[rescue] Apple WWDC Summary

[Peter Corlett]

Kevin <kevin at mpcf.com> wrote:
[...]
> God forbid Apple should actually make a case that works *at least* as good
> as it looks. Their fanciful design on the previous dual G4's maked it a
> major PITA to route long SCSI cables, among other things. I don't actually
> know that this new thing works any better than the previous cases, but i
> would assume so by the looks of it.

> Apple's best case design IMHO was the IIci. Colour it whatever the hell
> you want as long as it functions well.

FWIW, my (unfortunately necessarly) Windows box is in a MicroATX case, and
it's not too bad to work in, given the cramped shape. Undo the two
thumbscrews at the back, and the lid and front comes off in one unit (like
the LCII.)

Once the lid is off, you have access to the motherboard, e.g. to stuff in
more DIMMs, or faff with cabling or whatever. (Or install PCI cards, I
suppose, if you can actually find any that would fit.)

The externally-visible 3.5" and 5.25" devices are bolted to a tray that
lifts forwards, and is held in place with a couple of catches. Lifting that
reveals a hard disk mounting underneath.

Of course, the case and the motherboard have different ideas as to how to
mount the third and fourth USB sockets - the case has a breakout on the
front for it, but the USB sockets that came with the board doesn't fit.
Ditto for the second serial port. But that's x86 misfeatures for you, and I
don't need those features anyway :)

In the mass-produced and varied world of x86, somebody had to eventually
make a case that wasn't *too* awful, after all...

My other x86 boxes are a complete PITA to work in. Serves me right, I
suppose.

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