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Project PC/Mac Hybrid!!!

M

Metallica_Band

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 23, 2002
Messages
3,437
Hey there...I was sitting here thinking to myself and I had an idea...I've wanted to have a Mac computer...even tho I don't like/prefer Macs over PC's I still want one just for the experiance...so I started looking at the prices and OMFG!!! They are so damn expensive...don't even come with a monitor...at least the one's I was looking at didn't...

ANYWAYS I had a thought...what if I could build/mod a Mac INSIDE a PC case??? The only problem is where to find the pieces to build a complete Mac...I don't want to buy a whole one tho if at all possible...are there places that sell Mac parts???

What about a G4 or a G5??? I can build a PC easily enuff...If I can't find all the pieces for a Mac then I might have to just buy me one and take the pieces out and mod them into a PC...

How hard (if possible) would this be??? I want to have it so I can run a PC and a Mac at the same time whie using 1 case, 1 mouse, 1 keyboard, and 1 monitor...I could use a KVM switch for the last three

I JUST now thought of this idea and haven't started really thinking about all the parts and where I'd get them yet...What do you ppl think about this project??? Will a custom built Mac be able to run Mac software and OS like normal??? Any help would be appreciated...THANX
C'YA ?:-D

EDIT: BTW...if you have or know anyone that has some spare Mac parts that would be compatable with a G4 that doesn't need it or would like to sell it for a cheap price then tell me....I just might want it
 
I would just look for a used G3 PPC 350-400MHz box. Its still a good computer for running basic mac apps, and with enough RAM it will run OS X no prob. It won't be too expensive anymore either. You might also want to try the "Apple" section, or a nice Moderator would move the thread for you.

Like this one, i guess
 
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you generally can't build one, at least, not for less that you could buy one.
 
I know for sure there's a program for Macs called Virtual PC. Don't know if there's a Virtual Mac for PCs, could look for it on Google .
 
Apple doesn't want anyone to build Macs so they don't sell the parts. You should just buy a used one and strip it for your mod.
 
Originally posted by buzzard34
I know for sure there's a program for Macs called Virtual PC. Don't know if there's a Virtual Mac for PCs, could look for it on Google .
Click to expand...

The trick with Virtual PC, is that you have to pay for the license of the OS you buy with it/that comes with it, so its generally pretty expensive.
 
Originally posted by Iconz1
I would just look for a used G3 PPC 350-400MHz box. Its still a good computer for running basic mac apps, and with enough RAM it will run OS X no prob. It won't be too expensive anymore either. You might also want to try the "Apple" section, or a nice Moderator would move the thread for you.

Like this one, i guess
Click to expand...

You probably won't be able to find parts. Also I would not buy a G3 at all. YOu will want at least a G4. Using a G3 would make you cry.
 
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^^^I wasn't saying that he should buy parts and build one. I was saying get a used complete system. There are at least 20 on ebay, and believe it or not, a G3 is not that bad when it comes to internet explorer and office. Its not like he would use it for gaming...at least I hope not. With 512MB RAM, it would be fine, and they are all SCSI too.
 
Hey...I was browsing around and found a G4 CPU...maybe there are some other places like this that I could buy parts for...

What hardware are Macs picky about??? Like memory...I know that any RAM would work for a Mac...not ANY ram...I could get some Corsair or Crucial ram...that should work with it from what I can tell...

are there any hardware specific things that Macs HAVE to have...like hardware made specifically for Macs...you get what I mean???

I will need a sound card, hard drive (I don't see anything special about Mac HDD's and regular HDD's), video card (again...don't see anything special about them...I should be able to get a regular ATI card), motherboard, PSU, keyboard/mouse (don't see anything special about them either)...any case (with some modding) should work...I'll grab that $20 case on the Hot Deals section

HERE'S the CPU I found...click on PRICING and tell me what the difference between all those G4 CPU's are...there's an:

SG4-800-2M
SG4-1000-2M
SG4-1200-2M
SG4-1400-2M

there's also some SGC-Kit..anyone know what these are all about??? THANX
C'YA ?:-D
 
There was one company that was selling mac parts or building macs from parts or something... I wonder what happened to them..?

