What to do with a an old imac

[steamboat26]

I have an old imac G3 (specs in sig), that isn't worth anything, but i would like to use it to do something. Any ideas?

[bradc]

Apache Webserver? Mail Server?

[steamboat26]

I have no idea how to do any of that...

[CoMpX]

Would you be willing to get rid of it? For a reasonable price of course.

[w_parietti22]

iMacquarium?

http://www.imacquarium.com/

[craigatkinson]

Throw it off a bridge?:o

[craigatkinson]

Do you have kids? Do you plan on having kids in the near future? It would be a great computer to keep around for little kids that you don't trust with new and expensive equipment.

[steamboat26]

i like your first idea craigatkinson :D
I would think about selling it, but $50 or whatever isn't very enticing.
and i don't have kids, at least i should hope not, cause i only 16

[Eidorian]

i like your first idea craigatkinson :D
I would think about selling it, but $50 or whatever isn't very enticing.
and i don't have kids, at least i should hope not, cause i only 16You can get more then $50 for that machine. Still, it makes for a nice guest computer if you add a little more RAM.

[craigatkinson]

Yeah, by the time you have kids your computer will probably be completely obsolete. The throwing off bridge thing was an inside joke me and my friend have. We always talk about going and throwing things off bridges when we don't have anything to do. We haven't ever followed through on those plans though.

[steamboat26]

My dad has some really ancient PCs, perhaps those would be good candidates for being thrown off a bridge :D

[steamboat26]

Eidorian, how much do you think i could get for my imac, assuming i upgraded the RAM?
I tried posting on craigslist, and some guy offered me a couple of gamecube games, which i thought was a COMPLETE RIPOFF.

[craigatkinson]

All PC's are good candidates for throwing off bridges. :D

My dad has some really ancient PCs, perhaps those would be good candidates for being thrown off a bridge :D

[coffey7]

Paper weight.I use my game cube as a paper weight.

[Eidorian]

Eidorian, how much do you think i could get for my imac, assuming i upgraded the RAM?
I tried posting on craigslist, and some guy offered me a couple of gamecube games, which i thought was a COMPLETE RIPOFF.I'd say $120-170 at most. I get $299 for a 700 MHz eMac G4, 40 GB, 384 MB RAM, and 10.3.9 around here.

You'd just need some PC100 SDRAM DIMM sticks. Check around on eBay for some. The G3's weren't that picky. There's no point in wasting money on new RAM for it.

[steamboat26]

Really? I heard that all macs were very picky about RAM. i have been told that i must get PC100 or PC133 169 DIMM low density RAM, and then there is the possibility that that might not work.

[steamboat26]

If you are using your gamecube as a paperweight, hows about i send you a paperweight in the mail, and you can send me your gamecube :D

[Eidorian]

Really? I heard that all macs were very picky about RAM. i have been told that i must get PC100 or PC133 169 DIMM low density RAM, and then there is the possibility that that might not work.I've only found that the G5's appear to be picky with RAM. I believe it has something to do with the synchronization of the FSB and the memory. (It makes it impossible to overclock the buggers too.)

I've had iMac G3/4 and Power Mac G3/4 with odd memory configurations with not fuss at all.

[steamboat26]

What do you mean "odd memory configurations?" Like mixing PC100 and PC133 RAM? (which i can apparently do in my imac G3, i think).

[Eidorian]

What do you mean "odd memory configurations?" Like mixing PC100 and PC133 RAM? (which i can apparently do in my imac G3, i think).PC100/133 mixes and different brands of memory with slightly different specifications.

[X5-452]

Leave it plugged in somewhere unobtrusive, quietly folding@home?

[CoMpX]

Hmm, not a bad idea! Even an older machine like that could get a lot of Folding done 24/7, especially if totally dedicated to Folding.

[California]

Honestly i have a sideline in helping my girlfriends switch to Mac on old G3 iMacs. I have helped 7 girls and one guy switch with them. Of course, the guy got the fastest machine -- an iMac 600mhz G3. If anyone has an iMac 700mhz G3 I want to buy it, btw!

I put an 80gig hd with 385 ram in the 233mhz on Panther -- runs GREAT.
I put another 80gig hd and 384ram in a 266mhz (but my friend is too scared to get off of OS9! that's another story)
Put a 10 gig hd in another 266 with 384ram on Panther GREAT
Put 512ram with another 80gig hd in a 400mhz on Panther GREAT again
Put 512ram with an original 10gig in another 400mhz on Panther EXCEPTIONAL
Put 768ram with original 20gighd on an iMac 500 on Tiger with ilife 06 runs AWESOME
And put a new 120gig, 7200rpm hd in an iMac 500 with 1 gig of ram on Tiger iLife 06 COMPLETELY AWESOME
And kept the 40gig hd and put 768ram in the iMac 600mhz on Panther running great great great -- he's burning CDs on the internal CDRW drive and having a blast with his iPod connected...

Digg has an article today on the durability of these machines. I agree. Cheap and much more of a bang for your buck than the G3 laptops that may be bashed up. These G3 iMacs were deskqueens for the most part. If I had a bigger space, I'd keep one for myself.

P.S. TO OP: I have a 128 ram chip taken out of the iMac 500 -- it's yours for 7 bucks shipped. You might as well see what I know to be true -- these machines will fly on OSX.

[GuyOnTheCouch17]

im still waiting to run into a g3 imac like this so i can turn it into a fish tank, i remember seeing that years ago and wanted to do it so bad

[gallagb]

i'd use it as a music computer

plug an external drive into it
load up itunes
do the ram
add speakers
and then just enjoy music

[keithbennis]

Throw it off a bridge?:o


lol yeah.. or try ebay.. get a few bucks for it

[roundobi]

Use it as an aquarium. Isnt that the only thing to do with an old mac.

http://www.theapplecollection.com/Collection/MacAquarium/index.shtml

[Eidorian]

Sell it to me? I'm looking for an iMac G3. Shipping is killer though. I'm hunting Craigslist and the local shops.