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Technology (Apple) Businesses Apple Hardware Technology

ATX Power Supply Adapter for Macs? 53

Posted by Cliff from the as-long-as-the-electrons-flow dept.
Swift Guru asks: "I've seen many comments on Slashdot stating that people would love to try out Mac OS X if only they could afford the hardware. Many roll their own Macs, but unfortunately have to rely on proprietary Apple power supplies (or hack together their own), a caveat that hinders Mac geeks from delving into the wide world of case modding (mmm.. watercooling), and prevents PC users from using familiar ATX case hardware. The PPC platform requires its own processors and logic boards, but last I checked computers all used the same kind of electrons. Hardware hacking is supposedly the next killer app, so why isn't there a simple adapter solution to allow current Macs to use ATX power supplies? Or is there?"
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ATX Power Supply Adapter for Macs? More

ATX Power Supply Adapter for Macs?

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  • Is a "clone" capable of cloning the experience? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by amichalo ( 132545 ) on Monday April 28, 2003 @12:25PM (#5825516)
    Keep in mind that it is also Apple's SOFTWARE and industrial hardware designs are part of the experience as well. Not to mention the "it just works" comments from so many "switchers" would be hard to duplicate after hours of reading message boards and piecing together hardware.

    Even if this works, the best it does is offer another option to run an OS. It will not duplicate owning an Apple.
    • Calling it the "experience" is just a pretentious way of saying that Macs are easy to use. (Maybe it also covers paying premium prices for hardware just because the case looks cool. Yawn.) I can't believe it's that hard to duplicate a Mac's ease-of-use features. But even if it is, so what? People who build their own computers are sophisticated enough to live with that. And lots of us would be very happy to see a low-budget way to play with software that only runs on the Mac platform.

      • Re:There experience and there's experience (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        No, it's not. It's distinctly different from ease of use. Have you ever sat in a really expensive car? (Yeah, yeah, it's a tired analogy, but it fits.) It's not that a Mercedes is easier to drive than a Toyota. It's just that it generally feels different. Many people think it feels better.

        Macs are the same way. They're solidly built, both in terms of hardware and software. They're different from PC's. Many people think it feels better.

      • Re:There experience and there's experience (Score:4, Insightful)

        by GlassHeart ( 579618 ) on Monday April 28, 2003 @07:42PM (#5830175) Journal
        Maybe it also covers paying premium prices for hardware just because the case looks cool.

        My G4 tower case does not just "look cool". I'm going to give examples of why I like it.

        • It has handles, and so it's much easier to move around than the beige boxes.
        • The door hinges on the bottom of the right side, opening 90 degrees down. This exposes the entire motherboard for easy replacement of peripherals, RAM, or CPU. Very few cables are flying around.
        • The case doubles as an Airport antenna, which means you won't need a fragile little antenna sticking out the side.
        • The case is quiet.
        • The hard drives are mounted on the bottom of the case, along the width of the case. This means that the ribbon cables are only a few inches long.
        Many of these are not hard to duplicate, but the point is that it's not just good looks.

        I can't believe it's that hard to duplicate a Mac's ease-of-use features.

        What's your (lack of) belief based on? If it's easy, then surely by now there'd be other competitors that have duplicated or surpassed it, and you'll be able to cite specific examples.

        And lots of us would be very happy to see a low-budget way to play with software that only runs on the Mac platform.

        Why do you want to play with it, if the "Mac experience" is so overrated, expensive, and easily duplicated?

      • Re:There experience and there's experience (Score:5, Insightful)

        by coolgeek ( 140561 ) on Tuesday April 29, 2003 @07:25PM (#5838860) Homepage
        Macs are not for people who want to do things to their computers. They are for people who want to do things with their computers.

        If you want to hack a computer together, visit your local nameless commdtity computer shop, go download some slackware or debian iso's, and get busy. Better yet, why not run Plan 9 on it?

        On the other hand, if you really want an economical solution for running Mac software, visit the "Special Deals" section on the Apple Store. Refurbs can be had for not much more money than bargain basement wintels. If economy is your primary concern, I would like to point out spending your time on a venture like building a Mac from scratch is a false economy.

        Oh yeah, and I proactively call bullshit on any follow-ups proclaiming the joy of hardware hacking. If that's the case, you really don't need a stinking adapter for a power plug.

        • If you want to hack a computer together, visit your local nameless commdtity computer shop, go download some slackware or debian iso's, and get busy. Better yet, why not run Plan 9 on it?

