adding usb ports to mac os 9 powermac g4 system

[supernova777]

hey guys sorry if this has been discussed

i gotta run real fast to pick up my sushi lunch

but.. i gotta add some usb ports to this quicksilver g4 867mhz machine i got running ableton live

and they need to be "native ports" or whatever or theres wierdness with usb midi controllers

anyone know of a specific make ?

i think most of what i know off hand applies to mac os x

which is why im asking for clarification

again i dont need usb 2.0 speed under mac os 9

just 1.1 compatibility for midi devices...

usb 2.0 speed would be a bonus

ideally i want a card that will provide 2.0 under osx and 1.1 under os 9? if that makes sense?

is there any device that provides 2.0 speed under os9?

i would love to know.... calling all experienced gurus!!!

thanks so much in advance for your kindness & wisdom

xx(

 

[uniserver]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Power-Mac-G3-G4-PCI-USB-Card-3-Port-Internal-/111231522063?pt=US_Internal_Port_Expansion_Cards&hash=item19e5ea550f

should work out fine for you

 

[Cory5412]

If the software and hardware you're using calls for using the native ports, then you will want to plug the device directly onto one of the ports on the motherboard of your system. However, there were several USB cards that work well in Power Macintosh G4s.

Most USB 2.0 cards will also provide 2.0 speeds when booted in OS X and 1.1 speeds when booted in OS 9. Unfortunately, this is a limitation that will never be overcome, unless somebody writes new drivers. One way to improve external storage performance of a Power Macintosh G4 is to use Firewire, another is to use eSATA.

On a personal note, I recommend against the blue five-port Belkin USB 2.0 card. It advertised Mac compatibility, but in my blue-white/Yikes system, it was identified as being the cause for the system not booting up, so I"d have to pull the card every week or so and wait until the system would boot up again. I eventually either moved that card to a PC or to my Power Macintosh 7300. I had a friend with an MDD Power Macintosh G4 who also had problems with a similar Belkin USB 2.0 card.

 

[Gorgonops]

I've actually had *terrible* luck with USB cards in Macs in general, even when the card claims Macintosh compatibility. In *theory* just about any OHCI PCI card *should* work, but, they don't. Symptoms include failing to boot, bizarre performance problems when the card is present, general flakiness, etc. (All the cards involved have tested fine in PCs after being pulled from the Mac.) Again, these were cards that *said they were Mac compatible on the box* but happened to be cheap. If you want it to actually work this is one case where I strongly recommend going with the premium product, like a Sonnet Allegro card. It'll cost twice as much but at least there's some assurance that the "Mac Compatibility" involved more testing than shoving the card in one machine and seeing if smoke poured out.

 

[uniserver]

yeah from my experience the older the pci card the better

if its an Opti usb 1.1 2port… covered in dust it will usually work, in the PCI PPC macs

 

[supernova777]

im really loooking for a megawolf serial pci addon card alternative too..

has anyone had any luck putting in a PC rs232 pci in a mac? is there maybe one that works

that will give me a damn uart serial port..

why is this sooooo dificult to do

i dont get it

 

[uniserver]

well get your usb figured out.. then get your self a USB to RS232 adaptor… hopefully one MacOS can use

 

[techknight]

FTDI USB UART chips are supported by MacOS. Ive used those ICs for USB to serial in both OS9 and OSX and loved them.