Case Tweaking 336
A reader writes "I don't know what they were smoking, but these guys decided that the G4 case makes for a great LAN party box. Of course, without the G4 and all that yucky Mac hardware -- just the aesthetics. They go about hacking and modding the case, turning a low power (aka, weak) x86 box and toss it into the G4 casing, and don't end up destroying the case to make everything fit. Lotsa pictures and explanations of every step in the process"
Case Moddage - Biohazard (Score:1)
Thet's IIS for you... (Score:1)
And before they even got the thing powered up, they got their first attack of Code Red.(check picture three down on the right.)
where to get an empty g4 case though? (Score:1)
Excellent. (Score:2, Insightful)
My personal favorite is the case mod that throws a computer inside a case of beer. [bluesmoke.net] Thanks for the "light" news every now and then
Better things to do with G4 hardware (Score:1)
At this point in my life I view the G4 as an equal to the x86 and the only reason x86 is equal is the range of software geared towards it. I personally find x86 to be "on the way out". Its design has been recycled so many times [16 bit - 64bit, new opcodes no one uses anywhere.] All in the name of backwards compatibility that your OS's don't provide.
If I had access to a G4 I certainly wouldn't throw it away. I would just get OS 10.1 when its out.
But that's just my $.02
Re:Better things to do with G4 hardware (Score:2, Informative)
Better than real-time DVD encoding
Superfast MP3 encoding
Lightning fast high res Photoshop work
Playing StarCraft
and lots of other useful and not so useful things. I still don't understand this lack of software on Mac's idea. There's more out there than I'm ever going to use!
Expensive (Score:5, Informative)
And doubtful if they would sell it to you if you told them what you planned to do with it...
Re:Expensive (Score:2, Informative)
G4 is by far the nicest consumer case I've ever us (Score:4, Informative)
The G4 case is a work of beauty. I'd love to see a PC version for the next time I decide to buy a PC (probably not for a while, it seems my Athlon will last me a while). Here is what I think is very slick about it:
* To do maintenance, you pull a handle on the side, the side swings out (as shown on the site). The motherboard pulls out with the side panel, meaning you no longer have to dig inside the machine to add memory or put in PCI cards, and you don't have to worry about using tools to open it. For an example shot, see the first few photos at http://profile.sh:81/Collection/Apple_G4_and_Cine
* All of the cables for IDE and such are very taught, and held onto the edge. No mess of cables to worry about accidentally loosening up when you add RAM.
* Handles are very convienent for moving it around. As a hidden feature, your machine is actually elevated slightly, rather then completely on the table. You don't have to worry about scratching the beautiful case, just the corner handles.
* The CD burner is nicely hidden from view, with a blue spring-loaded bezel over it. You hit the little blue eject button, and out pops the white cd-rom inside of it. No more worrying about color matching.
* Suprisingly good built-in speaker for the newer models
* Power light is nice bright & white, which fades in and out during sleep mode. This is just a cutesy thing though
Overall, it's of very high quality, I'd love to see a similar 3rd party type case for my Athlon. It's got a nice ColorCase brand casing right now. Any ideas on a similar case?
Re:G4 is by far the nicest consumer case I've ever (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:G4 is by far the nicest consumer case I've ever (Score:1)
> during sleep mode. This is just a cutesy thing though
Actually if you have an Apple monitor the power light of the monitor fades in and out during sleep mode and it does it in synch with the desktop power light (I think it's synching through USB)
That's quite a sense of detail.
Re:G4 is by far the nicest consumer case I've ever (Score:2)
Last time I added RAM to my G3 B&W (same basic enclosure, flip-down-door mounted logic board) I went for speed, just to see. Not the safest thing in the world, but I'd been drinking...
Anyway, measuring from powerdown to powerup I added two sticks of PC100 in 27 seconds.
Re:G4 is by far the nicest consumer case I've ever (Score:2)
The shell was easy to remove.. but woe to you if you wanted to add memory. Gads, I love apple with a passion (my first computer purchase was a Mac+, followed by a SE/30 I still own) but that box's internals still gives me flashbacks.
Re:G4 is by far the nicest consumer case I've ever (Score:1)
Re:G4 is by far the nicest consumer case I've ever (Score:2)
Well, the point of that story was that, from that conversion, I thought similar cases, perhaps comforming to ATX, did exist, but were simply below the standard of Apple's version. I never did have any problems with cables pinching in that case, anyway. :)
No need to wonder (Score:5, Informative)
Separately sold cases, which have to be compatible with a wide variety of motherboards, have a hard time replicating Apple's designs. In particular, in a tower case, the internal devices are all above the motherboard, so the cable connectors are at the top. A swing out design, like in the G4, is hard to do because the cables will get in the way. Take a look ColorCases [colorcases.com] to see what "niche" case manufacturers are doing despite these limitations.
