1 Jul
2016
1 Jul
'16
11 a.m.
On 1 July 2016 at 03:09, Terry Stewart <terry at webweavers.co.nz> wrote:
My classic/vintage computer activity has taken a back
seat lately but I did
find a machine I had on the "classic" list for some time. It's now part
of
the collection.
http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/collection/imac.htm
Totally an interesting, valid machine.
The first-gen iMacs are very limited. However, with major surgery, you
can put quite a lot of RAM in them -- 384MB I think -- and a random
big EIDE hard disk. In that config, they will run MacOS X up to 10.3,
I think.
I find it useful to have G3-era Macs dual-boot, because OS X can talk
to a modern network, read USB mass storage etc., without significant
problems, whereas MacOS 9 struggles.
But -- very important note! It's *ESSENTIAL* to upgrade their firmware
before ever attempting to boot OS X on them even once. Not install,
_boot_. If you don't, OS X resets the screen brightness to minimum --
1% or so -- and it's very hard to get out of that state. You then need
to boot MacOS 9 "blind" and install the firmware update without being
able to see what you're doing.
I've done it. It's tricky but it is possible. I suspect a lot of iMacs
got trashed as "dead" in that condition, though.
But upgrade the firmware first and they run old editions of OS X fine,
and are rather more useful running it and TenFourFox or something,
than they are with Classic only.
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
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