Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!rutgers!uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!pophal
From: pophal@nicmad.UUCP (Gerry Pophal)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: Hacintosh--putting the Plus/SE into another chassis
Message-ID: <3926@nicmad.UUCP>
Date: 22 Jan 90 06:01:25 GMT
Organization: Nicolet Instrument Corp., Madison, WI
Lines: 50

B
Summary:Computer shopper dates 
Expires: 
References: <6376@yunexus.UUCP> <1990Jan15.230235.10653@ccu.umanitoba.ca> <1088@pmafire.UUCP>
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Reply-To: pophal@nicmad.UUCP (Gerry Pophal)
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Organization: Nicolet Instrument Corp.  Madison, WI
Keywords: mini-tower

In article <1088@pmafire.UUCP> geoff@pmafire.UUCP (Geoff Allen) writes:
>
>So how tough is it to build a hackintosh?  Are the parts (e.g.
>motherboard) difficult to come by?  What's the approximate cost of

 
    I will try to answer this and some other questions I've recieved about
the hackintosh.  There is a series of articles in the computer shopper
magagine with instructions on creating a hackintosh from an PC case and using
a PC monochrome monitor. The first part I can't seem to find now but was
probably in the August 1988 issue and basically described the project as
well as somecost estimates for it. The second part is in the 
September 1988 issue and describes how to put together the pieces. The 
October 1988 issue is the third part and is some stuff about wiring the
keyboard,etc. The March 1989 issue has more info on hooking up a samsung
monochrome monitor. 
   The cost of the project varies depending on what you're starting with
and what you want to finish with. A PC case was about $40 from JDR Micro.
Power supply for a PC is about $65 for 135 watt size. A monitor is under
$100. Other odd parts are probably less than $100 total. 
   The monitor I'm using is a Magnovox PC monitor 80. It has the same number
of pixels as the Mac Plus but is 12 inches diagonaly and is amber. I had to 
tweak some of the internal adjustments to get the picture centered but no 
mods that I recall. I tried a Packard Bell monitor (actually a samsung) but
since it was used on a pc it had distinct characters burnt in which messed
up some mac graphics.
   The rest of the parts could come from a used 512k mac or purchased
separately from several sources advertised in the back of MacWeek and other 
mac magazines. I bought an A+ mouse and a laser external 800k drive for it.
   The only difficulties I had were bad seagate st277n hard drives (new) and
a bad apple mac plus keyboard (new).There is some soldering, drilling and
cutting sheet metal involved. The PC case is able to mount a 5 1/4 inch drive 
mechanism and could be modified for a smaller 3 1/2 inch drive. There was 
also room for a Supra 2400 modem inside (its smaller than an external 
800k floppy). The normal rear connections are at the back of the PC case.
      gp