On the other hand, companies like Compaq, Sony, and Gateway already ship their computers with custom motherboards and cases, and so have fewer limitations. They do offer their own takes on PC case design, just not exact copies of Apple's design for legal reasons. I mean, check out Compaq's Ipaq [compaq.com] and Sony's Vaio Line [sonystyle.com] and tell me they're ignoring design considerations.
As for computer enthusiasts who actually prefer compatibility, performance, and value to fancy design, we typically opt for the kind of cases listed here [coolcases.com]. (My specific case isn't listed there; it's an Antec [antec-inc.com] S830.) They offer better cooling, more expandibility, and better access than most of the cases that tend to form before function. We're not immune to the concerns of aesthetics either; we just prefer to take matters in our own hands [virtual-hideout.net]. Granted, some of the mods are of questionable taste and talent, but there are as many clean, professional jobs as bad jobs. And every one is the pride and joy of someone, no matter what you think of them.
Re:No need to wonder (Score:2)
Why can't we just get along? (Score:1)
Re:Why can't we just get along? (Score:1)
I wonder if I could mod an old PS/2 80 or 60 case? (Score:1)
G4 (Score:1)
These guys are really smart! (Score:4, Funny)
Next project: take a new PowerBook G4 [apple.com], and remove all the innards and transplant them in an IBM PCjr case! That way you can get rid of the yucky titanium case and downright sickening 15.2" wide-aspect ratio screen. Cool!
zdnet-ization. (Score:2, Insightful)
Of course, without the G4 and all that yucky Mac hardware...
yes, i dont know what is with the recent zdnetization of /. first the which-is-the-greatest-laptop-in-the-world story, then the antimac rant story, now these comments. seems like they are subscribing to the flamewars-generate-hits school of thought *sigh*
exactly (Score:1, Offtopic)
PCI bus cables (Score:1)
My G4 / How many FPS do you want? (Score:4, Insightful)
Sure the Mac is no gamer's dream, but it plays games as well as I would ever want. Plus it's a great workhorse.
Quakecon (Score:2)
Re:Quakecon (Score:1)
What's the big deal? (Score:1)
I mean: Why these guys (mod-freaks) are so eager to destroy good hardware just to make its appearance plase them? I can barely understand an out-of-order VAX being transformed in a bar, but when some idiot destroys a WonderSwan just to play GBA games in its case, or a G4 just to put a crappy PC Motherboard inside, I'm ashamed.
Besides, maybe they don't know that a G4 runs Linux. And Loki has released their games in PPC versions. Coming to a LAN with a G4 running Quake III on top of Linux would be IMHO more impressive (best of all, it would probably convince more Mac users to drop their crappy MacOS, more gamers to try Linux, etc.)...
Note that I'm not saying it's no good to tweak a machine, I'm just saying it's good if you're actually *improving* it, but destroying it for æsthetical purposes seems pointless to me...
'Bout time. (Score:1)
These guys are idiots (Score:1)
These mods are easy. The hacking to the case conducted here just shows he was a complete muppet who didn't understand what the hell he was doing. The G3->PIII conversion (mboard, drive, etc.) took about 15 minutes, and the G4 cases aren't that different. There was no way he needed to cut the case up the way he did if he had made a sensible choice of mboard.
Yucky hardware? (Score:2, Insightful)
Let's see... 64 bit PCI, gigabit ethernet, Altivec... Even story submitters can post anonymously so as to make stupid, stupid comments like this with no responsibility for answering to them.
Windows PCs are better because they suck (Score:1)
Advantage two: We Windows users have an OS that will run cool games for much, much more than the cost of a PS2, xBox or GameCube. It's fun to spend!
Advantage three: Mac users are forced to have sex with their mates while we get the opportunity to fight trojans and viri for fame and glory!
Advantage four: Windows allows us to have more "quality time" with our computers.
Ah... Apple (Score:2, Insightful)
Dancin Santa
Floppies (Score:2, Troll)
Re:Floppies (Score:3, Insightful)
"commonly used" (Re:Floppies) (Score:1)
Re:Floppies (Score:2)
I wouldn't dare back up important data on a floppy disk, they're way too unreliable.
This isn't the 80's anymore, its about time people just let these things go the way of the dinosaur, so that we can all move on and standardise on something a little more advanced.
