What do I do with a "new" Trash Can?

[romanof]

I have been given an immaculate Trash Can Mac Pro in working condition - at least it boots to an empty Mojave desktop. The owner did not properly destroy the partitions before disposal like I would have, but just erased everything that could be erased. It is a beautiful round cylinder that is obviously made with Apple's magnificent build-quality standards.

The question being, what do I do with it? Put it up with my collection of Altair 8800s and original IBM Pcs? My desktop is a Studio Max with a Pro Xdr and a Studio Display, so I have no need for it as a "real" computer. I was thinking, maybe it could replace my Rysen 5 tower that is my Linux programming system? A good machine and reliable, but after almost three years with Apple Silicon, the roaring fans of a PC bug the crap out of me.

I have had really bad luck with Linux on Mac hardware over the years. There is always something that doesn't work and can't be made to work, or would take vast amounts of research and kernel compiling to possibly shoehorn it in.

As far as I can tell, it is a 12 core processor, with 32gb of ram, 512gb of ssd, and a pair of D500 video cards. Not bad, although I know nothing about the GPUs - haven't had video card that wasn't built-in for a decade or more.

As my friend suggested, in jest, I assume, it would make a really fast DOS game machine. If I had any 30 year old games left over (On diskette, no less. Holy cow!) Or had any interest in VGA gaming. Or if DOS would even load and work. (After two seconds of thought - no thanks.)

Anybody?

 

[MrCheeto]

Why not use it as a PC and a pretty decent Mac? I'm chugging along with a 2009 Pro that has two quad core 2.26ghz CPU's and a Radeon 4870. Unlike 99% of Mac Pro users, I have not done the OpenCore hacks to run unsupported Mac OS versions, upgraded to a Metal GPU, upgraded to NVME drives or added Thunderbolt or USB 3 and I get plenty of mileage out of it.

It feels good to have an "unplugged" and "frozen" computer. Don't you hate it when Adobe or other developers push an update that bricks your software or creates a horrible unforeseen hang-up? Load it up with everything you need then unplug it! Hah. It will always work the way you expect it, with the same app version and same OS versions that you're used to and no nagging to update or warnings that your version won't be supported with such and such.

On my Mac Pro, I am using Adobe CS5, Aperture, a few video game emulators, PowerPC games that work with Rosetta and basically everything else that has been broken (by Apple etc.) since the good old days. I also boot Windows 7 to play all of the DOS-to-DirectX 10 games. Remember that most popular games are being repackaged via GoodOldGames and I can say in my experience that Windows 7 has fine compatibility as it plays Rogue Squadron and Shadows of the Empire without a single hitch. Running Windows 7 makes it super easy to directly interface with modern joysticks and controllers.

Did you read something negative about DOS BOX or other such emulators? I seem to recall having used it back around 2008 and can't say I had any problems with Doom, for instance.

At the same time, you have some pretty fast interfaces to attach large long-term storage to. Not sure if you want a home server or "storage locker" but that's sure an easy way to make it happen.

 

[TheBeverage]

I mean, you can get about $400 for it if that means anything to you. As someone planning to (finally) upgrade my 2013 trash can to an M2 Max Studio sometime in the next year, I've been largely wondering the same thing. I'm considering keeping it specifically for running old x86 Windows software as Parallels only runs Windows for ARM, and two layers of translation gets a bit finicky. I'd probably sell it if I had gotten it for cheap/free, but getting such a small amount for something I paid a lot for back in the day hurts a bit.

 

[romanof]

No, I wouldn't bother to sell it. In fact, the only reason that I took it was the idea of putting on the top shelf of my rack of ancient processors as a collectable. I have no need to run Windows stuff - haven't used a Redmond product since about the turn of the century. I totally moved to Linux/Unix back then.

However, I have had somewhat of a misconception of the round Pro, after hearing how slow and hot and bad it was. I don't have any benchmarking software, and don't really care, but just playing around with it I find that it is a machine with considerable horsepower. I know that Apple Silicon will run away from it with the integrated video processing, but I don't do video. My bailiwick is close-to-the-metal programming, in assembler, C and Perl, and it will chew up a compile/assembly session almost as fast as an M1. If it was my only machine for coding, I wouldn't have a problem with using it.

Of course, the above are impressions gained after only a couple of hours of playing with it. It might be a dog with something else.

 

[romanof]

Why not use it as a PC and a pretty decent Mac?

At the same time, you have some pretty fast interfaces to attach large long-term storage to. Not sure if you want a home server or "storage locker" but that's sure an easy way to make it happen.

Sorry, my line about DOS was tongue-in-cheek. Haven't used DOS or dos games for decades and have no need for it now. CP/M yes, Dos no.

As to the other, I have no Windows software and don't do video.

