Pimping out my G4

[Ttownbeast]

For about 3 years I've been toying around with this old sawtooth Mac of mine. The initial investment was 60 bucks for a bare bones used G4 500 bought at a PC recycling warehouse. Similar Intel units fetched a far higher price with these guys these dudes didn't know how flexible a mac could be even an old dinosaur like mine.

Over the course I've done a lot of tweaking, I've run a few different OS's on the thing from 10.1 up to 10.5 and Debian (software was never really my cup of tea though--I've always been a wizard when it came to hardware). I have always been an electronics addict, even to the point that I was a battery of the month club member at Radio Shack back in the day and even went scavenging numerous times in the thrift store electrical sections often. Before computers were common my bible was the Screwdriver Experts Guide--I was an aficionado of peaking and tweaking CB radios. Hardware is my thing, I'm a dude with a toolbox I am almost like Silent Bob from Mall Rats. My first computer was a ti99/4a bought from a thrift store as a teenager the first "Hack" as the term goes I ever made was wiring NES controllers to the unit so I could play Donkey Kong next was to wire the sound into my Frankenstien component stereo system.

By 1991 I was the only kid in my neighborhood to have an am/fm/tv/police/fire/shortwave/citizens band tranciever/dual cassette/LP/reel to reel 4 track/8 track cassette recorder/guitar amplifier/cd player/VCR by this point I had turned into Milo from the flick UHF. It was very crude I'll admit it took up the entire east wall of my bedroom I may have broken a few electrical codes powering this monster--it easily ran 1000 watts. And no I have never taken meth--who needs a heart attack at the tender age of 15. On top of all that I had just earned a B+ for an impressive hovercraft I created using a vacuum cleaner motor a garbage bag and a small sheet of plywood (I would've gotten an A but the science teacher was a prick about the essay...but the damn thing worked! hell I was born here even if English is my worst subject).

Sorry for the lengthy personal background here's the G4s background:

Sawtooth G4 500 when ressurected.
Initially upgraded to 1.2 GHZ burned out after 3 years having been overclocked to 1.4 (impressive run without extra cooling)

Upgraded from a 6 gig HD to a seagate from a beige tower then finally to western digital 160 gig still in use as of 9 months ago.

Starting ram 256mb progressively maxed out to the full 2 gigs

10.1 to Debian etch to 10.4 to Debian etch to 10.5 ( in pinch debian makes for a good transition OS while waiting for OSX discs in the mail when you can afford them but there were limits like java and flash)

PCI cards for extra USB ports currently 2 USB 1.5 and 6 USB 2.0 with 2 internal one soly dedicated to my eyetv hybrid the other wired out to the front of my case for my game pad.

PCI ATI Radon graphics card for video mirroring and extra monitors (should I wish to add a third besides the TV)

Samsung DVDRDL with lightscribe.

Removed the zip drive (never had any use for the damn thing)

Have an old 40 Gig internal HD on a usb adapter externally for Time machine

replaced the IDE ribbons with IDE cables.

Upgraded again to a 1.4 GIG newtech overclocked to 1.8 currently with no issues (screw the warranty)

**** this list is getting long

This thing is wired for cable tv, internet, as an amp for my Washburn force 4 bass guitar, set up for artwork (see I'm bragging sorry like I said Silent Bob or Milo here) Now the big problem is space. I have the ultimate dinosaur, a decade ago this would have been the shiznit....still pretty damn good though for a decade behind. The big damn deal now is room (and a slight problem using my eyetv remote) so I need to make room here's the game plan:

I'm going from this:
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/g4st200.jpg
To this:
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/clear-computer-casejpeg.jpg

Perhaps I am a Frankenstien bringing things back from the dead once I have the new case and make the necessary modifications I have an interesting idea for the cooling system too the same way I keep my beer cool on camping trips using a 12v cooling unit I'm gonna strip from a cooler I bought off amazon I figure if I can keep the inside of the case cool I can stash a couple Schmidts cans inside wile I am at it hopefully with the right planning I can avoid condensation. Wish me luck kiddies.

