Powerbook G4 help needed.

Well, here's the story.

My uncle gave me his older (not sure how old exactly) Powerbook G4, I think he may have purchased it back in early 2003.

Now, for my problem.

On the Desktop it reads "Desktop (MAC OS 9)"

Now, he gave me all the software including MAC OS X Panther version 10.3.

I tried installing this, and I believe it went smoothly as for all 3 discs but the desktop still reads "(mac os 9)"..

Now, the reason why I want to upgrad is I have a linksys wireless router (WRT54G) and when I turn the airport on it reads that the router is there but I cannot connect to it for the life of me, I've tried EVERY password and I get nothing.

I installed the Panter software, and instead of it now saying "invalid password" it says "there was an error joining the selected AirPort network"

I was told that Linksys' routers will not work with the powerbook unless i have OS 10.3 or higher, well wouldnt my installing of the panther software have fixed that? but if that did install why does it still read "MAC OS 9" on the desktop?

Basically, any help would be GREATLY appreciated as for seeing i am rather new to the world of MACs. I do know that the router is workign because my PC laptop is working with it.

So what do i have to do to get this Powerbook G4 to work with my router?

thanks in advance.

Pull down the Apple menu in the upper right, and choose "About this Mac." The OS version in that box is the correct one.

I'm betting he's just got a hard drive named "Mac OS 9" and never changed it.

As for your router...I've had bad luck with WPA authentication and OS 10.3 (Panther) on Linksys routers. You might have better luck (but poorer security) with WEP.

how do i switch over to WEP on both the router and the powerbook??

You are going to need to get a hold of the ip adress of the router and enter it into a specified web browser, now then I not really sure how you find this out on a mac but on windows there will be a network connections area where you view all of your connections, if you see your wireless one up their right click then go to properties or just click on it once and the ip adress should appear on the side, there is usually a change you have to make when entering in the ip adress into the browser the digit(s) after the last decimal point need to change to something such as .1, .2 or .5/.50 so your ip adress should look something similar to this "192.168.1.50" , if anything loads up in the browser you may be prompted for a username and password, the username is by default "admin", the password will either be "admin" or "12345", once your in you need to find something to sort out your router security.

Now then once all this is completed go back to your mac then go to your airport settings and you are now able to the enter the wep key you have just set-up, once this is done your problems should be solved.