          Because OS X is as interesting as any of these, at least to me. And because some interesting developers [eastgate.com] just never get around to porting their Mac software to other platforms.

          And especially people do this kind of stuff just to see if they can. I'm not that type -- but most Slashdotters are!

    • Re:Is a "clone" capable of cloning the experience? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Otter ( 3800 ) on Monday April 28, 2003 @12:43PM (#5825646) Journal
      It will not duplicate owning an Apple.

      And it certainly isn't a cost-effective way to try out OS X. If that's want you want, go to E-Bay and find yourself a a good deal. (Unlike low- or medium-end PCs, a two year old Mac will be in great shape.)

      Not to challenge anyone's joy of hacking, if that's what they're after (Please put up a page describing your results and submit it here! We'd love to see it!) but don't do this to save $150.

  • why no power supply? (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    there are like 10 voltages that go into the motherboard, I don't know for sure but I think on macs they're different.

    taking the voltage down is easy, you can use a diode or something like that, stepping it up when needed is a different story (we're talkin an adapter half the size of a whole power supply)

    computer power supplies have to be really spot on, otherwise everything blows up.. anyways, you really should compare apple power supplies to GOOD ones in the PC world, because to do otherwise is playing d

    • they sure do... (Score:5, Informative)

      by The Herbaliser ( 660976 ) on Monday April 28, 2003 @02:09PM (#5826437)
      My $2000 PC's power-supply exploded after two years of use, seriously fucking everything up. That's why I have an iBook now. The funny thing is that I think I spent more money making the PC work the way I wanted it to (replacing broken components, upgrading, etc.) than the total cost of my iBook, which works great (although the baclight is kind of dim when it's really bloody cold). So now I've got a mac and everything is fine and dandy, except my wireless router is non-apple, from SMC, in fact. Damn thing never fucking works (with macs or PCs). One of these days I'll replace it with an airport. I will never try to save money by buying PC equipment again. If my time and sanity are worth anything, then the apple stuff is cheaper.
    • hey my PSU doesn't suc*BOOM*

  • Why is this an Issue? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Hungus ( 585181 ) on Monday April 28, 2003 @12:40PM (#5825624) Journal
    If you feel comfortable case modding or even switching cases i dont see why you need a PS adapter. The wires are all colour coded and intividual interfaces are the same(wire heads). just remove the wire ends from one plug and insert them into another. I havent looked closely at either my mac's (qsilver 2002 dual 1ghz) or my athlon's (dual 2ghz tyan) to see which has more wires. Also since macs use standard agp and pci companents you know at least that most of the voltages are going to be the same. Of course now this question is going to bug me till i pull my service source cds out and look at the ps/ wiring on a mac.

  • THIS IS NOT NEWS WORTHY (Score:3, Informative)

    by harveyswik ( 592377 ) on Monday April 28, 2003 @12:46PM (#5825672)
    Step 1: Figure out how to get an OSX capable motherboard & processor w/o the bulky case, power supply, HD, RAM package they all seem to come with. Step 2: Worry about stupid crap like why I can't just buy an adapter to use one of the many ATX power supplies I've got lying around. Step 3: No, dude! This is HARDWARE you want hardware hacking - then hack it! The specs are online, it has been done.

  • At one point... (Score:5, Informative)

    by MachineShedFred ( 621896 ) on Monday April 28, 2003 @12:48PM (#5825685) Journal
    Apple embraced the idea of using some commodity parts. This is evidenced by the Apple / ATX PS jumper you can find on the Beige G3 motherboards (specifically the "Gossamer")

    You can flip that jumper from 1-2 to 2-3 and slam your ATX supply on there, and you're juiced and ready to go!

  • Case mod woes (Score:5, Funny)

    by Zhe Mappel ( 607548 ) on Monday April 28, 2003 @01:09PM (#5825858)
    ...a caveat that hinders Mac geeks from delving into the wide world of case modding (mmm.. watercooling)
    God, yes. You don't know what torture it is. The day I bought the Mac, I was like, "Right! Now I'm going to paint red flames on the side of this and cut a big hole in it for a plexiglass window in the shape of a skull and stuff the whole shebang with neon lights and get plasma down at the Red Cross and circulate it through a block of dry ice so it looks like the heart of my box is a writhing steaming flesh mass out of Hellraiser. Mmm...flesh mass." Imagine my disappointment when a power supply kept me from unleashing what would have surely been a chick magnet.

