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Internal USB port in Mac Pro

C

colinet

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 5, 2003
304
0
Australia
My super-duper 8 core MacPro should arrive on Monday. As well as an extra 12 gig of ram in addition to Apple's 1, I've got a Sonnet USB express card to go into it. There are 4 external USB sockets and one internal.

I've got a cordless Logitech Wave keyboard and mouse which use a USB receiver. Could I plug the receiver into the internal socket on the sonnet card, or will the metal casing stop it sending/receiving? If not, what else could I plug into the internal socket. I hate to waste it as I've got a lot of other things that want USB ports.
 
Partly answered my own question, I think. just plugged in the receiver into the internal port on a similar USB card in my dual G5 and even with the metal cover off the side, there was no signal.

So what else could I use this internal socket for? I suppose I could bring a cable out somewhere and plug it into an external hub, except I'm not making any holes in the case of my new and very expensive Mac Pro. Though, come to think of it, I could make a little exit hole in the plate of the USB card itself.
 
I have heard people putting their Bluetooth adaptors there, but have no first hand experience with a macpro. BT is stronger then RF, but don't know about the case of the MP.

Also people put card readers in there and mount it in the case, but not on a new mac pro.
 
I've ordered the Airport/Bluetooth option with my Mac Pro. I think the card reader might be an idea. I could bring the cable out through the USB card plate and then have the card reader sitting on top of the case. That way I wouldn't have to do anything nasty to the Mac Pro which is costing me nearly AU$10k with all the ram and extra drives.

But as the image I'm drawing in Photoshop is 37 x 7 feet I really need this machine. My state-of-the-art-when-I-bought-it dual 2Ghz G5 is struggling terribly with these files which are just massive - almost 5 minutes to save!!
 
I use them for software dongles. That way no one can steal it without getting inside the case.
 
colinet said:
I've ordered the Airport/Bluetooth option with my Mac Pro. I think the card reader might be an idea. I could bring the cable out through the USB card plate and then have the card reader sitting on top of the case. That way I wouldn't have to do anything nasty to the Mac Pro which is costing me nearly AU$10k with all the ram and extra drives.

But as the image I'm drawing in Photoshop is 37 x 7 feet I really need this machine. My state-of-the-art-when-I-bought-it dual 2Ghz G5 is struggling terribly with these files which are just massive - almost 5 minutes to save!!
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, I would really like to know what kind of stuff you do on a 37x7?


at first i was thinking advertisement, but you wouldn't create a billboard advertisement at full resolution because no-one would be looking at it that closely. :)
 
Draddy said:
Just out of curiosity, I would really like to know what kind of stuff you do on a 37x7?


at first i was thinking advertisement, but you wouldn't create a billboard advertisement at full resolution because no-one would be looking at it that closely. :)
Click to expand...

There are actually three pictures that add up to 100 x 7 feet!! Even on my MacPro with 13 gig of ram I'm constrained by Photoshop's ridiculous memory limitations and have to work on the fine details by chopping the images into sections otherwise a lot of the Photoshop menu options are unavailable.

Any advice on getting the most Photoshop memory use will be welcome. I'm already using the Scratchdisc plugin

I had to sign a confidentiality agreement, so I can't say what the images are for until the first place with the image in opens next February. I've got about a week's work still to do, so thankfully will be finished before Christmas. The fact I am a children's author and illustrator will probbly give you no clues at all :)
 
colinet said:
You mean, in 2007 there is still software that uses a dongle - what on earth is it?
Click to expand...
software like Pro Tools stores all your settings and plugins on the security key, so you can take your key with you and have whatever plugins you need on whatever console or computer you need them on.
colinet said:
There are actually three pictures that add up to 100 x 7 feet!! Even on my MacPro with 13 gig of ram I'm constrained by Photoshop's ridiculous memory limitations and have to work on the fine details by chopping the images into sections otherwise a lot of the Photoshop menu options are unavailable.

