Ah! I am t3h relevant!!11!! [!--Ed.]
I have had and loved my G3 Pismo which began life as a 400 MHz and . . . like ~300 RAM--whatever the number is.
iFixit: If you have never looked inside, goeth thou to
ifixit and download the PowerBook G3 Pismo Logic Board guide. Linkypoo takes you to a nice upgrade guide with suggestions. This will basically show you how to take apart you entire model--and get it back together. Very easy to do, seriously. I am not a tech-head.
OS 9:
You can get OS 9 CD cheaply if you look around. Ebay is not a bad idea. Search "OS 9, CD" and you will find a few for under $15. Go retail and . . . well, you know not to buy retail! There is a seller I have dealt with who has lots of parts for Pismos--loves his Pismo--named
jgroll. So he may have a disk he is willing to sell you. On Ebay, you can find replacement keyboard that retail for
$100 for, like, $12. So it is a good resource provided you make sure you deal with a reputable seller.
The question is whether or not you need OS 9. OS X has a "Classic 9" that works. I
rarely have a program from 9 that the "Classic 9" does not open. Seriously.
Then go to the
http://www.apple.com site and get the updates. You can get CDs, but why bother? Takes a bit of searching to find them. Save them and burn them to a CD.
OS X:
Again, check Ebay. Far cheaper than retail. You can also get good deals from online Mac stores, but you have to search for the good deal.
Hard Drive:
You need a bigger HD for OS X and you can get 80 to 100 G HD easily. Pismos love and enjoy the Travelstar HDs from Hitachi which can cost about $100.
IF you have 9 on your smaller HD, you can set up your new hard drive with two partitions--one for 9 and one for X. I found this useful for transitioning. The 9 does not have to be that large. You can put all of 9 on that--if you have a CD burner . . . some time . . . you basically have OS 9 on a disc! Or you can just get the CD for like $15!
Place it on a small HD partition, then upgrade it.
Why should you care? Because when a RAM chip of mine went funk it would cause destruction of the OS X. So I would reboot from the 9 partition, stick critical data from the X partition from the X to the 9 section. OS 9 would not tax the faulty chip as much. This is a paranoid protection thing. If you have an external drive, you will be backing things up, and it is not so important.
RAM:
You should max the RAM. Seriously. It can take a Gig now. Do it. I used . . .
opens Pismo . . .
Data Memory Systems. Others may give you different recommendations, but the people were nice and they give a life-time warranty--so when my chip started to fail causing the crap I blathered about above, they replaced it for free that week. You will see that the 256 MB chips are cheap. This is because most people are buying the 512 MB chips. That sets you back about $140
Processor:
Here is an older article on the subject with links to some companies:
LowEndMac.
If you look for upgrades, you will see a number of companies that will want you to send them your computer--through a box--do this or that, and pay about ~$350-400. Changing the processor is easier than changing the memory, which you may know, or you will know if you go to the linkypoo for
ifixit. Depending on the type, you just have to be sure the heat sink is in contact with the processor--which is almost impossible for it not to be, seriously. This saves you a lot of money. Comparing, you are looking at about $200-250.
Going from 400 MHz to 500 MHz for a
G3 is not going to do much for you. You have to do a processor upgrade to a
G4 550.
Wegener sells a simple kit--the paste, the torque wrench, and all that which you send back with your old processor board--which he uses to make more methinks. That was the cheapest one I found for about $200. You have to give a deposit for the kit which gets refunded after you send it back. The guy who runs it is a schmuck to deal with sometimes. He tries to make replacing one or sorting out problems far more arcane then it is. He will tell you the processor runs cool. It does not; it will run hot. That little fan that never turned on? It will turn on. However, I have had his processor for a little over a year and have not had a problem.
I use a cooling plate powered off the USB and have no problems with over-heating--fan never turns on now.
You really need a G4 to run the OS X, your browser, all of those good things. Otherwise, get use to very slow on a G3 400-500.
The article has a broken link to Daystar, the functioning one is
Daystar. If you send your parts to them, the price is comparable.
Optical Drive:
What is this strange learning? I have the old DVD/CD drive which runs FAR better with OS X. Seriously. I defer to others on that.
So:
- OS 9 Disc ~$15
Max RAM ~$140
100 Gig HD ~$100
G4 Processor ~200
Not a PC PRICELESS!
So you are looking at about a $400-500 potential investment. Can you get a better used Mac for that price? That is something you have to consider, obviously.
--J.D.