Cool G4 mock up

[g3ski]

The acrorn.....

Wow, I'd never seen the Acorn before. That link didn't seem to have many details on the processors, how they linked them etc. Seemed like a fake....but then again any computer with a built-in sink and toaster must be real!

As to the comment about the return of the Centris 610.....I keep wondering if there is a future for pizza box style desktops, rather than Towers? Anyone notice that towers dominate the PC market too. Dell only sells towers to consumers, their Optiplex boxes are "managed PCs" (like there are any that aren't constantly managed ; ) for businesses.

As time has passed, many news stories have feed us New news. Looks like there won't be much of a tower change after all Maybe a white tower to match the ibook? Maybe room for another CD drive....well just one more week.......

(That gives them more time to copy the Acorn for a G5, 2Ghz, quad processor, combo-pizza box-tower at MWSF 2003.)

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I once got an B+ in calculus.......I was in 3rd grade at the time

 

[Chryx]

Acorn Risc PC's were quite real, I had access to one whilst I was at school..

that "stack" didn't have a system in each box by the way, they were mearly bolt-on case additions.

Somewhere around here I had an original circa 1994 RiscPC brochure, if I find it I'll scan it (google isn't turning much up)

the processors were ARM610 through to StrongARM's btw, much like you'd get in a modern PDA

 

[g3ski]

xServe meets Acorn....

Well Acorn gets the credit for the bolt-on compartmentalized computer, but I hope Apple can do something like that with a lot more style, in a smaller package, and with better, tighter integration. If you could bolt-on extra processors, that would be the bomb.

This would be cool........Buy a basic G4 box, then add a storage compartment with an extra hard drive and a CD burner, then later add another compartment with dual 1.2 Ghz G4 for a total of (4) 1.2Ghz G4s.

I wish I had the time (and skillz) to sus out a drawing of this concept....but think xServe meets the Acorn photo.

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Did I mention my A+ in gym class (all 4 years in high school!)

 

[Chryx]

Re: xServe meets Acorn....

Originally posted by g3ski

I wish I had the time (and skillz) to sus out a drawing of this concept....but think xServe meets the Acorn photo.

Something like (apologies to the authors of the images I cut and pasted to death, I'm an ideas guy, not an implementation guy :/)

?

 

[g3ski]

Nice, connecting side by side, I hadn't thought of that. What if it was possible to either build a tower or a desktop.

 

[Chryx]

side by side?

that mockup I just posted is a single machine?

 

[Chryx]

Originally posted by g3ski
Nice, connecting side by side, I hadn't thought of that. What if it was possible to either build a tower or a desktop.

Thinking some more, if it were designed roughly like the Acorn Podules system, you'd be able to pull off the top panel and stick another layer in.. like so

and so on.

would be good for people tight on space that wanted two machines (for whatever reason) but didn't want a 19" rack or a pair of towers.

 

[g3ski]

I didn't mean that your first mockup was two desktops, I was just thinking out loud. If each part were a module that linked together like legos, then your first mockup could have 1 module for the power, cpu, video card, ram and another module for the HDs and CD-R. They could be stacked or put side by side. Then add another two modules, um another HD and a DVD burner in one, and zip, floppy, and extra FW and USB ports in another. They could also be stacked as a 4 high tower, or 2 by 2 for a thick desktop. Get crazy and put them all side by side for a really wide computer

Ultimately,one of the 4 modules could be extra processors that connect to the main system. Gesh how would they do that? A direct pipeline between the modules to connect the four processors and the motherboard? That seems much too expensive.

 

[g3ski]

Here is a way to modularize the components.
Module 1: Motherboard/cpu module, that would have room to add extra processors, up to 4 and the fans needed. The ram would also be in there, and there would be 4-6 slots. The AGP slot and video card would be in there too. Oh yeah, FW and USB here too.
Module 2: The power and PCI module. Room for 4-6 PCI cards. They would have to create a new cable to connect the PCI board to the motherboard.
Module 3: The HD module. This would be flat like on xServe with room for 4 internal HDs, IDE. Maybe removeable like on xServe. Possibly add SCSI drive in this module also and route to the PCI card in the PCI module.
Module 4: The removable drives - room for up to four 5 1/4 CD/DVD, zip, floppy, etc.