[Ttownbeast]

I promise I'll attempt to make a proper enough picture journal of the results

[yoyo5280]

Why would you do that! :eek:

-Omi

[Ttownbeast]

Why would you do that! :eek:

-Omi

I cannot close the damn case anymore, I got too much **** stuffed inside. Oh hell I hear the villagers and smell torches burning.....Igor bar the castle doors!!!!!

[Finlandboy]

as much as i love the sawtooth case...it'll be cool to see how this turns out, good luck

[Zaap]

Heh, I know I'm probably in the minority around here, but the old plastic G4 cases look like cheap garbage to me. I will say, the sawtooth cases look a lot better than the old G3 garish blue cases- good lord what an eyesore those were. The steel G5 cases are the beginning of truly great/modern case design from Apple, but before that- bleh. "The circus is in town" summed up the age of bondi blue, garish multicolored 'powerpuff' ibooks (where's the puke icon?) bulky ugly iMacs, plastic tub PowerMacs, etc...

Rant aside- interesting project. I've seen many people do the opposite- old G4 case, new guts, but never this- old G4 guts, new case. You certainly buck the trends!

I have to wonder though, is it really worth it to put a dime more money and time into such older hardware? Throw a new hackintosh board in a new case that'll run rings around that, and retire the old G4. (Granted, boring in comparison.)

Anyway, just my 1.5 cents. Interested to see how this progresses. :)

[Ttownbeast]

Heh, I know I'm probably in the minority around here, but the old plastic G4 cases look like cheap garbage to me. I will say, the sawtooth cases look a lot better than the old G3 garish blue cases- good lord what an eyesore those were. The steel G5 cases are the beginning of truly great/modern case design from Apple, but before that- bleh. "The circus is in town" summed up the age of bondi blue, garish multicolored 'powerpuff' ibooks (where's the puke icon?) bulky ugly iMacs, plastic tub PowerMacs, etc...

Rant aside- interesting project. I've seen many people do the opposite- old G4 case, new guts, but never this- old G4 guts, new case. You certainly buck the trends!

I have to wonder though, is it really worth it to put a dime more money and time into such older hardware? Throw a new hackintosh board in a new case that'll run rings around that, and retire the old G4. (Granted, boring in comparison.)

Anyway, just my 1.5 cents. Interested to see how this progresses. :)

Actually with everything under the hood this thing runs circles around lots of intels on the market and should I decide to do so some day I might reuse the case and peripherals once the G4 motherboard proves to be totally obsolete and replace that. A new case leaves me room to allow the machine to evolve if necessary, but for now my G4 does everything. I never say that because something is old that it is completely useless, slow, or backwards. Hell I used to own a Chevy Luv pickup truck which ran with a carburetor that got better gas mileage than most modern fuel injected computerized engines I squeezed 30 mpg out of it once I perfected its tuning and increased its horsepower by 20%. you'd be surprised what you can get out of any machine if you're not too *********** to experiment.

[Brien]

OP, what do you plan to do with the case? If you're willing to part it out I could use a door/hinge assembly (clips on mine are broken).

[Ttownbeast]

OP, what do you plan to do with the case? If you're willing to part it out I could use a door/hinge assembly (clips on mine are broken).

Unfortunately so are mine, like I said I stuffed a lot of **** in there--one night the clips broke too.

[Ttownbeast]

OK first pics I figure the new case will be arriving soon (a day or two) let's have a look at the guts:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/dinocase.jpg
As you can see it's gotten a bit dusty hiding under my desk a lot of cleaning is going to be needed you can see the USB port I wired through the front from a pci USB card which connects my game controller. All four 512mb chips are installed and there's that pretty little Newtech upgrade that I plan on bumping up just a wee bit more once I figure out how to cool it. You might notice a black cable running across the mother board that's connected to the Eyetv hybrid which is connected internally to a second pci USB 2.0 card.

in a little closer:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/motherboard.jpg

The yellow white and red tips shown in the pic are the Auxiliary video connections for recording from the cable box a camera, vcr, etc, I think you can see the shielded IDE cables. The red circuit board is the pci video card connected by s video to an rca adapter using the TV as a second screen for watching Mpegs, avi's, and recorded eyetv programs as a third DVR for our cable. The eyetv hybrid had a tendency of running a little hot showing lots of green and purple lines, shutting off randomly and didn't fit inside very well at first so I removed its housing.

