OS X on a 300 Mhz G3?

[Kremlar]

Hey guys -

I'm a Mac newbie and got ahold of a 300 Mhz G3 with 384MB RAM and a 10GB hard disk that I want to experiment with.

I've ben playing a bit with the installed OS 9, but would rather get familiar with OS X.

I won't be doing any serious work on this, but do however want it to be useable.

Is this possible, or not worth it at all? Should I wait for Tiger, or will that make performance even worse?

If it doesn't make sense to put OS X on it, is there any easy way to obtain the install disc for OS 9? I didn't get the CD with it, but would like to wipe it out and rebuild it...

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[meltbanana314]

It is possible, and many people do run OS X comfortably on their G3s. And condidering that every release of OS X has gotten faster (not slower) it probably wouldn't make your G3 seem any slower. Just the opposite in fact.

You should get a little more RAM and then you can play around with OS X to your heart's content.

 

[deus_ex_machina]

384MB should be fine for OSX - I have a 233MHz G3 w/256 that runs Panther fairly smooth with minimal beach balls. 512 would be key though

 

[Kremlar]

384MB should be fine for OSX - I have a 233MHz G3 w/256 that runs Panther fairly smooth with minimal beach balls. 512 would be key though

Thanks guys!

It's a G3 tower. Is this thing easy to pop open? How do I find out what kind of RAM I would need?

 

[rman]

Also you may need to use XPostFacto, in order to install panther on your g3.

 

[Padawan]

Thanks guys!

It's a G3 tower. Is this thing easy to pop open? How do I find out what kind of RAM I would need?

It shouldn't be difficult to open, and Apple's specs for the RAM can be found here. I bought the RAM for my G3 from OWC and was very satisfied with the pricing and service.

If you want to install OS X 10.2 Jaguar, all you need to do is partition the drive so that the first partition is slightly less than 8 GB (I make mine 7.99 GB). If you want to install 10.3 Panther, which I would recommend, you will also XPostFacto as rman suggested. This link provides all the info you'll need, as well as the download itself: http://eshop.macsales.com/OSXCenter/XPostFacto/Framework.cfm?page=XPostFacto3.html

Don't be intimidated by having to use XPostFacto. It's very simple, and the results of running Panther rather than Jaguar are well worth it. Let me know if you have any other questions or need any help, because I've installed OS X (both Jaguar and Panther) a number of times on Beige G3's.

Oh, and your G3 will be quite happy running OS X, especially Panther. Once you get it up and running, you may also want to over-clock it, which will give you a bit more performance and is very simply to do by adjusting jumper settings.

 

[Badger]

Try this link for Apple's pdf files about the G3 tower. One of them is specifically for expansion issues so it will show you how to open it up; http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50019.

 

[Kremlar]

Cool, I'll check that program out. Is there any way to tell ahead of time if I'll need it? Can I do a fresh install, or do I need to upgrade the existing OS?

 

[Padawan]

Cool, I'll check that program out. Is there any way to tell ahead of time if I'll need it? Can I do a fresh install, or do I need to upgrade the existing OS?

As I said, you will definitely need XPostFacto if you want to install 10.3 Panther, but will not need it if you will be installing 10.2 Jaguar. You can certainly do a fresh install, but the process is a bit different depending upon whether you're installing Panther or Jaguar. For Panther (requiring XPostFacto), you will first need to partition the drive with the first partition slightly less than 8 GB. Then you would install OS 9 on the second partition, download, install, and run XPostFacto from the OS 9 partition, and the rest of the installation will be normal (XPostFacto will prompt you to insert the OS X disks and will handle the rest).

If you're installing Jaguar, all you would need to do is partition the drive as stated above, then insert the disk and run the installer. Either way, OS X will always need to be installed on the first 7.99 GB partition.

 

[Kremlar]

Thanks for the info. If I do it, I imagine I would go with Panther (any reason not to?). Or, I was considering waiting for Tiger. Is there a reason I should stay clear of Tiger?

Thanks!

 

[Padawan]

Thanks for the info. If I do it, I imagine I would go with Panther (any reason not to?). Or, I was considering waiting for Tiger. Is there a reason I should stay clear of Tiger?

Thanks!

First, I just realized that you could possibly be talking about a Blue and White G3, not a Beige. If that's the case, let me know, because the info I've provided thus far doesn't necessarily apply. As for Tiger, the only thing I would be slightly concerned about is if you have a Beige, XPostFacto might not immediately support it, but I will have to do some further research on that.

 

[Kremlar]

Oh, yes, sorry! It's a blue/white G3 tower.

I haven't opened it up yet, but it looks like it has some sort of SCSI card installed.

 

[Padawan]

Oh, yes, sorry! It's a blue/white G3 tower.

I haven't opened it up yet, but it looks like it has some sort of SCSI card installed.

In that case, ignore what I said before. You'll have no problems installing Jaguar, Panther, or Tiger simply using the installer. I would, however, suggest giving this site a read through, to ensure that your machine is up-to-date before beginning the install.

 

[Kremlar]

Great! Thanks for all the help, I'm looking forward to playing with OSX...