imac G3 firmware???

[comda]

alright so i was bored and decided to try linux ubuntu on my old imac G3, and on the website the only one i could download was 10.04 for PPC. so i downloaded it and booted off the disk, the screen loaded and then turned blank, so i rebooted the machine......its said to type help in the kernel so i did and then hit tab to see the options i then typed the option 'live-powerpc64' and it said something firmware at which point i reset the computer. i dont want to mess around with the firmware on this imac, and i know the original firmware is 2.4f under the Boot ROM INFO section in apple system profiler in mac osx 10.2.8. how ever, where i opened the firmware at start up its says firmware version 2.4fbootROM built on 02/18/00 and under it says:

welcome to open firmware
to continue booting, type 'mac-boot' and press return
and so on, ya ya'

my question is, does this imac G3 still have its original 2.4f firmware or open firmware, im confused...... please help me answer this...i think it has original firmware but im just not 100% sure, for it says firmware 2.4f which is the original version, but the 'welcome to open firmware' throws me off. please help me out

 

[MacHamster68]

yes seems original
but if you ever want to get to OSX jaguar 10.2 ,panther 10.3 or tiger 10.4 you need 4.1.9f1
and my rough guess is linux is looking for that version too

as thats what my iMac G3 are running as open firmware
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1395

 

[comda]

thanks so much for the reply, i just have one more question. if its the original does that mean the message that appears when i hold down the firmware button at start up saying 2.4f boot rom
welcome to open firmware to boot type 'boot-mac'

is totally normal?

i want to keep my original firmware on my imac for reasons that i want to continue running os 9 and 10.2.8

 

[Intell]

That message is perfectly normal. G3 iMac's run OpenFirmware be default. Its kind of like BIOS. I still recommend that you update your firmware. It'll be a bit more stable and maybe required to run Ubuntu 10.04.

 

[tom vilsack]

i did same thing about a year or so ago,with a old g3 imac ....i believe it was ubuntu 10.4 also...it was painfully slow! i found the best os for a g3 imac was tiger (better then even panther)...just feed it ram.

 

[MacHamster68]

nothing is stopping you from updating the firmware , OS9 will keep running , as you need OS9.1 to download and install the open firmware update ,and it continues to run after the update , i have OS9.2.2 installed too alongside tiger and your iMac will be more stable after the firmware update , but that update opens up a new world for your iMac G3 ..upgrading to panther or tiger , and less problems with linux installs too

a ram upgrade is never wrong too


Firmware Update 4.1.9 includes improvements to starting up Mac OS X from the local hard disk, Firewire target disk mode, starting up from the local hard disk, network startup, and system stability. This update also adds support for additional security options which allow the Open Firmware to be password protected.

these guy's at Apple knew what they are talking about sometimes so follow their instructions to the letter and you will be fine , so dont be scared
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1283?viewlocale=en_US