What Mac OS can run on a G3 I-Mac slotloader?

[Midwest-Linux]

What Mac OS can run on a G3 I-Mac slotloader? I have three G3's one of them is the newer I-Mac G3 with the slot loader and the ram compartment on the bottom of the case. The Max Ram on these is like 1 GB Max, though I have 512 MB Ram in it.

Can I run OSX on this? Tiger ? Is it worth it?

Right now all three Macs run Ubuntu 7.04 and they all work good, but one of them I'd like to install a OSX on ..if possible. If this is possible, I'll check E-bay for a used OSX disc...thanks.

[Saint Angeles]

i think 10.3 should be fine.

its been a while since i used it though.

[Midwest-Linux]

Thanks, I'll check E-Bay.

[metallicamaster3]

Requirements to keep in mind:

Minimum Tiger requirements:
256MB RAM, 400MHz+ Processor, PowerPC G3, G4, G5 processor

Minimum Panther requirements:
128MB RAM, 300MHz+ Processor, PowerPC G3, G4, G5 processor

[Midwest-Linux]

I looked on E-bay and saw Panther and Tiger selling less than $30. Thats fairly reasonable.. So I guess Tiger would be the better of the two. I have 512 MB RAM.

Thanks again

[tjniels]

What Mac OS can run on a G3 I-Mac slotloader? I have three G3's one of them is the newer I-Mac G3 with the slot loader and the ram compartment on the bottom of the case. The Max Ram on these is like 1 GB Max, though I have 512 MB Ram in it.

I have run several versions of Mac OS 9 and X on G3 slot loaders. I remember having as low as 9.04 on one, (though 9.2.2 is a free upgrade and crashes less), and as high as 10.4.11 on another.

Really it just comes down to your clock speed and your RAM. None of the G3 iMacs are speed demons by today's standards, but for example, a 500 MHz G3 iMac with 512 MB of RAM runs Tiger just fine. One note, though, you will either need a DVD drive (some iMacs have them built in, others don't), or you will have to hunt for a CD version which can be hard to find.

I currently have 10.4.11 on a 350 MHz with only 320 MB of RAM, but I don't recommend that. I only chose that setup so I could find software easier, but lots of the visual effects are a little choppy.

For a reasonable Tiger setup, I recommend at least 500 MHz and 512 MB of RAM. Slower slot-loaders also do fine on Panther (10.3) if you have enough RAM, but a tray-loader (which you don't have) really shouldn't go any higher than 10.2, they are just a little slow.

I looked on E-bay and saw Panther and Tiger selling less than $30.

I wouldn't trust prices like that, I've watched OS X prices on eBay for about a year - Tiger has been usually been going for $60 to $80, Panther for $50 to $70, and Jaguar for about $25 to $40. I just got lucky and got Leopard for $78, but that couldn't run on any G3 iMac, unless it's been G4 upgraded. . . Apple didn't want to release the G3 drivers for some strange reason. :( Not that it would run too well anyway!

The reason for my warning is that about 3 months ago, I tried buying Panther (10.3) from two separate sellers, for about $40 in each case, and BOTH SETS were 100% COUNTERFEIT! Sorry about the yelling, but it turned out to be a huge headache, the discs were of such low quality that the labels would come off with a damp cloth. They were CD-Rs with inkjet-printer labels, from two completely different sellers. Be very careful to get the full retail version, not the gray discs, or an upgrade disc, or anything like that - unless you want to take your chances. The more of the original packaging the seller can provide, the more likely it is that the discs are real.

Best of luck, as long as you have enough RAM I recommend 10.4 for anything 500 MHz and above. It will sometimes feel sluggish, but you don't have to worry too much about software being incompatible. 10.3 should be adequate on any G3 iMac under 500 MHz. 10.2 is very good for low-RAM settings, but feels much less modern than either. 9.2.2 will practically fly on any iMac with 64 MB of RAM or more, but you have to hunt for the right software. I like system 9, even if it is a dinosaur, but it isn't for everyone.

[tashmooclam]

I put 10.4 on an iMac DV graphite and it was OK. I got the OS on eBay. I think it was "wefixmacs" which is a legit business.

[Saint Angeles]

if you could talk them down to $17.50, it might be worth it.
:lolflag:

[iamhugeinjapan]

If you're going to put OS X on a G3 iMac that has never run OS X before, make sure the firmware is completely up to date via OS 9 first. If you don't, you'll break the video output and the fix ranges from booting with no RAM briefly to hardcore video cable modding...depending on how lucky you are.

See here for more: http://guides.macrumors.com/Fixing_No_Video_on_iMac_G3_After_Mac_OS_X_Install

[Midwest-Linux]

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iamhugeinjapan writes
Re: What Mac OS can run on a G3 I-Mac slotloader?
If you're going to put OS X on a G3 iMac that has never run OS X before, make sure the firmware is completely up to date via OS 9 first. If you don't, you'll break the video output and the fix ranges from booting with no RAM briefly to hardcore video cable modding...depending on how lucky you are.
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So does this mean I need to install OS 9 first and then OSX? So then I need to buy both OS' ?
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tashmooclam writes
Re: What Mac OS can run on a G3 I-Mac slotloader?
I put 10.4 on an iMac DV graphite and it was OK. I got the OS on eBay. I think it was "wefixmacs" which is a legit business.
.................................................. .............................

Thanks I'll check them out

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Thanks again for all your responses. I do not have any Mac OS on the G3. Just Ubuntu 7.04 which works fine except for the lack of a flash player because flash for Linux on the PPC is not supported. Thats one of the reasons for me wanting to install a fairly recent Mac OS on this G3.

I wasn't fully aware of the bogus discs on E-bay. I wondered how a fairly recent OS could be sold for $29, but then again I really didn't know anything about Mac OS except for Linux PPC for Macs. I once picked up Windows 4.0 NT OS for like $14 unopened and fully legit.

[iamhugeinjapan]

You may need to install OS 9 first. You need to find out if the iMac has ever run OS X before, if it has then you're fine. Did the iMac come with any OS 9 restore discs?

[Midwest-Linux]

You may need to install OS 9 first. You need to find out if the iMac has ever run OS X before, if it has then you're fine. Did the iMac come with any OS 9 restore discs?

No, It didn't come with OS 9 restore discs. It didn't even come with a hard drive. I got it off of E-Bay for less than $40 including shipping because it didn't have a hard drive. I Installed a 10 gig hard drive and loaded Ubuntu 7.04 PPC on it.

I saw how much legit Tiger discs cost. $199 on E-bay with the packaging. Another poster says $78 for legit Tiger discs. So I would have to get the 9 OS and then the OSX Discs? I might have to put this off for awhile.

I saw OSX Tiger discs for $29 and thought that was the real deal. My mistake. It might be less expensive to buy another yet another IMac with OSX Tiger installed.

[tashmooclam]

If you have an ebay account, you can see what OS 10.4 sells for generally. Sign in. Search for mac os 10.4 tiger. Then, next to the button "search" there's a link "advanced search". Click it. Then click the little box "completed listings only". You can see how they sold. I bought 10.4 from "wefixmacs" on ebay for my iMac DV for probably $65 I seem to remember. I later bought a powerbook g4 that had 10.3 and 10.4 on DVD which I sold on ebay for about $50-60. An interesting mac site is lowendmac.com for this kind of stuff. Macs rock :guitar:

[Midwest-Linux]

If you have an ebay account, you can see what OS 10.4 sells for generally. Sign in. Search for mac os 10.4 tiger. Then, next to the button "search" there's a link "advanced search". Click it. Then click the little box "completed listings only". You can see how they sold. I bought 10.4 from "wefixmacs" on ebay for my iMac DV for probably $65 I seem to remember. I later bought a powerbook g4 that had 10.3 and 10.4 on DVD which I sold on ebay for about $50-60. An interesting mac site is lowendmac.com for this kind of stuff. Macs rock :guitar:

Thnaks

[stream303]

If you're going to put OS X on a G3 iMac that has never run OS X before, make sure the firmware is completely up to date via OS 9 first. If you don't, you'll break the video output and the fix ranges from booting with no RAM briefly to hardcore video cable modding...depending on how lucky you are.

Excellent point - it even applies to trying to run OSX utility disks. I tend to point people here before installing osx so they can pick depending on their model:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117

However Midwest-Linux may be able to provide an answer that has been bugging me. Knowing about this warning about needing a firmware update to install OSX, does the same thing apply to Ubuntu-PPC?

I'd be interested in seeing what the OpenFirmware revision is on Midwest's mac. (on my G5, I just boot to openfirmware by holding down CMD(cloverleaf)-Option(ALT)-O-F and powering up and holding the keys down until I see the openfirmware prompt. type shut-down to exit openfirmware.)

Maybe the prior user had already updated the firmware - I'm dying to know! :)

[iAtari]

You're going to want the OS X disks that come with a mac, not just the operating system preinstalled. I'd run tiger on it, but you've gotta get a disk first. :KS

[Jammy4041]

You can only *officially* install Tiger on a Mac with Firewire ports. None of the slot loading macs have firewire. There might be a way to install it unofficially though

So, your best bet might be Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther"

[hellion0]

You can only *officially* install Tiger on a Mac with Firewire ports. None of the slot loading macs have firewire. There might be a way to install it unofficially thoughThat way being XPostFacto. You'll still need other trickery to install Tiger on it, though.

Also, I can't echo updating the firmware enough. I bricked a G3 trayloading iMac that way.