I need to buy a PCI card for Firewire to this computer. There are many available that say they are compatible with Mac but since this is OS9 not OS10 I wonder if someone could recommend one or more. once installed is it hardware controlled or Os 9 controlled. This version 7500 was early version without FireWire.
Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.7.2), 2 1tb ext drives in Raid 1
FireWire drivers are necessary for the card to function, but the ones included with OS 9 are not typically installed with the OS, if a FireWire card is not present at the time. I'd recommend finding/downloading "TomeViewer" (if still available), which is a utility app that enables you to open the installer tome that's embedded in the Mac OS installer and then extract individual components to a specific location. It works the same way that WinZip works on the PC platform. In the case of the FireWire drivers, they should be placed in the Extensions folder. Back when I was installing FireWire PCI cards in those older "PCI Power Macs" (like the 7500), the chip maker was often Texas Instruments, even if the card itself was assembled by others. I don't think the manufacturer mattered as much with FireWire controller cards as it did with some of the USB controller PCI cards.
FireWire drivers are necessary for the card to function, but the ones included with OS 9 are not typically installed with the OS, if a FireWire card is not present at the time. I'd recommend finding/downloading "TomeViewer" (if still available), which is a utility app that enables you to open the installer tome that's embedded in the Mac OS installer and then extract individual components to a specific location. It works the same way that WinZip works on the PC platform. In the case of the FireWire drivers, they should be placed in the Extensions folder. Back when I was installing FireWire PCI cards in those older "PCI Power Macs" (like the 7500), the chip maker was often Texas Instruments, even if the card itself was assembled by others. I don't think the manufacturer mattered as much with FireWire controller cards as it did with some of the USB controller PCI cards.
You might want to check eBay or post a WTB message on the LEM Swap List. I’m not sure whether this is worth doing, however. There are problems with most FW hard drive enclosures that have an Oxford 911 bridge or newer. I tried a FW card or two in my Macs of that era, and they worked perfectly with an older enclosure that had an older bridge. Unfortunately, I upgraded to newer enclosures and ran into constant issues with file transfers failing. Because I had sold the old enclosure, I could not go back to it. OWC had a software fix that slowed the transfer rate, but I don’t know whether it is still available.
I used one of these in a G3 desktop and a G4 MDD Tower. Not sure if it would work in a 7500.
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet%20Technologies/FWUSB2A/
I think this USB card operates at the slower USB 1 speed in OS 9.
One thing to watch for is that very early FW PCI expansion cards that Apple sold in their packaging were not compatible with mass storage devices, only digital cameras and camcorders.
PowerMac 7500 FireWire card
