You probably already knew this, but the 'Death Star' name was only earned at the end of the Deskstar series of drives and when IBM sold their hard drive division to Hitachi. When the Deskstar drive first came out and for many years after that, they were excellent drives made by IBM.
Yes, but for many years I thought that drives from this era were affected too. Because all my IBM drives from the early 2000s died. In hindsight, I probably killed them with insufficient cooling
Here I am, watching a new Epictronic's awesome video when I see a C64 being hooked up to a Power Mac... Where's Action Retro? Hiding in the back? He's the king of jank. - Seriously, well done on the restoration.
it's not one of the last macs with a powerpc, those were in 2005 with the G5. since the first powerpc macs arrived in '94, this is closer to their inception than to their retirement.
It is among the last that uses IBM's designation (i.e. 603). Apple skipped the 604 and used the 7xx series for their next generation, and called it G3.
@@Dan-TechAndMusic : Thanks for the clarification, I really missed those. For me, the 604e is the CPU that runs beasts like IBM's F50 (used in old Full Flight Simulators).
When you hooked up your Commodore 64 to the video in card, I said, “No way!” I didn’t know what to do with the same video in card on my Quadra 630, now I know! Great video!
I’d do the NES, Sega Genesis, Super NED, Atari 800XL, and Apple IIc+ with my Power Mac 8500, and later with my Power Mac G3 tower. Annoyed me when Apple killed support for video in/out with OS X.
For the small caps, lift them up one side at a time, just long enough for the solder to solidify. Then you just heat up the other side. Alternatively, cut off the can, don't cut into the base, just most of the can, then remove the rest of the can, and then you should be able to also remove the plastic base. Then you just have the individual legs left on the pads.
I have an unhealthy obsession with this form factor. I have a 5400, 5500, 6400 and 6500 plus a whole pile of components for them including several video input cards.
August 27, 1956: Birthdate of Ray Montagne, designer of the CUDA chip in old Mac. If your Mac displays this date, you have a Mac that has ADB (Apple Desktop Bus) chips and your battery is dead. An excellent example of a system-level Easter egg.
IPA is the BEST stuff I discovered in ages! I had some mouldy 5.25 360Kb disks and then the drive wouldn’t read a good disk after. Cleaned the heads with IPA now it works perfectly.
I think peoples' hesitation with this method is that they imagine it's pulling the pad lead. But SMD electrolytics have a very thin terminal lead interface. When you push down and twist, you're breaking that slender lead away from the pad lead which has very little mechanical resistance. I agree this is the way to go.
Absolutely. I used to abhor the idea, but I've lost more compromised pads due to caps that didn't want to let go with heat, than those that I've just twisted off. If you lose a pad when twisting the cap off, it wasn't attached to the substrate anymore anyway, and a repair was inevitable. May as well make life easy on yourself. PS., if there's glue, *definitely* pull the cap off first. Fighting thermals AND adhesive is a sure way to damage the PCB with heat.
I really enjoyed this. Though, I am not a huge fan of Macs, I find their solutions for mounting and containing the various peripherals quite fascinating. The TV capture card thing was quite the twist. I like that you shoehorned the C64 into this the way you did. That is absolutely something I would have done too! Thanks!
These black plastics are the rare part, as most of these machines were beige.I know there was also an optional Trinitron display in this chassis like there was in the Mac LC500 series chassis. The video in boards were capable of NTSC and PAL/SECAM, but the tuners were region-specific. Video out was also software-adjustable in the Macs with composite and s-vid out.
model was, powerPC 603e, I think?, apple a very similar if not Identical model but classic cream/grey coloured, plastic, even when new only had 6MB of memory, broadline usable then, is any getting more memory in the model yet, or still stuck apple's 6MB memory limit still
10:50 - "Very strange connector here" I believe that is for an optional MPEG decoder board, but that AV card has almost double the number of pins than on the normal AV decoder boards than I'm used to seeing. I have an MPEG decoder board for Nubus Power Macs like the Performa 6320CD. It will allow you to playback MPEG1 video without having to use slow software decoding on the CPU. It uses a ribbon cable to plug into the AV board. I'm not sure if Apple used the MPEG decoding features on the ATI Rage cards or not, their drivers were pretty crap.
To boot from a CD hold down CMD OPTION SHIFT DEL. Some Macs allow you to just hold down the C key. You can also use this combo for an external SCSI disk, IIRC.
My high school (here in the US) had a bunch of these machines (along with some 5400s) though they were all beige. I recall using the TV tuner card to grab images off a digital camera (which was quite a novelty in an age when film was still king). I do recall that the older 5400 machines had a DB-15 video output port, while the newer 5500 machines had RCA output instead
In 1998, I was looking for a computer to replace my old 486 that I fully upgraded. As a student, I wanted something compact so a friend recommended this Mac as a AIO solution (it would replace the computer, TV and the monitor for my MSX computer). I was ready to buy it (it was on sale, some 75% discount in late 98) but instead I bought a second-hand P2 tower just because the upgrade path was so propietary and there were not so much software and games for the Apple computers. In time, I upgraded the CPU to a P3, the HDD, the memory, the optical drive and I managed to use that computer for 5 more years until I built my Athlon XP computer. I also added a Pinnacle TV card that I used as a video input device. That was the first and only time when I was tempted by an Apple product.
This still holds true. My recently replaced iMac took a fraction of the deskspace required by my PC. It was less upgradeable and more expensive. And yet the user experience compared to my Windows 11 PC was worth the extra cost.
It's been a bit since i checked in on your videos. But you have improved a lot. Your narration cadence is way better. Your infliction is way better, less monotone. It's awesome you are improving, and i am looking forward to your next videos.
Nice machine and restoration - like your videos, Sir! This Mac was marketed here in Germany as a TV/Computer combo, if you manage to find the matching IR remote you should be able to use it like a TV set.
Very nice find! Luckily, it seems like the black Apple plastics are not as brittle as the beige from the 90s. That little slot is for an additional monitor out connector.
The PowerPC 603e regardless of speed wasn't one of the last PowerPC Macs, the G5 was. They just changed the naming convention with the PowerPC 750 which they changed it to G3.