I will be adding a DVD rom drive so I don't have to keep changing discs to burn projects, and eventually when the little beer cooler arrives I will be stripping parts out of it to rig up the cooling system which means the fancy led fans that come with the case may be rearranged to circulate internally, since it will need a tight enough seal to keep in the cold.

[Ttownbeast]

Ok like I was saying I went on Amazon last week and bought a beer cooler that plugs into a 12 volt car lighter. I just received the package and stripped the cooling unit from this thing the cooler itself is not completely useless however it is now more passive than active but should do just fine for keeping a six pack cold with a little ice. However the cooler itself is not the important part it's those guts I ripped out of it:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0819090001.jpg

I have to run to radio shack to get a tube of heat sink grease at some point when I decide to install this monster after the new case arrives hopefully if my figures are correct (as wild assed mathematical guesses go) it should keep the inside of the case around 20-25 degrees cooler than room temperature (with insulation inside the original cooler this unit is supposed to be capable of a 40 degree difference in temperature according to manufacturer specs) but this is a later stage in the project which surprisingly arrived faster than the case I purchased two days prior. I need to construct a plate that fits inside the case for this thing to help transfer heat efficiently so I'll likely be making a visit to the hardware store for a scrap of aluminum sheet. Hopefully by tomorrow the new case itself will arrive and I can use the three days I have off from work constructively (well semi-constructively I have a fiance so maintaining my loving relationship takes higher priority--such is life)

Peace and chicken grease kiddies.

[monkey86]

I figure if I can keep the inside of the case cool I can stash a couple Schmidts cans inside wile I am at it hopefully with the right planning I can avoid condensation.

that is super dumb. putting something wet inside a computer case...

your not going to be able to avoid condensation and your going to lose all your money!

[Ttownbeast]

that is super dumb. putting something wet inside a computer case...

your not going to be able to avoid condensation and your going to lose all your money!
Jeezus dude, do you take everything seriously? Yah right, I am really gonna put my beer cans in there--holy crap dude! Did you think I was serious???? Maybe you should turn off your computer and go out to a comedy club, watch late night TV, or just observe the world. It's really sad when somebody doesn't catch the punchlines because they are sitting in their parents basement downloading snuff flicks, animal erotica, or playing Warcraft all night to interact with real people in order to develop the basic skills of getting a joke.

[Ttownbeast]

I just got the tracking info updated my new case is to arrive this afternoon or early evening. A FedEx truck is out making its deliveries as I type this. There's just something about waiting for a huge package in the mail that reminds me of Christmas....well there's that and convincing my neighbors I am a sexual deviant by recieving lots of packages in plain brown paper:cool:

[monkey86]

Jeezus dude, do you take everything seriously? Yah right, I am really gonna put my beer cans in there--holy crap dude! Did you think I was serious???? Maybe you should turn off your computer and go out to a comedy club, watch late night TV, or just observe the world. It's really sad when somebody doesn't catch the punchlines because they are sitting in their parents basement downloading snuff flicks, animal erotica, or playing Warcraft all night to interact with real people in order to develop the basic skills of getting a joke.

the only problem with the whole thing was it wasn't funny at all...

maybe when you get out of your parents house and find out what humor is you'll get a laugh out of everyone.

[Ttownbeast]

The "I'm rubber you're glue" debate is pointless little monkey you are not worth my time now.

OK for those actually interested the case arrived about 4 hours ago and I've already got everything back together and it's obviously up and running I'll have to work a few more tweaks out before its perfect but the case fit nicely (once I re-drilled the mounts for the mother board of course).

