On Thursday, May 27, 2004, at 10:59 AM, Brian Braunschweiger wrote:
First, where is slot F1? Is this an upgradeable slot like the PCI slots? The video connection seems to be wired into the motherboard but there is a slot next to the three RAM slots I couldn't figure out the purpose for.
The F1 slot refers to the built-in graphics chip, which is part of the motherboard. Although
it is identified as a "Mach 64," it is actually a ATI Rage II. (The Rev. 2 & 3 motherboards
have the ATI Rage Pro chip set instead.)
The G3's have 2 megs of VRAM on the motherboard, and a RAM slot for adding a 4 meg module. As
yours already has 6 megs, its already been upgraded.
Beside the three PCI slots, there is a custom slot (called a PERCH slot) for the Personality
card. Most G3's have an Audio/Video card in this slot. There are three versions of the
Personality Card, (with the cards for the AIO versions having an extra internal connector
for passing the video to the internal monitor).
The basic Personality Card offered audio output, a microphone port and modem slot. If
your card doesn't already have a modem plugged into it, I would suggest getting an external
modem and plugging it into the serial port. (If the port is plugged, just remove the cap.)
More advanced cards offered video input and even DVD, however, these features are not
supported under OS X. (I believe the DVD version also needed the Rev. 3 motherboard.)
Second, what video options will work for this machine? If nothing else I will probably move my VooDoo 3 2000 card from the 7600 to the Beige G3 when I am ready to make the transition. I would need to free up a PCI slot. If I wanted to spring for another one I could get the 32 meg Radeon PCI card or the 64 meg Radeon card. Anything else I should be considering?
Almost all the video/DVD features of the advanced Personality cards/built-in graphics chips
have been surpassed by PCI cards. Getting a Radeon PCI card, with allow you play DVD's using
patched Player software (if you choose to add a DVD drive). Also, you could use the Radeon
and built-in graphics together for a dual monitor system.
The G3's have built-in ethernet, so if you don't need the 10/100 ethernet, you could swap it
out for the Radeon (or Voodoo).
I have no experience with the Apple SCSI card nor the ATTO Express SCSI Pro. However, the
motherboard also has a SCSI interface and two ATA interfaces. If your not going to be using
the G3 as a server, you might consider swapping out one of the SCSI PCI cards, but most likely
both have better features than the onboard ATA/SCSI options. (Check to see if either card is
wide-SCSI, or emulates SCSI using ATA hard drives.)
Finally, I would be glad for any general suggestions or warnings as I work through this issue.
The revision "A" ROMs of the Rev. 1 motherboards lack support for ATA "slave" devices connected
through the built-in ATA interfaces of the motherboard. You're limited to one device per ATA
chain/connector. This can be fixed by upgrading to rev. "B" ROMs. But this option is not
needed if you continue to use the HDs through the PCI cards.
Also, consider a USB/Firewire PCI card. Or even one of the USB/FireWire/ATA combo cards. They
would give you access to a wider range of modern devices (printers, mice, storage, etc.)
If you decide to upgrade to OS X, the built-in ATA interfaces have a quirk which prevents
booting OS X from HDs larger than 8-Megs. You can still boot from an 8-meg partition but
only if its within the first 8-megs of drive space. (I believe PCI HD cards don't have
this limit, but not all cards/revisions can be used with OS X.)
- Ron.
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