What did you do with your PowerPC Mac today?

[macStuff]

My G3 B/W will do it's ProTools TDM job as regular and happily exchanges with the rest of the family via Synology NAS. No problems with handling resource forks whatsoever, appears like a native Apple fileserver.

great to hear that the Synology NAS is working properly for you!
https://www.synology.com/en-us/products

[superlions16]

Tried to run Shufflepuck on a 1.25GHz eMac with 9.2.2 Classic and 10.4.11 - Ran too fast! Tried Basilisk II (OS 8.0, 68040) - a bit slower but still too fast. But if you want to run it on eMac, you may try Mini vMac if they have it on PPC.

[FdB]

From The Bootable PCI SATA & SSD thread

DieHard, it only works on Mac capable of booting 10.5.x though, since the iDefrag DVD uses a custom version of 10.5 to boot into. If you have iDefrag, just use the link in the picture to create a bootable DVD. You can choose from a Intel only or a Universal DVD (10.5 based).

Looks like those iDefrag links are now dead...

I installed a 700 GB SATA drive into a G5 last night to see if I could "recover" it. Came from a relative's old Windows machine that the Geek Squad had prompted them to replace after a "hang". It clicked and clunked a bit and I could't access any data from it, so I simply HFS+ reformatted it and all the clicks, clacks and clunks went away. Moved about a Gig of files to it and then (gasp), ran Norton CD (OS X boot), to check, defrag and optimize it. No probs. Then erased the moved files and found myself with a large blank SATA HD. Of course, MTBF might limit its actual dependability… but I’ve a cheap drive to test in the meantime.

Now, I've been considering the SATA card route for the MDD lately (and possibly the SSD option), yet with the inexpensive IDE/SATA adapters mentioned by both DieHard and Mactron… this might be an intermediate (quite low cost), step to install, test and possibly use, this resurrected SATA drive (and others), before purchasing a SSD.

The MDD PCI bus is 64 bits or 32 bits and 33 Mhz. this allow a Max bandwidth of 133 MB/s (32 bit) or 266 MB/s (64 bits). All the SATA PCI cards for Mac os 9 are 32 bits. This allow a Max bandwidth of 133 MB/s. This fact and sharing the PCI bus with other cards (like in/out audio and DSP cards) let this SATA cards low room for improvements. The ATA/100 in the MDD is direct connected to the UniNorth. Not sharing PCI bus bandwith allows the IDE/SATA adaptors be a not-so-bad option, and the cheap and easy choice.

I been using for several months −with good results− one like this:


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-PATA-IDE-TO-Serial-ATA-SATA-Interface-Hard-Drive-Adapter-Converter-/300945676416?pt=US_Drive_Cables_dapters&hash=item4611c29880
http://dx.com/p/rxd-629a-parallel-pata-to-serial-sata-hard-disk-converter-green-black-white-165213

It would be interesting to see some test results with those SATA cards against these adaptors.

Anyone ever do that performance comparison? And yes, I’ll probably spring for a copy of iDefrag, eventually.

What did you do with your PowerPC Mac today?

Oh, and BTW… Happy Holidays y’all!

[Astroman]

I've used similiar adapters a lot to convert the Mac ATA side to a Sata drive.
All cheapo/phantasy brand names in the $10-20 price range which all worked without exception.
The only penalty is a couple of more 'folder blinks' while booting (as if the Mac searches the drive, for about 5-10 seconds) after that it starts in a regular way.

Some of these adapters have a small button to flip direction, because they convert both ways.
But no state indicators. Can't remember the proper instruction, but always got them back to work by pressing that button when powering the device.

I have one in a Cube G4 (damn tight to fit in, had to screw the metal cage a bit) with a Transcend 8 GB SSD (an industrial SLC model, still about $120).
Never did a precise benchmark, though. It's speedy, but definitely not blazingly fast.
I assume it's more reliable that current disks with more complex management schemes like MLC or even TLC.

Some very good experiences here with so called disk-on-modules, which are just a plug to the onboard ATA connector. My Pro Tools TDM G3 B/W has a 1GB boot/program setup.
Most such drives range from 1-4 GB and need power (adapter for floppy or disk power sometimes included)
Of course data must be stored on a 2nd drive.