Also remember its not just the drive you're paying for - you're paying for all that obsolete circuitry, components and wiring on the motherboard too. And you're paying a little extra in installation costs. Sure, its not much, but its still something. And those damn FDC ribbons clutter up the inside of the PC making it even more annoying that it already is to do any sort of work inside the computer, I struggly to get hard disks in and out every time I want to because the ribbon cable and power cable to the stupid floppy drive get in the way.
I would differ that they're a "commonly used medium". I don't know anyone who uses them. These things still seem to be bundled dutifully with all new PCs though. Its like some sort of culture, everyone just assumes that the floppy drive "should be there", its just something a PC needs. I think if everyone threw all of them away today, most people wouldn't even miss them, and the few who might would simply adjust.
The only possible use I can think for them is diskless systems (e.g. simple X terminal) actually.
Re:Floppies (Score:2, Insightful)
I bought an ATAPI Zip100 drive precisely to stop the endless flow of sneakernet.
it just really sucks having to cart back like six floppies from school just to get the new netscape (and that's with browser download only).
for a few years, splitfile was on every floppy I owned. then I got a zip drive.
floppies suck. zip and cdr are the ways to go.
Re:Floppies (Score:2)
I don't use floppies at all. For the most part I use CD-RWs.
But CD-RWs suck 'cuz it's a pain to burn a disk just for a few files.
Only if your CD-RW drive and it's software sucks. Any good Packet-Writing CD-RW drive will treat a RW disk just like any floppy. Sure, it only holds 512k and it has to be used in a drive the supports Packet Writing, but most high quality drives now days do.
My only real complaint here is that no Operating System as of yet has Packet-Writing as a standard available FS for use with CD-RWs.
(Perhaps if Amiga is smart AmigaOS 4.0 could take this opprotunity to further innovate by doing away with floppies and using CD-RW's with Packet Writing as the standard removable media...)
Re:Floppies (Score:2)
CORRECTION! UGH!
I meant 512 megabytes. I can't believe I made such an error. Talk about an FS that really cripples! Shesh!
Re:Floppies (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Floppies (Score:5, Funny)
Well, before the Internet came along, floppies were the best method for exchanging viruses.
Re:Floppies (Score:2)
Re:Floppies (Score:2)
You don't know the joy of not having to work your way around windows NT's monopoly on the MBR, or not having to juggle two or more kernels (y'know, the new one you just compiled) on the same partition, y'know, with a little script that selects the previous one on the next bootup, so that if you're totally fucked up, you can just reboot and get back to the unfucked up state, etc, etc, until you've started booting your non-primary partition or non-primary kernel off of a floppy. It's the simplest thing in the world.
Making do without flippy floppy (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Making do without flippy floppy (Score:2)
I'm not entirely sure that's correct. It's true that older Macs had the MacOS Toolbox (the OS runtime, basically) in ROM, but I don't believe any Mac had the ability to boot to ROM directly.
On the other hand, Macs have had NetBoot-- which is basically bootp for diskless network booting-- at least since the debut of the iMac. Never used it myself, but it's cool that its there, built right into the hardware.
Re:Making do without flippy floppy (Score:2)
Back when Apple designed it, they found that 256 MB ROM chips were cheaper than the smaller chips required by the spec, so they used the larger chips. Since they had a lot of extra space in ROM, they put a stripped down version of System 6.
As someone else mentioned, booting the Classic while pressing x-o would result in it booting from ROM, the computer equivalent of wriggling your ears, I suppose. I had a Classic Mac my freshman year in college, and I confirmed that it would boot from ROM (it just indicated that the boot volume was "locked" and used the RAM disk icon for those that care).
The Macintosh Classic was the last Mac to use the 68000 processor and was designed to be a low cost version. It was later replaced by the Classic II, which ran the 68030 chip (the same as the Color Classic), as someone else in this thread alluded.
Re:Floppies (Score:2)
kqql (Score:2)
Re:Floppies (Score:1)
Re:Floppies (Score:2)
Re:Floppies (Score:2)
Re:Floppies (Score:1)
Uh, external Firewire HD cases, maybe?
What a waste! (Score:2, Insightful)
You can BUY imacky cases.... why ruin a G4 to do it, I don't know.
Re:What a waste! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:What a waste! (Score:2)
I cracked the case on my Titanium trying to put in the Airport card. And replacing the hard disk in them is...well...a bitch.
The old Powerbook G3s and iBooks are a dream. Putting RAM in the new and old G3s, G4s and iBooks is really easy though. So is putting Airport in the old iBooks.
http://www.macworld.com/2001/05/features/powerb
There are better articles on ogrady's powerpage
www.ogrady.com
and xlr8yourmac
www.xlr8yourmac.com
About what a pain it is replacing the HDs in those beasts.