For the storage device, I have a plentiful supply of old Mac Mini's if I need a local file server and they would idle with a lot less power. But I do have one "Unplugged computer." My Kodi server (An M1 Mini) is on its own private network and cannot see the Internet, or even the house WiFi, thus needs no updates or protection.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

For a guy with too many computers like you, maybe the trash can MP 6,1 is just another collectible item.

 

[romanof]

For a guy with too many computers like you, maybe the trash can MP 6,1 is just another collectible item.

Yep, that is probably where it is going. I have a Studio Max, so MacOS is covered. Debian Bookworm was a bust - lack of drivers - but Mint installed and worked fine for what little testing I did. But it really has no use for myself, other than on a display rack with the other ancient stuff. The bulk of the ports are old Thunderbolt, and trying to find a dongle that goes from male original-TB to USBA is an exercise in frustration.

Plus, it really pumps out the heat. Enough to be very noticeable in a closed space after a while.

Still a neat little round gadget, though.

 

[B S Magnet]

Yep, that is probably where it is going. I have a Studio Max, so MacOS is covered. Debian Bookworm was a bust - lack of drivers - but Mint installed and worked fine for what little testing I did. But it really has no use for myself, other than on a display rack with the other ancient stuff. The bulk of the ports are old Thunderbolt, and trying to find a dongle that goes from male original-TB to USBA is an exercise in frustration.

Plus, it really pumps out the heat. Enough to be very noticeable in a closed space after a while.

Still a neat little round gadget, though.

Congrats on being given a decade-old powerhouse!

That happened to me exactly nine years ago when some friends who’d been using a dual-processor Power Mac G5 they’d named, derisively, “Enron”, as a doorstop (shortly after they acquired it from the original owner), landed in my hands, but only if I could pick it up (along with an acrylic Apple Cinema Display).

One here might think, reflexively, “No problem!”, but a) I don’t own a car, and b) I picked it up the day after a hefty snowstorm, strapping them with copious bungee cords and hauling them about 500 metres on one of those carted, two-wheeled grocery-getters (the kind you see elder neighbours using at the greengrocer), all via walking on un-shovelled sidewalks and on public transit. That was… an experience I’ll never forget, because it made sure I’ll never do something so utterly Canadian and Red Green ever again.

Anyway, have a look at two of @ActionRetro ’s recent bits on his own, recently acquired trash can. So far, he’s done stuff like throw on a variety of Linux which, in effect, turned his Mac Pro into a Steam gaming deck and another which made use of an eGPU for other, in his words, shenanigans (which, paradoxically, necessitated the installation of Windows 10 to make use of the eGPU he managed to get working… somewhat). Gaming’s not in my wheelhouse, so I’m guessing I’d be using a trash can, if I had one, for probably many of the same functions as my still-alive G5 gets used (as a file server) with the addition of being able to do a lot more video and multi-track audio work concurrently.

There’s also, of course, the possibility of playing with the OpenCore Legacy Patcher and throwing on something later than Monterey, such as trying out Sonoma and developing for that unusual use-case. But it sounds like you might get more use out of some variety of Linux for things like secondary compiling whatever you’re coding, since you mentioned how you typically do software development.

 

[romanof]

A bit different here. In rural Texas, without a car you starve. It is 30 miles just to a small store. Fortunately, it snows very seldom. (2021 notwithstanding).

I am long retired, so all programming is for hobby use, and mostly to control things - sensors, leds, stepper motors and the like. My desktop is a Mac for ordinary daily stuff, but everything beyond that is Linux.

However, the advent of Apple Silicon gave me a massive dislike of roaring fans on the usual PC. Scouting around, I found a Cheese Grater Mac Pro for a song, and wondered if I could use it to replace my 747... I mean my Rysen 5 tower. And the answer was a resounding yes. Almost totally quiet, with 8 cores of Xeon, it has plenty of power to do my scripts and to control Arduinos and PIs. And every version of Linux that I have tried went on without a hitch.

I was wondering if the Trash Can could replace it. Also totally quiet, but much easier to move around the "lab" to where a controlling PC is needed. The old tower Pro is a very well built machine, solid like a tank, but weighs like one also, and won't fit under some benches and desks and certainly not on them.

The dongle problem of original TB interface hasn't been solved, but I haven't given up on the Round Thing yet.

 

[B S Magnet]

A bit different here. In rural Texas, without a car you starve. It is 30 miles just to a small store. Fortunately, it snows very seldom. (2021 notwithstanding).

I understand all too well. I was born and raised in Texas (7th gen, 3rd gen Houstonian). I left as soon as I could as an adult.

By your measure, the smallest Texas city I ever lived in as a kid — Bay City — would be a bustling metropolis when contrasted against what you’ve described. It’s unfortunate there aren’t more ways for one to live in rural (or exurban, or suburban, and sometimes even urban) Texas which doesn’t necessitate access to four (or more) wheels.

this also reminds me of an old friend I lost touch with decades ago, whose family were all Texan (including a fairly famous uncle), but whose parents had moved to rural northern British Columbia as hippies. When she reached adulthood, she bolted for Texas, but refused to learn to drive “not until I’m at least 58, and that’s when I’ll have big blue helmet hair and learn to drive a giant Town Car like an old, blue-haired lady does.” She always said this proudly with a beaming smile (and she meant it, too!).

