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rkadowns · Jun 11, 2002, 02:32 PM

I'm sorry to post a question like this here, but a really have no other online life anywhere else. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" /> So here-goes...

Once upon a time I had a UMAX C500 clone. In it I put an Apple P1/100MHz PCI card what was essentially a PC on a PCI card. I loved it! I am thinking of purchasing for home another PC, and since performance is not an issue and space is, I would love to fork over some cash for a PC on a PCI card that can piggyback in my G4 and use the abundance of resource I don't use now that's in it.

Does anyone know of anyone who might make a device like this now? I think Orange Micro did once upon a time. I would think that with the way prices are today, one could be made cheap enough to sell pretty well however I think the concept has pretty much died... I'm a pretty average person who wants one of these things, so I would imagine that there could be a market. What do I know though.

Hey, I'll make it on-topic. I could run a PC and a Mac version of the dFold client on it! Cool!

RIP

mikkyo · Jun 11, 2002, 04:17 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by rkadowns:

Does anyone know of anyone who might make a device like this now?
Hey, I'll make it on-topic. I could run a PC and a Mac version of the dFold client on it! Cool!

RIP<hr /></blockquote>No current products. The reason it isn't cheap, is that though the HW parts would be cheap, the SW interaction with the OS and massive amount of QA make it rather expensive.

Just last month there were some OrangeMicro OrangePC Pentium/200 PCI card for $29 on closeout somewhere.

Try Virtual PC. It works great and you can use USB PC/Mac devices just fine.

Or build a mini-pizza box Duron system for $200 and stick it under your desk.

Better yet spend $380 and build a killer athlon system for ultra crunch power and PC gaming and stick it in a mini tower.

Oh and you couldnt run distfold on both since the PC card doesn't work in OS X. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

SkiBikeSki · Jun 11, 2002, 04:41 PM

<a href="http://forums.macnn.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=25;t=000619" target="_blank">In this topic</a> we discussed how you could buy a new and quite good PC for very cheap. I think that the same applies in your case. You won't need the PC to have tons of RAM and HD since that's what the G4 is for.

You can connect the two computers to the same monitor, keyboard, and mouse <a href="http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10319463&loc=101" target="_blank">with this</a>. I use an older version of that same switch, and it work great. The picture quality is great, even for games. And Apple's USB keyboards and mice even work with windows. The only problem I've had with this setup is that "sudo shutdown now" disables USB hot-swapping. But that's it!

[ 06-11-2002, 05:43 PM: Message edited by: SkiBikeSki ]

mikkyo · Jun 11, 2002, 05:15 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by SkiBikeSki:
The only problem I've had with this setup is that "sudo shutdown now" disables USB hot-swapping. But that's it!<hr /></blockquote>Are you using that to drop into single user mode?
If so what happens to USB when you log out and login as >console?

rkadowns · Jun 11, 2002, 06:26 PM

"Oh and you couldn't run distfold on both since the PC card doesn't work in OS X."

Thanks. That's one of those, "do what I mean, not what I say" situations. I appreciate the response. I spent too much time on Google looking for such a device. I pretty much came to the conclusion that they no longer exist. Seems though if I take the cost of both your and skibikeski's solutions, that may almost pay for the card and software.

Tell you what, like in the past, I would pay for the convenience of COMMAND-ESC'ing between PC and Mac views. Not to mention all those same integration features VirtualPC provides today.

Oh good ole' VirtualPC. As I call it, Virtually Useless. I use it currently to TRY to sync my PocketPC with Outlook. Notice I use the word TRY. I have no speed demon, a 466/G4, and it shows when running VPC. I swear, allocating 128MB for the Win2K it's running, and using 16bpp, AND disabling AUDIO in both the VPC app and removing the drivers, it's still slower than my 4MB 486sx Laptop running Win95. VPC works much better with Win95b, however USB support is so poor that sync'ing is impossible. Oh, and don't get me started on networking. The main reason I need Windows at home is to VPN into my job's Netware LAN. Ever tried to do that with VPC?

Make me a PCI PC that can take up a 66MHz PCI slot, and I will gladly pay $600 for the privilege and convenience. I really miss my ole' Umax...

rkadowns · Jun 11, 2002, 06:35 PM

Just found <a href="http://www.jumptec.de/product/data/slotpc/coolmonsterpd.html" target="_blank">this...</a>

Have no idea if Mac software is in the works. Or pricing for that matter...

RIP

Nevermind, Just realized that this device is not intended to operate in a PC. Still interesting concept. Could make for an interesting DC farm however...

[ 06-11-2002, 08:02 PM: Message edited by: rkadowns ]

Scotttheking · Jun 11, 2002, 07:21 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by rkadowns:
Just found <a href="http://www.jumptec.de/product/data/slotpc/coolmonsterpd.html" target="_blank">this...</a>

Have no idea if Mac software is in the works. Or pricing for that matter...

RIP

Nevermind, Just realized that this device is not intended to operate in a PC. Still interesting concept. Could make for an interesting DC farm however...<hr /></blockquote>Those are meant to go into PCI backplanes. I can get them with lots of different options, although I've only seen one AMD one, and it's PC133 ram based.
They are full computers on a card, and aren't worth buying.

mikkyo · Jun 12, 2002, 03:44 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by rkadowns:

Tell you what, like in the past, I would pay for the convenience of COMMAND-ESC'ing between PC and Mac views. Not to mention all those same integration features VirtualPC provides today.
...
The main reason I need Windows at home is to VPN into my job's Netware LAN. Ever tried to do that with VPC?
<hr /></blockquote>The KVM linked in the earlier post supports switching from the USB keyboard plugged into it as well as USB chained peripheral sharing.
So a PC and Mac can be just a keycombo apart. It works pretty nicely and all the money you saved from a small PCI cpu can go into a better PC or something else..

Like a VPN HW router, which it sounds like would eliminate your need for a pc completely.

SkiBikeSki · Jun 12, 2002, 03:56 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by mikkyo:
 <blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by SkiBikeSki:
The only problem I've had with this setup is that "sudo shutdown now" disables USB hot-swapping. But that's it!<hr /></blockquote>Are you using that to drop into single user mode?
If so what happens to USB when you log out and login as >console?<hr /></blockquote>The one time I left my G4 in single user mode, I also switched to my PC, and then back again. The G4 didn't even look for the USB keyboard, and there was no way to regain control of the G4. So I had to restart it and lose 10 days of uptime.

From now on, I'm only doing >console.

back to the subject at hand,
The KVM switch is just as convenient as the PC card. You can easily transfer files using 10.1's SMB support. Or just turn on FTP sharing on the Mac and transfer files that way.

rkadowns · Jun 12, 2002, 07:17 PM

I appreciate all your time SkiBikeSki and Mikkyo. None that was mentioned will fall on deaf ears.

Cheers