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ÜberSE - Unoriginal hack to wet feet and whet appetite.

MidnightCommando

Well-known member
Not really sure this is even a terribly noteworthy attempt at hackery, but my Newfound SEs are really just begging for it.

I have an SE/30 and an SE. I like the SE case better because of the space for two floppies - this will be important in my proposed hack.

Both CRTs are burned in significantly, as I'm reducing my Classic II to parts (due to the infeasibility of restoring it now) I'm going to use its CRT if possible, as it is pristine.

The SE/30 is nonbooting, and by its behaviour I'm going to say it's a power supply problem. The SE boots perfectly, though hella slow due to all the extensions the previous owner loaded :lol:

So, the obvious course of action to get a working machine quickly is -

- SE case and analogue

- SE/30 logics

- Classic II CRT.

However, I also intend to move the floppy drive in the SE to the upper position, replace it with a Superdrive I refurbished myself (currently sitting in my IIvx), replace its hard drive with a bigger one at some point, and (here's the good bit) install an internal CD-ROM.

Previous mods I've seen have been a slot-loading CD-ROM and a tray-loader. A tray-loader looks just ugly on a SE, in my opinion, and a slot-loader seems a little out of place for my tastes. The solution? A caddy-loading CD-ROM. Alas I only have an AppleCD 150i at the moment, I was hoping for a non-plus 300i (still caddy-loaded) but it matters not.

The caddy loader will be where the floppy drive previously sat, and i'll probably be able to retain the original lines of the case. Just.

The floppy drive will move to directly above the CD-ROM, to take up the upper floppy drive bay, and the hard drive will be moved to the left (from the front badge view) of the floppy drive, in a similar configuration to the IIvx.

The question here is simply "Will the power supply take it, and how much awesome can I fit in the SE without it exploding from awesomeness?"

Any thoughts?

 

beachycove

Well-known member
Some thoughts would be:

  • You can test the SE/30's logic board by putting it in the SE and flicking the power switch. That would be useful for diagnostics.
     
    The SE's ps is very likely the same as the one in the SE/30, so you probably could swap those.
    The superdrive will work in the SE/30.
     
    An SE/30 is worth restoring to stock, working condition. So is an SE, in and of itself.
     
    The Classic II's CRT will, I believe, work in the SE or SE/30, but I gather not without some fiddling and it is not as simple as a straight swap. I think it has to do with the yoke connection or the like, so unless you know what you are doing, you have the potential to bugger up not just one but three machines.

 

MidnightCommando

Well-known member
... I thought all the nine-inch CRTs had the same physical pinout going on...

Is this CRT surgery documented at all? I have two SE yokes so I won't be scared to butcher one for the cause. After all, what's an army without a little pillaging? ;-)

My original thought was actually to just use the original SE yoke and merely the tube from the Classic II - if the tube itself is pin-compatible I shouldn't have any problems then :D

About restoring to stock, I've neither the time nor munniez nor inclination for that ... Besides as these machines will actually be seeing use instead of being under glass I don't feel too guilty about violating them.

The Classic II was going to be going to be consigned to deconstruction anyway ...

The SE/30 case is something I find really ugly, it honestly looks like some retarded half-breed. The prodigy of the SE (beautiful machine, clean lines, function over form) and the Classic II (ugly machine, too curvy, form over function) ... no thanks. Just my opinion but the SE case is a lot more honest and inviting to me.

I realise the superdrive will work in the SE/30 - just a shame it's not auto-inject... I love auto-injectors.

Other ideas: Overclocking the 68030, 68882, and system bus (or whichever of those is needed) from 16 to 20 or even 25 MHz could be a worthwhile endeavour, if only such a procedure was documented.

Finding an AppleCD 300i to replace the 150i (as said, not the 300i Plus as I need a caddy-loader) would be difficult but if I could do it, a 2x CD-ROM would just about be period appropriate for a pimped SE/30.

Obviously I also will need a LOT of RAM to maximise the potential of the machine, but that's the least of my problems ;)

 

Bunsen

Admin-Witchfinder-General
http://macfaq.org/hardware/graphics.shtml#Q2.1.8

2.1.8 - I have a dead CRT in my Mac. What other Macs can I steal a CRT from to fix it?
The 128, 512, Plus, SE and SE/30 share a common CRT.

The Classic and Classic II (and their Performa variants) share a common CRT. The CRT itself is the same as that used in the Plus, but the yoke assembly is different, so swapping a CRT from a Classic to a Plus/SE/etc. or vice versa is much more difficult and complex than swapping from a Classic to a Classic II. Also, swapping yokes will usually necessitate adjustment of the analogue board to get the image properly centered and sized.
 

