Yep, I’ll be sharing it. But thankfully the restore CDs are available on Macintosh Garden already. Which is good because mine did have some errors on startup and some disabled extensions.
Working with something that is literally called "snaps" is inherently anxiety-inducing. Amazing machine, I can't believe I'd never heard of it. It's like it's from a parallel timeline.
Wait, you got the original box for this?! Awesome! The everything about this just says mid 90s, that is one cool machine. The Pioneer software also looks cool, like a real remote control but it’s on your CRT. The matching laserdisc player looks amazing, probably not the easiest thing to find these days though. Great video!
5:10 - Minor note, it's not "earlier models" that didn't have the on/off label - it's that it is _only_ on the "DOS Compatible" models. They figured the DOS compatible models may be used by people unfamiliar with software-eject and likely to hit that thinking it would be the floppy eject. Even the later "not DOS" models have no on/off label. (I have a Quadra 610 DOS Compatible, which does *NOT* have that label; but also a Power Macintosh 6100/66 DOS Compatible, and it does have it. My later 6100/66 AV does NOT have it, nor does my Workgroup Server 6150. One major note - the Quadra 610 DOS Compatible's "DOS Compatible" label is a sticker, while the Power Macintosh 6100 DOS Compatible has the "DOS Compatible" silkscreened onto the case, along with the on/off label.
This is what I was getting at, as the DOS model came out in 1995 and the original 6100 came out in 1994. I guess I could have said that only the DOS models had this On/Off label… although I have seen stickers (not silkscreen) on a 6110 AV so I didn’t want to assume.
@@Mac84 Interesting. I have a much more recent PCI "PC Compatibility Card" boxed, it doesn't have an on/off sticker. I wonder if the "sold separately" NuBus or PDS DOS Cards came with a sticker for that?
Very cool. Was always impressed by the clones! I think Apple expected them to be cheap junk, not the premium products they actually were, which is the real reason Apple pulled the plug. I had a Radius clone back in the day, and that very same G3 upgrade card in later years.
Steve you have to archive any drivers or control panels/ Extensions and software used to run this for those of us who just might find our way to our own clone and need them!
I love so much Pioneer and the quality of their products ! I was had a Laserdisc player some many years ago (1998 to 2000), very good video support with the big discs ! Great machine this clone ! Looking forward to seeing the next video ! :)
Beware that power supply is labeled for 100V operation only. It may not be wise to run it on 120V in the USA long-term. Some Japanese power supplies can handle 100V just fine but others cannot and will appear to work fine when overvolted for a while and then fail - often due to overvolting capacitors but sometimes other components as well. It is possible the same PSU design was used in North America for something else and can handle 120V but you need to verify. I have worked on many Japanese systems - particularly the PC-88 and PC-98. The only way to tell for sure it is actually safe to run at 120V is to look at the components and design of the power supply and verify that all components on the primary side can handle 120V input. Particularly look at the voltage ratings for capacitors. If you see 150 or 160V caps on the primary side then do not keep running the PSU on 120V without at least changing the capacitors to 200V or better and verifying the other components. (120VAC can easily exceed 170VDC once rectified, whereas 100VAC is closer to 140VDC)
Yes, I'm aware. As I mentioned in a comment below, the internal power supply itself is labeled for 100-120V and 220-240V. So it should be fine here in the US.
What a COOL computer!!! I could hear that "oomph" through my speakers while watching. I still want to add a clone to my collection. The built-in speakers and sub just take the cake!
Really cool! The startup chime fidelity reminds me a lot of the 6100 with the AudioVision 14 display; my high school had the latter setup for a special tech ed use case.
I wonder if the optical dive can play CD-V discs? (CD video) It's a hybrid between laserdiscs and audio CDs. I love the Pioneer box. That's how the logo and boxes looked for audio equipment. Blue logo. Thanks for showing it off. Neat version.
I don't know about this machine, but with the 6160, you cannot have both the video card and the G3 upgrade card. They also made an Apple II card for the 6100 series and again with the same limitation.
I have one of all of the MPC variants (except the GX-1 DOS, but it's just the base GX-1 with a DOS card instead of the AV card). They're some of the coolest clones, arguably the ones with the best aesthetics, and definitely the ones with the best sound, though you'll probably have to replace the sub's cone foam because most have deteriorated by now. Interestingly, all of the MPCs share the same power supply, with hard or soft power functionality determined by the presence of an additional cable between the PS and MLB. Also, every original component has a barcode (as seen on the CDROM, floppy, PS, and AV card adapter), so if the hard drive or anything else is missing that, it's not original.
