Someone gave me an iMac w OS9 - is it possible to upgrade to OSX?

[Wiz]

So I have this pretty all in one iMac running something like OS 9.2 and it connects up to my broadband and plays gems and is a bit slow but it works.

Seems like if I want it to run any recent version of flash so the kids can look at YouTube it will need to have a newer OS. That's basically the goal, so if there's another way please clue me in.

Thanks!

 

[timswim78]

You should be just fine. Here are the requirements for OS X 10.4 "Tiger." However, 10.3 "Panther" may run a little faster on an older system.

Mac OS X Version 10.4 requires a Macintosh with:

* PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor
* Built-in FireWire
* At least 256MB of physical RAM
* A built-in display or a display connected to an Apple-supplied video card supported by your computer
* At least 3.0 GB of available space on your hard drive; 4GB of disk space if you install XCode 2 developer tools
* DVD drive for installation (get CD media for $9.95)

 

[Wiz]

Thanks, I will take a look at the specs on the machine.
I don't think it has 256 mem & firewire but it might.

Any other way to get a recent version of flash to run on the thing?

 

[TheStu]

Try installing Firefox... see if that helps.

 

[Tegeril]

G3s are terrible at flash. Your YouTube experience will probably be subpar, at best.

 

[Wiz]

Ok, do those upgrade kits I see for sale here & there actually help?
Can you turn a 300mhz iMac into a faster better machine with an upgrade board?
I'm not looking for something that is blazing fast, just something that works well enough for a teenager to play with.

 

[KeithP]

Be aware that OS X 10.4 only comes on a DVD. That iMac may not have a DVD drive so that would be a problem. Apple had a program to exchange the 10.4 DVD for CD media but I don't know if they are still doing that. Your best bet would be to find a copy of OS X 10.3 and use that.

Do you have 333Mhz or 350 Mhz model? I don't belive Apple made a 300Mhz. Daystar has a 400Mhz G4 upgrade for $99. The altivec instruction set of the G4 will help a lot with programs designed to take advantage of it. They will also sell you additional memory as well.

There are faster G3 upgrades but they are more expensive and don't have altivec.

My feeling is that you would probably be better off searching Ebay, etc. to find a better equipped older iMac than trying to upgrade the one you have.

Check out the iMac page at Lowendmac.com for more options.

-KeithP

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Wiz
Ok, do those upgrade kits I see for sale here & there actually help?
Can you turn a 300mhz iMac into a faster better machine with an upgrade board?
I'm not looking for something that is blazing fast, just something that works well enough for a teenager to play with.

For the price of a processor upgrade, you might as well just buy a new iMac. Like KeithP said, Daystar's 400mhz processor upgrade is $99; you can get a 500 or 600mhz on eBay for that price along with a keyboard, mouse, and OS X pre-installed. Toss in a gig of ram and a 120gb 7200rpm hard drive, and maybe an internal DVD burner and you're all set. You can put larger hard drives in with aftermarket hacks. The major drawback of the old Macs is that they only have USB 1.1 ports, so as long as you don't need anything highspeed or you can use the Firewire port you're all set. You can easily add Bluetooth, wireless keyboards and mice, and so on.

 

[kondspi]

KeithP: Apple made G3 iMacs at 233, 266, 300, 333, 350, 400, 500, 600 and 700 mHz.

The 233, 266, and 300 models were the tray-loaders, and may or may not natively support Tiger, depending on who you ask. There's a handy program out there called XPostFacto, which lets you update your Mac to 10.3 or 4 even if it isn't technically supported.

A RAM upgrade would be a good idea. At 64 MB, you shouldn't try to run OS X. While the RAM is expensive, it'll really help. At 256 MB, Panther (10.3) is passable, but Tiger's a bad idea unless you're about 512.

Of course, a 300 mHz iMac is worth little to nothing these days, but might provide for a neat Macquarium.

 

[Wiz]

It's a tray loader. 300.

Sounds like it would be better to give them away like the guy who gave them to me...

 

[gwag]

there wuz no 300.

 

[Wiz]

Apple made G3 iMacs at 233, 266, 300, 333, 350, 400, 500, 600 and 700 mHz.

Stop arguing over whether or not it came in 300mhz or whatever, that's not relevant to this thread. WTF is up with that anyway?

Can I somehow get Flash 8 or higher to run on the thing?
Sounds like the answer is: not without spending more money than is is worth.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Wiz
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Apple made G3 iMacs at 233, 266, 300, 333, 350, 400, 500, 600 and 700 mHz.</end quote></div>

Stop arguing over whether or not it came in 300mhz or whatever, that's not relevant to this thread. WTF is up with that anyway?

