IIsi WTM...Daystar 040 + SE/30 adapter, SSD, Asante Nic, & VideoSpigot

[Von]

WTM = wafer thin mint...if anything else is added, it may explode.

OK, I had this setup running several years back but never documented it...so here it is:

In this configuration I get 1024 x 768 at 256 colors. If I change to the Apple 13" monitor colors increase to "Millions" but resolution drops to 640 x 480.  I prefer the former.

Above is System 7.1 and it runs fine on 7.0.1.

7.5.5 shown below:

Chooser is showing my 3 networked Lubuntu servers, one of which is a VMware Fusion VM running on the MacBook Pro I am authoring this post on. The Copy is one of these screen captures.

Here is how this all made it inside the case. This is just before the lid goes on:

Under the floppy sits the Asante daughter card with its rainbow ribbon. The ethernet cable was poached from one of those retractable travel units as it is thin and pliable:

The 180 MB Adtron SSD sits in the stock drive tray and has its own LED that I zip tied just under the IIsi LED so both can be seen when there is activity.

 

To have a working fan, I purchased a dead IIsi fan enclosure and made some mods:

Modded fan is on the left where I added a thinner fan that has the standard 3 wires, one is a rheostat for fan speed (white wire) which is not presently used but may be in the future. Below is shows the fan grill snipped out. This is where the rear-facing edge of the Daystar SE/30 adapter pokes through and rests.

Final assembly had me removing a bit more of the already-cut inner ring so that the area from about 8 to 9 o'clock are gone.

Now the fun part...

 

Above is the bottom of the video card with all the goods attached. To make this work I had to lose the video card's video capture daughter card. This freed up its PDS pass-through and gave me an opening to slide the ethernet cable through. In the PDS are first the Asante card with its math chip removed...same for the riser card which also had a math chip.

To get things to fit, the Asante has a 90 degree PDS inserted and then 2 straight PDS inserted. Not shown is a rubber stick-on rubber bumper thing on the back side of the 2 straight PDS pieces. This allows the 040 to rest on when it is in position.  Also not shown as the zip ties in the 2 corners of the Asante PDS where the 90 degree PDS is inserted. These ties fight gravity pulling the works out of the Asante.

Next is the Daystar SE/30 adapter for Cache/030/040. I went with this card as it was unused, smaller than the IIsi adapter with pass through and that adapter would have the 040 doing a 270 degree backflip vs the 180 backflip with the SE/30 adapter.

Here is the top of the 040...

It gets 2 90 degree PDS units so it can attach to the SE/30 adapter...

I have had this together for about 36 hours and all seems stable. The only crash I had was when I was trying to decompress a new word processor and I don't think that was related to the configuration.

To do list:

1. I'd like to add a rheostat to the fan as it runs at 100 percent and I think it could be dialed down some

2. I need to get the motherboard recapped...It has never been and its chime is starting to fade

 

[joethezombie]

Oh HELL yes!  Now this is a proper IIsi build out.  Very well done.  I need picture 4 to be fixed, please!

Next is the Daystar SE/30 adapter for Cache/030/040. I went with this card as it was unused [and] smaller than the IIsi adapter 

Yeah, I like how you say that so nonchalant, like you just walked up to a cupboard supplied with Daystar SE/30 and IIsi adapters and picked through them to find a pretty looking one.  My GOD man, do you know how impossible those are to find?  LOL.

To be honest, I'm a little surprised to see that an original (and not recapped) power supply can handle all that.  I always hear folks warning of the underpowered IIsi power supply.  Granted, this thing isn't on 24-7, but still...

Oh, and I found a video of you putting that thing together:

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

8-o Woo! I am very impressed, you handily win the Rube Goldberg award for layered IIsi madness. Bravo! :approve:

 

[MOS8_030]

That is a pretty cool project.

If it's worth doing it's worth over doing!

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

My sentiments exactly. Von, can we see a pic of just the card assembly from end-on? Maybe one where it's installed on the IIsi board outside the case to see the clearances and connections. That there is a bit of weight to prop up in a caseless config!

Fabulous! :approve:

 

[Von]

Oh HELL yes!  Now this is a proper IIsi build out.  Very well done.  I need picture 4 to be fixed, please!

Yeah, I like how you say that so nonchalant, like you just walked up to a cupboard supplied with Daystar SE/30 and IIsi adapters and picked through them to find a pretty looking one.  My GOD man, do you know how impossible those are to find?  LOL.

To be honest, I'm a little surprised to see that an original (and not recapped) power supply can handle all that.  I always hear folks warning of the underpowered IIsi power supply.  Granted, this thing isn't on 24-7, but still...

I am not sure why that photo didn't take, so here it is:

         Under the floppy sits the Asante daughter card with its rainbow ribbon. The ethernet cable was poached from one of those retractable travel units as it is thin and pliable:

         

RE the SE/30 Daystar adapter...the only time I have ever seen one of these for sale was in June 2007 and I grabbed it for $85 on Ebay. I have not seen one since.  At the time I had other plans for my SE/30s so this was an infinity stone to add to the collection

RE the caps...I have that on the to do list.

That video was fitting (;

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

So to speak  .  .  .  that's about as good as puns get! :lol:

I'd still love to see one from end on with the motherboard next time you nave it apart and can pull it from the case. Looks like the only possible mod left would be to drill a hole in the video cards backplane cover for a VONETS WiFi module's antenna. May as well use a bit of the tiny amount of cubic you've left unoccupied inside that case []

LOVE IT!!!!! :approve:

 

[Von]

I have found a source to recap the board and PS, so when then happens, I will take some more photos.  I am also going to look at changing the layout a bit.  The SE/30 adapter pokes into the fan cavity where its fan grill is/was.  Since the fan has already been mauled, I will look at cutting into the fan housing on the left side of the unit such the SE/30 adapter can sit on the housing and I can remove 2 of the straight PDS units. Net effect will be to move the SE/30 adapter + 05 taco closer to the Asante and remove 240 potential points of failure...I'll report back on this as well.

 

[MrGasS27]

How can you see a Lubuntu PC on Macintosh via Chooser?

 

[Von]

How can you see a Lubuntu PC on Macintosh via Chooser?

Read this post and follow the instructions on applefool.com to install Netatalk 2.1.6 on your linux box.  Make note of my post on page 3 about removing Cups...that was the only way I could get the install to work.