[K2ACP]

Hello fellow ehMacians, I have an even bigger dilema than desiding between a wired keyboard and wireless. I recently bought an iMac G3 slot loading Blueberry (even though it`s more green than blue). I searched it up on everyMac and found out that the HDD, RAM and Optical Drive can be upgraded. It says that it takes Ultra ATA, which I think is the same as PATA. On TheCreativeOne`s youtube video of him upgrading his iMac G3, he said that the maximum HD size is 120GB, don`t know if that is accurate or not. Any ideas? So, I decided I`m going to buy and install a 120GB PATA WD Blue Caviar drive. Also, I`ve read that the max amount of RAM it can take is 2x 512MB PC100 RAM, however in TheCreativeOne`s video it did not work at all. I was looking to buy 2x 512MB Kingston PC100 RAM. Finally, the optical drive- which one should I get? The iMac G3s drive is a CD-ROM drive, I was looking to buy a good, compatible DVD drive that could also burn at least CD`s. That`s it for the hardware part.

Now for software:
I want to isntall OS X Tiger on this biatch. Apparenly you need a Firewire port for some reason to do so. Also your firmware has to be up to date, which I read can only be done by updating OS 9. (This iMac has Jaguar). I just want Tiger though.
What I understand is that first you need to do a fresh install of OS 9, update, THEN you install Tiger over that. Is there an easier way???

Thanks.

TheCreativeOne`s upgrade video (circa 2007) part 1: YouTube - iMac G3 Upgrade: Part One
part 2: YouTube - iMac G3 Upgrade: Part Two

 

[K2ACP]

Call me crazy, but this iMac is going to be my main computer (and my only one that I`ll actually use) untill the next iMac rev that ships with Lion

 

[Niteshooter]

Mactracker is a handy app for those restoring/upgrading older Macs... Mactracker

Yes it will run up to 1GB of RAM, no it won't support more than 128GB of hard drive and you can swap in a laptop slot loading hard drive since that is what your iMac uses. There were DVD burners available so a hunt through eBay may help.

OWC (Performance Upgrades; FireWire USB SATA Storage; Memory, more at OWC) has something called XPostfacto which helped those trying to load Tiger on older unsupported Macs. Other World Computing- OSX Center

I guess like all hacintoshing keep in mind you could wind up with stability issues.

For example I'm typing this reply on my MACer Aspire One running OSX Leopard via the Kalyway hack. It's pretty cool though running an upgrade of the system will instantly kill the installation! But to have probably the worlds' smallest 'Mac' that actually is usable is pretty cool.

 

[K2ACP]

Mactracker is a handy app for those restoring/upgrading older Macs... Mactracker
QUOTE]

Blew my mind that it now runs on Windows. Even though this is a replacement laptop, I still installed it. (windows 7=do not like at all) make sure. I just don`t know the proper way to upgrade to Tiger from Jaguar. What I`ve read is install OS 9, update to 9.2.2 + upgrade firmware, install XpostFacto (even though there is no OS 9 disk image) then install Tiger and XpostFacto will make it skip the hardware check. Any suggestions on this? I would also like to install my friend`s copy of iLife `06 which I`ve read is possible on a `99 iMac.

 

[pm-r]

You're going to be fighting an almost dead horse for the Mac OS software and hardware that you're wanting and needing to upgrade with that iMac and I'd suggest it's not worth the time or cost, and I often help support such older Macs when and where possible - but I'd strongly suggest that you just upgrade to a newer Mac model and OS to do what you're wanting.

Seriously!!!

 

[K2ACP]

You're going to be fighting an almost dead horse for the Mac OS software and hardware that you're wanting and needing to upgrade with that iMac and I'd suggest it's not worth the time or cost, and I often help support such older Macs when and where possible - but I'd strongly suggest that you just upgrade to a newer Mac model and OS to do what you're wanting.

Seriously!!!

I know that this Mac is old, but somehow in 2000 people manager to get by and use such machines. It really doesn't matter what it's worth now, back in the day it was worth more than a grand, so a hundred really isn't a lot to spend to get something that a few years ago you could only dream about. If you're into the computer enough, than you'd do anything for it

PS I may or may not be high

 

[johnnydee]

I think he meant "high on macs!"
:lmao:

 

[Niteshooter]

I think I'm like K2ACP in that I do it because I can. Cost so what it's a hobby...