[FdB]

Thanks for the info Astroman. You are “livin-on-the-edge” there a bit, attempting to do anything inside of a Cube. (I think my fingers are too large.) I’ll certainly explore the on-disk modules further.

I’m basically trying to revive this thread a little, so that many new visitors to the forum may become a bit more involved, possibly sharing their exploits (albeit perhaps, some possibly humorous)… and at the same time, get additional info like that which you’ve kindly provided. (And previously provided… concerning the LCD/ADC Studio Display!)

Tip: If you read back in this thread a bit, you might find some very sage advice indeed, about not spilling half-a-beer into one’s keyboard via a voluntary confession.

(I’m not making fun of anyone… especially after my earlier ⌘+Y comment.)

Some folks simply will not let you get away with anything. 

[Astroman]

tbh it almost broke my heart to cut the metal cage and tear it a bit to fit everything inside.
(at least the stain isn't visible from outside)

got my 'personal' repair diploma for a MacBook 17" (not mine) on which a glass of wine was spilled, at a time iFixit didn't yet exist. Complete dissection and rebuild took a night.

Apple was really smart with their idea of a sealed keyboard bottom, but to leave open grills for the geeky light sensor. So the (quality) beverage directly found it's way to the CPU... giving it a nice charcoal tan 
All turned out well and the thing kept running - some wine had made it up into the LCD display and was regarded a feature from then on - frequently giving a 'do you remember...' laugh 

[FdB]

Or... after a long day and a seemingly longer night flight home from Chicago... I decided to disassemble an Apple 17" CRT to deep clean/dust it (because it simply could not wait until the next morning). I somehow accidentally "tapped" it with something metal and watched the tube implode in my hands!

Job well done!

Went straight to bed (as I should have done when I first got home).

No TV, NO supper!

⌘+Y!

[GaryN]

I'm glad to see you're not complaining.

You "watched a CRT implode in your hands" apparently without receiving an eyeful of glass shards OR a lungful of phosphorus.

Count your blessings Fury. You must have done something good this year.

[FdB]

Finished the initial blow-out and clean-up of the recently acquired Omaha G4s this morning at around 2 a.m. Both Quicksilvers booted, first attempt.

The three 1.42 GHz MDDs… not quite so lucky. One of those (with rear sticker from der Apple), noted as “reconditioned”. Suspect all, PSUs… but I’ll begin with the reconditioned MDD by checking for voltage at the MOBO… and if sufficiently present, may attempt the run-jumper bypass to negate possible faulty start button. It has a Samsung PSU. I’ll eventually clean that out, inspect the fuse and use it for my first exploratory foray into the Samsungs’ innerworkings (and their prohibitive heatsink configs). If nothing else, line-art mapping of the Samsung PSU and its’ cap locations/specs will become a by-product (here and over with Toasty at the BadCaps forum).

The other two MDDs have AcBel PSUs and simple recapping attempt(s) might be in their near future.

In addition, was finally able to contact Knezzen und now… one of the copper heatsinks will soon be headed his way. Back in August I believe, he mentioned a Sonnet 1.8 GHz MDX that he intended to utilize in building “The World’s Fastest MDD”. Hopefully, with a bit of overclocking, a copper heatsink and maybe Urdvurks’ very cool, custom vent/fan cooling modifications (or other)… GOAL!

“SUNDAY! Seehotfueldragstersblastofftheline! SUNDAY, SUNDAY!”

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently…”

[macStuff]

knez is putting the  "cool" in "Cooler"
was it mentioned above what brand/make/model this cooler is?
are there many other diff brands/models to choose from that would also work?
interesting idea.. it must be pretty damn good cooler to passively cool a ti4600

[macStuff]

I have actually never tried any beer made in the US

you arent missing much! lol

[Knezzen]

knez is putting the  "cool" in "Cooler"
was it mentioned above what brand/make/model this cooler is?
are there many other diff brands/models to choose from that would also work?
interesting idea.. it must be pretty damn good cooler to passively cool a ti4600

The GPU cooler is a Zalman VNF100 and it actually works great. And it's quiet . Going to try to reach 2ghz with the MDX as soon as I get the MDD copper heatsink from Fury

Thanks again, Fury!