Can I somehow get Flash 8 or higher to run on the thing?
Sounds like the answer is: not without spending more money than is is worth.

Yeah again, just drop that $99 for the 400mhz processor upgrade into a complete system from eBay. You can get a 500 or 600mhz machine plus a nice keyboard and mouse and OS X pre-installed for a little over $100 shipped. That should make the perfect Internet machine. Those sellers usually don't include an OS X disc, so if you get one be sure to use SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner to clone the hard drive to a file in case you want to upgrade later and keep OS X.

If you decide to keep it, it would make a pretty good file server. Just slap on a Firewire drive or two (you can daisy chain them) and hook it up to your network. Should make a nice multimedia/backup server for your house

 

[Wiz]

Thanks Kaido, good answer.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Wiz
Thanks Kaido, good answer.

You're welcome! I've done a lot of research into upgrading Macs since I got into them a couple years ago and it's just not cost effective to upgrade some of the older models, unlike PCs. Apple has such a small marketshare that aftermarket vendors have to have high prices since their volume isn't anywhere near what PC manufacturers enjoy. That 400mhz upgrade should cost like $10 on eBay, but since there aren't millions upon millions upon millions of old iMacs hanging around the prices can't really be that low.

It's a similar situation even with the newer Macs. A Mac Mini starts at $600. Add in a processor upgrade (2ghz for $280 or 2.33ghz for $680), 2 gigs of ram ($100), a DVD burner ($80), and say a 200gb 7200rpm laptop hard drive ($300) and you're looking at the cost of an entry-level iMac. Plus the iMac gives you a monitor and a dedicated graphics card.

It kind of stops being cost effective to upgrade Macs after a point.

 

[kondspi]

I'd recommend that you get rid of this 300 mHz iMac for the following reasons:

1. It's not reliable. You will wake up one morning and find that the flyback wheel is dead. This means the monitor will not be able to recieve power.
2. The RAM is too expensive. This limits your upgradability.
3. It's slow. The motherboard architecture is less than desirable. Recall that the iMac was a stripped down model, intended for home use. In 1998.

If you're lucky, you can get $50 for it on Craigslist. Then, if you still want a low-end Mac, (which you do) then you have, as I see it, three options, assuming you have a spare CRT monitor.

1. Spend $0-15 and get a beige tower with a G3 upgrade. It's pretty much a G3 iMac with more expandability, and you'll have $35 more to your name.

2. Use the $50 to get a G3 B/W tower. These are much more upgradeable. They have 4 168 pin RAM slots, a ZIF (right?) processor than can be swapped out with a G4 at a later time, 4 PCI slots, and FireWire. Also, you can safely overclock them to about +50 mHz without concern. The Blue and White G3s run at speeds of 300, 333 (I think,) 350, 400, and 450 mHz. Panther ran impeccably on my 450 mHz G3 with 256 MB PC100.

3. Go for the G4. We're talking an investment of $100-200. You'll get much better architecture, processor and motherboard-wise. You'll notice a big difference between G3 and G4. Also consider that most of the G4s have DVD drives, and will run Tiger OK. Also, you have to have a G4 to play internet video. That's a big deal in this day and age.

 

[gwag]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Wiz
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Apple made G3 iMacs at 233, 266, 300, 333, 350, 400, 500, 600 and 700 mHz.</end quote></div>

Stop arguing over whether or not it came in 300mhz or whatever, that's not relevant to this thread. WTF is up with that anyway?

Can I somehow get Flash 8 or higher to run on the thing?
Sounds like the answer is: not without spending more money than is is worth.</end quote></div>

sorry for arguing the 300 thing, if you have a 300 it was modified.
if you have a 333 like I did I COULD be made faster for free, my dads was able to run 400 till it was retired. Also the cache ratio on 333+ were 5:2 earlier ones were 2:1 this can help the speed up in the event the cache chip is holding it back. Ours was able to run 400/200 a little snapier than the default 333/133
the pll configs can be found herehttp://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~t-imai/maine.html
you can use a window defoger repair kit to mod it.
chips from IBM are much more likely to be sped up. it will say on the chip who makes it.
some 333 models had copper G3's (mine didn't)
this utility runs under OS 8-9 can tell you, copper chips were very overclockable.

 

[0roo0roo]

probably not worth it. older component upgrades like older ram are expensive, and have very little bang for buck. 300mhz is too far gone, run the o/s of its era and no more.

 

[bearxor]

Just for an experiment I wandered in to our newsroom where most people have G3 iMacs. 350mhz, 512MB of RAM. You tube would play. A little choppy but not unwatchable. Full-screen was definitely out of the question.