Pushing my G4 Cube even FURTHER! The ultimate SSD, and can this thing YouTube?

[@BatsTDK]

The boot chime only works with the official Apple USB speaker amp. During pre-boot there are no USB drivers loaded for third party adapters, only a special one for the Apple adapter. Gotta love that chime!

[@puwazatza]

Maybe the G4 cube triggers the speaker to play built in chime instead of Mac playing it

[@SudosFTW]

as said last video, GeForce 6200 256MB is where to go, find any PC one on eBay that is AGP with both locator slots and have at it with flashing it. You should also re-cap the 6200 when acquired since like the GeForce 4 cards and era FX5200 cards, they do suffer from cap plague issues and the caps will spontaneously go BANG at weird moments if you do. Replacing them with poly caps will ensure long life. As far as a fan goes, you're rubbing on something, I can definitely hear it. Try running both of the slim 80mm fans outside of the machine to see if they're really quiet or not and adjust your brackets as needed. As far as that 4th pillar is concerned, just wrap it a bunch with kapton tape and it'll be insulated from the VRM, that's what I've always seen done. the SSD you chose is fine, but do note it does not have any DRAM cache. any used Samsung PM841 or equivalent OEM-spec 120/128GB mSATA SSD will do you much better in the long run and will definitely be snappier than the one you dropped in there when it comes to doing file transfers and such. This will also be a big thing when it comes to game time, as right now what you have is essentially a big CF card without that cache being there... and that by itself will lead to a few problems down the line. You should also consider looking into the changes that need to be made to the system now that it's running off an SSD, as far as limiting the number of writes you do to it during normal operation. If you want a nicer non-apple-monitor experience you can upgrade your display to something like an HP vs17e, which is a 17" 1280x1024 LCD monitor with built-in sound that doesn't sound all too bad... and clears up desk clutter at the same time. Yes, you lose the two USB ports, but that's something that can be remedied with a USB hub. When I had my cube up, I used a hub velcro'd to the back for flash drives and my iPods and such. (plus, the Epson Stylus Color 888, or the 8-Cubed, the Epson-released printer to go along with the G4 Cube back in those days, like the Epson Stylus Color 900G with the iMac G3.) If you remove the Lithium battery compartment off the motherboard and replace it with a coincell holder, you'll be able to save your PRAM without risk of damaging the board with a lithium battery bomb later on... and there is a good chance that the USB audio adapter will be able to "bong" on boot after the PRAM can actually save itself and tell the boot stuff "HEY! THE SOUND IS OVER HERE!" as the G4 Cube would never bong on the first boot with a new battery either. You wouldn't want the original speakers anyway; After 20 years, the surrounds turn to goop or dust depending on climate, and while they *can* be fixed, it's an arduous process, one because of dust everywhere or goop everywhere, and two because of the size. At some point however, we did have a Harman/Kardon iSub USB subwoofer to go along with the Cube. those plus the original speakers were amazing at the time.

[@ActionRetro]

Wow thank you for all this great information!

[@axi0matic]

If you don't mind the driver surrounds being white rather than black, I believe the speakers for the iMac G4 or DA PM G4 are identical. You could transfer the drivers across. My recollection is that only the original USB audio amp that came with the Cube will 'bong'; any stereo USB audio device will work fine after the OS loads though. The iSub was great. The only problem was that one of the mid-10.5 updates broke compatibility with it. If you stick with Tiger that won't be a problem, obviously. The HK Sound Sticks are functionally similar though, and have no compatibility issues (the v1 with silver stand hoops also used USB IIRC). I've never seen / heard of the Lithium batteries being a time bomb. Usually, it's a case of being amazed that they're still working after 15 years. Cheap to replace too. The 6200 is a good card, but in my experience won't wake from sleep (I flashed the XFX 'WANG' card that everyone recommends). The Cube's drive / fan spins up, but no video output. Not an issue if you won't sleep the Cube (it obviously boots quickly from SSD). I switched to a Radeon 7500 instead, which is a good all-round card for the Cube.

