[HN Gopher] iMac G4 to M1 conversion process ___________________________________________________________________ iMac G4 to M1 conversion process Author : bitigchi Score : 302 points Date : 2022-03-06 09:49 UTC (1 days ago) (HTM) web link (forums.macrumors.com) (TXT) w3m dump (forums.macrumors.com) | HWR_14 wrote: | Random aside, does anyone know if the M1 (well, M series chips) | are likely to migrate to the iPhones? I'm upgrading soon, but if | the 14 is going to have an M-series chip, I may hold off. | marban wrote: | The Lamp was great but nothing can beat the Cube. Still using | mine with a Sonnet and SSD upgrade for plain text work. | ChrisMarshallNY wrote: | Extra credit: | | Use ML (and some servos and counterweights) to make it do this: | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCrdla_BljQ | jmkni wrote: | I'd love to see an M1 put inside a 12" Macbook, I know it was | controversial but I always loved that form factor. | dwighttk wrote: | Oh man I'm so much lazier, I would just set the G4 on top of the | mini and try to figure out how to send video to the G4s screen, | give up, and just use a new monitor. | sgjohnson wrote: | The 17" 1440x900 display would be an absolute dealbreaker for | me personally, so I'd also have to figure a way how to fit a | better display in. | | Which would probably be trickier than everything else in this | project, because where can you get a 17" 1440p IPS panel these | days? | sixothree wrote: | Honestly I have three of these things and they aren't great. | Maybe for a side or "kitchen" computer. If Mac had a decent | RDP protocol, that would be a great way to use them. | [deleted] | ChrisMarshallNY wrote: | The arm that holds up the monitor is designed for a specific | weight. It would be difficult to swap out the display. | tjoff wrote: | New LED displays are much lighter, so you probably have | lots of margin to just put in dead weight. | GekkePrutser wrote: | Most of these arms lack the strength to hold up the | original screen anymore. Probably due to fatigue of the | spring. I still have one and it's just enough to hold it up | but every time I hit the table it flops down :'( | classichasclass wrote: | Mostly an issue for the 17" and up. The 15" screens seem | to be okay with the arm spring. | Jolter wrote: | You might be able to find a metalworking shop that could | manufacture a new spring for you. If you're willing to | pay for it. | ballenf wrote: | And if you don't get it exactly right, the mouse ball pops | out, expands to a massive size and tries to flatten you. | jandrese wrote: | Some of them came with 1680x1050 displays which are still | respectable. | titzer wrote: | It's not so bad. Especially if you spend most of your time in | a terminal, as I often do. It's somewhat nostalgic, even. Ah, | my first display, a 80x25 text mode DOS 5.0 terminal on a | CRT... _sigh_ | jrockway wrote: | I might be misremembering, but I feel like when LCDs became | mainstream, they were ostensibly worse in resolution than | CRTs. CRTs were commonly at 1024x768 for a while, but I | remember running specially-selected ones at 1600x1200 or | even higher (1860xsomething?). LCDs replaced my nice high | res CRTs with 1024x768, and then I waited a decade for | 3840x2160, which was definitely a step up. | | I remember being ridiculously excited by my circa-2004 24" | LCD. How could a screen be that big? 1920x1200 pixels? How | can there be so many!? And now that is like a tiny garbage | dumb LCD that you find in the storage closet and decide | isn't worth the desk space. | | (My favorite thing is the HDTV craze. You can still buy | laptops with a 720p display these days, because "HD" is | supposed to be a positive marketing term! But it's really | 1995-era resolutions at 2022 prices!) | eddieroger wrote: | That does sound delightfully nostalgic. Sometimes when I | use my iPad for SSH'ing in to things, I get that same | sense. I don't need a dedicated SSH box that badly, and I | wouldn't gut an iMac for the privilege when it can run SSH | natively, but that would be a fun box to have. | opencl wrote: | It's not hard to find 4K 17" panels as spare parts for | laptops, but they're generally 16:9 rather than 16:10. | rzzzt wrote: | Add letterbox bars to the front glass then, job done. | hultner wrote: | Inch is diagonal so a 17" 16:9 would be to wide. | | Unless I'm thinking wrong we'd need something at | (sqrt(17)*(16^2+9^2)/(16^2+10^2))^2, which should put us | at 15.23", I know 15,4" exists so that might be doable | depending on how much room there is to spare, 5mm is a | bit but it could maybe work. | ycui1986 wrote: | Lenovo is releasing 16:10 screen for their next generation | laptops