Been a while. PM 6500/225!!!

[coius]

Sporting a 225Mhz 603e PowerPC Processor, and 256K L2 cache, this speedy little demon was picked up locally for $21.40 w/ tax. I had my eye on it for a while since I got my Beige G3 DT. I didn't have the money to get this at the time (only had so much cash) so I went back today, nearly 4 months after, and offered 1/3 what the guy was asking (he needed to clear out some of the machines since they pile up). So for $21.40, I got an AppleDesign ADB keeyboard, ADB Mouse II, PlainTalk Mic (see top of machine), 32MB RAM, 3GB HDD, 12x CD-ROM. There was no ethernet or modem, but that's fine. Been going through my box o' stuff and found some RAM that was compatible (and here I was told to throw out my old crap LOL)

I threw a D-Link DFE-530TX+ 10/100 PCI Ethernet card in the bottom PCI slot, and a Rage128 GL 16MB into the top slot (lot's faster than the onboard Rage IIc 2MB). Bumped the RAM up to 48MB (32+16MB), Cleaned out the system. The old hard drive was chock-full of useful applications. I will go through there later since all of it seemed to be organized so randomly, it was hard to find stuff...

I also threw a 40GB ATA HDD in there (Seagate) and it is very speedy (the hard drive has 8MB cache and runs at 7200RPM)

There was very little yellowing on the case, and I have it setup installing a dual-boot system (7.6.1/8.1) and with a spare LARGE partition for data (not sure what I will do, maybe a server or something...)

The monitor in the picture did NOT come with the machine. I threw the PCI Rage128 card in to use that because the MultiSync monitors I have (1710?) will not do higher than 640x480, with no way to change the resolution.

Overall, I am happy with the acquisition. Yay for my first find in 4 months that's worth anything!!!

 

[ChristTrekker]

Was that from this set?

 

[coius]

Nope. I got it from a thrift store that my mom volunteers at.

I hooked my SCSI Zip Drive up, an extternal 1GB SCSI HDD, and a SCSI Yamaha CD-RW (8x8x24). I also have my Logitech 5.1 SRS system up (except in a 3.1 mode with the middle doing both left and right mixed) and am also using the sub in the PM 6500.

This setup rocks. I am currently finding the perfect mix of software. Like right now, even though I got 48MB RAM, I almost doubled with VRAM (having a faster HDD helps) to 72MB. I am currently running MacIRC, IExplorer 5, MPEG-DEC to play a playlist. I will be seeing if I will be making coasters in a bit. gonna burn a cd while doing this to see how well the system handles it.

I gotta say, it was a pleasant surprise, and it's one of the most stable Classic OS systems I have used. Faster than my beige G3 DT that I bought at the same place, running OS X.

I am still not decided if I am going to get a G3 upgrade. If I did, it would have to be at minimum 333Mhz. but I happen to like the 603e processor in this. I never realized this little chip could push so much. This must've been quite the powerhouse back then. I have no issues doing multiple things at the same time. Typing keeps up while playing the music, running a web browser, and doing IRC in the background.

This is a super-nice machine. Now I remember why I wanted one of these when I saw it come out (We ended up getting a Centris 610 Used at that time, We couldn't afford a new machine until the iMac Blueberry 333Mhz came out).

I will see if I can get the G3 as stable as this, but it seems every classic system I used before this would just crash left and right. It got so bad that the machines would crash as soon as they turned on.

Reflecting on while i trying to find RAM for this, It was most likely my RAM. about 80% of the ram I threw into this would not powerup, and they were the right types (EDO, right? that's what MacTracker said). And I don't have any FPM DIMMs anyways. Either way, this system will satisfy my old-skool curiosity for quite a while.

 

[Temetka]

Very nice score.

I have a 6500/300 myself and it is a wonderful system. Mine has 128MB of RAM a 120GB HD (man what a pain to replace the hard disks in those systems) and a 16MB Rage128 card. Runs like a dream. I am currently running 8.1 on mine with no complaints.

I've always like the tower style of the machine, it has a nice personal look to it.

 

[Bunsen]

the MultiSync monitors I have (1710?) will not do higher than 640x480, with no way to change the resolution.

