upgrading G3 ibook (clamshell)

My friend recently bought a G3 ibook 300MHz (clamshell) really cheap. he asked me could i upgrade it for him, so i have got him 256 ram, and a 40gb HD. I want to install Panther on to it, but i would need to boot from an external DVD drive via USB due to absence of DVD-Drive in the G3.

1. Can I boot from ext DVD-Drive ?, (holding down Apple Key+"U" maybe ??)
2. How bad will panther run ?. (hes using it for just the web)

Sorry its a bit long-winded.

Maybe I'm mistaken but isn't Panther on CD not DVD or do you mean Tiger.?

I've got a iMac 333Mhz which has panther on it and it runs fine (much better than OS9). You don't get the flash visual effects but it's good for surfing the web and emailing. Not sure how it would work on a clamshell but should imagine that it would be about the same.

You can get it either on DVD or cd. The one i got with my powermac G5 is on DVD.

OK, you could try connecting the clamshell laptop with the ethernet cable, mounting the main drive in the powermac g5 and then installing. I know that if you do this with target disk mode then it's possible to install panther and tiger but the clamshell has no firewire for target disk mode to work.

If that doesn't work then make an image of the DVD disk with disk utility and copy it through ethernet to the clamshell and run the install from the disk image.

Thanx, i will try that

How can i create an image of OSX from a DVD to put on to cd ?

I meant that you could install from the disk image but running from the disk image isn't going to work as it will not startup from the disk image.

However you could try making a disk image of the DVD, copying it to the desktop of the clamshell and then making a bootible CD with the utility BootCD. Use this cd to start the system up and open the DVD image which you have copied to the desktop of the clamshell, try running the installer. Here is where boot CD can be found.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/7957

I also found this link about installing Tiger onto a clamshell that may have some useful information.

http://blog.hardmac.com/archives/tiger-on-clamshell-ibook

BootCd wont work with Tiger. its ok, thanx though, im just gonna wait until im in college next week and take a lend of an external DVD-drive.

Ok, good luck with that.

Ok...where do i start. I have a external usb dvd drive connected to the clamshell.i upgraded the hardware to the latest offering 4.7.1 . I tryed booting it, but all i get in the apple gray screen which turns into a circle with line through it...any ideas?

neye: neye: neye: neye: neye: neye: neye:

Have you tried holding down the option key whilest starting up. You could also try selecting the drive in the system pref's as the startup drive.

Also, is the version of OSX a retail version or one that you got with a Mac. If it's not a retail version then it's not going to install. The one you got with your power Mac G5 will only install on that same type of machine, I'm not sure if their is any way round this !!

robbiemullen said:

BootCd wont work with Tiger. its ok, thanx though, im just gonna wait until im in college next week and take a lend of an external DVD-drive.

Click to expand...

I'm not suggesting you tried this... but you cannot use an OEM version of Tiger 9that game with your G5) to install on another type of machine. It won't work. You have to get a retail version. Just in case you did try that...

Panther will run better than OS 9 or any previous version of OS X. I think 10.3 is the best version of OS X to use on very old hardware.

Its not a retail version, its one i got with my powermac G5. It even says Powermac G5 on the disc. I remember i put panther on my friends G3 Yosemite, but that was the powermac of its day, so maybe i need an ibook version of panther?

My girlfriend has a version of Tiger she got with her G4 ibook last year, but i know trying to put tiger on to the clamshell may prove more difficult than installing panther on it. Id also imagine Panther would run much nicer on an old clamshell than Tiger.

Any other suggestions ?

Mr Bobbins said:

Have you tried holding down the option key whilest starting up. You could also try selecting the drive in the system pref's as the startup drive.

Click to expand...

Of course thats how i got to the "Grey screen of Death"

Yes, Panther would run better but I should think Tiger would be a step up from OS9. The ibook version may work, so it looks like it either that or get the CD retail version of Panther. Shouldn't cost too much these days.