Running a VPN with an old B&W G3.

[VigCS]

Hey all, a few years ago my friend gave me an old B&W G3 that was used in schools. It's got a 300MHz G3 and 256 megs of ram, and some DB15 ATI card. It currently sits in a storage room in the basement gathering dust.

I'm wondering, if I install OS X Panther (or maybe Jaguar if it'd run better), if I'll be able to host a VPN for my brother who's in China trying to get around the internet blocks there. The tunneling program he uses there is really slow.

On a side note, would it be worth upgrading the ram/CPU to do this? I probably wouldn't want to spend what it'd cost to upgrade the CPU for such an old computer, though.

Thanks!

 

[Mac SK]

The truth is this upgrading stuff only works if you have parts already or access to cheap parts. Otherwise what you spend retail you can save up for a newer Mac. It dosent take much processing power to do VPN its finding the software to work with an older OS.

 

[VigCS]

The truth is this upgrading stuff only works if you have parts already or access to cheap parts. Otherwise what you spend retail you can save up for a newer Mac. It dosent take much processing power to do VPN its finding the software to work with an older OS.

Thanks, I'll leave it as-is then. As soon as I get Panther installed I'll see what I can work with. I may put Jaguar on depending on how fast/slow Panther runs.

My Mac guru friend told me to use /usr/sbin/vpnd to run a VPN on panther, but I haven't the slighest what that means. Could any of you guys translate? lol.

I was also looking on ebay for CPU upgrades. G4s are really **** cheap, like $10 for a 450 MHz, but none of them have the zif socket my G3 B&W has. They've all got a small, white, rectangular looking socket on the bottom.

 

[Mac SK]

You have to have a G4 zif socket upgrade. They have pins on the bottom and fit in the socket like in a PC. The ones Ive seen on ebay are not cheap. Theres not a lot of them floating around and that keeps the price up. Some upgrades require software and or jumper settings on the zif to work in a B&W.

 

[pigoo3]

My Mac guru friend told me to use /usr/sbin/vpnd to run a VPN on panther, but I haven't the slighest what that means. Could any of you guys translate? lol.

I was also looking on ebay for CPU upgrades. G4s are really **** cheap, like $10 for a 450 MHz, but none of them have the zif socket my G3 B&W has.

You're of course welcome to ask questions here...but why not also check with your "Mac Guru friend" regarding their advice about VPN.

I don't think I have seen many G4 Mac's selling for $10 on e-Bay. The opening bid may be $10...but I haven't seen them sell for that price. Plus you will usually spend around $30-$40 bucks to get them shipped. It's the shipping costs that many times "kills" the deal for me.

But I'm sure if you keep watching...you should find something inexpensive to "tinker" with.

Good luck,

- Nick

 

[VigCS]

You're of course welcome to ask questions here...but why not also check with your "Mac Guru friend" regarding their advice about VPN.

I don't think I have seen many G4 Mac's selling for $10 on e-Bay. The opening bid may be $10...but I haven't seen them sell for that price. Plus you will usually spend around $30-$40 bucks to get them shipped. It's the shipping costs that many times "kills" the deal for me.

But I'm sure if you keep watching...you should find something inexpensive to "tinker" with.

Good luck,

- Nick

Thanks. I did a little research and found details about vpnd. Also I was talking about just the G4 CP, not the entire computer .

EDIT: Found a 1.42 GHz G4 Mini locally for $150. I think I'm going to buy that instead of trying to use this G3.