As much as I do love my 1400, there are some things I just cannot do with it. Minimal Linux / BSD support, 16-bit PCMCIA, tiny RAM, and the batteries are pricey. Of course, now that I have tweaked it, I am going to keep on jamming with it!
But, I am thinking about buying a 3400-3500 also. Main advantage my 1400 offers over these machines is that CPU upgrades are available. Naturally, I have heard of swapping a Kanga board into a 3400, but unless I just happen into a heap of Kanga parts this is not too likely.
Has anyone ever reworked the PCBs of these computers to use different CPUs and multipliers? I'd love to compare a 3400 and 3500 PCB side by side, see if there is anything different apart from the few chips mentioned above. What (big!) if one could just transfer the relevant ICs from a 250 MHZ 1400 upgrade onto the 3400 board? It'll be months before I am able to buy a 3400, I am just trying to think ahead.
I'd be ultra-psyched to hear any such experiences, or links to detailed information of the PCBs and their chips!
Metrophage
Both the 3400 (Hooper) and original G3 (3500/Kanga) models have their processors soldered to the motherboard. Overclocking is an option, but I've never heard of anyone pushing a 3400 more than about 10% faster than what it's rated for.
If you're looking for a machine that you can expand, get a Wallstreet or newer.
Ok, to be more precise what I am interested in doing is getting a 3400/3500; desoldering the CPU, multipliers, and associated parts off of the circuit board - then replacing those by soldering a set of more current chips on there for a faster machine.
A 1400 or Wallstreet is "expandable" primarily because of the relevant chips being on a daughter-card of some sort for easy access. A similar thing could be achieved by changing the parts off of the logic board itself, but it requires precision and patience.
Of course I love to get a Wallstreet! The issue is that, being between employments, I have little money to spend. I can find 3400 for less than $100. They can do cardbus and even run OS 10.1. Since the 3400 is a PCI Open Firmware box there are many more Linux / BSD versions which can run on it. And besides, I like to do crazy hardware modifications!
Desoldering and otherwise reworking BGA-packaged CPUs is a task pretty thoroughly beyond mere mortals, unless they have access to the necessary equipment. (Lowest cost-of-entry for BGA rework equipment is around $2000, and the inexpensive ones aren't usually suitable for larger components like CPUs.)
Just to clarify, there are no "pins" on the CPU in the 603e used in the 3400 or on G3s. From the factory they come as a flat ceramic package with solder balls pre-placed on the contact areas on the bottom. (Which aren't really pins.) During assembly, the whole thing is heated, as a unit, and squished down in place onto the motherboard. Getting it off without destroying it or the motherboard would essentially be impossible with a soldering iron. And reusing the compenent once you get it off is also nontrivial, even *with* a rework station, since it has to be "re-solderballed" before it can be replaced.
Good luck.
--Peace
True enough, those are BGAs. I didn't have any on hand, but I checked my spare 1400 CPUs... I was wishfully thinking they were Quad Flat Packs, which are tricky but readily possible.
It'll be years before I get equipment for BGA work, and by then I'd afford a more recent PowerBook anyway. Not that I'll let that stop me from tweaking old PowerBooks anyway!
Thanks for the helpful reality check, now I can think about more productive things. I still want to "make" a 550c by redoing a 500 series CPU daughter card with a full 040 processor. Those are QFP chips, so at least there is a similar proj I can strive towards. If only I could find a decent priced source on 68040s!
For the sake of simplicity (or the lack of it) what has to be swapped on a 3400c MB to use a G3 CPU? I mean, not how to do it (solder waves, etc.), but what parts are needed to goose it up?
Another old thread resurfaces! Check out eudi's post again. Ball Grid Array CPUs probably can't be reworked at all on a hacker's budget, so I doubt anyone's even looked into this one.
jt