I have a Mac Mini running Tiger OS 10.4.11. Recently, I decided to get a refurbished PowerBook to upgrade to Tiger. Got a G3 Pismo equipped with firewire which is now running OS 9.2. I had the RAM upgraded and (separately) bought a 20 GB Travelstar HD so it could handle OS X. So far, so good. The PowerBook did not come with any gray OS 9.2 disks, so once the old HD is out, the old OS can't be reinstalled unless I try to buy some old G3 disks from somebody. Question: Is it really necessary to reinstall OS 9.2 on the Travelstar to get things running or, since I will have a new "retail" OS 10.4 Tiger upgrade kit on hand, can I simply run the Tiger installation disk or disks directly onto the newly installed HD? There is nothing on the currently installed HD that I particularly want to save as all my "stuff" is on the Mac Mini. An Apple upgrade chart I ran across indicated that a Pismo G3 with firewire needs no firmware upgrade to run OS X, so that should not be an issue. Sounds too easy. Am I missing something?
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Installing OS X Tiger and New 20GB HD on G3 Pismo
- Thread starter Don4410
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Don,
I have a Pismo and I can tell you what I have done, but first to answer your question, no you don't need to have OS9 in order to install Tiger onto your computer. Here is how my Pismo is configured:
Processor upgraded to G4/550Mhz
Ram upgraded to 1GB
Hard drive: 120 GB
Even with the G3/500 processor which you have running on your Pismo you will be able to install Tiger on it. I have been running Tiger on my Pismo even before I got my G4/550 processor upgrade. I didn't have to get this but I figured since price is dropping on them I should before they are no longer available. I also have the very rare G3/900 processor but heating issues is the biggest issue as the processor heats up too quickly then it throttles down to 500Mhz which defeats the purpose of running this processor. This is the reason I upgraded to my G4/550 which has been running fairly reliably.
I don't even have the legacy OS (OS 9) installed on my Pismo as I no longer run this. I do have a Kanga (Powerbook 3500) the first G3 laptop Apple ever made and it is also capable of running OS X with alittle help but I keep OS 9 on that machine. If you have any question feel free to PM me. Hope this helps!
^ Whoa. Real we-use-legacy-macs-and-love-to-make-the-most-out-of-it camaraderie up there. 
The Pismo is one of the legacy Apple portables that I'd want to own.
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@OP
Why not partition the new HD and clone the existing OS 9.2 installation to one partition and install Tiger on the other. It's always nice to have an option to dual boot.
The Pismo is one of the legacy Apple portables that I'd want to own.
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@OP
Why not partition the new HD and clone the existing OS 9.2 installation to one partition and install Tiger on the other. It's always nice to have an option to dual boot.
^ Whoa. Real we-use-legacy-macs-and-love-to-make-the-most-out-of-it camaraderie up there.
The Pismo is one of the legacy Apple portables that I'd want to own.
----
@OP
Why not partition the new HD and clone the existing OS 9.2 installation to one partition and install Tiger on the other. It's always nice to have an option to dual boot.
I didn't mean to come off wrong...
Yes, I happen to really like my Pismo only because of how versatile it is. I use my MBP for most things and have a G5 tower as well as a Mac Pro tower but occasionally I find myself grabbing my Pismo because it's portable and the battery lasts over 5 hours on it. Can't say that about my MBP although it's much more powerful but it's tied to it's power adapter - not too portable to say the least...
^ Who's complaining? There's nothing bad about having an old Mac around, certainly not when its something like a Pismo. Those days, I take them as the gold standard in Apple notebook history. Powerful, reliable, expandable, upgradeable, ergonomic, what not?
With an extra battery in its other bay, you can have 10 hours of battery life with it I guess.
I am actually a low end guy and see tremendous value in low end Macs. Maybe because my work does not demand much power. And legacy Macs? I actually have a fetish on them.
With an extra battery in its other bay, you can have 10 hours of battery life with it I guess.
I am actually a low end guy and see tremendous value in low end Macs. Maybe because my work does not demand much power. And legacy Macs? I actually have a fetish on them.