You need the Applevision or Apple AV Monitors extensions or whatever they're called.

 

[coius]

Actually, I got it. It seems to be a defective monitor. The last one (same model) wouldn't switch res's, but the other one (Both MultipleScan 720's) will. It says it goes up to 1280x1024 on MacTracker. This will only go up to 1024x768@75Hz and Thousands of Colors (832x624

Anyways, I took the machine apart inside and out and cleaned out the dust, then did some general maintnance on the tower. I snaked a SATA cable up to the top bay and put a 1TB SATA WD Green drive up there, threw in the appropriate adapter for power and threw my Sonnet Tempo SATA PCI card in one of the slots. So now I have this setup:

PM 6500

225Mhz 603e w/256K L2 Cache

48MB (16MB + 32MB) RAM

Rage IIc 2MB SGRAM / MultipleScan 720 Monitor

3GB *Stock* ATA HDD in HDD bay / 1TB WD SATA HDD in top bay (covered by face plate, used a 5.25 -> 3.5" Adapter made from an old blue Zip drive bay adapter)

12x CD-ROM *Stock*

1.44MB/2.88MB Floppy

D-Link DFE-530TX+ 10/100 PCI Ethernet card / Sonnet Tempo SATA 2-port SATA card (works in system 7 too! works practically and damn-near every PCI mac I have thrown it into)

External Drives:

Yamaha 8x4x24 SCSI CD-RW, Zip 100, 1GB Apple ROM'd SCSI HDD in enclosure

I put OS 9.1 on this and it works decently. Fast enough for web if you use IExplorer 5 on it (Don't bother with classilla on this with that low of RAM.

Also just put iTunes 2 on the machine.

The Subwoofer on this computer is really nice. Not as deep as one you get in say... my Logitech 5.1 system, but if you put a decent pair of stereo speakers, it works well.

I also put that PlainTalk Mic on top of the monitor, but not sure if it works. gotta try it. These machines use the ridiculously long mic ports right? I believe it goes all the way in, but since the mic was sitting in with a box of random junk on the floor (I scoured the shop for anything mac related to see if I could get it thrown in) but I gotta test it (gonna get Sound Studio up and running on it)

I am going to try to also get more RAM (bump it up to 96MB or 128 hopefully) and also a CS II Ethernet card.

I won't even bother with video inputs or TV Tuner cards. TV tuners are obsolete, and the video inputs won't do me much good.

Anyways, I just love playing with this thing.

Anyone got a G3 L2 cache card for this they would sell for $30 shipped? I can also throw in stuff for trade!

 

[techfury90]

No macs had 2.88 MB floppies.

 

[coius]

The drives do 2.88MB, the only floppies I know that actually used by the mass public were 1.44MB.

I remember someone saying they found a set of 2.88MB Floppies some place. Not sure where. I know they exists, but they gotta be for a relatively small market segment

EDIT:

btw, thanks to beachycove, I now have a CS II Ethernet card and 128MB RAM headed my way

 

[coius]

No macs had 2.88 MB floppies.

Yeah, I know I am replying late, but yes, you are right. I looked at all my floppy drives and they say "2.0MB".

Anyways, I got more pics of the machine. Including a screenshot of the 1TB HDD installed. I did some benchmarking with MacBench 4.0

The SATA card didn't do that much for it, considering that the processor is slow, it actually hinders the performance a lot. Hopefully I can speed it up some by adding a bit more RAM, as well as a Rage 128 Pro (16MB) for windowing. I might pull the SATA card. The 40GB HDD should be sufficient. Put the SATA card back into my G3. The 1TB drive may go into my Dell Zino HD just for grins and giggles.

I could make the 6500 into a small macintosh application server. That would be nice. I am still waiting for the CS II ethernet and RAM from beachycove. Hopefully those will get here soon. Should make quite a big difference too.

This is my setup now. I have a DB-15 to HD-15 adapter.

The machine is booted and installing 7.6.1 to the internal 40GB HDD, but I wanted to get a quick snapshot of the 1TB in it. It's hooked up to a Sonnet Tempo SATA PCI Card.

This is the old hard drive. On the internal chain, it was getting maybe a max of 2 Megabytes/second. Wow... SSSSLLOOOWWWW....