7:00 - Those damned case top clips… Every single 610/6100 series case I have has both of its clips snapped off. It is so annoying. Such brittle plastics on that era Mac.
I had about four Star Macs... they were awesome in that you could connect up PC keyboard, mouse and monitor to them... but by that time, PowerPC had become too old and slow and obsolete. I temporarily stored them in a barn, and then ended up AWOL for 4 years before I could get back to them, and by that time they had rusted from the moisture in the air... when my other PCs in the barn... didn't? Very perplexing. Anyway, I lost all of them from that. Fortunately, I saved a PowerMac 9600 and copied my Mac archive onto it and haven't touched it in like 25 years. I've got an ocean of these old Macs in my barn and ][s and 8bits of every sort going back to 1977. Not sure what to do with them, it's too much trouble to put them on ebay.
Please be extra careful with that Sonnet G3 upgrade, especially since it's a 500/1M. I strongly recommend setting it at the lowest speed in the extension right away (half speed, so 250) because they get super hot! Then using a temperature sensor (and with the case closed) you can test how much you can push it before having to boost the ventilation in this particular case. Hopefully Pioneer did a better job than Apple because the 6100 clearly can't handle that much heat with an HPV card installed severely limiting air flow. Even with an extra blower fan under the HDD sled and a makeshift air duct to blow fresh air straight onto the accelerator fins, mine, a 450/1M running at 225, ended up burning a few days after I thought I had it set just right. Based on the design, I doubt these accelerators were ever made with sustained computing in mind. They give a second life to these systems by allowing for a snappy 8.6 or decent 9.1 installation but other than the obligated benchmark, I recommend sticking to productivity software and avoiding games made for a real G3 system.
@@Mac84 I like a NMB blower for things like that with dense pins. Noisy at stock speeds but slow them down with a PWM driver and they are great. Just my 2 cents.
That was a great video. I did not know that Pioneer had a Mac Clone. It makes me want to get one. Are there any tips I should know in order to get one shipped here from Japan.
It look like Apple computer are at their best when not made by Apple, Those time where service and upgrade was possible are the good ones. Really impressive computers made with good quality and afordable price (like the Powerpc clones). Sadly it is ended.
Just a hunch, and I could be wrong cause I'm at the middle of the video but I /think/ that middle port on the expansion card might be a gpib connector? Way back I remember messing around with sort of a LaserDisc / touch screen setup from IBM that had an interface cable with that pinned connector on one end and the regular slotted gpib on the other that plugged into the player. Or something like that. We're talking 30 years ago.
The port on the AV expansion card (between the s-video ports) is an Apple monitor / video out port. But it does look similar to the serial port on some laserdisc players. This card was a standard AV card offered for Apple’s Power Macintosh 6100 line of systems and Pioneer has simply included it with this model. For laserdisc connectivity you could buy a Pioneer compatible cable that went from your LD player to the mini-din 8 serial port on your Mac. This is how I hooked mine at the VCF East show in 2022, the clip in the video showing a laserdisc player playing Looney Tunes is from that event.
That piece of plastic seemingly routes the audio out cable from the logic board's speaker jack to the speaker system below. I guess they didn't want to modify the stock Apple logic board, funny huh?
@@Mac84 Thank you. Yeah it is odd. I've seen that on other computers too and thought it was maybe a handle for pulling the cover off! That makes a lot of sense. What was the little port beside the power connector? Was that a lock?
My issue with software only and no module is there’s a chance this becomes a brick if they decide to stop updating it. I’ve been bitten a couple of times by hardware losing software support and, yeah, never again.
Hi there! 👋 I did study it years ago but but sadly I’m quite rusty without practice. Thanks, it did arrive in good shape - happy tinkering with your MPC LX100.
Japanese AND Apple clone? I’m in heaven! Such a cool find. Hope you keep Japanese MacOS on it. We used macs in the lab in the uni I attended in Japan. The rest suite is so unique! It checked the L/R audio channels in the test (hidari/migi).
that clone is so friggen cool
agreed !! I want one too
I saw this and was going to tag you xD
Never has a "Happy boot bong" sounded so rich and powerful.. Them's some speakers. :)
Easier to hear how the note cuts off just a tiny bit early so you don't hear it perfectly fade out :D
Air suspension probably
A backup of the mint installation on the HDD is a must!
