> On Wednesday, March 12, 2003, at 11:01 AM, Terri Shea wrote: > I am new to the list AND a new Mac user. We bought my daughter a beige > G3 > years ago but it has sat unused for a year or more and I have brought > it out > to learn the many virtues of mac. This is just a stock G3, no upgrades > of > anything. Original everything. 266mz. 192mb of Ram. 24 speed CD rom. > It has OS 8.5 (?). I want to upgrade to OS X. Will it work on my > original > equipment beige G3 or do I need to upgrade some things? (I have > noticed some > problems that others have discussed). Also do I need to upgrade to OS 9 > first or can I go directly to OS X? > Excuse the ignorance, we are PC users trying to learn about Mac. I am > taking > classes for graphic design and really need the Mac and its > capabilities. > Thanks > Terri > >
I began with a unit possibly very similar to yours : It was a Beige barebones rev. A 266 MHZ DT ( Gossimer ) . All of the beige units ( of which there are several configurations ) are fully capable of running OS X and os 9.2.2, if properly , configured, terminated , connected, etc. The degree of performance that it can deliver is up to you , your pocket book , and your determination. You didn't mention a few key factors in determining what you should upgrade on your particular machine. You did however mention that you need it to be able to work with graphics design. First , I will ask some routine questions about your hardware : speed - 266 MHZ Ram - 192 MB 24 x CDrom USB - unknown Firewire - unknown HD size - unknown HD TYPE SCSI / ATA/ IDE - unknown which Applications to be utilized for Graphics Design - Unknown. Not being able to fill in those unknowns, only permits me to use my particular configuration to go by. Mine had a 4 gig ATA HD and it barely was Qualifible to install just a basic installment of X. I replaced it with a 40 gig ATA Maxtor drive in the bottom bay. I installed os x on it and have it updated to 10.2.4 . At 266 MHZ you will get the spinning rainbow a lot. I upgraded mine with a 400 MHZ ziff from a B&W G3. While doing that, I also replaced the ROM rev . A board with a Rev. C rom from another pull. It allowed me the higher proc. speed and the capability of using an additional ATA HD. I installed a fujitsu 60 gig in the top bay. Working with graphics will eat a lot of HD space. 100 gig goes fast if you are using high resolution.. A further consideration of maybe huge amounts of storage space might lead to getting a firewire external. It could be about any size up to and upwards of 500 gig. Besides being handy for storage and Backups , you could also clone your System to it, for a backup bootable drive. Another alternative , would be to swap the 24x For a cdrw drive . You could then back your files up to removable CD's. OS X will run on 192 MB of RAM, but again, you will see a lot of rainbows. RAM is relatively cheap nowdays. I purchased 3 identical 256 MB pc 133 ram boards for mine that were all from the same lot. I believe it was the most noticeable speed improvements that I made. 768 MB is the Maximum you can put in a Beige G3 due to its factory configuration for the mobo. I also found it almost imperative to install a PCI graphics board for two reasons, Quartz Extreme and speed. I installed an ATI Radion ME 32 MB. It gave me the most visual improvement and speed improvement while surfing the net and working with digital photo manipulation. iPhoto is a great part of OS X additions and loves all the storage you can give it. Family Photos make great gifts and are another reason to go with a CDRW drive. now to leave you with a laugh, I include a url to a Joke I like to listen to while upgrading my mac. It seems to mellow me into giving another try at getting something to work. Its levity makes your stomach hurt. It concerns a help desk trainee's woes, in a day's work. http://www.savageresearch.com/humor/techsupport.html Hope this helped in some way. Give us answers to the unknowns above and someone here may be able to be more specific to your situation and configuration. Andy3 -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