lines. So it is a matter of time till replacement | screens for those to come up on ebay. I guess? | betamaxthetape wrote: | Am I the only one sad to see the original machine gutted out? I | get that these machines aren't particularly useful (I have one | myself) but it really does seem a shame for it to be modified in | this way. | rvense wrote: | These aren't exactly rare. I can accept this sort of stuff when | it's done well. They should pass that MB on as a working spare, | though. | dkonofalski wrote: | You might be... I loved the old machines but making the shell | usable again is even cooler to me. I'd love to see them update | the display to something more modern and then it would be | perfect. | classichasclass wrote: | No, you're not the only one. If it were busted, I could see it | as a way of giving an old design new life, but this one | appeared to be mostly operational. I have a 15" 1.25GHz iMac | with a working arm in beautiful condition and it's going to | stay stock. It suffices for viewing the security cameras, | playing CDs and DVDs, the occasional Classic app and basic | browsing tasks. | titzer wrote: | As long as there are enough of them preserved as-is, it doesn't | bother me. Maybe the author has 2 (or more). In which case, | right on. | stevedekorte wrote: | Cool project. Would love to see this done for NeXTcube or | NeXTstation with their original keyboard and mouse. | user22 wrote: | You would have to add in the "clunk" the optical drive made. | muro wrote: | This is so cool! I wanted to do something similar with the G4 | cube, but the Mac mini is slightly too big. Hope the next version | is smaller. | gnicholas wrote: | I was surprised Apple didn't sell a 20th Anniversary Cube. It | would have closed the loop on what the Cube started. Maybe | they'll do it on the 25th anniversary, in a couple years? | MBCook wrote: | The guts of the M1 mini are significantly smaller than the | case. There was a video where someone made a smaller case | recently that shows just how much you can shrink it. | | https://youtu.be/pQWGFKhBQwU | muro wrote: | Thank you! Will give it a try then! | wiredfool wrote: | I mean, it's basically a phone minus some of the cell chips | and the display. | steveylang wrote: | Maybe they can do a handheld Mac Micro or Mac Nano. | imwillofficial wrote: | I wish I could pay people to do this insane work for me. I'd | never have the patience to do all this, but I'd love to have a | build like this. | kipchak wrote: | I'm not sure if they're still active, but there's been a couple | group doing something similar for thinkpads (lcdfans/cnmod, | xueyao) retrofitting new Motherboards and other components into | older chassis. You could maybe try a group like that as a one | off. | | https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/jrj949/x2100_from... | samwillis wrote: | I love this! The G4 Mac is by far my favourite Apple design ever, | its such a shame it was such as short lived design aesthetic. | | My wish is that as Apple seems to be moving its iMac (and soon | MacBook I believe) range back towards a more "fun" look | reminiscent of the original iMac period they could resurrect this | design. | | I would love a touch screen iMac or Apple Monitor that used this | design, its perfect for folding forward into a position for touch | interaction and sketching. | giobox wrote: | This era of design where there was still some "whimsy" is some | of my favorite Apple work too. The austere modern era where | _everything_ is a slab of glass fronted metal has lost so much | of the joy that was found in their earlier computers. | | If you want a touch screen computer that used this design | optimized for sketching, Microsoft took it to the logical | conclusion with the Surface Studio: | | https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/d/surface-studio-2/8sbjxm0m5... | | This is much better for sketching, as can reach a much flatter | angle than the G4 iMac ever could. It also holds its angle | quite a bit more securely (I've used both). While I'm not a | massive Windows user, the physical aspects of the Surface | Studio are pretty nice and much more interesting to me than the | latest iMacs. | cbm-vic-20 wrote: | That Surface Studio almost mimics an old-school drafting | table. | samwillis wrote: | > The austere modern era where everything is a slab of glass | fronted metal has lost so much of the joy that was found in | their earlier computers. | | In many ways I think it's a pity that Apple decided to bring | its "Pro" aesthetic to the standard/consumer range, there has | been so little to diffiraciate the two ranges. Having the two | distinct ranges was more fun. | | With what