HELP with old iBook G3 9.2.2

otterfriend

macrumors newbie
My daughter just got a mac G3-the cute clamshell, orange-took it away to college and is being told she needs OS10.2 or better for campus security. Is there an upgrade path from 9.2.2 to 10.2?
 
My daughter just got a mac G3-the cute clamshell, orange-took it away to college and is being told she needs OS10.2 or better for campus security. Is there an upgrade path from 9.2.2 to 10.2?
MacOS X 10.2 is currently two generations--soon to be three generations--behind Apple's current offering. You may upgrade to MacOS X 10.2 if you acquire a retail copy of the OS and install it on your computer. You may keep MacOS 9.2.2 as your Classic environment. The clamshell can also dual-boot MacOS X 10.2 and MacOS 9.2.2.

Caveat: Performance of MacOS X may suffer if you have less than 10% of your hard drive capacity as free space. Also, you should have at least 256 MB RAM. I recommend no less than 512 MB RAM.
 
You will be able to find OS 10.2 discs on ebay and craigslist. The clamshell will be a little sluggish. I had the white G3 iBook running a 500MHZ, it ran 10.2 but it was a little painful. For school she would be using mainly a word processor and email with some internets I assume, so she will be able to work with it, but if she plans on using the computer for anything more then that she may need to upgrade.
 
I think 10.3 Panther would probably run better on it. I remember I had a clamshell with 10.2 and after upgrading to panther wow it was a lot faster!
 
I think 10.3 Panther would probably run better on it. I remember I had a clamshell with 10.2 and after upgrading to panther wow it was a lot faster!

My suggestion is to get a new hard drive (larger, faster, more reliable) and install 10.3 on it. Also, max out the RAM on the iBook... according to MacTraker you can get 576MB of RAM into it at most.
 
I know you won't like this option, but it is the easiest. Buy a new computer. Or newer used computer. If you aren't exactly sure what you're doing then it will be a bit confusing/painful to upgrade that Orange iBook.

Try finding a used white iBook G3, or iBook G4 (probably about $200 - $400). Those computers should also come with 10.2 or higher. I'd offer my iBook G4 but I'm not quite ready to sell it.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Back
Top