Prototype Mac Case, that is the question . . .

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

. . . I just found the Apple logo stamped on the bottom of the 5.25" drive tray in the strangest, coolest sheet metal chassis for a wide, middling tal/mid level tower I've ever run across . . .

- It's without doubt an ATX case which is strange enough.

- Definitely not

- Swing out, removable MoBo/backplane tray, clips into the backplane w/plastic slide catch at the front

- clip-in three level 3.5" drive magazine

- odd fan mounted on left side, opposite the door

- odd missing corner on back of same

- various other earmarks of prortotypeness now that I think about it.

- 8 7/8" W x 14 1/2" H x 15 5/8" D

. . . pics late tonight, runnin' to work.

Sound like anything familiar? :?:

edit: Bermuda Triangle, NC was likely a hotbed for CHRP development. If not, a lot of Big Blue employees were relocated here just after that time-frame. Found it at a thrift in Raleigh with no front bezel or goodies inside, IIRC.

 

[mcdermd]

Could it be ...

Wikipedia[/url]"]The G3 used Apple's new "Gossamer" logic board, which had originally been developed with an eye towards maximum compatibility with PC components. This was known as the "Yellowknife" project, which had sought to develop the first Apple RISC product — capable of running any OS that would support it, be it Mac OS or Windows. It was an effort by Apple to gain market share, by allowing their hardware to run industry-standard software, but still remaining Mac OS proprietary. The prototype had a ZIF-socket G3 processor, PCI and ISA slots, Mac and PC serial ports, onboard SCSI, PC and Mac floppy drive connectors, ATX power supplies, and PS/2 keyboard and mouse connections, inserted into an ATX case. The project was scrapped by Steve Jobs, after his return to Apple, and his realization of the devastation of Apple's profits due to the Clone makers

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Dunno, room for seven slots. IBM's PC division relocated here, I'll ask the grlf when that was, she was with that division and its later morph into Lenono.

late for wokr . . .toodles.

 

[olePigeon]

I'd love to see pictures.

 

[uniserver]

yeah pictures are nice!

 

[dorkbert]

A friend of mine that worked on SQA for G4 Cube @ Apple indicated the protos were all cage in a tin box... with push button power switch.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Yeah, sounds right, I need to look closer, but this thing may never have had a front bezel in the first place. The removable door MoBo tray just screams "prototype enclosure." User friendly it ain't. There are a couple of numbers to check, but I came up with bopkes googling the part number though.

The only real verbiage on the case is Caution: Do Not Remove Tape in English & Ideograms . . . so this idiot tore the translucent yellow tape off the front to gain access to the power/reset buttons and LEDs.

This thing has spots to put speakers and fans all over the place!

Oopsie! :O

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Quickie right off the camera at lunch specials. Sorry.

This is what got me looking . . .





Notice the hook, whack on a board with a card on it, put in one screw to hold down the card and ain't nothin' movin' in there.









Found the mfr, but it feels like a prototyping case to me. Dunno.

Whatchathink? :?:

TTFN

 

[uniserver]

That to me looks like a prototype of the first INTEL Mac.

i think that whole unit slid into a modified G5 case.

 

[CC_333]

It does vaguely resemble the beige G3 in terms of overall shape and size, but many of the details seem to have more in common with a similar-era PC case I have (with the sideways-mounted PSU and shorter-wider shape). That stamped-in Apple logo does suggest that it's genuine, though. The motherboard tray does strike me as similar to the production G3 as well, if I remember correctly.

As for the extra slots, well, maybe this was an early prototype case originally intended to be more in line with the 9500/9600 (and perhaps it was developed into it at one point), and they simply cut it down to size at a later stage to get the G3 (which, aside from # of slots (and probably height; I've never seen a 9x00 in person closely enough to make detailed observations), is very similar to the 9x00, I think). It's purely speculation at this point, I think.

Who knows, you could have a veritable gold mine there!

I'm eager to hear (and see) more!

c

 

[Gorgonops]

Hate to throw cold water on the fire, but my gut tells me that this is just a generic PC clone case missing the skins. The removable motherboard tray is a very common feature of "middling to good quality" PC cases, and the skins probably consisted of four parts: a snap-on plastic bezel, two "drop-down" or "tip-up" side panels, and a slides-on-from-the-back top that holds the side skins in place when it's secured. (Or, alternatively, it may just have consisted of the front bezel and a one-piece "U" shaped cover.) In fact, this case looks a *lot* like several cases I owned in the 1999-2004-ish time period. (Perhaps even a dead ringer for a particular 400Mhz Dual Celeron box dating from the beginning of the period.)

If the only evidence you have for some sort of "prototype" connection is that little Apple logo stamped in the metal, well... okay, here you go:

The tray the CD ROM drive is sitting on is from a PowerMac.

HOWEVER, look at the design of the case: peripherals in the 5 1/4 drive bays are *supposed* to be fitted with little plastic or metal mounting rails, allowing the device to be slotted in from the front and secured with screws. I think someone used that mounting tray because they lost the rails; note how the drive is sitting in the *middle* of two of the drive bays because the mounting plate is screwed into holes that are meant for the rails which would be at the midpoint of the drive when properly mounted.

In other words, well... it's junk, not a prototype. Sorry. :/

 

[Cory5412]

The board also has "Intel" slathered all over it and although it's certainly not the DTK, it's definitely some kind of Intel-based system.

