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| Announcing broadATX for Mac II, IIx, and IIfx | |
Posted by: cjtmacclassic on 2023-07-28 11:25:11
broadATXb r o a d ATX for Macintosh II, IIx, and IIfx broadATX is the latest product from Anserine Machines, and aims to provide the same ease of use as our original beigeATX. broadATX was designed specifically for the Macintosh II, IIx, and IIfx series as a drop-in upgrade. It permits a suitable*...
anserine.co
Hello everyone, I'm pleased to announce that my latest project, broadATX, is now available at the Anserine Machines store. broadATX is a simple, drop-in adapter for the original Macintosh II/IIx/IIfx series that adds support for ATX power supplies, no soldering required. broadATX supports the the original soft power implementation on systems with undamaged startup circuits. For those with existing soft power issues, a set of 'Force' pins are exposed. These trigger the ATX supply directly, and the supply will remain active so long as they are bridged.  broadATX ships fully assembled and ready to install from St. Louis MO. Thanks to everyone who purchased a beigeATX in the past - your support enables projects just like this. | |
| Posted by: ObeyDaleks on 2023-07-28 13:03:38 Nice! Bought it. | |
| Posted by: CC_333 on 2023-07-28 23:48:53 Using the force option, would this allow a MacII/IIx/IIfx to boot without operable PRAM batteries? c | |
| Posted by: MrFahrenheit on 2023-07-29 04:34:57 I have a Macintosh II that won’t power up the normal way. I bought it on eBay and the seller said it boots with a jumpstart paperclip method, and I’ve never tried it. Something to do with touching a power lead to something else (the metal case?). Is that what you’re “force” does ? | |
Posted by: cjtmacclassic on 2023-07-29 04:52:14I have a Macintosh II that won’t power up the normal way. I bought it on eBay and the seller said it boots with a jumpstart paperclip method, and I’ve never tried it. Something to do with touching a power lead to something else (the metal case?).Very nearly, but with nuance: The “paper clip” method generally refers to shorting two pins of the original, Apple-shipped PSU. That particular PSU is supposed to be triggered by a positive voltage from the motherboard - this is where electrolytic leaks and battery corrosion come into the picture. The motherboard may not be able to trigger startup as a result, so you bring the 5v trigger voltage directly where it needs to go to fool the PSU - with a paper clip. The force pins on broadATX are further up the hierarchy so to speak. These pins trigger the new, off the shelf PSU to be used directly, by grounding the PS_ON pin of the supply when shorted, rather than going through the usual inverter circuit. Obviously, I suggest doing everything possible to remedy the affected circuits before using the force option, but I have been using force-start on a IIcx for many months without issue. Edit: The II series is unusual in that the voltage doesn’t come from a 5v standby rail, but a pair of batteries. That’s why the force option acts on the ATX side, but still allows ‘intact’ motherboards to use soft power normally. | |
Posted by: Phipli on 2023-07-29 04:55:36I have a Macintosh II that won’t power up the normal way. I bought it on eBay and the seller said it boots with a jumpstart paperclip method, and I’ve never tried it. Something to do with touching a power lead to something else (the metal case?).I believe you need to apply 3.6 to 5V to the "/PWF" pin on the power connector to force start your stock PSU, by putting a battery (or other power source) with the negative terminal to gnd and the ~5V to the "/PWF" pin. The pinout is here :  | |
Posted by: cjtmacclassic on 2023-07-29 04:59:46Using the force option, would this allow a MacII/IIx/IIfx to boot without operable PRAM batteries?That is the case, yes. The ATX supply is activated directly. You can even solder a switch and leads to the pads if you choose to go battery-free. I installed one in an expansion slot.  | |
Posted by: Phipli on 2023-07-29 05:02:36I have a Macintosh II that won’t power up the normal way. I bought it on eBay and the seller said it boots with a jumpstart paperclip method, and I’ve never tried it. Something to do with touching a power lead to something else (the metal case?).Basically this, where you can use any gnd pin between 7 and 12 (or gnd else where on the machine).  | |
| Posted by: Byrd on 2023-07-29 16:05:55 Looks good, can you please show a pic of a setup inside a II case? | |
| Posted by: plb007 on 2023-08-06 08:21:49 Any chance to order those outside USA ? (EU ?). Have plenty of old psu dying and recapping does not always fix the problem. | |
