Amiga.org
Operating System Specific Discussions => Other Operating Systems => Topic started by: tone007 on April 23, 2012, 04:11:23 PM
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http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=M9687LLB-PB-2R
Not sure if this is a super deal or not and they're "almost gone," but seemed like it might be a good place to go besides eBay.
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http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=M9687LLB-PB-2R
Not sure if this is a super deal or not and they're "almost gone," but seemed like it might be a good place to go besides eBay.
Good catch! :)
Price seems kind of fair IMHO, although you can certainly get them much cheaper with some luck and some more extensive search. But if you value things as being refurbished, low risk and the warranty it comes with, then why not...?
You'd probably want 1GB of RAM though (although 512MB is plenty for MorphOS, RAM is cheap however)! Possibly a bigger HDD as well, and maybe a better optical drive? There are some good resources on upgrading RAM, upgrading HDD, Optical Drive, and also *overclocking* the Mini in this thread:
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=34069
:)
General comment for people looking to buy a Mac Mini G4 for running MorphOS:
Mac Mini's are *very nice* MorphOS computers! Extremely small, good looking, silent (when using it for "normal" stuff, and the fan isn't old and all worn out), and pretty much as powerful as the PPC ever became on the desktop, not very far from it at least. But always make sure it's 64MB VRAM (and not some OC'd one with 32MB, not that this is particular common at all, but anyway). Those 64MB versions may be a bit more rare, but it's worth the extra search. And sometimes those 64MB variants aren't even listed as "1.5GHz", but 1.42 GHz (there was some confusion with the "silent update", some people doesn't seem to know the exact specs of the machine they have).
Look for *both* M9687LL/B (and/or explicitly "1.5GHz") *and* 64 MB Video Memory in product descriptions (Some M9687LL/B's are simply the results of the M9687LL/A's being souped up with 512MB RAM as standard instead of the previous 256MB, AirPort Extreme + Bluetooth as standard instead of optional, but still with 32MB VRAM and 1.42GHz CPU. Apple did not assign a new model number for the 1.5GHz/64MB VRAM configuration that later followed, hence the "silent update" term)
Go get'em! MorphOS 3.0 is coming!
:D
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The mac mini i bought was listed as 1.42 but was the silent upgrade version when it turned up, had got fed up of geting snipped on silent uprgrades and them going for well over £200. got mine for £150 :)
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The mac mini i bought was listed as 1.42 but was the silent upgrade version when it turned up, had got fed up of geting snipped on silent uprgrades and them going for well over £200. got mine for £150 :)
£150 is about $240 — also a good price IMHO! :) I got mine a lot more expensive than that, but that was several years ago and I was very eager and didn't want to wait and search much, and prices has dropped much since then...
Anyway, the 32MB VRAM versions *works* with MorphOS, and is often cheaper. You might want to disable triple buffering on some screens, etc, there are many posts if you search a bit describing how to turn off the bells and whistles that might be nice to have but you could easily live without, and will make MorphOS work/run better on this low VRAM. This can be an option if money is scarce, the Mini is small and light weight and cheap&easy to transport, and you can get 1.25GHz versions for under a hundred dollars with a bit of a search.
You can easily overclock those as well, perhaps while you have opened it up anyway to put in more RAM or a new HDD (to a 5400RPM with a bigger size). Look at my link above to a useful thread which has much resources and info about this! :)
Note that there were a "silent upgrade" with the lower end 1.25GHz version as well — "Officially, the Apple Mac mini G4/1.33 does not exist, as Apple never formally introduced it. However, starting on September 27, 2005, Apple silently upgraded the Mac mini G4/1.25 to include a 1.33 GHz PowerPC 7447a (G4) processor with the AltiVec "Velocity Engine" vector processing unit and a 512k on-chip level 2 cache, 512 MB of 333 MHz PC2700 DDR SDRAM memory, and a faster 5400 RPM 40.0 GB Ultra ATA/100 hard drive." (M9686LL/A -> M9686LL/B) So *this* "silent upgrade" doesn't include the 64MB VRAM, only the "M9687LL/B 1.5GHz" does...
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@TMHG. Wait, you paid more than $240 for a silent upgrade macmini?
I think you may have been ripped off.
The value of one G4 mac mini with 64mb ram is equal to:
(http://www.sidwell.co.uk/pictures/macmini.jpg)
=
(http://guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/bTJSlDBZ5HVNW6qw.standard)
+
(http://guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/bTJSlDBZ5HVNW6qw.standard)
+
(http://guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/bTJSlDBZ5HVNW6qw.standard)
+
(http://guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/bTJSlDBZ5HVNW6qw.standard)
:roflmao:
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The mac mini i bought was listed as 1.42 but was the silent upgrade version when it turned up, had got fed up of geting snipped on silent uprgrades and them going for well over £200. got mine for £150 :)
That was a good deal. I got mine for £95 but is only the 32mb version. But it came with Airport and BT keyboard.
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I have a 32mb too and enought for me.
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@TMHG. Wait, you paid more than $240 for a silent upgrade macmini?
I think you may have been ripped off.
The value of one G4 mac mini with 64mb ram is equal to:
Well, it was refurbished and maxed out in RAM, I got the transportation for free, and I got the two latest versions of MacOS original disks, not copies or just pre-installed on HDD, and it was pre-configured with MorphOS and MacOS in a dual boot setup. I know that it was expensive (even back then already), but I thought I got some extra value for it, and was prepared to pay a little extra for that and not waiting and searching any more. And general prices have fallen since then, so it's a little difficult to compare.
PowerMac's can be *very cheap though*, often much cheaper than a Mac Mini, that is true, some goes for as little as $20-$50, some are even for free. And often those ultra cheap ones work just fine for MorphOS. But if you want one of the newer ones, with more CPU power, a more powerful (maybe re-flashed) GFX card, etc, then it usually climbs in price, often up to $200-$300.
Redrumloa over at MorphZone.org has two "big boxes" for MorphOS, one MDD and one Quicksilver. He looks at it as a sport to find cheap deals on e-bay, and quite recently he scored a dual 7448 CPU card @1.8GHz, which he has OC'd to 2.0GHz. It doesn't get much faster than this, for practically no money at all! :) It beats by far (or is about on par with, depending on what you measure) *any* system for *any* PPC based Amiga OS, practically for free. Very interesting to follow his posts on MZ... :)
I however, has never looked at the PowerMac as an option. I don't have room for yet another big box computer. The Mac Mini was completely perfect for me, so slick and small, yet so powerful. But a little more expensive, yes, but worth it for me, and to connect to your mockery joke comparison in your post above -- it's far, far cheaper than a Sam460 (the only OS4 HW available for sale), it's far more powerful (about 2x I'd say), and it works perfectly; you won't see a Mac Mini MorphOS user making the kind of posts about problems with basic and fundamental things that isn't working or isn't stable, that is now kind of flooded over at Amigaworld.net... ;)
:)
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I have a 32mb too and enought for me.
Yes, 32MB VRAM works *fine*. I think Piru's (the MorphOS Developer) Mini has 32MB VRAM as well. There are some situations where it could mean a limitation, but you could easily walk around those.
But if you have one 32MB for sale on a table in front of you, and one 64MB next to it, I'd choose the 64MB version even if it would cost a little bit more...
:)
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Well in all honesty I got mine for free.
There was an paypal issue and they refunded the money because they suspected a third party had accessed my account.
I tried 10 times to contact the seller thorugh ebay and paypal. never heard anything
So actually ended up having it free.
The dvd drive doesnt read burned dvds or burn dvds but there u go
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Well in all honesty I got mine for free.
There was an paypal issue and they refunded the money because they suspected a third party had accessed my account.
I tried 10 times to contact the seller thorugh ebay and paypal. never heard anything
So actually ended up having it free.
The dvd drive doesnt read burned dvds or burn dvds but there u go
Oh that's cool. It gives it character :D
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Well in all honesty I got mine for free.
There was an paypal issue and they refunded the money because they suspected a third party had accessed my account.
I tried 10 times to contact the seller thorugh ebay and paypal. never heard anything
So actually ended up having it free.
Nice! :)
It's more often the other way around, if anything goes wrong...
The dvd drive doesnt read burned dvds or burn dvds but there u go
But then (having got the computer for free) I guess you can afford to put in a proper one (http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=34069) yourself! ;) :D
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Once 3.0 will be out, the 32MiB VRAM versions will probably catch up since 3.0 is said to come with proper AGP support. Copying data from and to VRAM should be pretty quick then. For games or programs like blender more VRAM will still be a strong benefit.
Anyway, as long as 3.x is not out this is of course only speculation/theory.
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Looking at the alternative's in the community for PPC systems, they're dirt cheap . . . !
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I have a 32mb vram mac mini and is enough for the actual apps available in amigaland.
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http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=M9687LLB-PB-2R
Not sure if this is a super deal or not and they're "almost gone," but seemed like it might be a good place to go besides eBay.
Looks like a good deal to me, at least with compgeeks you'll get something that's reasonably newish. With the way MorphOS is married to the hardware, you may as well get the best you can get the first time.
If you think it is overpriced I have a 1.42 which I paid $650 then later upgraded the BT/WIFI and RAM making the grand total probably closer to $900 :) Also mine is one of the early ones that had very poor quality on the VGA output. (silent downgrade)
So go ahead and click "buy" and rest assured that you are getting a great deal compared to me...
I was given a Powerbook5,8 15" with 2GB RAM and 128MB VRAM.
I fell a little better now...
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I was tempted, but I already have an MDD PowerMac and an Efika if I feel like running MorphOS. I did enjoy the 1.25GHz MacMini I had a few years ago, though, very nice size.
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@bbond007
What do you mean it is married to the hardware? Do you mean it is like the classic Amiga OS where it is hardware depending (MorphOS) and does that mean i can develop hardware banging software like classic Amiga making on MorphOS and that these games or software can run only on MacMini? Is MoprhOS and it's hardware the same story as Amiga classic?
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Pretty sure what he means is the MorphOS license is linked directly to your particular machine, and is not transferrable to a different machine. Good way to prevent piracy, but definitely deters some purchasers.
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Pretty sure what he means is the MorphOS license is linked directly to your particular machine, and is not transferrable to a different machine. Good way to prevent piracy, but definitely deters some purchasers.
OH! I LOVE THE MORPHOS licensing method BIG time!! It is in no way deters me from purchasing it...no way sir! I think it is genius and makes me feel a complete owner of the OS.
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OH! I LOVE THE MORPHOS licensing method BIG time!! It is in no way deters me from purchasing it...no way sir! I think it is genius and makes me feel a complete owner of the OS.
Until you want to swap machines...
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Until you want to swap machines...
Uh, yeah, Kesa. I think he was being sarcastic.
And no, you don't bang hardware anymore (on any modern computer).
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Uh, yeah, Kesa. I think he was being sarcastic.
And no, you don't bang hardware anymore (on any modern computer).
I am not convinced that was sarcasm. It might be though - me brain is a little distracted right now.
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I am not convinced that was sarcasm. It might be though - me brain is a little distracted right now.
I agree with Kesa, I was not sarcastic at all! Since I got the Mini Mac instead of the tower case Apple G4, I will make and stamp it officially and seal the registration of MorphOS into the Mini mac G4 and consider this the official 100% only hardware ever I will get for MorphOS.
When the Mac Mini dies out completely..then I will consider getting the tower G4 Apple Mac...or better yet, the laptop version instead.
But I am not being sarcastic.
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So it seems me brain IS working properly at this time. Interesting.
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@bbond007
What do you mean it is married to the hardware? Do you mean it is like the classic Amiga OS where it is hardware depending (MorphOS) and does that mean i can develop hardware banging software like classic Amiga making on MorphOS and that these games or software can run only on MacMini? Is MoprhOS and it's hardware the same story as Amiga classic?
I just mean that once you buy MorphOS, your keyfile is bound to that device, so its probably worth just getting best you can get initially because its a hassle to upgrade. Please don't go off saying I'm criticizing the MorphOS license, which I'm not.
In my case, I'm stuck with the 1.42 with the crappy quality VGA and the 32MB VRAM. If i wanted to buy this new one from compgeeks, i'd have to sell the old G4 with license and then purchase a new license.
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In my case, I'm stuck with the 1.42 with the crappy quality VGA and the 32MB VRAM. If i wanted to buy this new one from compgeeks, i'd have to sell the old G4 with license and then purchase a new license.
Or just keep them both and enjoy :) Minis won't take too much space... and you can have other to take with to trips without worrying about better one breaking... and you can play multiplayer games with two machines... and have other as backup system which you can sync all the time... and keeping other in living room as media center and other on desk etc etc ;)