Most likely the RTC does *not* regulate to 3.3v. They tend to work on a wide voltage range from ~1v to 6v, give or take a bit depending on the chip. Some use quite a bit of current (relatively), so the CR-2032 may go flat pretty quickly. After going on a tear replacing all the weird batteries with coin cells, there are a few that I'm going to have to transition back to something else. Oh well.
Ok, I think this turned out pretty good. It takes less than a minute to replace that CR2032. It doesn't really matter if it turns out to need regular replacing. The clock isn't critical on a vintage machine like this
On the ones we had when I worked at Apple at the time, there were no covers for the screws. However, they were pre-production testing models, so it's possible that they were just missing.
This one is still on my bucket list. Wonder how brittle the plastics are on this model vs. others on that generation. Regarding that little metal piece that you found at the beginning of your video, that bracket is used to secure the PCI bracket to the chassis.
I had the 5500/250! Didn’t have the TV/FM tuner module though. Pity my parents threw it out when I went to university. If I recall the IDE HDD was a cost cutting measure. All CD-ROM drives back then were SCSI devices, with an ATAPI adapter to connect to an IDE bus, but cheaper HDDs were the reverse. Since the PCI chipset had an integrated IDE controller it was cheaper to get an IDE HDD, but since the machine had a SCSI controller anyway it was cheaper to use the SCSI CD-ROM. That HDD was _slow_.
Since I can’t edit for some reason, I forgot to add that the expansion header on the video input was for an optional cable/satellite TV decoder or MPEG decoder module. I remember that from the adverts but I never saw it actually released - but given neither would have been useful in New Zealand it may have been released elsewhere. I still have the original software bundle somewhere, and I also had many hours playing myst.
If I’m not mistaken that small slot you asked about is designed to add a vga port or something similar. If memory serves I seen action retro use a similar slot for connecting an external display to his tam.
18:46 there is a blob of solder left on the board - right from the large cap at the lower left of the "60" printed on the board. Did you remove it later?
I had a Performa PowerPC Macintosh with exactly the same form-factor (even down to the buttons, IR port and headphone jack on the right). Of course mine was in a beige color and was running at 33Mhz not 275Mhz lol, but man I would've loved to have gotten my hands on one of these!
The Quadra 630 released in 1994/95 (I have one) was the first Mac with an IDE hard drive yet still used SCSI for CD ROM. Maybe it was a cost-savings measure to go with the more ubiquitous IDE option for the hard drives at the time? I remember it being a rather confusing time in the Mac world that only got fixed once Steve Jobs returned in 1997.
That small slot looks like an Audio Modem Riser or something. They were popular in some PC's of that era for a brief time before everyone figured out they were useless and robbed you of an expansion slot. But that's an Intel spec so not sure why it would be on a PowerPC Mac
Most chipsets and RTC from that era need 4.5 to 6 volts. Quite normal TTL voltages. You can use Lithium AAA and they won't leak. Or put the alkaline AAA away from the board. Great project/video as always. Edit: 2 CR2032 in series with a 1N4148 to ensure it's under 6V is also an option.
I have "restored" many of those apple/Matsushita CDROM drives, and the caps don't seem to leak, but they definitely go way out of spec and affect operation!
Yeah, I concur. I have had zero issues with caps on Matsushita/Panasonic drives -- floppy or CD. I've recapped a couple CD drives that were not working well, and it ... kinda ... saved one of them. I suspect that drive is tired and the caps were just gone enough to push usability over the edge. Most of them have worked fine as-is. Teac and Sony are another matter ... (PS -- the tray motor is indeed soldered to the PCB, but it's a total pushover to unsolder and resolder. Don't let that stop you. Just clean it reasonably well with wick and you'll have zero problems getting it apart and back together again. I've done it a dozen times if I've done it once.) (PS/2 -- the spindle is NBD. That happens a lot. Just wipe it clean with IPA-soaked paper towel until it comes back clean. It'll be fine.)
You can use the 2-slot PCI-riser card from the 6500 in the 5500 as well. The upper card will hang loose since you cannot use the PCI bracket. I have seen people using a SATA card + SSD in that 2nd PCI slot. Another cool hack would be adding a Voodoo 2 via the GIMO (Graphic Internal Monitor Out) slot at 9:30 . I have never seen a pinout of that slot, though. The geometry of the screen doesn't look perfect but good enough to my eyes. Please don't try to fill the screen to the borders since they never were designed that way. CRT's tend to get a bit blurry towards the edge and a small border will give a good compromise between a homogenous picture and screen-size. BTW: the 832x624 resolution will use VRam more efficiently. It will use 1014K of Vram in 16bit color mode.
@@Epictronics1 I think that the main problem would be getting the GIMO slot to work. The GIMO slot is basically a VGA-in and out port that can be switched by some pins in the slot. There have been cables for the PC compatibility card for sale on eBay on multiple occasions but i have never sen anyone attempt that mod and it smells of ActionRetro-jank. You could replace the modem with a ethernet adapter to get the PCI free. The dual-slot PCI riser might need a case mod to actually fit although people seem to have fit it without cutting anything.
@@Epictronics1 I have looked a bit more closely and searched the web, where i saw the dual-slot mod. I cannot find it anymore online. The only blurry image i have seems to show a different color 2-slot PCI-riser card than from the 6500. The 6500/6400 PCI riser seems to be shaped differently as well. In the end it is most likely a more involved mod than i thought.
For the CD ROM drive using SCSI, I think this is from the early days of ATAPI, before that IDE was only really for fixed disks. Probably saved them some money to go IDE instead of a SCSI disk.
No, ATAPI was available on drives as far back as 4x drives, and I believe I actually have ONE bizarre Matsushita 2x (!) drive with an IDE interface. (Not to be confused with the common MKE 40-pin interface, but this drive has honest to gosh M/S/CS jumpers, and "IDE" pressed into the top shell.) By this point, with 24x CD-ROM drives and GB HDDs, SCSI was on the way out. HDD vendors were reluctant to offer SCSI models, except in their performance-oriented lines made for servers and workstations. There were still some optical drives available though. This IDE/SCSI combo was just an artifact of its era, as economies of scale dictated that IDE had thoroughly won on the desktop.... but we hadn't quite gotten to SATA yet.