First pic the package was pretty large and my step daughter couldn't carry it up the stairs, but when I was finally told that it arrived of course I wasn't going to make her carry it:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0820090001.jpg

Second I had to mount the power supply first to figure out the best position for the motherboard and the PCI slots I also had to remove the metal plate on the back because it was designed for a totally different board (like I said I'm gonna have to make a few tweaks)

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0820090002.jpg

Onward to my ummm workspace (yah not exactly neat and clean):

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0820090003.jpg

Once I figured out where I drilled the holes for the mounting posts and installed the mother board then got to the task of reconnectiing everything:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0820090004.jpg

I took both hard drives and mounted them internally so I no longer need the atapi/usb bridge to run the drive that I keep the time machine on (I am happy with the amount of clutter eliminated by just doing that):

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0820090005.jpg

I powered it up using my OSX DVD as a precaution to check some of the systems before hooking anything else up so far so good:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0820090006.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0820090007.jpg

It looks pretty like Xmas once I booted back up with everything hooked up (sorry the 1st pic is sideways):

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0820090008.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0820090009.jpg

I am currently using the old power switch until I can figure out how to wire the built in one and the USB ports on the front but other than the fine tuning the whole project seems to be working perfectly!

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0820090010.jpg

[Ttownbeast]

I managed to get the built in power switch to work. I hooked up one of the front USB ports to the card in the PCI slot now I am just waiting for a 2 port USB hub on order so I can hook them both up. I have a piece of aluminum for my cooling unit so I can re-position the side fan to push cold air around the inside and use some of the scrap to make a new faceplate for the back of the unit luckily for me I didn't have to hit the hardware store the old G4 case provided me with enough raw materials from the box that the DVD burner was mounted inside that I can fashion the plates from. The eyetv remote works almost perfect I just have to finish positioning the sensor. The second DVD rom I purchased should also be arriving soon and now that I got all this extra room my old dinosaur seems kinda empty I might add heat sinks to the ram too. But it looks really pretty in the dark now:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0821090001.jpg

[MacFanUK]

I must admit, I do prefer the actual G4 case rather than the new one you're putting it into.

[Ttownbeast]

I must admit, I do prefer the actual G4 case rather than the new one you're putting it into.

To each their own--everybody has their own view of aesthetic beauty, of course the major matter here for me is the need for space to expand & increasing the cooling capacity, and the original case just wasn't cutting it for the processor or any of the extra bells and whistles installed. Of course the smooth curves and lines of the old G4 case looked pretty, but I am looking more towards a crystalized monolith kind of feel like something out of Superman's fortress of solitude.

I even have spare pieces of acrylic tube I may incorperate into the design inside to make it look slightly more alien yet familiar, and possibly design an appropriate......Hmm what's the proper word for that kind of symbol on a superheroes chest? It'll likely have a big diamond with an apple in the center rather than the S but not done in red but rather in white and I may disconnect the yellow and green leds to let the red and blue light control the main effect. probably I might take all the green leds with one of the tubes and make a Kryptonite rod placed somewhere in the center now that the rough project is completed

[Ttownbeast]

Cutting apart the box that held the zip drive and the dvd took a little time but I managed it. Now I have my plate for the cooling system and the new back plate for the mother board:

A little more drilling and filing and the plate should fit over the extra pci slot I cannot use since there is no socket on the motherboard in that spot and cover the big gaping hole on the back currently in that spot.

I have marked off the spots for the Fire wire, ethernet, USB ports, speakers & mic inputs, as well as lined up the spots for the RCA and S video inputs for the Eyetv device the new back plate should be a little bit of a tight fit but should work quite well:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0821090006.jpg

Next on the list is the cooling unit I took the bottom half of that same mount--the part that held the zip drive cut it, cleaned the sharp edges and drilled mounting holes for the led fan. I will be using the inner fan to force cold air generated by the aluminum plate directly onto the processor and the outer black fan and fins will continue its normal job of pushing heat away from the unit and keeping my feet warm (winter is coming kiddies). I am mounting the built in digital thermometer to one of the face plates to allow easy monitoring of the processors temperature and tucking the circuit controlling hot/cold away where I can't accidentally switch it the other direction (preventing accidental creation of a catastrophic event) Here are the guts laid out almost ready for installation I just need to get a tube of silver based heat sink paste before assembling:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0821090004.jpg

