I have an 800Mhz flat panel imac that i am going to make into a headless server.I was wondering if there is anything cool i could do to the case or any mods to make it run faster. I looked around Mac Mod but flat panel imac mods don't seem to be too popular.

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Draconis

well, its a fairly new machine and not very easily modable. Although, you could always house it in a new case or you could pain the case like this one...

http://www.macmod.com/content/view/19/2/

But, I think that it would look cool just by itself, headless. Maybe you can put a lighting effect under it like the powermate.

Well in the few hours before your post i thought up some pretty cool ideas.

1. Move power button to where the arm currently is.
2. Since i'm taking out the CD drive for a second HDD the CD cover(oblong piece of plastic that flips down when the CD comes out) will have 3 indicator lights. One for each HDD and another one to show its hooked up to the network.

I like your idea about the powermate. I was thinking maybe EL wire in between the logic board and plastic air vents or is that not bright enough?

Also I thought of a name. The Mac Orb. Is that too cheezy?

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Draconis

sounds bad ass to me

Love the idea with the power button and the drive and netowork activity led indicators. As for the powermate look, I was thinking something like a strip of plexiglass molded around the base so that it is just about an inch high, then mount lights under there. You could sand the plexiglass as well so that it has a hazy look. I duno if plexiglass is exactly the right material, but, you get the idea.

That does sound phat. Is the lcd broken? You can overclock those imacs too. Maybe some
slight cooling mods would be in order though.
-maestro

There is a problem with the LCD but, its not worth it to fix the problem. If it ever needs a display the external connecion still works fine and I'm going to put VNC on it. I looked into overclocking. the only problem would be extra cooling while still being virtually silent as this imac would run 24/7.

Post edited by: Draconis, at: 2005/08/08 00:06

Sorry i skipped your post oojacoboo. I was kinda tired last night .The only problem i see with that is how to light it all around without lights on the outside. If i cut out a hole in the center of the plexi and put in EL wire or LED's would that work?

Post edited by: Draconis, at: 2005/08/08 14:56

actually yea, that might work best, to cut a hole in the plexiglass, using the thickest plexiglass you can find, and then cut the outside as well in a circle just a little larger. Maybe you could even do two of these and glue them together to make it even thicker. Then just take the light strip and go all the way around underneath the imac on the inside of the circular strips. Add a little sandpaper to the plexiglass to scuff it up a tad and then you should have something that looks alot like a powermate. Giving you the orb effect

The point it to raise the base of the imac off the ground just a little, with a hollow middle for the lighting.

Post edited by: oojacoboo, at: 2005/08/08 15:27

Ok, i'll do that. Where would be a place to buy a pwrbook or G5 tower pwr button? I know of ebay i was just wondering if there was another place.

actually you might give some apple repair shops a call. They might be able to hook you up. I would give techrestore a call and tell them you are working on a mod for the mod challenge, if indeed you are, and they might be able to help.

Yes infact i am going to submit this to the mod challenge.

there is a thought, you might take a look at how they are built then do your own, that way its still a mod.

I barely remember something from a macworld expo like that. I also remember it sold for $100. :ohmy: I'll have to google it and check ebay. Maybe it's dirt cheap now.

Update: Well i found it. It's called the U.F.O. for iMac - USB. FireWire. Organizer for All Flat screen iMacs. Apparently it has been discontinued.

Post edited by: Draconis, at: 2005/08/08 21:08

Post edited by: Draconis, at: 2005/08/08 21:25

Here's another quick thought. Maybe i should attach the pwrmate-like light to the power light so it shows power and does that dimming thing when it's asleep.

whoa, now you are talking! You just need to find the led that attaches to the motherboard that pulses and connect it up to the lights for the base, but I am doubting that it will have enough power alone.

I was thinking of getting rid of that LED and using the pwr source to pwr a circular cold-cathode.

Daystar are now doing CPU upgrades for these iMacs......

Yeah I looked into those. I just cant justify $548 for a .6875% speed boost. I'd rather boost the graphics card but it's an integrated NVidea.

I was going to take out the superdrive and replace it with a HDD. Would it be possible to put something like this in or is the CD drive not a standard 5.12" one?

Update: I opened up the iMac and found out it should fit. Please disregard the above question.

Post edited by: Draconis, at: 2005/08/09 20:46

Would it be better to purchase a Zalman HDD Heat pipe cooler or use a drive sled that i already have to make my second HDD fit?(see previous post)

that depends. I would probably go with the Zalman to cut down on the heat in the machine since it will be running all the time as a server. However, I don't guess it will be doing alot of hard drive spinning so I am not too sure how much heat it will build up.

If you have the money to spare it would be cool. Just depends on how much you think you need it really.

Hey guys, here's the skinny on the power button. on the iMac G4 machines, the power button on the back actually compresses against a physical trigger switch thats hard wired to the logic board. So, unlike the mac mini, powerbook G4, and so many other machines, its a physical hardwired switch. So, having a power switch from another machine wont simply allow you to move it to another location. Here's the caveat though. If you're not afraid of board level work, you may be able to pull the metal outter casing off the switch, and solder the wiring into place, and get a secondary trigger to work. Now, if you hose the on board switch, you may be screwed, but if you can get it to work, well, you'll be on the list of people who have become "the man" in my book.

Now, I'm entering machines in the challenge too, but I'm always up to hook a brother up. If you want, I'll see what power switches I've got in shop, and what I can pull out of other dead machines. I can probably come up with a couple different ones to choose from. Draconis, message me directly with your address and such, and I'll see about putting a box in the mail to you first of the week. I might be able to include some other stuff relating to the imac G4 that might help you in your pursuit.

add some kind of attachment to the bottom and be able to wall mount it!