@@Nukle0n No, this machine wouldn't have existed in the same timeline as SATA. That was just for completeness sake. No correlation intended. I posted elsewhere on this, but TLDR: Matsushita was quite willing to work with integrators to customize drives. I'm guessing they had long since developed the SCSI controller cores, and updating the drive from 4x -> 8x -> 16x -> 24x was an incremental process that didn't require from-scratch redesign, so they just kept reusing the modules they had already engineered. So the question would've been, why NOT offer SCSI? The work was already done. But HDD manufacturers had been transitioning more to IDE for the consumer market, and to get a SCSI version of a HDD cost considerably more. I never had a peek behind the curtain re: OEM agreements with Quantum, et al, but I worked as a product guy at a computer store at that time, and went to some trouble comparing distributors to find reasonable pricing on SCSI variants. It was ALWAYS harder to find, more expensive, and varied more than the IDE equivalents. I would imagine Apple could've gotten them if they wanted them badly enough, but it almost certainly would've come at a premium that made it more economical to just add an IDE controller on the logic board instead. So you could then argue, "if the HDD was biased toward IDE, and the CD-ROM could have been anything, why not go all the way in with IDE instead?" Well, performance suffers when you put two devices on the same IDE channel -- at least, if those two devices will ever be accessed at the same time, like when installing software from CD -- so they would've probably wanted a dedicated channel. Ergo, two IDE controllers -- even if it's on one chip, it's still two connectors and all the requisite board routing. So, if you could flip a coin between IDE and SCSI for that second channel, there isn't much advantage to one over the other. Except, Apple had an existing ecosystem to support. I don't remember if this had a back-panel SCSI connector, but if it did, that's probably the tie-splitting vote. If not, then it was probably just down to "we always use SCSI for the CD drive, and it doesn't cost more, so why not?" There ya go. My theory on why the IDE/SCSI combo.
I always loved grey and black colored machines from the 90s. The first time I saw one, was in an ad for Zephyr Computer, in Computer Gaming World magazine. I'm glad the trend stuck because the old beige & white boxes were an eye sore.
That's what I call nice coincidence... in your last video I commented on whether you might do some work on IBM RS/6000 machines like the F50 or 43P, which of course run 604e Power PC processors, now you do a Mac, with the predecessor (the 603)... nice one. Of course a Mac is far more use cases at home than an RS/6000 running AIX.
I can't imagine how paste would be easier to apply by hand in tight spaces than just dabbing the iron with a piece of solder wire. If you were going to use hot air, sure. But that was ruled out early in the video on account of nearby plastic.
Interesting machine, its very similar in styling to the compaq machines of that era, i wonder if that was deliberately styled to attract pc users to mac
Ah, interesting. The RAM for the RAGE 2 seems to be SGRAM on the Back? Or are those Cache Chips for the CPU?? So the question: What are the Samsung Chips right next to the CPU? Are those perhaps Cache Chips?? Or are they the ROMs?
Those Quantum Fireball drives were the bane of my existence in that era. We constantly got RMAs in for those failing. We sold whole systems and hardly anyone could install their own drive back then. So they had to ship the whole system back. Cyrix CPUs were also a frequent problem.
@@2xtreem4u Well, some of them still work, Five of my Quantum drives are to noisy to use. I only have one Quantum drive that is still silent. 3 of my drives are completely dead. Compared to other brands this is pretty bad :)
Thanks. The spindle is made of regular plastic and covered with rubberized paint. Maybe a rubberized sticker cut to size would be a good fix. If there is such a thing
I have a feeling they used SCSI CD-ROM drives in these systems because they HAD SCSI drives.. I'm going to bet this was a project that was a maybe thing, a 'limited' see how it goes 'pet project' maybe kinda thing, and they used what they had in the short production of these systems. Maybe not, I am trying to recall that time I don't remember those machines at all, not this early generation.. as a commenter below says, the PowerPC was around until around 2005 and I know it was started in the 90s, but these don't seem familiar to me. Although I was a PC guy back then! Not sure. What a great find though, really super!
I think you're on the right track, but it's more like they had an existing agreement with Matsushita to supply SCSI drives. They had been using them for quite a while, integrated since the first PowerPC multimedia machines, and externally with the old Apple CD 300, e.g. As such, Matsushita had a platform they just kept incrementing on to provide faster transports, but were otherwise largely unchanged. You can see they had OEM options that different vendors would pick from. With or without audio jack and volume control, different bezel colors (standard issue beige, black, Compaq Pink...), IDE / MKE / SCSI interfaces, even a short experiment with a different faceplate design with the 4x drives that had a spring-loaded flap in front that the tray pushed down as it exited, and digital volume control buttons. OTOH, HDD manufacturers had been selling almost entirely IDE to the consumer market for a while by this point. I bet that Matsushita charged more or less equivalent rates however you wanted to customize your order, where HDDs were far cheaper if you went with IDE. Thus... IDE HDD, SCSI CD-ROM.
Don’t you guys think the degree of leaky caps or leaked batteries or brittle plastic from 90s computers depends on how well they were stored and kept in their last two decade? I mean difference between being stored in a dry cabinet or in a humid garage for example
I think you may be right. I ones bought two NOS VIC 20s from the northern UK. The plastics were still like new! My guess is that plastics age well in humid and cold storage. The electronics however, probably prefer dry storage
Maybe, but it's just borrowed days regardless. The plastics will succumb, and caps have their own processes for decay even if left sealed and unused in good environmental conditions. They might or might not "wake up" with a little use. IMO, if you can recap, you should. Not only does it stave off the potential for corrosive leakage, but it negates a lot of potential misbehavior and difficult troubleshooting. I've restored SO many computers and power supplies by just going straight ahead with a recap, sight-unseen, and rarely have I had any trouble at all. Mine would be the most boring YT channel ever -- "Guy buys computer, and after recapping and cleaning it, it just works -- episode 42".
@@nickwallette6201 Haha, I have a few of those videos on my channel! lol. My take on the recap debate is, sure, it's probably good to recap most vintage boards. However, if and while I recap a non-leaking machine some other machines are corroding away in storage from leaky caps. It makes more sense to move quickly and leave working and non-leaking caps alone. Cost has also been an issue lately. Some caps nowadays are 10€/$! each
lol why didn't they use IDE or SCSI for both? I remember the PS4 teardown. It has a SATA controller, but for whatever reason the blu-ray drive is attached to a SATA->USB controller. Why didn't they just use native SATA for the drive?
