New on the forum G4MDD

[Ban-Handa]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum but not to the world of macs.

I followed the forum a long time but never ended up making an account because they were usually only for research related to doubts and always found help reading the posts.

Thank you very much for this !!!

This week I had the happiness of finding a MDD 1.25, here in Brasil are almost impossible to find and I was very happy with it.

It came with a Cinema Display CRT 17 and with the keyboard pro, I do not know if it is original of the time, it came without a mouse but I already managed to find one in good condition that arrives in a few days.

Basically it was never opened, never made an upgrade, it only has 512mb origial and 160gb hd, OSX was installed 10.3, but I upgraded to 10.5.8.

My first research was in reaction to the upgrades available nowadays (2017), I discovered an interesting upgrade to the video card, but I would not use the CRT because of the ADP connector, the original card is an ATI 9000, and a friend gave me many years ago a computer that had a 7800GS, which literally was in some corner in house, because it is outdated to use today, imagine my reaction to the unlikely happening ...

I read in the forum and I looked for information on how to proceed to flash the video card, plug the pins, etc ... etc ..

Well summing up it worked, and everything went well. But after replacing the video card I noticed that the osx takes a long time to boot and it's on a blue screen, but I installed OSX before with the ati and then I changed the card, and I did not redo the OSX again. (but works) normally, just take a long time to boot.

I'll try reinstalling Leopard again to see if it will work.

To solve the CRT connection problem, I am thinking of buying the A1006 DVI to ADP adapter. But I'm looking for a Cinema LCD Display for future upgrade.

This is my third mac, the first was a green iMac G3 '97, which I regret having sold ... then a MacBook Core Duo ... which helped me a lot, this one also sold, and this was a find here, A model I've always wanted.

Well that's it, I would like to thank all the forum information and the people who help each other.

Sorry for the long story !!!

Well my doubts are as follows:

I plan to upgrade to SATA by reading the files I saw that there is a possibility of flashing on a Pci drive with Sil3112 chipset, ok I found the card and bought it, it arrives in a few days.

My idea at the beginning is to replace the original HDD with a 120GB SSD and a 2tb HD, both of which I have in a drawer here and i do not use it.

The video card upgrade has already been done and works normally.

I bought a 2.0 usb card with Nec chipset, apparently has compatibility with OSX, the purpose is to have a faster connection and to pass files on pendrive.

One issue would also be a memory upgrade, I tried to use some i have here, all 512mb ddr333, total 2GB.

When I installed OSX, I got an installation error from "Essentials", I read in the forum that it could be the memories, I took all the extras and left with only the original , and installed.

I wanted to know if this compatibility problem really exists, if I need to look for original Crucial ones

Thank you!!!

 

[LightBulbFun]

thats a very nice bundle you got there, not only did you get an MDD but you also got the best CRT apple made.

unfortunately the CRT will not work with an A1006. the A1006 is for Apple ADC LCD screens only.

in regards to the slow boot up with Leopard on the 7800GS, you must flash the card with the ROM which has the temperature sensor removed (it causes leopard to hang when it detects the sensor in a G4 computer) http://themacelite.wikidot.com/wikidownloads2 scroll down to the bottom and download this ROM file

this should solve your issues with leopard

in regards to RAM any old DDR1 PC2700 (333Mhz) or faster RAM should work fine in your MDD. with 2GB being the max an MDD will recognise/use. if you got failing RAM then it will be pretty clear when you use the machine as OS X and apps will start to randomly crash. the OS X installation issue could of been caused by bad RAM or more likely just an error reading from the install Disk that time around

I hope this helps you get your MDD running faster then its ever been before

 

[Ban-Handa]

LightBulbFun, thanks for the tips!

Actually the rom I used was the one that has the temperature sensor. My fear was in flashing the rom without the temperature sensor causes damage to the board.

The GPU temperature its between 65 and 67 Celcius (Idle).

On the A1006 adapter, i did not know will not work, really a shame. But my idea is to get a 20 or 23 LCD.

This weekend I was going to do more tests and put the results here. I'm going to test some games and see how and how it behaves.

 

[Orizence]

LightBulbFun, thanks for the tips!

Actually the rom I used was the one that has the temperature sensor. My fear was in flashing the rom without the temperature sensor causes damage to the board.

The GPU temperature its between 65 and 67 Celcius (Idle).

On the A1006 adapter, i did not know will not work, really a shame. But my idea is to get a 20 or 23 LCD.

This weekend I was going to do more tests and put the results here. I'm going to test some games and see how and how it behaves.

Replace the thermal compound and you should be fine

 

[Ban-Handa]

So, today i made some suggested changes, flashing the 7800gs, version without sensor, it really worked, now no longer problems with leopard, LightBulbFun, thanks for the tip!



