I just inherited an iMac G3 266 with 6gb HD and 64 mb ram. What should I do with it? and don't say boat anchor. Will panther take if I add some ram? Does anyone know of any sweet upgrades to put a little more life into it?
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What to do with iMac 266?
- Thread starter imnotquitesure
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Turn it into a music, file or backup server by adding a larger hard drive and a little bit more RAM.
You could also use it to play around with Linux.
You could also use it to play around with Linux.
I would:
Install A new HD and add new RAM
Upgrade firmware
Install Panther
Connect to your LAN and use as a Music Server through iTunes
Install A new HD and add new RAM
Upgrade firmware
Install Panther
Connect to your LAN and use as a Music Server through iTunes
Add 256mb of memory and install Ubuntu Linux. This is probably the best mac P2P distribution out there right now. It should run alright on the 266 too. Definitely would be decent for word processor / e-mail / internet.
you COULD spend $300 to get 600 mhz out of it, but that CPU upgrade is going to cost more than your computer is worth. There's no point in spending huge amounts of money to upgrade a computer that will still be slow and old after all the upgrades.
Ubuntu linux is great. It's very easy to install, just one CD. Maybe if you have a family member who needs a PC in their room, this would be perfect. You can install Airport and Ubuntu will support it or if you have an 802.11g network, buy a 802.11g to ethernet bridge.
Seriously though, I feel like a lot of people don't take linux on macs seriously enough. The products have really matured, and Ubuntu is really shaping up to be a great, free distribution. Don't get Yellow Dog Linux as it is based on Fedora Core 2 (outdated). Upgrade your RAM a bit (or hey... install it WITHOUT the RAM upgrade, and just know that if you want to speed things up a bit, you can with a RAM upgrade.
So i'm kinda a linux dork... sorry if I keep messing around with ideas. But if you're not familiar with linux, there are two popular GUIs: KDE and Gnome. However, recently, one called XFCE has gotten very popular... Check it out: http://www.xfce.org/ Anywhoo... if you look at the screenshots, you'll see that it really is a pretty looking GUI and it is DESIGNED to be extremely fast, which means it runs really well on older systems. I have a Pentium 2 400, and XFCE runs really well on it. So... Ubuntu doesn't come with XFCE, but Fedora does, and they just released a beta version of Fedora Core 3 (used to just be x86) for PowerPC (apple).
So new plan... I would download Fedora Core 3 (that's what the linux distributino is called). It is like 4 CDs. But whatever... get them. Then in the install options, pick whichever programs you want, but when it asks for your desktop environment, do NOT pick Gnome and/or KDE... just pick XFCE. Fedora has a very easy to read graphical installer too. Basically, I think this is the absolute best option for you. You will end up with a fairly speedy computer that has no problem running programs like Firefox, GIMP, Thunderbird, etc natively... If you need any help on how to get your feet we with linux, let me know. I'm a huge advocate of using linux to save old iMacs! My family just got a new G5 iMac so when I visited for the holidays, I took the old iMac G3 500, threw linux on it, set it up nicely, put it in my little brother's room and got him set up on the network printer so he can do everything he needs... internet, e-mail, word processing, etc etc. I know a lot of people say Mac OS X runs fine on a system like a G3 500.. But I can't stand watching my programs bounce up and down for a while before they start. Okay sorry for the long post. Let me know if you need help with linux!
-Kevin
you COULD spend $300 to get 600 mhz out of it, but that CPU upgrade is going to cost more than your computer is worth. There's no point in spending huge amounts of money to upgrade a computer that will still be slow and old after all the upgrades.
Ubuntu linux is great. It's very easy to install, just one CD. Maybe if you have a family member who needs a PC in their room, this would be perfect. You can install Airport and Ubuntu will support it or if you have an 802.11g network, buy a 802.11g to ethernet bridge.
Seriously though, I feel like a lot of people don't take linux on macs seriously enough. The products have really matured, and Ubuntu is really shaping up to be a great, free distribution. Don't get Yellow Dog Linux as it is based on Fedora Core 2 (outdated). Upgrade your RAM a bit (or hey... install it WITHOUT the RAM upgrade, and just know that if you want to speed things up a bit, you can with a RAM upgrade.
So i'm kinda a linux dork... sorry if I keep messing around with ideas. But if you're not familiar with linux, there are two popular GUIs: KDE and Gnome. However, recently, one called XFCE has gotten very popular... Check it out: http://www.xfce.org/ Anywhoo... if you look at the screenshots, you'll see that it really is a pretty looking GUI and it is DESIGNED to be extremely fast, which means it runs really well on older systems. I have a Pentium 2 400, and XFCE runs really well on it. So... Ubuntu doesn't come with XFCE, but Fedora does, and they just released a beta version of Fedora Core 3 (used to just be x86) for PowerPC (apple).
So new plan... I would download Fedora Core 3 (that's what the linux distributino is called). It is like 4 CDs. But whatever... get them. Then in the install options, pick whichever programs you want, but when it asks for your desktop environment, do NOT pick Gnome and/or KDE... just pick XFCE. Fedora has a very easy to read graphical installer too. Basically, I think this is the absolute best option for you. You will end up with a fairly speedy computer that has no problem running programs like Firefox, GIMP, Thunderbird, etc natively... If you need any help on how to get your feet we with linux, let me know. I'm a huge advocate of using linux to save old iMacs! My family just got a new G5 iMac so when I visited for the holidays, I took the old iMac G3 500, threw linux on it, set it up nicely, put it in my little brother's room and got him set up on the network printer so he can do everything he needs... internet, e-mail, word processing, etc etc. I know a lot of people say Mac OS X runs fine on a system like a G3 500.. But I can't stand watching my programs bounce up and down for a while before they start. Okay sorry for the long post. Let me know if you need help with linux!
-Kevin