Trash80toHP_Mini

NIGHT STALKER
. . . SE (beautiful machine, clean lines, function over form) and the Classic II (ugly machine, too curvy, form over function) ... no thanks. Just my opinion but the SE case is a lot more honest and inviting to me.
I agree about the SE case, of the square fronted compacts, I find it most appealing because it was of the first generation of truly expandable Macs and is a perfect match for the original Radius FPDs and TPDs that were the backbone of the PageMaker DTP revolution.

I have to disagree with you about the curvy Classics though, the curved face is absolutely functional, it is much stronger, resisting punch through and cracking than the square faced compacts.

If you're thinking about a tray or cartridge loading CD Hack, the Classic's case wide FDD recess/dado (woodworking jointery term for a slot, usually implemented for a shelf or divider support) makes it a perfect fit for your choice of drive. With a little jig work and a router, you could widen the recess to fit either Optical Drive.

In the case of the tray loader, I'd be tempted to file the tray front to as thin an opening as practicable and then run the jig/router combo across the face of a second Classic front bezel to create a matching curved applique for the face of the tray.

just my thoughts . . . }:)

. . . per request. :eek:)

 

MidnightCommando

Well-known member
The CRT itself is the same as that used in the Plus, but the yoke assembly is different, so swapping a CRT from a Classic to a Plus/SE/etc. or vice versa is much more difficult and complex than swapping from a Classic to a Classic II. Also, swapping yokes will usually necessitate adjustment of the analogue board to get the image properly centered and sized.
Retaining the SE's yoke and manually adjusting was a possibility I was prepared to face, yes.

If you're thinking about a tray or cartridge loading CD Hack, the Classic's case wide FDD recess/dado (woodworking jointery term for a slot, usually implemented for a shelf or divider support) makes it a perfect fit for your choice of drive. With a little jig work and a router, you could widen the recess to fit either Optical Drive.
Yes, the recess could be widened, but the Classic II has only one recess line. Fitting a caddy-loader and the floppy drive side-by-side would be an adventure, to say the least. In fact, I'm fairly sure it's not possible without taking enough plastic out of the case to make your point about structural strength completely irrelevant ;-)

The curved Classic and Classic II are not by any means bad machines, not counting the fact that the computer guts themselves are pretty restricted... I don't know how to explain it, I find them pretentious almost. As if they're just screaming at you "Look at me, look at me, I'm so pretty despite being computationally weak!" ... Or perhaps that's just the voices again.

Glad to have your thoughts, gentlemen. If you think of anything else, please feel free to continue the speculamatin' :D

 

MidnightCommando

Well-known member
An update:

I now have the base ÜberSE machine built up - with a good-as-new CRT, the existing yoke (after very thoroughly having all the dust taken off!), an SE front-plastics (a hole drilled near the namebadge like so: [ Macintosh SE ø]) for the hard drive LED to be visible :D , the bucket/rear-plastics of the SE/30 (Let's keep 'em guessing! Ehehehe), and overhauled analogues and tested SMPS.

It turns out, of course, that the internal SCSI hard drive doesn't work. Oh well, that's a problem for another day.

At the moment, I'm trying to work out the next phase - space-ification for adding in the CD-ROM drive. I'll also hopefully be getting the chance to either retr0brite or lumpybright the plastics, soon, so the SE/30 will /really/ get peoples' attention :)

For now, the SE's guts have probably not looked this pristine since the factory, and I'm just happy I didn't break anything.

(A footnote. Sound isn't working. I don't think it's leaking caps, because there is no telltale leakage ANYWHERE. Any ideas? )

 

register

Well-known member
Consider to use a slot in CD drive, probably laptop form factor. Most likely this would involve to use a IDE-SCSI bridge and some soldering to produce a custom link cable, but the benefits are a small footprint of the drive itself and freedom to cut a CD slot perfectly matching the front cover design of the Mac.

If someone performed such hack already, be so kind to provide information about hardware compatibility and driver software (like CDT).

 

MidnightCommando

Well-known member
Actually register this is on indefinite hiatus. I had enough parts to rebuild a virgin SE/30 left, and have done so to trade a fellow soldier for a IIci.

A better bet would be to use a laptop SCSI drive. At any rate the SE/30 wouldn't be able to take advantage of the higher speeds of a relatively modern drive!

It ended up that I couldn't figure out how to mount the CD-ROM drive anyway :( a ruined SE front panel and all for nothing! :(

My next entry here will be A LOT smaller. ;)

 

Bunsen

Admin-Witchfinder-General
IMHO, laptop SCSI drives are getting so rare nowadays, we should probably save them for laptops wherever possible.

 
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