Figure 1: Hand made NuBus extension cable
After you upgraded PowerMac 6100 by Newer Technology's MAXpowr G3 PDS card or Sonnet Technologies' Crescendo/NuBus, Apple AV card and HPV card (a.k.a. VC card) are the only option to upgrade the original graphics capabilities.
However, if you own the PM6100 with NuBus adapter card and one of the nice NuBus video card or any other kind of NuBus card, you may feel really sad when you upgraded G3 card and lost your precious NuBus card capability.
I was one of these sad PM6100 owners for a while. But when I got extra PM6100 from my friend, I started thinking "Is it possible to recycle this NuBus adapter card with G3 upgraded PM6100?" This was the beginning of this story. (Also I changed the title like the famous Sci-Fi story.)
Both MAXpowr G3 PDS and Crescendo/NuBus have a PDS slot that you won't waste your AV card or HPV card even after you upgrade your PM6100. That means NuBus adapter card is physically attachable to those G3 upgrades if you remove a metal bracket and ignore the position and the direction of NuBus slot.
Important questions are:
The first problem is crucial. If it won't work, all NuBus treasures will be useless unless we gave up to use G3. It will be a difficult choice "G3, or not G3 (NuBus card), that is the question..." Anyway here is my report.
Warning! The following content in this page is just a report of my various tests. Those tests may have a possibility to destroy or damage the logic board, G3 upgrade card, NuBus adapter card and NuBus cards. I'm not encouraging you to do the similar thing. Just showing my results. There is no guarantee that you can get same results even you follow my procedure in this page especially extending NuBus slot requires special skill of soldering. So, read at your own risk. Even if you try and fail, that's your decision, your choice. Don't blame or sue me.
When I had only one PM6100, I hesitated to try this NuBus test. But fortunately my friend gave me his PM6100/60, then I'm ready to do it!
PowerMac6100/60, 70M RAM, MacOS 9.04 Japanese
Newer technology, MAXpowr G3 PDS 240-266MHz (MXP6100/266,512k 2nd cache), driver: MAXpowr Extension and MAXpowr Control version 2.0.5
Test result: It works! PM6100 status up without any problems and works fine!
PowerMac6100/60, 70M RAM, MacOS 9.04 Japanese
Sonnet technologies, Crescendo/NuBus G3 500MHz (CFG3-500-1M), driver: Sonnet Processor Upgrade version 1.47
Test result: Doesn't work. It is not stable: it shows bomb at the start up, freezes during startup, shows red 'X' at the Sonnet Processor Upgrade. It never boots properly.
PowerMac6100/60, 70M RAM, MacOS 9.04 Japanese
Sonnet technologies, Crescendo/NuBus G3 400MHz (CFG3-400-1M), driver: Sonnet Processor Upgrade version 1.47
Test result: Doesn't work. Same as above...
We cannot use recent faster G3 cards with NuBus adapter card, but at least MAXpowr may be the answer of my question.
Next step is a test with actual NuBus card. However, now I have to face to another problem.
Since I knew that MAXpowr G3 worked fine with NuBus adapter card, I feel much better to do this. After I put NuBus adapter card to MAXpowr, the NuBus slot face directly to the logic board. As a primary test, I made a simple cable to extend NuBus slot. This time, I used materials available in my electrical junk supplies. I had 32pin flat cables and 96pin connectors same as NuBus connector for other purpose, I used those to extend the slot. It requires a good soldering technique to make this cable: you have to solder three rows of 32 pins with a flat cable for both ends. Figure 1 shows the cable I made. I know it is not beautiful. But if it works fine, I will re-design it.
Figure 1: Hand made NuBus extension cable
I made the cable little bit longer because I was not sure how I could configure NuBus card in the future. But after I made it, I thought it might be too long to send a bus signal without special buffering... Anyway, don't worry too much, let's try!
The physical configuration at the NuBus adapter is fine. It looks very close to the heat sink of original PPC601 CPU, but no physical contact as you can see from Figure 2.
Figure 2: Closer look of NuBus slot and attached extension cable.
Anyway, cabling is finished. Now time to turn on!
PowerMac6100/60, 70M RAM, MacOS 9.04 Japanese
Newer technology, MAXpowr G3 240-266MHz (MXP6100/266,512k 2nd cache), driver: MAXpowr Extension and MAXpowr Control version 2.0.5
Radius PrecisionColor Pro 24X (without driver)
Test result: Thanks Newer technology, it works! It started up without any problem. Actually, at that time I didn't have a second monitor, I used System Profiler whether the PrecisionColor was detected or not. Figure 3 is a screen copy image of Apple System Profiler and Newer Tech's Gauge PRO. I tested with Japanese MacOS, then you will see some Japanese in the profile window and the menu bar.
Figure 3: Screen copy of Apple System Profiler and Gauge PRO. (on-board DRAM video)
Yes! The system recognized the NuBus card with G3 upgrade!! Now let's check the video output from NuBus video card. Actually I could do without turning off the system, but I worried about the physical contact of the NuBus card during re-cabling. So I shutdown the system and connected the video cable to the PrecisionColor and made it as a primary screen.
Now it's time of real test of the NuBus video card. When I saw the video output from PrecisionColor and I saw the happy Mac, I really shouted, "Thanks Newer tech!". Figure 4 is another screen shot. This time, PrecisionColor is the main display.
