Got a 'New' PowerPC Mac and receiver from Recycling Centre

[WalnutSpice]

I haven't dropped by the recycling centre in a while so I figured I would today. To my surprise I found an old PowerPC Mac I actually have a use for. It's a model with RCA in so I can use it to convert my hi8 and some VHS tapes to digital. It also has been upgraded to have a DVD drive. Specs are unknown, not able to plug it into a monitor yet. But, if I had to guess I would say it has a 244MHz G3 CPU and 256MB RAM.

I've also been looking into purchasing an old reciever from the 70s or sometime around then. Luckily I found one with the Mac. It has an 8 track, FM / AM radio and turntable all built in. Came with two speakers as well.

 

[bunnspecial]

These came in-I think-either 233mhz or 266mhz. There should be a sticker on the back that tells you the factory configuration. Of course, the possibility also exists that it has been upgraded-I have one running a 400mhz CPU out of a B&W(actually running at 433mhz) and a minitower with a 1ghz G4.

If it has RCA in it has either a Wings or Bordeaux personality card!

You will need to pay attention to the RAM height when installing upgrades, as RAM modules that are too tall will keep them from closing properly.

Beware of brittle plastic.

Nice find.

 

[WalnutSpice]

Photo of the Mac's rear IO

 

[WalnutSpice]

Photo of the Mac's rear IO

 

[WalnutSpice]

These came in-I think-either 233mhz or 266mhz. There should be a sticker on the back that tells you the factory configuration. Of course, the possibility also exists that it has been upgraded-I have one running a 400mhz CPU out of a B&W(actually running at 433mhz) and a minitower with a 1ghz G4.

If it has RCA in it has either a Wings or Bordeaux personality card!

You will need to pay attention to the RAM height when installing upgrades, as RAM modules that are too tall will keep them from closing properly.

Beware of brittle plastic.

Nice find.

Do you know what the monitor connection is called and where I can find a VGA adapter? I've tried googling it but cannot find anything

 

[bunnspecial]

It's the standard Apple DB-15 connector that was used on pretty much all Macs without a built in monitor from the Macintosh II(along with the Apple IIgs) all the way up the beige G3s(trayload iMacs also use this connection internally).

It's mostly signal compatible with VGA, so it's possible to convert it to VGA without too much effort. Adapters are plentiful on Ebay, but most have a set of DIP switches to set the monitor resolution and I find them sort of a pain.

For about the same amount of money, I'd suggest picking up a PCI Rage 128 Mac Edition, which was the standard card that shipped in the B&W G3 along with the G4 Yikes!. It's plug and play in these computers. It also has VGA out and is pretty much better in every way than the onboard video in these. If nothing else-aside from the convenience of a VGA port-a Rage 128 has as much as 8x the VRAM(these came standard with 2mb, although could be upgraded to 6gb, while the card has 16mb) and can push a LOT more pixels than the onboard video.

 

[Dannyshing27]

If you are getting the graphics card I would recommend picking up the adapter too as in order to use the capture card on the back in os9 etc you have to use the built in graphics