Anyone remember those "Power Power Color Classics"?

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Anyone remember those "Power Power Color Classics"?

A few years back on Ebay I remember seeing some Color Classics that had been upgraded with either G3s or G4s. Does anyone remember seeing those? They may have just been Cubes put into a PCC, but I am not sure.

I've always wondered how they were done, and if any were left around for sale since they are pretty cool. I remember seeing them in the early OS X days so the systems mostly came with OS 9.2 since it was before the release of XPostFacto. It would be pretty neat to see one of these or even build one if anyone here as the expertise to do so!

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no but I do know of something

no but I do know of something just as sweet. this guy who lives in seoul, south korea, morphed the guts of a cube into an SE/30 and called it SE/Rang. it has a slot loading drive, TV tunder, and everything. here is a link to the cubeowners forum post: http://www.cubeowner.com/forums//index.php?showtopic=9962&st=0

that pulsating rainbo apple logo/power button just kills. I have the video of it in quictime format if anybody need it.

-digital Wink

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Wow, that one actually is pre

Wow, that one actually is pretty dang impressive. I wonder how much it would cost to pay the guy to build another one, or to sell it Smile

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There was a company a few yea

There was a company a few years back that was putting different imac, cube and other ppc boards into older machines such as se/30's and CCs but I haven't seen anything about it in a while.

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Really? Do you remember the n

Really? Do you remember the name of the company? I think they sold stuff on Ebay, but it would be really cool to see if they are still doing stuff like this or if any of their systems are floating around.

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Wasn't it the Smith Family or

Wasn't it the Smith Family or something? I remember that the folks that put together the CC FAQ list were upset that it seemed that someone was making a profit with their info.

They did have some nice items and the port plates for the CCs were nice.

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power color classics

There are several ways to upgrade a CC to G3 or G4, but all of them require quite a bit of work. Here is my opinion on the benefits and drawbacks of each type:

1) Do a takky upgrade and then add a L2 G3 upgrade card.

Pro: Well documented and proven upgrade using a 6400/6500 logicboard. Interfaces well with existing hardware from the stock CC (HD, floppy, CRT)

Con: The Takky upgrade takes you only so far, even with a L2 G3 upgrade card, the alchemy boards were limited on memory to only 128MB and do not support OSX.

2) Perform Brad Sturges imaCC upgrade using a tray loading iMac motherboard
(http://colourclassicfaq.com/mobo/imacc.html)

Pro: Gives you a true G3 machine and the ability to run OSX (well at least up to 10.3, beyond that version its probably not worth it) and still uses the original CC montior (VGA modded, of course).

Con: Time consuming and heavily involved upgrade. Requires case and hardware modding in order to get everything working well.

3) Perform the Power Color Classic G4 upgrade using a G4 cube
http://mac512.com/ccpmg4.htm

Pro: Gives you a true G4 machine with all the capabilities to run most applications availible for modern macs

Con: Very time consuming and requires severe case modding. The original monitor can't be used since there is not enough space for the CRT and analog board. At this point, you have to think if it's even worth it since nothing original to the CC is left except the case. You would probably be better off stuffing a mac Mini into an empty CC and get just as good a result.

I myself did the imaCC upgrade to my CC and I thought it turned out pretty well. The only thing I found was that Brad's instructions were lacking in a few critical areas like modifications required to get the logicboard and the power board to both fit in the case. One of these days, i'll have to take photos and document some of the extra steps involved in doing this upgrade.

The choice is yours, all you need is a little know how, patience, and a bit of creative insanity Smile

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Yes, it was the Smith's Family

Yes, it was the Smith's family selling those modified Color Classic.
People (mostly the color classic list) complained about them so they stop selling it. That was a bad mistake as it would have made more people using these machines and more people would be in this forum. Imagine people complained about Redhat selling Linux.

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my project is back 'on'

This threads a little old, but as its relevent to what I'm about to say I thought it worthy of resurrecting it!

My G4 Colour Classic project has been raised from the dead over the last two months, mainly spurred on by the rash decision to buy a touch screen LCD to replace the original LCD that broke last year which financially brought everything to a halt.

I took a chance and bought a 10.4" LCD from a uk based ebayer that fits perfectly and with an added driver now supports touchscreen.

I upped the ram to 768mb

I've added a 300w Micro ATX power supply. To replace the huge stock G3 one that was noisy as hell.

I replaced the original (huge) stock G3 fan with a small heatsink mounted one (noise issues however need sorting out)

Replacing both of these has resulted in more space inside!

I managed to get a cheap pci wifi (airport compatible) card that worked straight away

I'm currently working on a backplate for the pci cards where the original CC mobo used to slide out...I've lost mine somewhere, this is purely so I can fix the other side of the PCI cards to something!

I have to fix/patch up various case mods as this machine has had two G3's live in it-a beige and now the B&W.

I nearly threw in the towel with it all though as I managed to come across that peculiar B&W problem (again) where you have to remove everything (PCI cards/ram) etc when it won't boot...Mac mini CC?? I nearly did it-but it seemed insane after everything I've been through with this.

I used to use this mac for internet use last year, but now the sole purpose for this machine is as a file/print/music server. Without a keyboard.

I have to fix up the case and paint it which im hoping to do over the next few weeks...Ive decided on black as it won't show up muck/dirt etc.

But my main issue is to figure out how to mount the front board inside the front o fthe case so I can access the power on/restart buttons...for a while last year I took off the CC badge and accessed the power on button with a pencil as the board was mounted behind this area. But I wanted to have a 'sprung' CC badge that performed this. That isn't something I've been able to figure out yet though. Either that or use the volume/screen buttons...?

Or do away with the board all together and get one of those USB power on buttons?

Any ideas?

When I have a moment I'll post up pics and the old links.

Thanks.

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