they have done with the M1 iMacs and the rumours of | a rebooted MacBook (Air?) using the aesthetic of that | iteration (colourful aluminium enclosures and white bezels) | they seem to have decided to do just that and separate the | ranges visually - just as they have done with the iPhone | ranges now. For the first time in years last years Mac | product announcements have actually interested me, looking | forward to see what they are showing tomorrow. | | > This is much better for sketching, as can reach a much | flatter angle than the G4 iMac ever could. | | Quite right, the ergonomics of the exact G4 aren't quite | right for what I'm describing, however they could serve as | the design inspiration for something amazing. | | (I'm also now on eBay looking for G4s...) | agumonkey wrote: | It seems the computing field had exhausted the usual | marketing venues so resorted into maxing out the | pro/scientific angle (you almost get a free biology/optics | class on an iphone keynote chapter about lenses). | | Maybe the chill aspect is due for a comeback now. | alsetmusic wrote: | > In many ways I think it's a pity that Apple decided to | bring its "Pro" aesthetic to the standard/consumer range, | there has been so little to diffiraciate the two ranges. | | I think the idea behind this to make their computers as | recyclable as possible. It was mentioned at least once in a | product intro when discussing the machining process. | | I also miss fun designs, but I think the choice to reduce | plastic use is the "right" one. | irae wrote: | I would not blame design for the "slab of glass" state of | computers/phones. | | There two factors I see we endup with the current designs | that are not related to desing at all: * Miniaturization and | portability: Today, probably two thirds of the components | needed for a computer fit into the M1 die. * Ergonomics: | Because we are still humans, we need screens and input | devices (touch or keyboard/mouse) that are bigger than the | computer itself | | Designers work around humans and technology to make the | products joyful and compeling. I believe they did a good job, | in general, given what computers became engineering-wise. | nicoburns wrote: | It really is remarkable how small the logic board on those new M1 | minis is. It'll be interesting to see what the rumoured new | smaller mac mini looks like. | jarrenae wrote: | I'd love to see this brought into a cafe. I wonder how long an M1 | Mac Mini runs on a 10000mah battery? | lostgame wrote: | Amaaaazing. The iMac G4 is the single most aesthetically | beautiful computer, ever. | | I've still got a functional maxed-out one in the corner of my | living room/studio. If the internals ever break, I'm doing this | kind of mod in half a second. | yboris wrote: | I'd say the new iMac is better: https://www.apple.com/imac/ | | Doesn't have a CD drive, but at least for me, I've not used one | in a decade. | lostgame wrote: | You mean...that the new iMac is more aesthetically | interesting / pleasing than the G4? | | Jesus, I guess tastes vary _hugely_. The new iMac is the same | bloody design it 's been since the iMac G5, basically...not | sure how it's 'impressive'? It's got colours? Other than | that... o.o | | The iMac G4 is a feat of design engineering and still an | astonishingly beautiful sight that somehow manages to look | insanely futuristic nearly 20 years after its initial | release. | tomc1985 wrote: | Feat of engineering, sure. But the look is "mid oughties | white plastic" which is about as dated and vintage as the | off-white 80s plastic enclosure of the Apple IIe was at | that time | | And oh god were the laptops ugly. They looked like a seat | cushion! | lostgame wrote: | You're talking about the G3 iBooks, not the G4 ones, just | FYI. | muro wrote: | +1, and it wasn't just for show, the arm was more ergonomic | than all iMacs since. | Teknoman117 wrote: | My personal favorite Mac (aesthetically) is the Quicksilver G4 | PowerMac. The Blue G3 PowerMac is a close second because I'm a | sucker for anything in blue. | dddddaviddddd wrote: | I really enjoyed having the blue G3, but it's such a large | machine compared to what I would keep on my desk today. | drewzero1 wrote: | Action Retro on YT made a video about a Pi case that was | based on the blue&white G3 tower: | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLh7c6KQAT4 | fredoralive wrote: | I have to go Blue G3 (I even have one), the fact for the G4 | they went grey and got rid of the huge lettering underneath | the side plastic was a real disappointment. I guess it was | too fun for a "professional" system... | kilroy123 wrote: | I want one. So much more fun than the mini in