| Posted by: fsmith2003 on 2023-08-09 12:14:18 I am interested in one of these but it shows sold out on the site. Will these be back in stock anytime soon? I am not far from St Louis. I could either pick up in person or have it shipped. | |
| Posted by: cjtmacclassic on 2023-08-09 20:58:23 Hi - I caught a last minute production issue and I'm currently in the process of getting reworked boards sent out to affected customers. I'll have them back in stock within a week. | |
| Posted by: LazarusNine on 2023-08-17 10:35:38 When the time comes, do you have any plans to add these to your eBay site for possible international delivery? I recognise you may want a certain amount of domestic orders first to make that worth your while. It’s just that you have another interested buyer across the pond! All the best. | |
| Posted by: cjtmacclassic on 2023-08-19 08:50:53 Hey everyone. Just wanted to announce that the redesigned boards have been received, assembled, washed, and tested. Just got back from the post office - everyone who purchased a first revision now has a replacement on the way. The past 2 weeks have been something of a blur, so I'll be pausing for a moment to restock materials for both beigeATX and broadATX. When the time comes, do you have any plans to add these to your eBay site for possible international delivery? I recognise you may want a certain amount of domestic orders first to make that worth your while. It’s just that you have another interested buyer across the pond! All the best.I intend to if beigeATX shows a similar demand in the internationally, but would prefer to make some domestic sales first, yes. So far I've received a few messages regarding international orders, so the outlook is favorable. In the meantime, there are currently 10 available for domestic sale. To everyone who has ordered within the past week: Thank you for your exceptional patience, I'll be dispatching your orders the moment materials are available (and the post office is open). | |
| Posted by: MrFahrenheit on 2023-08-21 08:53:22 @cjtmacclassic Thank you so much for making these and offering them. I look forward to receiving my order and trying it out on my Mac II. | |
| Posted by: cjtmacclassic on 2023-08-22 16:08:27 I hope it serves you well! I've just added temporary instructions on the site at https://anserine.co/blogs/instructions/broadatx-quick-start (Photos coming soon) If you've placed an order over the weekend, your orders have now been shipped. I will continue to take new orders, but they will backordered until at least the 25th while I restock inventory. | |
| Posted by: SmokelessJoe on 2026-01-01 23:00:40 Are these still available? If not, can the plans (pcb gerbers, schematics, etc) be made available? I get a “page not found” when trying to go to http://anserine.co/, and I get a “user not found” when I click on the eBay store link. I hope cjtmacclassic is okay. | |
| Posted by: LaPorta on 2026-01-02 03:06:11 I'd get in on this, too...not sure how I missed this thing. | |
| Posted by: Joopmac on 2026-01-02 08:36:09 I'd love to build a IIfx PSU with a HDPlex GaN 250w PSU, i love these things. I even run my LIsa's on them. Also for the Q950, this conversion would be on my list. | |
| Posted by: cjtmacclassic on 2026-01-19 19:33:50 Hi everyone - I’m sorry for dropping off the face of the earth. Long story short, I changed jobs and more or less fell out of the hobby. Running a Shopify store was simply too much overhead at the margins I can build and sell these at, and as for the eBay store, I changed my seller name to anserinelabs - I picked my old username when I was a teenager and dinosaurs still walked the earth, and wanted something a little less clunky. I have many blank PCBs ready to be populated, but only enough components in stock to build out 2 at the moment. I’ll get them assembled, and if they sell, I’ll add some more inventory. Unfortunately, it’s nigh impossible to find the KK series connectors for the Mac II side from anyone but molex, which are not terribly economical even in bulk orders. Further, I have to do a machining operation on each one to make them usable - the original Apple part doesn’t have the engagement/retention features that the currently available parts do. It doesn’t affect the electrical integrity; the connectors mate very snugly without them. I could use a belt sander but this method is cleaner and more precise. eBay will now be my primary storefront. I’ll have an update for you when they’re built and ready to ship. Thank you all for your interest and patience, and I sincerely apologize for any worry I’ve caused. | |
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