Newbie needs help with g3

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Hi there my names Ash and im new to Macs, a couple days ago i picked up an old imac powerpc g3 for a shocking price of £5 here is the specs:

640mb ram
ati rage pro 16mb
40gb hdd
cdrom drive
600mhz cpu

basically id like to know what hardware mods i can do to it as im good with pc's but have never even touched a mac before but i can build pc's lol, oh and i have this high pitched tone coming from it but i put that down to a bad cap, will i need to replace it or will it be ok?
Thanks in advance :)
 
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Mac Mini Core i7 2012 | White 2009 MacBook 2 Ghz | 733 Mhz G4 Quicksilver
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MacMini 14.3, 8.1 & 4.1, OS 13.5, 10.14, & 10.11 & 10.6; Macbook Pro 8.2, OS 10.12.
The tone is probably the CRT display or the fan. Capacitors were seldom a problem with the G3 iMac line.

I too have a G3 600 iMac, and it is a very good machine. I run Panther on it, because Tiger tends to be too slow. My only other 'dislike' about the G3 is video, which cannot be upgraded.

Because the G3 iMac has firewire, you can operate external devices like a hard drive or an optical (dvd) drive. USB is 1.1. only, so it is slow compared with later machines. You can use a maximum of 1 Gb RAM, which will enhance performance.

As stated, internal hard drive is 120 Gb max (I don't know what the workaround is). Another useful link for info on Macs is Mactracker.
 
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One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that you can upgrade the CD Rom drive to a DVD Rom. With that, you can buy a set of Tiger DVD's and upgrade the OS.
 
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SpeedTools ATA Hi-Capacity Driver[/url]
And remain seated when you get to the price hughvane!

I see what you mean Harry. Frankly, with firewire external drive availability, why would someone actually want or need to upgrade the internal HD if the computer is not going to be used as a portable machine? Okay 40 Gb is limiting, but manageable, with large files like audio, movies and pics stored externally.

MacDude - I was under the impression that a dvd drive wouldn't work in a G3 iMac, but as long as it's an ATA drive, why not? :| As with a hard drive, I'd still go the external way - more convenient.
 
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If it starts a pop and crackle sound then you got problems. Leave the HD alone and use a firewire or USB for storage. Does it have OSX on it now? Remember you have to upgrade the firmware if if still has OS9 on it before you install OSX. I just took a Lime green one to the thrift store I got out of a dumpster...had a power supply issue,the monitor would not lite. Took out the HD and memory first..did have good case parts.
 
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MacDude - I was under the impression that a dvd drive wouldn't work in a G3 iMac, but as long as it's an ATA drive, why not? :| As with a hard drive, I'd still go the external way - more convenient.

Hmm, not sure why you had that impression. ;) I'm pretty sure you can even put a super drive in them.

If it starts a pop and crackle sound then you got problems. Leave the HD alone and use a firewire or USB for storage. Does it have OSX on it now? Remember you have to upgrade the firmware if if still has OS9 on it before you install OSX. I just took a Lime green one to the thrift store I got out of a dumpster...had a power supply issue,the monitor would not lite. Took out the HD and memory first..did have good case parts.

Wow, Not sure why, But it seems that the Lime green ones are really rare. There's a bunch of indigo's and Blueberry's around that I've seen, but I've never even seen a Lime Green one even on CL. :p
 
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Lime green ones turn up occasionally here in NZ on the TradeMe online auction, mainly as a curiosity. Most owners however simply take them to recycling, they're worth nothing. You can't even give them away to a school - or kindergarten!

The graphite 600 is a different story.

I'd like to go 'all white' here, with a 1.42 eMac and a 700 iMac :).
 
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Lime green ones turn up occasionally here in NZ on the TradeMe online auction, mainly as a curiosity. Most owners however simply take them to recycling, they're worth nothing. You can't even give them away to a school - or kindergarten!

The graphite 600 is a different story.

I'd like to go 'all white' here, with a 1.42 eMac and a 700 iMac :).

Really? Wow. I'd love to be there. I'd have 100 G3's in my basement by now! LOL
 
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NZ runs an annual free hardware recycling day, Sept or Oct usually. Many hundreds of operating computers, printers, monitors etc get handed in because they're redundant. MD - you'd be in your element! I live too far away from the nearest main centre to be able to take advantage. :(
 
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Some of the lime green ones where for schools as they have no firewire port like the one I found.
 
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NZ runs an annual free hardware recycling day, Sept or Oct usually. Many hundreds of operating computers, printers, monitors etc get handed in because they're redundant. MD - you'd be in your element! I live too far away from the nearest main centre to be able to take advantage. :(

I definitely would be. I'd stand by the door and wait for people to drop them off and say "I'll take that for you" ;D

Some of the lime green ones where for schools as they have no firewire port like the one I found.

Same as the Blueberry that I recently sold. According to the software that was on it, it was in a 1st grade class up until recently when I bought it.
 

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