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Greatmrname

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 2, 2019
11
12
I am honestly shocked. I keep reading forums and articles that say the G3 is significantly worse than other PowerPC's and underpowered for even basic tasks these days (internet in particular). I just want to put something out there that's fully up to date and says otherwise. My machine has a 400 MHz processor, 512 mb of RAM, and a 13 GB hard drive.

First of all, I put Tiger and Mac OS 9 on it. I downloaded all the updates I could both OS's plus a firmware update. The built in Software Updater no longer works for versions 9-10.3, so you need to go searing around on the internet for them.

Using Online

Speaking of OS 9, it's not really usable for the internet. Classilla is showing errors for more and more websites these days. I personally wouldn't bother using the internet on OSes before Panther.

To connect to the internet, I used an AirPort card. Please note that modern password encryption doesn't work, and I used an unsecured network.

On Tiger, I used browsers TenFourFox and Links2. TenFourFox G3 without any modifications and add-ons is absolutely unusable and slow. I used this guide to help speed it up, and I've gotten NoScript 2.9.0.14 to work. With this, it becomes usable and runs decently. Links2 runs blazing fast, faster than TenFourFox will ever be. However, it renders less and websites look more text based.

For the internet overall, when you turn off JavaScript in your current browser and come across a site you can't use, chances are it would run too slow on a G3. Don't expect to run YouTube, Netflix, or social media.

Surprisingly, the Mail app is still fully functional with Gmail if you turn off some security options in your account settings. iChat still works with Jabber. I used Hot Chilli Jabber, made two accounts and they communicated fine. Connecting to this computer over a network is possible, but too slow to transfer files in my experience.

Using Offline

For offline use, it's fun to download old games and software to play around with. DVDs/CDs play perfectly. USB 1.1 transfers really slow in general, so using a FireWire device instead is recommended. Plus I recommend a USB Hub to plug in more than just your mouse and keyboard.

Performance on Tiger overall is ok. It boots up surprisingly fast for its age, but it occasionally stutters while in use. One thing that surprisingly didn't stutter for me was music playback from iTunes while running other applications. Classic Environment is slower for games, but runs fast for light applications.

Conclusion

Overall, it's not bad at all for a 21 year old computer. It's actually really good for a backup machine if you need to quickly do something, or if no other device is available. Currently the only major drawbacks are slow ports, inability to connect to modern networks, and inability to run social media. I don't recommend this being used in place of a modern computer/smartphone, but you could if you really had to. It also depends on how much time and troubleshooting you want to go through to get it fully running.

I hope this information is useful to someone. :)
 

Dronecatcher

macrumors 603
Jun 17, 2014
5,238
7,870
Lincolnshire, UK
Don't expect to run YouTube, Netflix, or social media.
See here:


Also running a TenFourFoxBox with a mobile device user agent and going to the mobile site variant will give you Facebook/Twitter.
 

Amethyst1

macrumors G3
Oct 28, 2015
9,638
11,942
I personally wouldn't bother using the internet on OSes before Panther.
I'd say anything before Tiger isn't worth it as far as OS X is concerned.

I used an unsecured network
Ouch. Better to use a WLAN to Ethernet bridge that circumvents the old Airport card altogether. Will give you higher speed too.

Classic Environment is
...crap on Panther and Tiger. Much better to just boot into OS 9. :)
 

Amethyst1

macrumors G3
Oct 28, 2015
9,638
11,942
But Links2 now works on Panther. Is there any other reason other than lack of TenFourFox support that makes Panter not a good internet option?
Sure but Tiger also has Arctic Fox and Iceweasel thanks to @wicknix.


To me the question is why run Panther when Tiger exists and gives you more options when it comes to browsing and other things?
 

Greatmrname

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 2, 2019
11
12
Sure but Tiger also has Arctic Fox and Iceweasel thanks to @wicknix.


