iMac G3 Upgrade Question

[arthursiew]

I have a very old iMac G3 that's still working. I was wondering whether I should upgrade it to Tiger or Panther, but I'm not sure whether it would be capable of running OS X. I tried looking for the computer specs, but I couldn't find it. It's running OS 8.6 right now.
I am still not sure whether to upgrade, because this computer gives me so many memories. The Operating system and the files give me all these memories from the past, but a simple back-up of all of the files doesn't sound good to me, because the operating system is a big thing. The big question is... should I upgrade? Can I dual boot the system to OS X and 8.6 as well? Please help me. Thanks!

EDIT: I also have a MacBook, so I wasn't sure whether I should upgrade it to OS X. I haven't used the iMac for a while, because 8.6 doesn't seem as great as OS X. Do you think I should upgrade it to OS X?

 

[Reflow]

Can you give us a little more details on what iMac G3 you have? That would help. Also this Link should help.

 

[brop52]

I'd assume it's a tray loader. Your HDD is probably tiny and can't fit much on it. You'll need Mac OS 9 to run all of your classic programs and 10.3 will probably be best for it. Tiger requires a DVD drive which I'm pretty sure didn't exist for the tray loaders. What exactly are you planning to do with this thing? You can definitely upgrade the RAM, though the RAM is starting to get more expensive as the chips are so old. You can easily put in a 120 GB Maximum ATA/IDE 3.5" HDD though it's not for the inexperienced as you can do damage to the machine and to yourself due to the CRT holding a charge.