I decided to move my daughter up from her PM6500 to a Beige G3 desktop, but I knew I was going to miss the control I had with the infrared remote control for the 6500 (on/off, volume, headphone jack, and even AppleTV controls if you also install a TV tuner--which I didn't), so I installed an IR unit in the Beige using the suggestions I found here:
http://www.geocities.com/pm9600g4/g3tv-1.html
Thanks Powersurge9600! (a sometimes contributor to Applefritter)
Here's my pics of how I installed it:
Beige IR 1
Beige IR 2
Beige IR 3
I already had an extra IR unit I had taken out of a discarded 6400 which I was planning to use, but I couldn't easily figure out how to mount it in the Beige. I then found a discarded PM 6200, so what I decided to do was rip the framework of the 6200 apart to pull out its IR unit and its bracket. Having torn apart a 6400 earlier, I thought it might be fairly easy, but no, the metal in the 6200 was much stronger than the 6400 and instead of using metal cutters, I ended up ripping much of it apart using the bending the metal back and forth method--not easy at all, so I don't know if my method of mounting is recommended. Mounting it directly to the plastic bracket in the Beige probably will be a lot easier if you can figure out how to do that.
There's a small hole in the bottom of the IR unit which I used to put a screw into in order to keep the unit from slipping forward on the bracket (the plastic case did that in the 6200). The metal bracket keeps it from slipping backward. So I drilled three holes in the bracket--one to mount the IR unit with the screw into its bottom, and two to mount the unit bracket with two screws to the Beige plastic frame. Then there was some negotiating--using the two screws--of the height, the horizontal register, and the extension outward of the IR unit on the Beige framework.
Earlier I had prepared the IR unit and the Personality card to receive the cable between the two. Powersurge used a PC floppy cable trimmed down to 26 pins. I instead widened the opening in the back metal covering of the IR unit (thin easily cuttable metal) and snipped off the two plastic end sides of the IR unit connector on the Personality card so that instead of trimming the cable I could just use the whole cable. One of the hardest things may be finding a PC floppy cable that doesn't have the twist in one end of the wires. The one I used had three connectors, two of which were connected without a twist. Look at a PC floppy cable to see what I'm talking about.
After mounting the IR unit in the Beige, I then had to cut an opening in the case for it to stick out of. This was easy for me because I had already cut an opening for the zip drive below it, and I just used that opening as a guide, using a piece of paper as a stencil.
In order to run the PC floppy cable from the IR unit to the Personality card I cut a hole in the vent on the Beige metal frame. That metal cut very easily with metal cutters,
So, put it all together, and the IR unit works great using either the old Apple remote control or a Sony TV remote control (So you might not want to have the computer near a Sony TV--mine is next to a Toshiba).
The dear darling is all setup, and I can control things without stumbling all over her Power Rangers action figures all over the floor:
Happy Computer Girl
This mod for the Beige G3 to have a IR receiver and tv tuner has alway's been something i wanted to do with my AIO but i think the Personality card in the AIO can only have the tv tuner card (modded of course) and not the IR receiver .
What type of remote & software are you using? I'd lilke to operate my TiPowerbook this way, especially as it has built in IR.
Mutant_Pie
The remote is the old Apple remote that worked with the Performas and some of the early Powermacs:
Apple Remote AV TV for PM6500
It works with the Apple TV/Video software and you'd need to have that TV tuner hooked up to the motherboard or Personality card to watch TV.
But the IR unit is not software run. It runs off the old motherboards or some of the G3 Personality cards that have the 26pin connector, so if you've got the hardware, no driver is needed, especially since, notice, the remote will also turn your computer on. My daughter's in OS 9, so I don't know if it still works in OS X, but I don't see why it shouldn't.