To me the question is why run Panther when Tiger exists and gives you more options when it comes to browsing and other things?
I agree Tiger is better, but I’m also thinking about the Macs that can’t run Tiger (officially) or doesn’t have enough ram to. It would be interesting to see someone with one of these machines to report how Links2 runs.
 
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Project Alice

macrumors 68020
Jul 13, 2008
2,051
2,137
Post Falls, ID
I agree Tiger is better, but I’m also thinking about the Macs that can’t run Tiger (officially) or doesn’t have enough ram to. It would be interesting to see someone with one of these machines to report how Links2 runs.
You won’t get away running Panther on low ram anymore than you would with Tiger. In fact Tiger will probably run better, once spotlight is disabled anyways.
Tiger is basically Panther but better tuned. Much like Snow Leopard was to Leopard.
 

TheShortTimer

macrumors 68040
Mar 27, 2017
3,149
5,512
London, UK
Any Mac that runs Panther can also run Tiger though. The machines that were "dropped" with Tiger run it just fine if the installer's check is circumvented.
Quite right and I cite my iMac G3/350 as one such example. It's among the machines that Apple officially excluded from running Tiger but if the installer's hardware check is circumvented or in the case the ISO that I used, completely removed, Tiger with a few tweaks here and there will run more than adequately.

Mine now serves as my lowest common denominator tester for PPC games and as I documented here, for a computer that was produced in the late 90s (let that sink in) and had never been intended as a powerhouse, it gives a surprisingly impressive showing with standard definition video playback and even coped quite well for the most part with TV recordings from my PVR.

Taking into account the obvious limitations, Macs with lower end G3s remain viable today for a wide variety of computing tasks that wouldn't be completed any faster if you were using a machine with the latest cutting edge CPU. I could quite easily fire up Office on the iMac G3 and use it for editing my academic work and its limitations actually work in its favour because some particular distractions, simply wouldn't be available to me. :D
 

z970

macrumors 68040
Jun 2, 2017
3,585
4,529
Personally, I also lean on the side of Tiger being a better all-around OS than Panther, post-optimization performance included, but does Panther actually possess any advantage over Tiger at all? Menu bar aside, even subtle mechanical differences that for example Jaguar can claim just for the sake of uniqueness, if nothing else?

Suddenly, I seem to be drawing blanks... :(
 
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TheShortTimer

macrumors 68040
Mar 27, 2017
3,149
5,512
London, UK
Personally, I lean on the side of Tiger being a better all-around OS than Panther, post-optimization performance included, but does Panther actually possess any advantage over Tiger at all?

Suddenly, I seem to be drawing blanks... :(
Same here, after everything I've read on here in recent months, I'm now thinking that unless anyone can offer any examples of saving graces, I might as well remove Panther from my Sawtooth's triple-boot set up and just use 9.2.2 and Tiger.
 
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Amethyst1

macrumors G3
Oct 28, 2015
9,638
11,942
but does Panther actually possess any advantage over Tiger at all?
Well, Mac-on-Mac only works on Panther :)


I might as well remove Panther from my Sawtooth's triple-boot set up and just use 9.2.2 and Tiger.

Perhaps consider adding 8.6 just to see it fly on the fastest machine it'll officially run on :)
 

G4fanboy

macrumors 6502
Mar 9, 2013
324
199
Andalucia Spain
To me the question is why run Panther when Tiger exists and gives you more options when it comes to browsing and other things?

Digidesign Audiomedia III and Digi 001 audio hardware for Protools need OS9 or Jaguar or Panther to run Protools 6.x LE. You can install coreaudio drivers on Tiger and Leo but Protools 6.2.3 or 6.4 LE can´t run.
 
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retta283

Suspended
Jun 8, 2018
3,180
3,482
Spotlight to me in Tiger isn't worth that much, I don't end up using it nearly as often as I would think. I tree out my file structure enough that things are easy to find, it's mostly when looking for system files that I search. Turning it off does help. I also don't use Dashboard that much, the calculator is the only truly useful one for me. Both can be turned off and you pretty much have optimized Panther with a cleaner UI.
 
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