7600MetalMiniTower™

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

7600MetalMiniTower™





This is the config of my PCI Card TestStation as it stands, ATM . . . so to speak! )

Bunsen made a request for pics of this rig in his Alternatives to the 800-series case thread.

I'm fairly certain I'll be doing a clear plexi case for RFI/airflow containment for this G4 Rig. I'm really liking the sheet metal look! :approve:

 

[BGoins12]

I tried that with my 7600 but it feels too flimsy without the lid installed. The 7600 is a great mac though! Mine has a 300MHz G3 card in it.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Mine's solid as a rock now that I've got clear rubber feets on the "bottom."

I'll see your G3 and raise . . .



)

Everybody raves about Macintosh case design, but I really love the look of the bare-@$$ nekkid metal chassis Macs. The sheet metal design/packaging engineers at Apple are waaaaayyyyyy better than Jonathan Ive. I have tremendous respect for JI's giftss in the Industrial Design and Artistic Talent departments, he's good enough to be on the FROG team, but I'm just in awe of the Packaging Design Team's work!

 

[Bunsen]

Pretty neat.

clear plexi case

Yeah, that should come up looking good. I'm picturing some nicely stained & polished plywood there myself )

rubber feets on the "bottom."

Ahh yeah, good plan. I was going to ask about that, seeing as that's the main air intake.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

. . . seeing as that's the main air intake.

Yep! Just like on the Quadra 700, the MiniQuadraFeetsMac™ :approve:

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

My Metal PCI Card Test Tower is either receiving a stock G3 downgrade . . .

. . . or a Zip Drive/sheet metal case upgrade! [] ]'>

$35 shipped, packed inside a nice beige plastic inner shipping container . . .

. . . with peripherals! :approve:

 

[ClassicHasClass]

I'll raise you the 1GHz G3 I'm going to install in my 7300 courtesy johnklos when I get a round tuit. It should work better than the 800MHz G4 which caused problems with OrangePC.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Has y64rs g6t . . .

. . . three levels of cache?

I need a dead stock machine to remove any doubts about compatibility when I'm testing the PCI Cards. Would the 7600 or Beige G3 be better for this scenario?

 

[Bunsen]

Compatibility with what?

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Compatibility with the OS it's running, the PCI Cards I'm testing under it and the drivers for them for whatever set of extensions I have up and running at the time.

So far the two Radius Cards I've tested don't work very well. One's probably incompatible with the OS, I think it's an early one. It might be from the NuBus era with the PCI edgecard connector slapped onto the design.

VERY as it's one of the few kluges produced by my favorite manufacturer and the first to wind up in the Radius collection. :approve:

The other's a Thunder variant, the first to have the daughter card installed that I've gotten my grubby little paws upon. [] ]'>

Good news: the beige G3 is waiting for me to pick it up at the management office 2hrs 20 min. from now . . .

. . . but who's counting? )

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I've got the Beige G3 running off the 8.5 install CD, but after I ran the installer, it won't boot from the successful installation . . .

. . . poo!

What's the snappiest OS that'll support a USB Card in a beige G3 with approx 300MB of RAM?

. . . and WT . . . Heck are all those friggin' connectors on the AV card intended to do? 8-o

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Installing OS9 did the trick, the BorgMacG3 mini-tower boots up just fine now.

SlotInfo isn't working though, the new ATI Rage 128 PCI VidCard works just fine, but doesn't show up. I'll need to get my TechTool Pro package out and install that. I may have TattleTech on there to try first. The card shows up in the profiler and I get to pick all resolutions imaginable. Gotta love 1080p on an old Mac! [] ]'>

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

FDD cover sheet metal from the 7600 had to be added to the Beige G3 DeskTop because it was missing.

Modified the oddly punched opening to fit a Zip Drive.

Stock Zip opening has a Multiple Card Reader/Writer/USB-2 Port installed.

Pending testing, USB-1 is good enough for now. Later on, I hope to get a multiple OS boot system running for testing PCI Cards under every OS the BG3 will run. Hopefully, one iteration will be 9.2.2 running in classic mode under a version of X that will give me underlying USB-2 support, which is what I'm trying to set up on the QuickSilver 2002 Dual 1GHz MainWorkStation.

I still need to hack access to power for the Black Zip Drive which, conveniently, arrived from eBay with a slide-in metal case of some sort. There's no other reasonably straightforward method to install an easily removable Zip Drive in empty top bay. The metal slide case was Crazy-Gel-Glued to the drive carrier with the left rear corner of the shell cut away to allow the Zip-less Sled/Shell combo to be installed without sled/track modifications. The Zip Drive is then slid back so the hookups can be made for it to be slid home. ATM the power connector interferes with this last process, so the pic was taken with the Zip Drive un-powered so as to allow the sheet metal cover to be fitted for the picture.

The big Zip Drive just looks better filling the entire top bay, the USB-2 Card Unit being much too small. However the extra height of the original Zip bay may allow for hacking a second 3.5" form factor I/O device should I choose to do so.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

In the Darwinian process of collection consolidation, the 7600MetalMiniTower™ has lost its Macological Niche for PCI Testing Playtime and has been disassembled. Cosmo got me thinking . . . always a serious problem . . . in his IIci with Quadra 650 thread.

The 7600's Drawbridge Hood Support is now in the BorgMacG3™ while its MoBo and @$$END are sitting next to an empty Quadra 700 case. A two->one case count w/spare MoBo reduction hack will be in progress very soon now! [}] ]'>

One less unsightly early PCI Architecture Desktop turns into a nice little mini-tower MacFurniture™ Support Unit! :approve: