My new Mac Mini G4

[Piru]

So I finally got myself this Mac Mini G4 I've always wanted. G4 1.42GHz, 512MB and 80GB, CD-RW/DVD combo drive, bluetooth, airport (wlan).

Well, 512MB seemed a bit tight, and the 80GB HDD was pretty sluggish 4200RPM. So hmm, lets add 1GB DDR-stick, 160GB 5400RPM HDD, dual layer 8X DVD-RW drive and while at it, why not OC the thing, too.

Mac Mini at 1.58GHz

dnetc:

Code: [Select]

[Jan 25 12:19:06 UTC] RC5-72: using core #4 (KKS 7450).
[Jan 25 12:19:25 UTC] RC5-72: Benchmark for core #4 (KKS 7450)                      
                      0.00:00:16.14 [16,608,622 keys/sec]
[Jan 25 12:19:58 UTC] OGR-P2: using core #1 (KOGE 2.0 Hybrid).
[Jan 25 12:20:16 UTC] OGR-P2: Benchmark for core #1 (KOGE 2.0 Hybrid)
                      0.00:00:16.39 [37,324,508 nodes/sec]
Sweet :-)

[bloodline]

You didn't fancy a CoreDuo one then? :-D

[McVenco]

bloodline wrote:
You didn't fancy a CoreDuo one then? :-D

Nah, MorphOS isn't ported to x86 yet :-)

Nice screenshot, I have a thing för thät strängë döttëd längüägë :lol:

[Piru]

You didn't fancy a CoreDuo one then?

No, not really. I already have a peecee with E6320 overclocked to 2.8GHz ;-)

[bloodline]

McVenco wrote:

bloodline wrote:
You didn't fancy a CoreDuo one then? :-D

Nah, MorphOS isn't ported to x86 yet :-)

Nice screenshot, I have a thing för thät strängë döttëd längüägë :lol:

I wasn't sure if Morphos ran on the Mac... hmmm... really I though it was a shame that Piru didn't get a dual core machine. All machines really should be dual core. My old Powerbook G4 (1.5Ghz) pretty much freezes up when you run an HD movie or something else similar... But a 1.5Mhz CoreDuo runs beautifully. I'm surprised Piru didn't fancy hacking around with SMP etc actually...

I've grown to love the Umlaut... though I still can't hear or pronounce ü which is very frustrating...

[McVenco]

I've grown to love the Umlaut... though I still can't hear or pronounce ü which is very frustrating...

Have you tried this?:
http://www.utils.ex.ac.uk/german/pronounce/pronoue.html


I believe the Finnish ü is somewhat different than the German one, but I could be wrong. I tried my hands (or is it my tongue?) at Finnish once, but I quickly gave up. I think I just don't get it.. :-)

[bloodline]

Piru wrote:

You didn't fancy a CoreDuo one then?

No, not really. I already have a peecee with E6320 overclocked to 2.8GHz ;-)

Ahhh, message received and understood. THe Little G4 Mini should be a lot of fun then! :-)

[Piru]

There is no ü in finnish, only ä and ö. å is needed when writing swedish, but isn't stricly speaking part of the finnish alphabet (finnish keymap have it, though).

[bloodline]

McVenco wrote:

I've grown to love the Umlaut... though I still can't hear or pronounce ü which is very frustrating...

Have you tried this?:
http://www.utils.ex.ac.uk/german/pronounce/pronoue.html

I have quite a few examples, but this is great, many thanks! It's just a vowel sound I can't hear I guess... I know when I need to use one or when one appears in a a word, but only because I know how to spell the word... if I hear a new word that uses it... I just can't hear it, and substitute another letter. I suspect my pronunciation of ü (-Edit- Which is somewhere between u and er) makes me sound very English :-D

[Piru]

In case someone wants to attempt this overclocking thing  on his/her Mac Mini G4, here's the required information:

Opening up Mac Mini G4 and accessing the motherboard:
Installing Logic Board
Alternative method for opening the Mac Mini (that's Mac Mini Intel in the doc, but it's easy enough to adjust the method)
'Memory  / Optical Drive  / Hard Drive Installation' video (this helped a lot!)

To overclock upto 1.58GHz:
Overclocking Apple Mac mini

To fix the frequency display for 1.58 GHz:
Mac mini 1.58 overclock correction (NOTE: This is only needed for the 1.58GHz OC!)

[takemehomegrandma]

So it is overclocked from 1.42GHz to 1.58GHz? Is that difficult to do on a Mac? No heating problems or such as a result?

I have zero experience with Mac, but seeing how MorphOS eventually might be released for the Mac Mini G4 I am considering getting one myself. Are they still available in stores, or is second hand the only option?

[Piru]

@takemehomegrandma

So it is overclocked from 1.42GHz to 1.58GHz?

Yes.

Is that difficult to do on a Mac?

It was fairly simple. There's tons of good documentation on how to work on Mac Mini G4. The 1.42->1.5 and 1.42->1.58 overclocking only involve removing a resistor (2 for 1.5, 1 for 1.58). The resistors are really tiny though. Steady hand is a requirement. For links, see my previous post in this thread.

No heating problems or such as a result?

1.42->1.58 is just 11.26% overclock. I ran dnetc (100% CPU usage, both integer and altivec unit) for hours without any trouble. I did remove the heatsink and replace the thermal paste with better material, though.

Are they still available in stores, or is second hand the only option?

G4 models are second hand only. I paid 320 EUR for mine (mostly because I stayed within finnish auctions.. I bet they're cheaper elsewhere).

[Colani1200]

Piru wrote:
G4 models are second hand only. I paid 320 EUR for mine (mostly because I stayed within finnish auctions.. I bet they're cheaper elsewhere).

It's about the same here in Germany. Prices might probably even increase because a whole bunch of Amiga users hope to run OS4 or MOS on them one day.

[Krusher]

It's about the same in Holland as well. The Moana "version" is rare though, most of them are 1,25ghz models.

[Colani1200]

With all the stuff happening around the Mini (Morphos 2.0 on the way, the tiny hope of maybe having a legal OS 4 running on it one day), I decided to follow your example and buy one too. I guess I was really lucky, got one for only EUR 190,- this weekend. It is the silent upgrade version with 1.33 GHz, already upgraded to 1 GB RAM, in original box with manual and installation media. Looks like a fun machine for a more than fair price.

Now, where can I apply for MorphOS 2.0 beta testing?  ;-)