Also while I had the little hack saw out I took a little time to start an art project for something more on the aesthetic side of this mod--namely cutting the crystals for the fortress of solitude I will be using the yellow LEDs in the construction of the base crystal cluster and I will use the green LEDs for one very special crystal that only turns on when plugged in to the cluster of yellow crystals:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0821090005.jpg

[MacFanUK]

Well, good luck with your project. I will be following this as I would be very interested to see what the finished machine looks like :)

[Ttownbeast]

My second DVD drive arrived today now I can start using up some of those extra bays on the front for video editing and what not:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0822090001.jpg

[Ttownbeast]

Well the new 2nd drive is installed and the back plate is inserted and I took some time to re route some wiring so I can install the cooler later on, here's what we got so far, first as you can see I rearranged things a bit to make room for the coolers aluminum plate so it should aim directly at the CPU when installed all the wires have been neatly tucked out of the way:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0822090001a.jpg

Second thing was placing the back plate after some extensive millwork and putting the rca jacks and s video onto it:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0822090002a.jpg

From the front showing the 2nd DVD player fit neatly into place I left a space for the thermometer display in between and easy line of site access for the eyetv remote sensor to see:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0822090003a.jpg

I've closed up the case for now and you can see the third side fan which will be later adapted for the cooling unit since that is the best access point for aiming it at the processor:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0822090004a.jpg

[Archon Gold]

Hmm, reminds me when I put my G4 Motherboard into my PC case a few days ago (I bought the mobo and processor off of ebay)

[Ttownbeast]

Hmm, reminds me when I put my G4 Motherboard into my PC case a few days ago (I bought the mobo and processor off of ebay)
I got this case through Amazon from a company called Computer Geeks, I hate trying to use Ebay for anything I really want unless there is a buy it now option and it is reasonable. I manage to get a lot of stuff off Amazon for pennies plus cheap shipping as well.

[Archon Gold]

I got this case through Amazon from a company called Computer Geeks, I hate trying to use Ebay for anything I really want unless there is a buy it now option and it is reasonable. I manage to get a lot of stuff off Amazon for pennies plus cheap shipping as well.

I use something called Kijiji which is like craigslist since I have bought an iMac G3 off of it and I got a PowerMac G3 full package (monitor, keyboard and mouse) in return for a Nintendo DS original that i bought off of a friend for $8 and never used.

[Ttownbeast]

I use something called Kijiji which is like craigslist since I have bought an iMac G3 off of it and I got a PowerMac G3 full package (monitor, keyboard and mouse) in return for a Nintendo DS original that i bought off of a friend for $8 and never used.

Sites like Craigslist kick ass--almost better than shopping at a Value Village, Goodwill, or a Salvation Army for used spare parts. But if you ever really want deals on anything computer related parts used try finding a PC recycling warehouse. Those places have been popping up everywhere in the last 5 years, a lot of these kinds of places will get fairly good outdated systems from government offices, school districts, libraries, community colleges, big corporations etc. A lot of it in better shape and sometimes cheaper than refurbs you find online. A lot of these warehouse guys just collect the systems to have the gold, aluminum, copper and other metals stripped from the machines if they are total junk, but resell the good parts very cheap if they are still usable.

[Ttownbeast]

Well I got the heat sink grease so I finished assembling the cooling unit...........

As you can see I have finished mounting the cooling unit to the panel next was to do the wiring job and test run:
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0824090003.jpg

I had to make a few minor adjustments following mounting because the fan was rubbing a wee bit against the plate so I used the LED fan's cage as a spacer:
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0824090002.jpg

Once I got all the mechanical kinks worked out I used a few wire nuts to wire together the motors and inside plate and connect to the 12v power supply you can see the outside block and external fan prior to drilling a small hole through the panel to run the wires through:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0824090001.jpg

The cooling unit fully assembled and installed:
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0824090004.jpg

There is one little issue though the display for the thermometer doesn't work so I am looking at using a digital meat thermometer instead to monitor CPU temp.