Someone needs to send Epictronics some proper hot tweezers for his rework station. This chip quick nonsense is getting a little out of hand. It's great if you're a hobby guy who only does a few caps once in a while, but our fella here is doing it constantly. It would save an insane amount of time having the correct tool.
I don't think it's an issue of PAL vs. NTSC. The Mac uses a regular computer monitor (not a TV), which is why you can select resolution and frequency. So, the only thing you might need to worry about (when thinking of US vs. Europe) is the mains voltage and frequency.
You did not fix the button but I guess it is not possible. Most likely it is just a cheap nasty plastic molded plastic that would break off again when glued or melted back in place.
@@Epictronics1 it always breaks on the point with most stress and really hard to get those plastic sprung cheaply made cut-out buttons back to a working state without the breaking again. Hope you find a solution.
@@Epictronics1 You can get an ender 3 KE for like $250 USD. I'm pretty sure it can do TPU. Don't get anything less than a KE. The SE has had issues. The KE seems a lot more reliable. It's basically a plug and print printer. And you could always get a prusa. I have 2 prusas and they are wonderful machines. But they are a lot more expensive. I think the MK4 kit was like $800 not including the color module (MMU3).
The Road Apples! They had like 64-bit CPU with 32-bit bus....every memory fetch took like two fetches for high word and low word, if I remember. Here in Japan, they used to have a lot of those at the used store.
I believe the 5400/5500 were not crippled like the 52xx/53xx, but some Australian 5500 did not come with L2 cache... My 5320 was fully loaded but massively hobbled...
Mac OS 9 is NOT the best OS for these machines. 8.1 or 8.5 is the best. Really 7.6 is good too. This Mac is not suited to run OS 9.1 It is WAY too slow.
@@Epictronics1 the thumbnail is titled "the Mac that can do Commodore" and "no emulation!". I was waiting for a very interesting and exotic second processor card in there, but it's just a TV capture card. Totally boring and wouldn't have watched the video without that misleading thumb.
Back as an a student, in tiny student digs, I used to play games and DVDs on my PS2 through my Mac Quadra 840av. Brings back memories!
You probably already knew this, but the 'Death Star' name was only earned at the end of the Deskstar series of drives and when IBM sold their hard drive division to Hitachi. When the Deskstar drive first came out and for many years after that, they were excellent drives made by IBM.
Yes, but for many years I thought that drives from this era were affected too. Because all my IBM drives from the early 2000s died. In hindsight, I probably killed them with insufficient cooling
Here I am, watching a new Epictronic's awesome video when I see a C64 being hooked up to a Power Mac... Where's Action Retro? Hiding in the back? He's the king of jank. - Seriously, well done on the restoration.
Thanks :)
it's not one of the last macs with a powerpc, those were in 2005 with the G5. since the first powerpc macs arrived in '94, this is closer to their inception than to their retirement.
Probably one of the last before they started with the G rating?
It is among the last that uses IBM's designation (i.e. 603). Apple skipped the 604 and used the 7xx series for their next generation, and called it G3.
@@Dan-TechAndMusic : Thanks for the clarification, I really missed those.
For me, the 604e is the CPU that runs beasts like IBM's F50 (used in old Full Flight Simulators).
When you hooked up your Commodore 64 to the video in card, I said, “No way!” I didn’t know what to do with the same video in card on my Quadra 630, now I know! Great video!
Thanks you :)
I connected a Sega MS to mine 😂
I’d do the NES, Sega Genesis, Super NED, Atari 800XL, and Apple IIc+ with my Power Mac 8500, and later with my Power Mac G3 tower.
Annoyed me when Apple killed support for video in/out with OS X.
If it ain't broke don't replace it, unless it's a surface mount cap! 😉
How about VARTA batteries? ;)
@@Epictronics1 VARTA Assault and Batteries.
For the small caps, lift them up one side at a time, just long enough for the solder to solidify. Then you just heat up the other side.
Alternatively, cut off the can, don't cut into the base, just most of the can, then remove the rest of the can, and then you should be able to also remove the plastic base. Then you just have the individual legs left on the pads.
Just use tweezer solder.
@@kapilsds7 "just". That's another tool your need to buy
@@Nukle0n With that "tool" that cost me around $25 completely removed my anxiety with two leg smd components.
I have an unhealthy obsession with this form factor. I have a 5400, 5500, 6400 and 6500 plus a whole pile of components for them including several video input cards.
August 27, 1956: Birthdate of Ray Montagne, designer of the CUDA chip in old Mac. If your Mac displays this date, you have a Mac that has ADB (Apple Desktop Bus) chips and your battery is dead. An excellent example of a system-level Easter egg.
Cool, I didn't know this, thanks
IPA is the BEST stuff I discovered in ages!
I had some mouldy 5.25 360Kb disks and then the drive wouldn’t read a good disk after.
Cleaned the heads with IPA now it works perfectly.
pro tip. If IPA doesn't work, try Windex to clean the heads
Instead of unsoldering those caps, I just twist them off. Never fails.
I think peoples' hesitation with this method is that they imagine it's pulling the pad lead. But SMD electrolytics have a very thin terminal lead interface. When you push down and twist, you're breaking that slender lead away from the pad lead which has very little mechanical resistance. I agree this is the way to go.
Absolutely. I used to abhor the idea, but I've lost more compromised pads due to caps that didn't want to let go with heat, than those that I've just twisted off. If you lose a pad when twisting the cap off, it wasn't attached to the substrate anymore anyway, and a repair was inevitable. May as well make life easy on yourself.
PS., if there's glue, *definitely* pull the cap off first. Fighting thermals AND adhesive is a sure way to damage the PCB with heat.
the tiny brown slot is where the interface connects for a video input board if one is equipped.
Is that an S-video port directly under the composite ones? Because you could get at least a marginally crisper picture from that, I would assume.
Yes it is. I noticed while recording, but my S-video cable was broken. I ordered a new DIN plug for it and will try it when the cable is repaired
I really enjoyed this. Though, I am not a huge fan of Macs, I find their solutions for mounting and containing the various peripherals quite fascinating. The TV capture card thing was quite the twist. I like that you shoehorned the C64 into this the way you did. That is absolutely something I would have done too! Thanks!
