no os and wont boot from combo drive

so i got an emac for really cheep. it's 1.25 ghtz, 1gb of ram and has a 80gb hd. it has no os but when i try to boot up the ppc version of kubuntu and xubuntu it just wont recognize it i hear the drive spin up when i hold c but nothing happens. it just goes back to the blinking folder and refuses to do anything. so should i make an emacquarium or do you think my cat would like to use it as a litter box?

First of all, you can not boot a Mac with a Linux Live CD because currently, Linux boot loaders do not know how to boot a machine with EFI. You would first have to download and install rEFIt in order to make it work, and since the machine has no OS, you can't do that either.

Get on eBay and look for a copy of OS X. You can probably find a copy of Panther or Tiger reasonably priced.

Regards.

And be aware that model eMac had big problems with leaking capacitors. Check this out before spending any more cash:-

1.25 Ghz eMacs Plagued By Capacitor Problems | Cult Of Mac

chscag said:

First of all, you can not boot a Mac with a Linux Live CD because currently, Linux boot loaders do not know how to boot a machine with EFI. You would first have to download and install rEFIt in order to make it work, and since the machine has no OS, you can't do that either.

Get on eBay and look for a copy of OS X. You can probably find a copy of Panther or Tiger reasonably priced.

Regards.

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i have linux on my imac g3. you can download the ppc version. i'm not going to spend any money on this thing in any case since osx is expensive (might see if i can nab a free copy somewhere) and this thing only cost me $10 from a college basement sale anyway. if the caps die i'll try sticking it's mobo through the dishwasher like my mac classic II (worked then ) to get it up and running again/

zerobotman said:

so i got an emac for really cheep. refuses to do anything. so should i make an emacquarium or do you think my cat would like to use it as a litter box?

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Whats wrong with you people...its works you just need a Mac os to put on it. Find someone who would want it and fix it.

Mac SK said:

Whats wrong with you people...its works you just need a Mac os to put on it. Find someone who would want it and fix it.

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oh don't get me wrong. i love the old macs but if it's a lost cause i'd rather not spend money or time on it. i like how it has enough steel in it to rival a battleship (had to check if it had a hard drive). i'd like to get some use out of it after carrying it for an hour and a half on the bus