~Adam
 
No, last I read was that the G4 agp slot was weirdly messed with so nothing else can run in it... I could be wrong though.. appl is bad about this kinda stuff I bet all of the stuff you mentioned can't be upgraded unless you go through apple.

~Adam
 
Originally posted by Metallica_Band
Hey...I was browsing around and found a G4 CPU...maybe there are some other places like this that I could buy parts for...

What hardware are Macs picky about??? Like memory...I know that any RAM would work for a Mac...not ANY ram...I could get some Corsair or Crucial ram...that should work with it from what I can tell...

are there any hardware specific things that Macs HAVE to have...like hardware made specifically for Macs...you get what I mean???

I will need a sound card, hard drive (I don't see anything special about Mac HDD's and regular HDD's), video card (again...don't see anything special about them...I should be able to get a regular ATI card), motherboard, PSU, keyboard/mouse (don't see anything special about them either)...any case (with some modding) should work...I'll grab that $20 case on the Hot Deals section

HERE'S the CPU I found...click on PRICING and tell me what the difference between all those G4 CPU's are...there's an:

SG4-800-2M
SG4-1000-2M
SG4-1200-2M
SG4-1400-2M

there's also some SGC-Kit..anyone know what these are all about??? THANX
C'YA ?:-D
Click to expand...

Those are speeds, most likely...

You are going to have a hard time finding a mobo.
 
Originally posted by CleanSlate
No, last I read was that the G4 agp slot was weirdly messed with so nothing else can run in it... I could be wrong though.. appl is bad about this kinda stuff I bet all of the stuff you mentioned can't be upgraded unless you go through apple.

~Adam
Click to expand...

It's a normal AGP slot, the PC cards fit fine, but you'll have to have the apple bios on the card (boot off of PCI in a PC, flash, move it to the apple).
 
OK...I am trying to figure out how to fit TWO mobo's (PC & Mac) in ONE case...I had a brilliant idea...but it come with a few new problems which I might be able to get around...here's my idea:

OK...So I am going to need an even BIGGER case than what I have now (look at the case in my sig)...I was thinking that I could get two mobo trays and mod them so they would fit right in the middle of the case...I could put the PC mobo one one side and put the Mac mobo on the other...I could then mod a new window on the right side of the case...that way when you look at one side it's the PC side and you look on the other side it's the Mac side...

BUT...If I do that then I will have to cut out the back side of the case and build me a whole new back cause of all the things I gotta plug into the mobo...what's that thing called??? I/O something??? Can't remember...

I have some more ideas in my head but I'll post them later...too much stuff to do to plan on this project

One more thing tho...suppose I DID create a PC/Mac Hybrid PC...how much attention would it bring if I brought it to LAN parties??? It'll be highly modded like modders do to their PC's (lights, switches, windwos, etc...)...I bet this will look ultra sweet when/if I get this finished
 
Slightly related.

I had the craziest dream the other night. In my dream, I was there at the press release for the release of Windows: ME (Mac Edition). I was like "no way .." ... then I woke up.


Why in hell would you want a Mac? :)
 
Originally posted by Iconz1
The trick with Virtual PC, is that you have to pay for the license of the OS you buy with it/that comes with it, so its generally pretty expensive.
Click to expand...

The other issue with Virtual PC, no matter what you're told otherwise, is it tends to be slow and buggy. I wouldn't rely on it for day to day use if you want Windows. Just get a separate computer (sadly).

I'd suggest a G4 as well. They're not as fast as the G5 or most other main stream processors but they'll do a good bit better than a G3 for most uses.
 
how bout reflashing a mac bios to run windows and rewriting windows to run using a g5, it would be the best of both worlds.
 
Originally posted by ice109
how bout reflashing a mac bios to run windows and rewriting windows to run using a g5, it would be the best of both worlds.
Click to expand...

