What have you done with a PowerPC today?

[Raging Dufus]

a) Find a way to jury-rig an ATX PSU just enough to test the machine

Here you go. I've used these instructions to craft several adapters to run ATX PSUs in various PMG4s. Works great as long as you don't screw up. Just be careful and double-check your work!

b) If it works, try to track down a cheap replacement PSU (eBay prices are absurd), or alternatively try to retrofit a similarly-shaped PSU from an SFF PC to fit.

You can find old ATX PSUs in tons of old PCs. Just make sure you get one with a 24-pin (as opposed to 20-pin) connector, because your MDD is 24-pin. Cannibalize an old PC tower, or see if your local e-recycler will let you have/sell you one, or get a cheap one off ebay or shopgoodwill. Plenty of places you can source these.

For the former, my main question is what sort of wattage I'd need just to test the basics, because I don't think I have a 400W PSU handy (it's an original MDD, so it had the 400W PSU). Would a lower-wattage one work fine for a basic boot test?

The MDDs only ever came with either a 360W or 400W PSU. Given that yours is a dual CPU model, I personally wouldn't go below 500W for a replacement. But for simple short testing, you should be able to get away with a 300-400W ATX PSU.

Also, where would I go about finding the correct connector for the logic board side if the original PSU's missing?

Pick up a 24-pin ATX extension cable, a very short one will do, and modify the end you'll be plugging into the logic board according to the instructions at atxg4.com.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

 

[ahurst]

Here you go. I've used these instructions to craft several adapters to run ATX PSUs in various PMG4s. Works great as long as you don't screw up. Just be careful and double-check your work!


You can find old ATX PSUs in tons of old PCs. Just make sure you get one with a 24-pin (as opposed to 20-pin) connector, because your MDD is 24-pin. Cannibalize an old PC tower, or see if your local e-recycler will let you have/sell you one, or get a cheap one off ebay or shopgoodwill. Plenty of places you can source these.


The MDDs only ever came with either a 360W or 400W PSU. Given that yours is a dual CPU model, I personally wouldn't go below 500W for a replacement. But for simple short testing, you should be able to get away with a 300-400W ATX PSU.


Pick up a 24-pin ATX extension cable, a very short one will do, and modify the end you'll be plugging into the logic board according to the instructions at atxg4.com.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

Awesome, thank you so much! There are a few old PCs in the lab store room that have already been cannibalized for random parts to keep other legacy lab machines running, so hopefully one of them has an adequate PSU. And that extension cable is perfect, thanks! Was worried the 24-pin might be a proprietary connector in addition to being a proprietary pinout. Looking forward to finally tackling this.

In terms of proper replacement: I know that the ADC ports won't work with an ATX CPU (which is fine, I don't have an ADC monitor), but I've also heard of DVI not working right without some extra work either. Has that been your experience? If so, what would I need to get it working?

 

[Raging Dufus]

In terms of proper replacement: I know that the ADC ports won't work with an ATX CPU (which is fine, I don't have an ADC monitor), but I've also heard of DVI not working right without some extra work either. Has that been your experience? If so, what would I need to get it working?

I've put ATX PSUs in two Sawtooths and two MDDs. They all had different graphics cards. DVI wasn't affected in any of them, and I can't think of any reason it might be.

 

[wicknix]

I got lucky and found a FREE G5 on the MorphOS forums recently. The guy wanted local pickup, but since i was only 1 state away i convinced him to ship. I sent a box to him with foam inserts and packing, and he did a great job utilizing it. Shipping wasn't cheap ($86 USD via UPS), but it arrived undamaged! I plan to max out the ram some day, and maybe get an ssd for it. Currently replaced the original drive with a 7200 rpm laptop drive for now. Triple boots Tiger, Leopard, and MorphOS at the moment. Here are the specs.

 

[Romain_H]

on the MorphOS forums recently.

Interesting… are those forums very active?

 

[Dronecatcher]

Testing InterTube by @wicknix - just playable on my 900Mhz G3 iBook if I swap out the user agent for a KaiOS one and dial the resolution down to 144P:

 

[wicknix]

Interesting… are those forums very active?

