Greetings,
As some may know, I have been toying with the idea of updating/replacing the hardware in an extra mono station that I have. My first thoughts were to put some sort of small Intel/AMD system, and run linux or OSX for intel, but that didnt seem right. What I have now settled on is replacing the innards with parts sourced from a Mac, either an ibook or imac. G4 and newer based system parts are really too expensive at this time, so I have decided to use G3 based parts. I am still looking for an old "toilet seat" ibook to use, but in the mean time I have the innards of an old CRT imac, minus the tube and case, that I plan to begin with. My thought is that this system is a natural evolution of the product, something that they would have possibly done. If anyone has any suggestions besides ebay (or the newspaper) for old mac laptops, drop me a note.
Project Overview:
Remove innards of mono slab and replace with parts from imac.
Use external black usb case for the cd/dvd drive.
Use LCD monitor, keyboard and mouse, black of course.
More details to come ...
EDIT--
Clamshell G3 is out, since I forgot it has no vga output.
I have a 1999 300MHz/32MB/3.2G iBook you can have for the cost of shipping. needs a yoyo adapter, since my last two went with a couple of laptops I recently sold. was my father-in-law's laptop for years... needs a bit of work, since the tech he took it to seems to have removed the USB ports. heh, my OCD will not let me put it in the garbage bin.
hmmm, are you planning on wiring up the LCD yourself? I think the best video out you could get from a clamshell was composite out. if so, the usb should be no problem...
otherwise, I also have a logicboard from a 800MHz G3 iBook I would sell cheap.
Quote from: "StainlessSteelRat"
hmmm, are you planning on wiring up the LCD yourself? I think the best video out you could get from a clamshell was composite out. if so, the usb should be no problem...
Damn, It has been so long since I have had one that I forgot it did not have VGA out capability. I had not planned on using the LCD interface, so I need VGA/DVI out. Oh well, I still have the imac parts, and will continue along that track.
According to everymac, the first model available with VGA out was the ibook 500, the first non clamshell one it appears. Now need to dig around to see what I can find in this area.
Research, Research, and more research ... at least I will never be bored ;)
I got an idea. I will BUY the slab off you just so you won't butcher it ;)
Quote from: "helf"I got an idea. I will BUY the slab off you just so you won't butcher it ;)
Once again for the record, I am not going to "butcher" the slab. I will not be making any permanent structural modifications to it, and all parts will be lovingly stored. I could return it to original form at any time by just removing the "new" stuff. I have done similar things using pc parts in old sun workstations (sparc 5,10,20), with good success. The big difference with this is that I am going to put Apple parts in this one, not "PeeCee" as some like to say.
Have a great day,
Chef
If you insist ;D
I'm very interesting in seeing where you can take this. I have see too many PC hacks of things... the last thing the world needs is yet another Win machine out there. Secondly, fusing a Mac into a NeXT body sounds pretty cool. Would be extra cool to see what OS rig is setup... Rhapsody? It's a shame there's not an extra G4 Mini laying about somewhere for this project.
Anyhow, just wanted to let you know that not everyone here is against this. Best of luck and post updates as they occur.
Oh... and even a minimal amount of case moding for functionality is far better than torching cases or dropping them in the dumpster (where all too many good machines have ended their days). Good Luck.
Quote from: "dravier"I'm very interesting in seeing where you can take this. I have see too many PC hacks of things... the last thing the world needs is yet another Win machine out there. Secondly, fusing a Mac into a NeXT body sounds pretty cool. Would be extra cool to see what OS rig is setup... Rhapsody? It's a shame there's not an extra G4 Mini laying about somewhere for this project.
I was planning on running OSX, since I wanted the machine to be really useful, and not just a novelty. I have no experience with Rhapsody, except from what I remember from MacUser way back when it was in active development.
