A Highly Improbable G4 TAM

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  • Опубліковано 28 жов 2022
  • Thanks PCBWay.com - Today we're swapping the G3 processor out of a SoNNeT Crescendo/L2 upgrade, and swapping in a G4!
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    #Macintosh #TAM #PowerPC
  • Наука та технологія

КОМЕНТАРІ • 317

  • @Photo0021
    @Photo0021 Рік тому +114

    Apple should really bring back the dudes that delivered the Mac Anniversary in a limo once they bring out the Apple Silicon Mac Pro. It’s gonna cost your soul so might as well make it worth it.

    • @Sevenfeet0
      @Sevenfeet0 Рік тому +7

      It was a young Jonny Ive actually.

    • @minty_Joe
      @minty_Joe Рік тому

      @Zaydan Naufal I don't think money is a problem for Apple; they can afford 100K to pull that off... unless you mean it'll cost the new owner $100K.

  • @eejjkk
    @eejjkk 6 місяців тому +4

    A Descendents shirt two TAM episodes ago, now a NOFX shirt? This is my kind of channel.

  • @PotatoFi
    @PotatoFi Рік тому +81

    Dude. Your camerawork on the TAM's LCD is ON POINT. For awhile, I forgot that I was looking at an LCD panel and thought it was a direct capture.

    • @SullySadface
      @SullySadface Рік тому

      Pair that with the subwoofer and you can totally forget that it's actually camera capture

  • @bundesautobahn7
    @bundesautobahn7 Рік тому +37

    The worst part about BGA chips: Before you can solder them on, you have to reball them I believe. Reballing BGAs is the devil.

    • @AGAMERTEAM
      @AGAMERTEAM Рік тому +2

      You're right, you do definitely have to recall the chip

  • @Ralph-yn3gr
    @Ralph-yn3gr Рік тому +22

    Just when I thought the insanity had reached its peak. This is one of the coolest Macintoshes I've ever seen. Too bad the CD drive has given up.

    • @jordananderson8299
      @jordananderson8299 Рік тому +2

      In the first video on the TAM I commented asking him to look in the Powerbook's CDROM drive and see if the parts are the same. Looks like he did not notice my comment

  • @StevenIngram
    @StevenIngram Рік тому +20

    I say go for the triple boot option just because you can. Besides, down the Linux path at least, you may even find a GUI environment with lower processor and memory overhead and get even more performance out of it.

    • @kbhasi
      @kbhasi Рік тому +2

      Yep! I'm reminded of an old X window manager that was made to look like classic Mac OS, and I remember someone else did something similar that attempted to replicate Apple's 'Platinum' visual style.

    • @YourIdeologyIsDelusional
      @YourIdeologyIsDelusional Рік тому +1

      @@kbhasi
      I tried that newer one replicating Platinum... I still think Platinum is a great UI, even to this day. Unfortunately, it was broken in some ways, and I don't think it's going to be updated. It uses XFCE, which is a good choice since it functions like the Platinum interface to begin with, but XFCE made some changes that broke the Platinum scrollbar graphics and some other stuff, sadly.

  • @fsfs555
    @fsfs555 Рік тому +4

    Plenty of PPC chips were mostly pin compatible: BGA 603, 604, 740; 750, 7400, 7410; 750fx, 750gx. They may need voltage adjustments, or a few pins may need to be pulled up or down to get new chips to work in older boards, but otherwise they fit on the same grid. The 750 is basically a reworked 603e with more L1 cache and built-in backside L2 cache control (the 740 was the same but without the L2 cache, hence its 603/604 grid compatibility). The 7400 is a 604e with the same treatment (more caches and onboard L2 cache control) but its big improvement was AltiVec. However, unless you're running Mac OS 9 (or X, which the TAM never will) and apps that are AltiVec optimized, there's not a ton of benefit to going with a G4 over a G3: the G4 is hotter and more power-hungry than the G3 while performing only marginally faster at the same MHz. You also usually have to reinstall OS 9 after putting in a G4 upgrade, or the AltiVec libraries aren't available to the OS or many apps.

