Marathon PowerRack

[John Buck]

k
it is frustrating when companies disappear
the web site has an email addresss
stephen@marathoncomputer
have u tried this?
john

[Kieran Matthew]

Hi John,

Unfortunately that e-mail addy just bounces.

Thanks for responding though!

K

[Andrew Mehta]

I googled for you, Keiran, but no PDFs to be found. =P
Is it really that difficult to setup? It’s only a rack mounting case isn’t it?
Eitherway, even if that email on the website is bouncing, you may be able to use the address given with directory enquires and phone this Stephen guy up, and ask him what happened to Marathon Computers, and take it from there.

Unless it’s quicker to just figure it out without the manual.

If you’re a kid of the 80s like I am, you know you only look at the instructions, AFTER you’ve transformed Optimus Prime off your own back. And only then to see where the stickers went. ^_^ Half the fun was figuring it out for yourself.

Oh, sorry….just the movie’s coming out this year, so…

Good luck with the rack casing!

[Kieran Matthew]

Hi Ajmetz,

Thanks for googling – I did the same with the same results!

Last year I put a sawtooth G4 in a 2U ATX rackcase which required re-milling mounting pounts etc, so yes, I’m fairly confident to press on without the instructions. However the thing that the installation guides cover is the proper way to disassemble the G4. I came unstuck when I couldn’t find the last screw-point in the sawtooth. It turns out it was underneath the processor. How did I find out? I downloaded the Marathon installation guide for the earlier rack series that fitted the sawtooth 😉 Unfortunately that guide is no longer on my system for some reason. Also the Marathon cases reuse things like screws and some metal work from the G4 case, so it may require some guess work without the guide.

The other thing was that I got the sawtooth for free, so if I killed it it wasn’t too much of a problem. This Quicksilver still has a job to do, so I was trying to make sure I tackled this properly. But I doubt that reservation will last 😉

As for calling the guy – I get the hint that there are some legal issues regarding Marathon Computers (afterall they have gone but my case has a “lifetime” warranty). Their website has been blocked from internet archives like thewaybackmachine which seems odd to me.

Oh well, the quest continues

[Andrew Mehta]

Ahhh…yep, seems there’s more to rackmounting than meets the eye! (to extend the Transformer theme)…!

Well, I feel a bit of a goof on the cow today, but I wouldn’t worry about legal issues regarding marathon if all you want to know is where screws are located and so forth. Just give the chap a phone call, you got nothing to lose.

May also be worth double checking if the person who supplied the item to you has any extra knowledge. Has it been used, and as such would the last owner know how to set it up?

These are rather obvious questions though, so you may have looked into them.
Regarding dissecting a G4 however, there may be some other businesses that have other reasons to be savvy on Apple internal schematics, that may be able to help you, but I’ve no experience of this to give any real advice myself.

[Andrew Mehta]

Googling Apple G4 Modding comes up with different mods,
including the Pyr-a-Mac, stripping a G4 and putting it into a pyramid:
https://www.riscx.com/pyramac/

[Andrew Mehta]

I really should confess I’m sleep deprived from being up all night, before I embarrass myself further.

It would seem the Pyramac website just has pretty photos, and no instructions on dissecting G4s.

All the best of luck!

[Kieran Matthew]

Hi Ajmetz,

Thanks for the info. I was going to start trawling the modding sites to see if anyone had any info, but I must confess I hadn’t thought about seeing if Apple themselves had a service manual that covers mobo swap outs (which is basically all the info I need G4-wise). I’ll look into that.

The guy who sold me the case (good old e-bay – did you see the 844x that went for

[Andrew Mehta]

=P Well, have found 3 Marathon Manuals online so far, x2 for some kinda HUB thingie, and one for a 12U rack ( https://www.dreamtek.tv/workflow/networking/marathon_rack_12u.pdf ), but no obvious power-rack stuff yet.

[Andrew Mehta]

=/ Found Marathon’s G*Rack Manual, but is just some Rack joints you stick on the outside of a desktop case, so not the same thing. =P
https://www.metso.co.uk/images/rackmount/marathoncomputerrack.pdf