I still have not changed the thermal compound of the video card, just for lack of time, but I'll do it too.

RAM, I tested the ones i had here and in fact 2 of them have some problems, 2 that worked, currently im on 1.5gb ram. I will replace it with 4 x 512mb later.

I got an Apple Pro Mouse, it was cheap and works normally, I do not know if this model is what came in the MDD, but that's what I like most with the transparent base. But for games it's not good!



Also installed a USB 2.0 card with NEC chipset, works fine.



At the moment I'm waiting for the sata pci card with 3112 chipset to try flash, hope it works.

I've read a lot about the CRT monitor, I know the adapters do not work, but being an analog monitor the adapters do not provide enough amperage and the correct connections for the monitor signal. This month I will try a reverse engineering in this crt and post the results. I really want a lcd 23hd but are very rare.

I tested q3a and ut2004, with everything at its best, worked perfectly, I felt a bit nostalgic!
The 7800gs really makes a lot of difference!



thanks for the help, really the goal is a good older gaming machine, and honestly it's getting better than expected.

 

[LightBulbFun]

Awesome glad to see everything is working out nicely for you

its a very nice setup you got going there.

in regards to the ADC Studio display CRT it is possible to build an adapter box for it (and a few people have done) theres plenty of information online about it with pinouts and schematics of the ADC connector , keep in mind that the CRT Studio display uses VGA signalling and not DVI, its also a fixed frequency CRT, like the built in CRTs found in iMac G3s and eMacs.

 

[MysticCow]

Congrats on the new Hair Dryer, I mean, uh, MDD.

 

[Ban-Handa]

Congrats on the new Hair Dryer, I mean, uh, MDD.

Thanks!

Yesterday I ended up finding a nice card to put on the mac, new old stock M-AUdio Delta Audiophile 2496 is a very simple sound card, but it has some functions i wanted for this setup, like a output spdif, i will use audio monitors, to listen to music, now i can listen and record my vinyl in nice quality.

The problem is that in most games it is not supported, ut2004 does not start, and in quake3 the board gets squeaked with the sound very low, but this is not a problem, for that im usin the built in board.

This is a nice setup, of course not to be compared with current machines, we are in 2003~2006 here!, really the case heats up, I have left some previous projects a watercooler kits from Corsair, I have seen some experiments , it could be a future modification.

Thank you for the support! future upgrades I'll post here.

 

[Ban-Handa]

Well, it's been over 3 years since i turned on this mdd, today I decided to look for some alternatives connecting the CRT to the VGA output. I found this site that seems quite plausible to do, but the idea is to use the schematics and apply the an internal PCI card, with 28v direct from the psu and usb direct from the internal card. It seemed possible to me, has anyone tried this?

https://www.jasondoesitall.com/category/projects/paleocord_adapters/adc_adapter/

The connectors are hard to find, I will try to unsolder those of the old ATI 9000.

I hope the battery hasn't leaked, as I forgot to remove 😅

 

[Webster's Mac]

Why not get the Studio display that came with it? Or a cheap DVI monitor? It may even be able to run a nicer 1080p monitor too. I know that my MDD can

 

[Ban-Handa]

Yes, certainly be an excellent option, a Studio Display 23 with the original ADC adapter.
I'd love to have one of these!!!

but...

Where I live these monitors are not found, they are extremely rare and expensive.

I was using a Dell U2412m, 1920x1200, on the 7800GS it works fine.

The CRT is because I really like to play on these old monitors, the resolution is good 1600x1200, to play quake3 is native and works very well, due to the challenge of making the monitor work properly and because I know it would be a waste to leave it in a corner and don't use it.

Looks cool.

The battery did not leak!

Probably original?

 

[retta283]

Running a CRT at 2048x1536 is a dream. If you can get your hands on one of those 21"-22" beasts it's worth a try just to drool at it for a bit. I usually cranked mine down to get killer refresh rates for games. Running at 1024x768 I had awesome refresh rates, sometimes higher than the actual game FPS. Very smooth. Can't remember the exact Hz now.

One thing to watch out for on those Cinema Displays (20", 22", and 23" are Cinema displays not studio) is that the plastic stand likes to break off and it's a pain to replace it, you may just have to find something else to prop it up or attempt to glue it back on which is hard due to the sheer weight of the display. This is only an issue on the polycarbonate displays, not the later aluminum ones. I assume you're after the polycarbonate though because that's what matches the G4.

 

[Amethyst1]

Running a CRT at 2048x1536 is a dream.

There is no other CRT besides the Sony GDM-FW900. 2304×1440 anyone?