  • @stgigamovement
    @stgigamovement Рік тому +4

    If you use OS9Helper, XPostFacto, and LeopardAssist you can get Leopard or the PPC beta of Snow Leopard running on this. Imagine running the OSes of the original metal iMacs on a machine that inspired them. Especially with the space background one always saw in those ads. If you use InterWebPPC, you can actually browse the modern web on that TAM in that OS.

    • @sixteenbitify
      @sixteenbitify Рік тому

      I would even be impressed if he could run ANY version of OS X on the TAM. I tried some googling and cannot find any TAM owner running any version of OS X on their TAM.

    • @stgigamovement
      @stgigamovement Рік тому

      @@sixteenbitify people have ran leopard on Power Mac 8500s.

    • @sixteenbitify
      @sixteenbitify Рік тому +1

      @@stgigamovement Yeah, that is certainly possible. I have a 9600 that runs 10.5 Leopard with a G4 card. But the TAM is a weaker machine compared to the 8500/8600/9500/9600 and still haven’t seen anyone running OS X on the TAM yet.

    • @stgigamovement
      @stgigamovement Рік тому

      @@sixteenbitify it's definitely possible, it would just be slow. But seeing the galaxy background from leopard and snow leopard seen in ads of aluminum macs would be funny on the TAM. Like the ancestor of said macs

  • @JeremyLevi
    @JeremyLevi Рік тому +30

    Don't you need to install the Sonnet G4 Enabler 9 in the system folder to activate the AltiVec instructions? I'd also try rebuilding the desktop file if you're not seeing the performance increase you would expect. Maybe try using included "Metronome" utility to see if it's reporting the same wonky clock speed as the system profiler. It should also show things like bus speed, etc to help you figure out if your overclock is working as intended.

    • @D0Samp
      @D0Samp Рік тому +3

      Even with the correct enabler, MacBench 5.0 does not seem to use AltiVec anyway. It's pretty in line with historic benchmarks that integer performance is nearly identical between G3 and G4 of the same frequency while only (scalar) FPU performance is improved.

  • @joshuasundheimer4218
    @joshuasundheimer4218 Рік тому +3

    I had no clue that they sent an expansion cover for the back of it. Thats literally just so cool because I didn't even know you could do that!

  • @bobfoster7771
    @bobfoster7771 Рік тому +2

    Love the NOFX shirt! Also love the descendants shirt in the last video! Punk and Old Macs! Awesome combo!

  • @jeffreybackes4664
    @jeffreybackes4664 8 місяців тому

    Thanks for the trip down memory lane, I have a TAM sitting in the garage with a G3 upgrade new in box and a 4 port USB card. Maybe when I have time I'll see if it still starts.

  • @RudysRetroIntel
    @RudysRetroIntel Рік тому +10

    Excellent upgrades!! Would love to see the double boot or even triple boot!! Thanks for sharing

  • @SonicBoone56
    @SonicBoone56 Рік тому

    Having the fans pointed outward as exhaust fans was definitely the best idea.

  • @CodeProfessor
    @CodeProfessor Рік тому +3

    Triple booting you say... Potentially terrible idea you say... You should totally do it! Thanks for all of the fantastic shenanigans.

  • @userperson5259
    @userperson5259 Рік тому +1

    Pushing the boundaries of personal computing.... twenty years after the fact. Love it!!

  • @thedopplereffect00
    @thedopplereffect00 Рік тому +5

    I think you should do a segment where you 3D print a custom back with built in fan mounts and air flow solution.

  • @hippyraverocker
    @hippyraverocker Рік тому +5

    Could you do an upgrade of an original G3 iMac? Would be very curious to see what the upper limit for upgrades on one would be.

    • @IanC14
      @IanC14 Рік тому +1

      Iirc, there's was a G4 CPU upgrade and I think you can add FireWire too? I know someone made a Voodoo GPU upgrade for the OG iMac

  • @PixelPi
    @PixelPi Рік тому +16

    It's a terrible idea, but I'd really love to see it! ;-) Actually what I'd like to see is FreeBSD 13.1, in this release they finally removed GCC and fully replaced it with Clang/LLVM, if you do an optimized recompile expressly for the G4 ISA you should see a significant performance boost.