the box form | factor. | sircastor wrote: | I love this. I put an Intel Atom mini-ITX board in an old G4 cube | about 13 years ago. For a time it gave my wife a modern-ish | machine (though a Hackintosh) with a style that was relatively | unique. | | It sadly lives in our garage right now as we don't really need | it. Occasionally I think about dusting it off and replacing the | internals with a Mac Mini, just for fun. | iszomer wrote: | Mini-ITX modding culture came a long way. Last I saw was | someone revamping a Hot Wheels PC from the 90's with modern | parts [2]. | | [1] https://www.mini-itx.com/news/archive.asp | | [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLGfeiMdi1Q | [deleted] | dhosek wrote: | I remember how damned amazing the display on the iLamp was. At | the time, if you weren't directly in front of an LCD display, | everything got dim and you could practically read the G4 display | from the side. Kids today don't have any idea how bad those early | generation LCD displays. | acdha wrote: | The lamp iMac design was really so nice compared to any iMac made | before or after since it made adjusting the screen so easy. This | really highlights a problem with the iMacs, however: they use | gorgeous screens but the displays have a useful life 5-10 years | longer than the CPU. I really wish there was something like an | e-waste law to encourage manufacturers to either make them | upgradeable or recyclable. | asciimov wrote: | Reminds me that Apple once had fresh designs. | | I wish Apple would get brave and push out a radical new design. | longtimelistnr wrote: | From a design perspective, modern hardware leaves little room | for imagination without excess/useless material. reducing | components to a fraction of their size is the radical design | which is leveraged to make a product as frictionless as | possible on the consumer side | rvense wrote: | You say frictionless, I say dull as all fork. | gurkendoktor wrote: | Little room for imagination? The iMacs that came after the G4 | are not even height adjustable. | | They also didn't just cut down on useless material. Power | supplies are still large, but Apple has moved them _out_ of | the iMac in 2020. | | The recent iMac redesign also makes it extremely awkward to | connect external speakers using a cable, but the built-in | speakers have received mixed reviews. Even that seems like a | step back from the iMac G4. | nebula8804 wrote: | Regarding the power supply I suspect that right now we are | in transition just like when Apple was late on updating | updating the design of the late intel notebooks. It seems | like they know M1 was on the way and focused their efforts | on that knowing that Intel was going away. If Intel was not | going away my guess is that they would have resolved the | later thermal/design issues of the laptops sooner. | | Same goes for this power supply. We are probably moving | towards even lower power consumer chips and while the | current power supply is pretty small, just imagine a more | power efficient base line M2/M3 chip + GaN based power | supply. Maybe they could power the machine with a tiny cube | shaped PSU or just have a usb-c connector coming out of the | back. | caycep wrote: | This reminds me of the Cube Hackintosh conversions....I just wish | that design worked out better in the court of public (consumer) | opinion.... | linguae wrote: | I feel the same way about the 2013 Mac Pro, which I purchased | refurbished in early 2017 and used as my daily driver until | January when I switched to a Ryzen 3900X build. The 2013 Mac | Pro has a wonderful design, but it's a shame Apple never | upgraded it, though it would be sweet if Apple brought back | this form factor since Apple's ARM chips solved the thermal | challenges that made it difficult for Apple to upgrade the | cylindrical Mac Pro. | jmmv wrote: | Hah. I thought I was the only silly person in 2017 purchasing | an overpriced and not-so-powerful-at-the-time machine :) I | got mine from eBay and it is still my daily driver! | | Mind you, just wrote this about a week ago on how I keep it | current: https://jmmv.dev/2022/03/windows-10-mac- | pro-2013.html | mattkevan wrote: | Wonder if it was the Pro or lessons learned from it that | instigated building their own Mac chips. | | "Intel can't or won't make the chips we need to make the | designs we want, so we're going to have to do it ourselves." | srvmshr wrote: | A bit off topic but the PowerMac translucent towers were | beautiful. I wish apple brought those back albeit in a smaller | form factor. It wouldn't hurt to see the Mac Pro in such a | casing. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-03-07 23:00 UTC)