I will never try to save money by buying PC equipment again. If my time and sanity are worth anything, then the apple stuff is cheaper.