Never used a mac, just got imac g3 700 graphite

[VoidSlaad]

First Mac...impressed with its design, taking into consideration what technology was available then...will be running Linux on it...came up with some new upgrade path ideas that could be designed (kind of pointless, but it was a thought exercise). Also came up with idea for a variation on this older design (not using x86 architecture and more upgradable than CRT iMac designs but keeping overall form. Any thoughts?

 

[d88co88]

I don't understand your post really, it's kind of misleading. If you're looking for upgrades, max out the ram at 1GB SDRAM and put a new hard drive in. It has a 128 GB cap though, so I'd buy a 120 GB one. I'd buy an SATA one with a $5 SATA>ATA converter, although you'd be limited to ATA speeds.

If you are looking to "change the guts", I have heard of a couple people putting in Mac Mini guts along with I believe a 15 inch LCD screen. I've also heard of hackintoshing one too. This is a quite hard and dangerous process though, so I wouldn't recommend doing it.

 

[VoidSlaad]

Of course, I understand that...what meant is that I intend on experimenting with this iMac, including possible hardware upgrades, not merely placing a Mac Mini or something like that in there, because that is merely a cosmetic change. What I was implying was actual hardware design and implementation on the existing circuitry. Of course the CRT must go, replace with current LCD tech with hardly any modification, if any...

 

[tom vilsack]

i used to have a old imac G3...i maxed the ram and newer harddrive...i installed ppc ver of unbuntu (can't rem ver) and it was still slow as all get up....i went back to panther and it ran ok.....

what upgrades or completely different mods are you going to try?

idea:maybe just keep case...and mod a (Intel D510MO MINI-ITX Atom D510...all in one mb/cpu) with a custom lcd?

if your planing on keeping ppc here is unoffical lastest unbuntu

http://cdimages.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/10.10/release/

 

[VoidSlaad]

Seem to remember quite a while ago some companies (such as Evergreen Technologies...I think?) created what was pretty much a computer on a PCI board. What it allowed you to do is somewhat upgrade an older 486 (586?), delaying obsolescence. The PCI board had I think a Celeron CPU on and some DIMM slots for SDRAM. When you turned on the computer, it would use your original CPU to boot, then it would pass control over to your PCI CPU upgrade board.

 

[VoidSlaad]

My thanks for the Ubuntu distro link...currently downloading it (at somewhere between 700Kbps-1Mbps for a change). Cannot wait to burn it.

 

[tom vilsack]

yw...

here is link to other ppc versions

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCDownloads

and as reported...older G3 (with older unbuntu...maybe fixed with lastest?) you need to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=405934

 

[VoidSlaad]

I believe I may have wasted a CD...I overburned Ubuntu 10.10 onto a CD, which was reported as successful (I ran a simulation first to see if I ran into any problems). I just checked the new link which stated that "it cannot be burned onto a CD." So did my burner deceive me? I just remembered I have to remove the iMac's HDD from my PC and install it into the iMac, then boot my PC from the SATA drive (into Ubuntu on this drive because my Win XP does not recognize the SATA drive...how fracking annoying). It is kind of "hardware shuffle."

 

[VoidSlaad]

I am going to sign out for a moment to do the hard drive swap...this should be fun...

 

[VoidSlaad]

I have returned, booting from my Lubuntu partition since, for some odd reason, Ubuntu hates my USB WiFi adapter (kicks me off!). Well, the Ubuntu disk booted fine, it took a while but I heard the startup sound (crickets?), but now screen is black...I guess the video glitch is not fixed yet?

 

[California]

I don't know what you mean about a video glitch, if the tube in that old crt is busted, it's busted.

Interesting you are trying to up the speed on that old machine but remember you have a beauty, the last and best revision of the iMac G3.

There were CPU upgrades made for it by Daystar, that would bump up the G3 to a 500mhz G4 as I recall. Call them in Georgia see if they still have any old upgrades they'll part with cheap.

This CPU upgrade made them great with Tiger and probably passible with Leopard. Also there is an internal iMac G3 airport card adapter that works great.

 

[VoidSlaad]

The tube is just fine, I saw the Ubuntu loading screen and everything, even went into xorg.conf...of course I could not stay online with my Ubuntu/Lubuntu PC because of the "dislike" of both those OSs of my WiFI adapter...I was not able to adjust what configuration I was supposed to in xorg.conf. My iMac's CPU is already the fastest for a G3 iMac, there are no CPU upgrades for it and even if there were, it would require unsoldering/soldering.

 

[California]

The tube is just fine, I saw the Ubuntu loading screen and everything, even went into xorg.conf...of course I could not stay online with my Ubuntu/Lubuntu PC because of the "dislike" of both those OSs of my WiFI adapter...I was not able to adjust what configuration I was supposed to in xorg.conf. My iMac's CPU is already the fastest for a G3 iMac, there are no CPU upgrades for it and even if there were, it would require unsoldering/soldering.