It's more than the bios, buddy... wrong archetecture.
 
I heard of a guy who dual booted windows and mac osx... is this not possible if you ahve a mac?

~Adam
 
Originally posted by CleanSlate
I heard of a guy who dual booted windows and mac osx... is this not possible if you ahve a mac?

~Adam
Click to expand...

He had virtual PC or a DOS compatability card (a pentium on a stick, basically.)
 
...they call Microsoft a monopoly, but at least they only own the software. Mac controls there software AND hardware (this is the main reason there personal computers never took off like PCs... dipshits, it's there own fault that microsoft won).

Because of this, you can buy the parts for a mac, but it'd still cost the same... so damn gay.
 
considering the only decent mac games were pre-PowerPC, I suggest you run basilisk instead.

for the lazy: Basilisk is a 68k mac emulator, you need a mac ROM and the OS. Since OS 7.5.5 is now free, you could go for that, or use 8.1, it won't support anything above that though.
 
OS emulators don't really work as good as the real thing...they are slower and buggy...they'll most likely never be perfected or even near perfected I would guess
 
Originally posted by CleanSlate
I heard of a guy who dual booted windows and mac osx... is this not possible if you ahve a mac?

~Adam
Click to expand...

Well, the only way you can really run Windows on a Mac would be through Virtual PC emulation because, as others have said, the hardware architecture is very different from that of your average PC. (ex: Windows was designed for the x86 architecture and Macs use the PowerPC architecture) The same concept applies in reverse--the Mac OS will not run without emulation on a PC. However, you can run various UNIX and LINUX distributions on the Mac platform.

In regard to your little project, Metallica_Band, I suggest you just pick up a used PowerMac G4 on eBay and, depending on your budget, the faster the better. :D As to some of your questions... Modern Macs (basically anything made after the "beige age") use standard IDE HDDs, so there's nothing special going on there. You just have to make sure that you use one of the Mac's formatting utilities to format the drive after installation because, generally, the Mac OS doesn't like FAT32/NTFS formatted HDDs. As far as RAM goes, most older PowerMacs (depending on the model) either use standard PC-100 DIMMs or PC-133 DIMMs. The newer Macs (Dual Mirror Drive G4 and later) use various speeds of standard DDR. All Macs (that have AGP) use standard AGP slots and cards, however, you cannot use video cards meant for PCs in a Mac because the Video BIOS that is on them isn't compatible with Apple Open Firmware (basically the Mac BIOS). So, your video card options are somewhat limited. You can either buy a "Mac Edition" Radeon series card or try and find a PC video card which you can get ahold of a Mac compatible Video BIOS for, pop it into a PC (with a PCI video card so you can see what you are doing), and flash it. Sometimes the flashing thing works and sometimes it doesn't.

I hope that helped answer some of your questions.

As a side note, Macs have onboard sound (that works just fine) so you don't really need to add a sound card/USB external sound thingy.

Oh, and Plot, one of the reasons why the Mac OS isn't as shitty as Windows is because of the control over hardware which you curse them for. Think about it, if Windows only had to run on a specific hardware set (like the Mac OS) and Microsoft had control over what specific hardware was part of that basic hardware set, then Windows would probably work FAR better than it currently does. One of the advantages of occupying a niche market is being able to custom design your OS around the specific hardware that you sell which, generally, results in a better product. If Apple were in Microsoft's shoes (meaning only OS production geared toward the x86 mass market) their products would probably be equally shitty. It is Apple's current small market share and total control over what hardware they sell that allows them to, basically, do just about whatever they want. (like their quick switch to 64-bit, for example)
 
Originally posted by Petra
Think about it, if Windows only had to run on a specific hardware set (like the Mac OS) and Microsoft had control over what specific hardware was part of that basic hardware set, then Windows would probably work FAR better than it currently does. One of the advantages of occupying a niche market is being able to custom design your OS around the specific hardware that you sell which, generally, results in a better product. If Apple were in Microsoft's shoes (meaning only OS production geared toward the x86 mass market) their products would probably be equally shitty.
Click to expand...