A few posts a day. Its a smaller community of users, but its active.

@Dronecatcher nice. I didnt expect that to be very usable on G3/G4's.

 

[smeisinger]

I played RTCW

Back in the days I was too smug for that game. Everything that didn't involve a deep story and/or harcore reaslism was only for plebs, in my idiotic teenage opinion.

But today I'm glad that I can enjoy just a simple FPS

 

[MacPro2006VBox]

Uh... in 2021, I used a 900MHz G3 to write and go online and play The Sims with countless hitches. Before then all I could do was ogle wistfully at the Power Mac G3 B/W and, before then, iMac G3 233, because I'm little more than a child and wasn't old enough to meaningfully interact with a PowerPC computer. In any case, my family were a Windows family, and I'm kind of a black sheep for liking Linux.
I also installed Mac OS X via USB which is allegedly impractical, got a Windows XP virtual machine going, and booted Sorbet Leopard on as low as 128MB RAM.
My... I guess collection also kinda blew up from two Macs to like I think eight.​

Mine grew from just my 2006 Mac Pro to including two polycarbonate MacBooks, my 2017 15 inch MacBook Pro, my eMac G4, my PowerMac G5 2.0 DP, and my holy grail: my iMac G3 500MHz

At the time of this picture it was running Jaguar or Panther… been a long time coming in terms of when I found this Mac. currently in storage as I’m messing around with my eMac G4.

 

[Methanoid]

I'm a happy man today as my recent eBay G5 Quad arrived safely (couriers refuse to insure computers) thanks to the original Apple box and polys. 2TB of HDDs, 10.5Gb Ram and good condition. Putting a bit more Ram in and a Quadro FX4500

Anyone drained, flushed and refilled the water cooling as it's not that quiet compared to 2.3 DC and I suspect after 17 years crystals have started to form in that corrosive and conductive junk Apple used for fluid. Point me to any guides???

 

[Dronecatcher]

Shortwave radio on my G3 iBook....
Utwente WebSDR now "InTheBox" thanks to @wicknix

 

[rwh63]

i sold it!

 

[Dronecatcher]

After trying at least 4 dozen user agents in an attempt to reach the "hidden" 3gp videos Youtube has, I gave up and just did a small clip on my Powerbook playing Youtube fine in browser with no tricks or scripts anyway - apart from the mobile device user agent I have as default.

 

[philgxxd]

After trying at least 4 dozen user agents in an attempt to reach the "hidden" 3gp videos Youtube has, I gave up and just did a small clip on my Powerbook playing Youtube fine in browser with no tricks or scripts anyway - apart from the mobile device user agent I have as default.

But didn’t it surprise you?

 

[Dronecatcher]

But didn’t it surprise you?

Not really - just wish I knew what devices Google is targetting with those 3gp videos - I suspect it's geo-specific and in areas where 2G is still prevalent.

 

[philgxxd]

So you are saying it finally delivered the 3gp version?

 

[Dronecatcher]

So you are saying it finally delivered the 3gp version?

I can stream 3gp videos with yt-dlp/FFPlay but not in browser like 5 or so years ago.

 

[MrVitalic]

I recently replaced my dual processor 2004 2.5ghz for my quad. Great machine and goodbye to the annoying fan microburst my 2004 was plagued with.

I was playing tron 2.0 and prey today, now watching evangelion genesis on it. I’m surprised how good TenFourFox run.

I still didnt get my head around at learning logic 9 (I have a boxed set). I’m so used to ableton. Anyway, future endeavour. I have live 7 (very buggy) and can’t find anywhere someone to sell me a licence for ableton live 8. My current licence for live lite 8 ‘alesis edition’ is a glorified 8 track (8 track max, 2 return track, 8 instrument/fx)

Anyway, my macpro run live 10 suite so ehh… why bother.

I also got a boxed set for Aperture 2. It was slow on the 2004. I should check on the quad. Pretty sure it will run great.

Thats about it!

 

[Methanoid]

Not concerned about that 17 year old corrosive conductive liquid??

 

[MrVitalic]

Not concerned about that 17 year old corrosive conductive liquid??

