Hi, and questions!

4 posts / 0 new
Last post
defor's picture
Offline
Last seen: 16 years 3 months ago
Joined: Jan 5 2007 - 01:37
Posts: 2
Hi, and questions!

Hi!

I'm new to these forums, but glad to see there's a decent community out there still exploiting the ColorClassic.
I've done many mods, starting with the old 67Hz mod in '97 when I first found the CCSCC website. Did a number of CC upgrades and custom Mystic upgrades for awhile, but PPC boards were too expensive to be an option.

About 3 years ago, I inherited a stock of old 6500 boards and chassis from my old job and broke out my last CC I had in storage all the way through college, but ran into a problem I couldn't explain... I had finished the basic harness assembly, and was at a point where I should have been able to get the board to boot, but consistantly got 2 chirps and immediate power off.
Long story short, the project was reshelved until last night when I got new 225 6500 and decided to rewire the harness from scratch. Refered to everything that was current, and still same chirping... Did some looking through the old forums and found my exact problem... apparently even though apple had left a little wire exposed on the top of the AB power connector, in working with this part, the insulation slid down a little and was now coming into contact with the AB connector shield. Nothing a quick trim with an xacto couldn't fix.

Anyway, I'm at a point where everything works fine; using IDE HDD and floppy as internal drives, only have left to move the harness forwards and create the 3.3V regulator, and now I have a series of questions I'll outline:

1) From my research, it appears that slave drives will not work on the 6500 logic. Is this true, or is a cd-rom slave drive possible?

2) I've performed the new VGA mod (definitely works better and much cleaner image than the 67Hz mod, and was wondering how much stress this puts on the AB. I hear much less whine/hiss from the AB than the 67Hz mods I did in highschool with this method, and the image is much more stable. To that end this color classic had about 6 months of use on it before it was boxed back up, stored, and come into my possession many many years ago, so I'm hoping that the AB will have a long life ahead of it... thoughts? I'd prefer not to add a second powersupply if it could be avoided.

3) Stereo mod.. good to see someone actually made it work.. I remember staring at the AB a long time ago and comparing it to the one in my 520 and 550 which had the full components... Now... Is there any way to get the SRS back into the picture... I'm assuming I'd have to include the video out/sound pot board from the 6500, but wasn't sure if this had been covered already.

4) The gestalt is identifying the system now as a 5500. I'm assuming (since no changes were done to the LB that this has something to do with other sense lines on the AB? Will this affect anything in practical use?

5) I understand the concept of building the 3.3V regulator, but can anyone suggest a good choice of parts and have a link to the manufacturer's suggested wiring diagram?

6) The system came with 64MB on 2 dimms, I realized I still had a few 64MB sticks in my 9600 (which i thought does not use EDO, but I decided to try it anyway), when I tried these, the system booted fine, but only showed 64MB (32 on each stick instead of the 64 it should have been).. is this because i didn't use EDO ( I actually didn't check if it was edo or fpm before I pulled it, but I know most of the ram in the 9600 came from 6500's, so it was somewhat confusing. Am I best off just ordering some new 64mb EDO (only about 10$ each anyway from OWC) to try to max it (apparently there's no way to get 256MB, or am I mistaken?)

7) Stock CC floppy spun constantly when using the full cable, but works now after removing pin 9. I tried using the 6500 floppy, and all was well with the full cabling, except it was a good 1/8 in or so too low, and could not eject properly. What are people's preferred choices for the drive? The old drive seems much sturdier, but what am I expecting in life expectancy? (moving the 6500 drive up to meet the front bezel is a simple matter)

Dirol What's with the Quicktime emblem on the front of the CC? I've only seen a handful with it.

-Anyway, sorry to drag on and make a long post, but thanks for the wonderful resources, tips, and helping me almost complete a project in about 4 hours, that I've had shelved for may years now.

-Dan

eeun's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 8 months ago
Joined: Dec 19 2003 - 17:34
Posts: 1895
Re: Hi, and questions!

Hi, and welcome.
Others may be more knowledgeable, but I'll answer the ones I can below...

1) From my research, it appears that slave drives will not work on the 6500 logic. Is this true, or is a cd-rom slave drive possible?

The IDE on the pre-G3s was a bit of a hack, and there's no slave support.

2) I've performed the new VGA mod...

The jury's out on just how much of an effect that extra 7 Hz will have on analog board longevity. As long as you give a little attention to heat dissipation - even making sure the insides are clean and the fan's working properly, you may never see an AB failure. Of course, your mileage may vary.

4) The gestalt is identifying the system now as a 5500.Will this affect anything in practical use?

Nope.

5) I understand the concept of building the 3.3V regulator...

There's a good illustration of the regulator setup Here.
When I did my Takky, it was easier for me to track down a small extra PSU that provided the 3.3V rather than find the regulator.

6) ...I still had a few 64MB sticks in my 9600...when I tried these, the system booted fine, but only showed 64MB

You may need single-sided dimms, though I don't recall any trouble using a double-sided dimm with my 6360 board.

7) ...The old drive seems much sturdier, but what am I expecting in life expectancy? (moving the 6500 drive up to meet the front bezel is a simple matter)...

I used a newer drive, and used a dremel to make the floppy mount holes adjustable.

8) What's with the Quicktime emblem on the front of the CC?

Two of my three CCs had the logo. Quicktime was a big deal when the CC was released - back when "multi-media" was an exciting buzzword - and the logo was to help promote the CC's media capabilities over previous compact Macs.

Eudimorphodon's picture
Offline
Last seen: 4 weeks 1 day ago
Joined: Dec 21 2003 - 14:14
Posts: 1207
Voltage regulator

5) I understand the concept of building the 3.3V regulator...

There's a good illustration of the regulator setup Here.
When I did my Takky, it was easier for me to track down a small extra PSU that provided the 3.3V rather than find the regulator.

Mouser.com is a good place to look for that sort of thing if you can't find a 3.3v regulator locally and want to roll your own. The part would be about $2. (plus $7 shipping, of course.)

--Peace

edit: Here's an example circuit from an electronic's manufacturer:

LM3940

Pretty simple, really. 5v goes in, 3.3v comes out.

defor's picture
Offline
Last seen: 16 years 3 months ago
Joined: Jan 5 2007 - 01:37
Posts: 2
Gotcha- just ordered everythi

Gotcha- just ordered everything i need to build a couple regulators (probably going to do upgrades to my 520 chassis if this turns out well)

Log in or register to post comments