Now that the electronics and mechanics are completed though I am planning starting the aesthetic portion of this project I'll check back when I start on the artwork. The thing kinda looks like a see through Borg cube at the moment.....and yesif you look closely at the pics I am wearing pajama pants with The Simpsons on them.

[Ttownbeast]

Well tomorrow I have a day off from work hopefully I will get a little motivation and a little Krazy glue to do the crystal structure--I want to have it coming out of the top panel of the plexi glass case all of the crystals will be fixed and shining in a constant warm yellow glow if I place the LEDs correctly except one removable crystal intended to be insertable which will glow green this will require some more electrical work on my part but I should be able to pull it off then all that is left is the matter of designing the insignia for the side panel I havent decided whether I am going to etch the symbol mechanically or go the cheaper route and use a translucent contact paper.

[Ttownbeast]

The art project is half way through I've fixed the tubes to the top panel and disconnected the green and yellow LEDs from the fans so now the machine glows just in blues and reds for now, when I get around to it I will re-use the green LEDs in the single crystal which will plug in to the structure atop the case.

First pics are done while I was gluing the tubes to the inside and outside of the top panel:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0827090001.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0827090002.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0827090003.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0827090004.jpg

Next I went ahead and removed the yellow and green LEDs from the fans which changed the lightings intensity a slight bit:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0827090005.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0827090007.jpg

Everything is once again reassembled once I get around to wiring the lights in the top it should prove to be an interesting effect:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0827090008a.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0827090009a.jpg

I'm thinking of placing the insignia on the side panel centering the diamond shapes point above the cooling unit and putting the Apple logo rather than a big S in the center when I get to that stage in the project for now I have to work out some voltage issues (luckily it was just the yellow LEDs I fried while testing them, I might hit Radio Shack for a couple white ones to get a nice intense glow through the tubing) a little trial and error that's all it is.

[MacHappytjg]

Nice.:D

[Ttownbeast]

Okey dokey kiddies! The lighting portion of the art project is finished I may need to adjust for Maximum effect but its looking good.

First I soldered together the LED's with resistors to the wires that would attatch to the 5 volt part of the power supply and made some connections tested the whole wiring harness out on a few aa cells I had laying around in combination with an analog meter to adjust the resistors:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0829090001.jpg

Next I wired up the green LEDs inside the crystal and created contact points using a couple extra screws I had rolling around in my tool drawer I figured out that two worked good enough and made adjustments you will see later:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0828090001a.jpg

Finally I finished assembling the wiring tucking the White LED between the crystals to give it the glow I was looking for well close enough for now anyhow:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0829090002.jpg

I have just finished uploading a vid on Youtube showing the Machine being powered on and inserting the green crystal the picture quality isn't really that great but it captures some of the effect I was looking for:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk2kcPVQfhw

Now it's all down to designing the decal and finishing up fine adjustments.

[teleromeo]

Maybe you should invest in a good camera first, none of your pictures is sharp. You'll regret this one day or another when you want to take a look at your pictures of how you did this nice job.

[Ttownbeast]

Maybe you should invest in a good camera first, none of your pictures is sharp. You'll regret this one day or another when you want to take a look at your pictures of how you did this nice job.

It's a camera phone, it does the job well enough for my purposes.

[leekohler]

The G4 Sawtooth was the best, most upgradeable computer Apple ever made. I had one for almost 7 years. It started with OS9 and ended with Tiger- 6 operating systems, and it ran them all very well.

[Ttownbeast]

The G4 Sawtooth was the best, most upgradeable computer Apple ever made. I had one for almost 7 years. It started with OS9 and ended with Tiger- 6 operating systems, and it ran them all very well.

I hope to get a few more years out of this one before needing to replace the motherboard for something more fairly modern, but for now it still does everything the intels do (well except EXE files) other than that it still runs like a champ.

