i have been looking into getting one of these old 68k macs because i never have had experience with one of them.. just for fun..
but theres no ethernet.. i read that its accomplished via an AAUI to rJ45 bridging adapter by asante or other 3rd party vendors..
but..
this particular centris has no aaui port showing .. instead its covered by a plate of plsatic + there is no label to indicate ethernet or aaui on the case..
i read at everymac that this was an upgrade or option..
my question is..
is this possible to add after the fact? is there some type of addon card that is user installable?
or is this having to be included on the motherboard itself and non-upgradable after the fact?
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2014, October 11 - 8:21am
#1
centris/quadra 650 AAUI port missing.. can it be added?
Comments
2014, October 11 - 11:23am
#2
There were Nubus cards providing ethernet connectivity. 
I used to have some for my MacII, maybe the simplest solution:
http://www.welovemacs.com/m2460za.html
My 650 had AAUI as it was not one of the low cost models - stand up cards would be the better choice for such a box: http://www.welovemacs.com/m0417lla.html
If the AAUI port is wired on your logic board and only the connector missing, it cant be too hard to solder one in. You will have to buy an AAUI adapter to twisted pair anyways, so a Nubus card would be my choice.
2014, October 15 - 2:16pm
#3
the whole reason i wanted the mac was to put ancient pro tools Nubus cards in it. so i was hoping not to have to sacrifice a slot
2014, October 13 - 2:38am
#4
The other option would be to use local talk and find an old local talk to ethernet bridge on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Asante-AsanteTalk-Ethernet-to-LocalTalk-Mac-Comp...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Asante-Talk-Ethernet-to-Local-Talk-Network-Bridg...
Depends on how much data you need to transfer. You're probably not going to be able to go on the internet with it. If you just want to transfer data a pair of zip drives - one usb and one scsi - might also be useful.
2014, October 15 - 2:16pm
#5
i hadnt even thought of that.. ive never used ethernet over serial Appletalk/localtalk
so thats why that totally slipped by me. thanks;)
2014, October 16 - 2:16pm
#6
The reason you haven't is because LocalTalk is WAY slower than Ethernet so there was a limited market for such devices.
Gary
2014, October 13 - 10:13pm
#7
Wait until a Quadra 650 surfaces for sale. Compared to the 50/25MHz Centris 650, the 66/33MHz Quadra 650 is worth the wait and it will have onboard ethernet connection (AAUI) as standard.
The Centris 650 I once owned had AAUI ethernet, I was unaware of it being an option until now. I don't recall it being a card add-on either, I'm pretty sure it was onboard. But its been more than a few years since I owned this Mac, so my memory might be suss here.
I do still have a Centris 660av tho', produced in the same year as the Centris 650. This has the onboard AAUI connection as standard.
2014, October 15 - 2:15pm
#8
heya mike
umm i was hoping someone would tell me its just behind this backplate of plastic but it seems to be covered up for a reason.. and if it was lurking behind the plastic somehow unused for its entire existance there woudl at least be a icon for the port right? the icon area is blank too..
2014, October 16 - 5:56am
#9
You would need to look inside the box to really tell whats going on here.
On my similar vintaged Mac there is a metal plate with a molded plastic fitting to the inside of the case for the AAUI port with metal prongs going from there down onto the logic board. On the outside of the case there is an Ethernet symbol cut into the case above the AAUI port, it looks like this: <···> All of the other symbols are cut into the case too, above their respective ports, ADB, SCSI, Video, etc.
What might be helpful would be a link to the pics that you've been looking at - I take it that this is a considered purchase, not something you own as yet (if at all).
2014, October 16 - 11:09am
#10
The Centris 650 logic board looks like this
and a Quadra 650 logic board looks like this
Both are near identical. The AAUI connection port onto the board is located just above the SCSI port connector in the pic (the largest connector on the right side of each pic is the SCSI port connector ).
According to Wikipedia and the Low End Mac, the Centris 650 model without the AAUI port also shipped with a cut-down 68LC040 CPU - which is a "low cost" '040 CPU without an FPU.
Waiting for a better specced full FPU model to come along should be a consideration here.