 

[Bradcoe]

small problem with multiple optical drives

Multiple optical drives all require their own eject button. For one, this doesn't follow apples eject button on the F12 key feature. This is also a reason that those new case design mock ups that copy Xserves style wont work. They only have one eject button. I'm sure apple would come up with a fix that is oh so elegant and obvious to us all AFTER we see it, but i can't think of one, which is why i'm not designing it.

 

[Chryx]

Re: small problem with multiple optical drives

Originally posted by Bradcoe
Multiple optical drives all require their own eject button. For one, this doesn't follow apples eject button on the F12 key feature. This is also a reason that those new case design mock ups that copy Xserves style wont work. They only have one eject button. I'm sure apple would come up with a fix that is oh so elegant and obvious to us all AFTER we see it, but i can't think of one, which is why i'm not designing it.

The obvious answer is to make the entire front panel of the optical drive an eject button... *push * click * tray motors push the tray out *

 

[mmmdreg]

Originally posted by vitruvius
hey, thats fine!
...and it is too symetrical for my taste!

Whats wrong with symmetricity?

 

[iN8]

Originally posted by mmmdreg


Whats wrong with symmetricity?

I think that's symmetry.

 

[g3ski]

Re: small problem with multiple optical drives

Originally posted by Bradcoe
Multiple optical drives all require their own eject button. For one, this doesn't follow apples eject button on the F12 key feature. This is also a reason that those new case design mock ups that copy Xserves style wont work. They only have one eject button. I'm sure apple would come up with a fix that is oh so elegant and obvious to us all AFTER we see it, but i can't think of one, which is why i'm not designing it.

I don't see the problem. You push a button on the drive and it pops open. You drag the CD/DVD to the trash and it ejects. I already have two optical drive, one just happens to be a FW CD burner. So the solution is that the eject button only works for the main optical drive......or when used in combination with another key, the eject button can work with other drives. option+eject or cmd+eject for the 2nd optical drive. Or option+1+eject for each drive.

I really don't think that the eject key on the keyboard has been holding Apple back from adding a 2nd internal optical to the Yosemite Towers. The eject key is relatively new...since the clear pro keyboard.

 

[Heltik]

It seems to me that most people want the following:

1. Revolutionery new design.
2. Practicallity (carrying handles).
3. More Optical drives.
4. Better access to USB's and so forth.

Therefore, why not make a new powermac that comes in 2 parts.

The first part could live under the desk and contain the hard disc drives and mainboard/processors etc.... The second part could live on the work top and look about the same size as a Cube... This would house optical drives, powered using a firewire connector, which would be fast enough, and it could also provide a hub for other devices such as keyboard etc, maybe proper speaker outs... (5.1 of course). And Video out.

We wouldn't have to worry about noise so much because the underdesk unit could be larger and would be shielded by the fact it is under the desk...

It would also appear very elegant from a user point of view.

Maybe this is not feasible... but it's just an idea, and I'd love to know what you guys think.

 

[Ouroboros]

I think that whatever Apple does with new towers will use the asthetic of utilitarian to the extreme. I think some of these mockups have the right thing: look at the Xserve, that thing looks like it means business. I think if anything, the new Macs will look like badass metal monsters with a European design flair, meaning using a lot of open space. I just don't see the next revision has having as many curves as the previous El-Capitan. Also, I can't see it having a "Gx" on the side. I think Apple is letting the designs speak for the revision #'s. We know, they know, that the next major revision will make or break the towers, so with that idea, we might just get a revision of the El Capitan until the Gx or Powerx chip is in there. At which point, a new radical design will surface.

 

[g3ski]

Originally posted by Heltik
Therefore, why not make a new powermac that comes in 2 parts.

The first part could live under the desk and contain the hard disc drives and mainboard/processors etc...

I have thought about this type of solution a lot since the cube came out. I really wanted it to work, since the cube already has that big old powersource under the desk anyway....so I thought, why not just add some other parts that we never access to the "under the desk" part of the cube

I just don't think it will work, b/c in the end I realized that there is not enough bandwidth to separate enough parts from the motherboard. If you put two optical drives, a FW port, and a USB port, and the vga port on the desk box, then the cable connecting the boxes would need to house the equivalent of 3 firewire cables and a vga cable in order move data at full speed. that would be one thick cable. So there is added expense for all of these cables and a giant cable running between the boxes. All the while, we could have just put two firewire drives and a usb hub on the desk instead.

I would love to hear other ways that splitting the box into two pieces might work out? What else can be stored away under the desk without adding too much cost to the whole design?