On a more personal note: The whole time I've been working on this project I've attempted to avoid any problems in my intimate life (paying proper attention to my fiance's needs as best I can), as a result of my minor obsession with this certain comic book character involved and my constant work on a fortress themed case she thinks I am gay for Superman--far from it, but I do fantasize about having a group thing involving Supergirl, Wonder Woman, The Green Lantern, Superman, and Plastic Man (NO Batman--I'm not into gay porn in a cave with a high school boy in a red cape and green tights).

[Ttownbeast]

Tomorrow I'm hitting the arts and crafts store to get the translucent contact paper for the decal as the final touch and maybe seeing about finally bumping up the CPU to 2 gigs now that it seems to stay cooler inside the case I have to affix a few small reflective surfaces strategically to the inside to improve the eyetv's remote sensor range too but besides that the project is finished. hopefully a couple more hours and I'll have my old dinosaur wrapped up.

[Ttownbeast]

WHEW! OK it's done I got contact paper from the dollar store rather than hit the craft shop (same damn stuff half the cost) I did a lot of cutting using a straight edge and some free hand. I'm looking down at it now and the design concept finally comes together. The diamond was easy and took no time at all just a matter of holding the straight edge steady the apple was a bitch I was doing it by eye using my "About this Mac" image as a model I had to fold to keep symmetry and keep my hand very steady. The decal was carefully stuck to the inside of the panel after light cleaning the final product is hard to see on a cell phone cam but I did manage to snap some of the steps along the way once I figure out the best lighting to take the final pics of the completed unit I will post them but for now here's the last of the art project:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0905090001.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0905090002.jpg

If its still not just right I can always open up the panel and do another one I have plenty of contact paper left but it looks pretty good.

at this point I cut in some simple accent lines to give it a little dimension:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0905090003.jpg

Peeling the backing and sticking it to the plexi:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0905090004.jpg

it took a little fine adjustment but once I got it sticking and burnished it looked pretty sharp:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0905090005.jpg

This is a pic from inside the panel with the decal attached it turned out better than I expected:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0905090006.jpg

Like I said I need to use better lighting to take the finished pics case has been closed it reflects a little but visually it looks great:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0905090007.jpg

A closeup on the apple:
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/0905090009.jpg

[Ttownbeast]

I put up another Youtube flick from my Helio Ocean demonstrating the finished product and some of its capabilities. I put my G4 through its paces over the last month or so but it is performing quite good and looks great in my opinion. The vid I made features the inspired superman design and demonstrates the eyetv software at work as a DVR on the flat screen TV, as well as showing some of the guts of the machine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36D6c0rWszI

[Ttownbeast]

OK I've done all I can with it I made the attempt at bumping the CPU up to 2 Gigs and it didn't respond to the change very well (slower in fact) I guess 1.8 gig is the optimal clock speed this CPU can handle(seeing as it was rated for 1.6), but I'm fine with that at least now I have the room should I decide to take this thing another route. I haven't maxed everything in it out I might one day get bigger hard drives maybe 1 TB (totally possible there are adapters available that I can use to connect them) expansions are still here for more drives (even add blu ray if I want--well when it gets cheap). For now the project is complete until the day comes that I decide to switch out the G4 for a cheap Intel motherboard maybe 5 or 6 years down the road when I'll be able to pick up what a lot of these kids are bragging about today at the thrift shop or the used PC warehouses assuming they are designed to last as long as this one has.

[noodle654]

Nice project dude. It looks nice. I made a PC last year using the same case, and I spent I think less than like $350 total. Here are some pics for you. Good idea though, keeping it a Mac but giving it a new look.

[Ttownbeast]

Nice project dude. It looks nice. I made a PC last year using the same case, and I spent I think less than like $350 total. Here are some pics for you. Good idea though, keeping it a Mac but giving it a new look.

I can see some differences in the cases fan configuration between this years and last years and the light bars are pretty cool on that one.

