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comda

comda

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 15, 2011
619
85
Hey PowerPC MacRumors members!

So Ive had in mind an idea for a while but have a few members breathing down my neck *Cough* LightBulbfun *cough* telling me not to do it.

So my idea was to take this Tired iMac that i have, and convert it into a PC mod. My Rules are as follows. To Still have a Slot loading DVD drive, to have ALL the I/O on the iMacs I/O shield and to keep it as original looking on the exterior as possible.

So this is where my question comes in. Is the iMac i have anything special because i dont think so. But others say that it is. What i have is a Indigo iMac Slot loader. Its a 350Mhz, that has no Firewire , 256mb of SD RAM, a 15Gb hard drive and a CD-ROM. Its a bit beat up, the Speakers dont work properly, the headphone jacks are a mess, the CRT was all out of whack but i got that somewhat sorted and being its a 350Mhz its SLOOOOW.

i plan on discarding the CRT safely, and keeping the rest for spares for my Tangerine 400Mhz which is in perfect condition aside from just recently blown speakers thanks to Dry rot.

All Comments, suggestions are accepted. Thanks
 
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*cries at the thought of an iMac G3 conversion*

Those are always fun to run OS 9 on.
 
DO whatever you feel. Old imacs are becoming more rare but since people have been making cat beds out of them for decades no one really cares i dont think.
 
MichaelAudet said:
Ill buy it. Please don't kill it!
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Name your price LOL

Sorry for the late replies
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Daniël Oosterhuis said:
Don't do it. That's my advice.
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Why not? I'd Rather reuse the sucker then have it sit, or get thrown out. Currently its useless
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havokalien said:
DO whatever you feel. Old imacs are becoming more rare but since people have been making cat beds out of them for decades no one really cares i dont think.
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Well i appreciate the support. I HATE the cat beds and fish tanks. I felt that converting it to a modern day PC/Hacintosh with help would at least bring some usability back to it
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MysticCow said:
*cries at the thought of an iMac G3 conversion*

Those are always fun to run OS 9 on.
Click to expand...

I have another one. In MUCH better shape. This one has been beat to ****. Not sure by who. I picked it up just before it was to be shred for recycling.

I also have a nice iMac G4 i just restored and its the 700Mhz also running Os9. This one is just too far gone and not worth fixing up. At least in my opinion.
 
I say don't do it, because in 5 to 10 years time you'll see how rare and expensive intact G3 iMac's have become and regret it. They truly are a design icon!
I remember when you couldn't give away a Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, now look at the prices!

If you really want to do this, watch eBay for a cheap cat basket and convert it back into a computer.

If you ever fancied a 500Mhz model, get it now while there are still bargains to be found, I very strongly doubt prices will remain this low for ever! Now is also the time to watch for rare period 'accessories', but don't pay too much for them.
 
Do it. I'd happily make an exception in my love for PPC Macs for the G3 iMacs and take a sledgehammer to 'em. All outside with no inside worth speaking about. The CRT mod is going to be a lot of work as you will need to create recesses for a flat screen LCD to fit and it will look odd, nonetheless.
 
Well, I'd say it's all about how much you actually give a toss about the thing in the first place that will ultimately decide its fate. Considering you already have another iMac that you are clearly more fond of if you're willing to gut this thing then I'd say there's you're answer.

But if you're still in two minds about it though, take the economics into account. It's a 16 year old iMac. The CRT isn't going to last much longer, nor will the PSU or the HDD, the cd-rom's slot loader is probably shot to buggery, and it's practically useless for anything except very light Internet browsing or using OS 9, and even then the max OS you can put on it is 10.4.11 and with that amount of RAM it'll run like frozen crap. All in all you can get newer, faster PowerMac G4's that'll boot natively into OS 9 and run newer versions of OS X for a pittance anyway and the cost of replacing or fixing any of the above mentioned time-bombs far outweigh its worth. And seriously given how old the thing is and how little they go for on eBay even now you'll have to sit on the thing for another decade before they begin to go up in value to warrant keeping it in its current state.

The only thing it's got going for it is it's looks, and it'll keep those looks anyway, right? It just won't be a G3 anymore. Besides, it'll probably be worth more if you turn it into a PC anyway as it'll be a quirk and collectors love quirky things.

I say do it.
 
Create....iPong...

iPong.jpg
 
A flat panel mounted in an iMac G3 just looks downright stupid and ugly. I really don't get why people do it. Unless you figure out how to repurpose the existing CRT or fit another on in to use, don't do it. Just being totally honest. I get iMac G4 and G5 conversions, as in most cases the panel can be repurposed, or a proper size panel can be fitted without looking out of place. The same just isn't true for the G3 and never will be.
 
Daniël Oosterhuis said:
A flat panel mounted in an iMac G3 just looks downright stupid and ugly.
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In your opinion. I don't think they look all that bad, but then that's just me.