Thanks! Always happy to bring out the C64 :)
These black plastics are the rare part, as most of these machines were beige.I know there was also an optional Trinitron display in this chassis like there was in the Mac LC500 series chassis.
The video in boards were capable of NTSC and PAL/SECAM, but the tuners were region-specific. Video out was also software-adjustable in the Macs with composite and s-vid out.
You lucky dog! One of my favorite all in one macs and you just found one! Such fun little machines. really takes me back to gradeschool.
Well, it was a five-hour drive one way. So, I had to put some effort into it :)
model was, powerPC 603e, I think?, apple a very similar if not Identical model but classic cream/grey coloured, plastic, even when new only had 6MB of memory, broadline usable then, is any getting more memory in the model yet, or still stuck apple's 6MB memory limit still
10:50 - "Very strange connector here"
I believe that is for an optional MPEG decoder board, but that AV card has almost double the number of pins than on the normal AV decoder boards than I'm used to seeing. I have an MPEG decoder board for Nubus Power Macs like the Performa 6320CD. It will allow you to playback MPEG1 video without having to use slow software decoding on the CPU. It uses a ribbon cable to plug into the AV board. I'm not sure if Apple used the MPEG decoding features on the ATI Rage cards or not, their drivers were pretty crap.
To boot from a CD hold down CMD OPTION SHIFT DEL. Some Macs allow you to just hold down the C key. You can also use this combo for an external SCSI disk, IIRC.
My high school (here in the US) had a bunch of these machines (along with some 5400s) though they were all beige. I recall using the TV tuner card to grab images off a digital camera (which was quite a novelty in an age when film was still king). I do recall that the older 5400 machines had a DB-15 video output port, while the newer 5500 machines had RCA output instead
In 1998, I was looking for a computer to replace my old 486 that I fully upgraded. As a student, I wanted something compact so a friend recommended this Mac as a AIO solution (it would replace the computer, TV and the monitor for my MSX computer). I was ready to buy it (it was on sale, some 75% discount in late 98) but instead I bought a second-hand P2 tower just because the upgrade path was so propietary and there were not so much software and games for the Apple computers. In time, I upgraded the CPU to a P3, the HDD, the memory, the optical drive and I managed to use that computer for 5 more years until I built my Athlon XP computer. I also added a Pinnacle TV card that I used as a video input device.
That was the first and only time when I was tempted by an Apple product.
This still holds true. My recently replaced iMac took a fraction of the deskspace required by my PC. It was less upgradeable and more expensive. And yet the user experience compared to my Windows 11 PC was worth the extra cost.
We had a Performa 5300 AIO, with a PAL TV tuner and modem. Our first Mac. Another computer I‘d like again.
It's been a bit since i checked in on your videos. But you have improved a lot. Your narration cadence is way better. Your infliction is way better, less monotone.
It's awesome you are improving, and i am looking forward to your next videos.
Thanks for the feedback! I'll keep learning and improving
Nice machine and restoration - like your videos, Sir! This Mac was marketed here in Germany as a TV/Computer combo, if you manage to find the matching IR remote you should be able to use it like a TV set.
Thanks!
I remember seeing ads for the Model that was advertised in Australia. I distinctly remembered daydreaming of having one because it had a TV remote
Action Retro had one of these on his channel about 8 months ago. They are quite interesting Mac computers with the built-in TV tuner.
Very nice find! Luckily, it seems like the black Apple plastics are not as brittle as the beige from the 90s. That little slot is for an additional monitor out connector.
That might come in handy, Thanks!
The PowerPC 603e regardless of speed wasn't one of the last PowerPC Macs, the G5 was. They just changed the naming convention with the PowerPC 750 which they changed it to G3.
Yeah, that was a misstake :/ Thanks
I haven't seen one of those for 26 years! My Jr high school had a similar computer, but with a beige case instead of black.
I think the 225 was available in beige (platinum?)
Most likely the RTC does *not* regulate to 3.3v. They tend to work on a wide voltage range from ~1v to 6v, give or take a bit depending on the chip. Some use quite a bit of current (relatively), so the CR-2032 may go flat pretty quickly. After going on a tear replacing all the weird batteries with coin cells, there are a few that I'm going to have to transition back to something else. Oh well.
Ok, I think this turned out pretty good. It takes less than a minute to replace that CR2032. It doesn't really matter if it turns out to need regular replacing. The clock isn't critical on a vintage machine like this
On the ones we had when I worked at Apple at the time, there were no covers for the screws. However, they were pre-production testing models, so it's possible that they were just missing.
Thanks for sharing. Interesting, how come you had pre-production testing models?
@@Epictronics1 We were doing compatibility testing of software on them, before they got released.
@@darkwinter7395 cool :)
3:58 it’s easier to pull the logic board if you use the handle 😅
Yeah, I noticed the handle after I had already pulled the board lol
Great video. One thing i love about your content is that i always learn something new. Thanks for sharing 😊
Thanks!
Even when new, the drive sleds on those were always a PITA to get out without throwing them across the lab on accident.
Disconnecting the high voltage isn't enough.
The tube can build up quite a spark by itself,
So best to ground it
Nice discovery! I wish to get those machines to play the Macintosh version of Wolfenstein 3D.
This one is still on my bucket list. Wonder how brittle the plastics are on this model vs. others on that generation.
Regarding that little metal piece that you found at the beginning of your video, that bracket is used to secure the PCI bracket to the chassis.
It seems to have held up quite well, but I don't know if the black plastic case or how it was stored
I had the 5500/250! Didn’t have the TV/FM tuner module though. Pity my parents threw it out when I went to university.
If I recall the IDE HDD was a cost cutting measure. All CD-ROM drives back then were SCSI devices, with an ATAPI adapter to connect to an IDE bus, but cheaper HDDs were the reverse. Since the PCI chipset had an integrated IDE controller it was cheaper to get an IDE HDD, but since the machine had a SCSI controller anyway it was cheaper to use the SCSI CD-ROM.
That HDD was _slow_.
