pic/info request: a color compact that isn't color classic

[markyb86]

I've often wondered/dreamed/plotted that a color classic inside of a se/30,classic,classic 2 would be the ultimate compact. I don't really like the color classic's aesthetics, but the computer as a whole is great. I wonder what it would take to shoehorn that into another compact's case.

I wouldn't mind it just being an SE/30 with a video expansion and a color CRT if it was done right.

I know MinerAl is putting a quadra into a classic, but it's going to be a monochrome build.

Really, I'm just wondering if anyone has a color compact that isn't a color classic. Want to see what and how they did it.

Thanks guys, it's late and the gears are turning again....

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Here's the so-called SE/X that has a modern computer and a color LCD.

If you wanted to keep it 68k, that shouldn't be too hard, either.

 

[Paralel]

One that has a monitor with the same quality/fidelity as the CRT used in the Color Classic?

 

[MinerAl]

The problem with a color CRT in a compact (non-CC) case is the depth of the color tube itself. The color CRT in a CC is about half-again deeper (distance from the circuit board on the end of the neck of the tube to the front of the screen) than the monochrome CRT in a SE/30. (The CC's tube is also a 10" tube instead of the 9" tubes found in the monochrome compacts. So it won't fit that way either.)

To make a 9" color tube fit in a compact, you'd have to graft a 3-4" deep extension on the back of the case for the neck of the tube.

If you want color in an unmodified compact case, you'll need to use a LCD, and a board (like an LCIII+ or LC 475) that can be made to output the color video signal it requires. Luckily the LC sized boards, and the CC sized boards are the same width as an SE/30 board (and not too deep) so it'll easilly fit inside a monochrome compact case. (Actually SE/30s and earlier take less modification, because you have the whole depth of the case to work with. The Classic and CII had a big fan cowl that you'll have to remove to put in a different board.)

If you're going to go to all that trouble though you might as well just pop a recent MacMini in there and have a fully capable modern computer.

 

[markyb86]

Thanks for the input, I guess that's why it hasn't been done :lol:

I suppose going the LCD route, there's alot more room for goodies then.. haha

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

This is about the only kosher method of fitting a color tube into a Compact that I've come up with. It'd be perfect on the Plus, for which it was undoubtedly designed. The angles would be tricky, the height of the board on the back is the limiting factor.

I can't remember where they're posted, but I've got shots showing the sometimes available $40 10" Color CRT fitted inside the ZipMacPlus™ shell. It might fit inside that case . . . if I had one. If I can get the neck to fit, possibly by tilting the CRT just a tad, I'll one day fake one up for a Plus or use the CRT in a frog inspired ProtoMacHack.

edit: now that I think about it, the Bacster would be a great rapid prototyping project for a production run, especially so considering the SCA drive/adapter project as applied to the stock Plus.

 

[Paralel]

That looks pretty near for a plus. Probably hard to find though.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

It'd be perfect on the Plus, for which it was undoubtedly designed.

Well, it's pictured on an SE... (Or SE/30.)

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Yep, but with the 1991 date on the ad, it makes sense that they might have been trying to expand the market into that territory. It'd be a second HDD for those models, where on a Plus its obvious utility would be the primary/boot disk role. It makes little sense to me in either case, as a ZFP drive puts the CRT at a less neck hostile height.

Coupled with a CD/SC however, the Bacster would make for a very nice Plus setup indeed! :approve:

 

[markyb86]

jt,

Now that I think about it, didn't you start to add the back half of a crt housing to the bucket of a compact? I was looking around and couldn't locate the thread, but I think it was an unfinished project.

Also, today I picked up a portable Trinitron TV, it's about 5 or 6 inches, but it doesn't seem extremely deep. Most of the space in the back is for the speaker and batteries. I saw there was a 1/3 scale compact, well what if there was a 2/3 scale :lol:

All jokes aside I just thought it was a cool TV for a dollar.

I wonder how bad it would look or hard it would be to just make a compact bucket deeper? Not like graft anything on but extend the entire thing. It would probably look in-proportionate.

 

[techknight]

Only way around the deepness problem, is if you can find a color CRT that has a higher deflection angle than whats out there..

 

[Brooklyn]

I still have a 10" SVGA CRT (9" viewable) if you are interested, see link. I believe it is an inch or 2 too long to fit in a compact mac case however. (without cuting out the rear)

http://68kmla.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21309&hilit=monitor

 

[Bunsen]

If you used a 660AV logic, you could use a color TV CRT as your internal monitor, hooked up to the AV port. Then use the main logicboard video out for an external monitor. You can force the AV Quadras to use the composite out as the boot screen, IIRC.

An 840AV logic would be too large. Another alternative might be a 6100 with the AV card. G3 optional

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I can't find the pics I thought I posted showing how little the 10" SVGA CRT protrudes out the back of what I'm now remembering as my Classic, not the ZipMacPlus. It's the same one Al and Brooklyn have that Brooklyn just linked to in Al's thread.

I'll move the primary HDD from the pooped out QS'02 to the Beige G3 to see if I can find them to re-post. Meanwhile, I snagged this Bacster pic somewhere or other.



Interesting configuration there!

 

[markyb86]

That looks way nicer than the way its pictured in the LaCie ad

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I've always thought it was a very slick design. The view in the ad stresses the smoothness the chamfer/bevel transition from one case to the other. Very nice indeed.

For some reason I'd always assumed it ended short of the power plug and switch. It took me by surprise again when I re-discovered this pic. It looks to me like it probably has a built in power plug and the switch cuts power off there, with the Compact's switch in the on position underneath. Dollars to doughnuts, there's a shorter version of the passthru SCSI port as on the Clipper Drive under there.

View attachment 19876

I wonder if they had a different model for the SE/SE/30 cooling fan setup?

The somewhat less elegant approach I've come up with would be bolting a modem case up to the backside of the Compact. Not quite Kosher, but that's the kind of utilitarian hack I would have done back in the day. It's silly to have the modem a large modem taking up desk space. I think I've got an Apple(?) modem around here somewhere I've been saving for that 10" CRT as an option if I decide to put it into a real compact instead of a ProtoHoaxMac.

 

[RickNel]

An elegant case extension would be a perfect application for a 3D printer. But difficult to get an exact color match.

Rick

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Thanks to an Anonymous Freak link, I just found another candidate for the Compact Mac Color CRT @$$graft.



What's the name of this A2 monitor? Gotta love the Sun color.

 

[Blinkenlightz]

What's the name of this A2 monitor? Gotta love the Sun color.

Looks like an Apple Monitor II