[@sebaschan-uwu]

Why did I read the whole thing

[@taragwendolyn]

First instinct for the "weird clicky" fan is cable management - blades are impinging on a cable somewhere. :)

[@shermanikk]

100% this, the fan was just rubbing against something. Check your clearances.

[@WilliamC24]

I've ended up zip tying cables to the case using one of zip tie mount thingies, I also used a small 3M hook. I installed a new case fan after my previous failed, I used a different connector that was on the other side of the case, and that sometimes hit ONe of my other case fans.

[@Johanniscool]

Put a speaker where the DVD drive was.

[@aegonthedragon7303]

I second this. There is a header on the board I believe.

[@actionads8443]

didn't the prototype had that?

[@jellepetje]

@@actionads8443 The Prototype had a speaker indeed Also the pinout for the speaker is there on production models as well!

[@minecraftcart328]

If you upgraded it to leopard and used leopard WebKit KZbin plays much more smoothly

[@ActionRetro]

Oh good idea

[@stephanemignot100]

Is it secure? TenFourFox has security patches...

[@thenistthedev]

@@stephanemignot100 when you start using operating system that old and connects to the internet you just give up on security

[@asfrflagcommunity966]

@@stephanemignot100 I mean if you don’t use your real daily driver credentials or use the G4 as a daily driver you might as install whatever you want

[@PikaStu666]

Always good to see a "Stuff" folder! Seriously though, you're making me think about upgrading my G4 eMac... it's got a beautiful CRT screen but it could do with being a little bit faster.

[@ActionRetro]

Aw man, an upgraded eMac would be so sweet

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@ActionRetro Speaking of getting an eMac that was my goal back in mid 07 after I had bought an eMac off eBay from a seller who trusted it to UPS to pack, and ship to my door in 2 boxes with all the manuals, keyboard, mouse, extra goodies, etc.., and the UPS goons totally busted the case, and, and cracked the CRT of the eMac rendering it useless, and it took both me, and seller months, along my family attorney getting involved to get our insurance money back on it from UPS. So I've been kind of soured on finding another one online since, and have not come across one local sadly.

[@PikaStu666]

Commodorefan64 Oh man I’m sorry to hear that, they’re great machines and the display is wonderful. Mine is an early model, 700mhz but I maxed out the RAM at 1gb. Dual boots OS9 and OSX 10.4, I use it for retro gaming - old Mac stuff, ScummVM, Dosbox, Win95 and Amiga emulation. An SSD will be the next addition.

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@PikaStu666 I look at it with the old saying shit happens, and we got the insurance money back in the end, so neither of us was out any money, and I guess a small prize is today while out thrifting if found an Apple A1048 keyboard for $5, that I'm in the middle of putting back together while watching KZbin videos lol!

[@Ben333bacc]

@@PikaStu666 Umm really? I ran Win95 on my 1.3 GHz eMac (overclocked) and the emulation was painfully slow. Couldn't run any games other than minesweeper or solitaire AFIK. Felt like Win 95 on a 486 66.

[@TheMalMeninga]

I hate it when I get no bong! Nice video, mate!

[@bobobaba123]

For this one post touching VRM, I would use a bit of kapton tape. Not much, so there's good cooling conditions, but enough for isolating pins from metal.

[@CommodoreFan64]

I was thinking that, or good quality electrical tape, which solved the HDD cable issues in my 13in Macbook Pro Mid-2012, where the cable rubs on the metal/HDD/SSD, si over time causes micro abrasions, then ruins the thin cable, and you have to replace it.

[@amirpourghoureiyan1637]

heat shrink tubing would be a good fit, stays on well and won't fall off like most electrical tape

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@amirpourghoureiyan1637 I honestly did not think about that if you can find some big enough, and long enough.

[@bobobaba123]

@@amirpourghoureiyan1637 I think heat shrink tubing would be too big after shrinking, and whole cube would not slide down in enclosure

[@amirpourghoureiyan1637]

@@bobobaba123 If you cut it to just fit the section that has contacts then it shouldn't rub as much, I don't think they'll be an issue down the line of holes as it shouldn't have anything to pierce it on the VRM board as I believe it's just pads and not pins.