[Sonicjay]

I have just finished uploading a vid on Youtube showing the Machine being powered on and inserting the green crystal the picture quality isn't really that great but it captures some of the effect I was looking for:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk2kcPVQfhw

That's pretty out there for a computer case; ridiculous in a way, but at the same time, I like it. The Fortress of Solitude crystal gimmick is great. Maybe it's just my child-like fascination with plexiglass and colored lights, haha

[Génicus]

you just killed a Mac...
But anyway, it's nice. But not for a Mac :D

[Ttownbeast]

That's pretty out there for a computer case; ridiculous in a way, but at the same time, I like it. The Fortress of Solitude crystal gimmick is great. Maybe it's just my child-like fascination with plexiglass and colored lights, haha

I've seen some mods a lot stranger when I was looking for ideas and references. I even found one someplace online that a dude used a beaver carcass (yes a real live dead beaver carcass that had been through the taxidermists shop) as a computer case--by far this was the strangest one I had encountered. There was even one made from what I am assuming was either a sex doll or mannequin dressed and painted to look like an anime character (I hope by the deity the guy didn't decide install feedback motors from game controllers in some non disclosable regions of this mods anatomy). Mine in comparison is tame not bordering on slightly psychopathic or slightly perverse as some mods I've encountered.

you just killed a Mac...
But anyway, it's nice. But not for a Mac

To each their own.....but the mac lives, I like to think Mr Kent would rather have this as the OS at his North pole hideaway than Windows LOL.

I posted these elsewhere, but for the sake of the completed project..... this was an image I redid of the MacOSX.tiff in the system folder editing the package contents using Gimp--I prefer it over Photoshop and have it posted in the About pic gallery:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/Abouthis.jpg

Links for these two for the Acer and TV can be found in my post for September desktops:
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/Picture1-3.pnghttp://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/Picture12.png

[Consultant]

Looks like the tube things work really well for the superman theme. Congrats.

FYI with a SATA card you can have faster drives. I run my PMG4 server on gigabit ethernet network (with N only) and stream through that from other computers.

It's a camera phone, it does the job well enough for my purposes.

Increase the overall ambient light (i.e. get more light in the room for the photos) so it won't be so blurry. You can get cheap light bulbs and clamp on lights for around $10 at home depot. (But I guess that might drawn out the case light, so maybe learn how to hold your cam without shaking).

[Ttownbeast]

Looks like the tube things work really well for the superman theme. Congrats.

FYI with a SATA card you can have faster drives. I run my PMG4 server on gigabit ethernet network (with N only) and stream through that from other computers.

I've given that SATA card idea some consideration if I plan on adding drives at some point I may go that route it would allow me to connect 1+TB sized drives should need for the capacity come up as it is now even with video projects I barely use an extra 10 Gigs HD space right now(I usually have 100 gigs to spare), if I ever decide I want Blue Ray larger drives may be necessary. What I wonder is if there is a way to break the 2 GB limit on ram for this thing. I know there are PCI cards designed to use ram as a solid state drive.

[After G]

Wow, that thing is a BEAST!

I hope the old case found some good being repurposed or recycled properly. If the G4 is all you need to get your work done, more props to you for reuse :)

[Ttownbeast]

Wow, that thing is a BEAST!

I hope the old case found some good being repurposed or recycled properly. If the G4 is all you need to get your work done, more props to you for reuse :)

The plastic was directly chopped down and disposed of (sorry hard to classify it in my region for plastics recycling since technically its still computer hardware in the eyes of the garbage company, but not so to a pc recycler--damn ambiguities--so I at least chopped it into small enough bits about as harmful as a plastic trash bag) but the metal inner case at least made it to the recycle bin. I used to be a buyer in the scrap business, I consider it quite wasteful to throw away good scrap metal.

[Ttownbeast]

interesting what came up in momolingual when I was dumping unwanted language files:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/Picture1-4.png

[alphaod]

interesting what came up in momolingual when I was dumping unwanted language files:

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n170/ttownbeast/Picture1-4.png

You don't know Klingon? :p

[Ttownbeast]

You don't know Klingon? :p
sorry been busy brushing up on my Kryptonian LOL