Tangerine Dream

[protocol7]

Yeah I had similar feelings when replacing the hard disk in my Indigo iMac. When I heard the crack sound after separating the bottom cover I was sure I'd snapped the tabs, but they were fine.

You won't be able to get Rhapsody on that iMac though. The hardware support isn't there (the Rhapsody DR's were bootstrapped with Mac OS 8 and 8.1). I was going to suggest OS X DP1 as it looks very similar to Rhapsody DR2 but the install notes only mentions beige and B&W G3s. It might take DP2, which is my favourite of the DPs.

 

[bibilit]

Will this iMac need a firmware update before installing 10.4 or should it be fine?

A firmware update is Mandatory if you don't wanna get a screen problem (will turn black if you don't do so)

 

[macinbot]

You won't be able to get Rhapsody on that iMac though. The hardware support isn't there (the Rhapsody DR's were bootstrapped with Mac OS 8 and 8.1). I was going to suggest OS X DP1 as it looks very similar to Rhapsody DR2 but the install notes only mentions beige and B&W G3s. It might take DP2, which is my favourite of the DPs.

Bummer on Rhapsody. I'll give DP1 & DP2 a try. I don't imagine there's much to actually run software-wise on either. What do you think the minimal comfortable amount for a partition would be?

A firmware update is Mandatory if you don't wanna get a screen problem (will turn black if you don't do so)

Can I update the firmware using a Classic install disk to boot (I was thinking OS 9) and a USB flash drive with the updater, or will I need to put a Classic Mac OS on it first?

 

[protocol7]

You'd probably be fine with a 2GB partition. Like you say, there's not much you can run on them. I had them on a B&W with a 10GB disk as I wasn't using it for anything else.

 

[macinbot]

Thanks Proto, I'll set it up that way. Also, I answered my own question regarding updating the firmware with an install disk and USB drive. No go. It requires an install to run.

Does OS 9 requires its own partition or can it share the OS X one?

 

[protocol7]

I wasn't too sure about firmware updating from an install CD alright. OS 9 can share the same partition as OS X (and if you install 9.2.2 Tiger will use it for the Classic environment if you wish). The DPs didn't use a System Folder for Classic. Instead they booted a disk image.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

. . . I can't for the life of me remember the name or the company, but someone made a clip on accessory that gave the puck mouse a more traditional oblong shape.

Found a pic of one in an eBay auction, I wonder if it's the same one macman has.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190696912597

I used the BlobMouse on my friend's Strawberry iMac back in the day . . . as for love/hate . . . definitely hate . . .

 

[macinbot]

Found a pic of one in an eBay auction, I wonder if it's the same one macman has.

Good question. From the pic (and it's not great, so it's hard to tell) it looks more "stylized" than the one I'm remembering. The one I'm thinking of was more opaque in the translucent white, but also came in other colors as well. Still, the idea is the same, which is to make the mouse usable.

 

[macinbot]

Couldn't find a compatible 8.6 to load on my Tangerine. 8.7 beta and OS X 10.0 DPs seem to be a bust as well. So now I've reformatted and have one partition with both OS X 10.4 and Mac OS 9.2.2. Tried out some games that I thought might give 9.2.2 trouble and they seemed to be fine. I think I'll stick with this OS setup for now.

Any idea what updates are needed for 9.2.2? I tried software update, but it never connects.

 

[protocol7]

It's been a while but I think all Software Update used to offer was an iPod Software update.

So none of the DPs would install? My iMac was a summer 2001 model so I couldn't even get the Public Beta installed. 10.0 was as far back as I could X it.

 

[macinbot]

OS 9 seems fine. I thought there might be a Java update or something. The 9.2.2 install CD I have came with my 2004 eMac, so it's probably as updated as OS 9 gets. I can live without iPod support under OS 9. I couldn't get it to work with 10.0 DP, but initially I was having other problems with my hard drive, so it might have been that. I'll try it again in the future.

On the 10.4 side, I finished the install and updates last night. I forgot that there are sooooooo many Java updates. On this 400mhz machine 10.4 sometimes seems a little sluggish. I know there are a few adjustments I can make to lessen the load. I remember reading several tips, but I can't find them. Here's what I remember:

• Turn off Dashboard
  Turn off Spotlight
  Turn off graphic effects (drop shadows, etc) to speed up the finder (silverfox?)

Any instructions as how to change those or any other pointers would be great. Also, I thought that all the updates that I just applied are stored locally. Anyone know where they're at?

I installed TenFourFox under OS X and Classilla under OS 9. Classilla has come a long way since I last used it. Seems very stable despite the warning on the front page.

 

[protocol7]

ShadowKiller will take care of disabling window shadows. I haven't tried it though as I ran Panther on the iMac.

I had Tiger on my iBook but that was 800Mhz and had the 32MB Radeon card so it was a bit nippier.

Yeah the Java updates for 10.4 are ridiculous.

For tweaking the system I swear by OnyX. It's also good for general maintenance. The link for the Tiger version is at the end of the post under Related Links.

 

[macinbot]

Thanks Proto. I take a look at Shadowkiller. I had Tiger on my eMac 800mhz and it was great, even better when I overclocked it to 1.27ghz. I think the G4 vs. G3 makes a big difference. I had it on my Blueberry iMac from a few years back, but didn't use it much -- mostly a Classic machine -- so I don't remember if it was pokey or not (I'm sure it was). I do use Onyx and running it is on my list of things to do after killing Dashboard and Spotlight (when I figure out how).

Here's a thread with good info on tweaking 10.4 for older machines:

http://68kmla.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=17618

 

[Rodus]

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES

Then

killall Dock

You don't actually need to kill spotlight, once it's indexed the first time there shouldn't be a speed penalty. Shadowkiller will give you better performance, Tiger uses far more horsepower then older versions of OS X for the GUI and the Rage 128 isn't up to the task so you're burning CPU cycles for pretty shadows.