[@emondrag]

I'm loving your channel. You inspired me to get my hands on a very special collection. I have now a Cube, iMac G4, IIe, IIc, Centris, PowerMac 6116, PowerMacs G3, G4, G5 and like 12 vintage laptops. I bought the mSATA adapter you recommended. The laptops are loving them. I didn't know about this desktop 44 pin to 40 pin laptop adapter. I'm glad I saw this video. I also have quite the special monitor collection. Keep up the good work. My SO is not so happy that Netflix got replaced by Action Retro (so I got me another TV).

[@ActionRetro]

🤣 Thanks!

[@MacintoshMen]

Very cool video! Thanks for showing how to disassemble it. I'm actually looking forward to revive my Cube, now that I finally have a power supply for it.

[@ActionRetro]

Thank you!

[@finder1343]

Happy to see yet another video! Love your channel, keep up the good work!

[@ActionRetro]

Thank you, that really means a lot!

[@max-antoined.7240]

A friend in the shape of a cube 🎉

[@sonicunleashedfan124]

Theory: the G4 cube was Valve’s inspiration for the companion cube

[@derkpoortenga]

According to my research, it looks as if the 256 MB NVIDIA GeForce 6200 would work for this build. Supposedly it has to be Re-Flashed. I'll post a link to the article I found in the comments. Hopefully, KZbin doesn't mark it as spam/delete it.

[@derkpoortenga]

everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/faq_cube/power-mac-g4-cube-video-card-hacks-geforce-3-5500-6200-radeon-9000.html

[@derkpoortenga]

web.archive.org/web/20160910080618/cubeowner.com/kbase_2/index.php?article=262

[@max-antoined.7240]

That's sick, hopefully they see this to make the fastest cube ever xD

[@ActionRetro]

Thank you! Very awesome suggestion and I appreciate those links!

[@arthurswart4436]

There used to be a Chinese (of course) seller on Ebay that sold 512 MB cards for the Cube. He sold it for about $ 125 so I let it pass, there might be a few of them in the wild.

[@iCaveDave]

Love all of this! As another huge retro Apple fan with a cube sat on my desk, you have a new subscriber! :)

[@DanaDoesStuff]

Awesome content as always, Sean -- and thanks for the Mac Yak shoutout! We really need to get you back on the show sometime :)

[@ActionRetro]

Thanks Dana, for sure!

[@gundamwang]

About the IDE to SD adapter, be sure the back of it is insulated! I had the same issue, and turned out the back of it was just touching something in the case, causing a short. I've since attached a thin sheet of cardboard to the back via zip ties and it now works just fine!

[@ajslim79]

Kapton Tape should work as well

[@macinjosh2223]

I have always had trouble with KZbin on Ppc. Heck, my ibook g4 800 crashed because of it. Glad to see some people getting it working properly!

[@CommodoreFan64]

I don't have any PPC Macs anymore, but I Wonder if MacTubes would work, as that's what I used on my on my old IMAC G3 Graphite before the CRT popped, and gave me a black screen years back.

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@DistrosProjects Thanks I was not sure, as the last version i saw for download when i looked it up a few minutes ago was from 2012.

[@macinjosh2223]

@@CommodoreFan64 That kinda reminds me of tenfivetube.

[@msthalamus2172]

Generally, SD and CF adapters expect to be the master drive. Did you try making the M.2 drive the slave (if its adapter itself has such a jumper)?

[@adamp9553]

I remember a water-cooled G5 running KZbin videos at a decent speed...it made a lot of noise and drew quite a lot of power.

[@JessicaFEREM]

trying to out-druaga druaga1 i see, so many adapters that it makes your head turn

[@ActionRetro]

🤣🤣🤣

[@blairwigley]

iMac slot loading dvd drives sell for pretty cheap on ebay. I reckon you should try getting one to fit. Even if it's a sata variant there should be room to fit in an adapter.

