Just inherited an iMac G3

Pav89 · 7 Sep 2008 at 22:16

Hey guys! After 9 years of not owning a mac, I lucky managed to inherit an iMac G3. It's a very early model, AKA 128mb RAM and has Mac B1-8.5 operating system. I've been getting into Macs pretty recently so I'm happy, hehe. I really want to get OS X onto it. Now the latest OS X i can get onto the system is OS X 10.3. Does anybody have a clue how I would go about it?

. I am a 100% mac noob at this point in terms of installing stuff, blah blah. Can I just get hold of a 10.3 disk and install it along with the firmware upgrade which is required? Or...do I have to install MAC OS 9 before I install OS X. Thanks for your help!

Pav89 · 7 Sep 2008 at 22:22

Scythe said:
Can just install 10.3.

Tar!

Oh dear! Only place I can find 10.3 is the bay of fleas for £30 from America :mad:

Pav89 · 8 Sep 2008 at 11:20

Thanks for the replies! Just got some questions for you guys again.

Which kind of RAM does it take? It's the old style G3 which does not have one of those RAM hatches. I took it apart yesterday, and you have to take the whole computer out of the box to get access to the RAM. BUT...there are two slots which look like RAM slots, one is caged with the processor by a metal sheild; think its made from Kingston but doesn;t say what type of RAM it is. The other is on the other side of the motherboard with Apple labels on it. They both look like laptop memory as they are both small.

Can someone help me find the firmware update I need to get OS X working. I saw a 4.9.1 update but this is only for slot loading imac G3's. I have the laptop style tray one.

If anyone wants any pics I'll post them gladly. I can't believe I've deserted my AMD 64 X2 5000+ and am happily playing away on a 333mhz system, LOL!

Pav89 · 8 Sep 2008 at 12:01

syke, yeah I'm already getting hooked onto it. Even this old OS reminds me of my childhood days and I've found a demo on there I used to love playing in my younger days, LOL!

von, its a 333mhz G3, 128mb RAM and 6GB hard drive. If I can find this firmware update and get 10.3 running I'llprobably want to get more RAM to install 10.4, however, the Mac DV's RAM looks different to what's on my iMac's; the DV's looks like full desktop size memory, while mine looks like laptop memory. Would you like me to take a picture of what it looks like?

Pav89 · 8 Sep 2008 at 12:44

Ok, so I've got hold of the firmware I require, but it's an smi.bin file. Now, on the apple site it says to open the apple firmware updater. Now I really can't find where this firmware updater is. Does anyone know where it's hidden or where to get hold of it? /stuck

EDIT: Just a thought, but is this firmware updater in OS 9? If it is then I'll have to get hold of OS 9, then do the firmware update? But, the thing is, the firmware update which I downloaded says that Mac OS 8.0 required? So it MUST be here somewhere....

Pav89 · 8 Sep 2008 at 13:40

Would it be bad if I went straight from 8.5 to OS X without doing the firmware update?

Pav89 · 8 Sep 2008 at 15:06

Bah, If this is how complicated all macs are at upgrading, I'll be giving in soon and going back

. I made a bootable disc using a .dmg file, stuck it in the computer and pressed c on bootup, Just comes up with a white screen.

At least a PC would DO something!? Grrr! :mad:

Can anybody help / recommend websites which will aid me in this venture? Thanks!

Pav89 · 8 Sep 2008 at 22:37

10.4 requires a minimum of 256mb ram i think, while 10.3 doesn't and thats why I'm sticking with that for now. Yes I tried to maqke a boot disk under Windows, with the .dmg file.

Just came back from work, so keen to get this damned thing working! How do I make this .dmg file bootable. Actually there are 3 files on CD 1 of 10.3. Do I copy them all to disk? And how do I make it bootable?

Also does anyone else know how to update firmware from 8.5? Tar!

EDIT 1: Just found out about a program called TransMac to burn dmg files from the pc....every progression counts!

EDIT 2 : :O the os x installer started but decided to chuck the CD out the the drive out while it was spinning!!! Oh dear!

Pav89 · 9 Sep 2008 at 00:19

Ok, so I nearly managed to bugger up the puter, so so so lucky I've managed to get out of the situation. I am just getting hold of OS X 9 so I can update the firmware. I can;t believe OSs were 570mb including all updates

Also, does anyone know of a burning program for windows in which files will show up on a mac? I need to burn the firmware which is downloaded on this windows pc, and need to transfer it to the maccie

Pav89 · 9 Sep 2008 at 09:56

WOOOOW . I'm loving the Mac OS so much, I have no idea why we transitioned from mac to PC in 1998. This OS X malarky...I really like it! My PC is just sat there doing nothing because I'm on this mac all the time!

Yes, sure things dont transition smoothly, there is generally quite a bit of lag and definately would not like to use this computer for long as my main computer as it would drive me bonkers, but now I really really really really want a mac. Love it!