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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?"
Keep in mind that it is also Apple's SOFTWARE and industrial hardware designs are part of the experience as well. Not to mention the "it just works" comments from so many "switchers" would be hard to duplicate after hours of reading message boards and piecing together hardware.
Even if this works, the best it does is offer another option to run an OS. It will not duplicate owning an Apple.
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
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
If you feel comfortable case modding or even switching cases i dont see why you need a PS adapter. The wires are all colour coded and intividual interfaces are the same(wire heads). just remove the wire ends from one plug and insert them into another. I havent looked closely at either my mac's (qsilver 2002 dual 1ghz) or my athlon's (dual 2ghz tyan) to see which has more wires. Also since macs use standard agp and pci companents you know at least that most of the voltages are going to be the same. Of course now this question is going to bug me till i pull my service source cds out and look at the ps/ wiring on a mac.
Bad Panda! No Bamboo for you! In matters of importance ACs will not be responded to. Want to say something critical,OK
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
mmm.. watercooling
Why the hell would you want to watercool a machine that runs so cool it doesn't even require a CPU fan?
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.
My G4 tower case does not just "look cool". I'm going to give examples of why I like it.
- It has handles, and so it's much easier to
move around than the beige boxes.
-
The door hinges on the bottom of the right
side, opening 90 degrees down. This exposes
the entire motherboard for easy replacement
of peripherals, RAM, or CPU. Very few
cables are flying around.
-
The case doubles as an Airport antenna,
which means you won't need a fragile little
antenna sticking out the side.
-
The case is quiet.
-
The hard drives are mounted on the bottom
of the case, along the width of the case.
This means that the ribbon cables are only
a few inches long.
Many of these are not hard to duplicate, but the point is that it's not just good looks.I can't believe it's that hard to duplicate a Mac's ease-of-use features.
What's your (lack of) belief based on? If it's easy, then surely by now there'd be other competitors that have duplicated or surpassed it, and you'll be able to cite specific examples.
And lots of us would be very happy to see a low-budget way to play with software that only runs on the Mac platform.
Why do you want to play with it, if the "Mac experience" is so overrated, expensive, and easily duplicated?
If you want to hack a computer together, visit your local nameless commdtity computer shop, go download some slackware or debian iso's, and get busy. Better yet, why not run Plan 9 on it?
On the other hand, if you really want an economical solution for running Mac software, visit the "Special Deals" section on the Apple Store. Refurbs can be had for not much more money than bargain basement wintels. If economy is your primary concern, I would like to point out spending your time on a venture like building a Mac from scratch is a false economy.
Oh yeah, and I proactively call bullshit on any follow-ups proclaiming the joy of hardware hacking. If that's the case, you really don't need a stinking adapter for a power plug.
cat