[@CommodoreFan64]

The Apple Bong is part of why i still use a 13in Macbook Pro Mid-2012 as my main laptop, and work computer, and good see you get this going.

[@AwesumIndustrys]

From what I’ve heard you can re-enable it in new macs through some trickery in the terminal.

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@AwesumIndustrys That might be possible, but since I recently found this Macbook at the recycle center for free with the magsafe charger, and it cost me less than $100 USD to replace the HDD cable, upgrade to 240GB SSD, throw in 8GB of RAM I already had, along with a new battery, and new rubber feet, plus it does everything I need a basic laptop to do on Catalina, then at current I don't see the point in upgrading to a newer machine, so I think I'm going to hold out to see if DosDude releases a patcher for BigSur as it does support metal API, thus giving it full hardware acceleration.

[@nticompass]

And as we all know PCB stands for Pretty Cube Box...

[@ActionRetro]

🤣🤣🤣

[@Skwisgar2322]

I am not familiar with macs, but it is possible the fan header the fan is plugged into has some form of speed control and the system is trying to drive the fan slower then it can spin.

[@CommodoreFan64]

I was thinking that myself, or just not giving the fans the correct voltage?

[@compugod91]

Random thought but could you make the mSata drive the slave with the jumpers on the adapter and then i would guess that the SD to IDE is just always set to be master.

[@amirpourghoureiyan1637]

it could also be a bios restriction, fair to say that Apple isn't known to let people customise their Macs

[@Sithhy]

Dogfish... What a name. Even a better one than Fatty Dove

[@jeremytravis360]

I'm still trying to find time and space to sort out my Vintage Mac collection. I still have three cubes and the extra bits that go with them.

[@FreerunMediaService]

You could check if it makes a difference with the location of the cable. So SSD at the end of the cable and the SD card somewhere on the cable.

[@msthalamus2172]

Is the fan being under-volted? If it's a 12-volt fan, it may have difficulties continuing to spin if the MB reduces voltage to a low enough level. The clicks may be it trying to get past the voltage needed to start spinning again, but not quite getting there.

[@JessicaFEREM]

one thing i learned about bodging electronics, is that you can never go too crazy with capton tape

[@Narayan_1996]

I absolutely don't like Apple things/products, but I like this kind of content (fixing/giving a new life to old tech) and your channel is awesome, thanks for your efforts on each video posted here! ♥

[@sarasifg]

Use the DVD bay as a tissue box! haha

[@QUANTUMJOKER]

I've had some success using jumper-less adapters in the G4 Cube, and found that a jumper-less adapter will default to Master. As such, you should configure the jumpered drive/adapter as Slave. It's strange that your G4 Cube doesn't like to boot with the CF adapter in the second IDE slot, when my Cube boots just fine with this arrangement. My Cube currently has a 128 GB mSATA SSD running 10.4 Tiger and a 128 GB CF card running Mac OS 9.

[@qbaboom917]

Upgrade to Leopard and use the TenFiveTube app as a standalone KZbin video player ... Works surprisingly well at 360p and not too bad at 480p on my G4 1.25 Ghz eMac with 2 Gigs of RAM ...

[@qbaboom917]

forums.macrumors.com/threads/tenfivetube-yet-another-youtube-option.2103937/

[@The-Cosmic-Hobo]

I have a Cube, purchased about 9 years ago with a 1.5Ghz upgrade card. I then managed to get the speakers and amp separately, and then the creme on top - a full HK Sound Sticks USB. I tried moving to SSD, which appeared to work ok, but I was trying to do a fresh instal of OS9, and it would not boot. I then tried a fresh OSX... but it also wouldn't boot. Am guessing the upgrade card needs some extension installed... Need to go digging for information to work it out. Hard when I didn't do the upgrade myself.

[@CasanovaUnlimited]

3:18 What about using ebonite to make a replacement post? Should be insulation enough to prevent any shorting of the VRM electronics.

