os upgrade for imac g3

[rvtmel]

my mom has an imac g3, and she's starting to have compatibility issues with websites and such since she's running 10.3. i'd like to upgrade the machine for her, but i'm not sure if it will work. i've read that 10.3 is the highest supported os for this machine, but i'd really like to get her to at least 10.4. advice please!

thanks guys

 

[flopticalcube]

What specific machine is it? What speed is the CPU? How much RAM does it have? How much disk space? Tiger (10.4) is not cheap and it may not be worth it. 10.5 will not work on a G3.

Firefox 2 works on 10.3, btw.

 

[rvtmel]

i think it's the dv. it's the navy blue one if that helps (sorry, i wasn't the one that gave it to her). i do know that it's the g3 power pc. 500MHz, 512MB SDRAM, currently running OS 10.3.9. it has 10.7GB available.

yes, i know an OS upgrade can be pricey, but spending $50 is a heck of a lot easier than $800 for a new machine!

mainly, i just want to be able to upgrade to 10.4 so that she can install logmein, so that i can fix things for her remotely since she's 3 hours away.

 

[Hrududu]

iMac DV = FireWire = native support for 10.4 assuming you've got the RAM for it (which you do). 10.4 has MUCH better web browser support than 10.3 does by now. I think anyone who can run Tiger should at this point.

 

[flopticalcube]

i think it's the dv. it's the navy blue one if that helps (sorry, i wasn't the one that gave it to her). i do know that it's the g3 power pc. 500MHz, 512MB SDRAM, currently running OS 10.3.9. it has 10.7GB available.

yes, i know an OS upgrade can be pricey, but spending $50 is a heck of a lot easier than $800 for a new machine!

mainly, i just want to be able to upgrade to 10.4 so that she can install logmein, so that i can fix things for her remotely since she's 3 hours away.

More like over $100. Check out Tiger on eBay for a Full Retail copy. I would rather spring for a G4 mini with Tiger on it and a $150 monitor + USB kbd and mouse. All told could be had for less than $350 and your Tiger experience will be much better. Even better would be an Intel mini for $100 more. If you are stuck with the G3, up the RAM to 1GB if you can. These are the specs for your iMac. http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/stats/imac_dv_se_500.html

 

[Winni]

my mom has an imac g3, and she's starting to have compatibility issues with websites and such since she's running 10.3. i'd like to upgrade the machine for her, but i'm not sure if it will work. i've read that 10.3 is the highest supported os for this machine, but i'd really like to get her to at least 10.4. advice please!

thanks guys

Forget about Mac OS X and install Ubuntu Linux on that machine:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/lucid/release/

You will be MUCH happier with Linux on an old G3 than you ever could be with a more recent version of Mac OS X.

 

[Consultant]

Forget about Mac OS X and install Ubuntu Linux on that machine:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/lucid/release/

You will be MUCH happier with Linux on an old G3 than you ever could be with a more recent version of Mac OS X.

So you are suggesting that someone who is clueless computer user to use a difficult OS designed for tinkering geeks?

 

[lewis82]

So you are suggesting that someone who is clueless computer user to use a difficult OS designed for tinkering geeks?

I have never used Linux, but I do know that the user-friendliness of recent linux distributions is much greater than before.

 

[velocityg4]

I have never used Linux, but I do know that the user-friendliness of recent linux distributions is much greater than before.

Until you go to format the hard drive and have to make multiple partitions for different parts of the OS and know the sizes to give to each. Rather than just formatting the whole drive for the OS like with OS X and Windows where the partitioning program will automatically make any other needed partitions.

Then the fun continues when you download a program to install then find out you can not just double click. Rather you need to repackage it and run numerous terminal commands to get the blasted thing to install. Afterward you can not run any OS update since it may no longer be compatible with any program installed.

 

[MisterMe]

Until you go to format the hard drive and have to make multiple partitions for different parts of the OS and know the sizes to give to each. Rather than just formatting the whole drive for the OS like with OS X and Windows where the partitioning program will automatically make any other needed partitions.

Then the fun continues when you download a program to install then find out you can not just double click. Rather you need to repackage it and run numerous terminal commands to get the blasted thing to install. Afterward you can not run any OS update since it may no longer be compatible with any program installed.

You missed the best part. None of your Mac applications will run under Linux.