Color Classic Mystic Upgrade

[JDW]

The 2nd video in my ongoing Color Classic series is now public.

I posted benchmarks from MacBench 3, Speedometer 4 and Norton System Info 3.5.3.

Much more to come!

 

[Drake]

I'm EXCITED!

 

[Drake]

I love how enthusiastic you are in this video, You can tell just how exciting the project really was!

 

[JDW]

I love how enthusiastic you are in this video, You can tell just how exciting the project really was!

Drake, I always try to be myself in my videos, rather than display a fake emotion. Of course, the unfortunate fact about my personality is that I don't have my MadMax supercharger switched on most of the time. That's especially true because I film after a long day at work, and I am usually exhausted by then. I have no dedicated room for YouTube, so I have to setup and then tear down my "set" before and after every shoot. Keeping my energy flowing is always a challenge. But I have been feeling unusually upbeat lately, and that seems to show in my newest video. I'm pleased to hear that you noticed.

I really am excited about this Mystic upgrade though. The stock Color Classis is painful for me to use, having come from the snappiness of my beloved SE/30 machines. The Mystic upgrade is a true breath of fresh air and should have been how the Color Classic shipped back in the day. It's a very usable Mac with that 040 processor inside, even at the stock 33MHz speed. But after recapping (my next video), I will be doing an overclocking video to see how much more fun this little machine really can be!

 

[Drake]

Drake, I always try to be myself in my videos, rather than display a fake emotion. Of course, the unfortunate fact about my personality is that I don't have my MadMax supercharger switched on most of the time. That's especially true because I film after a long day at work, and I am usually exhausted by then. I have no dedicated room for YouTube, so I have to setup and then tear down my "set" before and after every shoot. Keeping my energy flowing is always a challenge. But I have been feeling unusually upbeat lately, and that seems to show in my newest video. I'm pleased to hear that you noticed.

I really am excited about this Mystic upgrade though. The stock Color Classis is painful for me to use, having come from the snappiness of my beloved SE/30 machines. The Mystic upgrade is a true breath of fresh air and should have been how the Color Classic shipped back in the day. It's a very usable Mac with that 040 processor inside, even at the stock 33MHz speed. But after recapping (my next video), I will be doing an overclocking video to see how much more fun this little machine really can be!

I'll give it a month before @Kay K.M.Mods convinces you into building a Takky mod
I'm in the middle of restoring a Takky purchased from Japan last week where the original owner had used a 6200 A/V motherboard. I've actually been having a lot of fun using the video inputs!
(This is all because my Mystic is completed, I'll be waiting for the overclock video and hopefully can replicate what you get!)

 

[JDW]

No fear of a Takky upgrade by me, Drake. "68K" is permanently etched on my heart.

I also like the ability to run System 7.1. The PM 6100 could do that, but Takky requires the PM 5200 or higher, which only works with System 7.5.x or higher. To be honest, I'd love to run System 6 on my Mystic if I could! System 6 lacks some key features of 7, but it's so fast, it just melts my brain whenever I boot into it! Assembly language coding is glorious!

 

[Stephen]

You two are starting to make me consider a takky mod.

 

[JDW]

Takky is a lot more work though. If you do a Takky upgrade, you need @Kay K.M.Mods to offer you some tips. He has first-hand experience.

 

[Kay K.M.Mods]

Takky is a lot more work though. If you do a Takky upgrade, you need @Kay K.M.Mods to offer you some tips. He has first-hand experience.

I'll be writing a post about Takky upgrade soon.
But we want to have a party at your Mystic right now, so a little later

 

[Patrick]

You two are starting to make me consider a takky mod.

they have me thinking about a mystic mod.

I have a Quadra 605* with busted up plastics. could i use THAT logic board for the mystic upgrade ???

* actually i've lost it. i'm sure it must be in a box _somewhere_ !
but assuming i find it, could i use it? or does it only work with the like the LC 575, 577, and 578 ?

 

[Kay K.M.Mods]

they have me thinking about a mystic mod.

I have a Quadra 605* with busted up plastics. could i use THAT logic board for the mystic upgrade ???

* actually i've lost it. i'm sure it must be in a box _somewhere_ !
but assuming i find it, could i use it? or does it only work with the like the LC 575, 577, and 578 ?

