Re: Beating a dead horse? - Flashing PC video cards for a Power Mac
On Dec 6, 12:58 am, Justin The Cynical cyni...@penguinness.org wrote: On 12/5/10 12:03 PM, Clark Martin wrote: The type of RAM probably only indicates the version of the card. The usual problem with flashing a card with Mac firmware is that the flash ROM isn't big enough to take the Mac firmware. To which I have seen reduced ROM's as the 'solution' to this, which sometimes works, sometimes not. Right now, the best idea seems to be looking at what is left of the wiki's and info from the various sites and see if I can get lucky and find one of the confirmed working cards on ebay or some place similar. Well, you can always replace the Flash chip. The things are just 8 pin SOICs, which are a little awkward to work with, but really not that difficult. And they cost about $2 each. Once you have one of large enough capacity on board, flash it with whatever firmware will do the trick. When modifying the R7000 I used to pre-program the Flash chips with a chip programmer before soldering them on. That bypassed the entire flashing process, or at least ensured that I could flash them on a Mac without any hassles. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: Beating a dead horse? - Flashing PC video cards for a Power Mac
On 12/4/10 6:43 PM, dc wrote: I recently brought my old 733 Digital Audio back to life. Currently it's sporting a modified 5200 from a G5, but after digging in my parts pile, I've found a 9600XT from Sapphire. If the VRAM chips (there should be 4 of them on the fan side of the card) are square it can probably be flashed, if they are rectangular it cannot be flashed for a Mac. If it looks like it may be compatible the info on themacelite website is still good. Looking at the card I have handy, it's not BGA RAM, so by the wiki, it's not compatible. I don't know if the incompatibility is because the ROM can't deal with the different RAM type or it's just speed, in which case there are tools to slow down the speed the ROM tells the card to use. That's one of the questions that I can't seem to find an answer for. Any insight? -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: Beating a dead horse? - Flashing PC video cards for a Power Mac
On Dec 5, 2010, at 4:30 AM, Justin The Cynical wrote: If the VRAM chips (there should be 4 of them on the fan side of the card) are square it can probably be flashed, if they are rectangular it cannot be flashed for a Mac. If it looks like it may be compatible the info on themacelite website is still good. Looking at the card I have handy, it's not BGA RAM, so by the wiki, it's not compatible. I don't know if the incompatibility is because the ROM can't deal with the different RAM type or it's just speed, in which case there are tools to slow down the speed the ROM tells the card to use. That's one of the questions that I can't seem to find an answer for. Any insight? The type of RAM probably only indicates the version of the card. The usual problem with flashing a card with Mac firmware is that the flash ROM isn't big enough to take the Mac firmware. Clark Martin Redwood City, CA, USA Macintosh / Internet Consulting I'm a designated driver on the Information Super Highway -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: Beating a dead horse? - Flashing PC video cards for a Power Mac
On 12/5/10 12:03 PM, Clark Martin wrote: The type of RAM probably only indicates the version of the card. The usual problem with flashing a card with Mac firmware is that the flash ROM isn't big enough to take the Mac firmware. To which I have seen reduced ROM's as the 'solution' to this, which sometimes works, sometimes not. Right now, the best idea seems to be looking at what is left of the wiki's and info from the various sites and see if I can get lucky and find one of the confirmed working cards on ebay or some place similar. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: Beating a dead horse? - Flashing PC video cards for a Power Mac
On 12/3/10 9:23 PM, Bill Connelly wrote: On Dec 4, 2010, at 12:04 AM, Justin The Cynical wrote: It's been a while since I looked into this, and I'm not finding much now. . So, does anyone know of an active site, IRC channel, or even still have the info for doing this? *snip* Hope this isn't too much at once ... I'm still trying to read through it once in awhile. Not at all, some of those I have seen, others are new to me. Good info. Another forum that deals with this subject is http://www.cubeowner.com/forums/index.php?showforum=28. Of course, as it's a cube owner's forum, it doesn't cover the larger range of cards out there, just the ones that will fit in a cube. I used to read the strangedogs site back when it wasn't actually a site of pictures of strange dogs, but sadly, it seems to have gone away and I can't find any archives for it. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: Beating a dead horse? - Flashing PC video cards for a Power Mac
