great project! you could fix up the IO a bit by using a 3d printed panel for it and a thunderbolt dock, also you can take a saw to the metal inside of the case to allow the bluetooth and wifi signals to come in. we would love to see a newer more improved version of this project, wish you all luck!
You are absolutely right, a 3D printed panel and mounting block would help immensely. My weakness is that I don't have a 3D printer, and I am not very good with CAD like apps for me to use someone else's service (where you just send the files for them to print it) -> said all that, I WILL get one eventually and learn how to make those modules because the end result would (and will!) look much better if (when) its done properly. thanks for the encouraging words!
Your skills are amazing.....Could you tackle a similar upgrade on a MAC G5 Power PC ? I think there would be huge interest if you could utilize an M1 or M2 chip.
Thank you for your kind words :) I do have a G5 iMac ready and an M2 system ready which is going to be my next project after the current project I am working on (amiga 600) I don't have a G5 PowerPC ... yet. Not sure however what exactly you are suggesting. Planting a full M1/M2 (or M3) system in that case is nothing special really - it will become a "box in a box" sort of thing - even if we make the USB and other various connectors work - and the CD/DVD drive. It would be a glorified USB hub :D If you are thinking about making the old beast work like it did back then with all peripherals, and cards working (so you can plug in another graphics card of your liking (and expect it to work) - now that would be an extraordinary engineering challenge. and not just hardware but software. We would need somehow get the OS to recognise and drive those components and I don't think i have the knowledge to do either of that. We would need to build a Hackintosh out of a macintosh :) I do apologise if I misunderstood your idea, so feel free to correct me and add more details - it could be a good project - and i could be just on the wrong path understanding it. once again thanks for your kind words and support
mac mini maybe not - as with all the cooling in place it would probably be too big for it - a better option could be to try to shoehorn an M1 air into those cases - but it would need a lot of work (i think) to get the old display, keyboard and trackpads to work. but in theory it should be possible :)
Thanks. You did an awesome job. Is there a way to substitute the old monitor screen for a new one without it being obvious, and to avoid using the original PSU altogether? That could save space, and allow the updating of those numerous G4 iMacs which have dead and/or broken displays.
Nice video!.Have a question,would it be possible to change the internal speaker and replace with a modern one to get a better audio quality?.Planning to do also the conversion and had that question in mind.Thank you for the video!
Hmmm. An interesting concept. Actually when i looked at the G3 i have i always seen that (in my head) with the CRT. Replacing the old CRT with a small LED panel and then planting the computer behind it... but that somehow would just look weird :) I think the great benefit of the G4 and G5 iMacs is that the modification is concealed - while with the G3 it would be obvious that we are just using a mac mini with a HDMI display in a big empty (and transparent) case :) it would ruin the magic i think. It would be definetly an easier project... it just feels like cheating :)
@@RetroPotato fair point. Might be interesting to figure out how to make the LCD look rounder so it doesn’t have a big gap between the front and the screen. And you could put something bigger than a Mac mini. Like a hackintosh of some kind.
super project - i was searching for a way to modify my old g4 20 inch and found just now a great way to do it. Juicy Crumb Sys. from Australia have created a replacement board. Not so cheap, but it makes it really easy and clean to use the old screen and also implement a new mac mini board in it.
Thank you for the video and for sharing it! Just got myself iMac G4 20" just for this project. I'm wondering, do you think it's possible to do the same with M2 Mac Mini?
yes. the M2 in a sense is the same as the M1 in this context. from the mac Mini’s perspective this is just plugging in a few extension leads (network, usb) and using a “weird” monitor the mac mini’s work is to remove it from its housing otherwise it would not fit into the G4 case and if you are willing to mess with the on off button to move it around to line up with the G4 button. other than that the mac mini is unaffected. in a way the G4 modification is just turning it into a DVI monitor - and once thats done you can use that with and dvi/hdmi video output. :) only thing could be an issue if the mac mini somehow recognises that its not in its own case anymore and therefore refuses to work … but lets hope apple did not stoop that low (but i’d say even if they would do that - that still could be solved by some trickery :) so i’d say : YES :) after all i am planning to do the same with an M2 and a G5 later
@@RetroPotato thank you for your response! i'm afraid of messing up the iMac cause I don't have any soldering experience. I know this might sound silly but do you think it would be possible to send the iMac to you so you could do the conversion into DVI (i would gladly pay you)? I am based in Norway, not sure if a delivery is possible to your location. Would I need to send the whole iMac or would it be possible to just parts of it and then install them once they are back?
Great work. The last thing I'd love to see is the I/O ports fully converted.
great project!
you could fix up the IO a bit by using a 3d printed panel for it and a thunderbolt dock, also you can take a saw to the metal inside of the case to allow the bluetooth and wifi signals to come in.
we would love to see a newer more improved version of this project, wish you all luck!