Mystic is an upgrade method using the LC575 board, which has the same logic board connector shape. If you want to use the LC475 (Quadra605) for it, you will have a hard time getting the video out due to the design of the logic board. Its video out is on the back, but the LC575 (LC550, LC520) and CC (CC2) have toothed connectors on the entire surface.
But while it's possible with some effort, it doesn't have much of an advantage. I've actually seen guy who have incorporated it into the SE/30 on the YouTube.
And there is a point that it does not support soft switches(KB power on). That's what I came up with.

 

[Patrick]

oh duh. kay is right.

Q605 has no edge connector.

 

[YMK]

Good information. I didn't know about the enabler. I have a 575 with dead video, now I just need a CC chassis.

 

[This Does Not Compute]

Having done a Takky mod about 20 years ago, IMHO it's not worth it these days. The Mystic mod is reversible (and can require no hardware mods if you're willing to forgo VGA and use the system enabler trick), whereas Takkys were finnicky at best and required serious permanent changes to the CC's inner plastic structure. Given how relatively few CCs remain, and that their plastics are continuing to become more brittle, the risk of ruining one while doing the Takky mod is very high. (That is, unless someone is willing to develop replacement internal chassis plastics, MacEffects-style...)

 

[DeChief]

Having done a Takky mod about 20 years ago, IMHO it's not worth it these days. The Mystic mod is reversible (and can require no hardware mods if you're willing to forgo VGA and use the system enabler trick), whereas Takkys were finnicky at best and required serious permanent changes to the CC's inner plastic structure. Given how relatively few CCs remain, and that their plastics are continuing to become more brittle, the risk of ruining one while doing the Takky mod is very high. (That is, unless someone is willing to develop replacement internal chassis plastics, MacEffects-style...)

That was my reasoning for not going ahead with a Takky mod on my Performa 275 a few years ago, I've always hated destructive case mods even when the external effects are negligible. In saying that, I ended up getting rid of that machine even after Mystic modding it because I just wasn't using it enough. It's a weird spot in Mac history for the games I enjoy playing... overkill for Crystal Quest, underpowered for Marathon.

A very cool thing to own nonetheless and I'm excited to see what @JDW can do with overclocking!

EDIT: Just as a side note, I've had two LC575 motherboards and both of them had exploded and leaked batteries. Nowhere near as badly as an SE/30 battery, but it still required cleaning. From memory my UMAX Apus 2000 had a similar style of battery that also leaked, a repair I recall being especially annoying.

 

[JDW]

A very cool thing to own nonetheless and I'm excited to see what @JDW can do with overclocking!

My next video, due out this week, is about recapping with OS-CON capacitors. I will then release a short video very soon after that, mostly filmed by @Kay K.M.Mods. It highlights some amazing work that Kay did on the back panel -- a custom, hand-crafted work of art! Stay tuned!

 

[DeChief]

My next video, due out this week, is about recapping with OS-CON capacitors. I will then release a short video very soon after that, mostly filmed by @Kay K.M.Mods. It highlights some amazing work that Kay did on the back panel -- a custom, hand-crafted work of art! Stay tuned!

View attachment 1402

Nice, Mystic boards are definitely worthy of polymer caps! Looks like some fun fabrication going on with that panel as well.

 

[Stephen]

I love how in the span of 3 posts it goes from opposing modifications to literal sparking cutting wheel.

 

[JDW]

I love how in the span of 3 posts it goes from opposing modifications to literal sparking cutting wheel.

That is of course a modification of the back panel taken from my now defunct LC575 carcass. No such slicing and dicing is being done on the precious Color Classic! The LC575 was purchased primarily for its motherboard, but it just so happens to be useful for other parts too! Anyway, I think you'll enjoy the full video.

 

[DeChief]

That is of course a modification of the back panel taken from my now defunct LC575 carcass. No such slicing and dicing is being done on the precious Color Classic! The LC575 was purchased primarily for its motherboard, but it just so happens to be useful for other parts too! Anyway, I think you'll enjoy the full video.

And with how many cracks and chips were in that LC575 case to begin with, I wouldn't feel bad about hacking it up. I've still yet to see one in person that didn't have at least one of those top corners chipped (where the faceplate meets the rest of the case).