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3-21-2023 - Retro Battlestation Buildout, Part Deux:
(USB for Beige G3, custom mechanical keyboards, oh my!)
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OK, I didn't really get very far into the details in my last retro
workstation buildout post, so here's an attempt to share more:
I'll focus this post on the Beige G3. Specifically, it's a "Macintosh
Server G3" - originally equipped with a 233Mhz G3, I believe. It now
boasts a 500Mhz G4 ZIF upgrade from Sonnet, 512MB RAM, SuperDrive, an
ATA-66 PCI card and is running Mac OS X 10.4.11 -- Tiger, my favorite
OS X release.
I've had this machine for many years now, and it's been running OS X
for all of that time. About ten years ago now, I used it quite often
to do all sorts of relatively light-duty Unix server-like things,
long after it had become pretty long in the tooth. Still, these
Beige G3s were always special to me...
As I began to dust off the old Macs, I really wanted to give this box
a prominent spot in the new workstation. Like many, I've gotten into
the mechanical keyboard thing over the past several years. I tend to
really appreciate the truly minimal keyboards and came across the
"chocv", a 36-key design that uses low-profile "choc" key switches.
I ordered 5 sets of PCBs from JLPCB, and I've been building keyboards
with different keycaps and switches. The keyboard pictured in the
bench photo is my latest chocv build, with a retro-black-Apple theme,
paired with a cheap wireless mouse.
Now, in order to use this QMK-based USB keyboard with this old Beige
box, I needed to get a USB card. This was easy enough, but it meant
uninstalling the Intel EtherExpress Pro card, so this G3 (G4!) is
stuck at 10Mbs - ugh.
Well, since I'm typing this post on this very keyboard, enjoying the
sweet balance of retro-ness and sophistication, I'm content to live
with the 10Mbit Ethernet for the privilege of USB on this old boy.