Figure 4: Screen copy of Apple System Profiler and Gauge PRO. (NuBus video)
Figure 5 shows the configuration of the cable and NuBus card of this test. You can see a red video card, the Radius PrecisionColor Pro 24X at the top of this image and a green card, NuBus adapter card, at the left.
Figure 5: Internal configuration of this test.
Now I can see the NuBus video card from Apple System Profiler in slot $E. This $E slot sounds very special for PM6100. For example, PowerMac 8100 has three NuBus slots and those IDs are $B, $C and $D from the bottom. For PM8100, 4th slot from the bottom is the PDS (therefore PDS slot should relates $E, I guess). According to the 'Slot Info' program from Newer Tech, the built-in DRAM Video is in Slot ID 0 (this program shows slot 0, 9, A, B, C, D and E) on PM8100.
Amazing! I can use both MAXpowr G3 and NuBus video card! Now I feel really happy and I can test more NuBus cards! Table 1 shows a summary of NuBus cards I have tested.
Table 1: Test results of various NuBus cards.
| Card Type | Vendor, Product Name |
Results | Comments |
| Video card | Radius PrecisionColor Pro 24X |
Fine | No problem |
| Video card | Radius Thunder IV GX 1600 |
It works, but not perfect | Its highest resolution 1600x1200 is not stable. First couple of minutes was fine for 1600x1200 and then suddenly I get a gray desktop. Even I can see the menu bar and the mouse cursor moving, I lost all other visual icons, folders and control strip. I tired without DSP board, but it behaved same as before at that resolution. Other lower resolutions are fine. |
| Video card | Radius Thunder GT 1152 |
Fine | No problem |
| Video card | RasterOps PaintBoard Prism GT |
Fine | No problem |
| Video card | Sonnet Tech. Sonata Pro 24 a.k.a. Village Tronic Computer Mac Picasso 340 |
Fine | No problem: even 1600x1200 and 1920x1080 with thousand colors! |
| Ethernet Card | Farallon Fast Ether TX-10/100 NuBus card PN990a-TX |
Fine | System behaves little bit unstable than without this card. |
| Wide SCSI card | ATTO SiliconExpress IV |
DOES NOT WORK! | I really wanted to use this card but I could not see happy Mac... All I can see is initial gray screen from onboard video output... |
Now I know that I can use MAXpowr G3, NuBus adapter card and some NuBus card. However, there are new problems which I didn't mention before. The NuBus adapter card is too long! Even we had a trouble with HPV card that contacts internal HDD. But this one is little bit longer than HPV card.
It sticks out little bit from the rear slot window. However, the rear part of NuBus adapter card doesn't have any critical circuit pattern, so I think I can cut it... But I have only one NuBus adapter card, then I haven't tried yet.
This is a serious problem. It hits the internal HDD!
So I gave up to use 3.5inch HDD and used 2.5inch IDE HDD + 2.5inch IDE to SCSI converter + 2.5inch SCSI to 50pin SCSI converter.
Another possibility is moving internal HDD to CD-ROM slot. But CD-ROM is also important then I didn't do that.
Figure 6 is a picture around the NuBus adapter card with 2.5inch HDD. You can see the problem clearly. I haven't cut the rear part, then it is still sticking out.
Figure 6: Closer look around the NuBus adapter card.
Now new problems are not so difficult to solve. But there is one simple question: does NuBus card fit in the original case? I believe most PM6100 user love the compactness of the case. So do I. That means every thing must be in the original case!
It is possible if I choose smaller cards and remove a plastic pole that supports a load from the top cover, I could configure NuBus card many way though I cannot put heavy display on the top of PM6100 any more. For the video cards, I made a special DB15 video cable which is able to extend video output to the original rear slot window.
Important thing is electrical insulation: if I put the NuBus card inside of the case, it may contacts to the internal SCSI cable, edge of SIMM module and the internal shielding metal plates, etc. Also when I close the top cover, the metal plate attached to the cover may contact with the NuBus card, I must be careful about the insulation.
If I gave up internal CD-ROM drive, I may have more choice for the NuBus card. But I definitely need CD-ROM drive...
Now I regained the original NuBus capability for G3 upgraded PM6100 and I'm quite happy about it. But once I regained one function, I want to do more, upgrade more. The next step is "Can I get more NuBus slots?" I'm not sure... I need more time and information to get the answer....
According to the AppleCare Archive Article 2194, pin 26 and pin 27 in row A and C corresponds ID0 to ID3, geographical address which is hard-coded to slot. If I know the exact meaning of this 'hard-coded', it may possible to obtain more slots (at least one more for the internal case).
After I tested NuBus adapter with previous condition, I tested following Newer's G3 card and PM6100/66.
Since MAXpowr G3 works fine with NuBus adapter card, I upgraded it from 240-266MHz/512k to 300-330MHz/1M model. It is not a dramatically fast, but still works with my NuBus environment.
I put MAXpowr G3, NuBus adapter card into PowerMac 6100/66 with 264M RAM model. It worked fine. I didn't check all NuBus card I listed above, but I think it should work. I usually use Sonata Pro 24 (1600x1200) or Thunder IV GX 1600 without DSP board (1320x1024), I don't have any problems. Now my faster MAXpowr works at 330MHz. Even it is slower than recent Sonnet Techonologies' G3 cards, I'm quite happy :-)
I'm extremly happy with my G3-PowerMac6100 which has a big screen like this!