Since I can’t edit for some reason, I forgot to add that the expansion header on the video input was for an optional cable/satellite TV decoder or MPEG decoder module. I remember that from the adverts but I never saw it actually released - but given neither would have been useful in New Zealand it may have been released elsewhere.
I still have the original software bundle somewhere, and I also had many hours playing myst.
Love the Macintosh/Commodore cross-over! 👍
Thanks!
If I’m not mistaken that small slot you asked about is designed to add a vga port or something similar. If memory serves I seen action retro use a similar slot for connecting an external display to his tam.
I'll check, thanks!
@@Epictronics1 installing beos on a tam is the video where he shows the apple external video connector
We used to call the Deskstar hard drives Death Star because they failed so much and usually catastrophically.
Yeah, I've had a few of them fail :)
18:46 there is a blob of solder left on the board - right from the large cap at the lower left of the "60" printed on the board. Did you remove it later?
I missed it! Thanks
I had a Performa PowerPC Macintosh with exactly the same form-factor (even down to the buttons, IR port and headphone jack on the right). Of course mine was in a beige color and was running at 33Mhz not 275Mhz lol, but man I would've loved to have gotten my hands on one of these!
I hope you'll find one!
Here is another video on this Mac: ua-cam.com/video/AyQVLgqa7NU/v-deo.html
That is a Mac TV. Very cool machine too
@@Epictronics1 oh it's different? I thought it was the same
I have one of these in storage - A 5500/250 though. Amazing video thank you. Greetings from Australia.
Thanks!
The Quadra 630 released in 1994/95 (I have one) was the first Mac with an IDE hard drive yet still used SCSI for CD ROM. Maybe it was a cost-savings measure to go with the more ubiquitous IDE option for the hard drives at the time? I remember it being a rather confusing time in the Mac world that only got fixed once Steve Jobs returned in 1997.
I wonder why they didn't go with an IDE CD-ROM drive too? that would have saved Apple some more money while they were waiting for Steve
Hot air works extremely well on those surface mounted caps
Absolutely. Unfortunately, they also melt RAM slots and edge connectors
@@Epictronics1, there's another way. Come to the dark side...
Those hard drive sleds with their brittle plastic are so nerve wracking to remove 😬
I was lucky :)
Super cool machine!
I would agree! :)
That small slot looks like an Audio Modem Riser or something. They were popular in some PC's of that era for a brief time before everyone figured out they were useless and robbed you of an expansion slot. But that's an Intel spec so not sure why it would be on a PowerPC Mac
Most chipsets and RTC from that era need 4.5 to 6 volts. Quite normal TTL voltages. You can use Lithium AAA and they won't leak. Or put the alkaline AAA away from the board. Great project/video as always. Edit: 2 CR2032 in series with a 1N4148 to ensure it's under 6V is also an option.
Thanks. That was my plan B! Two CR2032s and a diod :)
I have "restored" many of those apple/Matsushita CDROM drives, and the caps don't seem to leak, but they definitely go way out of spec and affect operation!
Ok, I think I'll play a couple of games to test it. If it misbehaves, I'll recap it. Thanks
Yeah, I concur. I have had zero issues with caps on Matsushita/Panasonic drives -- floppy or CD. I've recapped a couple CD drives that were not working well, and it ... kinda ... saved one of them. I suspect that drive is tired and the caps were just gone enough to push usability over the edge. Most of them have worked fine as-is.
Teac and Sony are another matter ...
(PS -- the tray motor is indeed soldered to the PCB, but it's a total pushover to unsolder and resolder. Don't let that stop you. Just clean it reasonably well with wick and you'll have zero problems getting it apart and back together again. I've done it a dozen times if I've done it once.)
(PS/2 -- the spindle is NBD. That happens a lot. Just wipe it clean with IPA-soaked paper towel until it comes back clean. It'll be fine.)
@@nickwallette6201 Ok, great! I'll leave both drives alone for now and move on to saving something that needs saving today :)
14:25 You did get that solder ball that landed near the silkscreened 60? Great save of an interesting piece of the Apple Computer history!
Thanks for noticing! I'll check the board thoroughly before the final wash
I swear I can remember these in Canada in the late 90's. I think they were sold as educational machines?
I can't find any info on Google but I think the 225 was rebadged in some countries as "the educator" or something similar
You can use the 2-slot PCI-riser card from the 6500 in the 5500 as well. The upper card will hang loose since you cannot use the PCI bracket. I have seen people using a SATA card + SSD in that 2nd PCI slot. Another cool hack would be adding a Voodoo 2 via the GIMO (Graphic Internal Monitor Out) slot at 9:30 . I have never seen a pinout of that slot, though.
The geometry of the screen doesn't look perfect but good enough to my eyes. Please don't try to fill the screen to the borders since they never were designed that way. CRT's tend to get a bit blurry towards the edge and a small border will give a good compromise between a homogenous picture and screen-size. BTW: the 832x624 resolution will use VRam more efficiently. It will use 1014K of Vram in 16bit color mode.
Thanks. Hmm two PCI slots... Voodoo SLI? :D
@@Epictronics1 I think that the main problem would be getting the GIMO slot to work. The GIMO slot is basically a VGA-in and out port that can be switched by some pins in the slot. There have been cables for the PC compatibility card for sale on eBay on multiple occasions but i have never sen anyone attempt that mod and it smells of ActionRetro-jank. You could replace the modem with a ethernet adapter to get the PCI free. The dual-slot PCI riser might need a case mod to actually fit although people seem to have fit it without cutting anything.
@@Epictronics1 I have looked a bit more closely and searched the web, where i saw the dual-slot mod. I cannot find it anymore online. The only blurry image i have seems to show a different color 2-slot PCI-riser card than from the 6500. The 6500/6400 PCI riser seems to be shaped differently as well. In the end it is most likely a more involved mod than i thought.
that edge connector is unobtainium
For the CD ROM drive using SCSI, I think this is from the early days of ATAPI, before that IDE was only really for fixed disks. Probably saved them some money to go IDE instead of a SCSI disk.
No, ATAPI was available on drives as far back as 4x drives, and I believe I actually have ONE bizarre Matsushita 2x (!) drive with an IDE interface. (Not to be confused with the common MKE 40-pin interface, but this drive has honest to gosh M/S/CS jumpers, and "IDE" pressed into the top shell.)
