Why it pays to have "connections"

[MrMacPlus]

Okay, well, it's conquest time once again, guys. This time at the same college that I've scored:

-2x Blue and White G3s (November 2008)

-3 various PCs, Athlon processors, only one remains and works (October-November 2008)

-Quadra 660av, maxed RAM, later scored a 6gb hard drive for it (September 2008)

-Fried eMac, that I scored a Combo drive out of (July 2008)

-iMac G3/350 Blueberry, since then thrown away (July 2008)

-PowerMac G4/733, my main machine (July 2008)

-iMac G3/350 Indigo, my old main machine (July 2007)

-Powermac G3 Beige, that I stupidly threw away when I got my iMac (June 2007)

Not to mention COUNTLESS other little things that have helped me with my computer collecting.

And today, I get to go replace my main machine...

You see, yesterday, I get an email from one of the students who is working in the IT department saying that they are tossing out 4 Quicksilvers, and if I wanted to claim any of them (this is why it's important to have connections). I said that I'll take the 867mhz model. Today, I get an email telling me that he'll put whatever RAM they have spare in the system and OS X 10.4 on it. Now, I don't know how much speed increase there will be, but I'll take it anyway.

WOOT!

 

[MrMacPlus]

Well, I got this:

1x PowerMac G4/867, 768MB RAM, 40GB HD, 64MB Nvidia Geforce 2MX & a PCI ATi Rage card (presumably from a B&W), 10.4.11

1x USB SuperDisk Drive

1x ...wait for it... Wacom ArtZ II Drawing Tablet ADB

I'm happy.

 

[tmtomh]

Niiiiice....

 

[iMac600]

QuickSIlvers are beautiful machines. I have the 733MHz model (overclocked to 800MHz) with the 32mb graphics card (Yes, i'm pretty envious of your 64mb card), USB 2.0, 6x FireWire 400 and Dual Ethernet cards.

Here's to the QuickSilvers!

 

[z180]

Hey imac 600,

its possible to use most old PC video cards in all G3/G4/G5 after flashing with a OF rom.

 

[iMac600]

Hey imac 600,its possible to use most old PC video cards in all G3/G4/G5 after flashing with a OF rom.

Actually the range of cards that can be flashed with Mac compatible ROMs is very minimal, probably no more than a handful.

 

[Mike Richardson]

Hey imac 600,its possible to use most old PC video cards in all G3/G4/G5 after flashing with a OF rom.

Actually the range of cards that can be flashed with Mac compatible ROMs is very minimal, probably no more than a handful.

It depends on the ROM size, and then it's kind of random as to who uses the larger ROM that Macs require. For one card maybe VisionTek had the right ROM size but then another card, you need to get a Diamond or some other brand.

 

[iMac600]

This was something I researched extensively already. Once you get down to it, it's a limited batch that can actually run in these systems. Firstly the card needs to have a programmable ROM, then it needs to be able to accommodate the larger Mac ROM, then it actually needs to have the proper flash tools written for it.

Best bet is with the 64mb GeForce2 MX and ATI Radeon product lines, plus a handful of newer ones. All the GeForce2 MX cards i've owned haven't been flashable, unfortunately.

 

[Mars478]

From my School I got

- An iMac Blueberry 350

- A Clamshell iBook Blue 300MHZ

- Another Clamshell iBook Graphite 466MHZ

- an iMac G5 1.6ghz with bad memory (I just bought a one gig Dimm and its now my main desktop computer.)

- 2 Floppy Drive Readers

- a 20 Gig Laptop HD

- A Performa 6214CD

- An External Hard Drive enclosure.

- Many other bits and pieces.

I work in the School computer lab so I get all the old things eleventy!

 

[Mike Richardson]

This was something I researched extensively already. Once you get down to it, it's a limited batch that can actually run in these systems. Firstly the card needs to have a programmable ROM, then it needs to be able to accommodate the larger Mac ROM, then it actually needs to have the proper flash tools written for it.
Best bet is with the 64mb GeForce2 MX and ATI Radeon product lines, plus a handful of newer ones. All the GeForce2 MX cards i've owned haven't been flashable, unfortunately.

I have done a few PC to Mac flashes on ATI cards. For some cards you can get special reduced 64K ROMs or whatever the size needs to be to fit. You lose NDRVs which I think were for Mac OS 9 anyway. I used my G5 with an Nvidia AGP card (so as to not confuse with the ATI PCI card), OS X 10.4 and just the standard ATI flashing tools, the ones you use for overclocking I guess.

I no longer have an Nvidia in my G5, now I have a Radeon 9800 Pro, bought off eBay specified "Mac compatible" and probably a flashed card. Works great.

 

[MrMacPlus]

Well, after I transferred the RAM, Combo drive, and hard drive from my 733mhz to the new 867mhz, I ran into problems (of course). I got the three beep error code. I reseated the RAM and then the machine boots, slightly faster than the 733, but, then it locks up when I try to run flash player. I reset the machine and it works fine, flash player and all. It's noticeably faster on games and stuff. Woot.