  • Some mods have been done (Score:5, Informative)

    by kherr ( 602366 ) <kevin&puppethead,com> on Monday April 28, 2003 @01:14PM (#5825897) Homepage
    xlr8yourmac.com is probably the place to go for something like this. They've got articles on converting a Beige G3 [xlr8yourmac.com] and converting a Blue & White G3 [xlr8yourmac.com].

    Apple's machines seem to use different voltages than what's on a standard ATX power supply, at least in some machines.

  • Google-dy-Google (Score:5, Informative)

    by Lars T. ( 470328 ) <{Lars.Traeger} {at} {googlemail.com}> on Monday April 28, 2003 @01:14PM (#5825905) Journal
    G4 (AGP/Sawtooth) to ATX case Conversion [xlr8yourmac.com].

    Step #3 - ATX Power supply

    [Reminder: The ATX supply does not have 28VDC used on Gigabit G4 and later Towers for ADC. The pinout of the power supply connector/motherboard connector on the Gigabit and later G4s is not the same as earlier Sawtooth models. See my notes above.-Mike]

  • Um... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Upright Joe ( 658035 ) <<uprightjoe> <at> <gmail.com>> on Monday April 28, 2003 @01:20PM (#5825965) Homepage
    mmm.. watercooling

    Why the hell would you want to watercool a machine that runs so cool it doesn't even require a CPU fan?
    • Noise? Because you CAN? [insert inspiring picture of Mount Everest]
      • What noise? Most macs (that I'd consider working with) don't make noise. Well, besides the hard drive, but that's what ramdisks are for.

      • Re:Um... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by MalleusEBHC ( 597600 ) on Monday April 28, 2003 @04:55PM (#5828760)
        You CAN put peanut butter on a hot dog. You CAN take a Mini and put a bodylift on it. You CAN hit yourself in the head with a hammer. However, this doesn't mean any of these are good ideas.

        I'm definitely one for doing stuff "just cuz it's cool," but cooling systems are usually rigged together for a good reason. With a G4, there is no reason for a cooling system. If you are looking to do something just for kicks, you would be better off spending your time inserting a picture of Clarus inside your case. [axisproductions.com]
    • So you could overclock it to 123312234mhz. Gosh don't you know htere's nothing more important them mhz. All this BS about HDD speeds and internal bandwidth is just BS to make up for the fact that macs aren't overclocable to 123312234mhz. I can overclock any PC with just a metric ton of dry ice for cooling and winxp will boot in less than 10 mins. try that on a mac. HAHAHA

      The above was humor. If you mod me informitive i'll shoot you.
  • ...one of those Universal Convertors that IBM touts in their commercial? They sound like they would work, unless you're trying to do this in Europe, I suppose.
  • Apple has always had a major thing about its power supplies. This goes way back to the earliest days of the company. I was a repair tech back in the early days of the Apple II, one of the highest failure rates was the power supply. There was no reset switch so people liked to flip the switch on and off to reset the A2 when it hung. This resulted in a ton of switch failures, and of course the PS was a closed module, and being an official Apple repair center, we couldn't just replace the $3 switch, we had to
    • I've never even HEARD of a unit with a PS failure.

      Good God, have you forgotten about all the 128s, 512Ks, and Pluses with their sub-par power supplies? I worked at an Apple dealership for a good part of the nineties and we replaced 4 to 5 of them a week until the new Macs finally completely replaced them.

      The new machines definitely have a more robust power supply but those original Macs were really pushing the envelope of unreliableness.
      • Actually, I remember ONE Mac128 PS that died. I didn't count it because it was a constantly running demo machine, inside a display case in our front window that was closed up and got up to 120 degrees in the summer. I figured this shouldn't count, it died because of deliberate abuse. Maybe I'm just lucky, I've never owned a single piece of Apple hardware that failed, and most of my customers can say exactly the same thing.
      • Most of that type of machine were truly abused. My neighbors all lost their power supplies on theirs because it was so easy to stack crap on to of and next to the squarish design, blocking the vents. Our Mac Plus, 512K, and Classic all are still up-and-running (ok, I trashed the 512k last year) because we didn't run them in direct sunlight or with the vents blocked.

        Granted, it wasnt good thinking on apple's part, but most of the PSU deaths were user error in my opinion. Not blocking air vents seems like co

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