My quad is air cooled 😇 Absolutely no issue. It passed the thermal calibration. Both cpu run between 32c and 45c (cpu B is a bit hotter than cpu A). B is 5c hotter.

Here’s my thread on the conversion. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/quad-g5-air-cooled-dxf-included.2229488/

 

[Methanoid]

My quad is air cooled Absolutely no issue. It passed the thermal calibration. Both cpu run between 32c and 45c (cpu B is a bit hotter than cpu A). B is 5c hotter.

Here’s my thread on the conversion. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/quad-g5-air-cooled-dxf-included.2229488/

Oh yeah I have read that... You should offer conversion kits but I am in UK and you're likely not

 

[MrVitalic]

Oh yeah I have read that... You should offer conversion kits but I am in UK and you're likely not

I had to get a new job because of covid. The automotive industries were severely hit by all these lockdown.

I dont have access to a ‘electric discharge wire cutter’ anymore. Parts needed are also hard to find.

One guy made the mod using a hacksaw, and with some elbow grease, it turned out to be well made.

 

[za9ra22]

Today I tried something I saw on the 68KMLA forum, using a IDE to SD adapter as HD on a PowerBook G3 Lombard.

SD to IDE drive replacement for PDQ PowerBook G3

I happened to get quite a few 128gb MicroSD cards for very cheap and my PDQ PowerBook’s hard drive was on it’s way out. Since the G3 PowerBooks have a 128gb maximum drive capacity I thought one of those cards would be perfect to use as a hard drive replacement. You need a 44-pin IDE to SD card...

68kmla.org

View attachment 1991986

These are super cheap.
Tried this Previously on a PB1400c, but wasn’t very satisfied with the result, on OS 8.6 was alright, but on System 7.6.1 made the thing super slow… I think the thing doesn't like the HFS standard drive format used for Syst 7.
So this time cloned this OS9.1 Lombard HD to a 8Gb SD card, so exact same system, on HFS+ volumes, and run some tests :

Hard drive test :
View attachment 1991988

IDE to SD test :
View attachment 1991987

Cool. I'll leave it in that Lombard.

I've been playing with these SD-IDE adapters for a few weeks, and have been rather pleased with the results. Considering that a 32Gb replacement drive can be built for about $20 with this adapter and an SD card, it's pretty impressive. I cloned the drive in a Lombard to three different cards, two now in Lombards, and one tested but not yet swapped out in a PDQ, and boot times have shortened to just under a minute, load times for apps are much faster (Word 2001 loads and is ready to use in less than a couple of seconds), and document opening/saving is almost instantaneous.

The fact it's so easy to switch out SD cards if you want to experiment with different installations is a real plus too.

Replacing the original HD with one of these doesn't make the system all that noticeably faster, but it does make it run much more smoothly.

 

[galgot]

I've been playing with these SD-IDE adapters for a few weeks, and have been rather pleased with the results. Considering that a 32Gb replacement drive can be built for about $20 with this adapter and an SD card, it's pretty impressive. I cloned the drive in a Lombard to three different cards, two now in Lombards, and one tested but not yet swapped out in a PDQ, and boot times have shortened to just under a minute, load times for apps are much faster (Word 2001 loads and is ready to use in less than a couple of seconds), and document opening/saving is almost instantaneous.

The fact it's so easy to switch out SD cards if you want to experiment with different installations is a real plus too.

Replacing the original HD with one of these doesn't make the system all that noticeably faster, but it does make it run much more smoothly.

Yes, works very well. Was wondering if I could use these on a PDQ running Rhapsody... don't know how Rhapsody uses Swap, and if a SD card would last long with that.
At least would be silent, cause sleep doesn't work on Rhapsody, so constant HD buzz...

As for today..., I installed MacFuse and fuse-ext2 on my iMacG5. Can now read my R-Pi and Linuxes backup images.

 

[Amethyst1]

Replacing the original HD with one of these doesn't make the system all that noticeably faster, but it does make it run much more smoothly.

I think these SD-to-IDE adapters (which are actually an SD-to-CF adapter and a CF-to-IDE adapter glued together) are limited to about 25 MB/s throughput, but you're still benefitting from low access times.