G3 power Pc help

Welcome to discussions
You should use an ADB-Keyboard/Mouse on your G3.
More info you will get on everymac.com or for
REPAIR

ebay is your friend. Look local so you don't have to pay shipping. An ADB keyboard should run under ten bucks.

MacNoob777
Welcome to the Discussions.

You have two possible courses. As Rainer and Langdon have suggested, you can get a simple ADB mouse, and Apple Keyboard II (without function keys), or for a little more, perhaps, an ADB AppleDesign Keyboard (with function keys). Either keyboard and mouse combination will mate well with your G3, but not be usable with later Macs with built-in USB.

Alternatively, for about the same money, you could pop in a two-port USB PCI card and use your current USB keyboard with your G3. However, the keyboard will not be functional before the OS is fully loaded (ie, before the USB becomes active). The result of that is that desktop rebuilds, starting with extensions off, and other secrets of the machine will not be accessible to you at startup. Nonetheless, the USB card will also be useful for other peripherals when the G3 is up and running.

Only you can balance the pros and cons of the choices.

having only a USB keyboard is a bad idea. Apart from what you just said it other problems may arise. 1) loading the USB card drivers may not be possible with just a USB keyboard and mouse
2) during freezes or lockups the USB is always the first to go and hard forced quits will not be possible.

yes, you can use a USB keyboard but I would not do it unless I had an ADB kepboard stashed away nearby for when problems arise.

Given the value of the G3 I would just go for the cheap fix and stay with the ADB keyboard.

Welcome MacNoob.

You've gotten some great help already. However, you can get more targeted advise by posting in one of the G3 forums. The one you're now in is for Macs older than the G3.

First we need to figure out which G3 you have. As you obviously have a port for an "ADB" keyboard, you must have a Beige G3. The forum for those is here.

Next, we need to find out which of the three variants of the Beige G3 you have. The following links lead to photos of the three types:

Beige G3 Desktop (DT)

Beige G3 Mini-Tower (MT)

Beige G3 All-in-One (AIO)

If none of these photos look like your computer. post a physical description and we'll help you find the right forum.

The Beige g3 model (actually "form factor") matters for getting the proper service and upgrade advice. Use the initials in parentheses (DT, MT, AIO) in your equipment description so you don't have to retype it (see my equipment list below for an example). The amout of RAM installed is available by going to the Apple menu in the left edge of the menu bar and finding the "About this Macintosh..." command. Look for "installed RAM" or "physical RAM" entries.

While you are in the Apple menu, there should be a menu item that says "Apple System Profiler." That will tell you more than you may wish to know about your computer. The first two tabs have the most useful information.

Glad to see you found the Apple forums.

Allan

>"As you obviously have a port for an "ADB" keyboard, you must have a Beige G3."

Careful, Allan, you are showing your beige bias. Although the Blue & White threw out:

1) Built-in Video and the Macintosh-style connector
2) the SCSI port
3) the Printer serial port (and AppleTalk/LocalTalk)
4) the Modem serial port, and
5) the floppy altogether --
the top port on the chassis IS an ADB port for an AppleVison display, and oh yeah I guess you could plug an ADB keyboard into it if you HAD to.

Thanks, Grant! We live and learn. I had a hard time back then making the mental leap from metal computer cases to plastic ones. Therefore, I didn't learn as much about the B&W as I should have.

AJ

PS: Enjoying Panther immensely! Nary a stutter for close to two weeks.

MacNoob777,

Welcome to the posts. ( hitch'n posts in these parts) You have just heard from the 'who's who' of the old folks home. Toss in Texas Mac Man and a couple of others and you will have the full house. Who hasn't checked in yet?

As you can see, there are lots of fine folks to help you take more bites of the apple and digest it completely. Heck, we will even anal.ize your digestive tract!

Do not be afraid to ask anything.

BTW, your question stated " no hole for the square box to go into. There is actually a rectangular box for the plastic registration pin. On a Mac Apple Desktop Bus( ADB) keyboard cable or mouse cable, there is a horizontal pin. When the PC world saw the beauty of Apple's intuitive innovations and decided to COPY THEM, they had to make something different so their registration pin is vertical.

So, if you go to some thrift store or to a recycler, make sure that the plastic registration pin on the cable of the ADB device that you are buying - and that includes many input devices like track pads, remote power switches, weather station data gathering input devices, etc. has a horizontal pin.

One last thing, since you are new. You can tag the answers to your post as being 'Helpful' or 'Answered.' I should get a gold star for my inciteful obsevation about horizontal and vertical plastic pins. If I get enough gold stars, 25 years after Grant dies, I might catch up to his point count. : )

Welcome to the posts.

Jim

PS, the ADB port carries voltage and devices should only be plugged in while power is off. - now ask how many of us have broken that rule.

Grant
Love that. A new term of scathing opprobrium: Oh. You've got Beige Box Bias, or BBB ...

"As you obviously have a port for an "ADB" keyboard, you must have a Beige G3."

Careful, Allan, you are showing your beige bias.

Grant,

Now that Denis has revisited this post, It got me thinking. What is the 8 pin din plug on the middle back (not the pass through ABD connectors on the base) of a 17" Apple multi-sync monitor? Service source makes no mention of it.

Jim

What is the 8 pin din plug on the middle back (not the pass through ABD connectors on the base) of a 17" Apple multi-sync monitor?

I do not know for certain, but I have a theory. I think it is a calibration/adjustment serial port that talks to the display's Analog board.

On the 5500, there is a two-pin connector on the Analog board. You are instructed in the service documents to reach past some moderately high voltage stuff and connect a special Apple cable to this connector, and connect the other end to the modem serial port on the computer section. This allow the adjustment of quite a lot of stuff, but the place where you have to plug in the connector is inside the shield, on a board known to generate over 200 Volts.

In the All-In-One G3, this is carried to a pleasant conclusion with an automatic connection, without user intervention, that allows adjustment of almost any adjustable screen parameter (except extra-coarse brightness and extra-coarse focus which are done with trimpots on the flyback transformer). The tool used is "Display Adjustment Utility" [all adjustments for the All-In-One G3], not to be confused with "Display Service Utility" [colorbars for any Mac].

I think this was carried further on certain Macs that passed an ADB connection through their base, and possibly picked it up for use in internal calibration assistance, but I have not had much opportunity to get my hands on those "modern" displays.

On the subject of Windows PC's keyboards' additional usages, is it possible to put a PC-to-USB converter/adapter plug (they exist) on the PC keyboard's plug and then use the keyboard in a Mac's USB port? If not, then what IS the purpose of these converter plugs?

You are absolutely right Grant, it is for calibration purpose.

I saw one when my 17 bite the dust, and a technician came to my home and replace a piece of panel card and do some adjustment calibration de-gaussing kind of thing before handed back to me alive and kickin'

Mike

Using a PC keyboard having a USB plug or converting a PS/2 plug to USB with an adapter shouldn't be a problem. I use a Gateway/Keytronic USB keyboard with my iMac DV 400. Although the keys are juxtaposed on a PC keyboard in relation to the space bar (compared to their Apple equivalents), the Windows logo key functions as the Apple Command key and the Alt key functions as the Option/Alt key.