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Beige G3: PCI SATA, is it an option?
- Thread starter sigtau
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At some point, Apple changed the video chip on the Beige from Rage II to Rage Pro, IIRC. I don't know if that was an A to B change. And I think there was a later switch from Rage Pro to Rage Pro Turbo, but my understanding is that the later change makes no real world difference.
A to B ROM adds support for slave IDE. The Rev. A ROM doesn't support slave drives on the built-in IDE regardless of motherboard used.
A to B ROM adds support for slave IDE. The Rev. A ROM doesn't support slave drives on the built-in IDE regardless of motherboard used.
Not with the Beige machines. The Apple-spec way of setting up the devices was the CD-ROM on one IDE channel, the HD on the other IDE channel, and the Zip drive on SCSI. It makes it incredibly annoying when you're trying to add a Zip drive to a machine after the fact because the majority of the ones you find inexpensively are all IDE/PATA/ATAPI/whatever you want to call it and the SCSI ones are ridiculously expensive.
Sonnet made a card to help this issue. It may be worth looking into whether you can get one. Without that, I would only bother with a video card if you're going to use OS X, and I would prioritize almost anything over Ethernet, just depending on what you want to do.
I recently found a sonnet SATA card, but I have yet to test it out. I don't know what machine I'll put it in yet.
If we're entertaining alternate configurations for the beige G3, the one I personally want is an Audio personality card that also has a Rage128 and a USB controller on it, as a sort of "OS X readiness" package - leaving three slots free for faster networking, storage, OSX-compatible video capture devices, whatever.
I recently found a sonnet SATA card, but I have yet to test it out. I don't know what machine I'll put it in yet.
If we're entertaining alternate configurations for the beige G3, the one I personally want is an Audio personality card that also has a Rage128 and a USB controller on it, as a sort of "OS X readiness" package - leaving three slots free for faster networking, storage, OSX-compatible video capture devices, whatever.
Given that all of this is specifically important, have you considered looking for a Blue-And-White Power Macintosh G3, or a Power Macintosh G4?
I haven't looked a lot of late, but it seems surprising to me that video adapters are either so expensive and hard to find and/or that Rage128s for Macs are so cheap and easy to find. This is the opposite of what I would have expected.
I haven't looked a lot of late, but it seems surprising to me that video adapters are either so expensive and hard to find and/or that Rage128s for Macs are so cheap and easy to find. This is the opposite of what I would have expected.
I'd sort of second that, IE, if you want a Rage 128, USB, and 10/100 Ethernet that's all stock in a B&W. What you're giving up in that trade is SCSI and Localtalk ports, although SCSI is easy enough to fix. Unless you simply must have Localtalk it's kind of a no brainer.
For pure floppy making, you don't need an awful lot.
Regarding video adapters, I don't know how often these come up, but there's this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Macintosh-RGB-Multisync-Video-Adapters-3-/302488372229- these adapters used to be all over the place, although I imagine they're a little more difficult to shake loose today than they were twenty years ago.
Regarding video adapters, I don't know how often these come up, but there's this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Macintosh-RGB-Multisync-Video-Adapters-3-/302488372229- these adapters used to be all over the place, although I imagine they're a little more difficult to shake loose today than they were twenty years ago.
I think everybody who has collected macs for a while has a drawer of different video adapters and other odd cables.
For floppy making I generally just use a 68K mac (if you need 400K disks etc).
PCI based PPC are better for storage and file transfers between 68k and PPC/Intel machines.
B&W G3 and later have the advantage of PCIX cards that nobody wants anymore plus more modern devices built in (USB,100MB Ethernet, common SDRAM).
G4's are better for early to later OSX (few people used anything pre 10.4 these days).
G5's only major advantages are SATA hard drives and much more RAM (4-16GB depending on the model tower).
For floppy making I generally just use a 68K mac (if you need 400K disks etc).
PCI based PPC are better for storage and file transfers between 68k and PPC/Intel machines.
B&W G3 and later have the advantage of PCIX cards that nobody wants anymore plus more modern devices built in (USB,100MB Ethernet, common SDRAM).
G4's are better for early to later OSX (few people used anything pre 10.4 these days).
G5's only major advantages are SATA hard drives and much more RAM (4-16GB depending on the model tower).
I guess since this is a good Beige thread to ask questions in, is there a known issue with Mac OS beyond 8.1 that causes it to only play sound through the Personality Card? I have the AV Personality in mine, and while it all appears to be in working order, only when I boot from the FWB utility disc (which is running 8.1) do I get sound from the internal speaker--it seems to only want to redirect through the personality card in versions later than 8.1.
I just wanted to make sure this is a known thing, and if there's a driver or somesuch I need for 9.2.2 to recognize both the built-in audio and the Personality Card (as it only seems to specify "Built In" in the audio control panel, which appears to point to the personality card line out).
I just wanted to make sure this is a known thing, and if there's a driver or somesuch I need for 9.2.2 to recognize both the built-in audio and the Personality Card (as it only seems to specify "Built In" in the audio control panel, which appears to point to the personality card line out).
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