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Just won a G4 Cube...

LordeOurMother

LordeOurMother

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 10, 2014
397
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For £100 ($125)! It's non working, but I suspect this is just due to the previous owner not being very computer savvy. I plan to figure out what's wrong with it, and try to get it working.

If I can't I have some non-invasive modding ideas for the case (i.e. I'll be able to reverse what I plan on doing and put the cube back in its original state later on)...

Regardless, to get a cube for so cheap, even a non working one, is quite a good price here (UK).
 
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LordeOurMother said:
For £100 ($125)! It's non working, but I suspect this is just due to the previous owner not being very computer savvy. I plan to figure out what's wrong with it, and try to get it working.

If I can't I have some non-invasive modding ideas for the case (i.e. I'll be able to reverse what I plan on doing and put the cube back in its original state later on)...

Regardless, to get a cube for so cheap, even a non working one, is incredible!
Click to expand...
Is it coming with the power supply?
 
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LordeOurMother said:
For £100 ($125)! It's non working, but I suspect this is just due to the previous owner not being very computer savvy. I plan to figure out what's wrong with it, and try to get it working.

If I can't I have some non-invasive modding ideas for the case (i.e. I'll be able to reverse what I plan on doing and put the cube back in its original state later on)...

Regardless, to get a cube for so cheap, even a non working one, is incredible!
Click to expand...
That's a lot of money to pay for a non-functional computer.
 
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LordeOurMother said:
Indeed, and an old Acrylic Apple Cinema Display!
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Definitely a good deal then. I was gonna say $125 for just a Cube isn’t a particularly spectacular price.

I’d bet it probably works fine and they just don’t know anything about it. Does it specifically say it doesn’t turn on? 9/10 times when I buy an old computer as “non working” it has either no boot drive or a non working one.
 
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Project Alice said:
Definitely a good deal then. I was gonna say $125 for just a Cube isn’t a particularly spectacular price.

I’d bet it probably works fine and they just don’t know anything about it. Does it specifically say it doesn’t turn on? 9/10 times when I buy an old computer as “non working” it has either no boot drive or a non working one.
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That's my intuition is that it's perfectly fine, just a bit worn with age. I've not worked on Cubes before but I've had my fair share of temperamental PPCs, mainly G5s, so I've got a lot of spare stuff both software and hardware lying around (e.g. Tiger installs on IDE drives and so on).

If I can get it up and running again short term it will be a media or back up server of some kind. Long term plan when my 5,1 starts to feel old (but as I'm sure you know, these things are immortal...) is to do a fully reversible mod and fit an Apple Silicon mini in there.

Outside of the USA, G4 Cubes have been bought up by collectors/scalpers and listed at ridiculous prices for a long time, even non functioning ones, so to get even the case at the price I got it at I'm happy enough with. Especially seeing as prices are going up as the supply dries up...
 
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sparty411 said:
Ah, understood.
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Yeah, the supply of the G4 Cubes in the UK (and a few specific colours of the iBook G3, too) has completely dried up over the past few years. There are a few people with too much money and time who think it's funny to buy up the entire supply of them and horde them or mark up the prices. So in my use case, where I mainly need the case itself, rather than the internals, the discount for a non functioning one is worth it. Enclosures alone here go for about £200 usually.

For reference, a functioning Cube is £400-500.
 
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LordeOurMother said:
That's my intuition is that it's perfectly fine, just a bit worn with age. I've not worked on Cubes before but I've had my fair share of temperamental PPCs, mainly G5s, so I've got a lot of spare stuff both software and hardware lying around (e.g. Tiger installs on IDE drives and so on).

If I can get it up and running again short term it will be a media or back up server of some kind. Long term plan when my 5,1 starts to feel old (but as I'm sure you know, these things are immortal...) is to do a fully reversible mod and fit an Apple Silicon mini in there.
Click to expand...
G4 Cubes are essentially PowerMac G4 Sawtooths with one less memory slot. They are probably closer to the DA in terms of temperament.

I have two of them myself, and there are a few other members here I know have a Cube. When it arrives, I’m sure we will be able to help you make it work. Hopefully you will not have to do the mod.
 
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Project Alice said:
G4 Cubes are essentially PowerMac G4 Sawtooths with one less memory slot. They are probably closer to the DA in terms of temperament.