You are absolutely right, a 3D printed panel and mounting block would help immensely. My weakness is that I don't have a 3D printer, and I am not very good with CAD like apps for me to use someone else's service (where you just send the files for them to print it) -> said all that, I WILL get one eventually and learn how to make those modules because the end result would (and will!) look much better if (when) its done properly.
thanks for the encouraging words!
Very nice Project! Well done!!
5:36 Can someone please point me to the soundtrack, it goes hard
Hi :)
the track is:
Joel Jungell - Transformer (indie pop version)
and can be found here:
www.epidemicsound.com/track/98MBlIzRrz/
:)
@@RetroPotato Thank you!
Your skills are amazing.....Could you tackle a similar upgrade on a MAC G5 Power PC ? I think there would be huge interest if you could utilize an M1 or M2 chip.
Thank you for your kind words :)
I do have a G5 iMac ready and an M2 system ready which is going to be my next project after the current project I am working on (amiga 600)
I don't have a G5 PowerPC ... yet.
Not sure however what exactly you are suggesting. Planting a full M1/M2 (or M3) system in that case is nothing special really - it will become a "box in a box" sort of thing - even if we make the USB and other various connectors work - and the CD/DVD drive. It would be a glorified USB hub :D
If you are thinking about making the old beast work like it did back then with all peripherals, and cards working (so you can plug in another graphics card of your liking (and expect it to work) - now that would be an extraordinary engineering challenge. and not just hardware but software. We would need somehow get the OS to recognise and drive those components and I don't think i have the knowledge to do either of that.
We would need to build a Hackintosh out of a macintosh :)
I do apologise if I misunderstood your idea, so feel free to correct me and add more details - it could be a good project - and i could be just on the wrong path understanding it.
once again thanks for your kind words and support
I would love to see this done on an iMac G3!
This project is truly impressive!
Is it possible to put a Mac mini M1 inside an old PowerBook or MacBook?
mac mini maybe not - as with all the cooling in place it would probably be too big for it - a better option could be to try to shoehorn an M1 air into those cases - but it would need a lot of work (i think) to get the old display, keyboard and trackpads to work. but in theory it should be possible :)
Thanks. You did an awesome job.
Is there a way to substitute the old monitor screen for a new one without it being obvious, and to avoid using the original PSU altogether? That could save space, and allow the updating of those numerous G4 iMacs which have dead and/or broken displays.
Nice video!.Have a question,would it be possible to change the internal speaker and replace with a modern one to get a better audio quality?.Planning to do also the conversion and had that question in mind.Thank you for the video!
Is there anyone or a ship in UK I could hire to do this conversion for me please ?
you uploaded!! please upload more oftem please
Will do! :)
Have you considered something similar with the g3? There’s a lot more space once the CRT is removed.
Hmmm. An interesting concept. Actually when i looked at the G3 i have i always seen that (in my head) with the CRT. Replacing the old CRT with a small LED panel and then planting the computer behind it... but that somehow would just look weird :)
I think the great benefit of the G4 and G5 iMacs is that the modification is concealed - while with the G3 it would be obvious that we are just using a mac mini with a HDMI display in a big empty (and transparent) case :) it would ruin the magic i think.
It would be definetly an easier project... it just feels like cheating :)
@@RetroPotato fair point. Might be interesting to figure out how to make the LCD look rounder so it doesn’t have a big gap between the front and the screen. And you could put something bigger than a Mac mini. Like a hackintosh of some kind.
Remove the CRT?! Heretic!
super project - i was searching for a way to modify my old g4 20 inch and found just now a great way to do it. Juicy Crumb Sys. from Australia have created a replacement board. Not so cheap, but it makes it really easy and clean to use the old screen and also implement a new mac mini board in it.
Thank you for the video and for sharing it! Just got myself iMac G4 20" just for this project. I'm wondering, do you think it's possible to do the same with M2 Mac Mini?
yes. the M2 in a sense is the same as the M1 in this context. from the mac Mini’s perspective this is just plugging in a few extension leads (network, usb) and using a “weird” monitor
the mac mini’s work is to remove it from its housing otherwise it would not fit into the G4 case and if you are willing to mess with the on off button to move it around to line up with the G4 button.
other than that the mac mini is unaffected. in a way the G4 modification is just turning it into a DVI monitor - and once thats done you can use that with and dvi/hdmi video output. :)
only thing could be an issue if the mac mini somehow recognises that its not in its own case anymore and therefore refuses to work … but lets hope apple did not stoop that low (but i’d say even if they would do that - that still could be solved by some trickery :)
so i’d say : YES :)
after all i am planning to do the same with an M2 and a G5 later
@@RetroPotato thank you for your response! i'm afraid of messing up the iMac cause I don't have any soldering experience. I know this might sound silly but do you think it would be possible to send the iMac to you so you could do the conversion into DVI (i would gladly pay you)? I am based in Norway, not sure if a delivery is possible to your location. Would I need to send the whole iMac or would it be possible to just parts of it and then install them once they are back?
Great Job Enjoyed
Thanks, I am glad you liked it :)
A bit sloppy.