Yep, I’ll be sharing it. But thankfully the restore CDs are available on Macintosh Garden already. Which is good because mine did have some errors on startup and some disabled extensions.
Working with something that is literally called "snaps" is inherently anxiety-inducing.
Amazing machine, I can't believe I'd never heard of it. It's like it's from a parallel timeline.
That's almost as wild as WILD WOODY!
I was so relieved to finally see a table when the monitor came out.
Wait, you got the original box for this?! Awesome! The everything about this just says mid 90s, that is one cool machine. The Pioneer software also looks cool, like a real remote control but it’s on your CRT. The matching laserdisc player looks amazing, probably not the easiest thing to find these days though. Great video!
5:10 - Minor note, it's not "earlier models" that didn't have the on/off label - it's that it is _only_ on the "DOS Compatible" models. They figured the DOS compatible models may be used by people unfamiliar with software-eject and likely to hit that thinking it would be the floppy eject.
Even the later "not DOS" models have no on/off label. (I have a Quadra 610 DOS Compatible, which does *NOT* have that label; but also a Power Macintosh 6100/66 DOS Compatible, and it does have it. My later 6100/66 AV does NOT have it, nor does my Workgroup Server 6150. One major note - the Quadra 610 DOS Compatible's "DOS Compatible" label is a sticker, while the Power Macintosh 6100 DOS Compatible has the "DOS Compatible" silkscreened onto the case, along with the on/off label.
This is what I was getting at, as the DOS model came out in 1995 and the original 6100 came out in 1994. I guess I could have said that only the DOS models had this On/Off label… although I have seen stickers (not silkscreen) on a 6110 AV so I didn’t want to assume.
@@Mac84 Interesting. I have a much more recent PCI "PC Compatibility Card" boxed, it doesn't have an on/off sticker. I wonder if the "sold separately" NuBus or PDS DOS Cards came with a sticker for that?
We gotta hear those speakers play some music!
Internal layout def has that 90s Apple vibe lol
Very cool. Was always impressed by the clones! I think Apple expected them to be cheap junk, not the premium products they actually were, which is the real reason Apple pulled the plug.
I had a Radius clone back in the day, and that very same G3 upgrade card in later years.
40MB in 1995 cost about $1500.00. Thats an insane amount of memory!
Kinda getting the LGR-unboxing-that-IBM vibes from the first few minutes.
Love this kinda thing and thank you, Mac84!
I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
That is a pretty cool machine. I’d upgrade that as much as possible. Just make sure to pull the bespoke extensions.
The hard drive has been backed up and thankfully the original Pioneer restore CDs are available on Macintosh Garden.
Im actually after one of these myself. #1 on my list
I have one of those! (A cut up U-HAUL box like that...) Seriously, I never new Pioneer made a clone. Crazy!
So, that matching LD player is a CLD-V2800 without the LCD, it has RS-232
Pretty slick, set up. I've been wanting a system 7 computer lately for some reason. I love Laserdisc as well.
Steve you have to archive any drivers or control panels/ Extensions and software used to run this for those of us who just might find our way to our own clone and need them!
Thankfully these are already archived on Macintosh Garden.
Japan uses 100v for power. Not sure if you’re using a step down transformer on this but something to be aware of
Thankfully the internal power supply itself is labeled for 100-120V and 220-240V. So it should be fine here in the US.
In Magic tournament lore, people speak in hushed tones of the Lounging Kibler playmat. I need a Lounging Steve playmat.
I love so much Pioneer and the quality of their products ! I was had a Laserdisc player some many years ago (1998 to 2000), very good video support with the big discs ! Great machine this clone ! Looking forward to seeing the next video ! :)
Man that thing is haut. It might be the one time built in speaker actually sound good!
I thought I knew so many things about this era of consumer tech. This discovery is humbling.
I was aware of Macintosh clones by companies like Power Computing but I had no idea there were any made by Pioneer.
Watching this on a Pioneer plasma. Great vid as usual!
Beware that power supply is labeled for 100V operation only. It may not be wise to run it on 120V in the USA long-term. Some Japanese power supplies can handle 100V just fine but others cannot and will appear to work fine when overvolted for a while and then fail - often due to overvolting capacitors but sometimes other components as well.
It is possible the same PSU design was used in North America for something else and can handle 120V but you need to verify.