If I recall correctly, the remote was actually made by Sony, or something like that, so Sony TV remotes also work the IR unit.
its prolly like all the other personality cards in OS X (not supported). the wings personality card (AKA AV card) only has basic support. which makes it a wisper personality card. there is however sound output threw the rca's on the wings card but the rest either dont work or only halfway works. so more than likely it wont work in O sX cause the personality cards only had half support at best even in 10.2 (officaly supported version of OS X for the Beige G3). now if there was some type of 3rd party driver for the wings or other personality card for OS X them it might work. but as it sits now that is highly unlikely to happen.
i would love to have full support for my wings personality card to input video and sound and output video in OS X, not to mention would also love for my volume button on the front to work in OS X, would love for my 2 earphone ports in the front to shut off the sound to the built in speakers in OS X (they do however output sound but like i said the built in speakers are also out puting sound) would love to be able to have the built in mic to work without having to plug a external mic in the back ( when i do this the external mic dont work but it does enable the internal mic). all this stuff hooks directly into the personality card. that goes to show you how much OS X cripples the AIO's personality card or other wings or wisper card. this was wile i was useing 10.2-10.2.8 (the so called supported version of OS X). tiger is the same way
oops double post
Someday soon I'll put an OS X hardrive in the Beige and see what works on the IR unit and post results here. That's very interesting that your volume and headphone jack don't work appropriately. You'd think those basics would be all hardware based and independent of software.
yea you would think they would be. and you would think that apple would have had drivers for the hardware in jaguar since it is a supported version of OS X for this machine. i think any version of OS X didnt have full support for these cards. i wish there was a way to make them or find someone that knows how to do this stuff. i think only then everything will work in OS X
I feel out of place- I've got a TV tuner card that also has an FM receiver on it... I got it from eBay a while back, to use in my 6500 (and now in my Power Color Classic), but I've never seen one anywhere else before. I wonder if this would work in a beige G3 or aio.. The FM tuner is pretty convenient
Yep, according to Powersurge (check link above in original post) it should work fine, as long as the personality card has the available connector. You might have a problem finding a place to mount it, especially in the AIO, and you'll have to fabricate a cable. The 6500 has the cable, but with a connector on only one end. The other end in the 6500 goes into the plastic cable tower structure in the middle of the machine, but that cable is nice and long, if I remember correctly. The TV/FM unit was an option on the 6500. They weren't especially rare. It works only in Pre-X OS's. I watched the personality card auctions until I was sure I found one that had the connectors. I think it only cost me $7.
I'm planning to do the same with mine - I picked up a motherboard and PERCH card with the AIO connectors.
I don't mean to diss your work there (I mean, well done!), but personally I find the placement of the IR window a little ... less than aesthetic. Especially without the glass cover. I see you are using a Zip, so that puts the Zip bezel (which was my probable mounting point) out of the running.
Course, this is all moot if my mobo ends up in a CC Taco...
I also wanted to be able to use the headphone jack and the volume buttons on the IR unit, so putting the whole thing behind a glass, or even plex, wasn't much of an option--well, maybe plex might be an option with some cleverness and some accurate drilling--and I even considered somehow mounting the plastic covering for the IR unit--somehow surgically removed--from either the 6200 or 6400, but I quickly slapped myself out of those fantasies, remembering all the other things I need to attend to in life. It was a purely utilitarian mod, so it's fine as it is, especially since the beige case isn't in great condition anyway, and who knows how quickly the dear daughter is going to outgrow the capabilities of a Beige G3. Luckily there's been no whimpering so far about an Xbox, etc. I don't think she even yet knows what those are. I'm crossing my fingers that that Xbox day will never come.
Actually, now that you've got me thinking about it, the plex window with drilled holes sounds like a good idea. I probably would have tried it if I had thought of it. You could countersink the holes so your fingertips could more easily hit the volume buttons.
After I had bought the AV Personality Card with the IR and TV slots and was in the process of installing it, I suddenly noticed that the regular Personality Card in the Beige that I was replacing had a slot with 26 pins also. Not wanting to acknowledge the folly of my purchase, I went ahead and installed the AV card and put the regular card in storage. Now I have need for the AV card in another Beige, so I reinstalled the original non-AV Personality Card and hooked it up to the IR unit and the remote works on that card also. So the IR slot is not only on some of the AV Personality Cards but also on some of the regular Personality Cards as well. Here's a pic of the regular Personality Card with the 26 pin IR connector:
http://www.applefritter.com/node/21345
Here's a pic of a regular Personality Card with a different, non-IR, 40 pin connector:
http://www.applefritter.com/node/21346
I suspect the 40 pin connectors are the more common version. Someone here must know what the 40 pin connector is for. Also notice the arrangement of the cards is different with the sound ports on the back plate being in different locations. So if you're interested in this mod, you don't have to be looking for just one of the IR-slotted AV cards.
