68kMLA Classic Interface
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| KnobsNSwitches Conquests | |
| Posted by: KnobsNSwitches on 2019-11-04 11:15:11 This isn't really a conquests post...I mostly wanted to show show a pic of my SCSI switchbox., and figured the picture would make more sense with context. I have a SCSI2SD v5 (in the black 3d-printed box) that I use to move files between my macs, modern and old. I'm using a humble old DB25 (parallel port) switchbox to hook it up to different computers without moving stiff giant SCSI cables around.  There is a longer cable with a powerbook 30-pin adapter under the desk that I just pull out when needing to hook up to a PowerBook. It's not a revolutionary system or anything but it works well for me.  The keyboard is also shared between the two desktops, by just plugging and unplugging the adb cable | |
| Posted by: ScutBoy on 2019-11-06 06:27:32 Nice trackball! 🙂 | |
| Posted by: jessenator on 2019-11-06 08:42:00 That SCSI switch box is nice. Anything to eliminate the constant swapping of cables when changing machines. | |
| Posted by: pcamen on 2019-11-06 20:53:18 What a great idea. Glad to hear the parallel switch boxes work. I just found an auction for three for 40 bucks. | |
| Posted by: KnobsNSwitches on 2019-11-07 08:45:33 You'll need to have enough DB25 - DB25 cables, of course, but i discovered monoprice sells them at a very reasonable price. I found that the SCSI2SD does need to be powered over USB, it worked intermittently just off the power provided by the scsi cable. | |
Posted by: jessenator on 2019-11-07 08:50:40I found that the SCSI2SD does need to be powered over USBI've never gotten it to work off of the SCSI bus. Always had floppy power or an adapter on it. | |
| Posted by: KnobsNSwitches on 2019-11-07 08:54:08 ...maybe the color classic's massive power supply just outputs SO MUCH POWER it would work sometimes ;-) | |
| Posted by: pcamen on 2019-11-07 09:06:24 I find it depends on the machine. My SE/30 yesterday had no trouble powering a SCSI2SD off the external SCSI port. My PB 540c won't, and I have to have a power source. My PB Lombard will power it off the SCSI. I think Mac Pluses are also known NOT to be able to power the devices off SCSI. I have a bunch of power supplies from SATA / IDE to USB adapters that have a wall plug, a transformer, and the end of the cord is typical NEMA PC power plug, which works great for the SCSI2SD devices. | |
| Posted by: MOS8_030 on 2019-11-07 09:07:29 I would think there could be some risk of data loss or corruption using that switch box not being designed specifically for SCSI. However, if it works and you're not doing anything "mission critical" then it's a simple, useful solution. | |
| Posted by: pcamen on 2019-11-07 09:29:26 I don't think it is a problem at the SCSI speeds these old Macs use. http://www.nullmodem.com/DB-25.htm At one time, Apple used a DB25 connector for SCSI (narrow), but this doesn't allow twisted pairs and is not compliant to SCSI standards. Some companies like Iomega still use this connector on new devices. Such connectors have been noted to have problems on SCSI busses using faster devices such as UltraSCSI (Iomega itself doesn't recommend using more than one DB25 device, but still uses it for Zip drives). The HD50 connector is preferred. Seems like it should be ok since SCSI 1-3 are not UltraSCSI and are slower. SCSI-3 is 20Mb/s and Ultra-2 is 80Mb/s. | |
| Posted by: KnobsNSwitches on 2019-11-25 11:25:00 A 6500 has joined the party, displacing the Macintosh-TV-in-a-575, at least for now. I also picked up separately a remote, does any one know if it's possible to remap the play/pause buttons to work in iTunes v2 ?  | |
| Posted by: KnobsNSwitches on 2019-11-25 11:33:59 This 6500 has a couple quirks, I purchased it from a member on here, and the internal video does not work, but it happily displays video via a PCI Rage 128 card. But it seems that the video-in hardware does not work without functioning internal video - launching Apple Video Player will play sound coming in the RCA jacks, but no video window ever shows up. But the case is in marvelous shape. | |
| Posted by: KnobsNSwitches on 2019-12-02 14:05:59 Well, my 6500 jukebox project continues. I purchased a cheap IDE-SATA adapter, and copied the 6500's system and 60 gb of mp3's to a 120 GB SSD I had lying around... It boots, but the performance is not great. It takes minutes to boot (sitting on the Happy mac for ages), and seems to be really unstable, as in 'plays one or two songs in iTunes then freezes' unstable. The SSD seems to work fine on my modern mac, so I have to assume it's something with the IDE-SATA adapter. I put the original 6b HD back in and as a whole the system is much more responsive, which is not what usually happens w/ a hard drive vs solid state. | |
| Posted by: KnobsNSwitches on 2020-01-26 13:13:34 Well the World's Most Overcomplicated Jukebox is fully functional: I've got 40 GB of MP3's that play great through SoundJam MP. iTunes 2 is really unstable with a library of that size in Mac OS 9. (SoundJam is...relatively stable). Spotify plays via sound-in on the iPad mini. WhiteCap works as a visualizer as a plugin in SoundJam and a standalone program for the Spotify tunes. The whole thing works pretty well, and I'm able to mute sound via the 6500's remote at my desk. I still haven't figured out track skipping via the remote and I don't know that it's even possible.  | |
| Posted by: bibilit on 2020-01-27 04:47:50 Nice, itunes is an evolution of SoundJam anyway, should have a copy of it in my Powerbook 1400 IIRC. | |
Posted by: MOS8_030 on 2020-01-27 06:25:39Nice, itunes is an evolution of SoundJam anyway, should have a copy of it in my Powerbook 1400 IIRC.I still have my copy of SoundJam I bought. I have never forgiven Apple for buying it... | |
| Posted by: KnobsNSwitches on 2020-01-27 07:15:15 I really like SoundJam. It has Shuffle By Album, even so long ago, it still baffles me why Apple never had built in on iOS. | |
| Posted by: KnobsNSwitches on 2020-02-07 06:10:30 One of my old computer collection rules for myself is that everything has to have a purpose or a job...which is really so that I don't just buy All The Old Macs. I have found since my 6500 jukebox my nearby Color Classic isn't doing much. I'm trying to think of a way to use it as a part of my daily routine in my office but I'm at a bit of a loss for it. It can't do anything (visualizer/MP3s) that the 6500 can (it is a Mystic with an Apple IIe card). It needs a job. (i mean, other than looking charming) | |
| Posted by: KnobsNSwitches on 2020-03-09 09:12:29 Recently picked up G4 Cube from another member on here...what a machine! My 17" ADC Studio display that has been sitting around now has a purpose. Only thing that is odd is it works great in 1280x1024 and 640x480, but anything inbetween I get a screen like this:  Now, my memory may be fuzzy, but everymac backs me up, I thought this screen supported 800x600 and 1024x768. Anyone else know? | |
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