Restoring and old Mac relic

[63dot]

I took a nearly 10 year old computer out of the garage, Dual 500 G4 Power Mac with 17" inch Apple ADC display.

I was wondering about two things:

1) I lost the original Apple restore disk but have a fresh OS X, Tiger disk and will that work to bring things back?

2) I don't have the keyboard or mouse anymore for that machine (I use it for my mini) and could I use a random PC keyboard and mouse, or will a new Apple keyboard and mouse work with it?

Thanks in advance.

 

[No ice please]

I took a nearly 10 year old computer out of the garage, Dual 500 G4 Power Mac with 17" inch Apple ADC display.

I was wondering about two things:

1) I lost the original Apple restore disk but have a fresh OS X, Tiger disk and will that work to bring things back?

2) I don't have the keyboard or mouse anymore for that machine (I use it for my mini) and could I use a random PC keyboard and mouse, or will a new Apple keyboard and mouse work with it?

Thanks in advance.

The new apple keyboards will work just not the wireless ones and wireless mice. I would think any old PC keyboard would work. Tiger would work on it but it might be a tad slow. Best of luck!

 

[63dot]

The new apple keyboards will work just not the wireless ones and wireless mice. I would think any old PC keyboard would work. Tiger would work on it but it might be a tad slow. Best of luck!

Thanks for the reply. So the restore disk had the regular version of OS 9, and I think Tiger has the emulated version of OS 9 as a secondary feature. I hope OS 9, the emulation in OS X, works OK, too.

 

[Lyle]

I have an old Mac Classic that still works (or at least it did the last time I tried turning it on). Picked it up at a rummage sale for $10 (not kidding). Of course, I didn't have an OS for it, but I was able to find it somewhere online, download and image to a 3.5" floppy.

Still not sure what to do with it, but it is sorta fun.

 

[Wotan31]

You'll likely need a new PRAM battery. I would also replace the hard drive with a brand new one, since you're installing OSX from scratch anyhow.

Lastly, *before* you turn it on for the first time, used compressed air to blow all the dust and debris out of the case, and particularly out of the power supply and fans.

 

[63dot]

You'll likely need a new PRAM battery. I would also replace the hard drive with a brand new one, since you're installing OSX from scratch anyhow.

Lastly, *before* you turn it on for the first time, used compressed air to blow all the dust and debris out of the case, and particularly out of the power supply and fans.

I got the dust bunnies out first, and the thing boots up with somebody else's OS X Tiger and OS 9 on it. The three 10,000 RPM 36 GB hard drives work and the date and time are OK for now.

I just need to get myself a keyboard (I am in a computer lab, PCs only, and unfortunately all the keyboards and mice have those old color coded PC serial connectors) and I was shocked.

I may have to bring my own Mac USB keyboard and mouse to install a fresh OS X 10.2 Jaguar on the hard drives and get all the personal files off the computer.

According to some Mac sites, this old machine can "technically" take OS X 10.3 or even 10.4, but I would think these better and more complicated operating systems would be a tad too much for this Dual 500 with its PC 66/100 RAM, which is maxed out at 1 gig.

 

[sysiphus]

I got the dust bunnies out first, and the thing boots up with somebody else's OS X Tiger and OS 9 on it. The three 10,000 RPM 36 GB hard drives work and the date and time are OK for now.

I just need to get myself a keyboard (I am in a computer lab, PCs only, and unfortunately all the keyboards and mice have those old color coded PC serial connectors) and I was shocked.

I may have to bring my own Mac USB keyboard and mouse to install a fresh OS X 10.2 Jaguar on the hard drives and get all the personal files off the computer.

According to some Mac sites, this old machine can "technically" take OS X 10.3 or even 10.4, but I would think these better and more complicated operating systems would be a tad too much for this Dual 500 with its PC 66/100 RAM, which is maxed out at 1 gig.

Something to consider--OSX got progressively more efficient, even on older hardware, at least through 10.3. Really, 10.4 was an improvement for speed on older hardware as well, at least for machines with a decent amount of RAM. I'd go for 10.4, and if it doesn't run smoothly enough, turn off Dashboard. Going much older than 10.4 will break compatibility with quite a bit of software.

 

[Wotan31]

Something to consider--OSX got progressively more efficient, even on older hardware, at least through 10.3. Really, 10.4 was an improvement for speed on older hardware as well, at least for machines with a decent amount of RAM. I'd go for 10.4, and if it doesn't run smoothly enough, turn off Dashboard. Going much older than 10.4 will break compatibility with quite a bit of software.

x2 just about any modern software will require 10.4 at a minimum. Carbon Copy, Firefox, etc.

 

[63dot]

The Mac (Dual 500 G4 Power Mac) is restored with OS 9.1 on one hard drive and OS X 10.2 on another hard drive.

A third hard drive is left blank just in case the new owner of the machine chances upon a copy of Panther or Tiger.

Thanks for all the suggestions.