Apple Product CollectionSep 20, 2025
Nanoraptor
The Power Macintosh G2 Cube shown here with the higher-end 75Mhz PPC603, memory slot, and LC-PDS compatible expansion was an addition to the Macintosh family.
Sep 17, 2025 at 8:50pmWeb
Show threaddmi 💽 Sep 17, 2025

@NanoRaptor oh it’s such a cute creature

also the vent on the left is trying to tell me that It’s A Sony (https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.freebiesupply.com%2Flogos%2Flarge%2F2x%2Fits-a-sony-logo-png-transparent.png&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=276ae457cd52c6e8031294a8de6e13995bebb1d2d3cff1306060d73d4fbbdfdd )

Show threadHubert FiguièreSep 17, 2025
@NanoRaptor I would have loved to get one.
Show threadTyler K. NothingSep 17, 2025
@NanoRaptor I need this. Now. And a G4 version would also be nice. No changes, except maybe a slot-loader.
Show threadStylusSep 17, 2025

@tylerknowsnothing @NanoRaptor what we need is a 3.5" floppy / 12cm optical disc combo drive .. slot loading, as you said.

or maybe a floppy disk changer. wait, crap, that existed? https://old.reddit.com/r/VintageApple/comments/8ocnz9/oddball_week_automatic_floppy_disk_changer/

Show threadIsaac Ji KuoSep 17, 2025

@NanoRaptor I love the placement of the floppy eject button -- oops I powered of the Mac.

(Side-eyeing various Centris/etc pizza box models ...)

The only "problem" with this design is the placement of the CD-ROM drive, which is WAY TOO HIGH for the Mac keyboard to constantly accidentally push the CD-ROM eject button.

Show threadSindarina, Edge Case DetectiveSep 17, 2025
@NanoRaptor I think I still have the rackmount bracket that allowed you to fit three side by side in a 19" rack, somewhere.
Show threadI AM BANKSY ☕ / 🗑‍🔥Sep 17, 2025
@sindarina
Which is quite a feat, as they were around 8" wide. They really did think different.
@NanoRaptor
Show threadRaoul De GuchteneereSep 17, 2025
@sindarina @NanoRaptor Yes I remember the Powermac G2 server farms to mine golden and silver bitcoins.
Show threadwrosecransSep 17, 2025

@NanoRaptor Huh... TIL after some googling that Apple kept the LC-PDS slot with some PowerPC Macs, even when it was no longer "processor direct" because it was emulating a 68030's memory bus pinout. But the PDS slot was only invented to avoid the "overhead" of NuBus cards using a different bus from the actual processor.

Honestly I am more horrified by the real world slot than the fictional joke computer.

Show threadStryder NotaviSep 17, 2025

@wrosecrans @NanoRaptor Tech debt. A tale as old as time.

Or at least as old as computers themselves.

Show threadSnowFoxSep 18, 2025
@wrosecrans @NanoRaptor Essentially it's Apple's ISA from about a decade later 😛
Show threadwrosecransSep 18, 2025

@snowfox @NanoRaptor Yeah. But they only made it after they already had a plug-and-play "PCI" from a decade earlier.

Apple made some weird choices.

Show threadrezmasonSep 17, 2025
@NanoRaptor Who can forget the "cake box" form factor? 😁
Show threadHayley/Dragon🏳️‍⚧️Sep 17, 2025

@NanoRaptor The shade here of “was an addition”

@boxofrain @gordonbarr

Show threadChip WardenSep 17, 2025
@NanoRaptor I need to live in the alternate universe where this was a real Macintosh.
Show thread1.3.6.1.4.1.61513Sep 17, 2025
@NanoRaptor is this the one that you could DIN mount?
Show threadCurmudgeonSep 17, 2025

@NanoRaptor

I think it was the only model that you could use SCSI to daisy chain the processors rather than just the disk drives.

Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 Sep 17, 2025

@NanoRaptor

A #SnowWhite cube???

#SUATMM!!!

Show threadPierreNick  💾Sep 18, 2025

@rl_dane @NanoRaptor Wouldn’t say the 4400 was Snow White but it sure was unlike anything else Apple had made and that’s why we love it. 

(Especially as a 1/4 cube version)

Show threadNanoraptorSep 18, 2025
@pierrenick @rl_dane here then have a Snow-white cube.
Show threadeuroplus Sep 18, 2025
@NanoRaptor @pierrenick @rl_dane ::swoon::
Show threadRegionales Retro-RechenzentrumSep 18, 2025
@NanoRaptor @pierrenick @rl_dane Famous for having room for only 1“ long NuBus cards, right?
Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 Sep 18, 2025

@3rz @NanoRaptor @pierrenick

Just enough room for a NuBuSSD 😂

Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 Sep 18, 2025

@NanoRaptor @pierrenick

Oh my God, I must have it!!!

.STLs when? 😂

Show threadI love this, so ISep 17, 2025
@NanoRaptor what if Quadra, but smol
Show threadJocelynephiliac Sep 17, 2025

@NanoRaptor would make more sense for the cd drive to be on top, so that the space behind the floppy drive isn’t wasted.

Edit: oh who am I kidding, they’d probably shove the PSU back there or some shit

Show thread四Sep 18, 2025

@NanoRaptor The studio should have been a cube!

This looks lovely.

Show threadGlyphSep 18, 2025
@NanoRaptor although this thing was well-loved by those who managed to get one, the fact that they mis-timed the release and just flat out got the dimensions wrong, thereby entirely missing the planned integration with the AppleVision L (nestling into the top-right corner of the display) is yet another sad story of the bumbling mismanagement of late-90s apple
Show threadᴡᴀʟᴋɪɴɢ ᴅʀᴀɢʟɪɴᴇ 🏳️‍⚧️Sep 18, 2025
@NanoRaptor
in 2000, to try and capitalize on the media conversation over the g4 cube, belkin marketed a bent acrylic stand alongside a firewire upgrade card and various external devices, sized and styled to fit inside the stand under the cube. it stood on panels that folded down on the sides and had a shorter cutout panel on the back which fastened to the case of the cube with 4 longer case screws. unfortunately (and perhaps unsurprisingly), the side panels interfered so badly with cooling that heavy computation (including prolonged high speed firewire writes) tended to trigger emergency thermal shutdown.
Show threadFried Puppy DogSep 18, 2025
@NanoRaptor the monitor needs to be similarly cube-ish (or alternatively: a sphere!)
Show threadPierreNick  💾Sep 18, 2025
@NanoRaptor There’s so many of your Macintosh creations I’d love to 3D design and print (and make into real computers!). This is one of them.
Show threadPaula MaddoxSep 18, 2025
@NanoRaptor Now that's cute....
Show threadThijs van der VossenSep 18, 2025
@NanoRaptor hot!
Show threadWedgeStratosSep 18, 2025
@NanoRaptor An addition of all time.
Show threadKevin Karhan Sep 19, 2025

@NanoRaptor TBH, this think would've made total sense back in it's days.

  • Later options propably came with a #ZipDrive …
Show threadAnn EffesSep 19, 2025
@NanoRaptor
LOL
Show threadBrendan (he/him)Sep 20, 2025
@NanoRaptor I would absolutely love to see a blog post or a YouTube video or something, on how you created that image, if ever you feel like making one. :-)