G3 card in a 9150

[beachycove]

It seems that I am getting hold of a WorkGroup Server 9150 sometime soon (I will believe it when it is in my car on the way back home, mind you). Naturally, I tend to think that with a box that size, it would be a shame not to stuff some cards in it. I have Nubus cards aplenty, and I have a 2MB HPV video card (alas, I recently traded away my 4MB HPV card). But one of the other candidates would be a G3 pds card, perhaps a Sonnet Crescendo 500mhz, though I would have to source it first.

I am not a huge fan of processor upgrades, and on the whole I tend to keep my machines as stock as possible processor-wise, so I know relatively little about them. So I have a small question: Is it possible to turn off the G3 via a control panel and boot from the 601 when one of these pds G3 cards is installed, in the way you can with a 601 card in a Quadra? Or is it G3 all the way and all the time?

 

[LCGuy]

I'm not sure if they come with a control panel, but I know that they rely on an extension in order to run - you could disable the G3 extension when you want to use the onboard 601.

 

[Bunsen]

AFAIK, the extension only activates the cache. Without it, the G3 runs, but being cacheless and on a slow board, it runs a lot slower.

Speaking of which, Sonnet no longer lists their Nubus G3 upgrades on their website. If you're looking on ebay etc, try to get one with the full 1MB of cache.

 

[beachycove]

Assuming it doesn't have a G3 card already in it, I'll just keep it stock, then. If stock, an AWS9150 will have a glorious 1MB cache card, so that will speed things up a fair bit.

Overall, I like keeping the "vintage" in my vintage computers.

 

[Dimitris1980]

I have installed a sonnet nubus g3 500 Mhz in my Mac Performa 6116 and i have the drivers installed but i can also take out the sonnet extension (and restart the machine without it) if i want to run the computer with the original speed.

 

[Bunsen]

Just personally, I can't think of a reason not to put a G3 in there, budget allowing, and assuming you get one with working video passthrough. It won't restrict what OS/System/s you can use on it. Even a G3 upgrade is pretty "vintage" these days.

 

[LCGuy]

Exactly...not to mention that its not really that much of a "mod"...the machine looks the same, works the same, feels the same, etc...the only difference is that everything just happens faster.

 

[beachycove]

On reflection, I have later PPC towers galore that are always going to be faster overall than a Nubus Mac, however souped-up it might be. Any of us could probably buy a genuine beige G3 tower at <5% of the market price of a 9150. Why get an über-rare 9150 if you aren't going to enjoy it as such?

It is true that Nubus and G3 can be seen working together in what is, in this case, a "one Nubus PPC to rule them all" package, and it might be an interesting thing to try that out one rainy day. Otherwise, I suppose I'd say that simply going fast is over-rated. It's like the difference between sailing (which I do a lot of) and powerboats (which I used to work in and around when I was younger, but these days — meh). It's the whole experience that matters. If the right software is on the thing, it'll be fast enough anyway.

So that decision is made; thank you, gentlemen. I now just have to arrange collection.

 

[krye]

To me, it's not about being in a sailboat, or a powerboat. It's the fact that I'm on the water is what counts.

 

[tecneeq]

Hear, hear!

 

[beachycove]

[Cough] If there were some way to get a DOS card in there (I have two or three of these here) without blocking the Nubus slots, e.g., using one of the ribbon cables that came with the NewerTech units made for the 7100 and 8100, then sticking something other than hp video in the 9150’s pds all of a sudden looks interesting again.

The idea would be essentially to allow for the necessary 9150pds to 040pds conversion and a suitable relocation of the DOS card, using the little 6100 angle adapter (6100pds to 040pds) that I have, the ribbon cable, and the 040 card joined up somehow.

Possible? Were there detachable ribbon cables on any of these G3 upgrades?

 

[beachycove]

This one appears to be what I would want. This is assuming that the ribbon can be contorted enough to be able to fit the DOS card to the 6100 angle adapter to the Ribbon cable to the PDS slot. It would need to be bent into an S shape, but with about 4" to play with, that should be possible.