[rescue] iMac G3 333MHz questions

[gsm at mendelson.com]

On Tue, Mar 01, 2011 at 12:50:51AM -0700, Dan Duncan wrote:
>I just picked up an iMac G3 333MHz.  (I'm not a Mac guy since my
>precious SE/30 died but I've always wanted one, and it was $15 at a
>church thrift store)

That should take 2 PC133 SODIMs. 256M should be ok. You may have to find
ones that use 128M chips instead of 256, but that varies from model to 
model. See what's in there, it may take PC100.

Just make sure it does does not have trap door on the back. If it has a memory
door on the back, it takes regular SDRAM (PC133) DIMMs.

>
>It has 288MB (I assume 256 + 32) and OS 9.1 on it.  It seems that some
>will take 256 + 256 and others only work with 256 + 128.  If it
>doesn't like the 2nd 256MB module does it only show as 128MB or does
>it not show at all?  Does anyone have memory to spare?

Sorry, don't remember. It could be either. If it does not like the RAM at all,
it will ignore it or not boot. If the chips are too high a density, it will
use what it can.


>I'd like to put OS X on it so I can install a modern browser and
>probably upgrade the memory.  I have an original box of 10.4 Tiger (a
>past thrift store purchase) on DVD which it seems I could install with
>Xpostfacto but the drive is a CDROM, not a DVDROM.

If it has firewire ports, it will run tiger out of the box. You will have to
get a copy of the CD version to do the install. 

Before you do, upgrade the firmware for OSX. This needs to be done by placing
the upgrade on a writable OS9 disk and booting from that disk. The upgrade 
is probably on your OS 9.1 CD, or can be downloaded from Apple.


>Would I be better off tracking down a copy of 10.3 on CD or is there
>an easy way to make the DVD readable with a USB DVD-rom or temporarily
>connecting the CDROM drive cable to a DVDROM, etc?

Except for historical reasons, 10.3 is not worth persuing. There really were
big changes between 10.3 and 10.4.

Geoff.
-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to misquote it.