I love my Titanium...but man it's a pain when you pull the bottom off.
Re:What a waste! (Score:1)
Putting RAM in the new and old G3s, G4s and iBooks is really easy though.
From my experience, taking it out and putting to proper use is even easier. Sorry dude, couldn't resist.Blah. (Score:5, Informative)
Why are people so obsessed with Computer cases (Score:2, Interesting)
But then I guess I'm a bit of a hippocrite, I've got a pretty wild case for my work PC also.. check out the titan case [trans2000.com] at Trans2000.
Re:Why are people so obsessed with Computer cases (Score:3, Interesting)
Personally, I'm giong to go at and buy a lian-li and mod it to look "Juiles Verinish" so it will match my decor. I'm tired of having a nice place and then have this beige box standing out like a sore thumb.
Re:Why are people so obsessed with Computer cases (Score:2)
Yeah, pretty soon all the kids will be sticking "VTEC Inside" stickers on their computer cases... won't that be surreal?
Re:Why are people so obsessed with Computer cases (Score:2)
sorta funny.
Re:Why are people so obsessed with Computer cases (Score:1)
Re:Why are people so obsessed with Computer cases (Score:2)
That'd be really kinda funny, in a guerilla logo-steeling kind of way.
You must be mistaken. (Score:2, Insightful)
Perhaps you mean the 128-bit-path PowerPC 7400, which has this terrible tendency to rock the Pentium right off the scale. Or the board, with its firewire interfaces, Gigabit ethernet, and 802.11 capabilities?
Nope, don't see any yuckiness there. Now why you would spend your time and money on violating a really great machine to put a sub-par low-tech x86 box in there is absolutely beyond me. I would love to have that kinda extra time and money. And you probably put Windows on there, for Pete's sake.
Now, I'm no biased Mac fanatic, I'll look at all the sides (and I merrily use Linux), but... why destroy an awesome machine like that? Why?
Re:You must be mistaken. (Score:2)
I think what most people hate about Mac hardware is the fact that you still can't buy all the parts you need to build one yourself. Hell, I probably would have built a Mac, if I had the option (and if OS X were available at the time).
Now THIS is a cool case (Score:3, Informative)
Thanks, Jethro
Re:Now THIS is a cool case (Score:1)
Re:Now THIS is a cool case (Score:2)
Re:Now THIS is a cool case (Score:2)
Cases galore..... (Score:4, Interesting)
This case [eugenesargent.com] is spiffarifficus. Completely Rocketeer approved!
Re:Cases galore..... (Score:1)
Re:Cases galore..... (Score:2)
Seriously, that is one major eyecatcher.
money to blow? (Score:4, Funny)
Watch next week as we disembowel an SGI O2 to make a bird feeder!
no, no, no! (Score:2, Funny)
People think I'm on an I-Mac. (Score:2)
I just laugh.
Oh for goodness sakes! (Score:5, Funny)
Pretty soon we'll have to have flames shooting out of the floppy drive just to get chicks.
Ug
Re:Oh for goodness sakes! (Score:2)
Re:Oh for goodness sakes! (Score:2)
Now, if you've read this article all the way through and you've got bright ideas swirling in your head about doing this yourself, you're probably wondering where to get the chassis. I got mine through connections, but if you're looking to obtain one for yourself, you might want to check with your nearest Apple Authorized Service Center. Ordering the chassis cost me about $160, and the 3.5" and CD bezels should cost you about $45 total.
By fancy case standards, that's not so bad.
Re:Oh for goodness sakes! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Oh for goodness sakes! (Score:2, Informative)
1) Obtain a floppy disk
2) Carefully disassemble the disk
3) Obtain several matches
4) Carefully remove the sulfur compound from the matchheads and collect
5) Apply a very thin layer of Elmer's glue to the floppy disk media (it may help to add a small amount of water to the glue)
6) Liberally dust the media with sulfur compound
7) Let dry
8) Reassemble disk
Now this disk is ready to make flames shoot out of the floppy drive. Just insert and access.
DISCLAIMER: If you try this, you are an idiot and the consequences of doing so are entirely your fault
Re:Oh for goodness sakes! (Score:1)
The quality that makes something laughable or amusing; funniness: could not see the humor of the situation.
Get it?
What I want/need (Score:4, Interesting)
Screw fancy case mods, what I want is a case that puts the back of the case in front, and then moves a few bays so they are accessable, as well as the power buttons. If you have a lot of connections that you change frequently in the back of a PC, you know the feeling.