I have worked on many Japanese systems - particularly the PC-88 and PC-98. The only way to tell for sure it is actually safe to run at 120V is to look at the components and design of the power supply and verify that all components on the primary side can handle 120V input. Particularly look at the voltage ratings for capacitors.
If you see 150 or 160V caps on the primary side then do not keep running the PSU on 120V without at least changing the capacitors to 200V or better and verifying the other components. (120VAC can easily exceed 170VDC once rectified, whereas 100VAC is closer to 140VDC)
Yes, I'm aware. As I mentioned in a comment below, the internal power supply itself is labeled for 100-120V and 220-240V. So it should be fine here in the US.
What a COOL computer!!! I could hear that "oomph" through my speakers while watching. I still want to add a clone to my collection. The built-in speakers and sub just take the cake!
Never knew that Pioneer made also some Mac clones, so cool! A cool clone and excited to see the next vid of it!
Nice! I did not know these existed. Too bad they didn't release in the USA as it looks like a much better version then the 6100.
That is a great looking example, it was so well packed as well for shipping!
Nice to see it working after only removing the battery! Must be the universe balancing out your struggles with that Macintosh II you were streaming
This PC guy thinks this thing is way cool! Glad you picked it up. Thanks for sharing it with us!
I have subscribed to your channel solely to see how this beautiful Pioneer PowerPC blossoms
Get Off the Floor Steve!
Looks like your doing the "Burt Reynolds Pose" on the bear rug with your Pretty Mac Clone LOL
Awesome Steve, great score. Love these weird 90s odditys.
I definitely did not breathe at all when you were working on those clips.
Amazing. Looking forward to hearing it in action and with the G3 upgrade.
I have always wanted to see/hear one of these. Brilliant!
that would be a really cool upgrade project.
It’s so cool
Really cool! The startup chime fidelity reminds me a lot of the 6100 with the AudioVision 14 display; my high school had the latter setup for a special tech ed use case.
Wild! I've never seen a clone in the wild so these are super novel to me
I wonder if the optical dive can play CD-V discs? (CD video) It's a hybrid between laserdiscs and audio CDs.
I love the Pioneer box. That's how the logo and boxes looked for audio equipment. Blue logo.
Thanks for showing it off. Neat version.
I don't know about this machine, but with the 6160, you cannot have both the video card and the G3 upgrade card. They also made an Apple II card for the 6100 series and again with the same limitation.
I have one of all of the MPC variants (except the GX-1 DOS, but it's just the base GX-1 with a DOS card instead of the AV card). They're some of the coolest clones, arguably the ones with the best aesthetics, and definitely the ones with the best sound, though you'll probably have to replace the sub's cone foam because most have deteriorated by now. Interestingly, all of the MPCs share the same power supply, with hard or soft power functionality determined by the presence of an additional cable between the PS and MLB. Also, every original component has a barcode (as seen on the CDROM, floppy, PS, and AV card adapter), so if the hard drive or anything else is missing that, it's not original.
That is definitely a cool computer! Great video!
7:00 - Those damned case top clips… Every single 610/6100 series case I have has both of its clips snapped off. It is so annoying. Such brittle plastics on that era Mac.
Heat up those areas with a hair dryer and it'll give you a better chance.
Awesome video! The 6100 series was my first Mac!
I had about four Star Macs... they were awesome in that you could connect up PC keyboard, mouse and monitor to them... but by that time, PowerPC had become too old and slow and obsolete. I temporarily stored them in a barn, and then ended up AWOL for 4 years before I could get back to them, and by that time they had rusted from the moisture in the air... when my other PCs in the barn... didn't? Very perplexing. Anyway, I lost all of them from that. Fortunately, I saved a PowerMac 9600 and copied my Mac archive onto it and haven't touched it in like 25 years. I've got an ocean of these old Macs in my barn and ][s and 8bits of every sort going back to 1977. Not sure what to do with them, it's too much trouble to put them on ebay.
Oooh, sultry Mac84 on the floor. HA!
Please be extra careful with that Sonnet G3 upgrade, especially since it's a 500/1M. I strongly recommend setting it at the lowest speed in the extension right away (half speed, so 250) because they get super hot! Then using a temperature sensor (and with the case closed) you can test how much you can push it before having to boost the ventilation in this particular case. Hopefully Pioneer did a better job than Apple because the 6100 clearly can't handle that much heat with an HPV card installed severely limiting air flow. Even with an extra blower fan under the HDD sled and a makeshift air duct to blow fresh air straight onto the accelerator fins, mine, a 450/1M running at 225, ended up burning a few days after I thought I had it set just right. Based on the design, I doubt these accelerators were ever made with sustained computing in mind. They give a second life to these systems by allowing for a snappy 8.6 or decent 9.1 installation but other than the obligated benchmark, I recommend sticking to productivity software and avoiding games made for a real G3 system.