    • @linuxization4205
      @linuxization4205 Рік тому +1

      Yeah, BSDs are lighter on ram than Linuxes. I would also love to see any type of Unix running on this machine!

    • @linuxization4205
      @linuxization4205 Рік тому +1

      Maybe even upgrade the amount of ram???

    • @SenileOtaku
      @SenileOtaku Рік тому +2

      @@linuxization4205 ANY type of Unix?? It's a PowerPC processor from when IBM and Apple were collaborating. Maybe try running AIX?

    • @linuxization4205
      @linuxization4205 Рік тому +2

      ​@@SenileOtaku Never saw AIX run on a PowerPC mac, but go for it!

  • @BrainSlugs83
    @BrainSlugs83 Рік тому +4

    I think tripple booting the Tam with BeOS is a terrible idea, AND I would like to see it. 😅

  • @richardwoodurff9186
    @richardwoodurff9186 Рік тому +2

    Thanks for the saturday morning shows, this one was awesome, as always!

  • @annekarice1587
    @annekarice1587 Рік тому

    This has been a great series, I subscribed off the back of it! Looking forward to future series.

  • @Gojirosan
    @Gojirosan Рік тому

    Loving these TAM vids, many thanks!

  • @ifrit05
    @ifrit05 Рік тому +4

    11:26 The 50 MHz bus on the TAM is probably hindering the performance of that G4.

    • @Michael-Archonaeus
      @Michael-Archonaeus Рік тому

      That would not surprise me at all. After all it's two generations older than the G4, Apple weren't planning to upgrade this thing lol

  • @alexandermcalpine
    @alexandermcalpine Рік тому

    Thumbs up for bringing back the tam, AND nofx!

  • @mauriciotonnera9463
    @mauriciotonnera9463 Рік тому +1

    Congrats on this great video!!
    I do have an old 6500 Mac with the Credcendo G3 upgrade sitting for years without booting. I will give it a try now!!

  • @gumbyx84
    @gumbyx84 Рік тому

    You are a crazy man and I love it! Keep making these fun retro tech videos.

  • @YoshAndSwrred
    @YoshAndSwrred Місяць тому

    I love your videos. Just love them. -SuperYosh from Unprepared Films

  • @JohnSmith-xq1pz
    @JohnSmith-xq1pz Рік тому +3

    Apple secret police open up!! Oh its just a TAM never mind

  • @maynardcrow6447
    @maynardcrow6447 Рік тому

    Crazy build. The tiny fan was facing the wrong way. Your blowing out not in.

  • @scott8919
    @scott8919 Рік тому +2

    This design held up so well, IMO. If they reintroduced this today with modern guts it wouldn't look too out of place.

  • @Matthew_Turner
    @Matthew_Turner Рік тому

    Sean you never cease to impress man! Love to see the triple boot!

  • @XeonProductions
    @XeonProductions Рік тому

    With as smooth as some of these crazy updates seem to be going through on this machine, maybe it's a blessed macintosh instead of a cursed one.

  • @OrDuckVet
    @OrDuckVet Рік тому

    Best episode t-shirt choice ever.

  • @zachwilliams2597
    @zachwilliams2597 Рік тому

    apple system profiler displaying a highly improbable clockspeed is just your TAM saying "I AM SPEED!"

  • @JustinRied
    @JustinRied Рік тому +2

    Welcome to the G4 TAM Party, Sean! Big fan, long time viewer! 😎

    • @ActionRetro
      @ActionRetro  Рік тому +1

      Woohoo!

    • @zoopercoolguy
      @zoopercoolguy Рік тому +1

      I saw your thread on the 68kMLA. Pretty impressive work on your TAM.

    • @JustinRied
      @JustinRied Рік тому +1

      @@zoopercoolguy Thanks! It's been a fun project. Although I am extremely disappointed with myself for not initially welcoming Sean to the "G4 TAM Fam!"