I'm with G in that it's probably just a regular PC case missing its plastic skins. Custom-built PCs often use motherboards that don't exactly match up with what the case offers, especially if somebody overbuys a case or buys it with the intent to later install bigger cooling hardware, or just has a case already and puts whatever board they can put into it for free. Not every seven-slot case has a seven-slot board installed.

As for the fact that it has a similar optical drive ot Macs? was apple the only company that uses Matsu/Panasonic mechanisms? Alternately, Apple had switched to IDE by then. Any reason that a PC built by somebody scrounging for parts couldn't have used an optical drive pulled out of a G3?

My verdict is that it's a PC built as cheaply as possibly, whether or not the case itself is interesting or if better/more pictures will reveal that it was a common PC case, who knows.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Great link, now I can get another pair of trays! Thank heaven Apple finally gave up on that ridiculous plastic crap.

I realize this started out as a pretty much "Standard ATX case," but there are several things at odds with it being a production machine as pictured in the bezel removal diagram on its @$$end.

I checked out the exploded diagrams of the 8600/9600 cases in the Service Source while I was at work. Have they got a fan mounted to the left hand side of the case blowing air into it? It looks that way in the diagram to me and this case has that particular oddity. The fan is mounted on a very heavy gauge custom metal stamping that's mounted to the holes meant for the case's very nice domed grill for the front mounted fan, which the stamping entirely blocks as well. The stamping is a gauge and finish entirely different form the baseline case, which is lightweight and very nicely done sheet metal work.The hole on the case cover matching up with the fan is professionally done, but by no means a standard feature.

This has all the hallmarks of a short production run of an oddly modified stock case.

Timeline research:

1994 - IBM PC Division relocates to RTP (from info online, I'll back check that with my sweetie tomorrow)

1995 - First Macintosh Clone ships, CHRP is Published by Apple & IBM and ATX (Advanced Technology eXtended) spec developed at Intel

1996 - IBM and Motorola demo their CHRP prototypes

1997 - 9600/8600 Released & Apple halts all CHRP licensing.

Ten years later I found this oddity in a thrift shop just outside RTP.

BTW, that Apple drive mounting plate seems to be made to fit this case, it puts the Optical drive bay and the tape/zip bay just about where they wound up in the 9600/8600. Spacing is wrong for the floppy up top, which just fits above the Optical, but they were going to raise the forehead for the drawbridge case anyway. The 5.25" Drive Bay assembly sure looks like the exploded drawing in the Service Source and it's obvious that Apple cribbed some of the x600's case design features from the PC World. [] ]'>

Not saying it's an Apple prototype, not even saying it's an IBM CHRP prototype, just saying that when I look at it now, it looks like A prototype box . . .

. . . and that's alot of coinkidinks. :approve:

Can somebody get back to me on the existence of, and airflow direction of, the side-mounted fan in the 9600/8600 exploded diagrams.

More piccies in the AM, tonight I'll probably just tweak and compress the ones already up.

Any requests for pics of particular case details?

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

@ Corey: I stuck that Optical drive in there, I said that there were no goodies inside the empty case when I found it. It's obviously the Intel specified ATX form factor, but I figure that's what IBM or Motorola would have used for CHRP, the timing was spot-on for that. Only Apple kept building oddball, but very sexy, case designs after the advent of ATX.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Straightened and tweaked a bit, same size, but compressed at 50.















Let me know if these look better and what you'd like to see. Once you see the cage for holding the cards down, you won't think of it an "inexpensive" case. Very high quality aluminum sheet metal work.I wonder if Intel made an ATX reference design. The serial number appears to be in the mid-hundreds. It's also interesting to note the spot for an O.S. designation sticker. [] ]'>

Whatever happens, it's cool and I'm not gonna turn it into an ersatz Radius 81/110 after all. :disapprove:

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I wormed my way all the way around and ate my own tail on google. 8-o

IBM's Long Trail CHRP MoBo = ATX! More or less, judging from the pic. ;D

The CHRP dream that Jobs killed . . .

 

[MacJunky]

Trash. Stop.

Page 16:

http://www.photolabs.ru/manuals/tr/qss31_training%20materials.pdf

Granted, it only shows the 5 and not 5A.. so it is an outdated document. *shrug*

Someone crammed an Apple part into a PC case. That is all.

 

[snuci]

Here's a better link for the Noritsu QSS-2901 Digital Computer Upgrade model PC-NRT-5A (like on the back of the case): http://www.photocomputers.com/service.php At least this has some specs for what fit into the chassis.

Sorry Trash.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

By occam's razor, and any reasonable stretch of the imagination, I think g's swapped parts theory is most likely correct as well.

However, I found the info you guys have linked as well, doesn't fit, literally. This can't possibly be the case in that picture. The zip drive is centered, it would have to be on the left side, see pic of front side of my case. This case is also a normal PC config however.

@ MacJunky: the diagram of the case on page 30 of the first section matches my case from the front as does the layout you mentioned on p.16 of the second from the side, but the brochure pic shows a different case config altogether, dunno though.

Keep looking, I'd love to find out my WAG is incontrovertibly wrong.

In the meantime:

This document confirms that IBM's Long Trail was an ATX form factor MoBo.

http://www.put.com/oz/ozdi/199704.TXT

This is fun, I'll keep playing devil's advocate and get some more pics up of this strange beast and its modified steel cover.

Anybody got pics of the inside of the X600 case? In any case, the side fan hack would be blowing cooling air directly upon the RAM banks of Long Trail as pictured.