Morris-Hello all,
I'm thinking about installing OS X on a Newer G3/240/512kb machine with 112mb RAM. After scouring the archives, I still have a few unanswered questions:
1. Is there any build that people have found to be the best balance between usability/speed and compatibility?
2. Do PCMCIA cards work, or don't they? Some reports claim they do, others claim they don't, yet others claim only Cardbus. What's the real deal people?
3. Can I set the display to use more than 8bit/256 colors?
4. Is there a benchmark on bootup time?
5. Has the sound only at maximum problem been fixed in XPF yet?
6. What's the deal with using 802.11b in OS X? Does it work decently/at all without major hassle?
7. If I have an external and ancient 2x Apple SCSI CD-ROM, can I use the OS X install disc and still install it without removing the hard drive from my machine?
8. Any other comments about this or heads up I should be aware of? I'd honestly like to use this for everyday use and feel like if I get
a USB Pc card and a wifi/ethernet card, I'd be essentially good to go
for my purposes (word processing, minor web browsing/e-mail/instant
messenging, MAYBE music(mp3s))
Thanks a ton people, I GREATLY appreciate your wise experience!
Morris
I also wanted to install OSX on my 2400c, but after looking into all the issues with graphics and power management, I decided against it (not to mention I only had a 180 MHz 603). I opted for Linux, Debian in particular. The testing version has very good support for the PPC and Powerbooks. I understand that Ubuntu Linux (www.ubuntulinux.org) is the current darling of Debian based distros that are easier to install. With the proper configuration I have fully accelerated X at 16 bpp, and power management (including sleep) works. There are many options for WiFi, and Cardbus works if the hardware hack is enabled. The only issues I currently have is that I need to eject my Cardbus USB card before sleeping, and the screen dimmer button causes the video to switch to a funky mode that can be easily fixed by switching to a virtual terminal and back. My el-cheapo Prism2 based PCMCIA 802.11b card sleeps and wakes up fine.
In order to feel connected to OSX in some way, I run the WindowMaker window manager with its dock applets. This gives the look and feel of NextStep, the precursor to OSX, and is light weight enough for such minmal hardware.
I run OS X on a 333 MHz Lombard w/ 384 MB and find that a little weak. Although my 2400c only has 80 MB, I find it can run Firefox and Thunderbird with a teminal stuck in there for good measure. I haven't attempted any MP3s though. I would think your G3 and 112 MB would handle Linux nicely. Perhaps not quite as cool as OS X, but a lot more funtional.
Just another option,
Dave... _______________________________________________ DuoList mailing list [email protected] http://listserver.themacintoshguy.com/mailman/listinfo/duolist
Listmom is trying to clean out his closets! Vintage Mac and random stuff:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmacguy1984