Any advice on getting the most Photoshop memory use will be welcome. I'm already using the Scratchdisc plugin

I had to sign a confidentiality agreement, so I can't say what the images are for until the first place with the image in opens next February. I've got about a week's work still to do, so thankfully will be finished before Christmas. The fact I am a children's author and illustrator will probbly give you no clues at all :)
Click to expand...
I think I have an idea, that's cool!

now I want to know how a children's author/illustrator gets a job making a 100 foot picture where he has to sign a confidentiality agreement :D
 
Draddy said:
now I want to know how a children's author/illustrator gets a job making a 100 foot picture where he has to sign a confidentiality agreement :D
Click to expand...

It takes time -
1 - Get published in quite a few countries around the world.
2 - Get 50 books published
3 - 1 plus 2 = reputation.
4 - 3 = desirability factor.

The confidentiality agreement is to stop the competition getting ideas and only works until mid Feb when the press and everyone else will see what all the secrecy/fuss was about.

5 - Quite well paid so you can get -
a Cintiq tablet, a MacPro - to make the big pictures,
a Canon D5 - to make a book of making the big pictures,
a gorgeous Sony CX7 - to make a movie of making the big pictures
and a new kitchen - to eat breakfast in before making the big pictures

As it says in the ads, I'm worth it :)
And it keeps me so busy I have no time to play with my dongle . . . .
 
colinet said:
So what else could I use this internal socket for? I suppose I could bring a cable out somewhere and plug it into an external hub, except I'm not making any holes in the case of my new and very expensive Mac Pro. Though, come to think of it, I could make a little exit hole in the plate of the USB card itself.
Click to expand...
Glad I ran across this post as I just picked up a Sonnet Express 800

238401454-S.jpg


and was wondering what I could do with the internal ports. I decided that my Sandisk CF card reader (FW800) and the USB connection to my ACD would be good candidates as they would rarely need to be disconnected.

238405159-S.jpg




The only problem as colinet points out is drilling holes in the case. While I don't think I could ever bring myself to take a drill to the MacPro's case, the PCI cover plates should be easy to replace and would not result in a permanent alteration.
238404086-S.jpg


238405840-S.jpg


238406744-S.jpg


Granted its somewhat of a hack job, and I could have cleaned up the plate and made it look a bit nicer, but considering its location not sure it really matters.
 
Good idea.

So good in fact I have just ordered the same Sonnet card and will also get the firewire card reader I was dithering about. I think I'd put a couple of rubber grommets in the cut outs just to keep the cables protected - they'd also tidy it up - just cut the grommets and slip them over the cables.

The extra FW 800 ports mean I can move my time machine raid 1 box somewhere where I won't hear the damn fan all day!
 
Usually the internal ports are used for front panel USB/Firewire outputs on PCs and when such things were made specifically for Macs (B&W G3-G4). For a while there some people toyed with the idea of internal firewire hard drives with low profile adapters (for similar reasons to why serial ATA has caught on) but no company ever made a native firewire drive and the concept died.

One thing you should check though is that a lot of times the internal ports are tied to the same traces as one of the external ports. You can't use both ports at the same time if thats the case since the signals will interfere with one another.
 
I think you'll find the Sonnet card's ports are not replications of the external ones. They advertise the cards with 3 USB and 3 FW800 - 2 external and 1 internal.

Wonder if anyone is considering making a card reader that would use the 2nd CD door in the MacPro?
 
Mac_Max said:
One thing you should check though is that a lot of times the internal ports are tied to the same traces as one of the external ports. You can't use both ports at the same time if thats the case since the signals will interfere with one another.
Click to expand...
I can't vouch for the FireWire, but I'm using all 3 USB ports with no conflicts.

colinet said:
Good idea.

So good in fact I have just ordered the same Sonnet card and will also get the firewire card reader I was dithering about. I think I'd put a couple of rubber grommets in the cut outs just to keep the cables protected - they'd also tidy it up - just cut the grommets and slip them over the cables.

The extra FW 800 ports mean I can move my time machine raid 1 box somewhere where I won't hear the damn fan all day!
Click to expand...
I like the grommet idea.
 
1. Wish I would have thought about that.

2. Wish it would have worked for you.

Would have been really nice if it did work. Seeing as how I feel that USB receivers are a waste of a good port.:(
 
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