Mac SE > PC mod, advice please

ambro25

Hi guys 'n gals

I've recently been gifted a Mac SE, and I'm contemplating a PC 'retrofit' / 'shoe-horning' mod (Wintel into the Mac SE shell).

I'd be looking at setting up a "semi-portable" PC, really, to use as a 'media dispenser'. So no need for a P4 or AMD64 or whatnot, a mini ITX mobo with a mid-to-high PIII or 'big' Celeron (1Ghz) with onboard shared gfx etc. will do.

I've Googled the odd blog or site about such a mod, but none are particularly well detailed etc. (not that I couldn't go about it on my own back, I'm reasonably handy + knowledgeable about building a PC etc., but I'm generally very short on 'free time'), so I wouldn't mind getting some feedback as to what components / configs / etc. you modder lot think will do / should be considered.

What I'm contemplating using the 'thing' for:
* DiVX, Xvid, Mpeg playback
* MP3 playback
* Photo archiving + slideshow
* MAME + maybe some games up to 'Sims'-level gfx requirements

What features I'd like to put in:
* WiFi
* at least one optical drive
* built-in speakers (2)
* touchscreen TFT
* USB 2

'bit of a long shot I know, but... the goodwill is there

K.O.Kiki

Mini-ITX.com has projects & a shop; check there

MunsterCycling

Above is really the only place you need to look when it comes to Mini Itx

ambro25

Oookayeee...

So far, planned innards are looking something like -

* VIA EPIA ME6000 mini-itx mobo
* 256 or 512 PC2100 RAM
* 12V DC-DC PSU interface + 110/240-12V lappy brick
* some generic HK 8" TFT with 12V input + VGA in
* PCI Radeon 7000 (32MB, VGA + DVI + TV-out edition)
* IDE Pioneer slot-loading 8x DVD

Not yet decided whether to go HDD (got an unused 3.5 " 80GB PATA knocking about) or go 'solid state' with a CF-based boot/OS.

As for the case mod, not quite decided yet either

DemonOfTheFall

I've only read terrible things about the performance of VIA EPIA mobo/cpu combos. Things like being too slow to decode a high quality DivX file with surround sound.

If I was going for mini I might look into that new 6150 chipset based ITX Socket 939 board. Or else one of those nice small Pentium M boards. Either way I wouldn't want to be stuck with the performance of a Pentium 3 500mhz.

L31mr0d

DemonOfTheFall wrote:

I've only read terrible things about the performance of VIA EPIA mobo/cpu combos. Things like being too slow to decode a high quality DivX file with surround sound.

well he is only using it for playback, and i'm guessing it is a secondary computer. Hes probably going to set up a wifi lan and encode on one computer then playback on the other. But I would maybe go for a cheap mini ATX, you can get some pretty small cases for those. Have a look at the ones in maplin, the PSU is on the side so that its only the height of the mobo.

StephenC_IRL

why not buy a 9" colour CRT off ebay, and a 2nd hand Mac Mini and fit it

K.O.Kiki

Because it's been done

... ok, he didn't put in a colour CRT. So sue me!

I suppose if the OP gets a CoreSolo/Duo Mac mini & fit that in, then install WinXP w/BootCamp or whatever; and replace the screen with a touchscreen...