I discounted using mac mini because it was just too easy. I have two mini's, one G4 and one CoreSolo, and just for fun I took one and measured. All I would have to do is remove the top, drop it in and close the lid, just too easy. The only challenge would be getting access to the DVD drive, which would involve cutting the case. I also thought of just painting the mini black and attaching a NeXT logo to it, but it seemed too obvious.
Quote from: "dravier"Anyhow, just wanted to let you know that not everyone here is against this. Best of luck and post updates as they occur.
Thanks for the support. I was beginning to believe that I was way out there in left field or something.
Quote from: "dravier"Oh... and even a minimal amount of case moding for functionality is far better than torching cases or dropping them in the dumpster (where all too many good machines have ended their days). Good Luck.
Exactly my thoughts. Better to live on in spirit, with a few new parts, than end up in a pile of discarded junk or your magnesium shell used in chemistry class.
Chef
If I was going to do this, thinking along the lines of what you are doing as something like a spiritual successor to the NeXTstation. Thus I'd want to run OS X Server 1.2 and maybe Rhapsody PPC, as you need a VGA out. I'd suggest you look at a Wallstreet or Lombard logicboard. Both of which could be upgraded to G4 as and when funds permit. In terms of running Rhapsody a WS mobo is probably better, plus and I'm not sure about this, but as the WS has ADB you'd be able to use a NeXT KB & Mouse.
Now, being able to use a NeXT keyboard and mouse would be pretty cool... to keep the flavor and feel. And running something that would allow for an upgrade to the cpu and still allow a fair amount of flexablity... plus you could setup a dual boot or use something like Mac on Mac (MoM) and run various versions of OSX, server and Rhapsody... Definately dig the adb concept though.
Good Idea about the ADB support in the Wallstreet era PB's. I could also use one of the Griffin ADB2USB adapters, and then use a more updated MB. Unfortunately I have no ADB NeXT keyboards or mice.
Chef
Though I would give everyone an update on the progress.
I ran into some complications with the way the power is routed through the imac, so powering up the motherboard on its own is proving to be more difficult. In the mean time, I have taken the advice of others here and got a "wallstreet" powerbook. It is only a 266, so it is slower than the imac boards, but it will give me ADB, VGA, and scsi connections. Assuming it works out well, I could always look for a processor upgrade in the future.
More updates after it arrives and I can dissasemble it.
Chef
Just curious if this project went anywhere... seemed pretty cool at the time. I still dig the idea. Any luck?
Quote from: "dravier"Just curious if this project went anywhere... seemed pretty cool at the time. I still dig the idea. Any luck?
Not as far as I would have liked, but it is still on my "project" board.
I did get the Wallstreet loaded up with software and such, and did a little basic disassembly to see what it would take to pull it off. Truth be told, I actually enjoyed using the Wallstreet quite a bit, and then thought twice about tearing it apart. It would definitely need a processor upgrade to be a fully useful OSX machine, which also kept me from tearing it apart immediately. I did do some rough work on the backplane so I could relocate the ports to the current openings on the back of the station, as having the cables just sticking through the openings looked like shit. I then re-evaluated and investigated using parts from a G4 based powerbook instead, but even with the Intel switch, the older machines and parts are still a bit pricey. A big problem with this was that I would then loose the adb support, as the griffin adb2usb adapter is apparently not supported in OSX past 10.3. :( I also considered using a pc based laptop and making a "hackintosh" sort of beast, but that has issues as well.
In the meantime I have pieced together a G4 cube from parts with a black Powerlogix case, so some of the "force" behind this project has gone into it instead.
Basically the idea to do something like this is still nagging at me, but I am at a loss when it comes to what the true goal should be, and how to best get there.
Chef
Wow, if I hade a Mac cube I would definately buy the black cube and do the transfer. That thing is pretty wicked cool. But I do have to say that I find the cube refit a little more interesting than the slab... I do own two slabs, but it's really because I can't afford a cube.
It would be pretty cool to setup the moded NeXT / Mac and have a true NeXT system visually hidden on the network and port some of the classic apps to X on the Mac.
Man, if I only had the funds I would join you in this concept... very cool.