Scavanged Mac G4 projects

[chaksq]

So my university deals a lot with technology, and there is a fair amount of computer hardware that gets cycled through. There is a dump pile of old computers in one of the tunnels under the academic buildings on campus. Anything in the pile is up for grabs, usually the machines are fairly stripped out, hard drives and other parts removed for security purposes I'm assuming. Usually the pile is just a bunch of CRTs and beige boxes.

Anyways i was wondering around the tunnels yesterday and there were some it people adding a bunch of mac G4 hardware to the pile. What caught my interest was the iMac G4s. I recall when they were released and I really wanted one back then. So I grabbed the most complete looking one and some spare parts, later on I grabbed a few G4 towers.

My scavenges:
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p67/chaksq/P1040067.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p67/chaksq/P1040069.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p67/chaksq/P1040072.jpg

1 iMac G4 that seemed to be in one piece
1 iMac G4 in several pieces
2 Graphite G4 towers
1 Quicksilver G4 tower

The G4s are all missing PSU, RAM, GPU, and HD. They do all have motherboards, optical drives, and ZIP drives. I might mod some of these cases for standard computer hardware. I think it would be fun to use one as a LANparty case for a gaming machine. Would confuse people for sure.
Inside one of the towers:
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p67/chaksq/P1040071.jpg


I am trying to restore one of the iMacs to a usable point. The one in pieces has several cut cables and is missing most of the screws and several key hardware parts. The other one however seemed to stand a chance so I pulled out my tools and pulled it apart:
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p67/chaksq/P1040074.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p67/chaksq/P1040075.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p67/chaksq/P1040076.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p67/chaksq/P1040077.jpg

Luckily it was almost entirely complete, only missing the HD. Even the RAM was in it. Most of the screws for it were inside as well, I reconnected the cables and put screws back in. Then I plugged it in and turned it on:
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p67/chaksq/P1040079.jpg


SUCCESS!

It works, no HD or OS so it won't boot obviously. But I think I can fix it. I just need to find a spare IDE HD and a copy of OSX, I'm taking contributions :P

[Trace]

Nice find!

[BerticusPryme]

heck yeah thats an awesome score man. I wouldnt mind getting a quicksilver tower or a graphit for that matter. I had a B&W G3 and stupid me sold it. I might have a 40 or 80 gb hdd layng around my house if need.

[billygoat333]

those are sweet! our college auctions off their old computer crap. wish they would just dump it out in the hallways :( lol oh well sometimes you can get some sweet deals through the auctions.

[FuzzyPlushroom]

Hell yeah! I need to start watching the local colleges.

[Bopher]

Yeah. I had a friend who learned about the sales and got a bunch of LCDs for like $50. That included 2 $1000 touch screens for presentations. All he needs to get is the wired pens and hes good to go. XP picked them right up. I bought 2 15" off of him for $25. More then he spent but where am I going to find a deal like that? I'm going to keep an eye out for the next sale so I can get some thin clients going for my future LinuxMCE builds.

[billygoat333]

ooo... I wonder if my Uni ever gets rid of their touchscreens! good idea. i've never seen them in the auctions but i never really looked that close.

[chaksq]

The iMac G4 is now fully functional! I found a 12gb IDE HD that used to be a boot drive for a system I no longer use, which I installed in the iMac. I downloaded the PowerPC architecture version of the lastest release of Ubuntu (9.10). I have successfully installed it to the iMac and I am trying this from the mac right now.

As for my plans for the machine I don't really have any yet. it's mostly a display piece right now, the other hardware that I actively use is much more powerful than this so I don't see this filling any hardware gaps. I am considering hooking it up to my stereo and using it to play audio. So far I have installed support for MP3 and DVD playback on this. I am planning to later hook it up to my stereo and check the sound quaity. I will also post pictures and screenshots of this later.

[Cryptonic]

Really good find man! My university never gave away such things. Anything of value was auctioned off even the older rigs.

[Luke122]

Slick! I was actually going to suggest going with Linux on that G4! I'm watching the ads around here to find one for myself. :D

[Twigsoffury]

know some people who have a whole pallet of those G4's
(talking 7' tall pallet of them, maybe 35-50 units)

need any parts let me know and i'll hook you up with the phone number to place a part order for ISIS.