[@RobTheSquire]

blu-ray drive would be nice if you want to load discs into that cube. and as for that msata drive i have 2 of those in 500gb and they work really well

[@TheMelbournelad]

9:20 *youtuber sips a drink in background* my brain *LTT water bottle LTT store dot com*

[@msthalamus2172]

If physically installing that post does not put strain upon the VRM module or any of its components, you can wrap the post in some substance to prevent conduction. Duct tape or shrink wrap (if any are large enough) come to mind, but I wouldn't use electrical tape as its adhesive tends to break down in heat.

[@ScarlettStunningSpace]

Videos like this are what drive me to tinker with computers of my own

[@RedmondMonk]

I am interested in making a firewire bootable external drive with all the installers on it. how did you do it?

[@ActionRetro]

I'll do a video on it!

[@thenebular]

The Cube may not have a speaker, but it does have a DAC, Amp, and speaker port. They're just not turned on in firmware and used.

[@ForkLiftCertified]

I just subscribed to this awesome 👏 channel. Theses videos are awesome 😎. Thumbs up

[@Tuholainen86]

9:37 FINLAND!!! Suomiii torille sisu sauna perkele ! ! !

[@shickster1]

The system may use the cable select signal. Try swapping the positions of the drives on the cable.

[@peachypeach]

The IDE devices could be on Cable Select, the primary being the closer connector to the motherboard on the cable.

[@Meep3692]

I would want to put a slot loading blu-ray rw in place of the original optical drive just for the over the top nature of it. As for IDE adapters, I use a StarTech adapter for the ssd in my eMac because it's one of the few ide adapters that supports cable select which is what most Macs of that era seem to use. A lot of the cheap adapters are master only which means they won't work for what is presumably slave in the optical drive slot. My StarTech adapter also has a special jumper for optical drives, if you end up wanting to put a newer optical drive in

[@maximcoppieters]

Great video! Take my subscription. Love the music from the time lapses too. I don't know what it is but i shall find it :]

[@maximcoppieters]

Found the music: DJ Freedem - Life After Death

[@domramsey]

I assume you're not turning it on with a CF/SD card in the adaptor, right? Because then it would try to boot from an unbootable device...

[@ActionRetro]

Yeah I tried with and without

[@wk9205]

I had the same problem with my SSD not booting after I installed a new DVD drive. I had to make the SSD a slave and after that it booted without a problem. Check if your IDE adapter on the MSata has a setting for master/slave

[@BlackDragon-xn2ww]

The best thing seen for fan noise vibration is rubber pull mounts they pull thru the mounting holes and secure the fan in place eliminating the need for screws that pull the fan right up against the metal case and all the sounds transfers right into the case that being a new fan it must be this.

[@nticompass]

I may have a DVD drive for the G4 cube. I'll have to check my storage, but I may have one lying around. You can have it if you want, if I can find it.

[@ActionRetro]

Oh man, thank you so much!

[@georgesenda1952]

This is the one computer I want in part so it can go with my Mac Cube aquarium.

[@LazyBunnyKiera]

SD card reader was maybe set to master? maybe you checked that, idk i zoned out with work so i didn't catch everything.

[@Shiunbird]

Yes indeed. Some adapters have the master slave jumper.

[@s8wc3]

If you're just running OSX on this thing, get a Radeon 9600 Pro, if you want OS9, grab a Geforce 2 MX, both are very common, cheap and readily available, there are mac versions of both but you'll be paying for it.

[@bioglassmusic]

external firewire sound module would have worked too. Leaving the USB port clear.

[@arthurswart4436]

It's a USB 1.1 port, you don't want to use that for anything but a keyboard or a sound adapter. The FW port is about 50 times faster.

[@bioglassmusic]

@@arthurswart4436 understandable. being an audio production person I had my motu hooked up to the FW port. Wish I had an SSD back then. Watching it boot up so fast like that made me tear up a little.

[@arthurswart4436]

@@bioglassmusic If you're really suffering, I have a Cube with the same 1.2 GHz upgrade and a 60GB IDE SSD available. I have six Cubes left of the 16 I once had (long story) and I almost never use the 1.2GHz one. I have a dual 450MHz G4 version somewhere as well, it's been in storage for years. That might be a fun project as well.

