Thread

PCI Cards for PowerMacs

68kMLA Troubleshooting 12 posts Sep 23, 2007 to Sep 25, 2007

#1 Sun, 23 Sep 2007 - 01:45 68kMLA

What PC PCI cards can be used in a Macintosh?

I know that I can use certain PC Ethernet cards in a PowerMac, and use them in Classic Mac OS -- depending on driver availability. I know that I can use just about any PCI ethernet card in existence on a PowerMac running Linux.

I know that I can plug PC USB and Firewire cards in my PowerMac and use them with the proper drivers.

What other types of PCI cards can I take from the PC world and use in a PowerMac? Will SCSI or ATA cards from the PC side work in a PowerMac?

I know that some video cards from the PC world can be flashed to work on a Mac. What other kinds of PC goodness can be used in a PCI PowerMac?

#2 Sun, 23 Sep 2007 - 05:24 68kMLA

Stay away from Sil0680 based cards.(like my STLab A-142 ATA/133 RAID)

#3 Sun, 23 Sep 2007 - 07:29 68kMLA

Why's that? It doesn't work? Or, it doesn't work well?

#4 Mon, 24 Sep 2007 - 12:55 68kMLA

Does not work. OS 9's ASP knows something is there but cannot tell what it is or use it and OS X's ASP cannot see it at all. Well, with mine at least.

#5 Mon, 24 Sep 2007 - 14:29 68kMLA

*insert USB card in 6500 huggling here*

#6 Mon, 24 Sep 2007 - 15:37 68kMLA

That reminds me, my 7300/200 came with a 2 port USB 1 card that I used in my Sawtooth until I got it a 5 port USB 2.0 card. It is an entrega PCI-2U

Chipset:

OPTI

FireLink

82C861

149923

10UE

If you absolutely need images I could toss it on the scanner.

#7 Mon, 24 Sep 2007 - 22:46 68kMLA

Ayup, MacJunky...anything with an OPTI 82C861 chipset should definately work on a Mac...Apple actually used those chipsets on Mac mobos...my iMac has that exact chipset.

#8 Tue, 25 Sep 2007 - 04:03 68kMLA

Anything USB/FireWire that is OHCI or EHCI compliant will work in OS 9 and X.

Other cards that don't require boot-time operation (Ethernet, capture cards, specialized accelerators, what have you) can generally work in both PCs and Macs provided that drivers for the operating system exist. Cards that do need boot-time operation (bootable SCSI, IDE, video, etc) require Mac drivers in ROM or firmware (such as Open Firmware) on the card. Typically, these cards are not interchangeable between operating systems without flashing.

Peace,

Drew

#9 Tue, 25 Sep 2007 - 06:31 68kMLA

Anything USB/FireWire that is OHCI or EHCI compliant will work in OS 9 and X.

That is not what I found when my sister got an apparently OHCI compliant VIA based USB 2.0 card. It has since been returned though so I can't get any more details. Perhaps we should change that from "will work" to "should work"?

Other cards that don't require boot-time operation (Ethernet, capture cards, specialized accelerators, what have you) can generally work in both PCs and Macs provided that drivers for the operating system exist.

Reminds me of the MPX EN5038A1 based 10/100 Base-T card that my Sawtooth could see as an ethernet card but not actually use. :\
Might go poking around the local PC shops for cards to test sometime.

#10 Tue, 25 Sep 2007 - 07:07 68kMLA

sound cards are a hit-and-miss. I had a friend with a DA that used a PCI Soundblaster AWE32 PCI card in his, after he pulled it out of a PC that died, and it worked fine under OS X (OS X actually saw and used it w/o drivers). sadly, OS 9 doesn't see it.

But it works pretty good. All he needed it for was so he has RCA non-GAIN boosted ports (non-preamped) so he could convert his RCA Record player system into MP3s (RCA-style ports record player.)

#11 Tue, 25 Sep 2007 - 07:09 68kMLA

Any USB 2.0 card (that otherwise works in a Mac) will only show up as a USB 1.1 card in OS 9. Driver issue. It will show as USB 2 in OS X.

#12 Tue, 25 Sep 2007 - 19:39 68kMLA

I've had success with Opti chipset USB 1.1 and 2 cards, but not Via. From what I recall of the XP SP2 and Vista beta programs, Microsoft had problems with them too.