I am long retired, so all programming is for hobby use, and mostly to control things - sensors, leds, stepper motors and the like. My desktop is a Mac for ordinary daily stuff, but everything beyond that is Linux.

One of the neatest things to come from the Mac and software tinkering communities working together is the Macports repository.

Thanks to savvy fellow MR forum members, I was able to discover how software-defined radio (analogue and digital) was very much possible with an inexpensive USB adapter, an antenna, and open-source software, via Macports, called gqrx (as well as SDRangel and a couple of others). It re-ignited a childhood pastime I’d set aside for decades: picking up and listening to out of town radio transmissions from across the continent and worldwide.

There are, remarkably, a lot of tools out there to eke new life from Apple-obsoleted Macs — even, yes, the older Intel models. The gqrx I mentioned? I’m able to run it on a 2008 MacBook Pro (running an OpenCore Legacy Patcher install of High Sierra). SDR may at be the upper end of what an old, C2D CPU can do, but it still does it remarkably well. I’ve even taken it out nearby the railway tracks cutting through town, running battery-only, to listen for communications between engineers and the control towers somewhat nearby my place.

However, the advent of Apple Silicon gave me a massive dislike of roaring fans on the usual PC. Scouting around, I found a Cheese Grater Mac Pro for a song, and wondered if I could use it to replace my 747... I mean my Rysen 5 tower. And the answer was a resounding yes. Almost totally quiet, with 8 cores of Xeon, it has plenty of power to do my scripts and to control Arduinos and PIs. And every version of Linux that I have tried went on without a hitch.

The classic Mac Pros — those which used the Power Mac G5-styled case — were a class all their own.

They came before the time when Apple began throwing in limiting features in the low-level functions of the system (namely, the T1/T2 processor which run “bridgeOS”/“embeddedOS” beneath late-gen Intel and Silicon models) and when Apple products, the classic Mac Pros especially, were still designed and built with significant backward- and forward-compatibility in mind. In a word, they were the last, truly versatile and open Mac Pros.

In hindsight, the trash can carries over much of that capability without T1/T2 interference, but its limitations are in the design itself (and that design’s inability to run two Xeons together); no unapologetic, built-in legacy support for FireWire 800; and no provision for unused space (ha) for tasks like file serving additional drives internally. Particularly after the discontinuation of the Xserve in 2011, the classic Mac Pro assumed that mantle. The trash can, meanwhile, simply couldn’t do it — not without throwing the duty, via Thunderbolt, to external volumes. For all the merits of the trash can’s performance, it was an inelegant step backward. By the time of the fat-grater MacPro7,1 in 2019, Apple had locked down so much of the flexibility which earlier models had, hobbling it further with the odious T1/T2 intermediary.

I was wondering if the Trash Can could replace it. Also totally quiet, but much easier to move around the "lab" to where a controlling PC is needed. The old tower Pro is a very well built machine, solid like a tank, but weighs like one also, and won't fit under some benches and desks and certainly not on them.

Well, if you didn’t know before, take some pride in knowing the trash can was built in Austin (well, Jolllyville). There were screw fasteners in the trash can which were uniquely designed for the trash can and, when supplies ran out, would hold up production of new units.

The dongle problem of original TB interface hasn't been solved, but I haven't given up on the Round Thing yet.

For Mac users who’d been using Macs for some time, the TB1/TB2 interface was nothing more unusual than the industry-wide mini display port it superseded. It was only with TB3 and later that adoption of the more common USB-C socket eliminated the legacy mini display port.

 

[simie]

If you do not want it, I have a space on my desk for it. "if you do not ask then you do not get!"

Sorry for appearing cheeky. The trash can is one of those Mac's that I like the compactness and the cable management is pretty good. Some Mac's in my opinion are just really ugly.

 

[swamprock]

I really want one of these for some reason, but always stop just short of hitting the Confirm Payment button. Same with the 2017 12" Macbook. Don't know what's stopping me, other than reliability issues that I've read about...

 

[B S Magnet]

I really want one of these for some reason, but always stop just short of hitting the Confirm Payment button. Same with the 2017 12" Macbook. Don't know what's stopping me, other than reliability issues that I've read about...

That’s not a bad thing. It’s that voice in your head which asks, “Sure, wanting it is good, but do I need it for anything at this time when I have other stuff doing the job well already?” An urgent need for something the trash can has which Mac Pros or Macs lack will probably shift that calculus somewhat.

 

[D1m1tr3]

Instead of putting it on a shelf like a trophy gathering dust, I'm thinking about ripping out the core of mine, leaving an empty shell to use as the most luxurious trash can (literally) money can buy.