[@bioglassmusic]

@@arthurswart4436 Definitely fun but I personally don't have time anymore. I've been putting off the m.2 upgrades in my used 2013 and 2015 iMacs as it is. Thanks though. Love watching you do it.

[@Obie327]

Since this cube will be working a lot harder with more modern workloads... Maybe replace ide ribbon cables for rounded sleeve ones? Another idea would be a second tiny fan for heat sink on GPU since the old bulky hard drive is gone. I've noticed massive heat/temp from my old retro builds running more demanding current internet apps. Could the 1.2ghz cpu get a bigger heat sink? I really enjoyed your video Action Retro.

[@jimseibyl5140]

I’m a little late here but I seem to remember that with some OP Sonnet cards, you would loose the boot chime. I just got a cube and it has the Sonnet proc, same one, and doesn’t chime with the original speakers. Sound is fine otherwise. I have new foam baffles in the way for those speakers so will get them cleaned up.

[@JerichoKru]

That fan noise is most likely a cable or something touching the fan blades. Fix it asap before you shave whatever cable that is away.

[@KipVaughan]

The DVD was one of the neatest parts how it elegantly slid up from the top. I wish Apple had a modern version of that with Blu-ray / 4K discs! I HATE my ultra loud blu-ray drive I have to use now that they took disc drives out and of course Blu-ray / 4K discs remain the best way to watch movies.

[@LellePrinter82]

Pioneer did a slot-in dvd-drive, and maybe a burner too? Don't know if the drive will line up with the slot on the top though. Or maybe if it's possible to mod a laptop slot-in dvd-drive to fit. U should also consider replacing the clock-battery if it doesn't work.

[@TheDustin151]

I was looking at these cubes on eBay and there are some broken ones that are pretty cheap you could buy for parts. Maybe the DVD drive works in those and the fan and you will have a parts computers.

[@maximcoppieters]

It kind of was the trashcan mac pro but then prettier. Do these cubes have an IR receiver? Or was this from before the Front Row days?

[@joltdude]

Standoffs to connect part of the other side to the original HD screwholes?

[@BlackFoxInc]

Try running the mobile version of KZbin. Tested it on a few old machines and it works miracles. You might need to use Mobile View Switcher with the user-agent for Edge mobile or something similar.

[@williamrogers5367]

Yay! Putting in an SSD!

[@vjnobody]

There's a jumper on that msata adaptor :)

[@draggonhedd]

the dvd drive is the same as the slot loader imacs iirc so i wouldn't sweat that too much if you actually wanted to go that route. For the Video card, There are a number of options, just do some research

[@koztech]

Perhaps the SD reader has solder points where there would normally be jumpers? You know them Chinese manufacturers, if they can save .003 cents they will ha ha! But if so you could either a) bridge them with solder or b) solder on actual header pins.

[@greebo7857]

4:30 I guess it's not going to matter, but that HDD was supposed to have its own heatsink.

[@azumono]

If you use PPCMC you should be able to play butter smooth youtube through quicktime on the cube. I can do fullscreen 360p on my 667mhz G4 TiBook!

[@cirava]

That USB adapter is also great for turning a separate microphone and headphone jack into one USB port.

[@gaborenyedi637]

The fan is definitely hitting something with the blades. try to move it outside and check if the sound disappears.

[@TheHouseOfMoth]

Sweet upgrades!

[@ActionRetro]

Thanks man!

[@toobisgoobis7753]

I have had lots of trouble with these same mSata to IDE adapters. Have had 2 of them die in the last few months on vintage macs. Just beware.

[@amirpourghoureiyan1637]

I think SD-IDE adapters are the way to go, a lot easier and cheaper to get than full blown SSDs. Especially since they've got well-known brands making the SD cards unlike most mSATA drives.