It occurs to me that you can do the Tiger installation even easier, just install it from an iMac that has a FW port. I'm sure someone on here has such a beast.... then just slip that drive into your non FW iMac. Seems to me that was how I installed Tiger on one of the iMacs in my collection.

There is also some info here on the topic.

10.4: Install Tiger on older unsupported Macs - Mac OS X Hints

I did a look back at XpostFacto and that may be more work than needed since the only real issue is that your iMac doesn't have FW while that app was created to install OSX on Macs that could not run any version of OSX at all.

Re memory, I run 2X512 in the iMac G3's in my collection mostly using PC133 memory since that was what I had a lot of so it may just be that that installer had a bad strip of memory or the wrong type such as ECC found on servers.

Your iMac probably has the Harmon Kardon speakers so with an iSub you can have a pretty nice sounding Mac though the built in speakers on their own sound pretty good.

It is true that you could be chasing bad money with good but then the iMac was a pretty neat Mac and the slot loaders were a bit better than the originals. * I seem to recall swapping in a FW MB into a non FW iMac once and I don't recall a noticable performance difference between the 450MHz and the 600MHz iMacs in my collection.

We have a friend who is a writer and up until recently he was using a Mac Classic since that was all he needed. Before that he was using a Mac Portable. I only bumped him up to a PowerBook Wallstreet because he had all his work on legacy sw such as Claris Works and MacWrite plus needed French sw. It was quite the stretch to get him to use his backup Pismo with OSX because we were trying to ween him off his old Stylewriter and on to a brand new all in one USB printer.... so it really will boil down to just what you really need or use...

One final thought, I revisited Hacintoshes recently mainly because I had an Aspire One sitting collecting dust. For under $200 it's not a bad 'Mac' though as my only Mac I'd never do it since one mistake can render the thing DOA but with a wireless card swap and the right installer I have a netbook running OSX Leopard, wireless, full video, wired network, and sound. Only thing I haven't sorted yet are the SD card readers. I picked up a second AAO off eBay for a friend last weekend for $125 cdn, tossed in a $10 Dell DW1390 wireless card and built another Hacintosh..... granted I'm sure there are some other things that are broken that I haven't stumbled upon yet and there is that thing about breaking apple's license for the sw....

 

[K2ACP]

I'm not gonna quote Niteshooter, because that's one long quote, almost l
tl;dr but I read it because it concerned me. Well, yes, because *can is one of the reasons, but also it's because I have to upgrade it to finish my After Effects animation that I need to do, I doubt that AE will run on this even AFTER upgrades, but I know that some version of PS will, and I can do all my backgrounds and objects there. For the FW Mac trick, can it be an intel Mac? Because nobody I know has a PPC with a FireWire port.*
About PC133 memory- on the apple website it said that my version can only accept PC100 and from what i learned from watching the video (links in OP) it has to be non-ECC.*

As for speakers, I heard that the built in ones are really good, so I don't need an iSub right now

Macintosh Classic, eh? Wow, I can't believe that was enough space to store all of his novels, but maybe he was a haiku poet, so he didn't need all that HD*

About apple's EULA, I think it sucks, but it's there for a reason, to make people buy a Mac. I really think that old apple OSes like Panther and lower should be legally free, there are virtually no copies of those disks, because disks scratch, get eaten by llamas etc...

 

[pm-r]

The PC100 may be the official description and is almost impossible to find and expensive if you do, but any good decent RAM dealer will supply the PC133 modules which are fully backwards compatible.

PS: It can take a max of 1GB RAM using two 512MB modules as you seem to have discovered.

I guess I kept all those old OS installers for a reason and even a four set CD for OS X for those Macs that didn't have a DVD-ROM capable drive.

 

[K2ACP]

The PC100 may be the official description and is almost impossible to find and expensive if you do, but any good decent RAM dealer will supply the PC133 modules which are fully backwards compatible.

PS: It can take a max of 1GB RAM using two 512MB modules as you seem to have discovered.

I guess I kept all those old OS installers for a reason and even a four set CD for OS X for those Macs that didn't have a DVD-ROM capable drive.

Couldn't find PC100 so I bought PC133, I hope that it works, I also bought a WD Blue Caviar PATA 150GB HDD, couldn't find a 120GB. Keyboard- I bought the new apple wired keybo :S dunno if it works, but the apple store guys told me that it did

 

[pm-r]

The PC133 RAM will work just fine with that iMac as long as it's configured and Mac compatible.

