FINALLY!!!!

[MacDan]

They're home!!!

Today I got (for free):

A Beige Mac G3 (9/6/1998), an iMac G3 (233 Mhz), a Macintosh Classic (June 1991), a Style Writer II(1992), two Power Computing Computers (one runs 8.X and has a 1.1 GB Hard Drive) and an Apple Color Monitor(1993). I think it's a good grab for today and for this noob.

He still has a Beige G3 Desktop, like this one, without the Intel sticker. Should I take it?

I want to upgrade the iMac (which runs 8.X) and G3 (9.2.2) to OSX (the G3 has a DVD Drive, surprisingly. The iMac doesn't!) How do I do it? Can I connect the iMac to my DSL router or to my Belkin Wireless router to access high speed internet in order to up date to 9.2.2?

That's it, for today.

 

[Brett B.]

Yes, grab the desktop. One day when everyone's got nice towers and have parted all the desktops, it'll be hard to find. And it's in nice shape.

I'd advise against running OSX on the iMac. It will be a pig. Mine's a 333 and it's a pig, too.

What are the specs on the G3 tower?

 

[Bunsen]

I want to upgrade the iMac (which runs 8.X) and G3 (9.2.2) to OSX / Can I connect the iMac to my DSL router or to my Belkin Wireless router to access high speed internet

2. Yes, although I forget all the boxes you have to tick in OS 9 to make it work. OS X will find it and get you on the net by magic.

1. First thing you'll need for both of those machines is RAM. I'd suggest 192MB (128+64 or 3x 64) as the minimum you'll want to try OS X in, and stick to 10.2.x. Once you get 10.2 running it'll automagically update to 10.2.8 once you're on the net.

I didn't find it particularly piggish for the six years I ran my beige G3/300 with 10.2, but these things are relative. Bumping up the RAM as much as you can afford makes a huge difference - above 256 and you'll really start to notice it. At 512 and above, the speed on mine was fine.

Unfortunately those machines are both picky about RAM. The iMac takes laptop SODIMM SD-RAM, and the beige takes desktop SD-RAM DIMMs. In both cases, 256MB sticks must be double sided (16 chips to a stick, called "single banked"), which are a bit pricier than single sided 256s. 128s and 64s you can pick up for nothing, or scrounge from old PCs.

Speed wise they'll both take PC-66, PC-100 or PC-133. No other (DDR, PC2300 etc) will work.

On a budget, I'd suggest sticking 3x 128s in the Beige. Or I'd suggest go straight to memoryx.com, ramseeker.com or eshop.macsales.com - select the machines from their menus and you can be sure you've got the right RAM - and buy at least one 256MB stick for each machine. You can make up the slack with 128s and 64s until later.

Clip off the useless fan guard under the power supply /edit/ in the beige / and you won't have to fuss about low-profile DIMMs for the last slot. Note I said "clip" not "cut" - don't use a hacksaw unless you want to spray your motherboard with random conductive fragments. I used a hefty pair of side cutters.

There are three slots in the Beige. Two slots in the iMac; one on top of, and one hidden under, the CPU card. The bottom one has to have a low profile SODIMM.

Do the RAM upgrades first before you start to think about CPU upgrades.

The beige will take ZIF G3s and G4s up to 1GHz - expensive - but there are bargains for used pulls around 300-500MHz.

The iMac will only take a 266 or /edit/ 333Mhz / iMac CPU board from another tray loader. However, there's other nifty stuff you can do to them, like adding ADB, a floppy, and Mac serial port.

Both machines will often overclock nicely; on the Beige it's just jumper swapping, on the iMac it involves soldering tiny surface-mount resistors.

Have fun and let us all know how you go.

 

[MacDan]

The beige will take ZIF G3s and G4s up to 1GHz - expensive - but there are bargains for used pulls around 300-500MHz.

The iMac will only take a 266 or 300MHz iMac CPU board from another tray loader. However, there's other nifty stuff you can do to them, like adding ADB, a floppy, and Mac serial port.

Both machines will often overclock nicely; on the Beige it's just jumper swapping, on the iMac it involves soldering tiny surface-mount resistors.

Have fun and let us all know how you go.

So, I can add more Mhz?

I do remember seeing a Mac magazine that said you could add a floppy drive to the iMac.

Will I have to ground myself to do any of this? I remember seeing the guy at the Apple store do that before adding another 256 stick to my G5.

Is my iMac rev A or B, how can one tell?

Thank you Dr. Bunsen

 

[MacDan]

What are the specs on the G3 tower?

Under About this Computer it says:

Disk Cache: 4096K

Virtual Memory: 128M(lowest)-1330M(highest, should I set it to this?)

Ram Disk (when it's on at 100%): 130,048K

Largest unused block: 314.6MB

I can't find the Mhz.

 

[Brett B.]

You'll be able to find more detailed specs in Apple System Profiler. This should be under your apple menu.

If you're running any version of OS8 I'd say turn Virtual Memory off. For OS9...I dunno... set it at 256MB or so. You've probably got a 4GB hard drive in that unless it was upgraded, so setting the VM really high will just waste drive space.

The easiest processor upgrade for your iMac is to grab a 333MHz processor out of a later iMac. Like Bunsen said grab one from a trayloader. I'd try and max the RAM out too. Some of those early iMacs are compatible with two 256MB sticks but it's safer to get two 128's...better to stick with something that is known to work. I tried two 256 sticks in mine and it only sees a total of 256.

 

[Bunsen]

That's because you're using the wrong RAM. See above.

BTW MacMan if it's a 233 it's a Rev.A. "Trayloader" efers to the type of CD drive it has - the tray that pops out. The "slotloader" iMacs use a completely different motherboard which is not compatible.

 

[LCGuy]

If your iMac is the original "Bondi Blue" (that is, not Blueberry), and has a 233 Mhz chip, its either Rev. A or B. The basic rule is - if it has ATI Rage IIc graphics, its a Rev. A. If, on the other hand, it has an ATI Rage Pro, its Rev. B.

 

[Bunsen]

I stand corrected.

The mods for ADB, serial, and floppy are only possible on the Rev.A version. The 333MHz CPU board swap works for both of them.

 

[MacDan]

I stand corrected.
The mods for ADB, serial, and floppy are only possible on the Rev.A version. The 333MHz CPU board swap works for both of them.

Okay, I'll check what I have.

 

[Bunsen]

If you can afford it (and RAM) you might as well jump on this for the beige:

ZIF G3 500MHz $18.99 shipped