  • @vasya_cat
    @vasya_cat Рік тому +5

    pcb way also cam make flexible pcbs, you could probably make and replace the broken cd drive cable

  • @2009numan
    @2009numan Рік тому

    that fan you put in was actully blowing out of the back of the case and not sucking cool air in

  • @davidstern3031
    @davidstern3031 Рік тому

    I think a triple booting TAM would be amazing to see! Or at least an attempt!

  • @amp888
    @amp888 Рік тому +9

    9:10 I don't know if you fixed it, but it appears you have the fan mounted the wrong way around. As it's fitted there, it'll exhaust air out from the case to the outside. You can check on the fan shroud, but for 99.99% of fans (and all Noctuas, AFAIK), the intake side is the one with no obstruction and the exhaust side is the one with the fan hub label on it.

    • @SimonQuigley
      @SimonQuigley Рік тому +3

      There's also usually a couple of little arrows molded into the plastic surround which show you the blade rotation and airflow directions

    • @amp888
      @amp888 Рік тому +3

      @@SimonQuigley Yeah, sorry, that's what I meant by checking on the fan shroud, but I should've expanded on that. Thanks.

  • @robertchamberlin2362
    @robertchamberlin2362 Рік тому

    This was Tamrrific!!!!!! Loved It!!!!

  • @daboogersniffa
    @daboogersniffa Рік тому

    Love the shirt, your content is fantastic. Keep up the good work!

  • @reidster87
    @reidster87 Рік тому +4

    I've spent a lot of hours using my Performa 6360 which has a very similar logic board, but with a 160MHz 603ev on a 40MHz bus. I suspect the slow screen drawing when you booted with extensions off was because accelerated graphics extensions weren't loaded, not because the stock 250MHz 603ev was too slow to draw the desktop/Finder in OS 9.1.

  • @cjsebes
    @cjsebes Рік тому

    Absolutely do the triple boot. And bonus points for the NOFX shirt. I got to see them in concert about 25 years ago here in NJ at a really small venue and it was a really great show.

  • @thechillhacker
    @thechillhacker Рік тому +2

    About the slower speeds at ~11:30, I ran into this on my G4 PowerTower Pro as well (also with the g3 upgrades). The system bus and memory speeds are what are killing you. To put in as a car analogy, you can put an LS block in a fiat, but you are still going to deal with an undersized transmission, poor gear ratios, small wheels, limited suspension and brakes, etc - and it will never perform like a Corvette. It will however, be a beast of a FIAT.

  • @stevencarlson5422
    @stevencarlson5422 Рік тому

    cool keep pushing it farther !!!!!

  • @DavidJMcBrayer
    @DavidJMcBrayer Рік тому

    That “random Apple employee” was Jony Ive when he had hair haha

  • @franklincerpico7702
    @franklincerpico7702 Рік тому

    Your channel is a hidden gem.

  • @breestandard1318
    @breestandard1318 Рік тому

    This video needs more Tim Tams.

  • @Dangermousejerkface
    @Dangermousejerkface Рік тому

    TAM + NOFX = Hell yes!

  • @bryans8656
    @bryans8656 Рік тому +4

    I say go for a triple boot system. No guts no glory 😁

  • @mlthmp
    @mlthmp Рік тому

    That fan is so janky.. and I love it!! Awesome

  • @MegafOfficial
    @MegafOfficial Рік тому +1

    Yep, please do the BeOS thing.✌

  • @vinatron8075
    @vinatron8075 Рік тому +3

    I’d like to see how a triple boot setup would work nice job!

  • @Hamboarding
    @Hamboarding Рік тому +2

    I think it's a great idea to triple boot 🌞👍🏻

  • @phreapersoonlijk
    @phreapersoonlijk Рік тому

    Silly, and I love everything about it !

  • @anidnmeno
    @anidnmeno Рік тому

    Action Retro is the TRUE Mac Daddy

  • @pooplips
    @pooplips Рік тому

    fantastic and consider painting the screen bezel black

  • @blairlohnes8103
    @blairlohnes8103 Рік тому +1

    I also love NOFX and old macs. :)

  • @willallen7757
    @willallen7757 Рік тому

    Cokie the Clown is one of my favorite songs.