That PATA 150GB HDD sounds like a odd size for an ATA/IDE 3.5" drive, but regardless, some have used 160GB drives successfully on non-supporting "big drive" Macs and you may get different size reporting, and just don't fill it with more than 128 GB of data or it could fall off the edge and become inaccessible - at least with it used in that iMac.

Edit: I just noticed that WD does have a 150GB PATA drive and apparently with a bigger cache - nice.

 

[K2ACP]

The PC133 RAM will work just fine with that iMac as long as it's configured and Mac compatible.

That PATA 150GB HDD sounds like a odd size for an ATA/IDE 3.5" drive, but regardless, some have used 160GB drives successfully on non-supporting "big drive" Macs and you may get different size reporting, and just don't fill it with more than 128 GB of data or it could fall off the edge and become inaccessible - at least with it used in that iMac.

Edit: I just noticed that WD does have a 150GB PATA drive and apparently with a bigger cache - nice.

Will that bigger cache affect my iMac? I really don't want it running too hot for it to handle. What do you mean by 'configured' ? Some types of ram I'd not Mac compatible? First time I heard that one, isn't the hardware in a Mac and PC almost exactly the same?

 

[jamesB]

and just don't fill it with more than 128 GB of data or it could fall off the edge and become inaccessible

Now that's a new technical bit of computer jargon, at least to me it is,

 

[pm-r]

Now that's a new technical bit of computer jargon, at least to me it is,

Yes - And an unfounded and unqualified statement by me, but I'm also thinking of a similar problem when an excessive amount of unsupported RAM has been installed that CanadaRam alluded to recently on this list.

ie: creating a situation where the Mac OS cannot access the saved data.

Bottom line: just letting the potential user know and maybe they could do some more investigation.

 

[MacMagicianJunior]

A few to quote here

Just to start off... that machine, if it is a slot loading G3 iMac, should already have FW 400 ports built in here:

According to all the sources I can find only the tray loaders were lacking in FW ports, so Tiger should install and be supported natively without any difficult workarounds.

EDIT - Dammit, I searched high and low for something to contradict this statement before posting it and 10 minutes after I find a reference to the 350MHz Blueberry NOT having the FW400 ports... and I'm betting that's probably what you have. So every slot loader iMac EXCEPT that one has FW 400 (which ironically is one I don't have, my G3s are all 400MHz or better)... so just ignore all that.

I know that this Mac is old, but somehow in 2000 people manager to get by and use such machines.

They did; however, being so old this particular series has a couple of end-of-life issues that it's already facing, it's flyback transformer for the screen for example has a limited lifespan (I've seen dozens with this and related parts failed or failing in the last couple of years), as does the power supply and several other components, parts are scarce and replacing them is difficult (and in the case of the transformer and PSU dangerous because of the voltages involved in CRT screens). I mention this because it sounds like you'll be putting the machine under a relatively heavy workload and it would be worth picking up a few spare parts and the knowledge to replace them safely so that you can continue to enjoy it for many years.

just don't fill it with more than 128 GB of data or it could fall off the edge and become inaccessible - at least with it used in that iMac.

I've never tried this myself but couldn't he just partition it? Say into 125 & 25 or something similar? That should negate the 'here there be dragons' aspect of the bigger than supported drive if it's possible.

Will that bigger cache affect my iMac?

If anything it'll help the drive access faster.

but I know that some version of PS will

Adobe CS2 will run on this machine under Panther (10.3.8) or Tiger (10.4.xx) but an older version might be preferred...

 

[MacMagicianJunior]

Now that's a new technical bit of computer jargon, at least to me it is,

I like it myself... I'm gonna start using it.

 

[K2ACP]

It's slot loading iMac blueberry, no FireWire.

 

[pm-r]

If I recall correctly, partitioning an internal "big dive' did not always work, at least if partitioned on such non-supporting Macs and could lead to data corruption if the Mac and the OS didn't support such 'Big drives'.

USB and FW connected "big drives" could usually be used to their full capacity for some strange reason that I never understood.

PS: I'm glad you liked the "computer jargon"expression I used and it seemed fitting for what I was trying to say and describe without going into techie details and you're free to use it. ;-)

 

[MacMagicianJunior]

It's slot loading iMac blueberry, no FireWire.

Yeah, I already edited the post, I found a reference to the 350MHz blueberry not having it even though MacTracker doesn't make the distinction. The 400 MHz blueberry iMacs do, as does every other slot loading G3 iMac. Just not that one version of that one model.