[Knezzen]

Got the copper heatsink from Fury yesterday along with one dual 1.25ghz CPU card and one dual 1.42ghz CPU card.
Put the copper heatsink on today along with some fresh Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound.
The idle temperature remains the same (around 40C in my 20C cold/hot room), but I'm unable to push it beyond 51C even when running benchmarks over and over again.

A very good result to say the least .

Thank you once again, Fury!

The CPU cards will be tested and overclocked when I get more time on my hands.

[FdB]

Certainly, Knez’s neighbors appreciate all their lights going dim every time he fires up that beast. 
Happy here that package made the journey safely! Thank YOU Knez, glad to be a very small part of your project.
Hands Across The Pond.

Finally “solved” the one dead QS FireWire port prob here with a TI chipset FW pci card.
(Agere LINK/PHY chipset card, strangely would not work. Won't even boot.)
Now, as long as FW device is plugged in at startup… there it is. Not hot-swappable, even with OS 10.4.6 present.

Anyone have success with Adaptec DuoConnect USB/FW card (AUA-3020? PTI-216N) in an QS?
Won’t even boot when installed on this QS. I’ll try it in an MDD… much later.

[torvan]

Finished the install of Tiger on the second partition of my 1 TB SSD.

Copied all the Music, Photos, Videos from my 2008 Pro Server to the third partition of said 1 TB drive.  It took a while, I have just shy of 15,000 songs and 86 videos (Movies and Television shows).

Imported the music into both Tiger's and 9.2.2's iTunes. I know, bad choice in media players but it works for something basic. The videos into Tiger's iTunes 9.

So it was a software day.

[twokayprod]

Yesterday I welcomed a brandnew old MDD to my little Mac-family and fed him a new harddrive as well as a beautiful fresch installation of OS9. It will be my personal workplace in a small private music school. There will be raised eyebrows, as all the other computers there are PCs, but I'm certain that my grin will prevail. Today I'm gonna make a few minor additions, like installing the driver for the brandnew old Tascam FW1804 I bought for this MDD and do a little recording to see if everything works.
And tomorrow I will browse the net in search for the next family member 

[TheGrandPubaa]

I put my new Mac Mini back in it's shipping box to await returning since it doesn't work properly, and then looked over at my 1.6GHZ G5 tower that doesn't work with a wistful glint in my eyes. So I guess what I did today was look for one that works. 

[Daniel]

Today, my lovely Pismo is helping me learn quite a few painful lessons on how C works.

Most notably, I accidentally used '%n' in a printf format string instead of '%d'. It took quite a bit of debugging to figure out why my code kept crashing

[Greystash]

Today, my lovely Pismo is helping me learn quite a few painful lessons on how C works.

Most notably, I accidentally used '%n' in a printf format string instead of '%d'. It took quite a bit of debugging to figure out why my code kept crashing

Nice one! I've wanted to do that for a long time.. What resources are you using to learn?
I've just set up my PowerBook G4 Al with os 9.2 and it's the absolute best combo of machine/OS I've ever had. So fast! I'm hoping to learn a bit of C on this machine

[Daniel]

Today, my lovely Pismo is helping me learn quite a few painful lessons on how C works.

Most notably, I accidentally used '%n' in a printf format string instead of '%d'. It took quite a bit of debugging to figure out why my code kept crashing

Nice one! I've wanted to do that for a long time.. What resources are you using to learn?
I've just set up my PowerBook G4 Al with os 9.2 and it's the absolute best combo of machine/OS I've ever had. So fast! I'm hoping to learn a bit of C on this machine

I use Macintosh Programmer's Workshop for developing and building programs.

I've got information from so many different sources it's hard to keep track of it all. I have read physical books, a whole ton of Inside Macintosh pdfs, and quite a few other things.

One of the big things I use is an image of the Apple E.T.O #23 cd, released in 1997. It has a whole bunch of documentation on MPW itself and the various tools it has. I got it from https://www.macintoshrepository.org/12250-apple-e-t-o-essentials-tools-objects-1997-disc-collection.

I am currently limited to writing MPW tools and such. Actually building a proper Macintosh application is such a monumental task that I don't think I will be able to make one anytime soon.