On Dec 3, 2010, at 9:04 PM, Justin The Cynical wrote: Looking around on google, I'm only finding old and apparently abandoned web sites, if they even exist any longer and not much in the way of archives on archive.org So, does anyone know of an active site, IRC channel, or even still have the info for doing this? It would appear that the hackers who were formerly active in hacking PC video cards for use on G4 (and other PPC) Macs have moved on to hacking MacOS itself to run on unmodified PC hardware. Some of these folks are in developing countries where gen-u-wine Apple hardware is non-existent, or it costs several year's wages. Russia is one place where such hacking is going on. Also Argentina. Here in the USA, hacking is going on, too, with some significant efforts in the installation and customization areas. The goal has always been to boot MacOS X on PC hardware with MacOS itself being unmodified. Even to the extent of using an unmodified retail installation DVD. This has largely been achieved, most notably through utilization of the EFI partition which is a functional part of any Intel-based PC or Mac, but which partition is unused by MacOS X. The PC's second and subsequent stage boot loaders are placed there, in this hidden partition, each phase of which contributes to the eventual hand-off to MacOS X itself. It used to be that loads of mods were necessary to the contents of the /System/Extensions folder, but even these mods have been all but eliminated. Most of the operational mods are now in a new /Extra folder, which MacOS X ignores, and the DSDT is contained there, along with, usually, four extensions which are involved in kernel decrypting, sound and networking support. For installation, there is no MacOS X environment, so that part is simulated using a RAMDISK concept borrowed from Linux. The stuff which would be in the EFI partition and the /Extra folder are in the RAMDISK, and the MacOS X Installer just goes merrily on its way creating an instance of MacOS X on the target hard drive. The just-installed MacOS X is booted for the first time, also using the RAMDISK, and then the EFI partition and the /Extra folder are created by a special application. The next and all subsequent boots are as if the PC really was a Mac. I suppose this is not too unlike the original developer's hardware, from back in the first public beta of 10.4.8, which was presumably on an Intel motherboard without the TPM support. Indeed, PC motherboards are now available with TPM support, but that does no one any good as the decryption key is missing. No matter as it is rather easy to decrypt the MacOS X kernel using software, and once decrypted, it need not be decrypted again, at least not until the MacOS X system is again rebooted. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: Beating a dead horse? - Flashing PC video cards for a Power Mac
I recently brought my old 733 Digital Audio back to life. Currently it's sporting a modified 5200 from a G5, but after digging in my parts pile, I've found a 9600XT from Sapphire. If the VRAM chips (there should be 4 of them on the fan side of the card) are square it can probably be flashed, if they are rectangular it cannot be flashed for a Mac. If it looks like it may be compatible the info on themacelite website is still good. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Beating a dead horse? - Flashing PC video cards for a Power Mac
It's been a while since I looked into this, and I'm not finding much now. I recently brought my old 733 Digital Audio back to life. Currently it's sporting a modified 5200 from a G5, but after digging in my parts pile, I've found a 9600XT from Sapphire. Looking around on google, I'm only finding old and apparently abandoned web sites, if they even exist any longer and not much in the way of archives on archive.org So, does anyone know of an active site, IRC channel, or even still have the info for doing this? -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: Beating a dead horse? - Flashing PC video cards for a Power Mac
On Dec 4, 2010, at 12:04 AM, Justin The Cynical wrote: It's been a while since I looked into this, and I'm not finding much now. . So, does anyone know of an active site, IRC channel, or even still have the info for doing this? I'd be interested in what folks have to offer, too. I'd like an AGP PC card to flash for my AGP Macs that would allow support for a 30 LCD monitor at 2560x1600. I have a Quicksilver 2002 Dual 1GHz and a Digital Audio Dual 533. I believe it would need to have a Dual Link DVI port. One site reference for flashing cards I have is: http://themacelite.wikidot.com/compatibility and its links within the site. Another refers to itself as the Golden Guide: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=877441 See here for DVI discussion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface and http://www.pacificcable.com/DVI_Tutorial.htm Another, somewhat difficult to read: http://xenomorph.net/apple/flashpccards/ Yet another: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=398935 Graphicaccelerator is located here: http://thomas.perrier.name/graphiccelerator.html Hope this isn't too much at once ... I'm still trying to read through it once in awhile. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
