On Saturday, December 18, 2004, at 11:16 AM, James R. Duffey wrote:
I have a G3 AIO with 384 MB memory currently running OS 9.2.2. It is a
pretty good solid machine. It is not my mian machine, I use it with my Ham
Radio.
In an attempt to come into the 21st Century I am going to upgrade it. I have
a 400 MHz G3 ZIF processor to add, OSX 10.2.8 to add, and a Yamaha external
SCSI CD-RW to install.
I found my G3 AIO to have been quite expandable:
G3 867-Mhz processor 768 MB RAM 128 GB IDE HD 30 GB IDE HD Radeon 9200 PCI graphics card. USB 1.1 PCI card. OS X 10.2.8
As to upgrading your system...
The G3 AIO uses the same motherboards as the G3 DeskTop and Mini-Tower. Most (if not all) AIO's used the Rev.2 motherboard in combination with the Rev. B ROM. (Which I feel are the best versions of both revisions.)
CD-ROMs & Hard Drives:
The G3's have one internal SCSI interface, and two ATA interfaces. As the AIO is supposed to have the REV. B ROM, each ATA/IDE interface can support two ATA/IDE devices.
My AIO had ATA cables with a single ATA connector at each end. One ATA cable ran under the motherboard to support the Hard Drive, while the other ATA cable ran across the top of the motherboard and into the CD-ROM. The internal SCSI was used to support a single ZIP drive positioned above the CD-ROM.
However, some AIO's have an ATA Zip drive instead of a SCSI Zip, thus an ATA cable with two connectors on the end (one connector for the CD-ROM and another one for the ZIP). You could pull the ATA ZIP and replace with an ATA Hard Drive Or get a looong ATA cable with dual connectors which can stretch across the motherboard to allow a HD in place of the SCSI Zip.
Due to the firmware of the Beige G3 series, the built-in ATA interfaces can not boot OSX from Hard Drives larger than 8-Megs. You can still boot from an 8-meg partition but only if the whole 8-meg partition lies within the first 8-megs of drive space. (I don't believe the built-in SCSI has this limit.)
Also, Beige G3's built-in ATA system, can only boot OSX from ATA drives set as Master. The default setting have the HD under the Motherboard set as a Master, and the CD-ROM set as a Master. If you swap either of these out, you will need to set the new drive as a Master.
(You could leave your Yamaha in its external case, and use the External SCSI port, or experiment with installing it inside the AIO in the ATA CD-ROMs place. Use the ATA's cable to install a HD, while the internal SCSI connects the SCSI CD-ROM.)
Floppy Drives:
OSX does not support the old Mac floppy drives. You will need to get an USB PCI card, and USB floppy drive. (If you still use floppies.) You could also remove the internal floppy, and install a hard drive in its place.
Video:
The G3's motherboards have 2 megs of VRAM on the motherboard, and a RAM slot for adding a 4 meg module. They use the Video RAM as the early iMacs.
However, this built-in system is an ATI Rage Pro graphics system. Consider getting a PCI graphics card, and using a second monitor as your main monitor in a dual monitor system.
Memory:
384 MB of memory is OK, but the RAM can be actually be upgraded to 768 MB using 256 DIMMs rated for the Beige G3 series.
CPU's:
The 400 Mhz G3 ZIP should work fine, but some Beige systems have a bad voltage regulator which fries G4 ZIPs (there safe to use with G3's.)
You can also check out these sites for more info:
http://www.everything2.com/
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rah1/larry.html
http://www.accelerateyourmac.com/G3-ZONE/
http://www.macintouch.com/g3.html
http://www.scienceman.com/pgs/trev_g3aio_2.html
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/Developer_Notes/ Macintosh_CPUs-G3/PowerMac_G3/pmacG3.4.html
- Ron.
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