My question is, will a Beige G3 DT logic board fit in a stock PM 7300 case? I know the outsides are the same, but are the insides close enough? I've tried aboout everything, and can't get anything above 10.1.5 installed on it, so I am ready to move on to more drastic measures. Thanks in advance!
Daniel
There is enough room, but you'll have to drill new mounting holes.
I picked up a used 7200 at a thrift shop because I wanted to have a nice case for my Beige G3 but it was going to be too much work for it to work properly. Plus the back of the case won't line up properly with the ports as it changed with the Beige G3..you might have to do a bit of modding to the plastic to make it fit.
Eh, 7200 or 7300 power supply doesn't work with beige G3. You'll need one from a biege or mod an ATX power suppy and move one MB jumper to get them to work.
I was working on puting a beige into a 7200 case. I gave up and stuffed the Beige MB in a ATX tower. It's easier and more practical. Unless you got a special reason. I suggest the ATX route.
Well guys, I decided to do it the easiest way possible. (Actually, I didn't decide to do it this way, but to opportunity came up and I ran with it.) A friend of mine happened to have a mint condition G3 266 DT sitting in his garage, but he couldn't use it because he didn't have a DB-15 video adapter for it. So, he gave it to me, since I do have one. It had the original OS 8.0 installation on it, and the stock 4 GB HD and 32 MB of RAM. I put USB and FireWire cards in it, upgraded the RAM to 288, put in a UW SCSI card with a 10K RPM 18 GB HD, installed Jaguar on it, and stuck in a DVD drive. This thing runs like a dream. I still need to put a video card in it (probably a Rage 128 from a B&W) and I would like to get another 40-60 GB ATA HD, along with a processor upgrade (probably a B&W G3 400 ZIF). If anyone has any other suggestions for me, I would love to hear them. Thanks again for all of your help and advice.
Daniel
I generally keep a hammer and screwdriver by the desk. If the screwdriver doesn't correct it, maybe the hammer will intimidate it. BTW Kudos on getting the new machine. I am kinda wondering if the DVD plays movies because i don't think that the stock machine has enough power to play movies Did you upgrade the video card?
I was just on Ebay, and I decided to buy a 32 MB Radeon 7000 card instead of the Rage 128. I tried playing a DVD on it, but DVD Player said that the required hardware wasn't found. I'll play around with that after I upgrade the video card.
Daniel
DVD Playback is not supported in OS X on Beige G3 machines. You have to boot into Classic for that.
I beg to differ. I just watched Return of the King last night on my G3. It was a bit choppy, as I still have the 266 in, but it was playing in Jaguar.
Daniel
That's interesting, since Apple's official documents and Low End Mac state (from last time I read the document) that OS X doesn't support DVD Playback on the Beige G3.
I'll have to try that out next month when I get money for a DVD Player.
the OEM Rage 128 card can be equipped with an optional DVD decoder daughtercard, but without it you'll get that "hardware-not-found" error. A Mac Edition R7K should play DVDs just fine even with a lower-end CPU, as the GPU (vid card) does all the heavy lifting.
However, flashed PC R7K cards have "issues". Even after much tweaking and fiddling I wasn't able to get a 64MB R7K to play DVDs for more than a minute or so, with lockups (of the app, not the OS) and stumbles/stutters, not a pleasant experience. I understand flashed 32MB cards are more compatible, but I don't have one of those so can't comment.
dan k
I heard once that the optional DVD decoder card only worked when the Rage 128 was in a B&W. Not too sure on that though.
To play DVD's, I use the Radeon 7000 64mb card and VLC Media Player. Since I installed OS X before I had any DVD hardware installed, it did not install Apple DVD Player. I'll try another installation on my second partition and see if it installs the DVD Player. If it does or doesn't, I'll report back here.
Daniel
If you're looking to install DVD Player, grab a copy of Pacifist:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/12743
It'll extract and install things from your OS X installation CDs. Quite nice on the Beiges, when you have to install within the first 8GB (when using the built-in IDE bus) because you can do a much-minimalized installation (only the printer driver you use, none of the languages you can't read in, skip the apps you don't plan on using) because if you find you need an app or something you didn't install later, you can always add it.
I did this and had an insanely small install on a drive at one point (it was below 1GB for Jaguar if I remember right.)
Back to the point, it'll also install DVD Player from the installation discs, without complaint of hardware, and will also install the libs, etc it requires.
I presently have a Beige w/500MHz G4, 352MB of RAM, two hard disks, various PCI goodies, DVD writer, and what is either a flashed 32MB R7K or the PCI Radeon from an earlier xServe (which is what the seller still swears it is) and DVDs play flawlessly, unless I have Quartz Extreme enabled, at which point I have to move/close/etc any floating window (the remote for example) over the top of it, otherwise the video blacks out/isn't displayed. No biggie though. It's worked this way (full framerate) in both Jaguar and Panther.
Just my experiences, in case they should be of help to someone...
-- Macinjosh
Cool tip. I'll be installing DVD Player as soon as I get home.
Right now, I am looking to upgrade to a G4. Do you think a G4/400 will be adequate to run Panther and play DVD's? Which would be faster: a zif taken from a PCI G4 or a NewerTech G4 zif?
Daniel