It would have to be a full tower, to get enough height above the motherboard for the cd drive and floppy, and it should have 2x 5 1/2" bays, but as long as everything is excessable from one side, I'd be happy.
Re:What I want/need (Score:1)
In that case, you should really check out Front-X [frontx.com]. I think it does pretty much what you want.
magic chefRe:What I want/need (Score:2)
In fact, this case was the inspiration for my own clear case. However, I didn't want to spend as much time/money/energy as this guy did, so I kept the metal interior of a cheap mini-tower. Besides replacing the boring beige with clear acrylic, the real useful bit I added was a hinged side panel with thumb screws. I absolutely love it. After putting enough system cooling with it, my next project is to mount some low heat (probably LED based) lighting to the inside. I want my case to glow softly =).
But as for your connections in front - I wouldn't want that. I'd rather have the inconvenience because excessive cables are simply an eyesore. USB, firewire, video in, and headphones would be the real ports I'd want available in front. But, to each their own - good luck building this if you get into it - acryllic can be annoying to work with. One tip: though it's harder to cut, buy thicker acryllic. If you go with th thinner stuff like I did, you'll lose potential stability that the acryllic can offer.
Re:What I want/need (Score:1)
My bad. When I'm tired, my spelling gets homonymic. (Its a weird thing)
Cool case =) (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?threadi
G4 Resale Value !? (Score:2, Interesting)
Even a heavily used G4/400 with just a Rage128 AGP card goes for a fortune on eBay. The going rate on the usenet is no better.
It's not like a new G4 is -that- expensive. At my university's campus computer store, the 733 model with DVD-ROM/CD-RW starts at about $1599 and the 867 MHz model with the neat dvd burner DVD-R/CD-RW is about $2399.
Re:G4 Resale Value !? (Score:2)
Funny as hell, but I hate to say it guys- this is laughing AT rather than laughing with. You lusers :)
Hmm. I was thinking of doing this... (Score:2)
it's been sitting in my room all this time, and I *AM* thinking of getting one of those Athalon 1.4Gig machines... Hmm. Anyone know the ideal motherboard model that might work? I guess you need a smaller one than usual or something....
W
Re:Hmm. I was thinking of doing this... (Score:1)
OK , let me get this straight: (Score:3, Funny)
a man's case (Score:3, Informative)
Invalid form key iTXPURWLGP
This brings a nasty visit from Clarus... (Score:2, Funny)
Normally, he lives in the "Page Setup" dialog box in Classic Mac OS. He makes sure you know what you're doing with your printer options. Further, he's kind of cute.
However, placing the untamed power of a x86 board inside the sleek, modern design of a G4 case causes an energy imbalance which disturbs Clarus. Clarus rises from the "Page Setup" and MOOFs until every last screw holding the system together falls out. Rejoing the parts will only result in IRQ conflicts, although each part will work fine in another machine.
For more information on Clarus:
http://developer.apple.com/products/techsupport
http://www.multimania.com/maddog/MOOF/index.htm
And to help Clarus make the transition to Mac OS X, sign the following petition:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/sod/petition.html
Re:Bite me! (Score:1)
Illustrator, Freehand, AfterEffects, Premier, PageMaker, InDesign, Acrobat, XPress, Dreamweaver, BBEdit, Director, Flash, LiveMotion, Office, Maya, Netscape, IE, Omniweb, Fontographer, Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio, Fetch, Transmit, ImageReady, Quake, The Sims, Summoner, iTunes, SoundJam, Warcraft, Starcraft, Apache, MySQL, WebObjects, FileMaker, Palm Desktop, the GIMP, X Windows, Eudora, Outlook Express, Web Star, 4D and more emulators and shareware apps than you can shake a stick at. I could list more, but that list right there is already complete overkill for anything I'm ever going to need to do with my Macs.
Ok, so we don't have Mattel's Barbie's 'N Sync Virtual Makeover. I think I can live without that particular software title.
Re:For their next trick... (Score:1)
Er (Score:2)
Re:Uhh...wait a minute.. (Score:5, Insightful)
They were all Mac-only shindigs.
I've got to mention the most amazing thing I saw in all that time, though. It was something so brief that I might have missed it since I was busy setting up systems and greeting people...
This guy shows up to the gaming session with a green iMac. He walks in carrying every damn thing he needs, plugs in, and is booting in about ten seconds. Within a minute of arriving, he's gaming!
My other buddies still drag around CPU boxes, cables, monitors, towels to wipe sweat from their foreheads, etc., etc., etc.
I learned that day that the iMac is one MF'n great game machine.
--Richard
Re:When mysql just can't keep up... (Score:2)
--
Evan