[@deneb_tm]

@@amirpourghoureiyan1637 Most SD cards are really not designed to be used as OS drives and they're going to wear out pretty quickly running anything more or less modern. Can't speak for how OS X 10.5 would fare, but it's something to keep in mind.

[@axi0matic]

You need to use a good quality model. The modern Startech ones use a decent chipset - I've found other ones don't wake from sleep properly.

[@rrcoster]

Cool see new life to old G4 Cube to bad i can't find any G4 cpu upgrades seem pretty hard find now for my factory G4 cube 450

[@fxckrio]

ngl id love to see impossible cat on this

[@aaronburns2858]

id love to build an itx 10900k rx5700xt hackintosh in one of those cases

[@jdmcs]

At one point, putting Apple's Radeon 9700 card in the G4 Cube was the "ultimate" video upgrade. (I'm not sure if a mod is required to the card, only that I sold an Apple Radeon 9700 card back in the day to someone who was going to do just that.) However, that card seems to be unobtanium these days. Perhaps flashing a PC version of the Radeon 9800 would be the best video upgrade for your cube... just not sure how you're going to power it.

[@trevorhaddox6884]

Iphone 7: no dongle, no sound! turn of the millenium mac: already had that... It truly was less for more, just like Apple today.

[@DesignTechie]

Looking back at this design it’s almost like apple engineering said let’s rake an open test bench and make it a closed computer sculpture

[@steaker-gi9uw]

With the hard drive removed you’d actually be getting worse airflow. You’ll want to install something to block that open area and make sure air only goes through the heatsink. Ive also had some terrible luck with the current eBay ide to SD adapters. I got one a year or two ago that’s an older revision of the chipset used and it works amazingly. But the new ones will either not work at all once formatted as APM, or will work but will randomly freeze for between a few seconds to a few hours at a time.

[@xPLAYnOfficial]

I think you can get an IDE passthrough that has a master/slave switch, and of course Amazon sells some all-in-one parts, too. Heck, I would put a quick-release drive bay so you can swap 2.5" drives in and out of the system. Heck, if you go *really* nuts, I have a project coming up where you can get a video card through USB 3.0, and I think FireWire is decently close in terms of speeds, so you can always fill that empty space with that as well.

[@axi0matic]

FireWire 400 is much closer to USB 2.0 in terms of throughput. Also, no OS that runs on the Cube supports running a GPU over FireWire. And I've never heard of a FW to AGP bridge. There are USB video cards, but the Cube only has USB 1.0, so this would run dog slow. Also, those types of GPUs are OK for adding 2D screens, but offer no 3D real acceleration. Where would the quick-release drive bay go? There's no openings in the top or bottom to accommodate it (you won't get a 2.5" drive through an optical drive slot). There may be some merit in setting the HDD / SSD to run as Slave (if OS X will then boot off it). This might then allow the SD card adapter (which appears to be hard-wired as Master) to work.

[@phgodts]

I have an idea which includes a mini usb sound card, a 5V PAM8403 amplifier, a low profile 2" speaker, a 3D printer and that extra space from the SSD swap :)

[@frankwalder3608]

You should put a double layer DVD-RW in the optical slot.

[@arnorobinwerkman]

cant you mount a slot loading dvd drive in there from a powerbook?

[@xnonsuchx]

I've plugged a number of USB audio devices that only mention Windows compatibility for them in my G4 Mac mini (1.42GHz/1GB RAM/180GB HDD/SuperDrive) w/ Tiger and they end up working just fine.

[@keithgreene5573]

Older video, comments that I have seen address the oddies of IDE cables. But one thread out their mentioned. Power for the secondary ide card. Another was which cable? IDE still had funkyness with twisted cable. Ata 66 100 133. Oh the good old days before Sata with serial cables. Oh wait wasnt serial one of the first.... Nevermind.😅

[@pgknippel]

I wasn't able to read ALL the comments, @Action Retro, so forgive me if this has been suggested: if the cable select is the issue, can your M.2 boot from the DVD's SATA port? Then the next "obvious" question: can the now-free SATA port be stocked with another M.2 for a RAID 0 boot disk?? You know...."because".

