The Power Mac G4 didn’t get the “windtunnel” nickname for nothing – its power supply is quite loud. Thankfully with the help of an adapter, a standard ATX (or SFX) power supply can replace it. I love putting “modern” power supplies into my retro machines to get less noise and clean power.
I went with a Corsair SF600 from my previously built Mini-ITX machine and it’s worked really well due to its small form factor. Although it’s rigged in place with two wire ties it’s not going anywhere. 😀
Power Mac G4 with original power supplyCorsair SF600 installed
I’ve acquired yet another retro machine – this one a Power Mac G4 MDD. There are a few reasons I find it appealing:
It’s one of the last machines that natively supported Mac OS 9
It has the benefits of a modular tower, which makes repairs much easier (I’m looking at you iMac G4)
It’s cool
Surprisingly it started on the first boot attempt! The PRAM battery was dead, which was expected, but other than that it seemed perfect… for a while. The next day when I tried to boot it I saw only a black screen, so the troubleshooting started.
Troubleshooting
To keep things brief it all came down to two components in my case (literally) – either the power supply or the video card, which is an ATI Radeon 9000 Pro Mac Edition 64MB.
Dead Radeon 9000 Pro Mac Edition with ADC connector
After trying some spare PC AGP cards I was able to boot consistently with a PNY GeForce 2, telling me the power supply is probably OK. I could’ve stopped here but the graphics performance was terrible with the GeForce 2 and I never got hardware acceleration to work.
I attempted to flash a new ROM to the card but kept getting rejected, so I decided to go in another direction.
Replacement research
There are a few sites that were extremely helpful in this quest to determine what cards could be used in the Power Mac:
If going with a PC version of a video card some will need to be re-flashed with Mac firmware and some also need pins disabled.
I decided to go with another Radeon 9000 but not a Mac Edition – one for PCs only. This would mean higher availability in the used hardware market, a lower cost, and no work to disable pins. It also meant double the VRAM – 128 MB instead of 64.
I wouldn’t be utilizing the extra ADC power port in the AGP slot nor would the card supply an ADC connector, but for me that’s OK.
Initial state
When I ordered the card from eBay the description mentioned a failed fan so I needed to address that first.
Radeon 9000 Pro 128MB with a failed fanFan removed
The board’s connector outputs 5V DC and most of my other cards do 12V, but I found a spare fan I’d used for a Raspberry Pi that would work. It’s a bit of a rig at the moment, but a wire tie holds the fan tightly to the original heat sink.
Testing the replacement 5V fan
Once I was sure the new fan setup was working I popped the card into the Mac just to see what would happen. Turns out, nothing. Just a black screen. I don’t think Mac OS 9 even booted.
Fixed in a flash
I pulled the card out of the Mac and inserted it into one of my trusty Gateway Slot-1 machines with an AGP port to flash it with the Mac firmware.
After transferring the files I booted into DOS and followed this sequence in the directory where I’d stored the files:
atiflash -i to make sure the adapter was detected and learn the adapter ID (0 in my case).
atiflash -s 0 backup.rom to make a backup of the PC ROM.
atiflash -f -p 0 [mac_rom_filename.rom] to force-write the Mac ROM firmware.
Writing the Mac firmware to the video card
I then removed the card from the PC.
Flip the switch
The last step to prepare the card for the Mac was to remove the protective tape at the top left and flip switch 2 (the top one pictured) from MF to SF.
Success!
With the card reinserted into the Power Mac we boot right up! Until the ATI drivers are installed there will be no hardware acceleration. The ones I’m currently using are the drivers supplied with Mac OS 9 Lives 9.2.2 and they are working great. 🚀
I have lots to post about related to my recent vintage / retro computing adventures, but in the meantime here’s iPadOS on a CRT.
It’s actually kind of nice! The biggest downside, however, is that the CRT only ran at 1280×1024@60Hz. The resolution is fine, but the refresh rate is quite low for a CRT – my eyes wouldn’t be able to handle it very long. I’ve always been sensitive to rates lower than 85Hz on CRTs.
The hardware to make it work:
A CRT.
An iPad.
An Apple Digital AV adapter which has HDMI output, such as this USB-C one.
An active HDMI -> VGA adapter such as this one (it has to have external power).
A USB hub is nice for wired peripherals, but optional. I have a wired Microsoft Optical mouse with a Keychron C1 (reds) connected in this video.
I’ve played with the Shortcuts app a few times and although their power is impressive, I haven’t found a need for any in my day-to-day workflow. This Shortcut may finally change that.
Here’s the problem
Our dog literally can’t handle the heat. She’s a Miniature Schnauzer born with a microtrachea so she struggles to regulate her body temperature. If she gets overheated it’s bad news.
I typically let her out multiple times a day while working from home. All I have to do is open up our back door, let her out into her fenced doggie area, and let her back in when it’s time.
That last item is trickier than it sounds – if I don’t set a timer I risk getting into the zone at work and losing track of the world. That could be disastrous, so up until now I’ve set a timer and altered the duration depending on the temperature outside. I wondered if I could improve that with a Shortcut.
