Upgrading A 7200(?)

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astro_rob's picture
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Upgrading A 7200(?)

Now that the rebuild of the iBook is well underway (and a hearty thanks to those who helped out), I'm moving forward with my plans to reduce the number of Macs I have lying about. I've been thinking about which PPC unit to hold onto prior to the pending MacMini purchase, planned right now for late this year/early next. My question concerns my 7200/90. Since it holds more promise than the 5260, I'd like to know what the consensus is regarding an upgrade path. First, is it even really practical? How about a USB card? Would it be more cost effective to just purchase a used G3 unit, such as a B&W (feasibly, that's a possibility; I could purchase a stripped down unit, since I acquired four retired 10GB hard drives this weekend from a system admin friend for free)? Also, contrary to reports I've heard, is it true that some of the earlier versions of OS X can run on upgraded 7200s? This is all probably moot at this point, since the iBook has already taken precedent on my "to-do" list. Thoughts?

Inquiring Minds Want To Know,

Rob

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Obvously...

Buying a used G3 will be better.Theyre almost $30+shipping and usually come with OS X 10.1.The USB will be all to buy.

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The 7200 is very limited as f

The 7200 is very limited as far as ram upgrades go. Your only option for a processor upgrade would be the sonnet card that goes in the pci slot. Personally I would try and get your hands on a stripped down beige g3.

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swap in a 7500, 7600, 8500 logic board?

Those boards are a direct fit without issues into a 7200, just need an appropriate processor.

Still, with G3 Macs so cheap these days, hardly seems worth the bother, eh?

(shakes head sadly . . . )

Oh, and no 7200 can run any version of X, even earliest X required at least a 604 CPU.

dan k

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Yeah, That's What I Thought...

I'd heard of attempts to get upgraded machines to run X, but that was a year or so ago. Sadly, the day I bought this machine, it was a toss-up between two 7200's or a 7300; either way , it was $10USD. I chose the 2-for-1 deal, gave one to my landlord's wife, and may eventually rue that decision.
Shoulda bought the 7300. Wasn't even thinking of the upgrade path at that time.

Oh well...

Thanks for the input!

Rob

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I would have spent the $20

You had a choice of two 7200's for $10 or a 7300 for $10?

I would have spent the twenty bucks and grabbed all three. I have both a 7200/90 and a 7300/200 and I have relegated my 7200/90 to running a telnet bbs. The 7300/200 is used as an mp3 server. I use a beige G3/233 for surfing the net and most other things. I use a Performa 5200 for word processing and sending/receiving faxes. I used to use an old LC with PAS 16 sound card to mix the audio out of my Macs to one set of speakers. Now I use an LCIII logic board in a Quadra 605 case for that task.

I'm a day away from getting my hands on a Quadra 950. I'm expecting to put the PAS 16 in the 950 and run my telnet bbs from that machine as well. This will free up my 7300/200 for use as a web server and my 7200/90 for use as an mp3 server.

Oh yeah, I love my Macs!

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Trials, Tribulations & Older Macs

That's quite a little collection there, MR... mine was pretty impressive before I moved (and I had a Q950 to boot). There was just no way to move them all down here, we just didn't have the money. As is, I came down with too many still. Thank goodness most were your Flat Pack Macs; a Centris 660AV, a Quadra 660AV, two 6100's and a Quadra 605. That, plus a 5260/120, 7200/90, Plus, Portable, PB540c, PB180, damaged iBook, ThinkPad TP500, Toshiba T1200, Toshiba 225CDS, Compaq Deskpro, HP Pavillion, Compaq Presario... to name a few. During the move, we looked like the high-tech version of the "Beverly Hillbillies", our little Hyundai loaded to the gills. So you see why thinning the collection was a good idea, since we're prone to moving frequently. Upgrading the 7200 was to be part of that plan.
Interestingly, though, I may have to keep the Q605; It's the only one that runs all of my older (68k) desktop publishing stuff.

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I have a funked up 9500, too!

I have a funked up 9500/150 too. I have an LC575 collecting dust and I have the remnants of what was once a Classic II, SE/30, and Color Classic. The Classic II, SE/30, and Color Classic were the unfortunate victims of experiments gone awry.

I'm a regular Jekyl & Hyde... I accumulate, upgrade, and experiment. I think it's a psychological disorder. At least that's what the shrink says. Personally, I think he's a little nuts.

Integration is the secret formula. Remember when Coke changed the recipe a while back? Coke drinkers wanted the old stuff back? The Coke Classic was born! Anyway, I'm a Coke drinker.

Ya know, I never thought about it before, but I like my handle (Managed Resistance)... People call me Mr.

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Upgrading a 7200/90

I had two of these puppies, and I installed a 400-Hz Sonnet upgrade in them, which one can get pretty cheap on eBay.

But there is a big caveat, here.

The Sonnet CPU upgrade requires a driver extension to activate the CPU, and Sonnet only wrote drivers for the 7200 upgrade up through OS 9.1 So you have to run OS 8.6, 9.0, or 9.1. You can't go to 9.2 without losing the use of the Sonnet upgrade.

And OS X is totally out of the question, even with XPostFacto.

Other than that, it runs OK, except that one application -- an MP3 player/encoder -- freezes up on the upgraded 7200.

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Keep an eye out at various th

Keep an eye out at various thrift stores in your area. I picked up a Beige G3 233 (practically stock, mind you) for $10 CDN (~$8 USD).

3 PCI Slots, ability to run X up to 10.2.8, accomodates standard PC 66/100/133 memory, ATA & SCSI onboard (although sometimes tempermental), it's a great machine for the price.

They're also incredibly durable. I took two of these things home on the subway balanced on my mountain bike seat (yes, I am a *total* nerd), and after dropping them both from about 4 feet off the ground, they still work with no problems (except for minor case scratches).

I'd like to see a PC withstand that...

Cheers,

The Czar

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