[@ActionRetro]

😮 I love it

[@pgknippel]

PS: Loving the mission you're on here, @@ActionRetro ....bravo!

[@yafflehk]

IDE to USB in the DVD slot?

[@deathcube2006]

Since you got space in the dvd bay, why not install the usb sound there, and put the sound output there

[@ActionRetro]

Nice idea!

[@TheJuggtron]

Do you need a firewire drive to boot those installers? Have a dead G4 cube I'd like to bring back but I also have no way of resurrecting my G5 tower if it dies.

[@markadcock7491]

Your Cube may run hotter with the 3.5" hard drive removed. The air flow, through the CPU heatsink, might be less than it would be if the drive space was filled. The open space where the drive was may also eliminate any benefit from the fan. In the past, when modding Macs, I have had to create shrouds to direct the airflow through heatsinks to keep things from overheating. Think of this like the clear plastic shroud in the PowerMac G5 towers, without this installed the air flows around the CPU heatsinks instead of through them.

[@pgdmed]

That speed would drive me nuts

[@continentalglue]

hold option and select the SSD if it’s going to try to boot to the CF card by default

[@silverburn55]

I think you've put the fan in the wrong way; should blow up through the chassis, not down out the bottom.

[@DrakeDaraitis]

PC fans pull through the open side and exhaust through the side with the cross.

[@UpLateGeek]

I dunno, feels a bit janky with the SSD mounted to the bracket with a single screw. I just bought a SSD and IDE adapter for my eMac, and I'll definitely be mounting it using a 2.5-3.5" bracket. I also just bought an external firewire drive, so it'd be cool if you could make a video tutorial on how to make a drive like yours with all those images on it. I've found an article on how to do it, but it'd be good to see a video showing the process. For the master/slave settings, it's controlled by pin 28 on the IDE connector. If it's grounded then it'll be master, floating for slave. Usually the host controller will ground pin 28, so just plug in the SD card reader and check if pin 28 has continuity to ground, if so you should be able to cut the trace going to pin 28 on the card reader and it should then be set to slave. Anyway, it's nice to see this project progressing. The USB sound is a nice touch, just need to get that fan sorted and video card upgraded! My only other suggestion for the slot-loading drive bay would be to hack in a laptop DVD drive. From a bit of Googling, I believe an Apple 678-0524A or 678-0563A (which are currently available on eBay) should work with a JAE adapter like this one: www.ebay.com/itm/262283714242

[@yogadebra]

I wonder if you work individually with subscribers to refresh old systems? I have a dumpster find G4 iMac that I have pushed to leopard. I’m thinking of resetting it and am fearful to lose all that I have done. I have no install disks and could really use some expert advice. Please let me know if you are up for assisting me. Thanks!

[@georgeh6856]

A facial tissue dispenser should go in the DVD slot. I know, the tissues are supposed to come out of the middle where the ventilation slots are. But you could still have a tissue sticking up through the DVD slot and confuse your guests. Is it a tissue holder? Is it a computer? Yes. Just be careful about the tissues heating up and spontaneously combusting, which would kind of defeat the entire project. You should also dual-purpose the Mac Pro trash can into both a computer and an actual trash can.

[@xero110]

USB soundcard link? Thanks.

[@ActionRetro]

Sorry! amzn.to/339RJS9

[@xero110]

@Action Retro It's OK. I have noticed that a lot of people on KZbin say they will. link something and forget. I enjoy your videos keep them coming.

[@ActionRetro]

Thank you!

[@CommodoreFan64]

You should be able to use any USB sound card in Mac 8.1, or above(same in Win98se, and above, same with Linux kernel 3.xx above, and Chrome/Chromium OS that's based on Gentoo Linux) that uses the common HD Audio standard, and maybe the older AC97 standard works as well but I don't have any of those to test. they are even cheaper to get off eBay if you don't have Amazon Prime shipping. ebay.to/3i7PJOl

[@JessicaFEREM]

I'm sure you could mount the card reader with a mountain of blue tack