The 40-pin socket does have "AIO" silkscreened right over it.
Which means...?
Which means the 40-pin socket should be for the Beige G3 AIO machines.
I pulled that card from a Beige desktop, but of course, that doesn't mean anything. So what would be the function of that 40pin connector on a Personality Card in an AIO? Same connector as an ATA interface, but it couldn't have anything to do with the ATA bus, could it?
Just checked another Beige desktop that I have. It also has the regular non-AV Personality Card with the 40pin connector.
I was just reminded that what I'm calling the regular non-AV card is called the "Whisper" card. It has only two 1/8" stereo jacks on the backplate for audio I/O. The AV Personality cards have RCA, 1/8," S-video out, and the special S-video in for the ATI Xclaim TV box hookup on the backplate. The AV card was called the "Wings" card. The Beige motherboard was called the "Gossamer." Guess it was Apple's angelic period.
apple used some AIO cards in every Beige G3 made and some had the non AIO model of personality card.
the whole purpose of that slot with the AIO silkscreened is to supply the sound to the internal speakers of the AIO, the built in mic, the front board which has a power light and volume buttons. it also supply's a few video signals to the built in monitor for the diffrent sync's.and the 2 ear phone jack's on the front of the AIO.
the little black connector is the RGB signal's to the internal monitor. on some model's of the personality card has a DAV connector where the IR connector is on the first picture . the audio and video input are the 8-10 ghost pin on the bottom left side of the second picture and can be modded to be able to use a tv tunner, the first picture lack's this port. and the second picture lack's the IR port.
in OS X on the wings card the built in Mac of the AIO only works when a external mic is connected. the sound to the internal speakers works fine, the 2 front earphone jack's do work in sending sound to earphones but dont cut off the sound internal speakers. the light works but when the system is asleep it dont flash. the volume button on the front of the AIO dont work. the rear earphone jack works normaly and will mute the internal speakers when a set of earphones are connected. the video out dont work in OS X. the video in dont work in OS X. the audio out and audio in works in OS X. both the s video in and out dont work in OS X. in OS 9.2.2 everything above works flawlessly.
it would be cool to see a driver made to make the wings card fully funtional like it is in OS 9.x but this will prolly never happen. when i am in tiger and looking in ASP at the video card info it show's my onboard video having 8mb vram when it really has 6mb vram. it shows the radeon 7000 properly.
i think allot can be made to work if Ryan ( the maker of xpostfacto) would make the proper extensions for it and other things. i have seen that there is a few extension error's in ASP that is prolly why my Pioneer drive dont work right under tiger.
ryan hasent been active on the OWC tech forum since december 2005. and no one knows if he gave up on it or died or what have you. but i think he could get most of this stuff to work in OS X. but i wont hold my breath for it to happen. cause i think he gave up on it.
Your post brings to my mind ideas for topics for two new threads: which obsolete Apple product would you most like to see brought out of obsolescence, and who in the Apple community is deserving of sainthood?
I always wonder what the motivation is for these free software writers. Is it fun, altruism, something to show to the doctoral committee, or the realization that enough of a percentage of users will contribute some amount of a donation to make it worth the while? Not knowing anything about software writing, I've no idea of the labor involved. It sounds like Ryan Remple would be deserving canonization, and perhaps the maker of Carbon Copy Cloner. There's lots of others, I'm sure. If the makers of iCab could put together a truly up to date Carbon-based OS9 browser, I'd nominate them. Heck, I'd even pay for it, if it were reasonably priced. OS 9 shouldn't be allowed to whither away to obsolescence so easily.
If anyone wants to create those threads, be my guest.