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My Third Case Mod....Thawing an Ice Cube
- Thread starter chaosdesigns
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Here are a few more pics of the wifi card hooked up and a better photo of the bottom with the wifi antennas installed.
Cheers
chaos
Cheers
chaos
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Installing the Upper Fans
I went shopping today and got my two 40mm top fans.
So I fabricated a small bracket to mount them with.
I wired them together and connected them to the Case Fan Header on the motherboard. I only connected the RPM wire on one of the fans.
I went shopping today and got my two 40mm top fans.
So I fabricated a small bracket to mount them with.
I wired them together and connected them to the Case Fan Header on the motherboard. I only connected the RPM wire on one of the fans.
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Thank you!
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The Apple G4 Cube Speakers
Today I worked on getting the Apple Cube speakers working. Since I am running Mountain Lion 10.8.2, I tried the simple install first; I plugged in the speakers and rebooted. Nothing. So I did a bit of searching and found a kext that works with Lion and so I figured I would try it under ML. I installed it and rebooted and it worked!
Here is the link to the kext I used. http://cl.ly/ARUd
I found that the audio volume level was quite low. I believe this is because, while it *IS* plugged into a high current USB port (the yellow ones on this motherboard), the usb audio driver does not believe it is plugged into one. Here is a screen shot from the System Profiler.
It shows that the USB port is rated for 500 mA, and that the speakers require 500 mA. So I built a "high power" USB port.
I connected the +5V power directly to the 5V power line and just connected to the data+ and data- lines of the USB header on the board. I plugged the speakers into my special jack and booted. So in this situation, there is plenty of power available for the little amplifier but....... the maximum audio level was still quite low when turned up full.
I believe that the driver reads the current available on the port and adjusts its maximum volume accordingly. This is why people have had success plugging them into Cinema Displays.... their rated output current reported to Mac OS X is higher.
I will set up my G4 cube and verify this.
Does anyone know how or what to edit so that we can inform the OS that the onboard USB ports are actually capable of higher current?
chaos
Today I worked on getting the Apple Cube speakers working. Since I am running Mountain Lion 10.8.2, I tried the simple install first; I plugged in the speakers and rebooted. Nothing. So I did a bit of searching and found a kext that works with Lion and so I figured I would try it under ML. I installed it and rebooted and it worked!
Here is the link to the kext I used. http://cl.ly/ARUd
I found that the audio volume level was quite low. I believe this is because, while it *IS* plugged into a high current USB port (the yellow ones on this motherboard), the usb audio driver does not believe it is plugged into one. Here is a screen shot from the System Profiler.
It shows that the USB port is rated for 500 mA, and that the speakers require 500 mA. So I built a "high power" USB port.
I connected the +5V power directly to the 5V power line and just connected to the data+ and data- lines of the USB header on the board. I plugged the speakers into my special jack and booted. So in this situation, there is plenty of power available for the little amplifier but....... the maximum audio level was still quite low when turned up full.
I believe that the driver reads the current available on the port and adjusts its maximum volume accordingly. This is why people have had success plugging them into Cinema Displays.... their rated output current reported to Mac OS X is higher.
I will set up my G4 cube and verify this.
Does anyone know how or what to edit so that we can inform the OS that the onboard USB ports are actually capable of higher current?
chaos
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I connected it to Pin 5 on motherboard header "E".
Right now I am not satisfied with my touch sensor implementation. While it works correctly and turns on and off my cube, and does not mis-fire unexpectedly and senses my fingers nicely, I am not happy with its "glow" behind the apple logo. I have hooked up the Power LED wires from the motherboard to sensor's LED, but it does not glow bright enough behind the logo to see it in a normally lit room. I am thinking of replacing the LED with a high intensity one, but I'm not sure a high intensity LED is electrically compatible.
Suggestions, welcome!
chaos
Thank you for the information!
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The Touch Sensor, Revisited
Well, I purchased a high intensity LED and I installed it behind the grey plastic apple logo and it still didn't shine through very well, so I decided to relocate the POWER LED back to its original location, on top of the cube. The touch sensor will remain behind the logo, but a new power LED will shine on the top when the cube is powered on.
I fabricated a tiny aluminum plate to hold the LED in its original location installed an LED and wired it up.
Here is the top view.
And when the cube is on, it glows nicely.
EDIT: It occurred to me that this would be a good place to put a Hard Disk Activity LED as well, but I decided against it. These days, hard drives can actually be RAM Drives, so, really, do we need a blinking light telling us that we are saving a program? So the HD Activity light goes the way of the optical drive. Bye bye.
That's all for today.
chaos
Well, I purchased a high intensity LED and I installed it behind the grey plastic apple logo and it still didn't shine through very well, so I decided to relocate the POWER LED back to its original location, on top of the cube. The touch sensor will remain behind the logo, but a new power LED will shine on the top when the cube is powered on.
I fabricated a tiny aluminum plate to hold the LED in its original location installed an LED and wired it up.
Here is the top view.
And when the cube is on, it glows nicely.
EDIT: It occurred to me that this would be a good place to put a Hard Disk Activity LED as well, but I decided against it. These days, hard drives can actually be RAM Drives, so, really, do we need a blinking light telling us that we are saving a program? So the HD Activity light goes the way of the optical drive. Bye bye.
That's all for today.
chaos
Last edited:
neilhart
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chaos - nice work and good informational posts. I enjoy your projects. I do take exception to doing without the hard drive LED. I always have one connected when I am running on the lab bench. I use my G5 PowerMac hack as my daily home machine (on 24/7) and the HDD LED is on the inside so is not seen. Next refresh I intend to move it to the rear panel.
Keep up the good work,
neil
Keep up the good work,
neil
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Got to agree Chaos. Stunning work and craftsmanship.
This is a corker.
This is a corker.
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