Power PC Preforma 6400/180 PCI question

I believe you can. I used to have a PM 6500, which is almost identical to the 6400. I installed a PCI ethernet card when I got DSL. Also used the ethernet connection to transfer files to my current G4.

A great source of info on the 6400 (&6500) is at the 6400 Zone at http://www.zone6400.com

Cheers, Tom

The card provided by my ISP was a Kingston model KNEIITX. Worked on PCs & Macs, however, I had to download the Mac driver from Kingston's web site.

Cheers, Tom

There should be two PCI slots and a Comm-II slot on a riser-card. PCI slot Ethernet cards are readily available on the used market . US eBay generally features a few including genuine Apple ones, for under US$15. Other brands are also available, but you will need a Driver, and some of the companies are out of business. If you can get the Mac Driver with the card, it should work fine.

I have tended to install the Comm-II slot Ethernet cards, which leaves the PCI slot(s) open for other add-ons. These are also available on the used market, often for under US$25.

The 5400/6400 has no Video acceleration, so you may find it slow on modern Web pages. An Add-on PCI card can fix that problem. USB and FireWire can be added with PCI slot cards, too. Oh, now they are all full.

A black monitor screen can be caused by a dead internal battery on the motherboard. The 6400/6500s use a 4.5-volt alkaline battery (Rayovac 870, 871, or equivalent) that's secured to the motherboard with velcro. Even if you're not going to install a new one, it's a good idea to remove weak or dead alkaline-based batteries from those computers, because they eventually leak and damage the motherboard.

A compatible video card must have a Mac ROM, which rules out the use of cards marketed for use with PCs (unless they've had their ROM chip flashed with a Mac firmware). Check eBay for a used Mac ATI Rage Pro card with 4 or 8 MBs of SGRAM. When I was buying used ones a few years ago, they sold for about $25-$35. Today, they probably sell for about $10-$15. They provide a substantial improvement over the onboard graphics chip on the 6400's motherboard, and a noticeable improvement over the 6500's onboard ATI chip.

The COMM II slot cards install just like PCI cards, with steady downward pressure until they are fully-seated.

Mac OS versions 7.6, 8, 8.5, and 9 aren't available for free download. You can download the updates for each - 7.6.1, 8.1, 8.5.1, 8.6, 9.1, 9.2.1, and 9.2.2. There are Mac dealers online that sell these (universal, retail version) installer CDs, but you'll likely pay less if you find an individual selling one at eBay. I'd avoid buying another Mac's restore CD, because they often lack specific drivers that support the unique hardware found on certain Macs.

You can get a 8.5 CD here. Apple Rescue http://www.applerescue.com/index_link.htm
Then download a free upgrade to 8.6 at Apple's download site.

Cheers, Tom

You will need to increase the memory allocation for any Browser you download or install. They are issued with requirements like 5000 K, you will need 45,000 K for stability.

AlaskanZen,

If you look at the specs on some of the older systems, namely:
IIci
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=112173

and the 6400/180
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=112368

you will notice that they share system 7.6.1. Having a LAN based on a common OS where posible will simplify your life. I personnaly do not think that OS 8 is going to give you that much more for your 6400. 8.1 would be a whole different story. At least try a partition on the 6400 with 7.6.1 and see if you like the speed.

Jim

Mac OS 7.6.1 is an excellent choice, just make sure you use 7.6.1 and not 7.5.5. 7.6.1 is not a free download, but is immensely more stable than 7.5.x, has more PowerPC optimization, and runs more "newer" software such as Internet Explorer 5.

http://www.system7today.com/

Anna,

I concur. I still use IE 5.1 as a stable browser for older systems.

Jim

AlaskanZen,

Obviously, older software like OS 6 did not anticipate all the features of newer systems so having the newer system look back at the old is more productive. OS 7 knows how to look at 6. However, even the SE will run OS 7.5.3 ( I prefer that over 7.5.5) so you might want to consider an external SCSI drive with 7.5.3 to use as an external boot drive for the older Macs while setting up the network. You can move it from CPU to CPU until all is connected the way you like it. Then clone the drive on partitions or extra external drives. 7.5.3 allows you to have clones without licensing issues.

Jim