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?"

Comments

Why is this an Issue?

[Hungus]

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.

Re:Is a "clone" capable of cloning the experience?

[Otter]

It will not duplicate owning an Apple.

And it certainly isn't a cost-effective way to try out OS X. If that's want you want, go to E-Bay and find yourself a a good deal. (Unlike low- or medium-end PCs, a two year old Mac will be in great shape.)

Not to challenge anyone's joy of hacking, if that's what they're after (Please put up a page describing your results and submit it here! We'd love to see it!) but don't do this to save $150.

At one point...

[MachineShedFred]

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!

Apple wiring diagrams and voltages

[Anonymous Coward]

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 :)

Case mod woes

[Zhe Mappel]

...a caveat that hinders Mac geeks from delving into the wide world of case modding (mmm.. watercooling)

God, yes. You don't know what torture it is. The day I bought the Mac, I was like, "Right! Now I'm going to paint red flames on the side of this and cut a big hole in it for a plexiglass window in the shape of a skull and stuff the whole shebang with neon lights and get plasma down at the Red Cross and circulate it through a block of dry ice so it looks like the heart of my box is a writhing steaming flesh mass out of Hellraiser. Mmm...flesh mass." Imagine my disappointment when a power supply kept me from unleashing what would have surely been a chick magnet.

Some mods have been done

[kherr]

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.

Google-dy-Google

[Lars T.]

G4 (AGP/Sawtooth) to ATX case Conversion.

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]

they sure do...

[The Herbaliser]

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.

Re:There experience and there's experience

[coolgeek]

Macs are not for people who want to do things to their computers. They are for people who want to do things with their computers.

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.