Besides it's the only practical solution anyway if one wants to put x86 internals in the casing, since there won't be a ruddy great tube in the way.
JDM_2088.jpg.html
 
oi! said:
I say don't do it, because in 5 to 10 years time you'll see how rare and expensive intact G3 iMac's have become and regret it. They truly are a design icon!
I remember when you couldn't give away a Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, now look at the prices!

If you really want to do this, watch eBay for a cheap cat basket and convert it back into a computer.

If you ever fancied a 500Mhz model, get it now while there are still bargains to be found, I very strongly doubt prices will remain this low for ever! Now is also the time to watch for rare period 'accessories', but don't pay too much for them.
Click to expand...

ive tried to find a 500Mhz model for years! The recycling center i got this one from is an hour away and its a shame but this one is pretty beat up. Speakers are blown (my perfect 400mhz just happened to blow the speakers too sadly :( ) all the plugs specifically both audio inputs and usb are pretty out of whack and the CRT is wonky. Visually its also seen better days.

Anyways, maybe ill go down to the recyclers and see if i can find one thats in better condition and keep that and rip into this one.

For now im postphoning a bit as i currently dont have a machine nor a small enough LCD to install inside.
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weckart said:
Do it. I'd happily make an exception in my love for PPC Macs for the G3 iMacs and take a sledgehammer to 'em. All outside with no inside worth speaking about. The CRT mod is going to be a lot of work as you will need to create recesses for a flat screen LCD to fit and it will look odd, nonetheless.
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Thanks for the support. Sadly im not doing the CRT mod as A im not skilled enough for that and B, this CRT is on its way out. Ive calibrated it to the best of my ability but i still see its slowly greening out.

My goal if i get around to it, as work is killing my time is to make it look stock and original on outside without altering exterior looks. Currently alls i have is a intel Core 2 Duo board with a Nvidia 9600 GT. NOthing too special but its an upgrade.
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Xandros said:
In your opinion. I don't think they look all that bad, but then that's just me.



Besides it's the only practical solution anyway if one wants to put x86 internals in the casing, since there won't be a ruddy great tube in the way.
JDM_2088.jpg.html
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thats because those LCD"s are too large. Im searching for one of them Dell's that fits just right and doesnt go out of the edges like what you posted.
 
I recall a thread being on here somewhere about keeping the CRT display inside of the computer when doing a build like this. You could either get a mATX board and fit it all inside the case, are possibly conver the iMac to a monitor, installing a pair of speakers and a USB slot-load drive in the computer. That's just my opinion if you were to mod the computer, and again I don't remember if the end result of the thread worked.
 
Honestly, due to how hard it will be to get it to look right without the CRT, I'd personally find a PowerMac G4 tower or iMac G4 to work with.

I personally built mine out of a PowerMac G5 - http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/stiligfoxs-powermac-g7.152927/

You can also do creative builds with the Cube G4, or even a Mac mini. Browse around in tonymac, you'll many excellent builds and ideas of how to do one.

If you can get past the CRT hurdle, you could have a very good looking mackintosh - just most of all, TAKE YOUR TIME. and don't expect it to be a gaming machine in that case, you don't have much room for cooling or large graphics cards.
 
stiligFox said:
Honestly, due to how hard it will be to get it to look right without the CRT, I'd personally find a PowerMac G4 tower or iMac G4 to work with.

I personally built mine out of a PowerMac G5 - http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/stiligfoxs-powermac-g7.152927/

You can also do creative builds with the Cube G4, or even a Mac mini. Browse around in tonymac, you'll many excellent builds and ideas of how to do one.

If you can get past the CRT hurdle, you could have a very good looking mackintosh - just most of all, TAKE YOUR TIME. and don't expect it to be a gaming machine in that case, you don't have much room for cooling or large graphics cards.
Click to expand...

I took a look at your build and it was quite amazing. Awesome job on the details.
 
Xandros said:
In your opinion. I don't think they look all that bad, but then that's just me.

-snip-

Besides it's the only practical solution anyway if one wants to put x86 internals in the casing, since there won't be a ruddy great tube in the way.
JDM_2088.jpg.html
Click to expand...
That picture kind of proves my point, at least to me. The curvature of the case not only casts shadows on the display in nearly every setting, it also shows the edges of the monitor. Plus, I bet ya you could stick 4 Intel NUCs in there if you only removed the mainboard. I'm still waiting for someone to get the CRT of an iMac G3 working without the motherboard and with a different video source (such as a NUC).
 
What kind of LCD Display would fit the iMacG4?
I'd go for any macmini within the iMac and pass through the iMacs sockets to the mini as far as it's possible.
Maybe any light-effects to the blue-acrylic case.
And any "old" JBL-iPhone speaker or similar (connected with 3,5 klinke) within the the case to replace the blowns speakers.
And maybe SSD for the mac and any high-power battery to for power-supply for your: "iMacToGo"

Unfortunately the plastic case of these old imacs has aged by the the time and got really fragile
 
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