By this point, with 24x CD-ROM drives and GB HDDs, SCSI was on the way out. HDD vendors were reluctant to offer SCSI models, except in their performance-oriented lines made for servers and workstations. There were still some optical drives available though.
This IDE/SCSI combo was just an artifact of its era, as economies of scale dictated that IDE had thoroughly won on the desktop.... but we hadn't quite gotten to SATA yet.
@@nickwallette6201 Ok but why is the optical drive SCSI and the HDD IDE then? This isn't about SATA, that wouldn't be for another decade from this.
@@Nukle0n No, this machine wouldn't have existed in the same timeline as SATA. That was just for completeness sake. No correlation intended.
I posted elsewhere on this, but TLDR: Matsushita was quite willing to work with integrators to customize drives. I'm guessing they had long since developed the SCSI controller cores, and updating the drive from 4x -> 8x -> 16x -> 24x was an incremental process that didn't require from-scratch redesign, so they just kept reusing the modules they had already engineered. So the question would've been, why NOT offer SCSI? The work was already done.
But HDD manufacturers had been transitioning more to IDE for the consumer market, and to get a SCSI version of a HDD cost considerably more. I never had a peek behind the curtain re: OEM agreements with Quantum, et al, but I worked as a product guy at a computer store at that time, and went to some trouble comparing distributors to find reasonable pricing on SCSI variants. It was ALWAYS harder to find, more expensive, and varied more than the IDE equivalents. I would imagine Apple could've gotten them if they wanted them badly enough, but it almost certainly would've come at a premium that made it more economical to just add an IDE controller on the logic board instead.
So you could then argue, "if the HDD was biased toward IDE, and the CD-ROM could have been anything, why not go all the way in with IDE instead?"
Well, performance suffers when you put two devices on the same IDE channel -- at least, if those two devices will ever be accessed at the same time, like when installing software from CD -- so they would've probably wanted a dedicated channel. Ergo, two IDE controllers -- even if it's on one chip, it's still two connectors and all the requisite board routing. So, if you could flip a coin between IDE and SCSI for that second channel, there isn't much advantage to one over the other. Except, Apple had an existing ecosystem to support. I don't remember if this had a back-panel SCSI connector, but if it did, that's probably the tie-splitting vote. If not, then it was probably just down to "we always use SCSI for the CD drive, and it doesn't cost more, so why not?"
There ya go. My theory on why the IDE/SCSI combo.
I always loved grey and black colored machines from the 90s. The first time I saw one, was in an ad for Zephyr Computer, in Computer Gaming World magazine. I'm glad the trend stuck because the old beige & white boxes were an eye sore.
It's a looker for sure!
Given the Markings on the "GLm" Caps, those might potentially be Nichicon as well.
Thanks. I found a datasheet with through hole Nichicon GL series but not SMD. M could be capacitance tolerance
That's what I call nice coincidence... in your last video I commented on whether you might do some work on IBM RS/6000 machines like the F50 or 43P, which of course run 604e Power PC processors, now you do a Mac, with the predecessor (the 603)... nice one.
Of course a Mac is far more use cases at home than an RS/6000 running AIX.
I'll keep looking for an RS/6000 :)
Looked like R27 was a 0 ohm resistor connected on one side to the capacitor. If so, an accidental bridge won't cause any trouble.
true
Why don't you use solder paste when putting the new caps on?
I don't really see the benefit in this case. I couldn't use the rework station because the pads are too close to the edge connector and the SIMM slots
I can't imagine how paste would be easier to apply by hand in tight spaces than just dabbing the iron with a piece of solder wire. If you were going to use hot air, sure. But that was ruled out early in the video on account of nearby plastic.
Interesting machine, its very similar in styling to the compaq machines of that era, i wonder if that was deliberately styled to attract pc users to mac
Maybe I missed it, but weren't there any RIFA X2 caps?
Safety caps are inside a metal can on this one. Let's hope they are some other brand!
Congratulations on being able to remove components from this without breaking the plastics lol they are usually so brittle
Thanks :) Luckily this one seems quite well preserved.
Ah, interesting. The RAM for the RAGE 2 seems to be SGRAM on the Back? Or are those Cache Chips for the CPU??
So the question: What are the Samsung Chips right next to the CPU?
Are those perhaps Cache Chips?? Or are they the ROMs?
Quite possibly ROMs since this board doesn't have a ROM slot. I'll check when I open up the machine next time
Those Quantum Fireball drives were the bane of my existence in that era. We constantly got RMAs in for those failing. We sold whole systems and hardly anyone could install their own drive back then. So they had to ship the whole system back. Cyrix CPUs were also a frequent problem.
Yeah, these are not the best drives for sure. I'll probably keep the "death star" in this machine
i must have been lucky with them
@@2xtreem4u Well, some of them still work, Five of my Quantum drives are to noisy to use. I only have one Quantum drive that is still silent. 3 of my drives are completely dead. Compared to other brands this is pretty bad :)
@@Epictronics1 all of my quantum fireballs talked a lot but worked without problem
@@Epictronics1 i have a 250MB Quantum ProDrive but i don't know if it works because i don't have SCSI
They make rubber restorer for working on hi-fi gear for that rubber wheel..
Thanks. The spindle is made of regular plastic and covered with rubberized paint. Maybe a rubberized sticker cut to size would be a good fix. If there is such a thing
i made BIG mistakes by Putting the old Case of an Atari ST Together ,....You do it right and Carefullo ...NICE
Thanks! Luckily the ST is still reasonably priced. Get a new case now, before they get to expensive to make any sense :)
I have a feeling they used SCSI CD-ROM drives in these systems because they HAD SCSI drives.. I'm going to bet this was a project that was a maybe thing, a 'limited' see how it goes 'pet project' maybe kinda thing, and they used what they had in the short production of these systems. Maybe not, I am trying to recall that time I don't remember those machines at all, not this early generation.. as a commenter below says, the PowerPC was around until around 2005 and I know it was started in the 90s, but these don't seem familiar to me. Although I was a PC guy back then! Not sure. What a great find though, really super!