  • @allalphazerobeta8643
    @allalphazerobeta8643 Рік тому +1

    G4 has better internal cache and pipe-lining algorithms if you're wondering why it can beat a g3 clock for clock... Also, sonnet clocker was programmed in RealBasic because it uses the RealBasic Default Application Icon. Pretty Fun Rapid Development toolkit. Maybe, something you could do a video on. The processor speed is wrong because the Sonnet Clocker probably wants the default speed of the upgrade card and not of the processor you're installing. Since the processor doesn't set it's own clock speed.

  • @michaelmullett7327
    @michaelmullett7327 Рік тому

    Let’s see that Action!

  • @SkellyPacks
    @SkellyPacks Рік тому +3

    I'm just now realizing the TAM stands for 20th Anniversary Mac... if you'll excuse me I have to go sit in shame for a few moments.

  • @syragrippa8769
    @syragrippa8769 Рік тому

    I dunno, I really like the TAM design. It's pleasing to look at, so I dig the form factor and I wish companies still made interesting computers like this.

  • @chrisdunderdale
    @chrisdunderdale Рік тому

    Loving the Nofx t shirt there!

  • @plasmastorm656
    @plasmastorm656 Рік тому

    That Noctua fan is back to front, it's blowing air out of the case, not sucking it in.

  • @asgowraith8975
    @asgowraith8975 Рік тому +1

    Triple boot, triple boot! Also, maybe upload it on a Tuesday.

  • @reybibleteng
    @reybibleteng Рік тому

    best youtube channel

  • @MrGardenofeden
    @MrGardenofeden Рік тому +1

    It would be really nice to 3D print a cover for the side of the Mac. Now it looks very hacky. Anyway, great job!

  • @DavidStahlOLDHAPPyMACs
    @DavidStahlOLDHAPPyMACs Рік тому

    Great G4 Upgrade Sean Herd Is tHe Man

  • @TheJonathanc82
    @TheJonathanc82 Рік тому

    This is a true frankenmac. It is both one of the most ridiculous and most awesome things I have ever seen. 🎉

  • @canadianman000
    @canadianman000 Рік тому

    Nice shirt. I got to see NOFX live in Halifax.

  • @sluxi
    @sluxi Рік тому +2

    Would love to see this running BeOS and Linux certainly. I used to run Ubuntu on a clamshell iBook G3 years ago.

  • @andre-le-bone-aparte
    @andre-le-bone-aparte Рік тому +1

    @19:40 - YES, make it tripple boot. And run WinXP as Virtual PC. That should be able to stress the processor.

  • @vaderexmachina
    @vaderexmachina Рік тому +4

    we need the TAM to boot OS X even if its only 10.0

    • @stgigamovement
      @stgigamovement Рік тому

      XPostFacto and Leopard Assist can be used to get even the PPC beta Snow Leopard running on a G4 before 467MHz. So you can run the OS of those aluminum iMacs on their visual ancestor.

  • @minty_Joe
    @minty_Joe Рік тому

    @Action Retro , My guess is the PCBs you have in that box at 3:30 are to be populated with both a CPU and Coprocessor for a 68020 or 68030.

  • @jlj945
    @jlj945 Рік тому +1

    Linux and BeOS are cool and all but I think installing Leopard would be a better achievement.

  • @ShinGoukiSan
    @ShinGoukiSan Рік тому

    Love the NOFX Shirt!

  • @Gamerbay2017
    @Gamerbay2017 Рік тому

    I really want to see you make a triple booting TAM!

  • @stinkertonsden
    @stinkertonsden Рік тому

    Ok.... now I really want one.

  • @SAerror1
    @SAerror1 Рік тому +2

    I wonder if you could order a new custom flex cable for the internal cdrom through one of the chinese pcb vendors, if you take photos of the broken one and get it scaled correctly it shouldn't be too hard to draw a new gerber on top

    • @richfiles
      @richfiles Рік тому

      Yeah, this actually sounds like a great idea.