I have two of them myself, and there are a few other members here I know have a Cube. When it arrives, I’m sure we will be able to help you make it work. Hopefully you will not have to do the mod.
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Ya the PPC forum was super helpful back in the day when I was daily driving a PMG5. It'll be nice to work on a proper PPC project again. I'd like to get some good life out of this G4 as a server if I can.

Btw, my planned mod in the future won't damage the case or internals! I've checked the dimensions and the current M1 mini logic board sits perfectly inside of the case without cutting or soldering or drilling anything, it's literally just a matter of taking the G4 apart and then making a plastic stand which sits flush agains the middle bracket, and Sugru-ing the LoBo to the plastic stand. Then if I ever want to put the G4 or a new Lobo in the enclosure, I can do so. :)

I think mods which permanently damage vintage hardware are a bit unfortunate... I cringe at a lot of the G5 -> Hackintosh videos online.

Any OS recommendations, by the way?
 
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ervus said:
Good luck and let us know what you find! Check the VRM for burned parts. If that's ok, then the computer is probably fine...
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Thanks for letting me no! I'll be taking it apart first thing and inspecting everything. I'm hoping to get it working so that I can few years of actual use out of it in original condition, it's such a cool machine...

Any OS recommendations, by the way?
 
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LordeOurMother said:
Ya the PPC forum was super helpful back in the day when I was daily driving a PMG5. It'll be nice to work on a proper PPC project again. I'd like to get some good life out of this G4 as a server if I can.

Btw, my planned mod in the future won't damage the case or internals! I've checked the dimensions and the current M1 mini logic board sits perfectly inside of the case without cutting or soldering or drilling anything, it's literally just a matter of taking the G4 apart and then making a plastic stand which sits flush agains the middle bracket, and Sugru-ing the LoBo to the plastic stand. Then if I ever want to put the G4 or a new Lobo in the enclosure, I can do so. :)

I think mods which permanently damage vintage hardware are a bit unfortunate... I cringe at a lot of the G5 -> Hackintosh videos online.
Click to expand...
G4 Cubes have 10/100 ethernet, so I don’t know what kind of server you plan on running but don’t expect it to be fast. This is the reason I struggle to find a use for my G4 Mini.
Some people have said that Cubes have gigabit but both mine absolutely do not.

The new Mini does have a fan, so I would do something about that. It sounds cool, but I do hope you find use for the actual G4 cube with it’s hardware.
 
Project Alice said:
G4 Cubes have 10/100 ethernet, so I don’t know what kind of server you plan on running but don’t expect it to be fast. This is the reason I struggle to find a use for my G4 Mini.
Some people have said that Cubes have gigabit but both mine absolutely do not.

The new Mini does have a fan, so I would do something about that. It sounds cool, but I do hope you find use for the actual G4 cube with it’s hardware.
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That's a good point. I wanted to pick up a cube now before they disappear even more and prices skyrocket properly, but the mod is a 3 or 4 year down the line thing... so I'd like to get some use out of the original hardware. I've always wanted to experiment with PPC linux, or maybe FreeBSD or OS9.

10/100 is probably fine for what I had in mind, which is literally just a file server hooked up to some external hard drives. Not anything too intense or continuous transfer of large files.
 
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LordeOurMother said:
That's a good point. I wanted to pick up a cube now before they disappear even more and prices skyrocket properly, but the mod is a 3 or 4 year down the line thing... so I'd like to get some use out of the original hardware. I've always wanted to experiment with PPC linux, or maybe FreeBSD or OS9.

10/100 is probably fine for what I had in mind, which is literally just a file server hooked up to some external hard drives. Not anything too intense or continuous transfer of large files.
Click to expand...
OS X makes a perfectly good file server. That would be a pretty slow server, but if it’s just some small files (I’m talking sub-gigabyte sizes) it will be doable. The Cube is perfectly capable of running Leopard. But there are resources on here for other OS’s.
 
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ErikGrim said:
Congrats. Get a refurb M1 Mini and you have a super easy M1 Cube mod:

Click to expand...
Yup! That was the thought, not at the moment as my Mac Pro is super usable, but a few years down the line, using the 'M4' or whatever.

I've had this idea in my head since I saw the M1 mini teardown vids. I saw his implementation of the mod and wasn't a big fan as he unnecessarily hot glued the lobo to the case of the G4, thereby rendering both the enclosure and the lobo more or less permanently bound together without serious distress in removing it, and basically making it unreconfigurable to its original state. The general idea is what I was thinking, though!
 
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