Looking for install discs

[jamesB]

Hello to all,

I've just lucked into a near mint condition Dual 1.25 MDD complete with original 17" studio monitor and keyboard.

The system came with OS X 10.4.11 installed, and I would dearly love to have it running the system that gave it birth.

While searching Google for info on the original install discs for this unit I was pointed to this group.

Appears like a great bunch and I'm sure I'm going to be lurking here regularly.

So my dilemma is thus, can anyone help me source the install discs for the system below?

Machine Name: Power Mac G4

Machine Model: PowerMac3,6

CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (3.2)

Number Of CPUs: 2

CPU Speed: 1.25 GHz

L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB

L3 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB

Memory: 1 GB

Bus Speed: 167 MHz

Boot ROM Version: 4.5.7f1

Any help at all would be much appreciated.

James.

 

[macguy]

I had that mirror door machine for a while until...

Just curious as to why you

would dearly love to have it running the system that gave it birth

.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Why do any of us collect Macs?

I enjoy having either the original OS, or the last OS a machine will run on it. Sometimes both.

Seeing as an MDD will only ever run Leopard at best, wanting the original OS is perfectly reasonable. (It took me quite a while to get the original OS for the SuperDrive-loaded G4-DA I got. Finally got it, though.)

 

[macguy]

I'll take a look in my basement collection of legacy mac's and the collection of related CD/DVD's .

Although, you no doubt know this, if you install more then two internal hard drives it may prove beneficial to install an extra internal fan to keep your dual MDD "cool".

I had several dual MDD's and QS's each with four internal hard drives and sometimes would just leave the side doors open to help cool down the interior compartments. The MDD's were as best as i understood had poor heat sinks and required help to keep cool albeit not many user would have more then one internal hard drive and those user's had no idea or worries about the heat problems.

 

[trag]

Although, you no doubt know this, if you install more then two internal hard drives it may prove beneficial to install an extra internal fan to keep your dual MDD "cool".
The MDD's were as best as i understood had poor heat sinks and required help to keep cool

Has anyone ever installed a non-Apple heat sink in one as far as you know?

I had worked on a project for a little while to install one of the better PC style heat sinks with big fin area and heat pipes and copper contact area bonded to aluminum body heat sink. The trick was to find a heat sink with a long enough base that it could cover both cores, and the right shape to fit in the MDD case (not too tall) etc.

I found a few candidates which were highly rated over at frostytech.com. But after doing the fun part and buying the heat sinks, I never fabricated the aluminum adapter I would have needed to be able to mount them on top of the G4s. By that time I had found that the used MDDs which I purchased were plenty quiet (no wind tunnel) and appear to stay plenty cool, so it took the wind out of the sails of that project.

Now I have all these heat sinks sitting around. I was going to do an MDD temperature comparison with them. Well, I did install one in the MythTV box which I've built but haven't configured. Recurring theme, that. Unfinished projects. Sigh.

 

[jamesB]

I'll take a look in my basement collection of legacy mac's and the collection of related CD/DVD's .
Although, you no doubt know this, if you install more then two internal hard drives it may prove beneficial to install an extra internal fan to keep your dual MDD "cool".

I appreciate your offer to take a look-see, and as to the cooling, I've already taken care of that with some minor alterations.

 

[Bob Kiwi]

I'd like to hear what modifications you did to cool your MDD. I'd like to cool mine as it sometimes hangs due to heat issues I presume.

I have the original disks as well if you still need them, I got the MDD to be an OS 9 machine- and Mac OS 9 lacks fan control / heat gauge software it seems.

 

[jamesB]

Bob Kiwi...

sent you a PM.

 

[macguy]

jamesB » Jul 30th, '10, 11:31 ; OK found the disks: do you still want them ?

 

[jamesB]

macguy...

many thanks for the offer, but I got what I needed earlier from bobkiwi.

After experimenting with everything from 10.2 -> 10.5.8, In the end I've settled for a very stable and well running 10.4.11 Tiger install.

Thanks again guys.

 

[macguy]

I have learned the hard way that anything beyond Tiger for Power PC is a waste of time.

I have Leopard running from an external firewire drive and it gets flakey at the most unpredictable times with the wheel of fortune color wheel that takes a hard shut down and then a re-install. lthough when i connect that same firewire drive to one of my Mac Intels it runs smooooooth and for days without a problem.

 

[jamesB]

I would actually like to run Panther on this machine, but for one major item.

I've grown totally committed to using spotlight for everything, you know... Cmd+Space ...type a a few letters of whatever it is you want to access and hit Enter.

I do this automatically without even looking today for all my apps and documents, works like a charm.

Going back to Tiger I had to re-learn one keystroke...the down arrow before hitting enter, something I can live with, but in Panther there is no equivalent to this Spotlight keyboard magic.

So here I sit with my super Tiger based G4 dual 1.25 MDD and totally happy, except I'm already research my next mods... 8-o

 

[macguy]

Would LAUNCHBAR be the answer.

For me, i prefer LAUNCHBAR to spotlight because you can assign hot keys to the actions such as typing "SD" for shut down or "RS" for restart or to open folders or applications or documents.

Would you go to Jaguar ?

 

[jamesB]

Jaguar, now I'd have to think about that.

I've honestly never even seen Jaguar, I switched 8-o , from MS windows when Panther had just been released.

Tiger is good, the install size is minimal and there is still a lot of apps for 10.4 and above, not as many for 10.3 and very few mentions of 10.2 anymore.

When I first got my MDD I had aspirations of keeping it in a virgin state, but since I've already violated that when I upgraded the Fans I do not feel guilty running Tiger.

 

[macguy]

My first MDD/QS had Jaguar. As best as I recall, it took a bit of patience to switch from OS 8.5 on my 8500 and work with Jaguar. The benefit of using Jaguar is the low memory usage since with each OS upgrade the memory requirements go up and up.

But, you are correct, the further back you step from Tiger the harder it is to find compatible software unless you have a very specific reason to go to Jaguar stay with Tiger. I recommend you "burn" copies of 3rd party installer CD/DVD's.

For example, I went back to OS 9 with my iMac G3 to use some of my many midi/audio programs and it is hard to locate 3rd party software. I use my collection of Mac Addict CD's because I have the full. But it is a tedious process and many are demo's only.

Good luck with your project of keeping your MDD cool.

 

[Bunsen]

The central repository of whacky, creative and effective G4 cooling mods is xlr8yourmac.com. First things first though - get the dust bunnies out of your system, in particular the heatsinks, fans and air intakes, and freshen up your heatsink thermal transfer paste.