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imac input methods

E

emosun

6502
So I'm trying to figure out any sort of method to get information onto my imac without having to buy stuff. I'm a windows person so naturally I just have no idea how to deal with the software here especially software this old.

So naturally the easiest way would be to burn information onto discs and use the disk drive. However the mac refuses to read any data discs I burn. Whats even worse is that I somehow burned a disc that it successfully read a few years ago and I have no idea how I did it. The drive works fine and I can play audio cd's just fine in it. They show up on the desktop and even special audio cd's ask to install their own players for mac so I know the drive is ok.

I was then thinking maybe I could use usb sticks but of course the mac is too old to identify any of them. I also considered Using the network port and trying file transfers form my pc's to it but have no idea how to set up a workgroup between a mac and newer pc.

Basically I'm stuck here , is there any way around this without buying stuff? All I'm trying to transfer is some wallpapers or some music files maybe a old version of quicktime so it can play video.

The machine is an original run bondie blue with the IR and the os is 8.4

And no I would like to keep the original os intact I'm very aware these can run newer os's but this thing is a time capsule and I'd like it to stay that way.

 
Well the oldest usb drive I have is 128mb and the imac can't make heads or tails of it. The stick is probably from around 2003-2004 but the mac os is 6 years behind that so I can't blame it. When I got the stick windows 98 needed drivers for it to be reconized , I'm sure mac os 8.4 isn't going to know what a usb stick is.

As for the network option if you could help me with what settings the mac should be set to for a more modern computer to access it that would help alot

 
Use Netatalk on a Unixy box and it'll speak AFP to it, and can even preserve resource forks (which on Mac OS pre-X, you WILL need)

 
I don't really have any linux experience. Someone on another forum mentioned that the original imac might not be able to read cd-rw and only cd-r , is that true? Becuase I was using cd-rw's

 
I do not have first-hand experience with Mac OS 8. IIRC, I read that Mac OS 8.6 better supports USB storage than does OS 8.5. I had no trouble at all using USB storage (block storage magnetic disc of 512-octet sectors, Stick flashdisc, or optical/CD) with Mac OS 9.

What CD-ROM drive is in your iMac? I had a rev A, a rev D, and another (either rev C or D, I do not remember which).

My rev A contained Matsushita Kotobuki Electronics Industries, LTD. CR-173-D (a.k.a. MKE CR-173, a.k.a. Panasonic CR-173). CR-173 does not read CD-RW. CR-173 does not read CD-R very well. If you have CR-173, then do not bother trying burning some CD-R. It is only good at reading pressed discs, not recorded/written CD-R.

My rev D contained MKE CR-175-D, which could read all of my CD-R and CD-RW discs.

I believe all MKE CR-173, CR-175, CR-176, CR-177 are interchangeable: they should have same design, share same door/panel/bezel/cover/face/faceplate. Mac OS can use any 12.7 mm PATA drive in iMac G3, but firmware will only boot from correct device configuration (whether that is master or slave, I do not remember).

Summary: Apple CR-175-D is safest bet.

Go ahead and scavenge/reuse whatever drive you can find locally, if you enjoy tinkering. The Earth you save may be your own.

See also:

To hell with Apple and anyone in the industry of consumer electronics, who withhold documentation and information regarding repair and service.


edit: I hate this implementation of bbcode.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
ok i tried c-dr's and it says "the disk is unreadable by this computer" and asks me to initialise it.

however i just decided to plug it into the network and with only mac os 8.6 and internet explorer 5 it actually works and connects to goole without any issues... weird.

 
thanks for the browser tip. I just barely got IE5 to download it! lol

Now that the better browser works , what would you guys recommend for a file transfering service. I'm thinking it would be easier to effectively "email" files to the computer rather then attempt to do it through the network. But the browser doesn't support hotmail so somthing that the browser can reach would be good.

 
btw thanks for the help I'm digging the site so far

I actually have two of these that are identicle and one is broken so when this gets solved it would be fun to ask for help on how to get that one working in another thread.

 
if you aren't comfortable with UNIX and have an Server 2003 box (or older) you can run Services for Macintosh, which can present as an AFP/AppleTalk thing

 
If you don't have a netatalk or Windows NT4/2000/2003 SFM server, I would use FTP or plain HTTP to transfer files. Right now, to put stuff on my old Macs, I post files to a folder on my web site.

If you have a Linux system and are comfortable with it, netatalk is probably the 'best' option, because you can connect to it like a mapped network drive using the Chooser on the Mac, and then you can connect to it however you normally would on your PC (with samba or sshfs or whatever.)

I have an old PC I run as a netatalk server and my PowerBook 180, PowerMac6100, and Mac mini all connect to it.

I'm not too well versed in this particular page, but there's some information about netatalk here: http://www.applefool.com/se30/

The gotcha is that I bet that page has information about downloading Ubuntu 9.10, which you should not do. Instead, download the most recent version of Debian, and just do an apt-get install netatalk.

 
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