Recommended PCI cards for an MDD

[Arthegall]

As I continue building my MDD setup for long-term OS9 use, I'd like some recommendations for expansion cards.

Requirements:

1) Useful

2) Compatible with OS9

Would a SATA card do? How about USB 2.0? A SCSI card? Is there a card that will allow VBR floppy drive use?

I've never used expansion cards before. I don't know what's out there, I don't know what plays nice with OS9, and I don't know what will be most useful.

I'm open to any and all suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

 

[classic]

How about an IXmicro TurboTV?

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/390223310531?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

 

[TheIanMan85]

A SCSI card could be useful for using older peripherals. Like I mentioned in another post I paid extra for one in my G4/350 when I bought it new...but never actually needed to plug any of my old stuff into it. For all I know it came DOA 13 years ago and I still haven't noticed!

TV tuner is a cool idea. I wouldn't worry about a card for newer drives until you're ready to try installing a newer and faster drive. I'm not sure about OS 9 compatibility, so I'm interested to hear from someone with experience there.

Maybe a card for additional (or faster) USB or FireWire, if needed.

I think the most useful thing for communicating with older Macs may be a ZIP drive, be it internal or external. (Did they still offer an internal ZIP then?) Combined with an external SCSI ZIP drive they can make transferring files to and from old Macs much easier than jumping through networking hoops. Again, only if you need to do this. I find joy in networking computers, especially when there's a challenge getting them to talk and a little creativity is needed. If you just want it to work, ZIP will bring you from new all the way back to a Mac Plus.

How about another video card for dual monitors? (Although, why stop at only two... } )

 

[ClassicHasClass]

Sonnet SATA cards are OS 9 bootable and work well in an MDD.

The problem with SCSI cards is not all of them have OS 9 drivers or are OS 9 compatible, though if you find an OrangeMicro (r.i.p.) those are good choices too.

I also have an Aurora Fuse card in mine for video capture.

 

[Unknown_K]

A MDD will have USB and Firewire built in. I would include an SCSI card if you use external tape backup drives or just like something that will connect to old media and drives.

There are decent OS 9/OSX capture cards out for G4s, I have a maxtrox RTMAC in a G4 machine.

 

[jruschme]

I think the most useful thing for communicating with older Macs may be a ZIP drive, be it internal or external. (Did they still offer an internal ZIP then?)

There was a Zip option for the MDD. It replaced the lower optical door with a fixed panel with cutouts for the Zip opening. That part seems to be pretty rare, though, as I have only seen one on ebay and it was going for something like the price of an MDD power supply.

 

[Unknown_K]

You are better off just getting an Adaptec SCSI card and using an external SCSI ZIP drive.

 

[Bunsen]

Would a SATA card do?

Yes. There's a thread or two here on the forum that discuss cheap PC SATA cards that can be flashed with Mac compatible ROMs -- IIRC, OS 9 compatible too.

MDD will have USB / built in.

Only USB 1.1 though, right?

 

[ClassicHasClass]

Correct, just USB 1.1.

 

[Arthegall]

I've had an idea, and I'd like you all to evaluate it.

For a long time I've thought about getting old home movies on VHS and Hi8 made into DVDs. Also converting old records and cassettes to MP3. I've never had the hardware.

It seems that with the right cards and software, this machine could do it. It might not be blazing fast or have huge storage, but it could do it, right?

What would I need?

 

[ClassicHasClass]

For that purpose, it would work just fine. It will capture great from SD sources. Obviously transcoding would be slower, but it doesn't have to be realtime. Even a relatively low-spec ProTV card would work, or you could use a nice FW converter like the Canopus ADVC-300 (I recommend it because it has a built-in timebase corrector so that bad sources record much better).

 

[Bunsen]

The trick (or at least, one of the tricks) is to get the best possible quality analog signal off tape and into the converter. Broadcast-quality and high-end consumer SVHS decks are cheap or free these days. S-Video or component output would also be a bonus. Cleaning the heads and tape path regularly is also good - I recall doing it every ten hours of tape time as a standard back in the day.

 

[jruschme]

You are better off just getting an Adaptec SCSI card and using an external SCSI ZIP drive.

That's probably the best price/performance choice. It took me forever to find an affordable early USB 250 that would take the FireWire adapter.

 

[CC_333]

...the Canopus ADVC-300...

I looked that up, and it seems a bit pricey to me (minimum of $399), although there is one on eBay (can I say that here?) for $10 with two bids on it.
Basically, what I'm saying is perhaps something a bit cheaper would suit Arthegall's needs better (I doubt that he'd want to shell out $399 for it).

c

 

[ClassicHasClass]

Not necessarily. If you use a consumer VCR, you're going to get dropped frames, and any FW A/D video converter is going to handle that badly. Some, like the Pyro A/V, will insert noticeable pauses in the stream. At best you will get occasional artifacts or choppiness. That's what a timebase corrector is for, and the Canopus unit I mentioned is the cheapest way you're going to get one.

If you use a prosumer or professional VCR, you will get better results, but a frame will still drop now and then, and the VCR will not be cheap either.

Garbage in, garbage out.

 

[rampancy]

A USB 2.0 card is definitely a must. While the card will unfortunately only will work as a USB 1.1 card, extra USB ports never hurt. Be sure to look for cards with an NEC chipset, as cards with those chipsets seem to be the ones that play best with Mac hardware, especially with sleep mode.

Another option would be an 802.11 PCI card. Later updates to Apple's AirPort software enabled third-party 802.11b/g PCI card support. On OS X, the cards are recognized as AirPort Extreme cards; however, under OS 9 they're recognized as AirPort cards running at 802.11b. Before, it was a real pain to figure out which cards worked and which didn't (you had to keep track of card revision numbers to see which cards did and didn't have the necessary Broadcom chipset) but if you do some searching around on eBay they're not too hard to find.

If you're interested in more exotic hardware, you can look around for the 5.1 version of M-Audio's Revolution PCI card, which had OS 9 drivers (that were a little dodgy at times), or Creative's controversial SoundBlaster Live! for Macintosh PCI card.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I'm setting up my Quicksilver 2002 Dual 1GHz as my main OS 9.2.2 Machine as well.

Check out this USB Card Thread for starters.

I'm migrating the internals from my DOA DA over to the QS'02 and I'm considering running X, in Classic mode, as my working environment just to get USB 2.0 support under 9.2.2 running in the Classis environment.