Thanks! Yeah, maybe, Apple was testing the market with these machines
I think you're on the right track, but it's more like they had an existing agreement with Matsushita to supply SCSI drives. They had been using them for quite a while, integrated since the first PowerPC multimedia machines, and externally with the old Apple CD 300, e.g. As such, Matsushita had a platform they just kept incrementing on to provide faster transports, but were otherwise largely unchanged. You can see they had OEM options that different vendors would pick from. With or without audio jack and volume control, different bezel colors (standard issue beige, black, Compaq Pink...), IDE / MKE / SCSI interfaces, even a short experiment with a different faceplate design with the 4x drives that had a spring-loaded flap in front that the tray pushed down as it exited, and digital volume control buttons.
OTOH, HDD manufacturers had been selling almost entirely IDE to the consumer market for a while by this point. I bet that Matsushita charged more or less equivalent rates however you wanted to customize your order, where HDDs were far cheaper if you went with IDE.
Thus... IDE HDD, SCSI CD-ROM.
Don’t you guys think the degree of leaky caps or leaked batteries or brittle plastic from 90s computers depends on how well they were stored and kept in their last two decade? I mean difference between being stored in a dry cabinet or in a humid garage for example
I think you may be right. I ones bought two NOS VIC 20s from the northern UK. The plastics were still like new! My guess is that plastics age well in humid and cold storage. The electronics however, probably prefer dry storage
Maybe, but it's just borrowed days regardless. The plastics will succumb, and caps have their own processes for decay even if left sealed and unused in good environmental conditions. They might or might not "wake up" with a little use.
IMO, if you can recap, you should. Not only does it stave off the potential for corrosive leakage, but it negates a lot of potential misbehavior and difficult troubleshooting. I've restored SO many computers and power supplies by just going straight ahead with a recap, sight-unseen, and rarely have I had any trouble at all. Mine would be the most boring YT channel ever -- "Guy buys computer, and after recapping and cleaning it, it just works -- episode 42".
@@nickwallette6201 Haha, I have a few of those videos on my channel! lol. My take on the recap debate is, sure, it's probably good to recap most vintage boards. However, if and while I recap a non-leaking machine some other machines are corroding away in storage from leaky caps. It makes more sense to move quickly and leave working and non-leaking caps alone. Cost has also been an issue lately. Some caps nowadays are 10€/$! each
lol why didn't they use IDE or SCSI for both?
I remember the PS4 teardown. It has a SATA controller, but for whatever reason the blu-ray drive is attached to a SATA->USB controller.
Why didn't they just use native SATA for the drive?
Very strange indeed!
Japan is one of the countries you listed for it, and Japan was NTSC.
According to Wikipedia the 5500 in Japan was the 250. That being said, It now seems all three 5500s were probably designed to work worldwide
Glm caps aka ‘Good Luck Mate’ caps lol
lol
16:32 - is that a chipped core of the CPU?
I think it is. I'm glad it still works!
Someone needs to send Epictronics some proper hot tweezers for his rework station. This chip quick nonsense is getting a little out of hand. It's great if you're a hobby guy who only does a few caps once in a while, but our fella here is doing it constantly. It would save an insane amount of time having the correct tool.
We'll get there. I just saved up for a preheater!
@@Epictronics1 Oh! Awesome! That's going to help a lot!
I just bought a Commodore 64 bread bin style off eBay. I blame you :P
well done :)
Probably an Umeå find.
Came for the Mac...stayed for the Commodore 64.
I don't think it's an issue of PAL vs. NTSC. The Mac uses a regular computer monitor (not a TV), which is why you can select resolution and frequency.
So, the only thing you might need to worry about (when thinking of US vs. Europe) is the mains voltage and frequency.
Love it! Thanks!
Thanks :)
Good save
Thanks!
with the secam support maybe you can capture some бк-0010 video. :p
If I only had a BK-0010!
You did not fix the button but I guess it is not possible. Most likely it is just a cheap nasty plastic molded plastic that would break off again when glued or melted back in place.
I ran out of time. I think you are right, I have the same issue with another Apple display. I may have a fix for it though
@@Epictronics1 it always breaks on the point with most stress and really hard to get those plastic sprung cheaply made cut-out buttons back to a working state without the breaking again. Hope you find a solution.
i love my c64
Same here! I grew up with a bread-bin :)
_144p only_
Oh, for God's sake, UA-cam!
EDIT: If I watch this video while I log out, I can actually see it in 1080p... What??
YT had some issues when this video went live. I couldn't see the first two minutes :/
@@Epictronics1 It seems that *now* it offers me the option to watch it in Full HD 🤷
Great👍
Thanks!
@@Epictronics1 thanks
Maybe you could 3d print a replacement spindle with TPU. lol
I don't have a printer! :/
@Epictronics1 are you in the USA? If so, I have a spare that I’d be willing to donate.
@@Epictronics1 You can get an ender 3 KE for like $250 USD. I'm pretty sure it can do TPU. Don't get anything less than a KE. The SE has had issues. The KE seems a lot more reliable. It's basically a plug and print printer. And you could always get a prusa. I have 2 prusas and they are wonderful machines. But they are a lot more expensive. I think the MK4 kit was like $800 not including the color module (MMU3).
anyway......... lol
Don't even need your own printer, jlcpcb and pcbway offer 3d printing services.
The Road Apples!
They had like 64-bit CPU with 32-bit bus....every memory fetch took like two fetches for high word and low word, if I remember. Here in Japan, they used to have a lot of those at the used store.
I believe the 5400/5500 were not crippled like the 52xx/53xx, but some Australian 5500 did not come with L2 cache... My 5320 was fully loaded but massively hobbled...
Myst!
Back in the days when things were labelled FOXCONN before it became synonymous with slavery.
Mac OS 9 is NOT the best OS for these machines. 8.1 or 8.5 is the best. Really 7.6 is good too. This Mac is not suited to run OS 9.1 It is WAY too slow.
Clickbait = Thumb Down.
In what way is this clickbait?
@@Epictronics1 the thumbnail is titled "the Mac that can do Commodore" and "no emulation!". I was waiting for a very interesting and exotic second processor card in there, but it's just a TV capture card. Totally boring and wouldn't have watched the video without that misleading thumb.
@@thenickdude Unfortunately, I don't think there is such a thing. I'd love to make a video about it if it does