Apple Development Transition Kit

[Dandu]

I have found a nice "Power Mac" : there is a Pentium 4 inside, and a BIOS.

 
It's a Developer Transition Kit from 2005, the first officiel Intel Mac, with Mac OS X 10.4.1.
 

 
I will try to install a modern OS on it (and a good GPU, the GMA 900 is a pain)

 

[TheWhiteFalcon]

I dont know if I'd mess with it. Definitely swap hard drives to save that current install.

 

[Dandu]

I have the DVD to reinstall it

 

[Cory5412]

It would be interesting to see one of these hackintoshed. I don't know if I've ever seen it, and this is maybe the third or fourth to roll around on the site.

In part because they were never really meant to stay in circulation once January 2006 hit and the iMacs and MacBook Pros were available, newer releases of Mac OS X don't very easily work on them. It's a very neat find, nevertheless.

 

[CelGen]

What does the back look like? Is it properly designed for the board or completely hackintosh'd?

 

[IPalindromeI]

The ADP2,1 gets me - is there a first revision?

 

[Huxley]

Man that's cool. I was working for Apple when the Intel transition was announced (totally upended my business for a while!), and I *really* wanted one of these - I knew they'd be a crazy collectible before long. May I ask how you came to own this one?

 

[madmax_2069]

Is that CPU socketed ? If it is I wonder if the CPU can be upgraded.

 

[NJRoadfan]

Likely a Socket 775 based machine with PCIe. Wonder if a Pentium D or even a Conroe 65nm Core2 will work in these. The latter depends on the chipset, if its a 915/925/955, its stuck with Netburst toaster CPUs.

 

[IPalindromeI]

It says DDR RAM, and the timeframe is 2005 (and probably earlier. Much earlier, if the Marklar history is anything to go back) so I'm leaning towards an early 9xx chipset. Sorry kid, no Core 2 for you.

 

[NJRoadfan]

Likely a 915 chipset then. Just because it only has DDR doesn't rule out Core2 though, ASRock still sells boards with the older 865G(!) that can take Core2Duo chips.

 

[IPalindromeI]

Yes, but those are niche crazy hacked up boards for crazy people. Apple very likely just adapted a reference Intel one, but from the look of it, just put their branding and serial number on a stock Intel one and called it a day. That's definitely not Apple EFI, after all.

 

[Sherry Haibara]

I think if you really want to push it, you can put 10.6 on it (provided you appropriately patch it), but you'll likely need a modernish GPU to get it working!

 

[Gorgonops]

I remember at one point reading what OS X version officially depreciated these machines; it was quite an old version (The retail version of Leopard?), so while it might be "fun" to try to put a more modern version on it I suspect you will have to treat it the same as if it were an equally old generic PC and, indeed, "hackintosh" it. (I can't imagine the rest of the hardware being good for anything past Snow Leopard, or possibly Lion, anyway.)

In any case I would personally stay *far* away from upgrading the CPU; while I sort of snicker at "prototype collecting" I do imagine the surviving DTK's are going to be at least somewhat collectable and so far as I'm concerned it's *way* too easy to screw up LGA775 sockets to risk it. Is the board's form factor standard mini-ATX or is it "super proprietary"? If you *really* must try to put Yosemite on it I'd say *carefully* pull the original board and keep it nice and safe.

 

[Dandu]

What does the back look like? Is it properly designed for the board or completely hackintosh'd?

The back is a classic Power Mac G5, but with "blocked" connector (optical audio, modem, Wi-Fi), with a cache

Man that's cool. I was working for Apple when the Intel transition was announced (totally upended my business for a while!), and I *really* wanted one of these - I knew they'd be a crazy collectible before long. May I ask how you came to own this one?

It's from eBay

Is that CPU socketed ? If it is I wonder if the CPU can be upgraded.

Yep, it's a P4 660, i have changed the cooling system, because it was broken when i receive him.

Likely a Socket 775 based machine with PCIe. Wonder if a Pentium D or even a Conroe 65nm Core2 will work in these. The latter depends on the chipset, if its a 915/925/955, its stuck with Netburst toaster CPUs.

It says DDR RAM, and the timeframe is 2005 (and probably earlier. Much earlier, if the Marklar history is anything to go back) so I'm leaning towards an early 9xx chipset. Sorry kid, no Core 2 for you.

It's a i925 chipset, and Core 2 Duo and Pentium D (generally dual core) will not work, i'm waiting for a CPU to test, but i have no hope. Officialy, there is only a CPU faster : P4 670 (3,8 GHz).

 

[IPalindromeI]

It'd be nice if we can see pictures of the back and slots.

 

[defor]

I've had one of these for a few years as well... some notes I've taken:

Motherboard is a custom short run (BARRACUDA) from Intel based on the D915GAGL platform.

Board options included are Gigabit Lan, iee1394, and TPM.

TPM is pre-programmed with the keys required to decode Finder and other Apple encrypted binaries.

BIOS is an early reference bios, but with Apple quiet boot splash screen.

The case is a modified PowerMac A1177 without the partition in the air deflector.

The Power Supply is the official G5 power supply, but with an interposer to convert to ATX+4 power.

The Motherboard is extended past the MATX form factor to meet with the Apple ports on the G5 case.

It is mounted on a frame that then attaches to the G5 board mounts, as G5's are not ATX compliant.

There is a populated (but cable not provided) header for VGA on the back of the board.

Video out is DVI-D only by way of a standard ADD2-N card, but while retail ADD2 cards are identical, those with VGA options do NOT work.

Presumably connecting the VGA header will yield via video using the onboard chipset, and the collision of the external VGA on an ADD2 and the onboard prevents the system from booting properly.

Unsurprisingly, dumping the DTK bios and installing it to a RETAIL D915GEV/D915GUX/D915GAV/D915GAG will work perfectly, and if you apply the decryption patch to the marker disc, no additional means are required to install and use it just as you would a real DTK.

Because the system is BIOS based (and a P4), there are very few upgrade paths (beyond 10.4.3 8F1111) for the system if you plan to run OS X without a full fledged chameleon or similar install.

other _OLD_ photos of mine while i was fixing some issues from a poor shipping job:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/defor/sets/72157624223360933

 

[Dandu]

Hi, 

Many news : i can't boot on a USB drive (no option on the BIOS) and can't use a real graphic card : i have tested with many GPU and i have no screen.

Just photos.

 

[CelGen]

I wouldn't attempt any upgrades to it besides possibly a SCSI card and maxing the ram out.

It would however be nice if you could dump the BIOS and store it somewhere for safekeeping.