Thats one of the things that amazes me about Windows, that it runs as well as it does given the support Microsoft has to build in to it and everything the market demands.

I personally would like to see a lot of legacy support get kicked out the door in the next version (longhorn or whatever). Unfortunately the majority of the Windows using world may not appreciate that. Oh well. :rolleyes:
 
anybody remember the windows 95 compatible mac's ;) i used to have one, was quite interesting.]Check this out :)

-.- upgradeable to a k6-300mhz procesor

too bad they dont make this kinda stuff anymore ;o id be using a dual processor G5 right now if i could plug in a card with a p4 3.2C in it and have my windows with my mac stuff :)
 
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Originally posted by Briguyatx
anybody remember the windows 95 compatible mac's ;) i used to have one, was quite interesting.]Check this out :)

-.- upgradeable to a k6-300mhz procesor

too bad they dont make this kinda stuff anymore ;o id be using a dual processor G5 right now if i could plug in a card with a p4 3.2C in it and have my windows with my mac stuff :)
Click to expand...


I mentioned it above.
 
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Originally posted by buzzard34
I know for sure there's a program for Macs called Virtual PC. Don't know if there's a Virtual Mac for PCs, could look for it on Google .
Click to expand...

virtualPC *sucks*, and anything for PC, would *suck*. emulation in general, *sucks*
 
Originally posted by Petra

Oh, and Plot, one of the reasons why the Mac OS isn't as shitty as Windows is because of the control over hardware which you curse them for. Think about it, if Windows only had to run on a specific hardware set (like the Mac OS) and Microsoft had control over what specific hardware was part of that basic hardware set, then Windows would probably work FAR better than it currently does. One of the advantages of occupying a niche market is being able to custom design your OS around the specific hardware that you sell which, generally, results in a better product. If Apple were in Microsoft's shoes (meaning only OS production geared toward the x86 mass market) their products would probably be equally shitty. It is Apple's current small market share and total control over what hardware they sell that allows them to, basically, do just about whatever they want. (like their quick switch to 64-bit, for example)
Click to expand...


WHAT ok lets see

1) MacOS isnt shitty? for even the "power" the hardware has (not a hell of a lot) it runs like absolute crap. when I see 733 PIII's with 512 PC133 running windows faster than dual G5's with a gig run MacOS, I question things pretty greatly.

2) one of the funniest things is mac people screaming that microsoft is a monopoly. the followers of a company that wont allow ANY competition, either the hardware or software sectors, have NO right to call a SOFTWARE COMPANY a monopoly when they worship the VERY DEFINITION of a monopoly

3) apple's marketshare has nothing to do with the quick migration to 64 bit, its exactly as you said before, its because theyre complete nazis about hardware, software, everything, that they can do stuff whenever THEY want on THEIR timeline and they dont have to wait for anyone.
 
yes, but the answer is why? i use a mac everyday at school and even have a g3 notebook my school gave to all the kids, and i'd never make the switch. basically, there is nothing you can do on a mac that you can't do on a pc 10x better. unless you are in graphics design, i wouldn't waste your time or money. K THANX, CYA! ?:)
 
I had a dream about G3's and they were $20.45 at some store and I had enough cash and I was like... mmm what a waste of money and set it back.

~Adam
 
Originally posted by Metallica_Band
Which Virtual PC are we talking about??? Microsoft's or Apple's??? Or another one??? It looks like you're talking about Apple's
Click to expand...

Microsoft's VirtualPC runs multiple MICROSOFT operating systems at the same time. This is your thread, and not only that, its a MAC thread! We are talking about Virtual PC for MAC...:mad:
 
Originally posted by Iconz
Microsoft's VirtualPC runs multiple MICROSOFT operating systems at the same time. This is your thread, and not only that, its a MAC thread! We are talking about Virtual PC for MAC...:mad:
Click to expand...

Have you read any of his other threads...:S
 
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