iMac PowerPC G3 - Wireless USB adapter??

[sneenlantern]

again, if you have read the FAQ on my sig you would see that you have a machine with usb 1.1 and usb external hdd will work slow as hell.
For 128Gb+ on internal drive there are tweaks and softwares available, again on the FAQ it is mentioned.

thanks, I'm looking through the FAQ now. Thanks for taking the time to compose it. So, USB is out.

My favorite question on your FAQ is this:

"I have PowerPc Mac,would it be wise to upgrade it?"

I'm not sure if it's sane, but it's what's required of me, so I'm gonna do it.

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Don't buy a USB hard drive for it. It has USB 1.1 and any USB drives will be very slow. You'll have to get a FireWire drive for it.

An Airport card and iMac G3 adapter will get you WiFi capability.

Due to the age of this machine, you may also want to get a new clock battery for it. They last about ten years before they need to be replaced. This iMac is over ten years old.

The procedure of replacing the internal drive is a bit more difficult then upgrading the ram or adding an Airport card. You have to remove the bottom plastic shell and the metal shield beneath it and the hard drive slides out. It's safe to do because you are not exposing the CRT's electronics.

I think I would rather figure out a firewire drive for it than upgrade the hard drive. I am apprehensive about doing complex upgrades to it. I will look at EveryMac for info on a firewire hard drive. Any suggestions?

Is it difficult to replace the clock battery? What happens if I don't replace it?

 

[Intell]

Is it difficult to replace the clock battery? What happens if I don't replace it?

The clock battery can be replaced through the ram hatch. But it is a bit hard to do if you have short fingers. Long nimble ones will make replacing the clock battery easier. If it isn't replaced, every time the iMac is restarted it will tell you that the clock is wrong. If you have it set to automatically get the time from the internet, this isn't going to be a big problem. But clicking a box every time you turn on the iMac will get boring fast.

 

[sneenlantern]

The clock battery can be replaced through the ram hatch. But it is a bit hard to do if you have short fingers. Long nimble ones will make replacing the clock battery easier. If it isn't replaced, every time the iMac is restarted it will tell you that the clock is wrong. If you have it set to automatically get the time from the internet, this isn't going to be a big problem. But clicking a box every time you turn on the iMac will get boring fast.

hmmm that WOULD be annoying. I'll look into getting the time from the internet once I take care of all these other million things...

I'm looking at this for the hard drive:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MS8U5160GB8/

I might get something bigger, but I have to discuss with her how much money she wants to put into this computer.

 

[Intell]

That hard drive is a bit expensive for the size you get. Here's two I found on NewEgg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136550
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136594

 

[skinniezinho]

I guess your are buying more fast than testing, and that can be danger..for your wallet...
I know what you are feeling, I felt the same way when I received my powermac (wich didn't had hdd,512mb ram,stock gfx card,400MHz cpu), but take your time, buy the essential and cheap first, in your case :
ram - because no matter wich OS you load into it, it won't perform fine without it
wifi card - if you don't have ethernet cable near you to test.

get some OSes (maybe panther 10.3 and tiger 10.4), test them, find apps for it,etc..decide what is the best for the machine, then buy them (I usually don't like piracy, but paying 50eur for an operative system that can be an overkill for the machine is just stupid.grab it somewhere, test it heavily and then buy the one that fits better your needs).

For example, most of people say that a powermac like mine should run 10.5, it's ok, but I found that 10.4 runs snappier...so I stay with it and will buy it.

Internal HDDs can make a good difference , but don't expect wonders, so test your old hdd first.

Imagine that with max ram,and wifi and let's say panther you feel the computer is not fine for day to day use, you won't dump money on internal IDE HDDs nor firewire enclosures...
Just my 2cents...
Go slow and love that machine =)

 

[sneenlantern]

That hard drive is a bit expensive for the size you get. Here's two I found on NewEgg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136550
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136594

yeah, that looks like a better value.. I was just going through EveryMac as I wasn't sure what would be compatible and what wouldn't. Thanks for looking that up.

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I guess your are buying more fast than testing, and that can be danger..for your wallet...
I know what you are feeling, I felt the same way when I received my powermac (wich didn't had hdd,512mb ram,stock gfx card,400MHz cpu), but take your time, buy the essential and cheap first, in your case :
ram - because no matter wich OS you load into it, it won't perform fine without it
wifi card - if you don't have ethernet cable near you to test.

get some OSes (maybe panther 10.3 and tiger 10.4), test them, find apps for it,etc..decide what is the best for the machine, then buy them (I usually don't like piracy, but paying 50eur for an operative system that can be an overkill for the machine is just stupid.grab it somewhere, test it heavily and then buy the one that fits better your needs).

For example, most of people say that a powermac like mine should run 10.5, it's ok, but I found that 10.4 runs snappier...so I stay with it and will buy it.

Internal HDDs can make a good difference , but don't expect wonders, so test your old hdd first.

Imagine that with max ram,and wifi and let's say panther you feel the computer is not fine for day to day use, you won't dump money on internal IDE HDDs nor firewire enclosures...
Just my 2cents...
Go slow and love that machine =)

yeah, I'm pretty impulsive

I haven't really run through and checked out the Mac yet -- you're right. I should probably buy some ether cable, run it to the machine, and see if I can upgrade the software and whatnot, and see if it will work with what we want to do with it before upgrading it. But I might just go with the airport card first, because it's not too expensive, and we really couldn't stand to run ether across the house. THEN, I will look into upgrading the ram, hard drive, etc.

You should see me buying candy at the drug store -- I don't think at all!

 

[skinniezinho]

[/COLOR]

yeah, I'm pretty impulsive

I haven't really run through and checked out the Mac yet -- you're right. I should probably buy some ether cable, run it to the machine, and see if I can upgrade the software and whatnot, and see if it will work with what we want to do with it before upgrading it. But I might just go with the airport card first, because it's not too expensive, and we really couldn't stand to run ether across the house. THEN, I will look into upgrading the ram, hard drive, etc.

You should see me buying candy at the drug store -- I don't think at all![/QUOTE]

Check it, see what does it got (again check the faq), grab the airport (keep in mind that you MAY have go to your wireless router and put it in B/G mixed mode, because the original airport is B only - even WIFI pens that are G and N when attached to usb1.1 ports go to B mode I guess), test some softwares in it, and decide.
Ram is always a wise step, no matter what OS you have more ram is always better.