Apple Mac G3

[Digital Doctor]

My cousin gave me a blue apple g3 computer with no hard drive in, ive put one in, when i switch on i get a white screen with a ? logo ???

HELP i aint got a clue about macs, how do i install the operating system?

[Samsonite]

Have you got Mac OS disks?

If you had the OS X disk, you should be able to boot it.

Otherwise here is a guide for installing Windows on the G3, but you still need to make a bootable Bootcamp disk:

http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/04/b...indows-xp.html

[latency]

You can't install windows on Power PC

You need an Intel Mac for Bootcamp.

You need a Mac OS X disc no later than 10.5 (Leopard), preferably 10.4 (Tiger) or even 10.3 (Panther) for a G3.

10.3.9 will run the fastest on a classic (G3) mac, but 10.4 will give you more compatibility with new software, and the newest interface.

10.5 will probably be too slow, I think a G3 is below it's minimum requirements.
10.6 (Snow Leopard) will not run on a PPC Mac.

ONE MORE THING... Don't put OS9 on it, although OS9 is period to the G3, it's too old to be useful, and it'll drive you up the wall. OS9 is like using Windows NT4... solid in it's day, but you wouldn't touch it with a barge pole today.

[Samsonite]

Oops, I did think it was strange that that page came up when looking for installing an OS on a Mac G3. I admit that I didn't even think about it a great deal

Haven't used a G3 for 10 years, how retro.

An OS boot disk is always a good start regardless :P

[Digital Doctor]

Hello all i think its mac osx 10.3 panther ive got, ive put a 160gb ide 5400rpm hard drive in will this be ok? cause people are telling me it only supports upto 128???? i figured out holding c button whilst powering on starts the install process but when i get to the part about "install destination" the drive doesnt show!

also theres no drive cage at the bottom so ive had to mount the hard drive under the cd player, ive cleaned the computer up it looks like new now

[abe]

Go to the Utilities Menu then jump down to Disk Utility. Format the drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Come back out of the Disk Utility and the disk will show up for installing to

[latency]

Seconded.

Don't forget to run software update on it over and over until you get the 10.3.9 update, it's very important to panther, because it includes a lot of libraries that modern OS X Apps need.

Regarding mounting, I think the G3 didn't use a HDD cage, it simply had two vertical flaps the HDD fitted between, and then you used the standard HDD screw holes.

But there were a lot of variations of the Power Mac in that era, so I might be wrong.

Samsonite- I forget this stuff myself sometimes, the PPC macs are all starting to turn classic status now!

[Cosmo_1847]

I actually need a IDE hard drive for a PowerMac G3 I'm currently sorting out for a kid. I plan to put panther on it if I have the discs but otherwise I'll use tiger. IIRC it supports a 80GB hard drive max but hopefully what abe said is true

All I need to do now is savage a small IDE hard drive from someone (10~40GB)

The Powermacs (G3 and G4) have this little cages that you put the hard drive on / in then you slot them into place and secure them with a screw. I have no idea where you'd be able to get them from tho.

[Digital Doctor]

Im on it now, i think im getting the apple bug! for such a low end processor it does quite a bit, plays dvds perfectly, its got the ati rage 128 card in.

its got 256mb ram in atm but i suppose i could upgrade that couldnt i? think it takes max 1gb ram, yea cant fault it really although will take a lot of getting used too, god im surprised aswell it uses microsoft internet explorer how cool!

if anyone could recommend a gfx card and memory upgrade for me id be very thankful.

another thing, i thought macs only had one mouse button? ive just plugged a microsoft one in and both buttons work!

[abe]

RAM, it'll be PC100 and there will be four slots, so if you're lucky enough to find 4x256Mb DIMMs that would take it up to 1Gb.

The Graphics Card will probably be more difficult as it's not quite as plug and play. Look up on the 'net regarding Mac Graphics Card BIOS's.

Originally Posted by Digital Doctor

another thing, i thought macs only had one mouse button? ive just plugged a microsoft one in and both buttons work!

Apples Mice of old may be one button only, but the right click menu has always been there in OS X. The more modern Apple Mice with multitouch etc support these menus too. A modern Mouse (any manufacturer) is so much better than an old Apple Mouse in my opinion.

[latency]

If you do only one thing, get rid of internet explorer and get safari on there!

Internet Explorer for Mac is even worse than Internet Explorer for windows, if that's even possible

[abe]

Or Firefox. I've always found Safari a bit lacking in areas.

I have a soft spot for the later PPC Macs, glad to see other people enjoying them!

[latency]

Yea but Firefox will take a year and a day to load on a G3... It's bad enough on my MBP...

Agreed on the classic macs- I've got a PowerMac G3 at the back of a cupboard, just doesn't have a job to do these days!

I really want an iMac G4, that was the ultimate living room computer

[Chenks]

Originally Posted by latency

I really want an iMac G4, that was the ultimate living room computer

i am still using a G4 Mac Mini as my media server.
runs in headless mode 24/7 and never fails.

[latency]

Yea I've got one of those G4 Mac Minis, but the Mac Mini was a cut-down G4 from the iBook- the iMac G4 was a lot better...