I have a 5v Noctua fan blowing on it and things seem to be stable at under 80 F
@@Mac84 I like a NMB blower for things like that with dense pins. Noisy at stock speeds but slow them down with a PWM driver and they are great.
Just my 2 cents.
2:02 Small correction, that actually says Multimedia Personal Computer (maruchimedia pa-sonaru konpyu-ta), not Macintosh Personal Computer.
I told you my Japanese was rusty! :P
hah literally came here to say this :P
That’s pretty interesting ngl
That was a great video. I did not know that Pioneer had a Mac Clone. It makes me want to get one. Are there any tips I should know in order to get one shipped here from Japan.
I bet this is a karaoke dream!
Never seen that one
It look like Apple computer are at their best when not made by Apple, Those time where service and upgrade was possible are the good ones. Really impressive computers made with good quality and afordable price (like the Powerpc clones). Sadly it is ended.
is that an anti-static shag rug? :-)
Just a hunch, and I could be wrong cause I'm at the middle of the video but I /think/ that middle port on the expansion card might be a gpib connector? Way back I remember messing around with sort of a LaserDisc / touch screen setup from IBM that had an interface cable with that pinned connector on one end and the regular slotted gpib on the other that plugged into the player. Or something like that. We're talking 30 years ago.
The port on the AV expansion card (between the s-video ports) is an Apple monitor / video out port. But it does look similar to the serial port on some laserdisc players.
This card was a standard AV card offered for Apple’s Power Macintosh 6100 line of systems and Pioneer has simply included it with this model.
For laserdisc connectivity you could buy a Pioneer compatible cable that went from your LD player to the mini-din 8 serial port on your Mac. This is how I hooked mine at the VCF East show in 2022, the clip in the video showing a laserdisc player playing Looney Tunes is from that event.
Did you sterilize that #10 scalpel blade in the #3 handle before you performed a little surgery on the box? 😉
How do you make a video about Pioneer computer and not show the speaker drivers? It's frankly shocking that you didn't tear it down just bit more.
As I mentioned in the video, I’ll be exploring the speakers in the next part
I wanted to see it interact with a laser disk player 😫
As I mentioned at the end, this will be part of the next video.
What is the large sticking out plastic on the back beside the ADB port?
That piece of plastic seemingly routes the audio out cable from the logic board's speaker jack to the speaker system below. I guess they didn't want to modify the stock Apple logic board, funny huh?
@@Mac84 Thank you. Yeah it is odd. I've seen that on other computers too and thought it was maybe a handle for pulling the cover off! That makes a lot of sense. What was the little port beside the power connector? Was that a lock?
How do I put the laser disc into it? :) I want to play the movie Joysticks. :p
I think I have that movie on laserdisc, hah!
I do have it on laser disc and I couldn't believe such a well produced show was pressed in that format. :)@@Mac84
One of these days, I want to see one explode. But please don't smoke test on carpet...
😍😍
My issue with software only and no module is there’s a chance this becomes a brick if they decide to stop updating it. I’ve been bitten a couple of times by hardware losing software support and, yeah, never again.
I think you're commenting on the wrong video... the system I'm featuring is from 1995.
Moist
it's much densly build than many modern devices lol
although we see it a lot in the US, I bet you dont see "made in japan of foriegn and domestic parts"
14250 3.6V Battery is required.
Are you adding Pioneer to the clones mousepad?
PRAM battery strikes again!! haha
Hi Steve, I'm surprised that you understand Japanese, and I have MPC LX100 (LC630/LC588 compatible machine) , but your's looks better!
Hi there! 👋 I did study it years ago but but sadly I’m quite rusty without practice. Thanks, it did arrive in good shape - happy tinkering with your MPC LX100.
Japanese AND Apple clone? I’m in heaven! Such a cool find. Hope you keep Japanese MacOS on it. We used macs in the lab in the uni I attended in Japan. The rest suite is so unique! It checked the L/R audio channels in the test (hidari/migi).
Excellent video and clone! Never seen that one before. Thanks for sharing