just got a mac and am clueless

weeder

hello there. I just bought a mac powerpc4400/200 without mouse or keyboard or monitor (G3 i think) i was told beforehand i could use a oc monitor but where do i plug it in and where do i plug mouse and keyboard in im really stumped

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/weeder/macback2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/weeder/mac.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/weeder/macback.jpg

Rabies

I never used a Mac but maybe the keyboard and mouse should be wireless
Really I haven't a clue

Creamy Goodness

wasn't it with old mac's that the keyboard had USB ports.

the keyboard connected to the very first connection on the left in the first photo.

and then the mouse (USB) connected via USB?

i don't own a mac but i think that's the way they used to hook them up in the past

weeder

that cant be right and what about monitor

Thraktor

Nice to see that the first two replies on the Mac forum are from people who freely admit knowing little-to-nothing about Macs, and I hope to progress things along comfortably with my little-to-some knowledge of the subject (as a month-long Powerbook user).

You see the port to the bottom right of the back of your machine? That, if I am not mistaken, is a 25-pin D-Sub (VGA) port, which would be where to insert you're monitor's cable. Now, if you happen to have an LCD panel with a DVI connection, you've got yourself a bit of a problem, and are going to have to purchase a DVI-to-VGA convertor, such as this one.

The three identical ports lined up just to the left of that are PS/2 ports, and should be labelled to indicate Keyboard, Mouse, etc. The chances are, however, that you are talking about a USB keyboard/mouse combo, in which case you're going to have to find a G3 Mac-compatible USB PCI card (you will also have to make sure you have a recent-enough operating system to support USB, and I'm not sure what the first Mac one was).

I hope I was somewhat helpful (and that you don't have to track down too many extra parts to get your Mac up and running)

Edit:- Hmm, really should have payed more attention to the photos in the original post, just ignore the italicised paragraph above, as it seems they aren't keyboard/mouse PS/2 ports. Are there any Firewire ports on the machine? If so, it is most probably the case that the machine came with a Firewire keyboard/mouse combo (daisy-chained through one port), and that (unless you get a PCI card for either) you won't be able to get a USB or PS/2 keyboard or mouse working with it.

Edit 2:- Actually, the leftmost of those three ports is a PS/2 port, I believe, and the symbol above it may well indicate that the keyboard and mouse are meant to be daisy-chained through it.

Yv

I think this is the manual:

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/Developer_Notes/Macintosh_CPUs-G3/PowerMac_G3/PowerMac_G3.pdf

but all it says on the monitor connector is that it's the same as the one on the 5500 & 6500 Powermacs (I'm assuming that's the same roughly as the powerpc you mentioned - all I could find on apple.com), the manuals of which are here:

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/Developer_Notes/Macintosh_CPUs-PPC_Desktop/PPC_5500_6500.pdf

Or at least that's how it sounds to me. Hope this helps, I know how frustrating such simple peripheral / hardware problems can be when you've a brand new machine to play with

weeder

thanks for the help but thats not actually a vga port its bigger than one of those and those are not ps/2 ports (different) tbh i have not got one clue about mac so i asked here thanks for all yer replys but still no luck

weeder

sorry Yv posted at same time as you! gonna read those pdf now

edit:ok ive taken a look i have an svideo but i cant find anythin else for mice or keyboard=/
(well it looks like an svideo)

edit(again): k the three ports at bottom are adb printer and external modem acording to everymac.com the bottom right one is a monitor port but not a normal vga one what am i meant to do now

Dr_Teeth

In the first image, the keyboard goes into the ADB (Apple Desktop Bus) port on the left. The mouse plugs into a similar port on the left or right side of the keyboard itself.

The monitor plugs into that port on the bottom right of the third image. I'm not sure when Apple switched from their own proprietry connector over to VGA, but I'd say you may be looking at a proprietary connector there. You will need to find a VGA-Apple converter of some kind, have a look around on the 'net.

The PPC4400/200 is not a G3, it pre-dates it by quite a while - it was introduced in early '97.

Teeth.

weeder

ah oki thanks.................. where would i go about finding a mac mouse and keyboard?

Dr_Teeth

Hmm, ADB peripherals were obseleted in '98 when Apple moved over to USB. I think you'd have to ask on the for-sale forum. If that doesn't work I'm sure eBay will have lots of them.

TBH I can't see why anyone would want to use a 200Mhz PPC machine running OS9. It comes from the bad old times when Apple sucked ('96-'01 as far as I'm concerned)

Teeth.

Urban Weigl

Yikes, that's an old machine! I hope you didn't pay more than €25 for it...

You can get information about it here: http://www.lowendmac.com/ppc/4400.shtml

USB wasn't around at the time, so it has ADB, and I think it still had an Apple monitor connector, so in order to connect a VGA monitor you would need an adapter. New Mac's all have DVI and VGA.

Personally I'd cut my losses and get a Mac mini for ~€500, a modern machine that runs the latest Mac OS X "Tiger", and has USB 2.0, FireWire and DVI/VGA to connect any PC monitor. The machine you have might be fine for running old programs and word processing, but beyond that I can't see much use for it (beyond perhaps the historical value).

weeder

actually i got it free from an old business clearing out

tomMK1

probably the worst mac ever built. I have one. its based on the PowerPC 603e chip, and designed using PC components. Over the past 10 years Ive had about 4 macs and the 4400 has to be the worst ever. Cards not working, running slow, crashes .. not good. A souped up 7100/80 wouold be a much better deal and you can pick those up for next to nothing. on the other hand a mac mini is only 500 euro.

whippet

Dr_Teeth wrote:

You will need to find a VGA-Apple converter of some kind, have a look around on the 'net.

QUOTE]

I belive the part number from Apple may be '922-3764' for the VGA adaptor. Try some of the apple resellers they may have one or two knocking about.

ADB Keyboards and Mice would be much harder to come by, apart from a recycling depot.

weeder

thhere is a few on ebay but postage is very high

weeder

ive seen those adaptors now i need to find one

weeder

ok ive got my monitor someone kindly gave me a free one on FS forums


i will pay anyone now to sell me a mouse and keyboard

masteroftherealm

If you can make it to dublin ya can have them for free? And a 17" Apple Monitor too if ya want it?(I also have 5of that exact mac if ya want more of them(",)

weeder

all for free?


if so ill take em off your hands do they all have mice/keyboards/monitors?????

rom

Somewhere like cash converters might have that stuff. worth a try