Maybe you didn't read my post correctly.

There WERE upgrades for all the iMac G3s made by Daystar.

Call them. See if they still have any.

 

[VoidSlaad]

The only thing I would like to get, if it did not cost me about three times as much as I paid for the iMac ($40), would be the slot loading dvd/cd burner...plus max out the RAM and HDD if possible at reasonable price. As far as getting this iMac to run faster, there is no such thing as "too much performance." I like the idea of pushing so called "obsolete" hardware to its limits and augmenting it so that it can exceed said limits. Plus, I am kind of annoyed with Apple for abandoning the PowerPC architecture when all of the game consoles have PowerPC based CPUs in them...All todays Macs are not much more than PCs running Apple software...oh, and using an EFI instead of standard PC BIOS.

 

[California]

The only thing I would like to get, if it did not cost me about three times as much as I paid for the iMac ($40), would be the slot loading dvd/cd burner...plus max out the RAM and HDD if possible at reasonable price. As far as getting this iMac to run faster, there is no such thing as "too much performance." I like the idea of pushing so called "obsolete" hardware to its limits and augmenting it so that it can exceed said limits. Plus, I am kind of annoyed with Apple for abandoning the PowerPC architecture when all of the game consoles have PowerPC based CPUs in them...All todays Macs are not much more than PCs running Apple software...oh, and using an EFI instead of standard PC BIOS.

Somewhere there is a post on someone just jerryrigging a newer PATA optical superdrive for a Cube and also for an iMac G3 (they used the same size optical slot loading drives). I never got around to trying it on the Cube.

 

[VoidSlaad]

Here is the DVD/CD burner I was talking about:

http://www.mcetech.com/dvdrwimacsl.html

I was just on Daystar's website, or what is left of it, and cannot pull up any info on CPU upgrades for my model iMac. It just says that file is not found on this server and other crap...

 

[VoidSlaad]

For the record, I have completely disassembled the iMac (kept the outer shell to use as a...::cough:C case::cough: and see no way to upgrade the CPU as it is soldered to the motherboard. If I really wanted a G4 motherboard to merely place inside this iMac, if possible, it would be much much cheaper to just buy the maxed out eMac I saw on Craigslist.

 

[tom vilsack]

dont believe you can burn latest unbuntu ppc version to cd

did you try xconfig?

Hit these keys to take you to a terminal.

ctrl-option-F1

at prompt type

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Look in the file for the "Modules" Section in there you should have one that says

Load "dri"

change that to

#Load "dri"

Then look towards the bottom of the file for

HorizSync

and

VertRefresh

change the values of these to

HorizSync 58-62

VertRefresh 75-117

Then do ctrl + o then enter

Then do ctrl + x

Then type

sudo killall -HUP gdm

 

[California]

Here is the DVD/CD burner I was talking about:

http://www.mcetech.com/dvdrwimacsl.html

I was just on Daystar's website, or what is left of it, and cannot pull up any info on CPU upgrades for my model iMac. It just says that file is not found on this server and other crap...

Call Gary Monday. He's the owner. Daystar has been upgrading Apple since the late 1980's.

 

[VoidSlaad]

As far as the Ubuntu disk is concerned, it seems it was being read just fine. I guess I will give Gary a call to see what can be done to this little iMac...my thanks...

 

[VoidSlaad]

Oh...when first loaded xorg.conf, there were no files displayed, just the nano editor...I will try again, perhaps I did something wrong.

 

[MacHamster68]

For the record, I have completely disassembled the iMac (kept the outer shell to use as a...::cough:C case::cough: and see no way to upgrade the CPU as it is soldered to the motherboard. If I really wanted a G4 motherboard to merely place inside this iMac, if possible, it would be much much cheaper to just buy the maxed out eMac I saw on Craigslist.

that's a sacrilege , never do that again to a absolute fine working iMac G3 only because you cant install linux proper , there is no problem with getting the display to work , you can read about what to do on multiple sites in the world wide web
but taking a iMac G3 apart to fit a pc inside is the most cruel thing you can do , if your child isn't good enough for prof degree at harvard or oxford university are you considering a DIY brain transplant then

 

[VoidSlaad]

For the record, I had disassembled the iMac BEFORE planning to install Linux. They had nothing to do with each other. I was merely curious about what the insides looked like...hmmm...I wonder what your insides look like...

 

[Transporteur]

...f your child isn't good enough for prof degree at harvard or oxford university are you considering a DIY brain transplant then

Exactly, just get a new child! Simple as that.