  • @jimi-w
    @jimi-w Рік тому

    Some 25 years ago, when a man in a tuxedo delivered this TAM to its original owner, if you had told them about what would happen to this machine in the future they would have said "What the hell is a UA-cam?"

  • @HeathLetrick
    @HeathLetrick Рік тому

    I think that shirt is a great idea

  • @graealex
    @graealex Рік тому +2

    That big umbilical cord on the TAM is really a big oof and shows how bad the overall engineering was with this machine. Even worse than the special display cable they had for the Apple Studio Display back then, where you needed an expensive adapter and PSU if you wanted to use it with a different computer.

    • @Michael-Archonaeus
      @Michael-Archonaeus Рік тому

      They still do that kind of nonsense.

    • @graealex
      @graealex Рік тому +1

      @@Michael-Archonaeus Well, when they got to the Cinema Display in 2004, they realized that they can still have a single cable and just fan it off into non-proprietary connectors.
      Not sure what the big deal with the TAM cable is. It's literally just power for the head unit, and an audio return channel for the subwoofer, the latter which could have been a digital connection to avoid the buzzing, which many TAMs are prone to. Completely idiotic engineering. It would have been better to reduce the power supply to just two pins with 20V, and have the mainboard create the required voltages from that. It's basically laptop hardware anyway.

  • @jba2048
    @jba2048 Рік тому

    When action retro says he’s going to make a modification to a system without any hardware shenanigans all I can think is, “what other shenanigans can someone pull?”

  • @MDBenson
    @MDBenson Рік тому

    Sonnet Crescendo software comes with "Metronome" which is their own readout software for the system extension

  • @DavidRavenMoon
    @DavidRavenMoon Рік тому

    That random Apple employee is Sir Jonathan Paul Ive! But I’m sure you knew that.

  • @goqwertygo
    @goqwertygo Рік тому

    I think you're the only techtuber that actually uses ArctiClean😄

  • @benjaminsmusicadventures
    @benjaminsmusicadventures Рік тому

    i love the tshirt!

  • @russwilliams4678
    @russwilliams4678 Рік тому

    Triple boot it! You might be able to update the yellow dog as well!

  • @Rorschach1024
    @Rorschach1024 Рік тому

    Pcbway could make a replacement ribbon cable for your dead drive too.

  • @ThecrackpotdadPlus
    @ThecrackpotdadPlus Рік тому

    Do it! Do it! Do it!

  • @rpissmrpissm2925
    @rpissmrpissm2925 Рік тому

    When you boot with extensions off, it turns off the graphics acceleration extension too. That's why widow redraw was so slow. It wasn't the 603e.

  • @linuxization4205
    @linuxization4205 Рік тому +4

    I really think you should triple boot! If you're using Linux and BeOS, maybe you should upgrade the ram to 256mb. Either way, it'll be crazy!

    • @charliekahn4205
      @charliekahn4205 Рік тому

      What exactly can you run on Linux at 256MiB of RAM? Just decent graphics on Linux takes up at minimum 128.

    • @linuxization4205
      @linuxization4205 Рік тому

      @@charliekahn4205 Web browsing?

    • @charliekahn4205
      @charliekahn4205 Рік тому

      @@linuxization4205 anything but that

  • @skatertux8051
    @skatertux8051 Рік тому +1

    Yesss triple boot plsssss

  • @organiccold
    @organiccold Рік тому

    Love it

  • @mathijsdsv8780
    @mathijsdsv8780 Рік тому

    This works guys!

  • @gamejew38
    @gamejew38 Рік тому

    NOFX!!!!!!! We're the breed.

  • @user-fj5ts6sz1f
    @user-fj5ts6sz1f 3 місяці тому

    TAM and NOFX 🥰

  • @alerey4363
    @alerey4363 Рік тому

    13:37 🤣 you managed to confuse the profiler by making it report "about 544Mhz"; NEVER saw *about* in that report, congrats!